On the 18th day of December 2009 at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, Stephen (Rossi) Walsh was convicted on two counts of raping a 9 year old girl and one further count of sexual assault against the same child. Much of the media reporting on this case failed to mention the fact that Stephen 'Rossi' Walsh was one of the most senior members of Sinn Fein/IRA in Dublin for many years, indeed during his last sentence (15 years) for blowing up Collins pub in Ballybough in September 1992, Rossi spent many years of his sentence with republicans in the PIRA wing in Portloaise Prison. Stephen Walsh was running a major protection racket for the IRA when he blow up Collin's pub in Ballybough in 1992. Rossi was well known in republican circles in Dublin and he could call and rally active service units in Dublin at a whim. Rossi Walsh was caught in the 1992 attack as the bomb he had planted sucked him back into the pub when it exploded, Gardai found Rossi inside the pub badly burned.
Rossi who was up until recently living in Belgrave Road, Rathgar in Dublin had previously lived and was known throughout the Ringsend and Pearse Street areas of Dublin. When Rossi was convicted for the 1992 Bombing he was tried as were all IRA activists in the Special Criminal Court. Rossi was treated and accorded the facilities of a 'political' prisoner upon his conviction and he was popular among his fellow IRA comrades in Portloaise Prison. Rossi would finish out his 15 year sentence in Wheatfield Prison where he focused his attention on studying law and indeed fought many successful cases on behalf of prisoners who were less versed in the law. Rossi who was once a talented footballer attended the gym in Wheatfield on a daily basis and encouraged young lads to participate in football, many of these young lads were drug addicts but they looked up to and respected Rossi.
While in Wheatfield Rossi was quickly surrounded by fellow republicans Larry Kane Snr and Jnr, Micheal Kenny, William (Billy) Clare etc etc and they acted accordingly with constant challenges to the Courts and to the system. Stephen Rossi Walsh was and remains a staunch republican, while in prison he was regularly visited by some of the most senior republicans in Dublin, Rossi used smuggled mobile phones to remain in contact with his comrades in Portloaise Prison while he was in Wheatfield. Rossi famously carried out a raid on the offices of the DPP in Dublin to try and halt certain proceedings, he has never been convicted of this crime but often talked about it while in Wheatfield, he was the stuff that folklore is made off. Rossi while an active republican on the streets and in prison was always a champion of the under dog, this latest conviction however leaves a stain that will most likely be his epitaph.
The reporting of Rossi's conviction in the media is strange, there is no mention of his membership of Sinn Fein/IRA, there is no mention of the fact that he was operating on behalf of the PIRA when he blew up Collins pub, I suppose its no stranger than a so called victims group congratulating Gerry Adams on his coming clean about his Fathers alleged abuse and his brothers admitted deviance, still I would have prefered if Gerry had told the truth when he first knew, how many children have been abused by Gerry Snr and Liam we will probably never know as victims would be unlikely to report members of the Adams family.
In February 2010 Stephen Rossi Walsh will be sentenced for raping a 9 year old girl, yet he is simply one in a long line of Sinn Fein/IRA members to have carried out such crimes, can the people expect anything other than murder and rape from an organisation that indoctrinated its child soldiers.
