Liams Adams convicted, child abuse, child rape, Gerry Adams TD, Gerry Adams Snr, Sinn Fein, Belfast Court

Gerry Adams Prosecution

MI6 have moved to protect Gerry Adams TD from prosecution for with-holding information into the activities of two serial child rapists, His Father Gerry Adams Snr and his Brother Liam Adams.

Prosecutors have directed no prosecution of Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams over claims he withheld information about his brother's sex abuse from the police.

Gerry Adams has been accused of waiting almost a decade to tell detectives what he knew about his brother Liam.

Liam Adams was convicted this week of abusing his daughter Áine from when was she aged four until she was nine.

The PSNI confirmed a decision was taken in 2010 by the Public Prosecution Service not to launch a case.

Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris said: "This matter has been examined to see if we should open an investigation into the case and the advice that we received was not to open an investigation.

"We will re-examine the transcripts (of the recent court case) but all the facts in our knowledge in 2010 have not been moved on materially since the recent trial."

Adams, 58, from Bernagh Drive, Belfast, was found guilty of ten offences, including rape and gross indecency, against his daughter Áine.

The abuse was committed over a six-year period between 1977 and 1983.

Liam Adams Guilty child rape

When Gerry Adams TD was first confronted about the fact that he had concealed the rape of his 4 year old niece Aine Adams, Adams said that he had believed Aine when she said she had been raped by her Father, Liam Adams, and Gerry Adams TD went on to say that after he discovered his brother Liam was a serial child rapist he had no further contact with him. However, Gerry Adams TD was and is a liar of unprecedented magnitude, not only had Gerry Adams TD concealed the rape of 4 yearr old Aine, but Gerry Adams TD had also concealed the knowledge that his own Father, Gerry Adams Snr was a serial child rapist who had used the ‘republican’ movement to access and rape children, Gerry Adams Snr was also an active RUC informer and this was known to the PIRA leadership before Gerry Adams Snr died.

Gerry Adams TD attending his brother Liam's wedding 10 years after he accepts that Liam has raped a 4 year old child.

The truth has now been fully exposed in a Belfast Courtroom, where Liam Adams has been found guilty of being a serial child rapist, Liam Adams was a senior member of both the Provisional IRA and Sinn Fein, he was promoted in both organisations even after he was outed as a serial child rapist. Gerry Adams TD helped his serial rapist brother set up home in Dundalk where he had access to countless children and in particular to young children in the families off Sinn Fein members, Sinn Fein members who trusted Liam Adams as Gerry Adams had given him the stamp of approval, knowing well that his brother was a child rapist. Gerry Adams TD was parachuted into Dundalk and claimed time and again to locals that the child rape charges against Liam were part of a Brit conspiracy to undermine Gerry Adams TD. With all his bluster and lies, Gerry Adams has finally been exposed as a man prepared to do anything, including conceal the rape of children, to protect his lucrative political career.

Liams Adams convicted, child abuse

Liam Adams has been convicted of all charges relating to the sexual abuse of his daughter Áine.

Adams was found guilty by an 11 - 1 majority verdict by the jury at Belfast Crown Court this afternoon.

Adams (58), from Bernagh Drive in west Belfast, denied 10 charges of sexual assault against his daughter Áine, now aged 40 – three of rape, three of gross indecency and four of indecent assault.

The assaults took place over a six-year period beginning in 1977 when Áine Adams was aged four.

Gerry Adams TD canvasing with his Brother Liam Adams for Sinn Fein (This is after Gerry Adams TD is aware and accepts that Liam Adams has raped his 4 year old daughter)

Liam Adams has been convicted of raping his then 4 year old daughter Aine, his crimes were concealed by his brother Gerry Adams TD. Gerry Adams TD knowing that his brother Liam had raped a 4 year old child, helped his brother Liam set up home in the Irish Republic, in Dundalk, where Liam Adams had open access to hundreds of children. Sinn Fein leaders including Gerry Adams TD protected the serial child rapist Liam Adams from apprehension or prosecution, and Gerry Adams TD only admitted his role in this crime when it was clear that Sinn Fein and the PIRA could no longer keep her silent.

In the picture below serial child rapist Gerry Adams Snr, Gerry Adams TD who concealed his Father's crimes, Liam Adams convicted for raping his 4 year old daughter, Gerry Adams TD who concealed his crimes, Martin McGuinness who helped Liam Adams establish himself in Dundalk, County Louth, after it was known that Liam Adams had been identified as someone who had raped a 4 year old child. Martin McGuinness wanted to be President of Ireland.

Gerry Adams TD

Gerry Adams Snr was also a serial child rapist, who along with other members of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA in Belfast picked working class children up from the streets to rape them in derelict houses and sheds in west Belfast. Gerry Adams TD has admitted that he knew his Father was a serial child rapist, however, in order to protect his lucrative political career Gerry Adams TD afforded his Father a full-style PIRA funeral in west Belfast, the final insult to the many dozens of children raped by the evil Adams Family.

However, Gerry Adams TD was not the only senior member of Sinn Fein to offer succour to serial child rapist Liam Adams, want to be President of Ireland and MI6 Agent Martin McGuinness also helped Liam Adams to settle into his new Sinn Fein role in Dundalk, County Louth, as this picture clearly shows, McGuinness and Adams were as thick as thieves and therefore there is no doubt that McGuinness knew that Liam Adams was a serial child rapist.

Liam Adams Prosecuted by David McDowell

The claim came from prosecuting lawyer David McDowell as he closed the case against 58-year-old Liam Adams.

Mr McDowell told the Belfast Crown Court jury of nine men and three women that "the truth is king in this case".

"We suggest members of the jury that when you look at the truth, quite literally, you could not make it up," said the lawyer, adding that such was the evidence of Áine Adams, "no ordinary member of the public who has not been abused could not have come up with it."

Defence QC Eilis McDermott

Adams' defence QC Eilis McDermott counter claimed, however, that both Áine and her mother Sarah were proven liars whose evidence "doesn't hold water".

"The fact that the witnesses are prepared to swear by Almighty God to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and then lie to you [over dealings with the police], must mean in a case like this, that you cannot accept the truthfulness of any part of their evidence because it's all you have got," declared the lawyer.

Liam Adams, from Bearnagh Drive in west Belfast, is charged with ten offences including rape, indecent assault and gross indecency against his daughter more than 30 years ago on dates between March 1977 and March 1983.

He denies all charges.

Aine Adams

His daughter 40-year-old Áine Adams has testified that between the ages of four and nine, her father raped and abused her at various addresses the family lived in - including when her mother was in hospital giving birth to her brother and when she was in bed beside her brother.

The jury have heard that although the allegations were brought to police attention in 1987, six months after a family confrontation in Buncrana, the complaint was withdrawn.

Sarah Campbell

Adams' ex-wife Sarah Campbell said that was because she felt the police were more interested in her husband's activities and associates, recounting how one social worker told her the police had asked for Mrs Campbell to meet them in the city centre.

Those claims have been refuted by social workers.

The allegations were raised again in 2007 and it was then that Liam Adams was arrested and interviewed.

The jury have also heard that when initially asked about being confronted by his wife, daughter and his brother Gerry Adams, Liam Adams denied it happened.

Giving evidence on his own behalf when he repeatedly and consistently denied the allegations, Adams claimed he lied about the alleged meeting because it had been "drummed into us that we don't talk about Gerry Adams".

"It had been drummed into us since I was a young person, since the Troubles started that you don't talk about Gerry Adams - you don't talk about him in the barracks, to the British Army, in the media or even as you get older and socialise, you don't talk about Gerry Adams," claimed Liam Adams.

He labelled the allegations against him as "rubbish, absolute rubbish".

On Monday, Mr McDowell said while doubts would likely be cast on the claims for why the allegations were not pursued in the mid-1980s, he suggested to the jury that they use their "common sense".

He suggested that it would be "perfectly credible" that the police would have been interested in not just the allegations of abuse - but also had an "unhealthy interest...in big Gerry" and added that while there were no records of any social worker passing on a police message, "that's the things about off the record conversations, they're not recorded."

Aine Adams credibility

The truthfulness of Áine's account, said Mr McDowell, lay in the details of her evidence because if it had not happened, "how could she come up with this?"

If Áine had not been subjected to it, suggested the lawyer, "she could not have told you of the turmoil in the mind of the child."

He further declared to the jury that looking at the evidence and in applying common sense and their life experience, they would be "firmly convinced" of Adams' guilt.

During her closing remarks, Ms McDermott conceded that Adams, contrary to his solicitor's advice, had lied to police about the meeting in Buncrana, Co Donegal but that he had given his reasons for that.

"It may seem to you a good reason or a bad reason but it's his reason," said the lawyer, adding that the jury should apply their common sense when looking at that aspect of Adams' evidence.

Liam Adams the evidence

She urged the jury to look at the evidence of the social workers who testified that no such message was ever passed onto Áine and her mother from the police, claiming their account "is just patently not right".

Describing the jury as the "supreme judges of fact," Ms McDermott told them that only two people "in the whole world" really knew what had happened - Adams and his daughter Áine.

"Look at the evidence and ask: 'Is that enough, is that enough to satisfy me beyond reasonable doubt so that I'm firmly convinced of the guilt of a person?'," said the lawyer, adding that Áine and her mother could not be relied on.

Áine's sister Sinead had given evidence, telling the jury that her father allegedly confessed to her that he had abused Áine during a reconciliation meeting in December 2002, a meeting which was followed up by regular visits before things broke down again around ten months later.

On Monday, however, Ms McDermott said that not only had Adams denied any such confession, she put to the jury that if a father had just confessed to you that he abused your sister "you would not be able to wait to get out the door....you would not go anywhere near him".

She also highlighted the fact that although the Crown say he is a "monster" - who first raped his daughter when she was around five - none of his other three daughters or any child he worked with in various youth clubs and projects had ever made a similar complaint.

"We say to you that the only proper verdicts that you can return on these counts are verdicts of not guilty," declared Ms McDermott.

Once trial judge Deputy Recorder Judge Corinne Philpott QC has directed the jury in how to apply the law to each of the charges, the jury will retire to consider their verdicts.

The jury have been told their deliberations will begin on Tuesday.

The trial continues. At hearing.

Priory Hall Dublin, Tom McFeely, Criminal Assets Bureau, NAMA, Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams TD

Priory Hall Dublin, Tom McFeely, Criminal Assets Bureau

Sinn Fein Bagman Tom McFeely left €200,000 in his Mansion, the Sinn Fein Bagman handed over large amounts of cash to Sinn Fein in the run up to the General Election in 2011 which resulted in 14 Sinn Fein TDs getting elected. McFeely’s fortune was made off the back of good and decent hard working people who have now been left homeless after being evacuated from their Priory Hall Homes.

A search by the Criminal Assets Bureau of the former home of controversial Priory Hall developer Thomas McFeely is continuing this afternoon after officers found €60,000 in cash just days after a plumber found €140,000.

The €60,000 find was made yesterday, just days after a plumber carrying out renovations for the new owners of the luxury property on Dublin’s exclusive Ailesbury Road in Ballsbridge, found €140,000 in €50 notes hidden in the bathroom.

It is understood the latest haul, which was made up of €50 notes wrapped in rubber bands and plastic bags, was also found in the bathroom.

Officers from CAB were this afternoon continuing to search the property, once valued at €15 million but sold last year for €2.5 million.

The gardens and drains of the extensive red brick property were searched throughout today with teams of gardai seen removing bags from inside the home and using heavy tools including long handled shovels, axes and ladders.

Mr McFeely, said to have debts of some €200 million, was adjudicated bankrupt at the High Court here in August 2012.

After a legal battle, his home was then repossessed by the National Assets Management Agency as part of its efforts to enforce a €9.5 million judgment obtained against him over unpaid loans.

After the €140,00 was found on September 20th, it was lodged in a bank account under the control of the official assignee in bankruptcy pending a decision on what should happen to it. The €60,000 is expected to be similarly lodged.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said today Nama would be interested in the discoveries after taking control of Mr McFeely’s loans.

“I understand that an inch-by-inch survey, an investigation, has been carried out both in this residence and on the grounds of the premises to see if there is any more here,” Mr Kenny said.

“I think all of that smacks of what happened during the so-called Tiger years, when you had profligacy and greed and money sloshing around in so many places, that this is further evidence of what happened.”

Mr McFeely - a former IRA hunger-striker - was involved in the development of Priory Hall in Donaghmede which was evacuated almost two years ago after Dublin City Council raised concerns in the High Court about fire safety and other matters.

About 180 families had to leave their homes and many continue to campaign for suitable alternative accommodation.

Mr McFeely avoided going back behind bars last July after successfully overturning a contempt of court judgment. The developer appealed against a judgment that he broke court orders.

He had been ordered by the High Court in Dublin to carry out remedial works at Priory Hall, but was sentenced and fined when he did not.

Barristers for Mr McFeely appealed it was impossible for their client to comply with orders because he had been evicted from the site.

Breaking news, financial news, Irish economy, Budget 2014, Government debt, NTMA

Budget 2014, Government debt, NTMA

Trading in Irish Government debt will be boosted when bond markets open this morning following comments by credit ratings agency Moody’s on Ireland’s fiscal progress and the State’s “diminished susceptibility” to being cut off from the financial markets.

However, the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has criticised Moody’s failure to lift Irish sovereign debt out of its “junk” status.

Moody’s changed its outlook on its Ba1 rating of Irish Government bonds from negative to stable, but did not give Ireland a credit ratings upgrade, in its latest report on Ireland, issued late on Friday. This prompted the NTMA to say it was “disappointed” that Moody’s “did not see fit” to take Irish sovereign debt out of junk or “sub-investment” status, where it has languished since July 2011.

Investment grade

“Market implied” ratings based on Ireland’s bond market pricing, also published by Moody’s, suggest Ireland’s overall sovereign rating should be investment grade, the NTMA added in a statement.

The Ba1 grade, one step below investment grade, compares with BBB+ rankings by the two other big credit ratings agencies, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch.

However, certain classes of investors will only buy sovereign debt if it has been given an investment grade by all three agencies.

Kristin Lindow, a senior analyst at Moody’s in New York, told Bloomberg that its outlook report applied to a 12- to 18-month time horizon, but that Ireland’s credit position would be continually monitored. “We monitor ratings on an ongoing basis, so they’re not subject to a specific cycle,” she said.

Moody’s report, which followed a meeting of its ratings committee last Monday, was published one day after Ireland officially emerged from recession. In outlining the reasons for its stable outlook, the agency also said it expected that there would be a “resumption of growth among Ireland’s major trading partners, particularly the UK and the euro area, along with continued expansion of the US economy”.

The credit ratings agency said this would support Irish growth, “relative to its recent lacklustre performance”.

An update on the health of the European economy will be published today, when the September purchasing managers’ indexes for the manufacturing and services sectors are released by Markit.

The two gauges are expected to show an expansion in activity, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts. However, Fine Gael parliamentary party members were warned last week that the State may need a second bailout if Ireland’s major export markets suffer fresh economic slowdowns.

Public debt

Barclays Investment Bank chief economist Antonio Garcia Pascual told members at a private briefing that the sustainability of the State’s public debt of 125 per cent of gross domestic product was at risk if the EU, Britain or the US has to deal with a significant slowdown over the next two years.

Moody’s has said it expects that general government debt will level off relative to GDP. But it also includes the possibility of contagion from economic stresses elsewhere in the euro zone as a reason why Ireland’s credit rating might falter.

Ireland must make a full and sustainable return to the money markets when it exits the troika programme, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has reiterated. The Minister said Ireland cannot step out of a bailout and in again “like Lanigan’s ball”.

Meanwhile, former president of the European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet has pre-empted any potential request to attend the Government’s banking inquiry. He told the Sunday Independent that the ECB made “collegial” decisions and it should be the current governor of the Irish Central Bank, Patrick Honohan, who attended, although Mr Honohan had not been in place during part of the crisis.

Mr Trichet said that “all our decisions being collegial, the president goes to the European parliament and the governors of Central Banks go to the national parliaments”. 

The IRA Dublin, Sinn Fein, Real IRA, Dissident Republicans

The IRA

Colin Duffy is Chief of Staff of The IRA (Irish Republican Army) and he controls The IRA by means of a tight community of former members of The Provisional IRA (PIRA – now viewed as a British controlled proxy organisation). However, simply because the PIRA was led by M16 and M15 Agents, this does not mean that many within the ranks of the PIRA were not and remain committed Irish Republicans, they had simply been misled by British Agents such as Martin McGuinness and Dennis Donaldson, but to mention two.

The difficulty for Colin Duffy and The IRA is that they know they have no legitimacy until such time as they purge the contempt that Sinn Fein have shown for The IRA. Duffy and many of his comrades were members of The PIRA and this means they have some guilt by association with the surrender of Irish Republicanism to the British. Duffy knows that he cannot simply walk away from his association with the Provo leadership sell-out.

Duffy cannot simply sit back and allow weapons and ammunition to be used to shot some hood in the back alley ways of Belfast and Derry, while ignoring the British Agents still active within Sinn Fein and its proxy army. The contempt shown for The IRA, its legacy and its fallen volunteers cannot be allowed to go unpunished, and someday soon Duffy must face that reality rather than simply beat his chest proclaiming republicanism.

When British sock-puppet Gerry Adams TD was parachuted into County Louth in order to run and hide from the fact that he concealed the identity of two serial child rapists, Adams meet with senior members of the then Real IRA in order to negotiate a clear run in Louth, that free run was granted, and it is this type of ‘double-speak’ from The IRA leadership that is allowing The IRA to be infiltrated by informers and agents, most notably in Belfast, Derry and Dublin.

Martin McGuinness MI6

On the 18^th September 2013 MI6 Agent and former PIRA Commander Martin McGuinness, addressed an audience in Warrington, in a centre built by the peace foundation established in memory of Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball who were murdered in a PIRA bomb attack in Warrington in 1993.

McGuinness admitted to the audience that he was supposed to meet his MI6 contact on the day of the Warrington attack in 1993; the meeting was cancelled, but went ahead two days later.

Dublin Real IRA

The IRA/Real IRA put on a united front with a military display at Ryan’s funeral, but behind the scenes things in Dublin had already started to unravel.

Over the intervening year, Ryan’s inner circle has been seriously weakened following a massive clampdown by gardai, growing confidence of criminal gangs, drug use by many of the Dublin IRA members and the threat from power struggles within the terror organisation.

The first blow to the dissidents was dealt by gardai, who arrested 17 people in the days after Ryan’s funeral, during which a volley of shots were fired over his coffin.

Key associates, including Ryan’s younger brother Vinny and pals Nathan Kinsella and Daragh Evans, were among those to be charged with offences, including IRA membership.

Dissident sources told the The Irish Observer at the time that they had drawn up a hit-list of north Dublin criminals they were planning to take out in revenge for the killing.

Alan Ryans legacy

The Dublin brigade of the organisation were hoping to carry on as before with Ryan’s pal ‘Fat Deccy’ Smith put forward as the new leader of the cell. However, republicans from the north saw Ryan’s death as their opportunity to take over Dublin operations.

THE murder of Alan Ryan set in motion a series of events which almost led to the implosion of the New IRA in Dublin.

Dissidents put on a united front with a military display at Ryan’s funeral, but behind the scenes things in Dublin had already started to unravel with members organising drug infested house-parties.

The IRA Timeline

Over the intervening year, Ryan’s inner circle has been seriously weakened following a massive clampdown by gardai, growing confidence of criminal gangs and the threat from power struggles within the terror organisation.

The first blow to the dissidents was dealt by gardai, who arrested 17 people in the days after Ryan’s funeral, during which a volley of shots were fired over his coffin.

Key associates, including Ryan’s younger brother Vinny and pals Nathan Kinsella and Daragh Evans, were among those to be charged with offences, including IRA membership.

Alan Ryans associates shot

In November, Ryan’s pal Nathan Kinsella, who was out on bail charged with IRA membership, was kneecapped by his own associates and booted out of the organisation after they found drugs in his apartment. Other members were kicked out around the same time and an internal feud was already well underway.

Eamon Kelly execution

In December, dissidents carried out the murder of veteran criminal Eamon Kelly near his home in Killester. Sean Connolly, who was linked to a dissident faction based on the south-side of the city, was one of several people arrested over the killing. The arrests led dissidents to believe they had at least one informer in their ranks.

Kelly was not directly involved in the killing of Ryan, but may have been seen as an easy target by dissidents. However, it has already become clear criminal gangs were not as afraid of Ryan’s cronies as they had been.

Masked criminals attacked the family homes of several of Ryan’s crew in north Dublin. 

However, the dissident figures were not even staying in the family homes as they had been moving around, fearful they would be killed by the same gang who took out Ryan.

By January the internal feud within the New IRA was gathering pace and senior dissidents told the The Irish Observer they were carrying out a “root and branch” review of the organisation, saying it had become tarnished by criminality.

They told how ‘Fat Deccy’ Smith had been isolated from the organisation. A week later Smith was shot in the leg in a punishment attack.

Peter Butterly Murder

In March, former Real IRA member Peter Butterly was shot in the car park of the Huntsman Inn at Gormanston, Co. Meath and several dissidents were arrested. They included Dean Evans, Eddie McGrath (32), from Tallaght, David Cullen (29) and Sharif Kelly (43), both from Balbriggan.

The arrests were a serious blow to the new leadership of the organisation.

They were to suffer a further blow when eight men were arrested in Clondalkin as part of an investigation into dissident activity. Kevin Braney (38), Des Christie (49), Hubert Duffy (45) and John Brock (40) were among those charged with IRA membership. Those arrested included the new Dublin leaders. At this point it was clear that The IRA in Dublin was riddled with informers.

Eamon McNamee, from Lucan, was also charged. McNamee was arrested in the wake of the shooting of ‘Fat Deccy’ Smith. His links to republicans raised eyebrows due to his serious convictions for drug dealing.

The IRA Cork

In May, Ryan associate Aidan ‘the Beast’ O’Driscoll was shot in the leg in a punishment attack in Cork.

Around this time there had been reports that Ryan’s brothers Anthony and Dermot had been shunned by the republican organisation. However, they retained support from certain factions and still attend republican marches in Derry and so forth.

Sean Connolly’s brother Ronan was shot in a punishment attack in May. Ronan is a convicted criminal and not an IRA member, and is believed to have been targeted by dissidents.

The infighting and arrests led to an emergency meeting of leaders of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement – the political wing of the New IRA – in June. After that meeting gardai arrested eight people and uncovered a massive haul of the plastic explosive Semtex in two raids in Dublin.

Seven people were arrested at a suspected IRA meeting at a house in Tallaght including Braney, Christie and Brock, who were ordered not to associate with each other following their IRA membership charge in April.

The IRA leadership Dublin

All those arrested at the Tallaght house were loyal to the new leadership trying to take over Dublin, but the arrests dealt another major blow to their attempts to take control.

On the same day as those arrests Stephen Hendrick (45), of Balbutcher Drive, Ballymun, was charged with IRA membership and possession of ammunition in suspicious circumstances on at Furry Park, Turnapin Great, Old Airport Road, Cloghran in Co Dublin.

Gardai discovered more than 15kg of Semtex explosive as well as a machine gun, at least four handguns, a couple of shotguns, a hand grenade, and a huge amount of assorted ammunition at the site.

There are some dissidents who remain standing after the arrests and infighting. Phil Forsyth, from south county Dublin, was a pal of Ryan’s and has been involved with the Real IRA since the 1990s.

He was put forward as someone to take over the Dublin operation following Ryan’s demise and was expected to attend yesterday’s march to Ryan’s grave.

Many others will no doubt attend and while they will try to put on a united front, it is clear that there is major division in republican circles at present.

Alan Ryan, Dissident republicans, The IRA, explosive device

Alan Ryan, The IRA, explosive device Dublin

A major Garda and Army security operation is under way in north Dublin this afternoon after two suspect explosive devices were found near the grave of former Real IRA leader Alan Ryan.

The incident is regarded as the latest attack in the escalation of a feud between dissidents in Dublin and the gangland criminals believed to be behind the murder of Ryan last year.

A shooting in Dublin’s north inner city yesterday is also being linked to the feud.

The cemetery at Balgriffin, north Dublin, where Ryan is buried was sealed off this afternoon and the Garda had requested the assistance of the Army’s bomb disposal teams.

The discovery of the two explosive devices comes just three days after a major one-year anniversary commemoration was held at the grave of 32-year-old Ryan. He was shot dead at Grange Lodge Avenue in Clongriffin, north Dublin, on September 3rd last year.

At Saturday’s event, several hundred people, including a colour guard with paramilitary trappings, were met with a very significant Garda presence in a bid to prevent the scenes witnessed at Ryan’s funeral 12 months ago.

On that occasion, shots were fired over his coffin and masked colour guard in full paramilitary style attire was present.

While Saturday’s event passed off peacefully, Ryan’s headstone had been vandalised the night before, when the words “rat scum” were spray painted onto it.

Gardai believe the spray painting incident at the weekend was carried out at the behest of drugs gang leaders who wanted to embarrass Ryan’s associates and the dissident movement in Dublin generally at an event where they would be closely watched by the public and media.

The graffiti was cleaned off before the crowds gathered at the graveside on Saturday and the event passed off peacefully.

However, gardai believe Ryan’s associates were behind a shooting incident in Dublin’s north inner city yesterday, during which a number of shots were fired at a house. There were no injuries.

Detectives believe the shooting was a retaliatory attack for Saturday’s vandalism and that today’s discovery of the suspect explosive devices was retaliation for yesterday’s shooting.

Gardai believe Ryan and his Real IRA associates were extorting money from the biggest drugs in Dublin in the years before his death. A gun feud had begun between the Real IRA in Dublin and the gangs, and Ryan’s murder was part of that feud.

While the feud between the gangs and dissidents has simmered since Ryan’s murder, it has not resulted in the extreme violence that was feared. However, gardai believe the events of the past few days underline that tensions are at elevated levels at present.

Ryan’s associates have continued the extortion demands on the gangs since last year’s murder of their leader and the dissident republican movement has been beset with divisions.

Some of Ryan’s former associates have been subjected to punishment beatings and shootings since his death. A new dissident alliance called the New IRA has emerged in the past 12 months.

Cavan siege, Cavan Gardai, Bailieborough death, Cavan arrest

Cavan siege, Cavan Gardai

A man has been arrested following an 8-hour armed siege in the Co Cavan town of Bailieborough last night.

The 56-year-old man, who was believed to be armed with a shotgun, locked himself into a local pub following the violent death of a mother-of-four (56) whose body found dead earlier in her home at Drumbannon on the outskirts of the town.

The major security operation took place in the town where a large number of armed and unarmed gardaí were at the scene close to the cordoned-off pub where the local man had barricaded himself in to the basement.

The man was arrested at about 3.30am and is in custody at Bailieborough Garda station under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act.

The events began to unfold early yesterday evening when a local woman went to Bailieborough Garda station and expressed concern for the safety of her sister after efforts to contact her by telephone and by calling to her home were unsuccessful.

Gardaí went to the woman’s home where they discovered her body.

Shortly after the discovery was made, local gardaí began receiving reports that a man had gone in to the centre of Bailieborough, armed with a shotgun.

The man had goen into  the well-known local pub and restaurant Nixy’s The Square Bar on Market Square. Those on the premises fled, according to sources.

Siege

When local unarmed gardaí responded to the reports of an armed man in the pub, they approached, but were threatened and forced to retreat. The area was then sealed off and a siege began.

People living in the town centre were asked to remain in their homes during the incident and traffic was diverted around the town.

Gardaí believed the man was in the basement of the large licensed premises and they were working on the theory that he was in the pub alone.

The man is well-known in the area. He was known to the woman found earlier and gardaí were last night trying to establish if the events were linked.

Three of the dead woman’s four adult children live in Australia. Her youngest son was on a flight yesterday morning to join his siblings in Austraia when news of his mother’s death emerged. It is believed that he is now on his way back to Ireland.

Members of the Garda’s highly-trained regional support unit attended the scene did were local uniformed and armed gardaí.

A number of Garda personnel trained to deal with siege incidents, including trained negotiators, had also been drafted in.

Garda Headquarters at the Phoenix Park in Dublin, requested a media blackout for fear the armed man in the pub may have access to the internet, TV and radio and that his actions may be influenced by any reportage of the siege.

The blackout was observed by The Irish Observer.

A full postmortem is due to be carried out on the woman’s body.

The house where she was found and the pub have both has been sealed off d for a technical examination.

Gardai have appealed for witnesses that may have been in the Drumbannon housing estate yesterday and may have seen anything unusual or suspicious to contact the incident room at Bailieboro Garda station 042-9694570, the Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.

Sinn Fein Budget proposals, sinn fein flawed methodology, finance spokesman, pearse doherty td, Gerry adams td, politics, budget 2013

Sinn Fein Budget Proposals based on Flawed Methodology

Sinn Fein’s Flawed Methodology has seen the party make a u-turn on its wealth tax proposals. Sinn Fein were accused of ‘plucking figures from the sky’ when the party suggested that up to €800 million could be collected from their wealth tax proposals, many of Ireland’s senior economists have suggested that Sinn Fein remains stuck in the mud of protectionism economics as espoused by former Sinn Fein President, Ruari O’Bradaigh (RIP).

In recent times Sinn Fein have been embarrassed when it was shown that Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams TD had flown to America to enjoy Private Healthcare treatment, while his own constituents in Louth languished on hospital trolleys.

Sinn Fein’s wealth Tax u-turn

Sinn Féin will drop its calls for a wealth tax in next month’s budget as part of a dramatic departure from its approach to balance the State’s finances.

The principle of a wealth tax of 1 per cent on assets above €1 million has been an integral part of Sinn Féin’s pre-budget submission since 2010 along with a third 48 per cent tax rate and a cap of €100,000 on public sector salaries.

It has claimed that a wealth tax could yield €800 million to the State each year.

However, the reliability of the party’s figures was questioned by tax expert and barrister Suzanne Kelly who cast doubts on the sources of its calculations and the amount of tax that would be raised.

It led to scrutiny and criticism of the policy from its opponents.

The party has responded by leaving out any proposals for a wealth tax in its pre-budget submission, due out this month.

Sinn Fein Finance Spokesman Pearse Doherty

Finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said the party is still committed to a wealth tax but will not include it in its submission this year. He said Sinn Féin will deal with wealth assets as a special category, with all revenue generated being ring-fenced for job creation.

He said the decision was made because it was not possible to say with any certainty at present how much would be raised by a wealth tax. He said definite figures would only become available when the Central Statistics Office began collating data for personal wealth next year.

“It’s not disputed that a wealth tax will bring in hundreds of millions of euro,” said Mr Doherty, but he pointed out that estimates varied from €400 million to €800 million.

“Instead of putting the measure in and leaving ourselves open to the accusation that this is not costed, we will [leave it out] and rely on other measures to reduce the deficit to the target amount.”

Mr Doherty said the party’s submission would propose reducing the deficit by “slightly over €2 billion”, somewhat short of the €3.1 billion being pressed for by elements in Fine Gael and by the troika.

He asserted this figure would be sufficient to meet international obligations, but would also encourage jobs and growth.

Sinn Fein Property TAX

Sinn Féin’s opposition to the property tax will mean it will have to find €500 million in alternative measures.

Mr Doherty accepted that this will be a tough challenge. He said the focus was on fairness, protecting the public services, jobs, emigration and ensuring youth employment.

The third rate of tax of 48 per cent for those earning over €100,000 would be a key component, but he said the party was varying its policy of a cap of €100,000 on public salaries.

“It was a blunt instrument that was introduced as an emergency measure during the crisis. We have a more considered approach that is conscious of what happened in the Haddington Road Agreement [on public sector pay]. We are introducing the first step of that. There will be grades of reduction for those earning above €100,000,” he said.

It is expected the party will also propose cuts in politicians salaries, another red herring.