Ó Brádaigh - Hunger Strikers Were Not Sacrificed for Political Gain

[merle haggard]

IIRC (I do not have a subscription to the IN) [SIZE=6]there was no mention of the so-called deal [/SIZE]- and so thus anything R Ó B wrote in his letter is in addition to the interview.
?

bollix , his letter is in refutation of the interviews claims . Ive also clearly quoted to you Alison Morris repeatedly mentioning the deal , her mention of Richard Orawes claims , which are about a deal and ruairi Obradaigh pointing out

Sinn Fein knew nothing of conditions alleged to be on offer for settlement of the strike.
- I do not believe that the army council of the IRA was aware of such alleged conditions either.

and not least the title of the f*cking thread itself , which i believe you started . Now your actually making the claim the Irish News made no mention of any deal in the article ?
what type of dishonest clown are you ?

Look if you have a problem with how the Irish News reported this you should contact them.

Ive even picketed them over previous stories by Sinn Fein member Alison Morris

however my problem here is with your dishonesty

[picador]

While we're on the issue of credibility can you explain why you assured me in categorical terms that there was no such thing as the PSNI Special Branch? Was it a genuine mistake or a deliberate red herring?

Now as I already said, unfortunately I do not have a subscription to the Irish News and so I an unable to re-read the interview at this time. It came out at least a week ago and so believe it or not I do not remember every detail. I do not recall any focus on this so-called deal.

Forgive me if I do not read every wors of your posts. Some of them I find a bit long-winded.

[picador]

The articles appear on Nuzhound.com free for a couple of days and after that you need a subscription.

did a post in which Katayusha was once again abusing me just completely disappear there!? Oh no it's still there!

[picador]

Interview with Ruairí Ó Brádaigh

Throughout the1981 republican Hunger Strike, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh reigned as president of Sinn Fein. It is also believed he was a member of the IRA’s ruling army council throughout the same period.

Controversy surrounding the publication of Richard O’Rawe’s book Blanketmen, which claims the fast was allowed to continue for political gain, has provoked reaction from a vast spectrum of republicans.

While Ó Brádaigh has said he passionately supported using elections as a strategy to draw global attention to prison protest, he maintains it’s unthinkable that men were sacrificed for electoral success.

“When the first four men had died we had a situation in the 26 counties where Charlie Haughey was hesitating calling a general election,” he said.

“Men were dying and Haughey knew this would do him no favours.

“After the first four died it was thought there would be a space – people generally go about 60 days – so Haughey finally called the election “I pushed for a contest and I have

to say there was a lot of opposition to that, especially from people north of the border who wouldn’t be that familiar with the ground in the south.

“But eventually we got agreement and it went ahead.

“People were very nervous but men were dying. We had to do something.

“Getting reaction from people I knew well and whose judgment I trusted. The feedback I was getting back was that there was great support there.

“In the end two were elected but I would say if we had more time we could have got a couple more elected.”

The election of republican candidates achieved its aim, namely drawing attention to the protest.

However, allegations against Sinn Fein are that a deal, that came close to granting the prisoners’ five demands was rejected in order to exploit gains being made at the polls.

Ó Brádaigh, while no friend of the present Sinn Fein leadership, says he would challenge this version of events, claiming British dirty tricks were responsible for prolonging the protest.

“The Irish Commission for Justice and Peace (ICJP) were doing their best, I’m sure of that judging by the talks they had with us,” he said.

“But the Brits were up to their tricks.

“They would always have something else going on – and that is the diversion – while the real thing is going on somewhere else.

“That is what I believe was going on there with the ICJP, they were the diversion.”

As Ó Brádaigh was banned from Britain and Northern Ireland at the time he was only able to cross the border covertly.

It has been suggested the northern leadership could have been acting

autonomously without his knowledge and so rejected any deal without the knowledge of the full IRA army council.

“No, no, no I wouldn’t say that at all. With the situation as it existed at the time, no,” Ó Brádaigh said.

“Or even for the second by-election that has been much talked about, no that just couldn’t and wouldn’t have happened.”

[picador]

Letter from Ruairí Ó Brádaigh

In the Interests of Historical Accuracy

Arising out of recent publicity in The Irish News on the 1981 hunger strikes I wish to clarify certain matters.
- Dr Garrett Fitzgerald places Gerry Adams as president of Sinn Fein in 1981.
I was president at that time.

Sinn Féin's task in 1980-81 was to campaign in support of the hunger strikers.
Sinn Féin knew nothing about the conditions alleged to have been on offer for settlement of the strike.
I do not believe that army council of the IRA was aware of such conditions at the time either.

In the interests of historical accuracy I wish to place this information on the public record.

Ruairí Ó Brádaigh.
President of Republican Sinn Féin,
Dublin 1

[picador]

I found the interview in full on another site.

R Ó B refutes the existence of the so-called deal in the interview. Before he gave the interview he would have been fully aware of the substance of Richard O'Rawe's allegations.

He denied all knowledge of the deal in his letter. Note use of the word 'alleged'. - twice! It is you who is spinning the contents of his letter. The so-called deal is a figment of your fevered imagination.

It is clear that he is providing additional clarification rather than rebutting the content of the interview.

[Seánod]

This section below was the section in the Irish News that led me to believe that Ruairí Ó Brádaigh was clearly refuting the notion of a deal being done behind the leadership's back.

Quote:
It has been suggested the northern leadership could have been acting autonomously without his knowledge and so rejected any deal without the knowledge of the full IRA army council.
“No, no, no I wouldn’t say that at all. With the situation as it existed at the time, no,” Ó Brádaigh said.
Unquote.

It may be, as some people have stated here, that this was a journalistic distortion of something Ruairí Ó Brádaigh said. I am prepared to accept that, the media needs angles and controversy more than it needs the truth (a bit like politics.ie in that respect). I think that Ruairí Ó Brádaigh's letter the following day was too minimalist and cautious to provide the clarification that he sought to provide (apart from his first point that it was he who was president of Sinn Féin). The other two points may be code for people in the know, but I'm not sure they would have provided much clarification for the general public. I have been following this debate, and I may have misread their intention.

[Pat Mc Larnon]

Ive even picketed them over previous stories by Sinn Fein member Alison Morris

however my problem here is with your dishonesty

In terms of dishonesty, Irish News reporter Allison Morris is not a member of SF. Your spin and bluster on this issue indicates that you have little interest in the truth.

[Pat Mc Larnon]

Pat McLarnon said: “From the convoluted workings of a Defence Counsel and the Prosecution to the relationship between a patient, his wife and an Oncologist. Your ramblings in an attempt to present a case border on the embarrassing.”

You just can’t stop drinking the juice.

But then you know nothing of the actual events.

If you know more than Richard O’Rawe then let’s hear it.

Though your being a stickler for the law in this case is very telling, no surprises there.

As opposed to you being a stickler for PSF spun fantasies, shocker that.

Actual witnesses to the events have had their say, their it sits.

And O’Rawe’s recall beats them all. So wise up Pat!

I simply asked my brother, Brendan who was a prisoner at the time, a prisoner who had volunteered for the 1st hunger strike. He marvels at the powers of recall of some of those now claiming to have overheard the discussion between O'Rawe and Bik especially when they hadn't a word of Gaelic, showing neither the interest or intellect to learn it.

[Katayusha]

Captain Smear to the rescue!

Did you help write Adams' original petulant rant, you know the one that was full of lies and bitterness for which APRN had to issue an apology; it was quickly suppressed and editted?