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2 Great Denmark Street

Dublin 

Ireland

00353 (0) 1 874 9407     

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Initial Impact Assessment

On Monday 10th of October 2011 at approximately 10.30am I approached Barry’s Hotel from Parnell Square on foot, upon turning into Great Denmark Street, the signage to the front of Barry’s Hotel is clear and unambiguous. The front of Barry’s Hotel presents well maintained and the windows present secure and in good order.

There is good on street parking to the front of Barry’s and Parking charges don’t kick in until 7am each morning, three hours maximum parking during peak periods. Barry’s is within easy walking distance of O’Connell Street and many other significant streets and sites in Dublin.

Guest View

Barry’s Hotel is situated at 2 Great Denmark Street, Dublin, is central and has 32 rooms with en-suite bathrooms, direct dial telephone, colour television, Tea/coffee making facilities, Wi-Fi in some rooms and 24 hour reception service. Incidentals such as hairdryers, iron and board may be collected at reception.

Check-in

I arrived at Barry’s Hotel at approximately 10pm for check-in after a long day in Dublin.

The meet and greet was welcoming and warm, a young lady was polite and courteous. However, while I had received e-mail confirmation that my room had been booked for 10/10/2011 the young lady could not find the booking on the system. However, the matter was quickly resolved to my satisfaction.

The young lady clearly explained all of the facilities available, 24 hour reception and so forth, all done very courteously. All of the advertising literature in the reception is advertising other company’s products and services, with no worthwhile effort to sell Barry’s own products and services.

The Bar

Dasher had a walk around the bar and ordered a coke, the bar presents well and the young man serving was polite and professional, this is a good old fashioned, traditional Irish Bar and maintains a distinct ambiance.

Casino

Barry’s Hotel also incorporates a state of the art casino, great for hen and stag parties or just a weekend break away from reality.

Corridors – Health/Safety/Security

The corridors and stairs presented well, all doors appeared well maintained and secure, and lighting was good on the main areas.

The Room

Rooms 2A is behind a door leading onto the landing, the light in the small hall in which the door to 2A is housed was not working and so it was difficult to find the key hole.

Upon entering the room the room appeared fresh and bright, clean and comfortable.

The shelf and chair provided for ‘make-up’/hair-drying proved functional and adequate.

The curtains presented clean, classic and functional, the window opened easy and was great for ventilation on what was a very warm night.

The noise levels were consistent with this part of town, occasional drop-offs from the airport to Barry’s and the Hotel across the road, no adverse noise levels.

The lights in the bedroom were functional and well placed.

The telephone was functional and the Wi-Fi access was good.

Literature

The welcome letter read well and all facilities both in-house and external were clearly explained.

Bathroom

The bathroom presented clean and functional.

Shower was functional.

The linen was clean and fresh.

Toiletries were adequate.

Night Porter

At 6.45am I went down stairs to put money in the parking metre for 7am rush hour charge. I viewed the night porter sweeping down the front steps and the street, this was impressive. The night porter directed me to the parking metre and had a requested hair drier for me upon my return, this man was courteous, professional, helpful.

Breakfast

The breakfast in the bar area worked well and the Irish folk music in the background was being enjoyed by the several Americans who were having breakfast, some of whom were also speaking highly of their rooms and accommodation in general.

The orange juice was not of a high standard almost like diluting orange.

The breakfast area was clean and the young woman quickly took orders and delivered tea/coffee promptly.

A selection of cereals were available and accessible.

The breakfast was presented promptly with amble toast.

The ambiance as mentioned above was comfortable and relaxing.

Check-out

The young woman who had been on duty at check-in was on duty as I checked out, she was pleasant and professional, however, no follow-up literature was supplied, business card and so forth.

Online Presence

Barry’s Hotel has a good online presence with products and services clearly set out on their Official site barryshotel.com.

In conclusion

Barry’s Hotel is centrally situated, in a good state of repair, with only a few tweaks to address. I was pleasantly surprised by the good standard found in Barry’s.

There is a real events package here whether for a boy’s weekend away (casino), a quiet weekend (garden of remembrance, Hugh Lane gallery around the corner), hen party and so much more.

Loughgall is a picture-postcard village on the borders of Tyrone and County Armagh that with its neatly arranged window boxes and hanging baskets you would expect to win the best kept village competition year after year. Tourists come for the antique shops and cosy tea rooms that line its narrow main street. 25 years ago in 1987, other visitors came to Loughgall.

The quiet of a May evening on 8 May 1987 was shattered by the thunder of SAS guns as the Regiment (as it is known) ambushed and wiped out one of the most heavily armed and experienced Active Service Units (ASU) the Provisional IRA had ever assembled. It was known as the ‘A’ Team. Eight bodies in boiler suits, some with balaclavas, lay bloody and dead on the ground and in the back of the van in which they had been travelling. The SAS had been lying in wait and had opened up with a barrage of over 200 rounds blasted from General Purpose Machine guns (GPMGs) and high-powered Heckler and Koch rifles. The SAS outnumbered and outgunned the IRA by three to one. The van was riddled like a sieve and its IRA passengers cut to pieces. It was the biggest loss the IRA had suffered since 1921 when a dozen of its men were wiped out by the notorious ‘Black and Tans’. Loughgall police station, a few hundred yards outside the village and the target of the IRA’s attack, was reduced to a twisted pile of concrete and rubble. The IRA just managed to detonate its 200 lb bomb before the SAS opened up.

A few miles away in the ops room that was the nerve centre of the security forces’ Tasking and Co-Ordinating Group (TCG) from which the ambush had been directed, an SAS Commander, a Senior M15 Officer and two senior RUC Officers (both shot dead 1989, see, Smithwick Tribunal) anxiously gathered to hear the result of one of the most carefully planned M15, RUC and Army operations of the northern conflict. They gathered around an SAS officer who was in radio contact with the SAS commander on the ground, when the news came through, the SAS Officer turned to those gathered (TCG) and declared, “Total Wipe-out”.

To the British, the SAS had given the IRA a taste of its own medicine and to Ulster Unionists clambering for the army to take the gloves off, not before time. There was celebration in the TCG at the unprecedented spectacular and quiet contentment in the Northern Ireland Office. Its Permanent Under Secretary at the time, Sir Robert Andrew, later said how he felt on hearing the news. ‘My personal reaction was really one of some satisfaction that we had ‘won one’ as it were. I think it demonstrated to the IRA that the other side could play it rough. I hope it sent a message that the British government was resolute and was going to fight them.’

Certainly the IRA had been playing it very rough. Only a fortnight earlier, it had assassinated Northern Ireland’s second most senior judge, Lord Justice Gibson and his wife with a 500 lb bomb as they drove back across the border after a holiday away. The explosives were thought to have come from Libya. The judge had been a prime target ever since he had acquitted the police officers who shot dead Gervaise McKerr (whose case was also ruled on at Strasbourg) and two other IRA men during a car chase in 1982. He commended them for bringing the deceased to ‘the final court of justice’. None of them was armed at the time. The then Northern Ireland Secretary, Tom King said, ‘We were conscious we were facing an enhanced threat and we took enhanced measures to meet it.’ The SAS was the cutting edge.

At the time of Loughgall, the IRA was brimful of confidence. It had recently had its bunkers filled almost to bursting with over 130 tons of heavy weaponry and high explosives smuggled into Ireland in four shipments courtesy of Mrs Thatcher’s sworn enemy, Colonel Gaddafi (murdered 2011) of Libya. The depleted ranks of its leadership had also been strengthened by the IRA’s mass break-out from the Maze prison in 1983, many of whose senior gunmen were still on the run. One of them was Patrick McKearney (32).

It was known that IRA Commander, Jim Lynagh, had developed a new Maoist strategy of liberating Green Zones, zones that would be cleared of the British and their collaborators. The IRA began its new strategy in 1985 with a devastating mortar attack on the RUC station in the border town of Newry in which nine police officers died. It followed it up with a bomb and gun attack on Ballygawley police station that left two RUC men dead. In 1986, it launched a bomb attack on another police station, unmanned at the time, in the tiny village of the Birches along the shores of Lough Neagh in County Tyrone. Now a new delivery system had been used, a JCB digger with a 200-lb bomb in the bucket. The digger smashed through the security fence, the bomb exploded and reduced the station to rubble. The attack on Loughgall was designed to be a carbon copy of the attack on the Birches. But this time British intelligence knew the IRA was coming and was across its plans.

The first indicator about the Loughgall operation came three weeks earlier from an RUC agent based in Monaghan Town, Patrick Kelly had travelled to Monaghan to meet Jim Lynagh, however, as often happened, Lynagh was not about, Patrick Kelly made the fatal mistake of making inquiries about Lynagh with Owen/Eoin Smyth, the Round House Bar, Church Square, Monaghan Town. Barely three weeks before Loughgall, five of the East Tyrone IRA had shot dead Harold Henry (52), a member of the Henry Brothers construction business that carried out repairs on security force bases. Just before midnight, the IRA took Mr Henry from his home, put him up against a wall and shot him dead with two rifles and a shotgun. He left a widow and six children. To the IRA he was a ‘legitimate target’, the first of more than twenty ‘collaborators’ to be ‘executed’ by the IRA for ‘assisting the British war machine.’ One of the weapons believed to have been used in the Henry killing was later retrieved at Loughgall.

On the basis of the information passed to the RUC Special Branch by the IRA informer in Monaghan Town, a major security operation was put into action. Extra SAS Teams were brought into the north, within hours of arriving in the north, the SAS Teams were brought to the firing range beneath the RUC Forensic Lab in Belfast, were they test fired similar weapons to those that would be used by the IRA Team at loughgall. The SAS Team was briefed by Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and RUC Superintendent Robert Buchanan. This test firing would allow the SAS to distinguish between friendly and enemy fire on the night of the Loughgall executions. While the Monaghan Informer had given an indicator that a major operation was about to take place, the actual target was not immediately known, this would take a detailed mapping of a myriad of intelligence sources. The Monaghan Informer would contact his handler a couple of days before Loughgall to say that Jim Lynagh had moved to a safe house in Coalisland, County Tyrone.

There was other vital intelligence too from M15′s listening devices planted inside the homes of IRA suspects, usually put in place when they were away – or even when the homes of the more prominent ones were being built. As long as the batteries held out, these technical devices – or ‘bugs’ – could be monitored many miles away or their content down-loaded by helicopters flying over the premises where they were hidden. It’s likely too that the location where the explosives were stored for the Loughgall bomb were also under M15 technical surveillance. They were probably also under human ‘eyes-on’ observation by operators of the army’s top-secret undercover unit, 14 Intelligence Company (known colloquially as the ‘Det’) and the RUC’s equivalent covert unit, E4A. ‘E’ is the code for the RUC’s Special Branch.

The security force operation was put in place on Thursday 7 May, the day before the IRA’s planned assault. Three Special Branch officers from the RUC’s specialist anti-terrorist unit volunteered to remain inside the normally sleepy station as decoys to give the appearance of normality whilst the IRA did its ‘recce’. ‘Matt’, a veteran of such covert operations, was one of them. They entered the station with some of the SAS troopers as darkness fell on the Thursday night. They made sandwiches and cracked jokes to lighten the tedium of waiting and perhaps to calm the nerves.

The joint leaders of the ASU was Patrick Kelly (30), an experienced IRA commander whose sister, supported by the other relatives, was a prime mover in bringing the Loughgall cases before the European Court. Kelly had been arrested in 1982 and charged with terrorist offences on the word of a ‘supergrass’ but was subsequently released as the testimony lacked corroboration. Jim Lynagh was the second Commander and was the man most sought after by the British and Irish security services. Among the younger members of the ASU were four young friends from the village of Cappagh who had joined the IRA after the death of one of their village friend, Martin Hurson, on hunger strike in 1981. One of them, Declan Arthurs (21), was to drive the JCB with a 200 lb bomb in the bucket – just like the Birches.

Throughout the long hours of Friday, the maze of country lanes around Loughgall police station were watched and patrolled by ‘Det’ operators on the look-out for the ‘A Team’. One of them was a young women called ‘Anna’ who was driving around the area with her ‘Det’ partner as part of the surveillance cordon. Suddenly they spotted a blue Toyota Hiace van. At first they thought it was simply stuck behind a slow-moving vehicle but when they realised it was a JCB, they immediately put Ballygawley and the Birches together. ‘You suddenly realize it’s the MO (modus operandi) used by the East Tyrone Brigade,’ she said. ‘It was like a replay. But this time we were on top of it and we knew what was happening. So we passed on the information to the TCG and pulled off.’ The Chief Constable of the time, Sir John Hermon, said the IRA ASU could not have been arrested. He said it was never a realistic option since the IRA would be unlikely to come out with their hands up and police officers lives would therefore be at grave risk.

At 7.15 pm as dusk gathered, the JCB with Declan Arthurs at the wheel and the bomb raised high in the bucket, trundled past the police station with the blue Toyota van in attendance. Both then turned and headed back in the direction whence they had come. Suddenly, the JCB roared into life, headed for the perimeter fence and crashed through it. Almost simultaneously, the van drew up outside, disgorging Patrick Kelly and other members of the ASU who sprayed the station with their assault rifles. The SAS almost certainly opened up the moment Kelly started firing. Everything seemed to happen at once in a deafening crescendo of noise. Inside the station, ‘Matt’ (Special Branch), who was by the front window, was only about ten metres from the JCB when it came to a halt right before his eyes. He turned and ran to the back with one word on his mind. Bomb! ‘I thought of the Birches and Ballygawley and the next minute there was an almighty bang. I was hit in the face, knocked to the ground and buried. I thought “I’m dead”, simple as that!’ Miraculously ‘Matt’ survived although buried in the rubble ‘inhaling dust and darkness.’ The ‘A’ Team did not. ‘Declan was mowed down. He could have been taken prisoner,’ his mother, Amelia Arthurs, said. ‘The SAS never gave them a chance.’ The photographs taken at the scene are gruesome. The van in which the IRA volunteers had travelled was ripped open by part of the shrapnel from the digger bucket when it exploded, this is new information.

‘Matt’ felt no sympathy for the bullet-riddled bodies on the ground outside the station and in the back of the van. ‘They were there to kill us,’ he said. ‘These guys were responsible for lots and lots of deaths in that area and other parts of the province. Dead terrorists are better than dead policemen.’ Forensic tests carried out on the IRA weapons retrieved at the scene were linked to eight murders and thirty-three shootings.

The area around the police station had not been cordoned off since to have done so would have risked making the IRA suspicious and wary of the carefully laid ambush. As a result, two brothers returning home from work, were shot by the SAS. The security personnel who lay on the outer core of the ambush had been ordered to kill everyone within the kill zone.  Perhaps the soldiers thought they were part of the ASU or mistook their white Citroen for an IRA ‘scout’ car, maybe because one of the occupants was wearing a boiler suit. The brothers had been working on a car. The SAS fired forty rounds at the vehicle, killing Anthony Hughes (36) and seriously wounding his brother Oliver who was scarred for life. He said no warning was given. The RUC’s Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, described the attack on the two innocent men as ‘an unspeakable tragedy’ and blamed the IRA, not planning and operational shortcomings, for his death.

When ‘Anna’, her ‘Det’ colleagues and the SAS returned to base, there were great celebrations. ‘There was a huge party and it probably went on for 24 hours,’ she said. ‘A lot of beer was drunk. We were jubilant. We thought it was a job well done. It sent shock waves through the terrorist world that we were back on top.’ She said of the dead IRA men. ‘They’re all volunteers and actively engaged against the British army. They’re ‘at war’ as they would describe it. My attitude is that if you live by the sword, you die by the sword. We were just happy at the end of the day to be alive ourselves.’

Some new information is contained in this article, it is certain that the first indicator for the Loughgall operation came from an RUC Special Branch Informer in Monaghan Town. This informer also contacted the RUC to let them know that Jim Lynagh had moved to a safe house in Coalisland just before the Loughgall operation. Once the security services had their first indicator of a major IRA operation, M15 and the RUC had to simply correlate their myriad of intelligence to match the A Team with their target. At the same time that M15 and the SAS were focused on the East Tyrone IRA, M16 were working closely with Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams and had adopted a hands-off approach to the IRA in Derry and Belfast.

Real IRA leaders to be Executed

The two Ryan Brothers who have been leading the Real IRA criminal gang in Dublin are to be executed at any cost according to the leadership of the Continuity IRA; a contract has been put out on the two brothers according to senior sources within the CIRA.

The information comes as a hit-woman is arrested by Gardai. The IRA History FREE e-Book The hit-woman has been arrested in relation to the cold blooded murder of father of two young children David Darcy. Two weeks ago the woman is alleged to have murdered Mr Darcy on direct orders of the CIRA leadership. Mr Darcy was ambushed outside his home in Dublin on the 28 November 2011 on the direct orders of the CIRA leadership; at 6.50am Mr Darcy was pulling out of the drive of his home when the hit-woman shot him dead.

Mr Darcy was alleged by the CIRA leadership to have been involved in two gun attacks on RIRA criminals in west Dublin within the past twelve months, however, neither Gardai nor senior republicans could support the claims. The hit-woman from Limerick is believed to have been used by the CIRA leadership to flex their muscle in Dublin, the CIRA in Limerick are heavily engaged in criminal activity including Drug Dealing and Prostitution. Gardai arrested the Limerick hit-woman and a man from Finglas on Friday 16/12/2011 in relation to the CIRA murder of Mr Darcy. The gun used to murder Mr Darcy was also recovered by Gardai on the 16/12/2011. It is now known the Ryan Brothers who lead a criminal gang in Dublin styling themselves the Real IRA were to be executed within days on the orders of the CIRA, it is also known that the contract to execute the Ryan bothers is live and has already been taken on by a former Provisional IRA hit-man, who is a gun for hire and who has been engaged in a number of disputes in Dublin in relation to protection money from Drug dealers. The CIRA leadership carried out an exhaustive investigation into the murder of Liam Kenny who was murdered by the Real IRA in Dublin in June of this year, and the CIRA leadership are satisfied that the Ryan Bothers murdered Liam Kenny.

It is also known within criminal circles and security circles that the Real IRA attempted to murder former republican prisoner Frankie Nolan in September in Ballyfermot, west Dublin. It should be noted that hit-women are not unusual within republican terror groups, several women were directly involved in murders and several actually pulled the trigger on behalf of the Provisional IRA and INLA. Many women lured people to their deaths and many women engaged in torture and mutilation during the history of the Provisional IRA and INLA.

When Garda Gerry McCabe was murdered by a Provisional IRA Unit in 1996, the IRA Army Council meet to discuss the fall-out from the killing which had occurred as a direct result of an IRA Army Council sanctioned Robbery. At the IRA Army Council meeting were Martin McGuinness, Kevin McKenna, Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy and Michael McKevitt, Martin McGuinness had the following to say about the summary execution of Garda Gerry McCabe:

“This is about the death of a Freestater who attempted to interrupt the work of the Provisional IRA, I am not going to play any part in disowning IRA volunteers in the interests of political expediency” (McGuinness, 1996).

The above Diaries which were maintained by a member of the East Tyrone IRA contain details of Martin McGuinness being arrested in Monaghan in 1986, they also contain details of Martin McGuinness attending a meeting in Monaghan in 1987 following the Enniskillen bombing on the 8^th November that year. The diaries detail how Martin McGuinness in the presence of other IRA members shook hands with and congratulated the Monaghan man who constructed and planted the Enniskillen bomb that murdered 11 people including a young nurse who died in her father’s arms. The Enniskillen bomb was direct and intentional retaliation for the summary executions of eight IRA members and a civilian by the SAS at Loughgall earlier that year.

McGuinness explained to those senior IRA gathered at the Monaghan meeting, that while he was personally satisfied with the Enniskillen attack, the leadership would have to issue a statement through An Phoblacht distancing themselves from the civilian deaths. The IRA member who constructed and planted the Enniskillen bomb had been reared in a council housing estate (Tully) in Monaghan Town with IRA commander Jim Lynagh who had been executed at Loughgall, and who had been betrayed by an informer based in Monaghan Town. The republican leadership statement issued in relation to the Enniskillen bombing was written by a senior Sinn Fein member from Monaghan Town and was released by (PO’Neil) which was the sudo-name for a leading republican who was based on the third floor of 44 Parnell Square, Dublin.

Martin McGuinness, who was arrested in Smithboro, County Monaghan in 1986 when he had just attended a meeting with East Tyrone IRA commander Kevin McKenna has been endorsed as Sinn Fein’s candidate for the presidential election. However, while Martin McGuinness accepts that he was a senior figure in the Provisional IRA he denies responsibility for directly or indirectly murdering anyone. This is a comprehensive lie; Martin McGuinness personally and directly was involved in the murder of at least 23 people and gave the command for the murders of dozens of more people mainly civilians (Read this FREE e-Book).

Martin and a close relative overseen and was directly responsible for taking the family of Patrick ‘Patsy’ Gillespie hostage in 1990, strapping Patrick Gillespie into a car that was carrying a 1000lb bomb and forcing Patrick to drive that bomb into the British Army base at Coshquin, Martin McGuinness and his IRA unit then detonated the bomb by remote control and thereby murdering Patrick and five soldiers from the Kings Regiment. Patrick Gillespie was a Catholic who had worked as a civilian cook in an army base, this tactic of targeting civilians who carried out menial work for the British had been sanctioned by Martin McGuinness, Kevin McKenna and others in 1986 and was mainly directed at terrorising the Protestant population in the north.

When Martin McGuinness arrived in Smithboro in 1986 it was to visit Kevin ‘The Assassin’ McKenna the Provisional IRA commander of the East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional IRA and later IRA Chief of Staff, under whose command operated Jim Lynagh, Patrick ‘Paddy’ Kelly, Michael ‘Pete’ Ryan and so forth, who collectively had murdered hundreds of people in the border counties of Fermanagh, Tyrone and Armagh as well as murdering Gabriel Murphy, Columbia McVeigh (school boy) and many other innocent civilians on the southern side of the border.

Mc Guinness had travelled to Monaghan in 1986 to ratify a new ‘military’ strategy that would allow for the specific and intentional, yet ‘justifiable’ targeting of Protestants. This new strategy which was based on a Maoist philosophy adopted by IRA Commander Jim Lynagh while in Portlaoise Prison would mean that anyone who in any way supported the British presence in the North could be directly and intentionally targeted. So a man delivering bread, or a woman cleaning the toilets in an RUC station would be as legitimate a target as a fully armed SAS soldier.

When Mc Guinness had concluded his meeting with McKenna (who was living in a mobile home at that time) and other senior IRA members in Smithboro in 1986 Mc Guinness was arrested, however, he was quickly released again when a senior M16 Agent, Michael Oakley contacted Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park. A Garda detective who had been involved in the preparations for the interrogation of McGuinness in 1986 said:

“It was all done over our head; we were told in no uncertain terms that the British authorities wanted McGuinness released without charge”.

Sinn Féin has formally endorsed Martin McGuinness as its Presidential candidate at a top-level meeting in Dublin last week; Martin McGuinness remains a senior member of the Provisional IRA, however, due to his long standing close links with M16 the British have adopted a hands off approach to senior Provisional IRA members, and in particular Martin McGuinness who is viewed as a key Intelligence asset.

While McGuinness has said he was ready to tackle questions about the IRA during the campaign. He said he believed he had played a key role in ending the decades of violence and wanted to look to a new future, however, Martin’s denial of murder is fraudulent as is the claim by Gerry Adams TD that he was never a member of the IRA.

On the prospect of meeting British royalty if he was to become Ireland’s figurehead, McGuinness has said: “If the people of Ireland decided that I should be their president, my responsibilities and duties would be to meet heads of state from all over the world and to do that without exception, and that would be my position.”

Opponents have already said his former IRA role could become a roadblock and could spark campaign debates that risked upsetting victims of republican violence.

“I hope it does not,” he said. “No doubt there will be people within the media, particularly the hostile media, who will attempt to do just that.”

Mr McGuinness said the same prospect had faced Gerry Adams when he moved into politics in the South, but it had not prevented him winning a seat in the general election.

He added: “The past is a terrible place but I think I am seen very much as a part of the future. This is about new beginnings and I have been at the heart of new beginnings.”

Sinn Féin said it had the backing of four Independent TDs to ensure Mr McGuinness could stand in the election.

With 17 Sinn Féin Oireachtas members, he needed at least three extra signatures on his nomination paper.

TDs supporting his nomination are Dublin North Central’s Finian McGrath, Roscommon-South Leitrim’s Luke “Ming” Flanagan, and Kerry South’s Tom Fleming and Michael Healy Rae.

Independents Mary Davis and Sean Gallagher officially became candidates on Monday after each secured the necessary support.

They are on course to fight it out with front-runner Michael D Higgins, of Labour, and Fine Gael’s Gay Mitchell.

Independent senator David Norris said in a Late Late Show interview on Friday night that he would like to re-enter the race, having previously dropped out.

Child Abuse and Sinn Fein

Liam Adams Extradition

Sinn Fein and the IRA have a long history in relation to the torture, murder, mutilation and rape of children. The IRA kidnapping, torture, murder and secret burial of school boy Columbia Mc Veigh in Monaghan in the early 1970s showed clearly that Sinn Fein and the IRA have more in common with the Moore’s murderers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady. The body of Columbia Mc Veigh has never been found, although the IRA have admitted that they murdered and secretly buried the child in Monaghan.

Liam Dominic Adams, brother of Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams TD appeared before the Dublin High Court on Tuesday 26th July 2011 for an extradition hearing. Liam Dominic Adams is wanted in Northern Ireland for the alleged Rape of his daughter Aine when she was four years old. Gerry Adams TD has already admitted that he knew about the alleged Rape since the 1980s and that he believed his niece Aine when she told him that Liam had Raped her over a number of years, beginning when she was four years old. However, Gerry Adams TD did not report the matter to the authorities and it was only in 2007 when Gerry Adams realised that Aine would no longer remain silent that he made a statement to the PSNI through his solicitor.

Liam Adams was a senior member of both the IRA and Sinn Fein in Belfast and Dundalk, long after Gerry Adams TD knew about his brother’s alleged Rape of a child, Gerry Adams continued to promote Liam within the republican movement, giving Liam unquestioned access to children both in Belfast and Dundalk. Gerry Adams TD also concealed the fact that his father Gerry Adams Snr was a child rapist and then proceeded to give his father a full IRA funeral to further compound the hurt of those children raped by Gerry Adams Snr.

Child Rape and Sinn Fein

As the Cloyne Report was published 16/7/2011 one could not help but feel sick at the comments by some Sinn Fein politicians who seem to think that Sinn Fein have clean hands when it comes to the rape of children and the cover-ups of child rape in Ireland. Caoimhghin O’Caolain TD seemed detached from the reality of his party’s history with child rape.

In recent times Sinn Fein have tried desperately to cover-up the fact that many of their members have engaged in the rape and sexual abuse of children. This cover-up was heightened when Liam Dominic Adams, brother of Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams TD, was exposed as a child rapist by his daughter Aine Tyrrell. Liam Adams will face an extradition hearing in the High Court in Dublin on the 26th July 2011, in relation to allegations that he raped his daughter Aine from she was four years old.

Gerry Adams said he believed his niece when she made the allegations in 1987. However, Liam Adams went onto become a prominent figure in Sinn Féin. As chairman of the Louth comhairle ceantair in 1996, he was the party’s most senior official in the county.

He canvassed with Gerry Adams in the 1997 Dáil elections and went on to hold positions, including treasurer of a cumann, in West Belfast despite previous claims from his brother that he had long been expelled from Sinn Féin. So while Gerry Adams and known, and by his own public admission, believed that his brother Liam was a child rapist, Gerry continued to offer succour and promote Liam within the republican movement.

However, Liam Dominic Adams is not the only skeleton in the Sinn Fein/IRA wardrobe, Michael Marron a Sinn Fein/IRA activist from Barcroft Park in Newry who ran a smear campaign against former IRA man, turned peace campaigner, Eamon Collins (murdered by the IRA 1999) pleaded guilty and was sentenced to several years in prison for raping a female child in Newry. Marron like many hundreds of others had used his unquestioned position in Sinn Fein/IRA to carry out his evil deeds against little children.

It is well known that an IRA ‘punishment squad’ that operated out of Drumargh Park in Armagh City was made up of child rapists and paedophiles who were given a free hand as many of them were informers, this group was made up of members from Armagh and Monaghan and its informers never severed one day in jail.

In Monaghan Town, Brendan Toal, father of Monaghan, Sinn Fein Councillor, Malachy Toal was arrested and questioned on two occasions in relation to separate instances of child molestation at Mullaghmatt housing estate in Monaghan Town. As the children sexually molested were only 4 years old the DPP decided the children would not be able to give evidence in an open court. Indeed in 2000 Donna Toal, Malachy Toal’s daughter set herself up as a campaigner for victims of sexual crime, however, at the very time that she was ‘campaigning’ her own cousin on her mother’s side of the family was before Monaghan Circuit Court for the systematic sexual abuse of his two nieces.

Sinn Fein and the IRA in Belfast have had a long history with child abuse and rape, Gerry Adams Snr, father of Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams TD was a known child rapist, but his crimes were concealed by Sinn Fein and the IRA and he was actually given a full IRA military funeral.

The OC of the provisional IRA in north Belfast used his position on many occasions to rape and molest women and children, when victims did go forward to the authorities these victims and their families were forced out of the area by Sinn Fein/IRA, this pattern was repeated in all areas where Sinn Fein/IRA wielded power.

In Armagh County it is known that several women and children were raped by an IRA active service unit, this unit included Aidan Starrs who was a prolific sex offender, all three members of this unit were shot dead by the IRA for being informers, the person who carried out their murders, Freddie Scappactini was in fact an M15 agent and this is now public knowledge.

Martin Forbes (53) from Strabane in County Tyrone was a senior member of Sinn Fein/IRA, he also used the alias Drew, Forbes had been a senior member of the IRA and had served several years in the IRA Blocks at Long Kesh for IRA activity, upon his release Forbes had been selected by the Sinn Fein leadership to run as a candidate in local government elections. Forbes had used his position in Sinn Fein/IRA to sexual molest both women and children.

In stark contrast to the crimes being committed by Sinn Fein/IRA members and being concealed by those organisations, Sinn Fein/IRA actually used their mouth-piece tabloid An Phoblacht/Republican News to lambast people who were outside of Sinn Fein/IRA but who came before the courts for sex related and lesser crimes. While Sinn/Fein IRA were lambasting petty criminals in their tabloid rag, behind closed doors Sinn Fein/IRA from their leadership down were concealing the Rape and sexual molestation of children. Niall O Dowd, Editor, Irish Voice tabloid in New York who has been a cheer leader for Sinn Fein over many years never mentioned any of this Sinn Fein/IRA paedophile activity.

In Dublin several child rapists worked hand in hand with Sinn Fein/IRA, Christy Griffin and Stephen ‘Rossi’ Walsh were key players associated with Sinn Fein/IRA in Dublin, both Christy Griffin and Rossi Walsh are now serving long sentences for child rape. The list of child molesters and rapists exposed in Sinn Fein/IRA over the years is endless; however, those who protected these rapists and concealed their crimes remain at large.

One stands amazed that so-called republicans can justify concealing the rape of children and protecting their rapists, however, one must remember that Sinn Fein/IRA is an organisation that has for four-decades been engaged in the kidnap, rape, murder, mutilation and torture of men, women and children the length and breadth of Ireland.

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Dublin v Donegal v Dublin All Ireland Semi-Final Full-Time Score Analysis

Dublin 0.08 Donegal 0.06

The opening score of this titanic battle came from Donegal when Dublin’s No 5 gave away a free kick. No 5 picked up the first yellow card for his high tackle. The score came at 8 minutes and 30 seconds into the game. Two earlier chances taken by Michael Murphy for Donegal failed to be the potential ice bergs that could have sunk the Dubs. The 80, 000 crowd providing a festive mood to the proceedings. 16 minutes into the game the score was Dublin 0.01 to Donegal 0.01. Donegal’s second point and only the third point of the game for both sides at that point came in the 24^th minute. The Dubs second point came in the 25^th minute. Another point for Donegal in the 28^th minute. Another point for Donegal in the 30^th minute. Karl Lacey sustaining a bad tackle.

Half Time Score after 3 minutes extra-time Donegal 0.04 to Dublin 0.02

Second Half

One minute into the second half and Donegal claim their 5^th point.

Full-time Score Dublin 0.08 Donegal 0.06.

Dublin 9 wides at 38 minutes. Dublin get 3^rd point at 41 minutes. Donegal get 6^th point in 43^rd minute. Donegal taking 64% ball possession well into the second half. 7 wides for Donegal at 51 minutes. Dublin take 4^th point in 52^nd minute. 5^th point for Dublin at 53^rd minute. Dublin goal disallowed at 54^th minute, square ball. Dublin’s No14 sent off red card, 58^th minute. 59^th minute 0.06 to 0.06. Dublin go ahead by 1 point at 63 minutes. Dublin 0.08 Donegal 0.06 at 68 minutes.

Pre-match Dublin v Donegal v Dublin

Tommy Carr (Dublin 1992) and Antony Molloy (Donegal 1992) both predicting different outcomes for todays All Ireland semi-final, Carr thinks Dublin will be the winners by 5/6/ points with Molloy suggesting that anything can happen and in the end it could come down to luck. Close match expected as Donegal hunger for the Sam Maguire and Dublin try to reclaim Hill 16.

Dublin v Galway Minor

The minor match was a battle royal and at half-time Dublin 1.05 to Galway 0.04, Galway with Fire and Determination in their belly came back in the second half and flew like butterflies and stung like bees. At 46 minutes the score line changed to Galway 1.08 to Dublin 1.06. At 58 minutes it remained Galway 1.08 Dublin 1.08. At the 64^th minute Dublin was back with a lead of 1.11 to Galway 1.09. Dublin spoiling for the Big double.

Pre-Match Teams

GAA : Dublin manager Pat Gilroy has named an unchanged side ahead of the All-Ireland semi-final clash with Donegal on Sunday.

Gilroy saw enough in the seven-point win over Mickey Harte’s Tyrone team in the quarter-final to keep faith with the starting XV for the visit of the Ulster champions.

It will mean another chance to shine for the midfield combination of Denis Bastick and Michael Darragh Macauley, while Barry Cahill will continue at centre forward, with Dairmuid Connolly at full forward flanked by the Brogan brothers.

Donegal manager Jim McGuinness has restored full forward Michael Murphy to his starting line-up after he came off the bench to score 0-3 against Kildare in the quarter-final.

Murphy was replaced by David Walsh minutes before the Lilywhites clash, apparently because of a hamstring injury, but impressed off the bench and his return will be a welcome boost.

Paddy McGrath (hamstring) and Michael Hegarty (knee) have also been included. Neither finished the Kildare game but Ardara clubman McGrath has been named at corner back and Hegarty is set to start at centre forward.

Neil Gallagher and Rory Kavanagh will face Bastick and Macauley in midfield.

Dublin (SF v Donegal): S Cluxton; C O’Sullivan, R O’Carroll, M Fitzsimons; J McCarthy, G Brennan, K Nolan; D Bastick, MD Macauley; P Flynn, B Cahill, B Cullen; A Brogan, D Connolly, B Brogan.

Donegal (SF v Dublin): P Durcan; P McGrath, N McGee, F McGlynn; A Thompson, K Lacey, K Cassidy; R Kavanagh, N Gallagher; M McHugh, M Hegarty, R Bradley; P McBrearty, M Murphy, C McFadden.