Vincent McKenna Autobiography
This is the Autobiography of Vincent McKenna, this is going to be a work in progress as I set out a clear Chronology of several decades of life, to those who thought they had done me harm, you did not, because you never knew who I was.
NOTE: In 1998, when I went public about IRA recruitment of students on campus for an English Bombing Campaign, I done so to reduce the number of students being groomed by terrorists. BBC NI Spotlight stated that I had invented the whole story, when in fact, the bomb team lead by Queen's University student Darren Mulholland had already been captured with Semtex bombs in England. It may be the case that Dark Forces and their proxies in the media wanted the bombing campaign to go ahead to place pressure on the peace process. Darren Mulholland was known to my cousin Seamus McKenna in Dundalk and I knew Darren at QUB.
NOTE: On the 27 January, 1999, I was in Westminster having lunch with Labour Party MP, Harry Barnes and others, when I was asked by Gary Kent (fixer) if I would like to meet Sean O'Callaghan (Garda/MI5 Agent). I said yes. As Sean and I were enjoying lunch and chatting, Sean received a friendly phone call from Martin McGuinness (MI6 Agent) to advise Sean that Eamon Collins had been murdered in Newry. Eamon Collins, like many others, Owen Smyth, Bernard McGinn, Robert Lean and so forth, had turned informer when arrested by the RUC, but was allowed to return to his home in Newry when he did not take the stand against Sinn Fein/PIRA members.
Book Reviews by Vincent McKenna
The Kidnapping by Tommy Conlon and Ronan McGreevy
NOTE: On Sunday, 14 March, 1999, a CBS 60 Minutes Documentary was aired to 80,000,000 Americans. I had put this documentary together for the world renowned Mike Wallace, who had brought his film crew to Belfast to record my documentary. The reason that I had compiled the documentary, was to impact on Sinn Fein/PIRA fund-raising in America that Saint Patrick's week as I was aware that Sean 'Spike' Murray was purchasing 'clean weapons' (Glocks) in order that Sinn Fein/PIRA could take Iron-Fist control of the areas they dominated, and use weapons that could not be traced to previously claimed Sinn Fein/PIRA gangland criminality.
My documentary was so successful that many Sinn Fein/PIRA fund-raising events in America that Saint Patrick's week 1999 were left empty. Four Sinn Fein/PIRA conspirators were convicted of the gun-running plot in America. Sinn Fein/PIRA did not simply want clean guns to murder 'internal opponents' but also to silence the women and children they had raped. Sinn Fein/PIRA were trying to present themselves to the world as 'freedom fighters' and did not want to be exposed as a sophisticated pedophile ring.
April 1980, when I was 16-years-old, I cycled to Monaghan Town in search of a Garda Officer whose name I did not know. The Garda Officer I was looking for had rescued me in June, 1975, from Clara grave-yard, serious rioting had broken out between mourners and Gardai as my Uncle Sean McKenna was being buried and I had been splattered with blood. Sean McKenna was a senior member of the Provisional IRA who had been tortured during internment.
In April, 1980, I meet a uniform Garda on what I would later know to be Park Street, Monaghan Town. I explained to Garda Sean Casey, that I was looking to speak with the Garda who had rescued me in 1975. Soon after speaking with Garda Sean Casey, I returned to Monaghan Town to be introduced to Garda Detective, Christy McNamee.
I explained to Garda Detective, Christy McNamee, that I was going to infiltrate Sinn Fein/PIRA and punish them for murdering my Uncle Cyril McCaul in November, 1973. Following a couple of meetings with Garda Detective, Christy McNamee, I was recruited as a Garda Agent. I had arrived in Monaghan Town at the right time as some Gardai were setting up a new Intelligence Unit that would be free from political interference.
My brief as a Garda Agent was to work to develop the political aspect of Sinn Fein/PIRA, and to watch, listen and report on the violent aspect of Sinn Fein/PIRA. This brief in contrast to my own initial plan, which was simply to kill Kevin McKenna. As I stood at the back of Clara chapel as a child and listened to paternal relatives and others talking, I learned that Kevin McKenna, whom I already knew well, was in charge of the PIRA in Monaghan/Tyrone.
On Easter Monday, 1979, I cycled from Aughnacloy in County Tyrone to the Fourth Chapel between, Augher and Clogher, to watch my cousin Leo McKenna get married. As I watched Leo and his bride leave the Chapel, I noticed a van, that appeared odd. Two PIRA gunmen dismounted from the van and shot dead Michael Cassidy, Leo's brother-in-law. Sinn Fein Councilor, Jim Lynagh and Laurence McNally were the gunmen, the third person in the van was Aidan McGurk. This cowardly murder of Michael Cassidy, convinced me that the task I had set myself was the correct path to take.
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By pure chance, Garda Detective, Christy McNamee attended my wedding on 12 June, 1981, as he was also a friend of my father-in-law, Seamus 'The Bull' McCleary.
Between 1992-1997, I was a Confidential Messenger between Provisional IRA, Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna and Head of PIRA Northern Command, Martin McGuinness. This role was delegated to me, as I was travelling between Monaghan, Belfast and Derry on a regular basis.
Vincent McKenna, 2023. I have since 1978, when I organised a 1,000,001 Darts Marathon in The Railway Bar in Augher, County, Tyrone for the flood disaster in Cambodia that year raised over £500,000 for Charity.
Vincent McKenna BSSc PGDipSSc MSc Certified Digital Marketing Professional.
Gael Scoil Ultain Monaghan
Vincent McKenna, Gael Scoil
Ultain, Monaghan Town. I was one of a small group of people who founded Gael
Scoil Ultain in Monaghan Town in 1986. As the Gael Scoil would not be
recognised by The Department of Education for the first two years of its
existence, I ran sponsored Marathons to fund the Gael Scoil.
Gael Scoil Ultain is now one of the largest Gael Scoils in Ireland. My good friend Sean McCague, GAA President, initially housed the Gael Scoil within the grounds of the Christian Brothers school where Sean was Headmaster, without Sean McCague the Gael Scoil would never have moved beyond an aspiration.
Vincent McKenna background
In November 1973, when I was 9-years-old, my favourite Uncle Cyril McCaul and his Protestant workmate, Ivan Charlton, were murdered by The Provisional IRA in horrendous circumstances.
The Provisional IRA had
high-jacked a lorry and abandoned the lorry on a notoriously dangerous stretch
of the Ballygawley/Dungannon Road, to draw the RUC into an ambush. My Uncle and his workmate, both
civilian mechanics, were returning home from work when they crashed into the
lorry and my Uncle was decapitated. I seen Cyril’s decapitated body in the
morgue.
Before beginning this
journey, my autobiography, I would like to help put something into perspective.
People when placed in front of TV cameras, to do me harm, have said a great
deal, however, the reality was somewhat different. Below some diary entries
from my ex-wife’s Diary, I had sought disclosure of the diaries to show the
Court that an alleged apology by me in 1990 to the Complainant for alleged
sexual abuse, was in fact related to a slapping incident when she had again
been caught stealing and telling lies. There is no mention of sexual abuse at
anytime through ten years of diary entries.
In 1992, I did not
abandon anyone, as suggested by some. I had been working up to 100 hours
per-week in heavy industry. I was also cycling to and from work. By the summer
of 1992, I was physically exhausted, however, in 1992, men could not admit to
be physically exhausted. Fiona makes some reference to me being “wrecked”,
however, that exhaustion was constant. I stepped back, because if I had kept
going, I would have made a mistake at work, which could have resulted in
serious injury or death to myself or someone else. A worker had been killed in
our sister factory and yard, in such circumstances.
I would arrive home at
5am from work having completed a 12 hours shift, I would collapse on the couch,
then the phone would ring and the day shift foreman would ask me to return to
work as some of the lads had not turned in. I would get back on my bike and
return to work, do the day shift and then my own night-shift.
In the summer of 1992, I
secured a bedsit in Armagh City and I returned to education. I did not abandon
my wife and children; they were integral to my life. I meet an exceptional man
of God called the Rev David Greer, and he offered to provide marriage guidance
to Fiona and I. Fiona and the children visited Armagh, Fiona and I attended the
marriage guidance classes. This was an opportunity for my wife, children and I
to start fresh. However, while I was acting in good faith, my wife was not, and
that was brought to my attention by my former workmate Jimmy Brennan who had
meet my wife and her sister, both very drunk, in a pub in Keady.
I asked Fiona if she had
any desire to do the best for herself and the children, her reply was very,
very sad. I began a journey with John Hume in relation to the peace process,
and I began a journey in education, a journey that was going to prepare a path
for my children to university. Everything was going well, until after the
Provisional IRA Army Convention in Donegal in October 1997, when Michael
McKevitt and others broke away from the Provisional IRA and began emptying PIRA
arms dumps. My cousin Kevin McKenna (PIRA Chief of Staff, 1983-1997) and Martin
McGuinness admitted to me, that they were not going to stop McKevitt taking
their explosives and weapons, I went to war publicly against Sinn Fein/PIRA for
their duplicity in early 1998.
My eldest daughter,
Sorcha, had, at her request, stayed with me for two weeks in February 1998 to
do a placement with my solicitor. While Sorcha would later tell the media that
she spent no time with me alone in 1998, that is another lie. Sandra would drop
the children off at the crèche and go on to work. Sorcha and I would be in the
house alone, I would then organise a taxi for Sorcha and I, I would then walk Sorcha right up to the solicitor’s office, once the taxi dropped us off.
In February 1998, I
carried out a survey on the Ormeau Road that exposed Sinn Fein/PIRA for having
manufactured opposition to loyal order parades, I immediately came under threat
from Sinn Fein/PIRA, however, anyone who knows me, knows that I do not run from
anyone. On the 29 March 1998, I broke the cardinal rule, I gave a front-page
interview to The Sunday Times, exposing the Sinn Fein/PIRA policy of Ethnic
Cleansing sanctioned in 1986 by Martin McGuinness. There was no going back.
From the moment my public
survey in February 1998, exposed Sinn Fein/PIRA, my ex-wife was telling me that
her employer, Dr Marian Smyth (had child to PIRA serial killer Michael ‘Pete’
Ryan) and Sinn Fein/PIRA murderer, Owen Smyth (Marian’s brother-in-law) was
putting her under pressure to do something to discredit me. I told my ex-wife
that it would blow-over. On top of this political pressure on my ex-wife, I had
filed for Divorce which was being concluded in the High Court in Belfast, 27
April 1998, so my ex-wife had plenty of motivation to do me harm.
On the 17 April 1998, I
was returning from Dublin late at night, and had called into my cousin Lucy’s
wedding at the Four Seasons Hotel, Monaghan Town. My ex-wife was there very
drunk, she kept going on about the pressure that Dr Marian Smyth and Owen Smyth
were putting her under to do me harm. I left the Four Seasons Hotel as my
ex-wife was extremely drunk and pestering my father and I.
On Saturday 18 April
1998, my ex-wife continued on her drunken binge and teamed up with Blackmailer,
Carmel Mulhall (nee, Gallagher). Carmel Mulhall claimed that one of her
children was Jim Lynagh’s. Carmel had been threatened with imprisonment by Mr
Justice Paul Carney, in The Central Criminal Court in Dublin, 1992, when she
admitted making a false allegation of rape against an innocent man to Blackmail
him for £10,000.
My ex-wife returned home
on the 18 April 1998 and told my eldest daughter, 16-years-old, a grievous lie
and that they were going to be burned out by the Provisional IRA if they did
not do something to put distance between themselves and me.
While the Complainant may
well have thought that she was in the driving seat at this point, she was not,
this had been planned for weeks, it was a conversation between, my ex-wife, her
employer Dr Marian Smyth and Sinn Fein/PIRA murderer Owen Smyth. The Complainant
had already been drugged, without her knowing, for two weeks with Seroxat.
While in 2000, the
Complainant would tell the court that she and her mother had a good
relationship, this was a lie and is reflected in the Complainant’s Diary many
times. There had never been any close relationship between mother and daughter,
and this was from birth.
I spoke to the
Complainant on the phone on the 20 April 1998, and she never mentioned any
alleged disclosure of sexual abuse over the weekend. The Complainant sounded
like she was drugged, her voice was slurred, but she assured me she was ok.
On 23 April 1998, I
received a call to inform me that my 22-year-old cousin Jimmy had just been
found dead in north Belfast, I was devastated. As I was taking the call about
Jimmy’s death, the postman dropped a letter through the letter box, the letter
was from the North Eastern Health Board and was one line. I assumed the letter
from the NEHB was related to my Divorce the following Monday 27 April, I
honestly had no clue about Divorce. I phoned my ex-wife to tell her about the
death of my cousin Jimmy, we chatted, I then mentioned the letter from the
NEHB, my ex-wife had no explanation for the letter from the NEHB. My ex-wife
kept going on about Dr Marian Smyth and Owen Smyth putting her under pressure
to do me harm. I assured her that it would all blow over.
When I had dealt with the
initial shock of Jimmy’s death 23 April 1998, I phoned 11am the NEHB as I did
not want anything delaying my Divorce which had dragged on for years. I spoke
to someone in the NEHB but they said that the Social Worker who had sent the letter
was not available. I asked if the letter was related to my Divorce and they
simply had no answer. I had to deal with Jimmy’s death, burial and my divorce
over the coming days. All of this on top of constant threat from Sinn
Fein/PIRA.
Over the following weeks,
my children continued to travel to and stay with me in Belfast. My ex-wife had
indicated that an allegation of sexual abuse had been made against me and that if
I tried to contact the Complainant, I would be arrested for harassment. It
would be the 7 May 1998, that I decided to speak to a solicitor as nobody at
the NEHB would meet with me. My solicitor phoned the NEHB on many occasions but
nobody would answer. When I returned from the solicitor’s, 7 May 1998, my
Fiancée was on the phone speaking to my ex-wife, I asked Sandra, what is she
saying? And Sandra said, “She said it is all lies, but it has all gone too
far”.
The latter is why my
Fiancée stood by me, and not because of anything that I said. In July 1998, my
ex-wife would make a final bid to Blackmail me for my house in Monaghan and
when I refused, she cut off contact. In this phone call which was witnessed, my
ex-wife said:
“If you agree to sign
over the house to me and meet with Owen Smyth about your work in Belfast the allegations
will go away”.
Fiona McCleary, Diary
entry: Thursday 11 July 1991: “V came to hospital at 10.30am Motor-bike still
not fixed. He only had two hours sleep last night before having to go back to
work. He looks wrecked. I am going home tomorrow. V running about all day
getting organised, he’s great. I can’t believe his excitement. Looking forward
to weekend V has no work, I hope. Can’t wait to sleep in my own bed. I hope I
can manage everything. V left up my jeans and jumper. V bought junior a little
tee-shirt. He is all excited about us getting home”.
Fiona McCleary, Diary
entry: Saturday 13 July 1991: “V had the house looking great yesterday, new
carpet lovely, kitchen all clean and shinning. He had the nappy bag filled and
hanging on the mosses basket ready for baby Sean. Fire lit and a box of cream buns,
so thoughtful. V went to work at 6am. Mum and Granny left 2 girls home at 2pm.
They were all over the baby. Dead tired today, V brought me home box of milk
tray. V is out now doing the garden with Shorty. V and Shorty put the dolls
house in the shed for the cat, all organised now”.
Fiona McCleary, Diary
entry: Friday 19 July 1991: “V home from work at 2.30am this morning. Sean
awake for feed at 4.30am. At 8am V gone back to work. At least he will be off
tonight. Have yet to do shopping and bills. Maybe V will do it today. V did the
bills and then Sorcha, Sinead and I went to Flemings to do the shopping, didn’t
have time for anything else. V and Shorty painted the front window tonight.
Then we all watched TV and had a cosy evening of what I call normal family
time”.
Fiona McCleary, Diary entry: Monday 29 July, 1991: “Called to priest to confirm christening on Sunday. All OK. Shorty and V went to Westenra Hotel to sort everything for Sunday, meal, cake and champagne all paid for. V is really over the moon about this wee son of ours. I still didn’t get much house work done, just the ironing. Take medication”.
McKenna Clan History - Irish History is soaked in our Family’s Blood
In 2009 a senior Sinn Fein/PIRA member, Jim Gibney, paid Tribute in The Irish News, to Sean McKenna Jnr and his
Father Sean McKenna Snr when he said, “The McKennas are republicans. They
believed partition was wrong and actively opposed British occupation. They paid
a high price for their political convictions.”
The history of the McKenna Clan
is well documented at McKennaClan I will confine my
McKenna Clan history to the stories and personalities that were brought to my
attention when I was a child. My Great-Grandfather always spoke fondly of my
Great Great Aunt, Kathleen McKenna, who was Private Secretary to Sinn Fein, Leader, Arthur Griffith in 1921, Kathleen travelled to London with Arthur Griffith to
negotiate the Treaty. Kathleen lived until 1988, and I was very lucky to be able to meet with Kathleen and talk to her about the men and women of 1916 and the development of The Irish Republic.
Sinn Fein Leader, Eamon De
Valera was told by the British in 1921, before the negotiations on the Treaty
even began, that a full 32 county Irish Republic would not even be discussed. Partition
was already in place with Government of Ireland Act 1920 with Prime Minister of
Northern Ireland, James Craig in office by May 1921, this several months before
the Treaty was signed by Sinn Fein.
The Treaty was signed in London on 6 December 1921, by representatives of the British government (including Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who was head of the British delegates) and by representatives of the Irish Republic including Sinn Fein/IRA Leaders Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith. The majority of Sinn Féin TDs voted for the Treaty and in the June 1922 General Election 80% of the electorate voted for Pro-Treaty candidates.
By the mid-19th century, and Griffith's 'Primary Valuation' of households in Ireland, the name McKenna is to be found mostly in counties Monaghan 758, Tyrone 366, Derry 215, Louth 128 and Armagh 123. The total McKenna households were 2,192. In the 21st Century, The McKenna Clan is spread across the world and in Ireland alone numbers in the many thousands.
My cousin, Provisional IRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna would tell me when I was a child and later, about our Forefather, Neil McKenna, who in 1641, led a campaign of Ethnic Cleansing, against the Protestant people of the Northern Counties of Ireland, Neil and his Clan’s men slaughtered over 2,000 Protestants and drove thousands more from their homes.
Kevin McKenna wished to replicate the campaign of Ethnic Cleansing
that had been led by Neil in 1641. Official sanction for a policy of Ethnic Cleansing was granted by the Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Army Council in 1986.
On New Years Eve 1957, my Father was a 16 year-old apprentice Barman in McManus's Pub on Glaslough Street in Monaghan Town. On this night my Father served tea and soft drinks to Fergal O’Hanlon, Sean South, Vincent Conlon and others as they prepared to leave Monaghan Town and launch a gun attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, during the IRA Border Campaign.
Chapter 1
The Early Years
I, Vincent McKenna, was born 1 December, 1963, In Saint Mary’s Hospital,
Paddington, London. This was shortly before the Queen's Christmas Broadcast in
1963, which was made by radio, as Queen Elizabeth was pregnant with her fourth
child, Prince Edward, who was born in the March, 1964. And my birth was shortly
after the assassination of American President, John Fitzgerald, Kennedy, 22
November, 1963.
I am told that we lived in a basement flat in London in 1963, and that
our neighbours were asylum seekers and various ethnic minorities seeking a
better life for themselves in Britain. My Father, Patrick McKenna worked as a
labourer on British rail. My Father was the third eldest, of a family of nine,
and was from Clara in north Monaghan in The Irish Republic.
The McKenna Clan had farmed in north Monaghan for centuries and we were
direct descendants of Clan Chieftain, Patrick McKenna, who had held a seat on
the Hill of Tara, inauguration place and seat of the High Kings of Ireland.
I had been visiting north Monaghan and Monaghan Town from I was a small
child, family walks on a Sunday would take us from Aughnacloy in County Tyrone,
down Ravella Road to Clara, Trough (An Triúcha) and Carrickroe and back home by
the Moy Bridge that straddles the Blackwater River linking County Monaghan with
County Tyrone. Periodically I would also attend funerals in the same parts of
north Monaghan as this was my ancestral home.
As a child I would often go fishing along the Blackwater, I could cross
low points of the river into north Monaghan quit easily, particularly in summer
time when the water was lower.
My Paternal family had been hill farmers in north Monaghan for
centuries, while in the 20th Century the McKenna Clan was diverse in
its political outlook, there was always a core strain of the Clan who were and
remain in the 21st Century Militant Republicans.
On Thursday nights I would travel with my Mother and Father to Bingo in
The Hillgrove Hotel in Monaghan Town and stop at The Monte Carlo chip shop in
Glaslough Street, Monaghan Town, on the way back home. On Sunday afternoons I
would travel with my Mother and Father to afternoon bingo in The Four Seasons
Hotel in Monaghan Town, the burgers wrapped in tissue paper and oozing with red
sauce and a cold bottle of coke were my favourite part of the outing.
On a few occasions I had travelled to Monaghan Town with my Mother and
Father to visit my Uncle Patsy and his Family who were living in Mullaghmatt
housing estate outside Monaghan Town. Patsy and his family had originally lived
in Clara and Patsy was renowned for growing his own strawberries and selling
them locally, we had often picked up a punnet in the early days while on family
walks.
With all of my visits to Monaghan Town as a child I never really grasped
the size of Monaghan Town compared to Aughnacloy. I had always travelled into
Monaghan Town at night for the bingo or to visit Uncle Patsy, and bingo in The
Four Seasons Hotel was Sunday afternoons on the periphery of Monaghan Town.
My Father at sixteen years-old, had been an apprentice barman in
McManus’s Bar in Glasslough Street in Monaghan Town in 1957. He had on New
Year’s Eve 1957, served Fergal O’Hanlon, Sean South, Vincent Conlon and other
IRA Volunteers, tea and soft drinks before they lead an attack on an RUC
barracks in Brookeborough,
County Fermanagh, in which Sean South and Fergal O’Hanlon were shot dead and
other IRA members wounded, later that night.
My Mother the fourth eldest of a family of nine, was from a farming
background, just outside Newport, County Mayo, in The Irish Republic. My
maternal ancestors had fought in the Irish War of Independence in 1916 and the
Civil War in the 1920s. I was three years-old when in 1966, my Mother and
Father, who had married at the age of eighteen and seventeen respectively,
decided to return to Ireland.
Before returning to Ireland, I had already a number of health issues, I
had major surgery for reasons never explained, I had consumed a significant
amount of bleach believing it to be lemonade and I had chronic asthma.
In 1966, our family, including my Father, Mother, two older sisters and
I, arrived in a small market town called Aughnacloy, County, Tyrone, Northern
Ireland. Aughnacloy is a few hundred yards from the border with County
Monaghan, in The Irish Republic. I was and remain the third eldest of a family
of eight, six sisters and one younger brother.
When my family first arrived in Aughnacloy, in 1966, it was, I am told,
particularly difficult for Catholics to get public housing. We initially lived
in a house just outside Aughnacloy, that was best described as semi-derelict,
in summer it was fine, in winter it was very cold and damp and this aggravated
my asthma.
In better times this would have been a fine house, set on some acres of
land. The land was rented separately by a family known as Kyles, but we could
use the land for playing and catching rabbits. By 1966, the once fine house was
passed its sell by date. The road that led to our house was not well maintained
as it was viewed as a secondary road, and there were only four houses on our
road.
The long narrow road known as Tully Hill went a few hundred yards past
our house to the River Blackwater. While Partition between The Irish Republic
and Northern Ireland was a political Partition, much of the land border is
drawn by the natural run of the River Blackwater. Tully Hill had some
significance for the McKenna Clan as our ancestors Michael and Rose McKenna had
been shot dead on Tully Hill by British Yeomanry at the turn of the nineteenth century.
The rent for our house in 1966 was ten-shillings per-week. The house
consisted of two bedrooms upstairs, one of which could not be used due to damp.
Damp which left a lingering green fungus on the walls. The second room was more
of a loft in which my Father, Mother, sisters, brother and I slept.
Downstairs there was a kitchen, with a large black cast-iron stove.
There was a small parlour, where hedgehogs, would find shelter in the winter,
and a sitting room with an open fire. There was no running water or inside
toilet. Water had to be carried from a spring well, at the opposite side of the
road. A small galvanised out house, was used as the toilet. Initially there was
no electricity supply to our house, however, my Father had created an
unofficial electric supply by connecting a cable to an electric pole that stood
close to our house.
My Father planted some potatoes and cabbages in the large back garden of
our house. The privet hedge that ran along the perimeter of our back garden was
used for drying clothes and bed linen. When retrieving clothes from the hedge
row, ear-wigs and other foreign bodies as voyeuristic interlopers had to be
painstakingly removed as they would invade every crevice of the garments.
There was no outside lighting and so nightly visits to the out-house
could be something of an adventure. One had to negotiate rows of potatoes and knee-high
nettles with the natural guide of the moon-light.
My older sisters and I, would catch wild rabbits in the big field at the
back of our house and keep them in a pen that was made from chicken wire. We
also had some chickens, and at Christmas my Mother and Father would rear
turkeys to sell. I had a beautiful black and white collie dog. The dog had been
given to me when she was three-months old, by Gordon Thompson, the Protestant
man who owned our house.
I spent my time going across fields with my dog and chasing rabbits. In
the summer my sisters and I would go to the River Blackwater to swim, and wash.
The River Blackwater was great as there was nobody else about, occasionally
local teenagers such as Ray Singleton and Tom Heaney would pass by as they were
always fishing the River Blackwater for trout.
We would spend long summer days swimming, playing and using jam jars to
catch minnows (baby fish). On our return from the River Blackwater, we would
collect wild strawberries, blackberries and crab apples. My sisters and I would
agitate nests of wasps, that had made their hives in the high hedgerows, that
bordered both sides of the narrow winding road.
As a child I can remember long summer evenings sitting alone on the
northern bank of the River Blackwater. I would sit close to the Moy Bridge that
linked County Tyrone with County Monaghan across the River Blackwater, not many
passed.
My sparkling clean jam jar attached to my hand by a long piece of white
parcel twine that I would have sought from Joey Woods the Greengrocer. The jam
jar had to be crystal clear so that the minnows (baby fish) could not see the
jar and would swim into its cul de sac of glass.
It took some time to prepare the jam jar for minnow fishing. The glued
label had to be soaked in hot water and scrubbed for several minutes with a
wire pad to detach it from its glass foundation. The string had to be cut to a
manageable length and secured around the neck of the jam jar, this task took
particular care and attention as too much string around the neck of the jam jar
could alert the minnows to the presence of the impending trap.
The jar and string had to be cast several times before any serious
fishing could begin. Several casts would remove any odours or soap residue that
may remain on the jam jar or string. The flowing current would carry away these
excesses downstream. The jar was then cast and allowed to settle to the bottom
of the river on a bed of moss or river silt.
Caution had to be taken to ensure the jam jar did not strike any of the
many rocks on the river bed. The initial cast would scatter the minnows. After
a moment the shoal of want-to-be-trout would return to the shadow and illusion
of safety created by the long grass and ad hoc shrubbery of the river bank.
The ad hoc shrubbery that adorned the river bank was made up of wild
rambler rose bushes whose thorns could pierce to the bone an unsuspecting
intruder lured by their fragrant and bright coloured blossoms. Rushes could
grow unhindered among the protective armour of the battalions of thorn clad
roses.
The River Blackwater was crystal clear in the summertime and only a few
feet in depth. I had to pull quickly on the string once my prey was inside the
jar. Having captured my prey, I would hold the cold wet jar in my hand and pour
the small fish into my holding jar. In the short journey from catch jar to
holding jar, the minnows would, like migrating salmon, attempt to swim against
the torrent of pouring water.
My holding jar was one of those family sized Robinsons jam jars. At the
end of an evening fishing, I would return the minnows to their watery
community. I would watch as the Mayflies like fighter jets in search of a
target skimmed the surface of the river. Sometimes by way of navigational error
the Mayfly would touch the water’s surface and create a radiant ripple.
This ripple was to the trout, what the starting gun is to an athlete. A
trout would spear up from the water below and pluck the Mayfly from the air.
Rocks pierced the water’s surface creating small white-water rapids which
provided camouflage for the lurking trout.
The large oak trees that stood to attention on the perimeter of the
large field behind me would be tickled by the cool evening breeze. The hills in
their snooker table greenery rolled to the river’s edge. The smell of freshly
cut grass filled the meadow air. The delicate stems of Buttercups and Bluebells
remained in defiance of the farmer’s mower.
Rabbits would scurry and play in large dry mud beds cut from the
hillside by the borrowing of generations of their forefathers. However, even in
those early days the cruel pain of myxomatosis had reduced the numbers of the
rabbit clan. Bloated eyes and the smell of imminent death stalked the small
furry white-tailed caricatures of Disney’s famous movie Watership Down.
A few of the Mammy and Daddy rabbits had been reduced to maggot
infestations. The baby rabbits would instinctively run back and forward to the
place where their parents had fallen dead from this heinous man-made disease.
The smell of death was too much for the small creatures who simply wanted to be
playful.
In a final act of selflessness, the adult rabbits always moved a safe
distance from the borrows of family and neighbours before falling dead in what
must have been excruciating pain. The virus had been deliberately introduced to
Ireland in 1954 to reduce the number of rabbits, whom it was alleged were
consuming large volumes of farm produce.
Cattle would come down to the water’s edge on the southern side of the
river bank, their hoofs would muddy the water momentarily. The small clouds of
muck would be carried away by the current. Although cumbersome animals, the
cattle of multi-breed and colour, moved gently on the water’s edge.
Although moving in numbers of a dozen or more, the cattle made no sound.
Perhaps these animals aware of the delicate task of the fisherman on the bank
opposite. Whatever the reason for the nodded acceptance of each other’s
presence, I shared the river with my friends from the animal kingdom contently.
As dusk fell, I would collect up my fishing tools and begin the journey home.
As I crossed the meadow, frogs hopped along the deep tracks cut into the
soft ground by the farmers heavy machinery. I would walk along the narrow
overgrown twisted single lane road that ran back to our house. Along the middle
of the road stood a tuft of grass that was occasionally manicured by the
underbelly of the farmers tractor. From the high hedge row, I would pick a few
bright red strawberries while discarding the yellowish green ones.
Like Ebony, the
blackcurrants would shine from the hedgerows as the setting sun flashed across
their moist tender flesh. In early evening the fruit fly would already have
squatted upon its hammock of Ebony berry. Overnight the fruit fly would feed on
the berries luscious blood red juices within. I had often watched the fruit fly
at close quarter as its small intravenous tongue penetrated the succulent flesh
of the ripe fruit.
The transfusion of juice from fruit to fly would reduce the fruit to a
vampirine corpse. I could not pass the crab apple trees whose branches reached
their fruit alluringly to head height. The tempestuous bitter fruit of the crab
apple trees would take a heavy toll on my digestive system. Yet the bitter
first bite of the crab apple is like no other tastebud experience. The
wrenching of face and squinting of eyes as the bitter juice touches the tongue,
is one of nature’s electrifying moments.
At the bottom of Tully Hill, which was the name of the road on which we
lived, William and Sarah Clarke, had a small farm. I would as a child help the
Clarke’s, at every opportunity. The Clarkes had four milking cows, each of whom
had a name, beef cattle and a selection of fowl. William and Sarah, were
beautiful people, they treated me like a son, as they had no children of their
own. My Father, sisters and I, would help to harvest the hay in the summer.
When animals had to be taken to the mart, it would be my Father and I,
who would help get the animals loaded into the cattle lorry early in the
morning. William and Sarah’s cottage, was situated on low lying ground, just a
few yards from the River Blackwater. I remember the River Blackwater breaking
its banks during some heavy rain, in the early 1970s. The Clarke’s house, had
water flowing in through the front door of their house and out the back door
into the meadow beyond.
I remember my Father and a neighbour Paddy Sherry, rescuing the animals
from the sheds, everything in Clarkes house was destroyed. The water mark on
the internal walls of Clarke’s cottage remained for many years.
William Clarke had been a member of the B Specials in the late 1960s.
The B Specials were a special police unit who had been viewed by many within
the nationalist community as a mirror image of the former Black and Tans, who
had a poor reputation. I think that if the truth be told, many Protestant
farmers living on small farm holdings joined such organisations for extra
income to supplement their low earnings from their farm.
William Clarke never displayed any sectarian characteristics, he had a
small TVO tractor and an old Morris Oxford car, both were prized possessions.
Willie’s wife Sarah was a big strong woman whom with her husband shared equally
the work load on the farm. Sarah made great dinners and baked bread. Treacle
bread was my favourite.
On occasion Sarah would stand at the half door of her small thatched
cottage and call to me as I walked to school. Sarah would have some freshly
baked treacle bread for me, carefully wrapped in brown paper. I always looked
forward to helping William on the farm on a Saturday morning as the breadman
would call in his well-stocked van. I would help Sarah carry in large soda
Farrells, potato bread and a batch loaf.
When William and I finished milking the cows, we would be sat down to an
Ulster Fry. As we entered the kitchen, we could smell the freshly baked wheaten
bread. Bacon crackled on the heavy iron pan. Fresh eggs collected from the
dozen or so hens, spat their juices onto the top of the old cast iron Stanley
stove. The Denny sausages had to be put into the security of the oven or Willie
would have tasted them away to nothing.
We sat at the table Willie and I, Willie would read The Belfast Newsletter, while Sarah busied herself laying a feast on the lace table cloth. Both Willie’s sheep dog and mine lay beneath the breakfast table. The dogs would be rewarded for their mornings work with the rind of the bacon. I cut into the soft homemade butter with one of Sarah’s prized ivory handle knives. The butter melted into the fresh wheaten bread. Soon Willie would be sleeping in his armchair. Sarah and I would settle to watch the wrestling on the television. Those were the days when wrestlers such as Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks and Mick McManus were household names.
In the 1960s, I would as a small child travel with my Father, Grandfather and Great-grandfather to my Uncle Sean’s house in O’Neil Avenue in Newry. My Uncle Sean and his family had moved to Newry from Clara in north Monaghan in the 1950s and my Uncle Sean would be involved in organising Sinn Fein/IRA in County Down for the 1957-62 failed IRA border campaign.
When I travelled to Newry as a
child these were social visits, my Father, Uncle Sean, Grandfather and Great-grandfather
would go to the local pub for a drink and then we would return to Aughnacloy.
In the 1960s travel was not as it is in the 21st Century, a journey
to Newry was a big outing and would only happen periodically due to the cost of
petrol and so forth.
In 1969, my Father had
borrowed his boss’s car, a Hillman Minx, and we travelled to Newry for the
usual get together. However, 1969 was different, there was violence on the
streets, and journeys at night were just eerie. When driving along the road men
in uniform, with blackened faces and guns would simply step out onto the road
and wave the car to a stop. It was normally the British army from 1969, but not
always, as I would discover at my Uncle Sean’s funeral in 1975.
When we arrived at Uncle Sean’s
house in Newry in 1969, Uncle Sean told my Father, Grandfather and Great-grandfather
to go on to the pub and he would join them later, I would stay in Sean’s house.
I was in the kitchen eating a bun and drinking a glass of milk given to me by Aunt Bridget, Uncle Sean and other men were at the Kitchen table, Sean’s pearl handled revolver sat uncomfortably beside the teapot that was quenching the thirst of the IRA men gathered and a man called Ian Paisley on the black and white TV was shouting so loud that he was drowning out the seditious talk at the table.
In the late 1960s trouble had begun in Caledon a few miles away from
Aughnacloy, when a large Catholic family the Gildernew’s were refused a council
house, and the house was given to a young Protestant woman. I remember watching
houses being burned in Belfast on the black and white television, there was a
great deal of violence starting to emerge.
In 1969, the British Army had been brought into Northern Ireland to act
as peace-keepers between Protestant and Catholic gangs in Belfast, or at least
that is how it appeared to a child. The deployment of the British Army was
known as Operation Banner. I remember a fleet of helicopters flying over
Aughnacloy and they frightened everyone as nobody knew what was happening. The
British Army built a military checkpoint close to Clarke’s home on the Monaghan
border. The Clarkes could no longer keep their cows, as by now the Provisional
IRA were high-jacking creamery lorries and placing bombs in the creamery cans.
The creamery lorry had to pass through the barrier of the military
check-point so it was viewed as a serious threat. The British Army checkpoint
also meant that our local shop, Donnelly’s had to move up into the middle of
the town as the military base expanded.
I remember shortly after the British Army arrived in Northern Ireland,
and as I was leaving our remote house in the darkness to go to Donnelly’s shop,
British Soldiers jumped out from behind the dry-stone white-washed wall that
was to the front of our house. The British Army foot-patrol called on my Father
and I to halt.
The army would often go out into the countryside for two or three-day
patrols to reassure border communities against the threat posed by The
Provisional IRA who would often cross the border from The Irish Republic, plant
bombs and shot people. The soldiers told us that they thought we were
terrorists coming out of what appeared to be a derelict house. I remember the
English voices shouting “Halt” and the sound of guns being cocked.
It was a frightening experience, and my first on the ground encounter
with the British Army. I suppose in retrospect, the encounter was as
frightening for the young English soldiers who had been transplanted from
cities such as Liverpool and London to the border roads of Tyrone, where potential
danger lurked in every shadow.
My Father, who was a hard worker could not get a work permit in Northern
Ireland, as he was originally from the Irish Republic. There were a number of
laws in Northern Ireland that were perceived to be discriminatory against the
Catholic community. The Stormont Government which was in the majority Unionist,
was viewed by Catholics, as pursuing policies that treated Catholics as second-class
citizens.
To have a steady income for a growing family my Father had to sign on
for a social welfare payment each week. My Father had to travel to Ballygawley
which was a small town about five-mile away. My family now consisted of my
Father, Mother and six-children, received eleven-pounds-sterling per-week from
The Department of Social Welfare. My Father engaged in casual labour to
supplement the Social Welfare payment.
As my Father was a good worker, he eventually got more permanent work on
a local pig farm, that was owned by Mr and Mrs Johnny Wilson, who had two sons,
Mervyn and Norman. The Wilsons were a traditional Protestant farming family
living close to the border with County Monaghan, in the Irish Republic.
My Father would leave the family home early in the mornings and make his
way to Wilsons farm by walking across a number of fields.
I would work on the farm with my Father whenever I could. I got to drive
the tractor, and Mrs Wilson who owned the farm, made great dinners, from fresh
produce that she grew on her farm. Mrs Wilson worked a cottage garden that
Monty Don would have been proud of.
The Wilsons had two sons, Mervyn and Norman, who would both go on to be
successful business men outside of the family farm. Both Norman and Mervyn
would take me fishing on the River Blackwater. When Mervyn got married, his
Maternal Uncle, Robert John McCready, who had a furniture factory in Emyvale,
County Monaghan, gave Mervyn a lorry load of furniture to start a furniture
business.
Mervyn bought a yard with some sheds in Dungannon, and my Father and I,
cleaned out the sheds and painted them for Mervyn. Mervyn filled the shed with
the furniture given to him by his Uncle for a wedding present, and so began the
story of Starplan in 1972. Mervyn’s younger brother Norman would create another
Northern Ireland brand name, Style Furnishings in Cookstown, County Tyrone.
Family life was not good, my Mother who had been in America and England,
now found herself in a very small town, the anonymity of large urban spaces
such as Chicago and London, had been replaced with the valley of the squinting
windows. My Mother did not suffer fools and she was not afraid to say so.
I have early childhood memories of long days spent in the public houses
of Aughnacloy where Catholics would drink. I would have Tayto crisps and a
bottle of coke in Ma Thompson’s Pub, Ma Thompson’s son Gordon, owned our rented
house. Boyle’s Pub, Bob O’Neil’s and Joe McLoughlin’s were regular watering
holes for my Father on Market day in the town.
Sometimes there were farcical episodes as my Great Grandfather,
Grandfather and my Father would get together for a drink, one Black Saturday
all three were very drunk and walking down the town. Black Saturday was a
Protestant celebration linked to the Royal Black Institution. The Royal Black Institution was
formed in Ireland in 1797, two years after the formation of the Orange Order in
Daniel Winter's cottage, Loughgall, County Armagh, Ireland. The society is
formed from Orangemen and can be seen as a progression of that Order although
they are separate institutions.
During the early years when we lived on Tully Hill, I have memories of
my Mother pushing a four-stone bag of coal up the steep hill in a push-chair as
she did not have the extra few pennies to pay for delivery, and she would not
be beholding to anyone.
My Mother was fearless of everyone and everything, my Father was passive
unless he had drink taken. My Mother’s frustration with life was often
misplaced, which in turn lead to repercussions mainly on myself and sometimes
my older sisters at primary school.
In my early years I was very sick with acute asthma, which had been
aggravated by the poor conditions in the old house in which we initially lived.
Eventually my health deteriorated to the point that a Catholic Priest was
summoned by my parents, Father Dara would give me a blessing, as it was
believed I would not survive. My asthma had turned to pneumonia.
I still have clear memories, when I was about seven years old, of people
gathered around me, in the draughty front room of our house on Tully Hill.
Following the blessing by Father Dara, I made a very quick recovery and never
suffered asthma again, that is what I remember and nobody has ever contradicted
that version.
Following my recovery from asthma, I remained small and weak. It was
during this time that I was walking up the street with the local Orange Order
and a loyalist band as they were practicing for the annual twelfth of July
parades. I simply heard the music and seen the bright colours of the uniforms
and banners; I did not understand any political aspect.
An older Catholic lad had seen me walking up the street with the Orange
Order and at the first opportunity, he subjected me to a savage beating. The
attack took place at my primary school when the Head-master and his wife, which
made up half the staff, were gone home for lunch. Mrs Connolly would also go
home for lunch while the remaining teacher, Mrs McCullagh would remain in her
class room for lunch.
The older lad dragged me by my hair down the grass hill to the front of
the Chapel next to the primary school, he dragged me into some bushes at the
bottom of the hill. The older lad had dragged me with such force that a large
part of my scalp came off in his hand, leaving a gaping and stinging wound on
my head.
When the older Catholic lad had beaten and kicked me, he simply walked
of down the town. I covered over the large wound on my head with the remaining
hair. I knew that if my Mother seen the injury to my head she would not
hesitate to go to the Headmaster, and this would simply make matters worse.
It would be about three weeks after the assault that my Mother was
washing my hair, that she discovered what was a festering hole in my scalp. I
would not say what happened. My Mother thought it was ring-worm. An old man
called James McFadden lived down the Caledon Road and he had the ‘cure’ for
ring-worm.
My Mother decided to bring me to James McFadden for the ‘cure’ for
ringworm. James McFadden looked at the wound my head, and in the absence of any
other explanation, agreed that it was ring worm. James who chewed tobacco, spat
three times into the wound and then rubbed the spittle in deeper, believing
this to be the cure.
Within days of receiving the ‘cure’ the wound had become a red and
yellow festering lump, my Mother took me to our GP, Dr McCord. Dr McCord
immediately took a scalpel and cut the festering lump from my head. The smell
was overwhelming and the filth that he removed was putrid. Dr McCord said that
another day and the sepsis would have got into my eyes and I would have at least
been blind.
Dr McCord, then covered the wound with red surgical disinfectant, I had
often seen this type of disinfectant, used on pigs on the farm, where I often
worked with my Father. Dr McCord placed a bandage around my head, like a
turban. My bandage had to be changed regularly and I was off primary school for
a couple of months.
When my Mother and I walked out of the surgery that day we meet Mrs
McKillion and she brought me into Joey Wood’s shop and bought me a bar of
Cadbury’s chocolate, a rare treat back then.
It is only at the time of writing this autobiography in 2021 that I
finally disclose how that head injury was inflicted. My battles at school would
not end there, if my Mother made any complaint to the Headmaster at our primary
school about abuse directed at my sisters, then it was I, who felt his wrath.
The Headmaster was a malicious man, but he knew who to target for his
sadistic pleasure. The Headmaster had a heavy leather belt with brass studs
embedded and he would build himself into a frenzy when he brutalised a child
with it. His violent actions, were in the 1970s supported by the Law, corporal
punishment was legal, and there was no specific definition of where it could
start nor where it could end. I would never cry or show weakness.
I remember one day as the Headmaster was giving me a severe beating in
front of class. I would have been about nine-years-old. He made me hold my
hands out flat, one on top of the other, he then began a frenzied assault where
he would strike down on my hands with his closed fist, my hands were tiny.
The Headmaster, had built himself into a frenzy, but I would not give
in. Eventually the Headmaster’s glasses, flew of the end of his nose, and into
the top of the open potbellied stove, that burned a fuel known as slack. There
was a flash of colour when his glasses hit the burning slack, his glasses were
gone.
The Headmaster bellowed at me to sit down, the girl whom I was seated beside,
was crying, because I had been beaten so badly. As I turned to tell the girl I
was OK, the Headmaster ran to where I was sitting and punched me on the side of
the head with his clenched fist, the punch knocked me to the ground, I got up
and sat back in my seat.
These were difficult times, I was very small for my age due to various
health issues, but I refused to give in to anyone. Some days I would have jam
sandwiches, wrapped in wax paper from a loaf of Irwin’s bread and at school we
got a free quart of milk each day, to wash down the soggy sandwiches. The milk
would be delivered to the school gate, and sometimes the birds would have
pecked open the tin foil cap to get the cream on the top of the milk.
In the 1970s there was no school meals in primary schools in Northern
Ireland, and so there came a time when social services intervened in our family
circumstances and paid for my siblings and I to have a warm meal in Hillen’s
café each lunch time. We would get a bowl of soup with mash potatoes and a
glass of milk, which was great, especially in the winter.
The primary school had four large rooms, and the height of the ceiling meant
that the rooms were virtually impossible to heat. The potbellied stove was the
only heating available, and so I was regularly sent out to get a scuttle of
slack from the shed. If it was raining my clothes would get wet, and the steam
would be rising from my clothes for the rest of the day.
In my final year at primary school, I was learning to fight back, mainly
as my class was now the oldest in the school, so my peers no longer had older brothers
to do their fighting for them. As it was my final year at primary school, I
decided to retaliate against the Headmaster who had abused me over many years,
without just cause.
It was just coming up to the end of the school year or summer holidays.
I was told by the Headmaster to remain in my seat while the other children in
the class took down our paintings and other classwork done through the year, from
the walls. A general clean up before the holidays. At a point during the day
the Headmaster left the class room and hung his jacket on the back of his
chair.
I wrote a note calling the Headmaster a bully and so forth. Another
pupil, Conor McGirr decided that he wanted a piece of the action and so he
volunteered to place the note in the breast pocket of the Headmaster’s jacket
that was hanging on the chair. Before the Headmaster returned to the classroom
Conor chickened out and decided to retrieve the offending, but truthful note,
from the Headmaster’s jacket. Conor then gave me the note and I placed it in my
pocket. When the Headmaster returned to the classroom, the first thing he done
was put his jacket on and sit in his chair.
I watched as The Headmaster reached into the breast pocket of his jacket
and took out a piece of paper. I was safe in the knowledge that my offending
note was safely in my trouser pocket. The Headmaster began to read the piece of
paper that he had taken from his pocket, I could see his face get very red. I
looked over towards Conor, he too had noted the colour change in the Headmaster’s
face.
I reached into my trouser pocket and took out the note that Conor had
retrieved, I opened the note under my desk, my heart sunk, the note that Conor
had retrieved from the Headmasters’ pocket, was the time-table for the school
sports day. The note that the Headmaster was reading, so attentively, was my
note calling him a bully and worse.
The Headmaster called out a pupil whom he knew would tell him who had
placed the offending note in his pocket. Although, it was not going to require
a super-grass to identity the culprit. The Headmaster returned to the classroom
and called Conor and I to the front of the room. The Headmaster lost the plot,
roaring and shouting obscenities and threats.
I told the Headmaster that Conor had nothing to do with the note. Conor,
following my plea in mitigation, received six-slaps with the Headmasters heavy
studded leather strap. Conor was ordered back to his seat and was kicked in the
rear by the Headmaster as he done so.
The Headmaster told me to hold out my hands, however, having finally
decided to fight back, I refused his order and told the Headmaster to
“Fuck-off”. The Headmaster battered me with the heavy leather studded belt all
over my body. I just kept telling the Headmaster to “Fuck-off”, I would not
give in. After what seemed like about an hour, the abuse stopped, the
Headmaster had exhausted himself.
I returned to my seat; I was satisfied that I had not given in. I was
bleeding from my nose and I could feel lumps rising all over my body. The
Headmaster took some time to compose himself and he then announced that neither
Conor nor I would be performing as Altar Boys for the funeral of the Parish Priest,
Father O’Kane who had just died. This was an added punishment, as Altar Boys
could get as much as £1 for performing at a funeral service.
I contented myself that £1 was worth paying for exposing the Headmaster
for the sadistic bastard he was. The position of Catholic Headmaster in a small divided town like
Aughnacloy was not one normally challenged by ordinary citizens. The Headmaster
was in a position of absolute power and protected by the Catholic Church.
Absolute power wielded absolute abuse.
My only good memory of Saint Mary’s Primary School, Aughnacloy, was when
I was in Mrs McCullagh’s class, I would have been about eight-years-old. We had
a general knowledge quiz in the class and my team won, we were given a box of
Quality Street sweets by Mrs McCullagh. Mrs McCullagh and Mrs Connolly were
good teachers.
These early years had been difficult, home life and school life were
reflections of each other. If our family had lived in Brixton or Birmingham we
would have fitted quite easily into that academic categorisation, the ‘underclass’.
In those days children’s rights were not on any social policy agenda, unless of
course you had money.
We had a big black and white television that was hired from Irwin
Brothers electrical shop in Dungannon, every day, the news blasted out reports of
bombings, shootings and murders. I am not sure that black and white television
presented the true horror of what was happening at that time in Northern
Ireland, one moment it would be the news and then Laurel and Hardy.
However, the true gravity of the murderous sectarian campaign would be very clear when neighbours were murdered by terrorist organisations. Or when bombs would explode in Aughnacloy, one such Provisional IRA bomb blowing the windows out of our house and leaving the roof tiles on the ground. The 500lb bomb at the British Army base that was a short distance from our house had been delivered by my Father’s employer Norman Wilson, whose family had been held captive by the Provisional IRA.
As a child in 1973, I meet Gerry Adams at another Uncle’s house when Gerry was On-the-Run, he had forgotten me by the time I meet him at an Army Council meeting in Monaghan in 1984.
Chapter 2
A New Beginning
Eventually in 1972, my family was allocated a council house in
Aughnacloy. These were newly built houses in a cul de sac. Our house had a
large rear garden with a high wooden fence enclosing the space. I wondered at
this point if Catholics were being discriminated against, how was there only
two Catholic families available to take on new council houses yet there were
dozens of Protestant families who needed council houses in our town.
This was a new beginning; the house was warm and dry. In the house
opposite ours was an RUC man, his wife, daughter and son. My new friend was a
Protestant and the son of our RUC neighbour, when I was at home, he was my
friend as we lived in an almost exclusively Protestant area. When I was at school
or playing GAA my friends would be Catholic. It was a small town, but I had
effectively two lives.
Aughnacloy would have been predominately Protestant, however, in the
1960s the local soccer team (mainly Protestant) and the Catholic GAA team would
have enjoyed their annual dinner dances together in the Four Seasons Hotel in
Monaghan. In 1968 when I had started primary school things began to change in
Aughnacloy, a short distance away in Caledon, Civil Rights campaigners had
protested about the refusal of the local authority to give a vacant house to a
Catholic family and instead gave the house to a single Protestant woman. Due to
the building of new council houses in Aughnacloy our family were given a new
house at Sydney Lane this was a small cul-de-sac and the majority of our
neighbours would have been Protestant and members of the RUC, UDR and Prison
Service.
The British Army had arrived in Aughnacloy (1969) and initially nobody
was too bothered, however, as a large checkpoint was built on the Monaghan Road
and minor cross-border roads were permanently blocked by the army, people
became inconvenienced and normal life was disrupted. In the 1970s cars were not
that plentiful, so people could cycle or walk from Clara, Carrickroe, Truagh in
north Monaghan to Aughnacloy and do their shopping.
When Ravella Road was permanently blocked, people had to do round-trips
and come in from Monaghan via the British Army check-point and depending on the
Regiment on duty there could be long tail backs, intensive and invasive
searches.
Soon both loyalist and republican groupings were engaging in acts of
violence in our small town, innocent Catholics such as Owen Boyle and a
21-year-old Catholic woman were murdered by the Loyalists, while the IRA
murdered Protestants such as Dennis Wilson, Franklin Cadoo, David Morrow and so
forth. A 500lb IRA bomb went off at The British Army base which was only 100
yards from our house and the roof and windows were blown off and out of our new
house.
In the late 1960s and early
1970s there was a limited number of Television Stations available in Northern
Ireland, unlike the proliferation of such channels in the twenty-first-century.
My favourite Television programmes were those such as The Avengers, The
Professionals, The Sweeney, The Man from Uncle and the weekly cowboy movie
starring John Wayne. Periodically, before video recorders, my favourite movies
would have been James Bond 007, A little way behind might be Harry Palmer,
played by Michael Caine in The Ipcress File or Alec Leamas, memorably played by
Richard Burton in 1965's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, just to mention
three.
I guess the reason I liked the
‘spook genre’ was due to the fact that what was on the Television was in real
life playing out on our streets. If one were being geared up for a life in espionage
or an agent infiltrating a terrorist organisation, then the above listings were
not a bad place to start. The craft of counter-insurgency could also be viewed in
real life each day.
Our new council house had the
British Army base to the rear and the RUC station to the front, all within a
couple of hundred metres. If I stepped out into the back garden I could almost
reach up and touch the British soldiers in the helicopter as it took-off from
the base, in fact soldiers would wave and I would wave back, because we were so
close it would have been impolite not to have waved.
My friend Trevor and I would
cycle over to the British Army base, the soldiers on duty at the barrier would
ask us to go to the chip-shop for them, we would take orders for fish and
chips, burger and chips and so forth, the soldiers would give Trevor and I
money to get ourselves fish and chips and a can of coke. This scenario was
being played out all over Northern Ireland as both Catholics and Protestants were
initially happy to see the army arrive.
In return for doing messages
for the army, soldiers would allow us to look through the night-scope on their
rifles, or get into one of the helicopters (Wessex) when it landed inside the
base. The soldiers would allow us to hold their flack-jackets so we could see
how heavy they were, some of the jackets had tears and you could see that they
were made from twisted wire and very heavy. Regiments would be on short tours
of duty, and so Trevor and I probably meet most regiments that arrived in Northern
Ireland.
When regiments would first arrive
at the British Army base in Aughnacloy for the start of their tour, they would
have coins from their previous posting, they would give Trevor and I some coins
which were treasure to us.
When soldiers returned from patrol,
they would each point their rifles at the ground level sand-bags to ensure that
their weapon was not loaded. Sometimes I would walk into the base and watch as soldiers
cleaned their rifles and polished their boots.
While Trevor and I were only
children, the soldiers were not much older, probably 18 to 25 years-old. I
always found the soldiers to be friendly even when some of their comrades were
murdered not far away. It is unlikely that they knew that some of my extended
family were the ones doing the killing. Even as a child, when I did not
understand all that was happening in Northern Ireland, I always felt that the
army was somewhere they did not want to be.
The only time that Trevor and
I were now welcome at the British Army Base was when the ‘Red Caps’ or Military
Police would arrive, the soldiers had to do everything by the book when the
Military Police arrived and so fish and chips from The Rainbow Café were off
the menu.
The IRA would regularly engage in gun battles with the British Army, the
IRA would fire from a position in north Monaghan down onto the army checkpoint,
I would watch these gun battles as you could see the flares going up and tracer
bullets going across the horizon, it was like watching a movie. Following such
battles, I would the next day go across the fields and find empty cannisters
that had little parachutes attached, I assumed these were the burned-out
flares.
The terrorist incident that would change my life happened in 1973, my
Uncle Cyril McCaul, who was twenty-four-year-old and his Protestant workmate,
nineteen-year-old, Ivan Charlton, were killed when they were on their way home
from work. Cyril and Ivan, were both mechanics and were returning home after
finishing their days work. As they drove along the Dungannon Road and made
their way around a dangerous bend they were meet head-on with a high-jacked
lorry that had been placed across the road.
The lorry had been placed across the road by the Provisional IRA in
order to lure the RUC into an ambush. The bodies of my Uncle and his friend
could not be retrieved for twelve hours as a hoax bomb had been left in the
lorry. When the bodies were cut free by the fire-brigade, Cyril’s body had been
decapitated by the impact.
Cyril had been very good to me; he had worked on my Father’s Hillman
Minx car and had always taken the time to explain to me what he was doing.
Cyril left behind two babies to my Aunt Agnes, Noel and Tracy. I was
nine-years-old, but I was certain that the people responsible for the murders
of Cyril and Ivan would pay for their evil deed.
My Father was asked to go to Dungannon Hospital to do the formal
identification of my Uncle’s body, my Aunt Agnes had two babies to take care
of. My Father had some drink in Thompsons Pub before he took me with him to
Dungannon Hospital. My Father and I were shown into the morgue at the Hospital
and my Uncle’s body was on a steel trolley with a sheet over him. When the
sheet was pulled back from his head, I could see the large/crude stitching on
his neck, he had been decapitated as his car drove under the hi-jacked lorry.
There were other bodies in the morgue, it was like being in a horror
film. Cyril was an innocent Catholic and a hard-working mechanic, who loved
getting home in the evening to see his babies. When Cyril and Agnes were first
married, they lived beside us in Aughnacloy and Cyril always took his time to
explain to me what he was doing when working on cars including my Father’s
Hillman Minx.
I remember in 1974 the Headmaster of the local Protestant school, Cormac
McCabe being kidnapped by the PIRA from the Four Seasons Hotel in Monaghan
while he was having dinner with his family and he was murdered. Cormac McCabe
was also a UDR Captain but would have been well liked in Aughnacloy. I can only
imagine that Cormac McCabe was not well informed about who owned the Four
Seasons Hotel at that time, Alan Clancy was the owner of the Four Seasons Hotel
and he was a bag-man for Sinn Fein/PIRA. The PIRA regularly patrolled the
car-park of the Four Seasons Hotel in anticipation of loyalist attack.
There was a revolver kept in the safe in the hotel and this would be
handed out to PIRA members patrolling the car-park each night and then returned
at the end of the night if there were no issues. The bouncer/doorman who
provided the revolver each night was not Sinn Fein/PIRA but simply concerned
about protecting the Hotel from loyalist attack. Cormac McCabe was kidnapped by
a senior PIRA member from Aughnacloy, Kevin McKenna (died 2020) (PIRA Chief of
Staff 1983-1997) who was on the run and living in Smithborough, Co Monaghan.
Hennessy McKenna was also involved in the murder, Hennessy was on-the-run and
living in Smithborough, Co Monaghan. Jeff McKenna and others provided
logistical support.
The same PIRA Unit would kidnap, murder and secretly bury teenager
Columba McVeigh whose body remains undiscovered. Columba McVeigh was not an
informer and this was proven by his interrogation, however, he had been so
badly beaten about the head by his PIRA captures that the decision was taken to
kill and secretly bury him. The key consideration here was whether to allow
Columba McVeigh to return to Tyrone with his grievous and life changing
injuries where he could be used by Catholic Priest, Father Dennis Faul to
highlight Sinn Fein/PIRA brutality against their own community, or simply
dispose of the problem.
Former IRA man and double murderer Sean O'Callaghan, the most senior
Garda agent in the Provos, previously credited McKenna's "hate" for
convincing him to turn his back on terrorism.
In his book The Informer, O'Callaghan claimed he preferred to target
British soldiers, but local IRA men "would rather shoot a Protestant
neighbour who was in the UDR or police reserve". In one chilling account
he described being in a safe house with McKenna in 1975 when a TV news bulletin
reported that a policewoman had been killed in a bomb explosion.
"McKenna turned his head slightly in my direction and said: 'Maybe
she was pregnant and we got two for the price of one'," O'Callaghan wrote.
Aughnacloy had a ‘Fair Day’ every couple of weeks, stalls would be
set-up by a local man called Tommy Taylor and traders would come from all
around the north to sell clothes, tools, shoes and so forth, the Fair was
particularly popular with people from north Monaghan. Each time the market was
on I would go up the street early as a stall holder from Belfast would employ
me and another lad to help him set-up, there would also be some work at
Clarke’s Mini-market where lorries would be unloaded before we got the bus to
go to school in Ballygawley which was about four-mile away. Each day that the
Fair was on the RUC would routinely place traffic cones along parts of the
street to keep it clear for the traders.
In 1977, on the morning that RUC Officer David Morrow was murdered by
the PIRA in Aughnacloy, I had just walked up Sydney Street from my home to the
main street to help out with the stalls when I noticed a van drive up towards
the chapel. The van stopped beside the RUC car, men jumped out the back door of
the van and opened fire on the RUC car, as the van drove off, they left one of
their men behind and they had to reverse back up the street to collect him, I
could see that as the man jumped into the van his gun went off and he shot
himself in the leg. I moved towards the RUC car to see if I could help, but the
RUC and Army arrived very quickly and ordered me away.
When I undertook my Confirmation in The Catholic Church, Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich officiated, he said clearly, anyone who commits Murder, supports those who commit Murder, or try to Justify Murder are NOT Catholics, because they are automatically Excommunicated by their Actions!
As the years moved into the 1970s Internment was introduced and members
of my Father’s wider family were interned, my Uncle Sean McKenna and his
17-year-old son Sean were interned. My Uncle Sean McKenna was one of the
‘Hooded Men’ who would be tortured during internment and my cousin Sean McKenna
would lead the first IRA Hunger Strike in 1980. In 1975 my Uncle Sean McKenna
died at the age of 45 years; his death was a result of the torture that he was
subjected to during internment.
When my Uncle Sean was being buried in Clara in north Monaghan the
Gardai moved on the IRA Colour Party who were about to fire a volley of shots
over Sean’s grave, I was standing beside my Uncle Patsy when the Gardai tried
to take a gun from my cousin Sean the gun went off and shot my Uncle Patsy in
the leg, I was splattered with blood. The pearl handled revolver was my Uncle
Sean’s personal weapon. A riot began in the grave yard and eventually the
Gardai were beaten into retreat. Senior republicans Ruari O’Bradaigh and Marie
Drumm gave the orations at Sean’s funeral. My cousin Sean McKenna would later
be kidnapped from Dundalk by the SAS.
A Garda Officer had risked his life to take me from the grave-yard and
to the safety of the road opposite when he seen me covered in blood, this Garda
Officer was Christy McNamee, with whom I would be reunited five-years later in
1980.
Each year as the 12th of July would approach attitudes hardened in Aughnacloy, however, I was never too bothered and I would attend the Orange Order parades and the festival in the field afterwards, there was always homemade cake, buns and sandwiches. I enjoyed the Protestant jumble sales as they always had good clothes and toys. I do not remember any other Catholics attending the Orange Order parades, most Catholics would go to Donegal on holidays during the marching season or they would simply stay behind closed doors.
When I was 8 years old, an older Catholic lad had seen me walk up the main street while the Orange parade was on, this lad would at the next opportunity subject me to a brutal beating for attending the Orange parade. I was very small for my age and not very strong due to my sickness when I was younger, the worst injury inflicted on me by this individual was that he pulled a large part of my scalp off as he dragged me along the ground. I did not tell anyone about this assault and my head injury would only be discovered when my Mother was washing my hair.
I did not tell my Mother what had happened and so she thought the injury was ring-worm and she took me to a man who had the ‘cure’ for ring-worm, within days my head wound turned ‘septic’, as part of the ‘cure’ involved the man chewing tobacco and spitting three times on my wound. Dr McCord had to use a scalpel to cut away a large part of my scalp and I had to wear a head bandage for several weeks and stay off school.
From the mid-1970s to the end of the 1970s there were some serious
incidents in Aughnacloy and the surrounding area. In 1975 my cousins Marion
Bowen (21) (7 months pregnant), Seamus McKenna (25) and Michael McKenna (27),
all Catholic civilians, were murdered by a loyalist booby-trap bomb at Marion’s
house at Killyliss, near Dungannon.
In 1977 I was working part-time in the local Protestant butcher shop for
Christmas and I had just left when the IRA entered the shop and shot and
injured a young Protestant Nigel Beatty with whom I was working, he was a
part-time RUC Officer. One of the owners of the butcher shop Jack McCann (aged
70) went at the IRA gunmen with a meat clever and they shot him in the hand.
On another occasion when my cousin Leo McKenna was getting married his
brother-in-law was a Prison Officer, Michael Christopher Cassidy, and Michael
was shot dead by PIRA on the Chapel steps on April 16, 1979 as Leo and his
Bride (Michaels’ sister) left St McCartan’s Church in Clogher, on their wedding
day.
In or about 1976 when I was 13 years old, I won an adult darts
competition during a festival week in Aughnacloy, I had beaten the Deputy
Headmaster of the Protestant Secondary School in the final. As part of the
festival, a ‘Blue-lamp’ disco was organised by the RUC for young people in the
town, the disco at the Protestant Secondary School was attended by both
Catholic and Protestant youths. As the disco came to an end that night the
older Catholic lads told us all to leave together. When I went outside, I asked
a Catholic lad from Caledon if he had seen Aidan MacAnespie come out of the
hall and he said no.
I went back into the hall to get Aidan out, however, he was already
gone. When I came out of the hall for a second time there were only Protestant
youths waiting around, I knew I was in difficulty. I made my way out onto the
Dungannon Road where I was set upon by a large group of Protestant/loyalist
youths. I would have been killed if a local Protestant business man had not
driven into the crowd and warned them that he knew who they were and he would
name them to the RUC.
Following this assault by loyalists I became angry, I did not report the
assault to the RUC (although I know others did) and I set about taking on the
loyalists one-by-one, which inevitably brought me before the courts for
assault, assault is really a strong word, these were just one-to-one fist
fights with lads who were older and bigger than me.
I also challenged loyalists while they were painting the kerbs of the
footpaths red-white-blue and again I was charged with criminal damage as I
pulled down their loyalist bunting. On another occasion I was playing darts in
a local pub when there was a gun battle between the IRA and the RUC/Army,
following the gun-battle and as I made my way home, I was verbally abused and
threatened by local RUC Officers.
My Protestant friend Trevor was now 16 years old and I was 14 years old and he told me he was joining the RUC Cadets. He asked me if I was in the IRA and he were in the RUC would I shot him, I said yes, we shook hands and parted company, he lived 30 feet across the street from me.
Moving On
1974 was a very unsettling year in Northern Ireland, as well as dealing
with what had become routine bombings, shootings and murders on a daily basis,
Loyalists called a national strike that lasted for two-weeks, Loyalists also
planted bombs in The Irish Republic killing 33 people.
Ian Paisley led the Loyalist strike and closed down industry including
the Northern Ireland Electricity power stations. Many of our Protestant
neighbours who would not have shown any active interest in the sectarian
conflict would take their place on illegal check-points set-up by Loyalist
paramilitaries. It may be the case that many people who took part in this
illegal activity done so under duress from Loyalist paramilitaries.
In 1975, I finally left Saint Mary’s Primary school in Aughnacloy and
would move to Saint Ciaran’s secondary school in Ballygawley which was
five-mile away. I was given a free school uniform, received free school meals
and we would take a ride on the school bus each morning and evening.
The school uniform meant that everyone was dressed the same and I did
not get bullied for wearing clothes that I had got in the jumble sale or market
that might have seen better days. I had on some occasions been bullied at
school as some of the second-hand clothes that I wore had previously belonged
to one of the better off children in primary school.
Sometimes the clothes that I would get in the jumble sale or market
would be a style that had long since passed its sell by date. I remember being
very excited when I bought a complete Bay City Rollers outfit in the Protestant
Jumble sale in the local Orange Hall. While I was excited about having a
trouser, shirt, jacket and platform shoes that matched, the reality was that
the Bay City Rollers had left the stage and I looked like a left-over groupie.
Saint Ciaran’s Secondary School in Ballygawley was very big compared to
the primary school that I had just finished. I would get a free dinner every
day and if Mrs Canavan was on duty as dinner lady, I would get extra portions.
My two older sisters who had preceded me at Saint Ciaran’s had told me about
the fine dinners and desserts, the food was great.
Every day I would position myself to the back of the queue into the dining
hall, so as I could be close to the hatch from where the dinner was
distributed. Any left-over meals could be quickly claimed. Some of the dinner
ladies who worked in the kitchen were good to me, especially Mrs Canavan, from
Ballygawley, who always kept something for me and a couple of the other lads.
Unfortunately, by the time I had reached Ballygawley, I was full of
anger at everything and everyone. I do not know exactly why that was, but I was
angry. In my first week at Saint Ciaran’s, I was involved in six fist fights
and the interior of the headmaster’s office was known to me in every detail.
The Headmaster, Eugene McSorley was a gentleman, and administered punishment
with his six-one-metre bamboo canes with some measure of proportion. The
punishment, fitted the crime, as it were.
The headmaster constantly pleaded with me to settle and focus on my
education, but I was struggling with routine and structure. In Saint Ciaran’s
there were four categories of student, A, B, C and D. A was regarded as the
class for the smart students, which coincidently was where the wealthier
students could also be found. In my first year at secondary school, I was
placed in 1B which was unusual, as my 11 Plus results would have placed me in
1D, from where one was expected to make little progress in life.
In my second year I was moved down a class to 2C, this was mainly due to
the fact that I spent more time fighting than studying. However, teachers were
not prepared to give up on me, Mrs Carney who was my Form Teacher (in charge of
our class) asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I said an
Electronic Engineer. Mrs Carney explained how I would need to study hard if I
wanted to be an Electronic Engineer.
Mrs Carney encouraged me at every opportunity and by the end of my
second year I had achieved a balance between fist-fights in the school yard and
academic study. I came first in a class of 29 students and I was promoted to 3B
in my third year. The Headmaster Mr McSorley personally congratulated me on my
achievement, but I was constantly back in his office for fighting.
While I was still small in stature, I was training hard with the GAA in
Aughnacloy and I was on the GAA team at school, I was a scrapper on and off the
field and fearless. On one occasion a student was much older than I, gave me a
savage beating, for no reason other than I had a reputation for fighting. One
of the teachers Peter Keenan had seen the beating and taken the older student to
the headmaster’s office, for once I was the victim rather than the co-accused.
My fights were always with my peers and so the headmaster would always
discipline us equally. However, this older student who had assaulted me was a
different matter as far as the headmaster was concerned. The headmaster would
not tolerate bullying and this student had a reputation for bullying younger
students, it is fair to say that the headmaster taught him some manners.
I played left-half-back for my school team and local GAA team, this was
a well-chosen position, as nobody got past me, even if it meant a fist fight.
My cousin Brian McKenna (Ross) owned a pub in Aughnacloy and I played darts in
Brian’s regularly. I was good at darts and I would win the Clogher Valley individual
darts championship in 1976 during Aughnacloy Festival Week.
The final of the Clogher Valley individual darts championship took place
in Brian McKenna’s Pub, now known as The Rossmore, however, in 1976 Brian’s pub
was very small. The pub was packed for the final, I played against the
Headmaster of the Protestant Secondary School in Aughnacloy. There was a great
atmosphere in the pub as I was still only thirteen-years-old.
The final went down to the wire, literally, I hit double-two and it was
game over, needless to say I enjoyed many free bottles of coke and packets of
Tayto crisps. For winning the final I received £15, a Trophy and had my picture
taken with Brian McKenna for the Tyrone Courier. However, my moment of glory
was short lived.
After I won the Clogher Valley individual darts championship The RUC
organised a Blue Lamp Disco as part of the festival week and their contribution
to community relations. I was to attend the Blue Lamp Disco as I was one of the
winners of an activity during festival week.
The Blue Lamp Disco was harmless enough, Catholic and Protestant youths
attended but there was no cross-over between the two communities due to the
on-going sectarian murders in Northern Ireland. It was clear that there was no
love lost between older Catholic and Protestant youths, some of whom had
already lost family members to sectarian violence.
At the end of the night the older Catholic lads told all of the
Catholics to leave at the same time. When I went outside, I could not see Aidan
Mac Anespie, I asked Colm Sherry if he had seen Aidan and he said he thought
Aidan was still inside. I went back into look for Aidan but he was not there.
When I came out of the hall for the second time, all the Catholics were gone,
only Protestant youths remained.
I began to walk down the long drive from the school to the darkness of
the Dungannon Road. It was eerie and unnerving, when I got out onto the Dungannon
Road a car carrying a number of mature Protestant lads stopped and began to
shout sectarian abuse at me. I ignored them, and then I thought I was ok as a
car parked on the footpath in front of me, looked like a car belonging to a
Catholic lad.
The sectarian abuse got louder and the Protestant lads got out of the
car, the car on the footpath which I thought might be a friendly, was in fact
another car full of Protestant youths. I was battered, there was that many
people kicking at me that they were actually kicking themselves. My Adams Apple
was broken with a kick and as an older youth broke a bottle to do me serious
harm, a car drove into my attackers.
The car was driven by a Protestant business man, he warned the
Protestant youths that he would name them to the RUC if they did not desist.
Mrs Jimmy Douglas then pulled in and gave me a lift home. I went into the house
got changed, and went up the street to try and find some of my attackers on
their own. A car arrived with some Catholic lads and there was some fighting,
but it was all over very quickly without serious incident.
I never told anyone what had happened, and I set about taking on the
loyalists one at a time. I would be charged with assaulting two loyalists,
receive a suspended sentence due to my age and pay Doctors fees of £7. There
was laughter in the Court House when I and the alleged victims were asked to
stand up, I was tiny compared to the two lads I was accused of assaulting, I
never told the Judge that I was simply getting them back for assaulting me.
I was not happy with older loyalist youths who were stirring up trouble
and others were paying for their actions; the PIRA were constantly carrying out
attacks in Aughnacloy and loyalists were reacting to those attacks. On one
occasion I went up the town when loyalists were painting the footpaths red,
white and blue and I fought them. There were probably thirty loyalists, I
pulled down their bunting that they had tied on one side of the street. I was charged with criminal damage.
I had a good interest in darts and so I began to throw darts for a
protestant Bar in Augher, called the Railway Bar. The bar was owned by Winston
Montgomery. I organised a Million-and-One darts competition for the flood
disaster in Cambodia and this was a great weekend that raised a lot of money.
We had a good darts team in the Railway Bar and I travelled to many
competitions with Eddie and Millie Martin from the Moy.
Civil Rights Campaign Northern Ireland
Civil Rights Campaign Northern Ireland: Did SF/IRA high-jack Civil Rights Campaign or did they Manufacture it, as they did Manufacture opposition to Loyal Order Parades in the 1990s? Here is something you did not know!
According to Joe Campbell, “While the local council provided the opportunity, we in The IRA exploited that opportunity”
In June 1980, when I joined Sinn Fein/PIRA, my first significant role within Sinn Fein/PIRA was working on Internal Security with J.B. O’Hagan. In June 1980, J.B. O’Hagan was living outside Monaghan Town on the Ballybay Road and sharing a house with Joe Campbell. I had joined Na Fianna Eireann (junior PIRA) by the end of my first week working in Monaghan Poultry Products, this quick entry to Na Fianna Eireann was due to the fact that some of the older lads in the factory were already in Na Fianna.
As soon as my cousin Provisional IRA Chief of Staff (1983-1997), Kevin McKenna, knew that I was now living in Monaghan Town, Kevin swore me into the Provisional IRA so that I would be his eyes and ears within Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA in Monaghan Town. I would later be sworn into Sinn Fein/PIRA by Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, who did not know that I was Provisional IRA, but did know that I was Na Fianna Eireann.
Sworn In: “I, Vincent McKenna, promise that I
will promote the objects of Oglaighn a hEireann to the best of my knowledge and
ability and that I will obey all orders and regulations issued to me by the
Army Authority and by my superior officer”…
So, what was Joe Campbell, an alleged ‘Civil Rights Activist, doing sharing a house with a notorious Sinn Fein/PIRA Serial Killer and Assistant Chief of Staff of Sinn Fein/PIRA?
In the 1970s, J.B. O’Hagan had gone On-The-Run to Monaghan, was arrested by An Garda Siochana and imprisoned. J.B. O’Hagan would then escape from Mountjoy Jail by helicopter with other senior Sinn Fein/PIRA members Seamus Twomey and Kevin Mallon.
In the 1970s J.B. O’Hagan was Quarter-Master for Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan/East Tyrone, he ensured a constant supply of weapons and explosives for attacks in border counties. J.B. O’Hagan had supplied all of the weapons and explosives used to attack Clogher Barracks when Eva Martin was murdered.
By 1980 when I joined Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan, J.B. O’Hagan was Sinn Fein/PIRA Recruiting Officer and also in charge of Internal Security. J.B. O’Hagan was present when I was sworn in to Sinn Fein/PIRA and he recruited me to work on Internal Security.
While I worked on Internal Security with J.B. O’Hagan, I would regularly visit his house on the Ballybay Road. Joe Campbell sat in on our conversations and this was encouraged by J.B. as Joe Campbell had been a trusted member of Sinn Fein/PIRA from the Sinn Fein/PIRA Border Campaign, 1956-62.
J.B. O’Hagan, Joe Campbell and I often enjoyed a cup of tea together in the house on the Ballybay Road, neither J.B. O’Hagan or Joe Campbell drank alcohol, however, part and parcel of my Internal Security work involved drinking and socialising with Sinn Fein/PIRA members. One would not sit long in the company of Jim Lynagh, Laurence McNally and so forth while drinking mineral water.
Joe Campbell told me that he had recruited Patsy Gildernew to Sinn Fein/IRA in 1960 and it was this relationship that had ensured that both men were able to exploit the opportunity presented in Caledon in 1968, Joe said;
“While the local council provided the opportunity, we in The IRA exploited that opportunity”
When I asked Joe Campbell about the role of Austin Currie in the Caledon situation, Joe said that Austin Currie was a good man with honorable intentions, for Sinn Fein/PIRA Austin was useful in that he provided good political cover for what was an IRA operation.
Joe Campbell said that Austin Currie had no idea what was about to unfold, or the capacity of Sinn Fein/IRA at that time to exploit the situation.
It was clear from conversations with J.B. O’Hagan and others that following the humiliation of the Sinn Fein/IRA Border Campaign 1956-62, Sinn Fein/IRA were re-grouped and re-armed by 1968 and ready for any spark to light the flame of sectarian violence.
It has since been shown by released official documents, that prior to 1968, the Irish Government had been preparing to take action against a re-grouped Sinn Fein/PIRA, however, this action was over-taken by events in Northern Ireland.
Sinn Fein Provisional IRA Monaghan Town
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Monaghan PIRA Attacks in the 1970s
On 2 May, 1974, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) attacked a British Army base manned by the Ulster Defense Regiment (UDR) near the Northern Ireland–Republic of Ireland border at Clogher, County Tyrone. The IRA unit engaged the small base with automatic weapons, rockets and improvised mortars. Ferret armored cars were deployed to the scene and a fierce firefight erupted. The IRA withdrew behind the border with the Republic. The assault on the outpost killed greenfinch Eva Martin and wounded another UDR soldier.
The situation at the political level in Northern Ireland by 1974 was tense. The new Assembly, established under the provisions of the Sunningdale Agreement, was on the verge of collapse after the victory of anti-Faulkner Unionists in the February general elections. The month of May would witness the Ulster Workers' Council strike, which would be the coup de grâce of The Sunningdale Agreement.
On the security side, the PIRA had stepped up their campaign by April, in the hope that their actions could bring the political compromise to an end. The UDR was put on selective call-out; 100 extra servicemen per battalion were deployed each day. On 10 April, 1974, Lieutenant Colonel George Saunderson, a former second-in-command of the 4 UDR Battalion, was shot and killed by PIRA members at the school of Teemore, Derrylin, County Fermanagh, where he worked as Headmaster. Saunderson was shot ten times with an AK-47 automatic rifle.
On the same day as the Clogher attack, the Ulster Loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) blew up a pub in Belfast killing six Catholic civilians, 18 other people were seriously injured in the attack.
At 11:10pm of 2 May, 1974, when a training night at UDR Deanery barracks, a Georgian building manned by the 6 UDR Battalion, was coming to its conclusion, a group of approximately 40 PIRA members opened up with small arms, anti-tank rockets and improvised mortars from two firing positions. Most of the hostile fire came from a hill 800 yards to the north, while a secondary position targeted the base from the south. The attackers also deployed forward observers equipped with radios. Fire was returned from the part-time guard and from Ferret Armoured Cars belonging to 3 Troop, A Squadron, 1st Royal Tank Regiment armed with Browning .30 machine guns.
The PIRA team struck the UDR outpost with two or three rocket propelled grenades and 15 mortar rounds, although little damage was done. One rocket passed through the base protective fence, landed in an open area and ricocheted upwards, exploding against the opposite fence.
Another rocket hit a tree outside a window, and the outburst killed greenfinch Eva Martin, wounded by a metal fragment, and seriously injured a Lieutenant on his legs, stomach and head. UDR full-time clerk Richard Martin, Eva's husband, witnessed her death. The blast also left the building without electrical power.
Two other greenfinches took care of the operations room. Meanwhile, 4 and 8 UDR Battalion patrols arrived on the scene, mounting ambushes and deploying cut-off platoons on the roads leading to the border and alerting the Garda.
The PIRA covered their getaway by blocking roads using nine hijacked vehicles. The engagement lasted about 25 minutes according to PIRA member and future Garda/MI5 Agent, Sean O'Callaghan.
UDR patrols rounded up a Garand rifle and 27 improvised mortar shells in the surroundings of the Deanery the next morning. Two days later, a patrol from the 6 UDR Battalion thwarted a car bomb attack in Enniskillen.
Harry Baxter, 6 UDR Battalion commander, visited the barracks on the first hours of 3 May. He found the morale among the greenfinches high in spite of Martin's death.
Eva Martin's body was buried at Lisbellaw Presbyterian Church, Lisbellaw, County Fermanagh. She was the first greenfinch and the first female soldier to be killed in action during the PIRA Racist Campaign of Ethnic Cleansing. The wounded lieutenant recovered from his injuries, but he left the regiment sometime later.
Sinn Fein/PIRA Monaghan Town other Murders
Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan Town, kidnapped, tortured and secretly buried school boy Columba McVeigh. This cowardly murder earned PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna and his fellow murderer, Hennesy McKenna the nick-name, the Moors Murderers, as Columba’s body remains undiscovered in the Moors of north Monaghan.
Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan Town, Murdered, 79-year-old Louis Mountbatten, also aboard the boat were his elder daughter Patricia, Lady Brabourne; her husband Lord Brabourne; their twin sons Nicholas and Timothy Knatchbull; Lord Brabourne's mother Doreen, Dowager Lady Brabourne; and Paul Maxwell, a young crew member from Enniskillen in County Fermanagh. Nicholas (aged 14) and Paul (aged 15) were killed by the blast and the others were seriously injured. Doreen, Dowager Lady Brabourne (aged 83), died from her injuries the following day.
Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan Town, Murdered, 86-year-old Norman Stronge and his son James. Those who murdered Norman Stronge were Jim Lynagh, Laurence McNally, Aidan McGurk, Seamus Shannon, Edward ‘Ned’ Hamill, Seamus McElwaine, John ‘Dinger’ Bell, Owen Smyth (claimed that he and Lynagh Planned the murders) Barry Kerr. Those who Commanded the murders were, Kevin McKenna (Chief of Staff, 1983-1997), Michael McKevitt, Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy, Brendan McKenna (Adjutant), JB O’Hagan (Quarter Master/Recruitment/Internal Security), Hennessy McKenna, Barry McHugh, and Jim Lynagh was OC.
Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan Town, Murdered, an innocent civilian, Gabriel Murphy in Emyvale, after Gabriel had challenged Jim Lynagh about the fact that Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan Town had protected Jim Lynagh’s brother Michael Lynagh who was a serial child rapist. Gabriel was murdered in front of his wife and children by Colm Lynagh and Barry Kerr.
By the 1980s, Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan Town, spent more time covering up for Sinn Fein/PIRA Rapists and Paedophiles, such as Michael Lynagh, Brendan Toal (Father of SF/PIRA Councilor Malachy Toal) Patrick 'Paddy' Tierney and so forth than they did engage in attacks on British forces.
In the picture below, Seamus McElwaine's funeral 1986, Brendan Toal is already, publicly known as a serial Child Rapist, yet Brendan can be seen in the picture below with grey hair and cap in hand, his son Malachy far left black leather jacket.
I arrived in Monaghan Town in 1980 when I was 16 years-old, the Sinn Fein/PIRA structure was as follows.
Fergal O’Hanlon, Sinn Fein Cumann: Members:
In 1980, The Fergal O’Hanlon Cumann meet at a room above Saint Macartan's Hall, Park Street, Monaghan Town, which was located across the street from the home of Pádraigín Ó Murchadha. The key for the Hall had to be collected from the Parish Priest at the Parochial House, Park Street.
Pádraigín Ó Murchadha sister of Vol Fergal O’Hanlon who was shot dead by RUC in 1957, cousin of Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and married to Wexford Republican, Maitiú Ó Murchadha who died in 2020. I found both Pádraigín and Maitiú to be traditional republicans and I often had tea and a slice of bread in the kitchen of their house on Park Street.
Pádraigín's brother Eighneachán Ó hAnnluain (Died, 1994) had been elected as one of four Sinn Fein TDs in 1957, the other three being Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, John Joe Rice John Joe McGirl. Eighneachán was a talented artist and we had a few chats when I would collect An Phoblacht on a Saturday evening before selling them around the pubs.
Joe B. O’Hagan aka J.B. O'Hagan (died 23 April 2001) was a Provisional IRA member and Sinn Fein Candidate for Northern Ireland Assembly elections in 1983. When I moved to Monaghan Town 1980, J.B. O'Hagan was sharing a house on Ballybay Road with Sinn Fein/PIRA member, Joe Campbell from Tyrone, Joe Campbell was one of the people who took over house in Caledon in 1968 from which Civil Rights Campaign begun.
An active member of the PIRA, JB O'Hagan, almost single handedly carried the torch for the IRA in north Armagh for decades. He joined the IRA in 1940 and participated in several IRA campaigns over the next five decades. A founder of the Provisional IRA, he served on The PIRA Army Council till imprisoned in the Republic of Ireland. On 31 October, 1973, he and PIRA members Kevin Mallon and Seamus Twomey, escaped from Mountjoy Jail, Dublin, by means of a helicopter. JB O’Hagan was The PIRA Recruiting Officer in Monaghan Town in 1980, JB also dealt with Internal-Security.
Kieran Starrs Sinn Fein/PIRA member On-the-Run from Portadown, his Brother Aidan Starrs was one of three PIRA members shot dead by The PIRA in 1994 after all three allegedly admitted to working for the RUC, the person who murdered them was himself an RUC Informer. Kieran Starrs was active in Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan but also travelled the country for An Phoblacht.
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin was in 1980 known as Kevin Keelan, however, he changed his name to the Irish/Gaelic version as he thought it would give him more electoral reach. Caoimhghín was also working in the Bank in 1980, however, Caoimhghín joined Sinn Fein/PIRA when the Hunger-strikes began in 1980 (there were two Hunger-Strikes – 1980 which was called off by Brendan ‘Darkie’ Hughes and then the second Hunger-strike lead by Bobby Sands in which 10 men died).
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, held a number of positions in Sinn Fein/PIRA, at one point he was Manager of An Phoblacht at 44 Parnell Square, Dublin and later he was the Runner between PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna and Northern Command.
Vincent Conlon was a senior member of The PIRA and dealt mainly with PIRA Finance. Vincent Conlon was with Fergal O’Hanlon and Sean South in 1957 when both were shot dead by the RUC. Vincent Conlon and I often worked together maintaining the Fergal O’Hanlon Monument on The Clones Road in Monaghan Town. He was an intelligent man with a wealth of knowledge and he imparted that knowledge to young people such as myself.
Vincent McKenna joined The Fergal O’Hanlon Sinn Fein/PIRA Cumann in 1980 and was sworn in by Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, all of the above (excluding Vincent Conlon) were in attendance. Vincent McKenna worked politically with Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, although this relationship sometimes over-lapped with PIRA business.
Vincent McKenna was at all times answerable to his cousin PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna, however, Vincent McKenna had a number of roles within Sinn Fein/PIRA, Vincent McKenna worked with JB O’Hagan on Internal-Security, with Joe Cahill on Internal-Security in Dublin, as an Intelligence Officer with Jim Lynagh, after Jim Lynagh was shot dead at Loughgall Vincent McKenna worked with another member of East Tyrone PIRA on Intelligence, and would serve as a Runner between Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness, Northern Command between 1992-1997. Omagh Bomb
Na Fianna Eireann (Junior PIRA)
I joined Na Fianna Eireann in Monaghan Town in June 1980, while Na Fianna Eireann is the Junior Wing of the PIRA, it was more like the Boy Scouts, just marching and learning commands in Irish. We marched at Bodenstown and on Easter Sunday in Monaghan. Some graduated to The PIRA, most walked away.
Na Fianna Eireann Members: Fra O’Leary, Malachy Toal, Vincent O’Brien, John McKenna, Jimmy McKenna, Vincent McKenna, Siobhan McKenna, Roisin McKenna, Philip Callan, Leo Cassidy, Tommy Gallagher, Noel McGahan, Ruby Coughlan, Christy Lynn and Pat Lynn.
Make-up of The PIRA Command Staff in Monaghan:
Kevin McKenna (Chief of Staff, 1983-1997) Kevin was On-the-Run from County Tyrone, where he had murdered a number of people. Kevin also murdered and directed murder in The Irish Republic. Kevin McKenna worked closely with Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy and MichaelMcKevitt.
Hennessy McKenna was On-The-Run and originated from south Derry. Hennessy was tight with Kevin McKenna and both of them had Murdered Columba McVeigh and Cormac McCabe in north Monaghan.
Barry McHugh Mullaghmatt Council Housing Estate (Kieran Doherty Park) was On-the-Run from Tyrone and was close to Kevin McKenna, Barry had married the widow of another PIRA member who was killed by his own bomb during an attack on an RUC Station. Barry McHugh and Tommy McNulty had manned the incident centre in Dungannon during the 1975 cease-fire.
Brendan McKenna (Adjutant) was On-the-Run from south Derry and had married a local Monaghan woman, Bernie Rush, who was a hairdresser. Brendan lived in Mullaghmatt Council Housing Estate (Kieran Doherty Park). Brendan would also take on the post of Director of Elections. Brendan, in my view, kept the wrong company.
J.B. O’Hagan (see, Fergal O’Hanlon, Sinn Fein Cumann: Members)
Vincent Conlon initially dealt with Finance, however, after he moved to America Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin took on that role, and I can say with confidence, there was no money within Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan other than what was raised from organising events, such as The Wolfe Tones in Emyvale, although by the time we paid The Wolfe Tones there was not much left for Sinn Fein/PIRA.
If Kevin McKenna needed money to pay someone off, such as a corrupt Garda, Kevin received that money from Slab Murphy.
OCs
When a member of The PIRA was imprisoned, he automatically lost his Rank and would be replaced very quickly. When Jim Lynagh was in Jail Edward ‘Ned’ Hamill was the OC. Charlie Caufield was OC in south Fermanagh.
Edward ‘Ned’ Hamill
Jim Lynagh who Murdered Norman Strong and his son James
Seamus McElwain shot dead by SAS 1986
Pat Treanor
John ‘Dinger’ Bell
Provisional IRA Volunteers
Seamus Shannon (Jim Lynagh’s Brother-in-Law) Murdered Norman Strong and his son James
John Joe Coyle Tuff man from Ardboe, enjoyed a good scrap, was OC on some operations
Laurence McNally shot dead by SAS 1991
Michael Pete Ryan (escaped from Crumlin Road Jail, 1981) shot dead by SAS 1991
Aidan McGurk (Dungannon) Caught while sleeping on command wire to Landmine
Tommy 'TC' Cassidy Serial Killer, also shot and wounded Robert John Murray, Aughnacloy, cowardly attack, injuring Robert John, his wife and 6 week old baby.
Sean xxxxxxxxxx (Volunteer – was stood down - disclosed the names of two Female PIRA Volunteers to this Author, who were living in Aughnacloy and who were not known to The RUC, this Author has never disclosed their names to anyone)
Gerard xxxxxxxxxx (Quarter Master)
Vincent xxxxxxxxxx (Gunman)
Sean Tierney (arrested by RUC 1986, Gough Barracks Armagh)
Sean Lynch wounded with Seamus McElwain 1986
Peter ‘Pete’ Rafferty
Brian Cunningham (Keady)
James Cunningham (Keady)
Jackie Crowe (south Armagh)
George Pontyz (south Armagh, based in Castleblaney – RUC Informer)
Bernard McGinn Castleblaney, operated south Armagh, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin’s brother-in-law, turned Informer.
Peadar Mohan Killed car accident
Tommy McMahon Murdered Lord Louis Mountbatton 1979
Tommy McNulty
John Arthurs from Dungannon, done hard time, good solid individual, feet firmly on the ground
Pat 'The Gub' Arthurs, from Dungannon, had his finger shot off when trying to murder a prison officer
Pat Corrigan
Paddy McCarron
Oliver McCarron (Dismissed)
Michael ‘Micky’ John
Brendan Corrigan
Brian McMeel
Gabriel McCormack
Paddy McCormack
Eugene Wallace
Frank Daly
Noel McConnell
Jeff McKenna (Augher) Killed in Hit and Run on Dorset Street in Dublin 1982 while selling An Phoblacht. Involved in attack that resulted in Murder of Eva Martin.
Tommy Moynagh
Brendan Toal
Malachy Toal
John Toal
Jim Quigley
Cathal McNally
Malachy Leonard
Ben McCloy
Cathal Lavery
John McKenna
Tom Green
John Milne
Rose O’Neil
Fintan Ó Caoláin
Frank Cleary Brother of Peter Cleary who was shot dead by SAS
Stephen Moore
Joe O’Neil
Brendan Devlin
Seamus McErlaine (south Derry)
Frank Hardie
Charlie McGrory
Barney McAleer
James Dunlop (Ballymena)
Eamon ‘Ned’ Kelly
Kieran Lavery
Edward ‘Ned’ McDonald
Seamus Soraghan (seriously assaulted by Garda Heavy Gang)
Lou Ginley
Laurence McKenna (5 years Lynagh's funeral)
Patrick McKenna (5 years Lynagh’s funeral)
Brian McKenna
Peter McKenna
Owen Smyth RUC Informer, claimed that he and Jim Lynagh planned the Murders of Norman Strong and his son James
Colm Lynagh (Volunteer – waster – shot dead doorman, Gabriel Murphy in Emyvale)
Barry Kerr (Volunteer – waster – shot dead doorman, Gabriel Murphy in Emyvale)
Southern Command Staff based at 44 Parnell Square, Dublin
Joe Cahill
Des Mackin
Seamus McGarrigle (P. O'Neil)
Dr Rose Dugdale
Rita O’Hare
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin
INLA in Monaghan Town 1980s
Tony McCloskey Kidnapped, Tortured and Murdered by Dessie O'Hare
Fergal Lavery
Gerry Mallon Shot dead in Dungannon
Paul Patterson
Andy McKenna
Antony Ballintine
Martin Gray
Gerard Ginley
Fergal Toal
Brian McKenna (Armagh)
Gregory Carroll (Armagh)
Conclusion Sinn Fein Provisional IRA Monaghan Town
1973, 27 November, the day that changed my world
When my Aunt Agnes got married
to Cyril McCaul in 1970, they initially lived just off the Caledon Road in
Aughnacloy. There was a Georgian style street with old houses and small iron mongery
enclosed gardens. These houses were home to older residents of Aughnacloy such
as James McFadden, a generation that were fading into history.
Cyril was a mechanic, who
often worked on my father’s boss’s car, an old Hillman Minx, and Cyril would
take his time and explain to me what he was doing as he worked on cars outside
his house just off the Caledon Road. Cyril and Agnes were very good to me and
Cyril was my favourite Uncle.
Cyril travelled to work each
day with his Protestant friend Ivan Charlton, they were both in their early
20s, both married and enjoying life to the full. Cyril and Ivan would work long
hours to support their families. By November, 1973, Cyril and Agnes had two
babies, Noel and Tracy, my first cousins.
In November, 1973, my two
older sisters had moved from the Primary school in Aughnacloy to the secondary
school in Ballygawley, some five-mile away. I was the oldest, 9 years-old, of
our family now at primary school in Aughnacloy. If my mother wanted some help
with my baby brother and sister, she would keep me at home.
On the 28 November, 1973, my
mother had kept me at home from primary school to help with my baby brother and
sister, my mother would do the laundry and so forth and I would take care of my
baby brother and sister on the sitting room floor.
In the corner of the sitting
room there was an 8-track stereo, with built in radio, modern for its time, but
as big as the original video players that would follow in the 1980s. On the 28
November, 1973, I was minding the babies, when the one o’clock news came on the Radio.
The news reported that two
young men in their 20s had been killed on the Ballygawley to Dungannon Road,
when they drove into a lorry that had been hi-jacked by The Provisional IRA, by
this time Cyril and Agnes had moved to Aghinduff Park, Cabragh, Dungannon.
Upon hearing the news of two
young men having been killed, I went to my mother in the kitchen and I told her
that I thought it might be Uncle Cyril. As the day became more and more
chaotic, it transpired that it was my Uncle Cyril and his workmate Ivan Charlton
who had been killed when they drove into a lorry that had been hi-jacked by The
Provisional IRA and left on a bad bend on a very dangerous stretch of the road.
The Provisional IRA issued a
statement stating that they had placed the lorry on the road in order to lure
the RUC into an ambush, however, it was a reckless, murderous act, and I have
always viewed it as such. The Provisional IRA could have declared that there
was no bobby-trap in the lorry, and they did not, meaning that Cyril and Ivan’s
bodies could not be retrieved from the crash scene for many hours.
1980 Raped by a Sexual Sadist, Silenced by a Kangaroo Court
J.B.O’Hagan told me how important Jim Lynagh was to The Republican Movement, he told me that the Gardai would use the attack on me to damage Sinn Fein/PIRA, and he remined me what had happened to 17 year-old Columba McVeigh 5 years earlier in Monaghan. J.B. O’Hagan finally told me that Michael Lynagh would be moved to Dublin. I was not the only child raped by Michael Lynagh in Monaghan.
When I left Monaghan Town in 1992, I would have known at least 20 Sinn Fein/PIRA Paedophiles who had been protected by Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan. In cases where files had been created by Child Protection workers in The NEHB in Monaghan Town in relation to some of those Sinn Fein/PIRA Paedophiles, I would be aware that Sinn Fein/PIRA used elected representatives to ensure that those files did not go to An Garda Siochana.
Hunger Strike 1981
1981 Jim Lynagh was blood thirsty after murdering 86-year-old Norman Stronge and his son James at Tynan Abbey, murders later described by The Supreme Court in Dublin as being, "So brutal, cowardly and callous that it would be a distortion of language if they were to be accorded the status of a political offence". Lynagh now wanted to murder more soft targets like the Stronge’s, Lynagh wanted to murder members of the Protestant Association in Monaghan Town, in particular, Alan Crawford and Seymour Crawford who were elected members to Monaghan Urban Council.
Lynagh also wanted to bomb a bus carrying Monaghan based members of the Orange Order and their families to the annual twelve of July parades in Northern Ireland. Lynagh who was under constant scrutiny by An Garda Siochana, felt that his ability to operate was being diminished by the actions of An Garda Siochana, and so he wanted to carryout arson attacks on the homes of Garda Special Branch Officers and their families. When the latter was denied to Lynagh, he and others painted silhouettes of an armed figure on the homes of Garda Detectives such as Hugh Brennan, in order to intimidate by letting them know that he knew where they lived. Lynagh spoke openly to me about all of this, as I had in early 1981, targeted the homes of RUC officers in arson attacks, to get close to Lynagh.
In 1982, the plan was to
murder RUC Detective Sargent, Winston Hall, in Monaghan Town. Winston Hall was
the RUC officer giving identification evidence against me in Monaghan District
Court in relation to a Extradition warrant for the arson attacks directed at
RUC targets in 1981. I was told to tell the Provisional IRA when the next
hearing was, however, I did not.
On the day that the
Extradition hearing was being heard, I came out of the Court at lunch time and
I was confronted by members of the Provisional IRA, who demanded to know why I
had not alerted them to the hearing. I told them that I did not know about the
hearing until that morning when I was arrested by Gardai and brought to Court.
In fact I had not been arrested that morning and I had three weeks prior notice,
I knew they planned to open fire on the RUC Officer and the Gardai escorting
him.
The IRA sent two females into
the Court to see if it was still possible to target the officer, however,
Gardai inside the Court room detained the two females and the RUC officer
returned to Omagh unharmed. The next hearing was in the High Court in Dublin.
Kevin McKenna (PIRA Chief of
Staff) Brendan McKenna (Adjutant) Joe B. O’Hagan (QM Monaghan/East Tyrone PIRA)
Vincent Conlon (Finance Officer) Hennessy McKenna, sanctioned the murders of
the Stronge’s in retaliation for the attempted murder of Bernadette and Michael
McAliskey by loyalists a few days earlier. According to Owen Smyth, Jim Lynagh
and Owen Smyth planned the logistics of the attack, Aidan McGurk, Laurence
McNally, Seamus Shannon, Seamus McElwaine, Charlie Caufield, Edward ‘Ned’
Hamill, Barry McHugh and JJ made up the unit.
According to Owen Smyth,
following a gun battle with the RUC, who arrived after the murders of the
Stronge’s, the Provisional IRA Unit made their way across fields until they
reached the home of Mr Harry Lavery who lived in Glaslough. Mr Harry Lavery’s
son Cathal, who lived in Mullaghmatt council housing estate in Monaghan Town,
was a member of the Provisional IRA. Transport was arranged and the Provisional
IRA Unit made their way back to Monaghan Town, some members of the Unit were
arrested the following morning by Gardai from the basement of The Round House Bar,
which was being managed by Owen Smyth and would later be owned by Owen Smyth.
The rest of the Provisional
IRA Unit would make their way to Mullaghmatt council housing estate where the
uniforms were washed by a female PIRA member Deli and the guns were returned to
an arms dump in Rossmore Forest Park which bordered Mullaghmatt council housing
estate.
As the Hunger-strike in Long
Kesh (The Maze) continued in 1981, we had set-up a H-Block office above Seamus
McMeel’s pub on Dublin Street in Monaghan Town, this pub would later be owned
by East Tyrone PIRA member, Noel McConnon and known as the Shamrock Bar.
The H-Block Office was no more
than a drinking den for Sinn Fein/PIRA members, it was not unusual late at
night to find Sinn Fein/PIRA members such a Lynagh engaging in sexual activity
with teenage girls on tables strewn with posters of PIRA Hunger-striker, Kieran
Doherty who was being run as a candidate in the 1981 General Election in The
Republic.
The most significant meeting
relating to the Hunger-strikes took place in The Swan Lake Hotel in Monaghan
and was attended by senior Sinn Fein/PIRA from across Ireland. It would not be
unfair to say that Bernadette McAliskey almost single-handedly convinced those
gathered to run the Hunger-strikers under a H-Block banner rather than a Sinn
Fein banner, as such a banner would allow those not supportive of Sinn
Fein/PIRA to support the Hunger-strikers. This was a stroke of electoral genius
and was reasonable for showing Sinn Fein/PIRA what could be achieved if a wider
electoral base could be reached.
My cousin Jeff McKenna and
Tommy McNulty set-up a H-Block office in Dublin and my cousin Lucy had
established good H-Block committee in Kerry, where we had run my cousin Sean
for election during the first Hunger-strike in 1980. I would on a Sunday travel
to Aughnacloy and distribute leaflets advising people about the Hunger-strike,
initially it was difficult to interest even Sinn Fein/PIRA supporters.
When I distributed leaflets in
Aughnacloy, people gave me some money towards the Hunger-strike campaign and I
would deliver this money to Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin on a Monday evening after I
finished work in Monaghan Poultry Products. While there were Sinn Fein/PIRA
people in Aughnacloy, initially none of them would get involved in the H-Block
campaign, mainly because loyalists had targeted a good few people at this time
including Bernadette McAliskey and her husband Michael. However, I was fearless
and I carried on regardless.
Eventually as it became clear
that Hunger-strikers were going to die, some people in Aughnacloy such as Sean
McAnespie and my own father began campaigning, this eventually led to the
election of Bobby Sands as MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone. In Monaghan we had
many weeks of work to get Hunger-striker, Kieran Doherty elected as TD for Cavan/Monaghan.
Kieran’s election sowed the seeds for the incremental development of a
political strategy in Monaghan, although it would meet its distractors.
1983 Gerry Adams President
Gerry Adams enjoys the company
of millionaires on his fundraising trips to the USA since 1995, but at the time
of the Don Tidey kidnapping he was a leading figure in a Sinn Fein/Provisional
IRA faction that was spouting Marxist ideology and kidnapping and murdering
businessmen.
Gerry Adams was elected President
of Sinn Féin at the Ard Fheis of 13 November 1983, Don Tidey was kidnapped by
Bik McFarlane, November 24, 1983, it was important for Adams to put distance
between himself and the two Murders in Leitrim that is why the ‘Friendly Fire’
lie was told!
In 1983, while I was Managing
the SF/PIRA Office in Monaghan Town, I also had business with Caoimhghín Ó
Caoláin at 44 Parnell Square, I was working with Joe Cahill on
Internal-security and Joe Cahill and Seamus McGaragle were Directing me on my
Extradition in the High Court Dublin. I was in 44 Parnell Square when John Joe
McGirl was feeding information about the Tidey kidnapping to Joe Cahill.
Seamus McElwaine who had
previously shot the Father of Arlene Foster, was one of Bik McFarlane’s gang
that Kidnapped Don Tidey and Murdered a Garda and Solider in Leitrim in 1983,
McElwaine was shot dead in 1986, Bik was one of the SF/PIRA who was involved in
cover-up of Robert McCartney’s Murder.
Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane had re-joined
Adams's faction immediately after breaking out of the Maze prison in 1983,
where he had been serving a life sentence for the murder of four men and a
woman, all Protestants, in the Bayardo Bar on the Shankill Road, Belfast, on
August 13, 1975.
Seamus McElwaine returned to
Monaghan immediately after breaking out of Long Kesh in 1983 and was
hand-picked by Kevin McKenna for the Don Tidey kidnapping that would be led by
Bik McFarlane.
1981-1984-85 Crumlin Road Jail: Joseph 'Joe' Haughey, was either Very Lucky or a Protected Species
Prison Life in the 1980s:
Prison Life in the 1980s: Crumlin Road Jail was a strange place. It was a Victorian Prison that is now a visitors and conferencing centre. In the 1980s Crumlin Road Jail was used to house Sinn Fein/PIRA Prisoners, UVF/UDA prisoners and ‘ordinary criminals’.
The cells in the 1980s were as basic as the day the prison opened in 1846, there were bunk or single iron beds with a metal spring base on which there was a thin foam mattress and each prisoner had a horse-hair blanket and pillow. There was one plastic chamber pot per-prisoner sharing a cell and each morning during ‘slop-out’ prisoners would empty and wash their chamber pots in the slush room.
In the slush room there were some cubicles where prisoners could use an actual toilet bowl when ‘slopping out’.
Prisoners also had a large plastic mug, a plastic plate and plastic cutlery. Prisoners could also get access to small transistor radios.
I was held on A Wing, A Wing held both Sinn Fein/PIRA and UDA/UVF prisoners. Prisoners were let out of their cells at different times. For example, when UVF/UDA prisoners were using the shower room, Sinn Fein/PIRA prisoners would be ‘slopping-out’. I was always used the showers when opportunity presented.
On one occasion, I was washing at the sink in the shower room waiting on a shower to become available when I noticed that the prisoner using the sink beside me had a UVF tattoo on his arm, we both realised at the same time that I was in the wrong place, he simply said, quietly, your in the wrong place. I walked slowly to the cage type door and told the prison officer that I was ready to go.
Gerry Adams Dead 1985-87
In 1985, Jim Lynagh was in Portlaoise Prison in the Irish Republic, I would travel from Monaghan Town and visit Jim as and when possible. My visits with Lynagh were an exchange of information, I would learn about the latest thinking from those within the prison wall, and Jim would learn what was happening in Monaghan/Tyrone.
In 1985, Jim Lynagh was convinced that Gerry Adams was selling out the Republican Movement, Jim believed that Adams and those around him were diverting money away from The Provisional IRA and into their own political ambitions and bank accounts.
Lynagh was flirting with the idea of setting up a new armed organisation with Ruairí Ó Brádaigh as a figure head at the helm, Lynagh was convinced that Gerry Adams was toxic and that he would have to be removed. Lynagh had developed a plan that would focus more military actions against the Protestant community while at the same time maintaining political cover with attacks on RUC and British Army bases. The latter would ensure a continued supply of money from Irish America.
While it can be said that Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA were engaging in a policy of Ethnic Cleansing from 1969, particularly with their focus in the border region of targeting and murdering the only son of Protestant farmers and so forth, Lynagh wanted that campaign to be more systematic. Lynagh wanted to create Green Zones, where both the British Military and their Protestant supporters would be driven out.
When Lynagh was released from prison in 1986 he began to put in place a plan to Assassinate Gerry Adams. Lynagh was surrounded by a very tight group of Provisional IRA killers, however, only his most trusted comrades would be on the inside of the plan to Assassinate Gerry Adams. In the picture below, Lynagh is to the right of the coffin in monkey hat, he would later say that he was temped to put a couple of rounds in the back of Adam’s head as Lynagh had a pistol in the belt at the back of his trousers.
While the Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Leadership in Belfast sanctioned the expansion of the target base in the summer of 1986, this was still not enough to quench Lynagh’s thirst for Protestant blood. Martin McGuinness arrived in Monaghan in October 1986, to sanctioned an official policy of Ethnic Cleansing, however, McGuinness’s arrest and quick release following that meeting, simply made Lynagh more paranoid of the Northern Leadership.
Lynagh quickly exploited a feud that was taking place between factions of the INLA, Lynagh secured weapons from Tony McCloskey who was the OC of The INLA in Monaghan Town, warning Tony that if the weapons ended up in the hands of Dessie O’Hare the INLA in Monaghan would face severe consequences.
Tony McCloskey would also provide several bottles of Hydrochloric Acid to Lynagh, upon Lynagh’s request to do so, although McCloskey would not have known that the Acid was to be used in the disappearance of Gerry Adams.
At the time of his Murder in February 1987, Tony McCloskey was the Foreman in Clonkeen Mushrooms, and within that complex there was a small laboratory for testing the compost as it went through a pasteurisation process. This small lab used Hydrochloric Acid for its processes, and it was from this lab that Tony McCloskey secured the Hydrochloric Acid which was stored in large bottles. Tony McCloskey in picture below with beard behind his young son walking on the wall.
The plan took on new momentum when in November 1986 over one-hundred Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA members walked out of Sinn Fein's Ard Fheis in Dublin after a majority voted to end the long-held policy of abstentionism from Dail Eireann in Dublin. This move by the Gerry Adams lead Northern Leadership was viewed as treacherous by Lynagh and his co-conspirators.
Following the decision to end abstentionism, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and I organised a fund-raising event in Clontibret in County Monaghan, to rally the troops. Jim Lynagh and I were standing together at the function in Clontibret when Jim asked me if he should make a speech about the split that had just occurred with Republican Sinn Fein, I said yes. Lynagh was fairly drunk, when he got up on the stage, took the microphone from the group playing music, and announced that there is only “One Sinn Fein/PIRA”.
As Lynagh was making his
speech Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin hurried over to me and asked me why I had not
stopped Lynagh getting up on the stage. Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said, “The best
form of defence is attack” and so Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin took to the stage and
tried to reassert his authority by stating there is only “One Sinn Fein/PIRA”,
and order was restored.
Lynagh by making his
ill-considered speech was simply giving himself cover for the Plan to execute
Gerry Adams. Following Loughgall a few months later, Sinn Fein/PIRA could quote
Lynagh’s speech at Clontibret as evidence that Lynagh supported the Adams
Project, which he did not.
Gerry Adams was to be assassinated in the aftermath of Loughgall, when Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA would be on a high due to the clear military direction being provided by Kevin McKenna, Jim Lynagh, Paddy Kelly, Padraig McKearney and others. Lynagh was convinced that once Adams was disappeared, Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy, Michael McKevitt and Martin McGuinness would abandon any process that could bring about the surrender of militant republicanism.
While there has been much speculation that Gerry Adams set up the Loughgall Ambush, in order to remove the threat from McKenna, Lynagh, Kelly and McKearney, that speculation, originates in State papers released in the Irish Republic in 2017.
In those State papers it is stated that Fr Dennis Faul, a Catholic Priest from Dungannon, County Tyrone, advised an Irish Government official that there were rumours that Gerry Adams had set-up the Loughgall Ambush.
The priest, who had taught Padraig McKearney, one of the IRA men shot dead at Loughgall by the SAS in 1987, at St Patrick’s Academy in Dungannon, said the theory doing the rounds was that “the IRA team were set up by Gerry Adams himself”. Fr Faul said he was “intrigued” by the theory.
However, the very rumour that Fr Dennis Faul passed onto the Irish Government official, had come from one of the conspirators against Adams and based in Monaghan Town. This Monaghan based conspirator had used his wife, who was originally from Dungannon to carry the rumour to the ears of Fr Dennis Faul and the republican community in Dungannon.
While there is no question about the plan to assassinate Gerry Adams in the aftermath of a successful Loughgall, the reality is that Gerry Adams had not set-up Loughgall, because Adams had no prior knowledge about Loughgall.
Jim Lynagh was reckless, he had openly told Sinn Fein/PIRA members in Monaghan, who had no part in Loughgall, about the Loughgall operation. Lynagh made no secret of the fact that he was moving to a Safe-house in Coalisland in preparation for Loughgall, that Safe-house was well known to the security services. A Monaghan Town based Informer put the final nail in the coffin of those who died at Loughgall, that Informer is known and has been protected by a higher ranking Informer.
Following Loughgall, the Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Leadership, were critical of Irish Foreign Affairs Minister, Brian Lenihan Snr for not condemning the SAS killings at Loughgall, however, Brian Lenihan knew very well that there was a plan to assassinate Gerry Adams, and therefore Lenihan had taken the view that Adams could yet surrender The Provisional IRA.
RUC Arrest and Interrogation 1986
In 1986, I was standing
chatting to Jim Lynagh in Mullaghmatt council housing estate, where I lived in
Monaghan, when an unmarked Garda car drove past, Lynagh told me I would be
arrested the next time I was in the north after being seen in his company. This
indicated two things, that Lynagh knew information was flowing between An Garda
Siochana and the RUC, and that he had an expectation that I would be arrested
by the RUC.
A this point in 1986 I was an
Intelligence Officer answering directly to Jim Lynagh, Lynagh had plans beyond
Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA and he was building what he believed would be a new
organisation free from the contamination of Gerry Adams.
A few days after being seen in
Lynagh’s company I was in Aughnacloy socialising with my Aunt Susie in Brian
Ross’s pub, when Vincent McKenna (Neil) came into Brian Ross’s. Vincent Neil
(McKenna) said that the British Army at the check-point had just given him a
tough time, as his driving licence states his name as Vincent McKenna. Vincent
Neil said that the Brits had tried to removed his beard as they thought it was
a false beard as I have always been clean shaven.
I knew by the manner in which
the Brits had treated Vincent Neil (McKenna) that I would be arrested when I
left Brian Ross’s pub. At approx. 9pm as my Aunt Susie and I walked down Moore
Street in Aughnacloy, we could hear the siren of the police car blare its way
down the street. I was arrested by local police officers under a seven-day
detention order, both RUC Officers apologised for having to arrest me, I had
known them all my life.
A seven-day detention order
was normally reserved for the toughest of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA activists,
so I knew I was in some difficulty, as the majority of Sinn Fein/PIRA activists
arrested over the years broke under interrogation within two-days, only the
toughest survived, and that was not many.
The success of RUC interrogations
against Sinn Fein/PIRA suspects was highlighted in December 1977, when An Garda
Siochana seized an IRA document during a house search in Dun Laoghaire near
Dublin. The Sinn Fein/PIRA document explained in detail how Sinn Fein/PIRA
activists were breaking under interrogation with such regularity it was
undermining the ability of Sinn Fein/PIRA to carryout it most basic functions.
I was driven to Gough Barracks
in Armagh, that was known within Sinn Fein/PIRA as an RUC interrogation centre,
it was where my cousin Sean McKenna had been taken in 1976 when he had been
kidnapped from Dundalk by the SAS. When we arrived at Gough Barracks in 1986
the RUC Officers from Aughnacloy signed me into the RUC at Gough Barracks.
I was placed in a holding
cell, the cell was clean, not like the Bridewell in Dublin, a mattress covered
in a type of vinyl, a heating pipe that ran under the steel frame of the bed
which made the mattress feel like a hot-plate. What was interesting about the
cell was that if you wanted to got o the toilet you had to ask, in Garda cells
there was usually a toilet built into the floor.
I imagined the point of making
arrested persons to ask to go to the toilet was a psychological tool, where one
is beholding to the Jailer for the very basics. That said, I may well have
over-thought the tactic, if it was indeed a tactic. The same applied to having
a shave, you had to ask the Jailer for a razor. From my own point of view
having a shave refreshed and rejuvenated me during detention, and so may have
been more positive on some detainees than beneficial to interrogators who were
trying to break them down.
I knew from sounds around me
in the holding area that there were other arrested persons, however, they could
have been anyone, loyalists, ordinary criminals and so forth. I would
eventually learn that other persons arrested and, in the cells, next to me,
were Brian Arthurs who would go on to be OC of Monaghan/East Tyrone PIRA and
Sean Tierney, a trusted comrade of PIRA Commander, Seamus McElwaine before
Seamus was shot dead by the SAS in early 1986.
During my detention, I made no
effort to make contact with other prisoners, this would be a breach of
protocol, however, Brian Arthurs did break protocol by placing his initials on
the cistern of the toilet using cut-outs of toilet paper, however, I ignored
this. Someone also tapped out morse-code on the heating pipe, again I ignored
it.
It was the next day, before
interrogators were in place to interview me, I was taken from my cell to an
interview room. The interview room was clean, a desk type table and three
chairs. There was no recording equipment, and I am not sure that such equipment
was mandatory at that time.
I expected to be immediately
asked about my relationship with Jim Lynagh, as I knew Lynagh was a priority
target and that An Garda Siochana had most likely told them that I was close to
Lynagh. However, I was shocked, when the RUC Officer set down a file in front
of me, that file contained sworn statements by a person called Declan Mohan who
had implicated me in the shooting and serious wounding of a UDR member, Robert
John Murray outside Aughnacloy in 1984. In this shooting incident in 1984
Robert John’s wife and baby had also been injured.
I had absolutely nothing to do
with the shooting of Robert John Murray and the accusation that I had was a grievous
error on behalf of the RUC.
Declan Mohan was known to me
all of my life, I viewed Declan as a Hood, a local thief in Aughnacloy who often
broke in the homes of his neighbours such as Austin and Kathleen Douglas to
steal money and female underwear. Declan was non-political in every sense of
the word, a village idiot to many.
I had not seen or heard from
Declan Mohan for some years, until I was in Crumlin Road Jail in 1984 and
Declan Mohan was remanded for being in possession of information likely to be
of use to terrorists. When Declan Mohan entered A Wing on Crumlin Road Jail I
was simply shocked, I thought the RUC must have made a mistake. Joe Haughey, Seamus
Shannon and I were talking in the yard when Declan Mohan walked into the yard.
Seamus Shannon told me to
debrief Declan Mohan as I had told Seamus that I knew Declan. I asked Declan
what had happened, he told me that he had been asked by another person called
Vincent, to gather information about RUC/UDR personnel, and when Robert John
Murray was shot and wounded, the RUC raided Declan Mohan’s family home and
found details relating to RUC/UDR including Robert John Murray.
I asked Declan why he still
had Robert John’s details if the shooting had already taken place, and he said
he never thought the RUC would suspect him, that was very believable, as the
RUC would have viewed Declan as I did. Declan told me that a person known to me
as Vincent had introduced him to Tommy ‘TC’ Cassidy and all three had meet
three times including the introduction meeting.
Declan Mohan told me that
Vincent and Tommy had meet him twice in McElvaney’s pub in Monaghan Town and
once in the Hillgrove Hotel in Monaghan Town. I asked Declan if he had told
this to the RUC when arrested and he said yes, he had made several sworn
statements of admission.
I told Declan not to worry and
worst-case scenario he would serve a couple of years. I reported back to Joe
Haughey and Seamus Shannon what Declan Mohan had told me, and Declan was allowed
to stay on A Wing.
When I was released from
Crumlin Road Jail in 1985, I immediately asked Vincent why Robert John had been
shot when his wife and baby were in the car with him, Vincent said that at the
debriefing session afterwards, TC had told Brendan McKenna (Adjutant) and
Edward ‘Ned’ Hamill (OC) that he could not see the women and child in the back
seat of the car from his shooting position.
I told Vincent that I knew
that stretch of the road very well, and because of the bend on the road on
which TC was positioned behind a tree, he could see very clearly the woman in
the back seat, Vincent said that those at the debriefing were not too bothered
either way. I then asked Vincent, why in the name of God, had they used Declan
Mohan for PIRA business, and Vincent said that they needed other sources of
information as well as me.
This again was one of the
problems with Sinn Fein/PIRA, they were always trying to out do each other,
trying to prove that one was better than the other. This went right from the
top, the constant bitching between Martin McGuinness and Provisional IRA, Chief
of Staff, Kevin McKenna to those in the lower orders. I did not careless about their
petty ego trips, I would go straight to Kevin McKenna and tell him that if Sinn
Fein/PIRA wanted to use Hoods to do their work, I would be no part of it, this
type of face-off with Kevin and others usually put me back in the intelligence
driving seat in Monaghan.
So, there I was in Gough Barracks
in 1986 being accused of a serious crime that I had no hand or part in. The RUC
officer who was questioning me were very determined to get an admission and
charge, however, they had beaten themselves from the outset. Either Declan
Mohan had lied to me in Crumlin Road Jail in 1984 when he said he had named the
actual conspirators, or, the RUC had manufactured my name onto the Mohan statements,
either way, Robert John Murray and his innocent family would be denied real
justice.
For the first couple of days
the questioning was fairly soft, probing and prodding me with names, places and
events. I played along, if they asked me about Aidan McGurk, I would say I knew
Jack McGurk (The Coalman) but not an Aidan McGurk. If they asked about Kevin
McKenna (my cousin, PIRA Chief of Staff) I would say there are hundreds of McKenna’s
in Monaghan. If they asked about Jim Lynagh, which they did, I would say I know
the name but can’t put a face to the name.
Effectively I talked absolute nonsense
for the first two days and the RUC got nothing. The questioning while going
nowhere from my point of view, was intense, on the third day Pat Fahy one of
the solicitor’s Sinn Fein/PIRA prisoners were told to ask for when arrested in
Tyrone arrived into Gough Barracks. I told Pat that I was being questioned
about something that I knew nothing about and I believed that the RUC would
stop at nothing to get me to make a false confession. Pat told me to fall
silent.
When I returned to the
interview room on the third day, I refused to speak, that was it, I would no
longer play along with the charade. The questioning now took on an increased
intensity, in the room next door heating pipes that ran along the wall behind
me were being kicked and shouts of “Provo Bastard” and so forth could be heard.
However, none of this phased me, I had seen all the cop movies, I knew about
these tactics, and if my interrogators had done any research on me, they would
know the one thing I did not fear was physical violence.
As I starred at a spot on my
jeans to help focus my mind, I was thinking to myself, that the psychological
tactics being used by the RUC were very effective and if they had been accusing
me of something that I had actually done, I may well have spoken to them,
however, they were accusing me in the wrong and now using tactics that I
thought were beneath them.
One RUC detective produced a
picture from his shirt pocket as if by magic, he pushed it close to my face and
asked if I knew the person in the picture, I remained silent, but memorised the
picture. The picture was Tommy ‘TC’ Cassidy, a PIRA serial killer, however, I
did not know him, and had only seen him once, when he entered a bar in Monaghan
very drunk, I asked the person I was with who he was and he said that is ‘TC’.
On the fourth day and beyond
of my detention, I think there were up to twelve plain clothes RUC involved in
my interrogation, on the fifth day, more senior officers entered the interview
room, by now it was clear I was not going to talk and they were not going to
get any satisfaction. Now the emphasis was on recruiting me to work for them,
they described Kevin McKenna as the Executioner and Jim Lynagh as the Assassin and
these descriptions were interchangeable. One senior officer asked everyone else
to leave the room, he sat down beside me, pulled the chair in real close,
placed his hand on my leg and pleaded with me to do the right thing.
Frustrated and angered the RUC
released me from my seven-day detention, however, they had an RUC car outside
to take me to Crumlin Road Jail for some alleged fine from 1984, I was weary.
In Crumlin Road Jail I was placed in a cell with someone on the criminal wing,
this individual immediately began asking questions, I knew I was in with a Rat,
I told the other prisoner that I was Provisional IRA and he should not ask any
further questions.
After a few days in Crumlin
Road Jail, I was released and returned to Monaghan Town. I immediately walked
into The Round House Bar, to the right as I walked in was Jim Lynagh, John ‘Dinger’
Bell, Aidan McGurk and so forth, there was a cheer from the lads and I ordered
a well-earned pint of Guinness from Owen Smyth and I paid with my gratuity
money from my short stay in Crumlin Road Jail.
As I sipped on my pint, Owen
Smyth came over close to me at the end of the bar and asked, “Did you talk?” I
said no, and he shock his shoulders and huffed, it hurt him, that I as an
unseasoned terrorist could keep my mouth shut, yet when Owen Smyth was arrested
by the RUC in 1981, he had turned Supergrass to save his own skin.
A couple of days after being released
by the RUC John ‘Donger’ Bell approached me on Church Square in Monaghan Town
and said he would be out to the house to debrief me, I told John he would not
be out to debrief me, as I only dealt with Lynagh.
Lynagh arrived out to my house
and there was a debriefing for about an hour, Lynagh was really only interested
in what the RUC said about him, he took pride in the RUC description of him as
the Executioner, he understood the description and revelled in it.
Loughgall Martyrs 35 Anniversary Sinn Fein/PIRA
Loughall Ambush a Summary
Three weeks before Loughgall, Paddy Kelly who was Officer Commanding East Tyrone Provisional IRA, arrived in Monaghan Town to meet with Jim Lynagh, Lynagh was Officer Commanding Monaghan/East Tyrone PIRA and he sat on the Brigade Staff as a Military Strategist. When Paddy Kelly could not find Lynagh, which was not unusual, Paddy Kelly made the fatal mistake of inquiring at The Round House Bar about Jim Lynagh’s whereabouts.
In 1987, the Round House Bar was now owned by Owen Smyth, Smyth had turned Super-grass in 1981 when arrested by the RUC and he would again talk when arrested by An Garda Siochana in 1990 in relation to his role in a human bomb attack in 1990. It has long since been believed that Owen Smyth was protected by a higher-ranking informer, this was not unusual.
Two days before Loughgall I meet with and spoke to Jim Lynagh on Dublin Street in Monaghan Town, our meeting was observed by two Garda Special Branch Officers who were parked outside Jim Lynagh’s flat at the bottom of Dublin Street, a flat that Jim shared with John ‘Dinger’ Bell.
I looked Lynagh directly in the eyes and told him that I believed he was about to be killed, I told him that while the SAS might pull the trigger, it was our own that was going to set him up. Lynagh looked me straight in the eyes and asked me if I wanted him to stop, I said yes, what we need is political leadership and he could deliver that. Lynagh dismissed my concerns and our conversation turned to booby-traps and Semtex.
The morning after Loughgall, members of Monaghan/East Tyrone PIRA were telling each other that the SAS had been lying around all remote RUC stations and it was just bad luck, anyone, who was not militarily and politically illiterate knew that Loughgall was a well-planned ambush and its fall-out would have long-term repercussions.
Gerard Harte was, by Kevin McKenna, given the task of investigating and reviewing the Loughgall operation, with a view to identifying an Informer or Agent within Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA. I was with Kevin McKenna when Gerard Harte reported his findings, soon afterwards, Gerard Harte was, with two others, shot dead by the SAS.
In Belfast in 1994, and by pure chance, I meet a former British soldier who had been one of the out-layers at Loughgall, he now worked in retail security, and I had taken on such as job for the summer break from QUB. Mike would leave retail security in August 1994 to join the RUC and be replaced by his former comrade Johnathan who had also been an out-layer at Loughgall. The instructions given to the army at Loughgall was to let no-one out of the Kill-Zone. This instruction would be understood by anyone who knew Lynagh, Kelly and Kearney in particular, as they had no intention of going to jail.
In 1998, I would meet the most interesting of people who had been involved in Loughgall, I have never named this individual. Three weeks before Loughgall, this individual told me that he had signed in and out, to the firing range beneath the forensic lab in Belfast, two senior RUC Officers (later ambushed outside Dundalk), approximately eight SAS Soldiers and weapons similar to those that would be used by the Provisional IRA Unit at Loughgall three weeks later.
I asked this individual why the SAS would use weapons similar to those to be used by the PIRA at Loughgall, and he said, the soldiers were highly trained, and they would be able to distinguish between Friendly and Hostile fire on the evening of the Loughgall operation. While not an absolute requirement in this instance, it would probably be better to have a record of the Provisional IRA Unit opening fire first, for any subsequent political post-mortem.
I would also meet with Sir John Hermon, Sir John had no hesitation in telling me that the gloves came off with Loughgall, the order to kill came directly from Mrs Thatcher following a series of high-profile murders by the Provisional IRA. I would in 1999 have an opportunity to speak with Mrs Thatcher and she was satisfied that Loughgall was the right thing to do, she believed that, while not its main objective, the ambush at Loughgall strengthened the hand of those who were prepared to surrender the Provisional IRA.
I did not tell Mrs Thatcher, about Jim Lynagh’s plan to disappear Gerry Adams, following a successful Loughgall.
Loughgall Introduction
Other Top Stories
Loughgall Martyrs 33rd Anniversary and Gerry Adams
Was it correct and proper for The PIRA to be surrendered? Yes, it was correct and proper for The PIRA to be surrendered, but not for the reasons advanced by Gerry Adams nor under the Terms and Conditions agreed between Martin McGuinness and his MI6 Handlers.
From a traditional republican perspective, the reason that it was correct and proper to surrender The PIRA was due to the fact that The PIRA had become/and remain The Black and Tans of the latter 20th Century and now the 21st Century. This does not mean that there were not good men and women who genuinely believed in a cause, however, they were blinkered by that cause and blinded from the treachery, corruption and criminality of their leadership.
In Gort in December 1920, as observed by historian Roy Foster, “a new level was plumbed” when two local boys with no IRA connections were murdered by the Black and Tans for “impudence”. Their bodies were thrown into a ditch “after being dragged behind one of the dreaded lorries until they were unrecognisably mangled”. This was just one example of what poet WB Yeats referred to in his poem Reprisals as “Half-drunk or whole-mad soldiery”.
For those of us who were actually in the trenches, the reality of Sinn Fein/PIRA from the mid-1970s onward was in extreme contrast to their publicly stated claims of being the defenders and liberators of the Catholic/Nationalist community in the north. A good example of how The British Security Services dealt with Sinn Fein/PIRA can be found in the manner in which The CIA and FBI dealt with The Communist Party in America in the 1970s. When The Communist Party collapsed in America, there were more paid up members of The CIA and FBI in its ranks than there were actual Communists.
By the time the Sinn Fein/PIRA Army Convention was held in Donegal in October 1997, the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership were infiltrated to the point that Agents, Informers and touts outnumbered actual Sinn Fein/PIRA members. This level of infiltration was fully exposed when Bobby Storey and the lads raided Castlereagh RUC Holding Centre in 2002, however, no action could be taken as several levels of the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership would have had to be wiped out.
Those Sinn Fein/PIRA members who had not been compromised sat ideally by while Sinn Fein/PIRA rapists were protected and on many occasions their victims beaten, shot, murdered or exiled. Sinn Fein/PIRA members tied rape victims to lamp-posts and poured paint or tar over them so that other rape victims would not dare to break silence. These were not acts carried out by weak individuals, these were acts directed from the very top of Sinn Fein/PIRA.
Dogs on the street knew that Gerry Adams Snr, Ruby Davidson and many others were prolific child rapists, yet they were protected and on the occasions of their deaths afforded full style Sinn Fein/PIRA funerals.
In 1998, I press released a list of 100 Sinn Fein/PIRA rapists and pedophiles who had been protected by the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership, to highlight the hypocrisy of Sinn Fein/PIRA as self-proclaimed liberators/defenders of the nationalist/Catholic community. In response to my press release some good journalists (who had not sold out to the 'peace-process' gravy train) began to ask serious questions of the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership.
The Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership panicked and ordered an Internal-Audit of Sinn Fein/PIRA around the country to establish how wide-spread the rape of women and children was within the organisation. This Internal-Audit was to estimate the political damage that could be caused to Sinn Fein/PIRA if someone actually investigated the claims. Seamus and Annie concluded their Internal-Audit and reported back directly to Sinn Fein/PIRA HQ in Belfast. The Internal-Audit found that at least 5,000 women and children had been raped by Sinn Fein/PIRA members.
In 2014 Gerry Adams TD would produce a list of 27 Sinn Fein/PIRA rapists that they had Ghosted into The Irish Republic in order to take the political pressure off. This was the 27 origionally included in the initial list of 41 On-The-Runs to receive 'Comfort Letters' from MI6.
Leading members of Sinn Fein/PIRA who had admitted to Sinn Fein/PIRA that they were sex criminals such as Gerry Adams Snr, Liam Adams, Marty Morris, Seamus Marley, Ruby Davidson, Briege Meehan, Michael Marron and hundreds more were and continue to be protected by Sinn Fein/PIRA. Only a handful of Sinn Fein/PIRA rapists have actually appeared before the courts, their victims remain silenced in the Ghettos and the leafy lanes of suburbia by the threat of death, as suffered by Paul Quinn in Monaghan or Kevin McGuigan in Belfast in recent times.
Of the initial list of 41 Sinn Fein/PIRA members drawn up by The Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership to receive Comfort Letters from MI6, 27 on that list were Sinn Fein/PIRA sex criminals such as Seamus Marley. Seamus Marley is the son of leading Sinn Fein/PIRA member Laurence Marley who was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries. Seamus Marley had been moved out of Belfast after admitting to the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership that he had engaged in sex crimes.
The Secretary of State for the north was told in 1999 that 27 of the 41 OTRs on the list were sex criminals and not on-the-run for Terrorist activity, however, like many Secretaries of State he was simply an MI6 appointee, following The Oatley and McGuinness script.
Marley was moved to a Sinn Fein/PIRA safe-house in Louth where he raped two young boys, he is now serving 7 years for those rapes but is under investigation for other crimes. In Dundalk in the 1990s Liam Adams was describing himself on the front page of the regional paper, Argos, as a Pedophile Hunter, in fact, he was the pedophile but had been protected by the leadership of Sinn Fein/PIRA, he has since died while serving 15 years for raping a 4-year-old-child. The majority of Sinn Fein/PIRA rapists in the north, were and continue to be, Ghosted into The Republic when their victims cannot be silenced. The numbers involved are overwhelming.
This article by Ed Moloney in The Sunday Tribune shook the leadership of Sinn Fein/PIRA as people were beginning to break silence.
Sinn Fein/PIRA member Michael Marron pleads guilty to raping a female child after that child's family had to move out of the area to seek justice. Michael Marron is also the person who continuously ran a smear campaign against Eamon Collins before Eamon was murdered in 1999. Marron had often written on the walls of Barcroft estate that Eamon Collins was a Peadophile.
This article in The Sunday Herald September 1999, highlights how the rape of women and children is being used by Sinn Fein/PIRA as a weapon of torture, The Rape Crisis Centre, Belfast is quoted, "One in every Four clients that we deal with, women and children have been raped by Sinn Fein/PIRA members. In some instances Mothers have been warned at gun point to take their raped child to England for an abortion so that the Sinn Fein/PIRA rapists cannot be identified at a latter point by DNA from the baby.
This article that appeared in The Newsletter Sept 2000 explains how a male child was shot by Sinn Fein/PIRA because he told social worker that he had been sexually abused by a senior member of Sinn Fein/PIRA.
Sinn Fein/PIRA kept very detailed records of the Human Rights abuses they engaged in, they also kept a very clear record of certain loyalist groups that were engaging in similar activity against their own community. I downloaded this database from a Sinn Fein/PIRA computer in Belfast, when I still had a wee key.
Sinn Fein/PIRA mouth-pieces such as Gerry Adams stood at the graveside of PIRA volunteers and lied through their teeth, all of the above and much more is why The PIRA should have been surrendered, The PIRA had become and remain The Black and Tans of the latter 20th Century and now the 21st Century and no number of apologists will remove that stain. Sinn Fein when they break FREE from The PIRA Army Council and their Handlers, will be entitled to engage in normal politics, but until then they must remain in political self-isolation.
The Provisional IRA are proxies for their Handlers, they should disband and decommission their MI6 supplied Glocks. The PIRA Army Council should apologise to the Catholic/Nationalist community in the north for the crimes it has committed against them these past 50 years.
In 1998, I press released a list of 100 Sinn Fein/PIRA rapists and pedophiles who had been protected by the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership, to highlight the hypocrisy of Sinn Fein/PIRA as self-proclaimed liberators/defenders of the nationalist/Catholic community. In response to my press release some good journalists (who had not sold out to the 'peace-process' gravy train) began to ask serious questions of the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership.
In 2014 Gerry Adams TD would produce a list of 27 Sinn Fein/PIRA rapists that they had Ghosted into The Irish Republic in order to take the political pressure off. This was the 27 origionally included in the initial list of 41 On-The-Runs to receive 'Comfort Letters' from MI6.
Leading members of Sinn Fein/PIRA who had admitted to Sinn Fein/PIRA that they were sex criminals such as Gerry Adams Snr, Liam Adams, Marty Morris, Seamus Marley, Ruby Davidson, Briege Meehan, Michael Marron and hundreds more were and continue to be protected by Sinn Fein/PIRA. Only a handful of Sinn Fein/PIRA rapists have actually appeared before the courts, their victims remain silenced in the Ghettos and the leafy lanes of suburbia by the threat of death, as suffered by Paul Quinn in Monaghan or Kevin McGuigan in Belfast in recent times.
Of the initial list of 41 Sinn Fein/PIRA members drawn up by The Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership to receive Comfort Letters from MI6, 27 on that list were Sinn Fein/PIRA sex criminals such as Seamus Marley. Seamus Marley is the son of leading Sinn Fein/PIRA member Laurence Marley who was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries. Seamus Marley had been moved out of Belfast after admitting to the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership that he had engaged in sex crimes.
Loughgall Martyrs 35 Anniversary Background
Loughgall Martyrs Used
Catholics Not Included
Comfort Letters for On The Run Terrorists
While many showed surprise when the trial of John Downey collapsed in relation to The Hyde Park Bombing, many who showed surprise were liars as they had been warned about the Comfort Letters in 1999. Over 240 Sinn Fein/PIRA murderers and rapists would receive Comfort Letters and be able to come and go as they pleased.
Secret Talks between The British Government and Sinn Fein/PIRA
Following Sir Patrick Mayhew’s speech at Queens University in Belfast in 1993, there was a question and answer session, this author asked Sir Patrick openly in front of the media, academics and students gathered if The British Government was talking to The PIRA, Sir Patrick denied the charge. Shortly after Sir Patrick spoke at Queens, a document that was sent from Michael Oatley MI6 Officer to MI6 Agent Martin McGuinness was shown to certain trusted journalists by this author, so that they may push on with questions about secret talks between The PIRA and The British Government.
When Sinn Fein/PIRA heard of the document between MI6 Agent Oatley and McGuinness, there was panic, as the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership with the exception of McGuinness did not recognise the described document. The fact was that the document appeared to show that McGuinness was a British Agent rather than a negotiator on behalf of the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership, although he was also led on the latter.
The leaks led to the breaking of the story on 8 November 1993, by Belfast journalist, Eamon Mallie. Eventually both the British and Sinn Fein/PIRA admitted that there was contact and each side gave their own account of such contact to minimise outrage from various quarters on both sides. Sinn Fein/PIRA persistently denied the document that was produced at that time by this author (see, below), and purported to be a communication between MI6 Agent Michael Oatley and Martin McGuinness, the communication, when subjected to discourse analysis, appeared to show that McGuinness was in fact an MI6 Agent, not a James Bond type Agent, simply a puppet on a string.
The Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership continued to state that only Sinn Fein had spoken to the British, however, in 1994, PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna gave a rare interview to Eamon Mallie on Downtown Radio, in which he said, “As long as the boys with the balaclavas are at the table I am happy”, McKenna was referring to Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, yet at all times, including in 2020 on their official website, Sinn Fein/PIRA claimed/claim that it was Sinn Fein who was negotiating with The British and the document below was a communication between British ‘Officials’ and the Sinn Fein negotiators, this is a lie, the original handwritten version of the communication had Martin McGuinness written at the top and was signed off with, Is Mise, Michael Oatley. A blind donkey reading this document can see that it was a personal communication between MI6 Officer, Michael Oatley and MI6 Agent, Martin McGuinness and was probably included in disclosed documents by Sir Patrick Mayhew by accident.
In February 1994 I had an article published in The Irish News (this can be checked in their archive) and The Irish Press (no longer in circulation) in which I stated the following, in the hope of encouraging Sinn Fein/PIRA personnel to stand down as they were involved in a phony war:
“And I ask you Irish men and women within the ranks of The PIRA to check the motivation of your leadership before checking the timer on your bomb”.
Martin McGuinness MI6 Agent
Loughgall Informer
Loughgall Martyrs 35 Anniversary Ambush 1987
Loughgall Martyr Jim Lynagh
Enniskillen Bomb 1987
Jim Lynagh and I
I had many roles within Sinn Fein/PIRA, and that probably explains the great lengths that some have went to over decades to try and silence me. Two days before Jim Lynagh was shot dead by The SAS at Loughgall, I spoke to him at Dublin Street in Monaghan Town. Our meeting was being observed by two Garda Special Branch Officers sitting outside Jim Lynagh’s flat at the bottom of Dublin Street, a flat Jim shared with fellow Sinn Fein/PIRA operative John ‘Dinger’ Bell.
At this point in 1987 my job was gathering and corelating intelligence for Sinn Fein/PIRA, however, Lynagh wanted me to start planting under-car booby traps. Not only did he want me to plant them, but he wanted me to construct them. I was to construct the booby-trap bombs by getting the component parts across the border, assembling them, and then, on Command planting them.
As Jim and I stood chatting on Dublin Street in May 1987, Jim explained that the Semtex that had been supplied to Sinn Fein/PIRA by Libya smelled like marzipan, I think that was the first time I had heard about marzipan. Jim said that I would be taking a couple of ounces of Semtex into Tyrone at any given time. The Semtex would be wrapped in cling-film, and I would place it in my under-pants (that is a diplomatic description of what he said) and simply walk through the British Army Check-point.
As implausible as this might sound, I was already in position, by training with a local GAA Team in Tyrone and walking in and out through the British Army check-point with regularity. To the point that the British Army did not bother searching me, I was polite to the Soldiers at the check-point and they simply let me go through without any problem.
A couple of days later Lynagh was dead, and while I remained within Sinn Fein/PIRA, I never heard another word about booby-traps, I was then under the command of another member of East Tyrone PIRA and Intelligence was my core role. In fact, my new PIRA commander said:
“We have enough killers, we need good intelligence”.
Semtex from Libya
Libya had resumed its aid to the Provisional IRA and had provided $2 million to Sinn Fein in the Irish Republic (Irish Times, 18 and 19 June 1986).
In an interview on RTE TV on 28 October, Colonel Qadhafi said that Libya should be thanked for its position on Ireland: "If I was leader of the south of Ireland, I would consider that the north was colonised and fight to liberate that part of the country".
British Press reported that two senior Sinn Fein officials (Ted and Joe) had visited Libya in April for a ceremony to mark the American raids on Libya which was addressed by Colonel Qadhafi's teenage son, Sadi, and that Colonel Qadhafi had supplied the IRA with large quantities of plastic explosives.
Mr Collins, told the Dail on 10 November that the Irish police were urgently examining reports that two landings of arms had been made in 1985 and two in 1986, all arranged by the IRA. He said later on RTE that there was "reason to worry" (Irish Press, 11 November 1987).
Anonymous letter claimed British knew of Enniskillen bomb plans?
In the 1987, General Election, held on 17th February, in the Irish Republic, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin was the candidate in the Cavan/Monaghan constituency. Owen Smyth was in charge of Public Relations for Sinn Fein/PIRA in the Monaghan Electoral area, as he had been for the 1985 Local Government Elections, in which he was also a candidate.
In the aftermath of the Enniskillen Bombing, it was Owen Smyth who wrote an anonymous letter to then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Lenihan TD, claiming that he was an MI5 Officer who had prior knowledge of the Enniskillen Bomb. Smyth never made any secret of the under-hand things that he engaged in. Smyth had sent the letter to Muddy the Waters.
It is highly unlikely that the British had any prior knowledge of Enniskillen, as the operation was planned in Monaghan by a very tight circle of people and the operational detail would not have been known, even to some of those who offered support services. There would have been no need for anyone to change the timing on the bomb, as it was always meant to Murder civilians.
State papers: Self-proclaimed operative sent Brian Lenihan letter six days after IRA bomb killed 12
An anonymous letter-writer to the Irish government 30 years ago claimed that British intelligence knew in advance about the Enniskillen bombing but chose to do nothing about it as they believed it would create a “massive backlash”.
The Enniskillen bombing on Remembrance Sunday, November 8th, 1987, was one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles. Twelve people were killed when an IRA bomb blew out the walls of a building beside the cenotaph in the town, burying dozens of spectators in rubble.
Six days after the bombing, an anonymous, typed letter was sent to then Tánaiste and minister for foreign affairs, Brian Lenihan. It has now been released as part of the 1988 State papers.
The letter was sent by a man who claimed that he was so scared that he drove across the Border to post it.
He claimed that he was an MI5 agent operating in Northern Ireland for 18 months and that he worked in the special section which was set up to infiltrate paramilitary organisations.
Remembrance Day parade
He listed ways in which British intelligence sought to target republican paramilitaries including the manipulation of Dessie “The Border Fox” O’Hare, “a psychopath”, through his wife.
He went on to state that his section of MI5 knew in advance of plans to bomb the Remembrance Day parade in Enniskillen.
British intelligence knew when and where the IRA gang were going to plant the bomb, its size and technical make-up, he claimed.
“Our section decided to change the timing device and let the explosion take place so that the IRA would score an own goal and create a massive backlash against itself,” he wrote.
“Our section also calculated that in the climate of a backlash against the IRA all kinds of security measures could be implemented including extradition.”
The self-proclaimed operative also suggested that MI6’s involvement in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings had been “well-established” in MI5.
“If I had more courage, I would come out openly and prove with more what I am now saying,” he wrote.
The anonymous letter generated only one piece of correspondence in the files. It was from an official in the Department of Foreign Affairs to an official in the Department of Justice.
It noted that the letter was sent in an envelope to the Tánaiste but was addressed to “Dear sir or madam”. The official suggested that perhaps the letter was meant for a wider circulation including the press.
Other Top StoriesThe Enniskillen Bomb Why and Who
Loughgall Martyrs and the Pressure to Retaliate
Choosing the target that would be Enniskillen
Kevin McKenna making the final decision
Although it was never officially admitted, Gardai did detect suspicious activity and arrested a number of suspected IRA men in Monaghan on the morning the IRA bombed the Remembrance Day ceremony in Enniskillen.
Three Co Tyrone men on the run from the RUC and living in Monaghan were stopped in a car in Monaghan hours before the explosion.
The woman believed to be the joint-leader of the South Fermanagh Brigade of the IRA was also understood to have arrived in Monaghan that morning. Gardai regarded the activity as suspicious but thought little more of it until later in the morning when the reports of the Enniskillen bombing arrived.
The men detained in the car and a number of others were questioned and forensic tests taken but no evidence of any kind was found to connect them with the bombing, according to officers.
However, intelligence reports later indicated that it was almost certain that the eight IRA suspects whose movements were detected in Monaghan that morning were involved in the bombing.
Gardai and RUC believe the bombing operation was led by the woman, and that she was in the group that had driven west from Enniskillen after they had finished planting the bomb in the building owned by the Catholic Church beside the Cenotaph at around 10.43 a.m. on Remembrance Sunday.
The woman, although still only in her 20s, was known as an extremely hard-line figure who had risen rapidly through the local IRA ranks. She was said by officers to have engaged in the torture of at least one IRA man suspected of passing information to Gardai in Monaghan.
Importantly, she and the man, Charlie Caufield, her co-leader of the bombing operation were close to the IRA's Chief-of-Staff, Kevin McKenna, a County Tyrone man living in Smithborough.
Intelligence appraisals of the Remembrance Sunday bombing put it in the context of a decade and-a-half of assassinations of Protestants/security personnel along the Border by the IRA's Border brigades. In the late 1980s IRA tactics had grown to include coordinated "spectaculars", such as double or treble bomb attacks in different locations.
At the same time as the Enniskillen bomb was detonated, the west Fermanagh IRA was unsuccessfully trying to detonate at second 400lb landmine at the site of the Remembrance Day ceremony in the village of Tullyhomond, just across the Border from Pettigo in Co Donegal. This event was attended by more than 100 members of the Boys and Girls Brigade, the Protestant equivalents of the Catholic scouts and girl guides.
If this bomb had exploded it would have caused even worse carnage than the one at Enniskillen. Forensic examination of the device showed that it was wrongly wired. It was never ascertained if this was done intentionally or accidentally by the west Fermanagh bombers, who must have been aware of the likely outcome of their bomb.
The Tullyhomond bomb was connected to a command wire running across the Border into Donegal. However, the Enniskillen bomb was detonated by a timer. This meant that the Enniskillen bombers knew they would have no sight of the likely target and could only surmise what the impact of the bomb would be.
A report in The Irish Times about a week after the Enniskillen bombing, that the device was detonated by a timer, was denied privately to other journalists by a senior Sinn Fein figure who acted as an unofficial IRA source to the media. However, British army ordnance officers were able to reconstruct part of the timer, a device commonly used in IRA bombs.
In its only official comment about the bombing, the IRA said it had been a "mistake". The truth was that it had been a success in Provisional IRA terms, it had struck back at the Protestant community for the deaths of eight SF/PIRA members at Loughgall, and was celebrated as such in two pubs in Monaghan Town owned by two members of SF/PIRA. The Enniskillen Massacre brought much needed cohesion within the ranks of the ‘Border’ IRA Brigades.
The event drew international opprobrium down on the IRA and the visit to the injured by Diana, Princess of Wales, and Prince Charles drew international media attention to the event. Privately, republican sources admitted that it had virtually reversed the positive international image the organisation had built up at the time of the hunger-strikes.
The woman who led the bombing team with Charlie Caufield is in the US, where she has raised a family.
The Impact of SAS Operations on the PIRA Leadership 1988
While The PIRA in Monaghan/East Tyrone were able to continue to carryout operations and new recruits filled the ranks following each attack by The SAS, the psychological impact on The PIRA could not be underestimated.
Following Loughgall, few members of The PIRA were putting themselves forward for operations, by 1991, this demoralisation had reached breaking point, and is highlighted by the fact that Pete Ryan and Laurence McNally had to ask a civilian to drive them to their final destination, where they were picked up by Tony Doris, and then all three meet with their deaths at the hands of The SAS.
In 1986 when Seamus McElwaine was shot dead by the SAS, we within the ranks of Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan were told that it was bad luck, nothing more, no need to take it beyond that, bad luck.
In 1987 when the most senior member of The PIRA ever killed by British Security forces, Jim Lynagh was shot dead at Loughgall (Operation Judy) with seven other members of The PIRA, those who set them up, had their story ready for the fools within the ranks of Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan Town.
The morning after Loughgall I walked into Monaghan Town with a member of East Tyrone PIRA who was On-The-Run and living in Monaghan.
Normally when an operation appeared to have gone wrong, we would gather at The Sinn Fein/PIRA Office, 21 Dublin Street, Monaghan Town, to try and get the most up to date news. As I walked down Dublin Street with my East Tyrone PIRA associate, we decided to go into The Shamrock Bar that was owned by another member of East Tyrone PIRA and who was On-the-Run.
When we entered the bar, the story had already been told:
“The SAS were lying around all the remote RUC stations; it was just bad luck”
This explanation for the wipe-out of a PIRA Unit that included Jim Lynagh and Paddy Kelly, was not credible, but I said nothing, that was always the smart thing to do, let the smart boys think you believed them. The person who offered this explanation for the slaughter at Loughgall was simply a messenger, feed a line by an Informer.
Following Loughgall, there was anger in Monaghan, Jim Lynagh had been a Sinn Fein Councilor and was popular among the most fearsome killers and young people alike. Jim had made enemies among older members of Sinn Fein/PIRA, Jim wanted to push boundaries, challenge the established protocols, bring the war to the British and the Protestants who supported them.
Kevin McKenna was The PIRA Chief of Staff and had been based in Monaghan from the early 1970s, Kevin was a sectarian bigot who simply enjoyed Murdering Protestants, but he was smart enough to know, that American money would dry up very quickly if the Sinn Fein/PIRA campaign was viewed as being purely sectarian.
Following Loughgall, Kevin McKenna was under extreme pressure to reassert his authority, Kevin knew that Martin McGuinness was breathing down his neck as McGuinness tried to retake his position as Chief of Staff. Kevin McKenna had meet McGuinness while both were imprisoned in The Irish Republic in the 1970s, McKenna while initially fond of McGuinness, eventually became suspicious of McGuinness.
This suspicion of McGuinness was heightened in 1986, McGuinness had arrived in Smithborough in County Monaghan, where Kevin McKenna lived and was On-the-Run. McGuinness had brought welcome news, an Official Policy of Ethnic Cleansing had been sanctioned by Provisional IRA Northern Command.
When Martin McGuinness left this meeting with Kevin McKenna, McGuiness was arrested by Garda Special Branch Officers in Monaghan. However, much to the disappointment of Gardai in Monaghan word was sent down from Garda Headquarters that McGuinness was to be released without charge. MI6 Officer, Michael Oatley had contacted the Head of Garda Special Brach in Dublin to ask that McGuinness be relased.
Neither, An Garda Siochana nor Garda Special Branch would have been aware at that time that Kevin McKenna had a small number of Garda Officers providing him with information. However, Kevin McKenna could simply take the information provided with a cautionary, as there was always the possibility that Special Branch did know McKenna would be told about MI6, be it true or not.
Rumors began in Monaghan/East Tyrone that Gerry Adams had set up the PIRA at Loughgall, however, anyone with any knowledge of how The PIRA operated in Monaghan/East Tyrone at that time, would know that Adams would not have had any prior-operational knowledge of Loughgall.
In November 1987, Enniskillen was chosen as a deliberate act of sectarian retaliation for Loughgall, Kevin McKenna wanted to send a very clear message to Protestants that they would not dance on the graves of PIRA Volunteers.
After Loughgall, Monaghan/East Tyrone PIRA were in disarray, the lie about ‘bad luck’ had run out, and a search was launched within Sinn Fein/PIRA for a well-placed Informer.
That internal investigation was assisted by Gerard Harte who spoke to some of those associated with The Loughgall operation. However, the internal Loughgall investigation came to a halt when Gerard and Martin Harte died along with Brian Mullin when the SAS ambushed them near Drumnakilly in 1988.
Once the Harte Brothers and Brian Mullin were shot dead by the SAS, Loughgall was basically written into history, it was time to move on. While it has been stated by Dark-Forces that Tony Gormally was an RUC Informer, he was not, in later years, and by pure chance I meet RUC men from that area, and they told me clearly that nobody who died at Loughgall was an informer. Furthermore, Sir John Hermon told me personally that no informer died at Loughgall.
Kevin McKenna was on thin ice and he knew it, the continued deaths of PIRA Volunteers under his command, the growing number of compromised operations was not going unquestioned in Belfast and Derry.
Before Jim Lynagh was killed at Loughgall, information had been brought to Monaghan identifying Buses carrying British Troops in the Ballygawley area of Tyrone, the SF/PIRA member who brought this information to Lynagh was an elected Sinn Fein member, in the aftermath of Enniskillen this information about British soldiers was an opportunity to bury the memory of the sectarian murder in Enniskillen.
In August, 1988, eight soldiers died near Ballygawley when the Provisional IRA detonated a large roadside Semtex bomb.
Kevin McKenna was now hungry to keep the slaughter going, Kevin wanted a spectacular, a big kill, that would finally stamp his authority on The PIRA Leadership. The kill was going to have to out do Martin McGuinness who had murdered 19 British soldiers in 1979 when he was Chief of Staff.
In 1988, I was asked by a
member of Monaghan/East Tyrone PIRA to go into Aughnacloy and finalise details
relating to a member of the Ulster Defence Regiment. The person being targeted
was known to me from I was a child, and perhaps this is why I was being sent
in. When I went into Aughnacloy I made my way to a public house where the UDR
member frequented as it was owned by one of his relatives.
I sat at the bar for a while,
the person behind the bar knew me and was not too surprised to see me as she
knew I could turn up anywhere. Eventually the UDR member entered the public
house and sat at the bar beside me, we acknowledged each other, but there was
no conversation. I took the foil covered paper out of an empty cigarette box
that was in the ash tray, I asked the girl behind the bar for a pen. I wrote
down the make, colour and registration of the UDR man’s car and passed it to
him, and I left. As I write four-decades later, I have not seen or spoken to
him since.
When I returned to Monaghan I
advised my Provisional IRA Commanding Officer, that the UDR man’s sister was
using the same car as him and sometimes there were other children in the car, I
told him that the hit on the UDR man would be too indiscriminate, and it did
not go ahead.
Following my tip-off to the
UDR member, I had travelled to Coalisland for a 10km run with my running club,
Monaghan Phoenix. As we returned to Monaghan in two cars, we were pulled in at
the roundabout in Dungannon by the RUC. The RUC had blocked all exists at the
roundabout, so I knew something was going to happen.
The people with whom I was
travelling were non-political, simply athletes. The RUC waved our first car to
go ahead, but asked the driver of the car I was in and another passenger to
step into the RUC station. The driver was first taken into a room by an RUC
officer, and asked about me. Then the passenger was taken in and asked about
his association with me. Both were totally oblivious to my role within Sinn
Fein/PIRA.
The RUC officer then asked me
to step into the office, he asked me to take a seat and then left. A
plain-cloth officer entered the office, he asked me if I knew why I had been
brought in, I said no. He then through a bulging file on the table with my name
in print across the front of it, I knew that I did not warrant such a bulging
file and so I believed it was a psychological tool, a prop.
The officer said that they
wanted me to work for them, they knew that I had tipped-off the UDR member. The
RUC officer explained that I should cycle into Aughnacloy the following Sunday,
cycle out the Caledon Road, a van would pass from the other direction and flash
its lights, I was to drop the bike, let the air out of one-tyre and they would
pick me up. The RUC officer asked if I was interested and I said you will see
next Sunday. We were then free to return to Monaghan.
When I returned to Monaghan, I
went that evening, to Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and explained what happened. Caoimhghín
Ó Caoláin told me to say nothing to anyone else and someone from the
Provisional IRA would debrief me. The person who debriefed me was well known to
me, and he asked me what I wanted to do about the RUC approach.
I told the Provisional IRA
member that I wanted a hand-gun and a grenade to go and meet the RUC, and when
they open the door of the van, I would throw the grenade in and shot any
survivors. He asked how I would get away, I explained my route to get back across
the border to Monaghan, all of which I could do on foot very quickly, as I was
running 10km in about 40 minutes at that time.
The Provisional IRA Command
Staff turned down my plan to bomb the RUC van, I was told to say no more about
the approach by the RUC and return to normal duties. Shortly after this, my
Provisional IRA Commanding Officer informed me that the son of one of my
neighbours in Monaghan had admitted that the Gardai were paying him to watch my
house. These two incidents, convinced the PIRA Leadership that I was someone
who had not been compromised, the Leadership were extremely paranoid following
Loughgall.
Kevin McKenna decided to hit a target close to home, a place he knew well, the Spectacular, that PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna, had planned to hit, was expected to result in the Murder of 40-60 British Military personnel.
The target was to be the British Army/UDR base in Aughnacloy, County Tyrone. The key problem for such an attack was that the base was set in the middle of an exclusively Protestant area. No Sinn Fein/PIRA member could be seen close to the base or suspicions would have been raised and arrests made.
Kevin McKenna, had one person he believed he could trust with the task of measuring up the base for a mortar attack, and the same person would keep his mouth shut if arrested. Kevin McKenna did not ask his cousin directly; he sent another member of East Tyrone PIRA to ask his cousin to set-up the British Army base for an attack.
Kevin McKenna’s cousin agreed to set-up the British Army base for a Mortar attack. Kevin McKenna’s cousin arrived in Aughnacloy with the task of going into a Protestant area to measure the British Army base. As so often happened, solutions presented themselves.
Kevin McKenna’s cousin was walking down Moore Street in Aughnacloy when a young relative mentioned the Wilfred Clarke who owned the min-market on Moore Street was building a new house on the Benburb Road. Kevin’s’ inquisitive cousin asked his young relative if she would show him the house as he would like to see it. This would be the cover story if stopped by The RUC.
Kevin’s cousin and his young relative walked down past the front of the British Army base, across the Dungannon Road and up the Benburb Road. All the time, Kevin McKenna’s cousin was counting his steps, the number of steps from the front gate of the British Army base to a good firing point on the Benburb Road.
This process of measuring was repeated on the return walk back to Sydney Lane. The inside of the British Army base was known to Kevin McKenna’s cousin, as he had played inside the base when he was a child, often being allowed to climb into the helicopters that had landed.
Kevin McKenna’s cousin continued to work on the plan to set-up the British Army base as he visited his native Aughnacloy on several more occasions. Only three members of Sinn Fein/PIRA knew about the developing plan to carryout a Mortar attack on the British Army base, Kevin McKenna who was Chief of Staff, his cousin and another member of East Tyrone PIRA who was On-the-Run in Monaghan at that time.
If information leaked about this operation, at this planning stage, it would not be difficult to find the leak. Any PIRA who was arrested were always debriefed by Sinn Fein/PIRA after their release, so ears were listening for anything that could indicate that the British had any idea about the plan to target the British Army base in Aughnacloy.
When Kevin McKenna’s cousin finally delivered his plans for the mortar attack on the British Army base to his East Tyrone PIRA contact, that contact was amazed at the amount of time and detail that had been put into the plans.
The plans had not simply been drawn out in detail on the back of a roll of wall paper, but Kevin McKenna’s cousin had created a 3-D type model of the plan using various items including the houses and hotels from the board game Monopoly.
However, with all of the careful planning, Kevin McKenna’s cousin said he had a problem with the measurements that he had stepped out, he was unsure if the steps were accurate enough. The East Tyrone member said he would report back the concerns raised and see.
The plan was simple, if the measurements could be confirmed. The Mortars would come towards Aughnacloy from Blackwater Town, a PIRA Unit directed by a well-known PIRA member. The Mortars would be parked in front of a house on the Benburb Road belonging to a family called McMasters.
The Mortars were to be directed to the top of a tree that stood to the back of a small red tin house on the Dungannon Road, that was directly in front of the radio mast within the base, the mortars would be fired and expected to land to the base of the radio mast and in that general area, and take out the accommodation blocks which accommodated large numbers of soldiers.
Similar attacks had been successful in Newry and so forth over previous years, resulting in large numbers of deaths.
When the PIRA gang arrived in the yard of Wilsons pig farm, they held everyone in the house hostage, including Robert John McCready who owned a furniture factory in Emyvale, County Monaghan and who employed a Catholic workforce. Mrs Wilson was held at gun-point and her son Norman Wilson was ordered to drive the 500LB bomb to the British Army base.
The 500LB bomb exploded and caused wide-spread damage to the British Army base but also dozens of houses which were mainly occupied by Protestants, a fact that would not have escaped Kevin McKenna. Norman Wilson and the British Army on duty survived.
The Compromise
The East Tyrone member, to whom Kevin McKenna’s cousin was answerable, was keen to prove that he could do as good a job as Jim Lynagh, and so he involved another person in the planned Mortar attack.
The East Tyrone PIRA member asked a person based in Tyrone to source old maps of The Clogher Valley Railway Line, as the British Army Base was built where the old Railway Station was located.
Using the maps, the East Tyrone PIRA member, was able to confirm to Kevin McKenna’s cousin that his measurements were in fact very accurate
It was this search for the old Railway Maps that alerted the RUC to the plan to Mortar the British Army/UDR base, when the PIRA mortar team arrived the area was saturated with British Military and RUC, and they had to abandon the operation.
Photos: 5-8 Courtesy of C-Bty 3rd Royal Horse Artillery Regiment in Northern Ireland
Foot Note: Martin McGuinness
On the 14 January, 2021, The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, added Martin McGuinness to its listing, and in that McGuinness is well summed up.
He became “increasingly brutal” as time wore on, leading to such atrocities as Bloody Friday in 1972 when the IRA in Belfast detonated 22 bombs within an hour and a quarter, killing nine people, followed by the triple bombing of Claudy village 10 days later, also killing nine people.
It describes his claim to have quit the IRA in 1974 as “disingenuous” and quotes Brendan Duddy – the UK government’s secret liaison with the IRA, who also died in 2017 – as believing him to be an “aggressive militarist” and a “Little Hitler”, who wanted supreme, island-wide control.
“Over time, as some of his ‘trusties’ were found to have betrayed him, he drew an ever-tighter clique around himself and showed absolute ruthlessness in having informers tortured and murdered,” the biography reads.
“According to other IRA members, McGuinness often conducted the actual shooting himself, ‘to show he was still prepared to do so’.”
It also states he personally went to New York to purchase guns on “at least” one occasion.
It goes on to add: “McGuinness faced such a tsunami of criticism after the ill-judged murder of a female census enumerator in Derry, Joanne Mathers, in April 1981 that he was panic-stricken.
“He tried to assuage his critics by glibly claiming the census was an intelligence-gathering exercise by the government and stressing that the IRA did not set out to kill civilians.
“Not for the first time, his straight-faced explanations were widely derided.”
The publication of the biography comes a week after a documentary on Mr McGuinness aired on TG4 (funded by about £120,000 of public money), which described him as a “fighter, negotiator, politician” and was criticised for its lack of focus on IRA victims.
Telephone Exchange Dundalk 1988
Because of this level of trust, Kevin McKenna asked me if we had anyone in Dundalk who could get us access to the telephone exchange in Dundalk. Kevin as asking specifically about my extended family in Dundalk who would be closer to me than to Kevin, Seamus McKenna and so forth.
I quickly established
that my Brother-in-Law, xxxxxx (not SF/PIRA) was working for a company
that was subcontracted by Eircom, and as such xxx had access to the telephone
exchange in Dundalk. I told xxx that The Provisional IRA needed access to the
telephone exchange and he said no problem.
The technical unit (I
believe secured in America by Vincent Conlon) that was delivered to Dundalk
telephone exchange, was approx. 2 ft square, stainless steel, very heavy, like
a big cassette and full of diodes and so forth like the back of a radio, once
it was delivered into the building, an Eircom engineer would install it, its
success would only be known to Michael McKevitt and his team back then.
Eugene Crowley absolutely
knew about this and he also knew about the surveillance operations in Monaghan,
Dundalk and Middletown, County Armagh.
Margaret Thatcher A Plan to Murder 1989
When I was a child, Kevin McKenna who was much older than I, would cycle into our small town and give me a lift on the cross-bar of his bike to my Grandparents house. Kevin McKenna was simply known to me as a cousin and he would in later years become a notorious sectarian serial killer.
Kevin McKenna needed a spectacular to put him back on the map, McKenna knew only too well that Martin McGuinness wanted his old job as Chief of Staff back. McGuinness was an MI6 Agent, a puppet, rather than a caricature of James Bond, and his bosses were unhappy that the position of Chief of Staff remained outside of their reach.
In 1989, the PIRA in Monaghan had literally died the death, following Loughgall very few were putting themselves forward for active service. Michael ‘Pete’ Ryan and a handful of others were murdering a few Protestants along the border, but beyond that it was all very hit and miss.
I was once asked to describe Kevin McKenna’s leadership at this time, and I said, he was like a small child standing in the middle of a frozen lake, that lake covered in thin ice. If McKenna, the small child, moved even one step in the wrong direction, the ice would crack and break open and consume him.
Targeting Thatcher 1989
In 1989, I was extremely busy, I was in the running club, I was working full-time in Monaghan Mushrooms and a host of other activities. Kevin McKenna approached me, Kevin asked me if I would be prepared to go to London on active service. I was surprised by Kevin’s request, as the dogs on the street knew that the PIRA were finished. However, I kept my thoughts to myself.
Kevin McKenna told me to take some time to think about his request and get back to him. I knew that if I did not take up the request, then someone else would probably be sent to England. I went back to Kevin and told him I would go. Kevin McKenna explained what he wanted me to do, he wanted me to target British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
Interestingly, State Papers released in 2020, show that Gerry Adams warned John Hume that the PIRA might murder Thatcher. Adams surely knew that Hume would pass this information onto his contacts in both the British and Irish Governments.
“In relation to the Gow death, Adams rather oddly said that he was worried that ‘they will kill Thatcher’,” Hume told Gallagher, according to the Memo, just released into the National Archives under the 30-year rule in 2020. State Papers 2020
I find this action by Adams in 1990 quite extraordinary as it clearly placed the lives of PIRA Volunteers at risk, particularly as the SAS were wiping out PIRA Units with regularity. Interestingly, it was Gerry Adams who had sanctioned the plan to Murder Mrs Thatcher at Brighton in 1984 and Adams had personally travelled to Monaghan Town to have the plan ratified by PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna.
Brighton Bomb 1984
In the summer of 1984, I was Managing the Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Advice Centre and Shop at 21 Dublin Street, Monaghan Town, this can be confirmed with any member of An Garda Siochana who was serving in Monaghan at that time. The European Elections were due to be held on the 14 June, 1984 and we were running Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin.
In early June, 1984, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin told me that three senior members of Provisional IRA Northern Command, including Gerry Adams would be arriving later that day. I ensured the place was clean and tidy, that chairs were arranged upstairs and that there was tea/coffee, milk and digestive biscuits.
When Gerry Adams arrived his two colleagues were wearing black leather jackets, all a bit urban I thought, I was introduced to Gerry Adams by Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and I then positioned myself downstairs at the front door to alert the meeting upstairs if there was any Garda activity on Dublin Street.
The Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Office at 21 Dublin Street is very small, it was initially a small domestic dwelling. There was one room upstairs that was positioned exactly above the one room shop downstairs. There was a small staircase that led upstairs and every word spoken upstairs echoed downstairs. The only time I could not fully understand what was being said upstairs was when Gerry Adams and Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin spoke Irish, although I had a good idea what they were saying, as I was attending Irish Classes at that time.
While Gerry Adams and his two comrades used the cover of the European Elections for their visit to Monaghan and they had some interest in the elections. Gerry Adams had arrived to personally advice Provisional IRA, Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna, that the Conservative Party Conference was going to be targeted later in 1984, in the hope of killing British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. The British Security Services were on high alert for the conference, however, as the plastic explosive was wrapped in cling-film, which was normal, the sniffer dogs did not detect the bomb.
Gerry Adams and Provisional IRA Northern Command had an obligation to notify both The Chief of Staff and Southern Command of any planned activity in England as such activity fell under the Jurisdiction of Southern Command. The bomb exploded at Brighton, 12 October, 1984, at the Grand Brighton Hotel. Patrick McGee would later be convicted of the bombing as he had left his finger-print while staying in the hotel under a pseudonym, Roy Walsh, in September, 1984.
Kevin McKenna was desperate to up stage Martin McGuinness, he had not trusted McGuinness from at least 1986, when McGuinness was arrested after leaving Kevin’s house in Smithborough, County Monaghan, but released a short time later. It would later transpire that MI6 Officer; Michael Oatley had sought McGuinness’s release in 1986. Kevin McKenna had Gardai reporting to him, but I have no idea if he knew about MI6 intervention at that point.
Kevin McKenna, believed that if he could succeed where Adams and McGuinness had failed, the failed murder attempt on Thatcher in 1984 at Brighton, then McKenna would remain unchallenged as Chief of Staff.
Targeting Mrs Thatcher
Kevin McKenna wanted me to go to London, find work, keep my head down and establish a means by which Thatcher could be targeted. I was also to look at other potential targets such as the Channel Tunnel that was under construction at that time, House of Commons and so forth, but my key focus was to be Thatcher.
I was to spend as long as it took to put together a plan that had a realistic chance of success. I arrived in London, having told my wife I was simply going to seek work on the Channel Tunnel that was well paid, this was not an easy decision, but I had a job to do.
I arrived in London in 1989, I secured work in Kingston Upon Thames on the construction of the new John Lewis department store. I initially lived on a light-weight fibre-glass house boat on the Thames close to the site on which I was working. I piloted the boat into central London on three occasions, I wanted to get up close pictures of The House of Commons, and to establish if there were any storm drains or sewer pipes coming from the House of Commons into the Thames, pipes into which a high-explosive bomb or mortar might be placed.
On my first scouting mission into central London with the boat, I thought I was being pursued by the River Police when they came up behind me with siren blazing and blue light flashing, however, they went straight past me as a Disco Boat called the Marchioness had been sunk by a dredger and 51 people had been killed. The Marchioness had taken only thirty-seconds to sink.
The summer of 1989 was a scorcher, and in normal circumstances this was a very beautiful part of the world, however, my task was to plan murder.
I got on very well with Colin and his two sons, we all worked hard, and at lunch time we would have some lunch and a glass of beer at the Cutters Wharf, we could take our lunch out to the picnic tables that sat along the Thames. We talked about work and the site we were working on, this was a new build, but during initial excavation, an eight-hundred-year-old Kingston Bridge, dating back to 1150, had been discovered and preserved.
I got to know some of the other people working on what was a very large building site, some of the English brick-layers and labourers were Territorial SAS, which meant they were weekend soldier’s, but it reminded me that I was no so far dispatched from the sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland.
I knew that I would be subject to at least some surveillance by the security services if they were aware of my presence in London, before leaving Ireland I had been arrested under anti-terrorist legislation on many occasions. With this security issue to the fore of my mind I engaged in a number of simple anti-surveillance techniques.
At night I secured work in Burger King, this meant that I could hop on and off buses without drawing too much attention. I also befriended a gay couple who were from Glasgow, they were cleaners at various locations all over London, they had a car and knew London extremely well. One of the premises that they cleaned was British Aerospace, to which I had unfettered access.
I travelled to the Channel Tunnel once, simply so I could take pictures and have train receipts to prove to Kevin McKenna that I had actually visited the site. The site in Kent was massive, they had effectively built a town at the tunnel entrance.
I simply had to say to Jimmy and John, that I would love to see Downing Street or the Tower of London and they would simply ask when. On evenings that I was not working or scouting into central London, I would enjoy a beer in The Royal Oak Pub. I always expected to be approached by the security services, but they never did.
On Friday, 22 September, 1989, I arrived early on the building site, my brick-layers wanted to get away early as they were doing a nixer for one of the foremen, I got the bricks set-out and the site prepared for a day’s work. I was working hard with my Brick-layers, we had the radio on and were building large decorative brick flower-beds on the road outside the John Lewis site.
It was a beautiful Friday morning, house boats and pleasure boats were passing by on the Thames, the sun was shining and all appeared well. However, the early morning sun was about to be eclipsed by the breaking news on the radio, a short distance away at Deal in Kent the PIRA had exploded a bomb killing a number of Royal Marine Bandsmen. I could see that my fellow workers, the Englishmen, looked at me almost accusingly, not that they knew anything about me, but simply because I was Irish. There was no Google back then.
The John Lewis department store was an incredible piece of architecture, a four-lane slip road was constructed straight through the main site, it was simply an incredible fete of engineering. I remember one day a convoy of black cars led by a siren blaring police vehicle went through the tunnel, the sound was electrifying, the convoy was simply carrying Princess Margaret to a local Church service.
By the end of 1989 the British economy was in difficulty, and my reconnaissance work was almost done. I would continue to work on the site into 1990, however, the British economy was going into a deep recession that would last for five quarters and was the deepest UK recession since the Second World War.
While the recession did not impact on my decision to return to Ireland, it was sad to see so many people lose their jobs in a very short period of time. My English brick-layers had plenty of work for me, but I had to leave and we had a farewell drink.
I returned to Ireland in 1990 and gave Kevin McKenna a detailed outlay of my reconnaissance work in London. Kevin McKenna was again impressed by the level of detail that I provided, and he told me to continue to work with another member of East Tyrone PIRA.
When I returned to Ireland in 1990, it was clear that The PIRA was finished, the truth be told, the PIRA were finished after Loughgall. While the PIRA could set bombs of in London and murder people, the question had to be asked, who was in control, it was my view that the security services were controlling a lot of people.
I was lucky to get my job back in Monaghan Mushrooms, where I was promoted to Foreman by Mr Lesley Buckley who would later work with Ireland’s leading businessman, Mr Dennis O’Brien.
Writing to Mrs Thatcher
Having lived in London 1989-90, and seeing the British economy go from boom to bust, I felt that I might write to Thatcher and ask her to reconsider her approach to Northern Ireland. When writing to Thatcher, I was well aware that her tenure as Prime Minister was going to come to an end one way or another very shortly. However, if Thatcher did survive all of her enemies, she would still be a powerful force in relation to British policy relating to Northern Ireland.
Monaghan Town in the 1980s was
a very strange place when it came to Sinn Fein/PIRA, Monaghan Town had been a
dumping ground for all sorts of Sinn Fein/PIRA ‘activists’ who would arrive in
Monaghan Town and claim to be On-the-Run. In the 1980s-1990s the majority of
information was gathered manually, so if someone did arrive in Monaghan and
claim to be OTR it could take months to check them out with Sinn Fein/PIRA in
the north.
Some people arriving in
Monaghan and claiming to be Sinn Fein/PIRA OTR were in fact Sinn Fein/PIRA
members who had admitted to Sinn Fein/PIRA in the north that they had engaged
in sexual crime and they were sent OTR so that there would be no embarrassing police
investigation.
There was infrastructure such
as Clearing Houses, in Dundalk, Dublin and Donegal specifically for relocating
Sinn Fein/PIRA sex criminals. It was not unusual to have as many as a dozen
Sinn Fein/PIRA sex criminals staying at the same time in the Clearing House in
Gardiner Street in Dublin.
More often than not the
children being abused by Sinn Fein/PIRA members were the children of Sinn
Fein/PIRA members or supporters, so if a victim or their family could not be
silenced then the perpetrator would be moved to The Republic, England, Europe
or America, depending on their value to Sinn Fein/PIRA.
Sometimes those alleging to be
OTR were in fact RUC or British Agents, George Poytz in Castleblaney being a
good example, he had infiltrated The PIRA in Castleblaney to the very top. And
sometimes there were genuine OTRs who could be of some value to Sinn Fein/PIRA
in Monaghan Town.
Michael ‘Pete’ Ryan had
arrived in Monaghan Town OTR in 1981 after he escaped from Crumlin Road Jail,
Pete was a serial killer and he simply enjoyed killing Protestants, this made
him a welcome PIRA member in Monaghan Town. From the mid-1980s Sinn Fein/PIRA
was being pulled in two different directions, all sorts of agendas were at
work. In Monaghan Town Sinn Fein/PIRA had gained some political momentum, and
this meant that as Sinn Fein/PIRA reached out for ‘softer’ votes, the Sinn
Fein/PIRA sectarian murder campaign was viewed as unhelpful by some.
Michael ‘Pete’ Ryan, whether
he knew it or not had made enemies within Sinn Fein/PIRA, while many cheered
his sectarian kills, others, within the ranks felt that both his personal behaviour
and his thirst for sectarian murder were not in keeping with the ‘new’ face of
politics in Monaghan.
Michael ‘Pete’ Ryan was having
sexual relationships with a number of women in Monaghan, and that was not
unusual for Sinn Fein/PIRA members in Monaghan, there was a well-established
Harem.
However, Michael ‘Pete’ Ryan
was doing his dirty laundry in public, he was having a sexual relationship with
Dr Marian Smyth, who was sister-in-law of Owen Smyth (who had murdered Norman
Stronge and his son James). Pete Ryan was also having sexual relationships with
other women and children.
Pete Ryan would park his
motorbike overnight on the public footpath outside Marian Smyth’s
house/surgery, this was seen by dozens of parents each morning as they left
their children to school, back then this was viewed as unsavoury behaviour by
middle-class parents, the same parents Sinn Fein/PIRA were trying to woo.
Michael ‘Pete’ Ryan was not
only making a show of Dr Marian Smyth’s in-laws, who were middle-class, with
the exception of Black-sheep Owen Smyth, but he was making a show of Sinn
Fein/PIRA as everyone knew he was involved with several females.
When Michael ‘Pete’ Ryan was
shot dead, he had left Dr Marian Smyth pregnant, a woman from Ballybay called
Mary pregnant and a twelve-year-old girl pregnant. When Dr Marian Smyth gave
birth to her son Michael, she falsified his birth certificate and placed her
former husband’s name Brian Smyth on it.
As the early morning sun rose
over Monaghan Town on Monday 3 June 1991, there was virtual silence, the local
milkman had collected his milk from the Co-op and he was driving around making
his regular deliveries. I was on my way to work in Monaghan Mushrooms in
Tyholland on my Kawasaki 250 motor bike.
I meet very small numbers of
vehicles on the road out of Monaghan Town and towards Tyholland, I was
surprised when I meet a car being driven by a female, which was carrying two
very seasoned PIRA members, all three in the car were in deep conversation so
it is unlikely that they even noticed me on my motor bike.
Laurence McNally and Michael
‘Pete’ Ryan were on their way to murder a young Protestant man in Tyrone. The
third man in The PIRA Unit would be Tony Doris who would join them in a stolen
Vauxhall Cavalier later that morning.
At 7.30am on Monday 3 June
1991, Laurence McNally, Michael ‘Pete’ Ryan and Tony Doris, arrived at their
destination in Coagh and they prepared their weapons to kill the young
Protestant.
However, The SAS armed with
Grade A Intelligence and high-power weapons were waiting on the would be
killers.
The SAS were in position along
the main street in Coagh and in a red Bedford lorry positioned at the scene. As
Tony Doris drove the stolen car towards the centre of the village it was under
close surveillance from the ground and in the air, it had been tracked all the
way from Moneymore.
At the scene of the ambush the
British Army had set up a "decoy" target for the IRA to go for in the
form of an SAS soldier who was pretending to be their intended victim, sitting
in his car at a regular spot while waiting to pick up a friend on their way to
work, IRA intelligence had established the routine of the young Protestant.
When the stolen car carrying the IRA men approached the scene the Special Air Service detachment opened sustained automatic fire upon it from close range. Doris was immediately hit, and the out-of-control car crashed into two nearby parked cars. The shooting continued until the car exploded in flames and set one of the parked vehicles it had crashed into alight. According to an eyewitness, one of the IRA men in the car returned fire from within the vehicle after the crash.
Some reports claim at least
two of the IRA men attempted to exit the crashed car and were subsequently
found lying half out of its doors by the later police investigation of the
scene. Relatives of the IRA men subsequently stated that they had received
information from the scene that two of the IRA attackers had fled on foot from
the car after the crash, but had been pursued after and shot down by the
British Army in the vicinity, with their bodies being taken back to the car,
which was subsequently reported to be riddled with over 200 bullet holes.
A Royal Ulster Constabulary
crime-scene report stated that a balaclava belonging to one of the IRA men was
found some distance away from the vehicle.
The bodies of Doris, Ryan and
McNally were badly burnt by the car fire, and had to be identified by police
using their dental records. Two rifles were recovered from within the burnt-out
stolen car, subsequent police forensic examination of them revealing that they
had both been used in the multiple murders at Leslie Dallas's garage in March
1989.
In 1992, I left Monaghan Town and moved to Armagh City. I was quickly introduced to John Hume and I began to work on what would become known as the ‘peace process’ and the Good Friday Agreement. Kevin McKenna knew about my work with John Hume and he had no issue with the talks between Adams and Hume, however, he simply did not trust Martin McGuinness.
Meeting Mrs Thatcher
In 1999, I was in London to brief MPs on continued Human Rights abuses by Sinn Fein/PIRA. I was invited to meet with a member of the House of Lords, to which I agreed.
As I was walking into the private rooms at the Lords, I meet Mrs Thatcher on the corridor, I was star struck, I was introduced to Mrs Thatcher and she was as I had expected, pleasant but stern. I blurted out that I had written to her in 1990 about Northern Ireland, she said she still had the letter, and that my letter had helped her to reconsider her position in relation to Northern Ireland.
O Maggie©
Verse from Song I wrote in 1981: My cell is icy cold, I am alone, my body it has turned almost to bone, but to the end, I know I must fight, for I know now, I will died before the night…(Tune: Snipers Promise)
Chorus from Song I wrote in 1981: O Maggie, O Maggie, can’t you see, don’t you know, these awful things they don’t have to be, and if you take these H-Blocks cells away, I promise you I will have no more to say (Tune: Snipers Promise)
In 1995, I was high profile
and working with everyone in Northern Ireland including Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA,
Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) and so forth. I was viewed by some as
being in a 'unique' position to be used an ‘Influencer’. An elaborate plan was
put in place by MI6 to recruit me, I was lured to Cambridge, under false pretenses, where MI6 Officers approached me with an offer.
MI6 offered me a pot of gold
if I would work for them in 1995, they used Bertie Ahern and Martin McGuinness
as examples of how money could be funneled to me, if I would sing from their
prepared script, which was supportive of the SF/PIRA position, I refused their
offer, but continued with my work.
MI6 told me that a Manchester
based businessman would make donations to my ‘peace’ work and if that money
became known in the public domain the businessman would say that he was simply supporting
my efforts for ‘peace’. The MI6 Officers told me that a Derry based businessman,
Brendan Duddy, was providing a similar service for Martin McGuinness, and MI6
had made investments on behalf of McGuinness through Brendan Duddy.
While I rejected this approach
by MI6 in 1995, they would try again in London in 1999, this time they went
further and described how they had recruited Martin McGuinness and Bertie
Ahern, again I refused their offer.
It is no coincidence that Bertie
Ahern, Mo Mowlam and Martin McGuinness described the kidnapping, torture and
murder of Sinn Fein/PIRA, Rape Victim, Charles Bennett as “Internal
House-keeping”, this was the very script that MI6 wanted me to sing from.
Omagh Bomb Public Inquiry
Omagh Bomb 25th Anniversary
Submission
To
Public Inquiry Omagh Bomb 15 August, 1998
From
Vincent McKenna BSSc PGDipSSc MSc Certified Digital Marketing ProfessionalI, Vincent McKenna, Certified Digital Marketing Professional, being 18 years and upward make Oath and say as follows:
Personal Political Background
This submission and factual history has been prepared by Vincent McKenna BSSc PGDipSSc MSc. Certified Digital Marketing Professional.
My Paternal family history can be traced directly to McKenna Clan Chieftain, Patrick McKenna, who sat at The Hill Of Tara in County Meath in the seventeenth century. Patrick's son Niall McKenna would in 1641 slaughter over 2,000 Protestants in the Northern counties. Plans by the British to retaliate for this slaughter was delayed by the English Civil War, however, Oliver Cromwell administered that retaliation in 1648.
My Great Aunt Kathleen McKenna, was in 1921, Private Secretary to Sinn Fein Leaders Arthur Griffith and IRA Leader, Michael Collins. Kathleen died in 1988, and I was able to speak with Kathleen on her return to Ireland and before her death. My loyalty has been to The Irish Republic created by my Great Aunt Kathleen. Kathleen was non-sectarian and viewed Provisional IRA/Sinn Fein as sectarian bigots.
Kathleen McKenna travelling to London with Sinn Fein Leader, Arthur Griffith to sign the Treaty.Between 1982-84, I was introduced to and meet with on a number of occasions, Sean McBride SC who had been Chief of Staff IRA, 1936-37. I had been introduced to Sean McBride SC at The four Courts by Paul Callan SC who was representing me in an extradition case. Sean McBride SC had a domestic and international political reputation and would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Sean McBride SC who had been anti-Treaty in 1921, was of the same mind as my Aunt Kathleen McKenna in the 1980s, Provisional IRA/Sinn Fein were sectarian bigots.
I was sworn into The Provisional IRA in 1980 when I was 16-years-old by my cousin, Kevin McKenna (PIRA Chief of Staff, 1983-1997). I would be Kevin McKenna's eyes and ears within Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA in Monaghan Town. Kevin McKenna lived in Smithborough, County Monaghan.
As members of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA talked-out-of-shop to me they would not have known how close I was to Kevin McKenna.
I am far left in this picture with John Hume MEP right 1994. I was working with John Hume from 1992 and created early drafts of what would be come known as The Good Friday Agreement. Between 1996-98, I worked on the final draft of The Good Friday Agreement.
I stepped away from the Good Friday Agreement when Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness admitted to me that they were arming The Real IRA to use as Proxies, this duplicity, had been used by Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA many times before.
Republican Action Force was the name used by The Provisional IRA when they murdered 10 innocent Protestants in Kingsmill in 1976, I know this because my cousin Sean McKenna was one of the gunmen, and I spent many months with Sean as he recorded his life story.
Direct Action Against Drugs was set-up by the Sinn Fein/PIRA Leadership in Belfast to take protection money from drug dealers. I know this, as Jock Davidson was my main Provisional IRA contact in the Markets/Shortstrand/Lower Ormeau Road area in Belfast for a number of years in the 1990s.
I, Vincent McKenna, Certified Digital Marketing Professional, being 18 years and upward make Oath and say as follows:
Personal Political Background
This submission and factual history has been prepared by Vincent McKenna BSSc PGDipSSc MSc. Certified Digital Marketing Professional.
Between 1982-84, I was introduced to and meet with on a number of occasions, Sean McBride SC who had been Chief of Staff IRA, 1936-37. I had been introduced to Sean McBride SC at The four Courts by Paul Callan SC who was representing me in an extradition case. Sean McBride SC had a domestic and international political reputation and would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Sean McBride SC who had been anti-Treaty in 1921, was of the same mind as my Aunt Kathleen McKenna in the 1980s, Provisional IRA/Sinn Fein were sectarian bigots.
I was sworn into The Provisional IRA in 1980 when I was 16-years-old by my cousin, Kevin McKenna (PIRA Chief of Staff, 1983-1997). I would be Kevin McKenna's eyes and ears within Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA in Monaghan Town. Kevin McKenna lived in Smithborough, County Monaghan.
As members of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA talked-out-of-shop to me they would not have known how close I was to Kevin McKenna.
The Shooting of Aidan McAnespie
Kevin McKenna had been known to me from the time I was a small child, when Kevin would cycle into Aughnacloy and Kevin would take me on the crossbar of his bike to my grandparents house in Coronation Park.
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In 1981, I had graduated from Na Fianna Eireann to working on Internal Security with JB O'Hagan, the PIRA member in uniform front left was dismissed from The PIRA because of my evidence to The PIRA Command Staff. For example, this PIRA member told me about certain matters that placed men and equipment at risk.
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD swore me into Sinn Fein/PIRA at a meeting attended by JB O'Hagan, Kieran Starr's and Padraigin Ui Mhurchadha (sister of Fergal O'Hanlon, shot dead 1957). I do not think that Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin ever knew that I was close to Kevin McKenna.
I am in the picture below 1981 on the left carrying a symbolic coffin in Monaghan Town to commemorate the death of PIRA Hunger-striker, Kieran Doherty TD. This picture was reproduced in An Phoblacht in 2013 for a National Hunger-strike commemoration. In 2013, I was back on the inside of Sinn Fein/PIRA in Dublin and helping to develop their Information Technology systems.
My main contact 2013-2015 was Bobby Storey, I parted company with Bobby again when he admitted the Provisional IRA Army Council including Bobby had sanctioned the murder of Kevin McGuigan in Belfast.
I am encircled in the picture below behind to the left of John 'Dinger' Bell, I and others were to open a corridor through the crowd to get the PIRA gunmen up an entry and into the back of a house previously rented by one of the gunmen.
The weapons and uniforms were to be moved in two Hi-ace Vans, one driven by Malachy Toal and the other by Patrick McKenna. Garda officers tried to block the exist of the two vans and the Garda car was over-turned into a ditch.
Garda Detective, Joe Derwin opened fire with an Uzi-sub-machine gun and later a revolver. With their backs to the camera are PIRA Laurence McKenna (sentenced to 5-years for this incident) and Laurence McNally (shot dead by SAS 1991). Laurence McNally, Laurence McKenna and I confronted Joe Derwin, in order to prevent mourners being shot.
Two of the PIRA gunmen, Cathal and John would not be known as PIRA outside Sinn Fein/PIRA. The OC, facing the camera, John 'Dinger' Bell.
The Plan to Murder Gerry Adams
Background
From the outset of the sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, be that The IRA Border Campaign 1957-62 or the retraining and restructuring of The IRA 1962-66, there were constant efforts made by both the British and Irish Governments to maintain ‘peace’ within a Law and Order rather than a Social Reform framework.
In the 1960s it would have been difficult for any Irish Government to demand a certain standard of living and freedoms in Northern Ireland when the same standard of living and freedoms were not available to the majority of people in The Irish Republic.
When Jack Lynch became Taoiseach, he was given an assessment of The IRA by then Secretary of The Department of Justice, Peter Berry, for Lynch’s first meeting with British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson.
Peter Berry explained to Jack Lynch that up to one-thousand men, women and children were under the command of The IRA Army Council, this was an increase from the estimate of six-hundred-fifty in 1962 when the failed IRA Border Campaign was halted.
Peter Berry further reported that The IRA had been involved in drilling and arms training since its announced cessation in 1962. While The IRA were numerically strong, they lacked the finances for any sustained campaign of violence and Peter Berry was also aware of Communist leanings by some of The IRA leadership.
Peter Berry concluded in his assessment of The IRA, that, any number of sparks could be used by The IRA to light a fresh campaign of sectarian violence.
When the sectarian conflict began for real, there were many efforts by many stake-holders to end the violence. In my own estimation, the British Foreign Office through MI6 were in contact with The Provisional IRA Army Council from the outset.
The British Government also used the British Embassy in Dublin to built a relationship with the Irish Government, with varying degrees of success.
I do not support the view of many, that MI5, RUC Special Branch, British Military Intelligence and The NIO were opposed to any dealings with The Provisional IRA. All of these stake-holders were simply more cautious in their dealings with Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA as they knew them on the coal-face, not from behind a desk in Whitehall.
All of that said, there remains key question marks over the role of MI6 Officer, Michael Oatley and his dealings with Martin McGuinness. The complexity of this relationship, is captured in the 1993 Communication from Oatley to McGuinness.
In the 1993 Communication from MI6 Officer, Michael Oatley to Martin McGuinness, Oatley signs off with: (see, Exhibit 1).
“I hope you will not mind me ending with a new meaning to Tiocfaidh ár lá (Our Day will Come).”
NOTE: This Communication was initially hand-written by Michael Oatley and addressed to Martin McGuinness. However, Officer, Robert (see, initial) typed up the Communication in order to remove Martin McGuinness’s name from the top of the document and Michael Oatley’s from the bottom. Surely, if McGuinness was acting on behalf of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA there should have been no fear of disclosure.
Tiocfaidh ár lá in Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA parlance means a continued armed campaign until such time as a United Ireland free from British interference is achieved.
So, what is the “new meaning” that MI6 Officer Oatley is referring to? The surrender of The Provisional IRA, the removal of The Irish Republic’s claim over Northern Ireland, as then contained, in Articles 2 and 3 of Bunreacht na hEireann (Irish Constitution) and an acknowledgment by Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA that Northern Ireland is an integral part of The United Kingdom by Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA administering British Rule from Stormont.
Whatever, the “new meaning” alluded to by Oatley, it is clear that the relationship between Oatley and McGuinness was not one of McGuinness being a negotiator on behalf of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA and Oatley being a messenger to the British Government.
MI6 attempted to recruit me on two occasions, 1995 in Cambridge and 1999 in London. The 1999 encounter was the most telling, as the MI6 Officers, had no concern about the fact that Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness had armed the Real IRA. It would not be unfair to say that MI6 held the same view as Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness:
“The odd bomb going off here and there will help keep Unionists focused on working with the ‘Doves’”.
Such a view could easily be understood within a certain set of circumstances, however, can such a view be justified when those bombs deliver mass-murder, intentional or not, as happened in Omagh 15 August, 1998. It can certainly be said that in the absence of the full facts in 1998 which lead to the Omagh Bomb, the Omagh Bomb and its aftermath were used as leverage to nudge unionists into power-sharing with Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA.
However, it is my view, from real-time operational experience, that as late as 1999, MI6 knew virtually nothing about the operational capacity of the Real/Continuity IRA, and I am not sure they were too bothered. MI6 offered me money, which would be funneled to me through a Manchester based businessman, and if the money was discovered, the businessman would say he was funding my peace work.
MI6 told me they had funneled money to Bertie Ahern in exactly the same way. Bertie Ahern, while before The Mahon Tribunal on political corruption many years later, would try and explain away large amounts of sterling he received by saying he had won the money on the horses.
MI6 had achieved their objective as directed by The Foreign Office, which was the removal or dilution of Articles 2 and 3 of Bunreacht na hEireann (The Irish Constitution) that laid claim to Northern Ireland. MI6 had secured the agreement of The Irish Government and Sinn Fein/PIRA to that dilution or removal and which was then ratified by Referendum in The Irish Republic.
John Taylor MP who was a key Unionist negotiator at the talks leading to The Good Friday Agreement, said:
"At the talks leading to the Belfast Agreement both the Republic of Ireland Government and Sinn Fein agreed to The Republic of Ireland abandoning its claim over Jurisdiction of Northern Ireland. They therefore agreed to the abandonment of Articles 2 and 3 and recognised Northern Ireland as part of The UK. The people of the Irish Republic agreed in referendum." (Twitter, 17 February, 2023).
From a security point of view the operational capacity of Sinn Fein/PIRA was left to The RUC, MI5 and An Garda Siochana. The London and Dublin Governments were not losing any sleep due to the continued gangland criminality of Sinn Fein/PIRA and Others. Such gangland criminality viewed by both Governments as "Internal House-keeping" and not breaches of their Articles of Surrender.
From my own knowledge of the RUC (and by definition MI5) cooperating with An Garda Siochana, significant numbers of operations that could have completely derailed the 'peace process' were prevented. The only significant departure from this cooperation, was Banbridge and Omagh. This departure explained in this submission.
Banbridge and Omagh Bombs
On 4 July, 1998, I received a phone call from my cousin Seamus McKenna. In 1998, Seamus McKenna was working within a tight circle of Real IRA and Continuity IRA members who were mainly based in County Louth and to be found socialising in the Emerald Bar in Dundalk owned by Colm Murphy.
Seamus McKenna was well known to me since I was a small child. I would as a child visit my Uncle Sean's house in Newry (These visits referenced in Sean McKenna Jnr Biography) with my Father, Grand-father and Great-Grand-Father. During my Uncle Sean's funeral in 1975, I had stayed in my Uncle Sean's house in Newry for his wake.
In later years, when I had moved to Monaghan Town, my cousin Seamus would visit me. Seamus McKenna had extreme loyalty to me, as I had also taken care of his brother, Sean McKenna Jnr (PIRA Hunger-striker, 1980) when Sean was released from Long Kesh (The Maze Prison). Seamus would often talk about his Father, Sean McKenna Snr who had died as a result of the torture he had been subjected to during Internment.
Seamus always wanted me to know that he was still fighting in order to punish the Brits for what they had done to his Father. Seamus always spoke openly to me about what he was doing.
Seamus told me on the 4 July, 1998 that the Real IRA were going to bomb Banbridge and Omagh. I passed over what Seamus said and did not draw too much attention to it, because if Seamus thought I was trying to get information, rather than him giving information, he would simply say “Fuck Off”. I reminded Seamus about a time was I was placed in a cell in Omagh Court House and there was no back wall in the cell as PIRA had blown it up a short time before.
As soon as I finished my phone call with Seamus 4 July, 1998, I immediately phoned a Garda Special Branch Officer, Liam Donnelly, in Monaghan Town, whom I had known for some years. I told Liam Donnelly, what Seamus had said, and he said he would pass it on and get back to me.
Note: Garda Detective, Christy McNamee, known to me from 1980, who had retired, was in the 1990s working as a Private Detective. I had employed Christy as a Private Detective in relation to a number of matters. Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly, while employed by An Garda Siochana was doing freelance work with Christy McNamee, it was Christy who introduced me to Liam Donnelly.
On Monday 6 July, 1998, my Garda contact, Liam Donnelly, phoned me and asked if I would meet with someone from Dublin who wanted a face to face. It just so happened that I had been invited to a function at Áras an Uachtaráin, the home of The Irish President, Mary McAleese, 11 July, 1998. I told my Garda contact Liam Donnelly that I would meet his contact at Áras an Uachtaráin on the 11 July, 1998.
When I arrived at Áras an Uachtaráin on the 11 July, 1998 in the company of three others, who did not know my mission, we were welcomed by Mary McAleese and her husband Martin. Mary McAleese was known to me, as she had attended some of my peace work at Queens University in Belfast, when she was lecturing at QUB and I was a student.
When I received a call on my mobile phone, I excused myself from my company, and went to a side room of the main room where the function was taking place.
NOTE: In 1998, mobile phones were not as widely available as today, however, I had been employed by a Market Research Company called 'High Fliers' (Cambridge) to carryout Graduate Research at Queens University, when my Graduate Research was complete, High Fliers, allowed me to keep the mobile phone they had supplied to me for the Research.
I repeated at Áras an Uachtaráin to a senior Garda Officer what my cousin Seamus McKenna told me about Banbridge and Omagh, and I made it absolutely clear that I wanted Michael McKevitt, Bernadette McKevitt Sands, Seamus McGrane, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy, Seamus Daly and Seamus McKenna arrested and taken out of circulation.
When I left Áras an Uachtaráin in the early hours of 12 July, 1998, I was satisfied that both the Banbridge and Omagh bombs would be stopped. As we prepared to leave
Letter Ref: JDM/dh, dated 30 September, 1998, signed by Solicitor, Jason McCue working for Henry Hepworth, London, to Vincent McKenna.
Faxed again to Vincent McKenna from: Henry Hepworth – 0171-242-7998 on 3 December, 1998.
The letter explains that on dates including, July 14, 1998, I was a significant witness against Provisional IRA Chief of Staff, Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy. I was a witness as I hoped that exposing the personal fortunes accumulated by Leadership members of Sinn Fein/PIRA would discourage lower ranking Sinn Fein/PIRA members from continuing to support acts of violence in the name of the 'cause’.
Following my disclosures at Aras an Uachtarain, 11 July, 1998, about the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs, I was asked to give sworn testimony in a closed Court setting, in order to prepare for the arrests of the Real IRA Leadership by Warrant. The date for this closed Court clashed with the date for me to give evidence against Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy.
The Judge presiding at the closed Court hearing wanted an explanation as to why I was absent from the closed Court hearing, but did attend on another day, hence the letter from Jason McCue.
In the end, none of the above mattered as Bertie Ahern Directed the Garda Commissioner, not to arrest the Real IRA Leadership, prior to the Banbridge and Omagh Bombings.
On the 18 July, 1998, I was assaulted by six members of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA lead by Provisional IRA killer, Sean Clinton. One Sinn Fein/PIRA member would plead guilty to this assault and the threat to kill was left on the books by agreement with Vincent McKenna. The PIRA members had not done their homework, I had just won a silver medal in The UK Regional Martial Arts Championship.
When the Banbridge Bomb exploded 1 August, 1998, I phoned Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly, and asked him why Michael McKevitt and the bombers had not been arrested, he had no explanation other than the decision was taken in Dublin. I told him that I might have been better going to the media, and he said, “Jesus don’t do that”.
Following the Banbridge Bomb my cousin Seamus McKenna phoned me again and sounded disturbed about the fact that so many civilians had been injured. Seamus talked about the on-going plan to bomb Omagh, Seamus said that there had been a meeting between Michael McKevitt, Bernadette McKevitt Sands and Irish Government officials before Banbridge.
I am satisfied that the meeting between Irish Government officials and the Real IRA before Banbridge was as a direct result of my meeting at Áras an Uachtaráin 11 July, 1998 and my insistence that the Real IRA Leadership be arrested.
Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue TD while visiting me in Wheatfield Prison in early 2001, confirmed to me that he and Bertie Ahern had sent Dr Martin Mensergh to meet with The Real IRA following my tip-off, 11 July, 1998. According to John O'Donoghue TD the Government did not want to undermine Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness by arresting the sister of Bobby Sands, shortly after signing The Good Friday Agreement.
Between 2010-2011, I was close to Bernadette McKevitt-Sands and she confirmed that the meeting between Dr Martin Mensergh and the Real IRA was before Banbridge, and Mansergh had made it clear that the Government knew the Real IRA were planning a fresh bombing campaign.
Bernadette confirmed that in the aftermath of Omagh, Dr Mansergh meet with the Real IRA Leadership again and offered a full-amnesty in relation to Omagh if the Real IRA would disband. The Intel Report below was submitted by me, six-weeks before Paddy Dixon was blown up in Navan with a booby-trap bomb.
In 2011, Bernadette McKevitt-Sands, was working in Navan, Paddy Dixon and I were living in Navan, County Meath.
In the aftermath of the Omagh Bomb, I was able to prevent further Bomb attacks that were being directed by the Leadership of Real/Continuity IRA. My source for this information was Seamus McKenna and specifically related to the 500lb bomb destined for the residence of The Secretary of State in Northern Ireland, Peter Mandelson.
The difference between this bomb being stopped and the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs being allowed to run, was the fact that I provided the information about the Mandelson bomb to the RUC, not An Garda Siochana. As the bombers were being arrested, an RUC officer phoned me and thanked me for providing information that prevented the bombing.
This is an original part of an Intel Report in which I identified the location of one of the bombers. The RUC had absolutely no clue that this individual was a terrorist until I identified him as such.The London bomb team including Queen's University student, Darren Mulholland, who was known to Seamus McKenna in Dundalk, was also arrested in 1998 based on my information. However, unlike the Banbridge and Omagh bombs, An Garda Siochana shared my information with MI5.
BBC Spotlight would later state that I had lied about students being recruited for a bombing campaign in England, even though the student bombers had been arrested with semtex before the program was aired. It may be the case that 'dark forces' had wanted the bomb attacks to go ahead, however, my going public had prevented the attacks.
I had also prevented attacks on leading members of Sinn Fein/PIRA in Belfast and bomb attacks in The Irish Republic, these were planned loyalist attacks, however, I cannot at this time name the informants, as one at least is still alive. Gerry Adams and Caoimhghin O'Caolain were only made aware of this aspect of my work in 2018.
In 2019, I meet Bertie Ahern at a function in north Dublin, and Bertie Ahern confirmed that he had directed Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, not to arrest the Real IRA Leadership prior to the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs, as he was taking his direction about the Real IRA from Phil Flynn, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Caoimhghin O'Caolain.
Bertie had chosen to send Dr Martin Mensergh to talk to the Real IRA. Bertie said that Phil Flynn, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Caoimhghin O'Caolain, described Bernadette-McKevitt-Sands in particular, as republican royalty, and her arrest with her husband Michael McKevitt could undermine Adams and McGuinness on their home ground where there was strong opposition to The Good Friday Agreement. This opposition, manifested in brutal attacks by Sinn Fein/PIRA on Kevin McQuillan in Belfast and Mickey Donnelly in Derry City.
Seamus McKenna said the Court House in Omagh was going to be bombed on Saturday the 15 of August, 1998, he was not happy about it, but what could he do.
I phoned Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly in Monaghan and updated him on what Seamus had said about the plan to bomb Omagh Court House on the 15 August, 1998. Garda Detective Liam Donnelly assured me that the bomb would be stopped and to say nothing to anyone else. I made a note in my 1998 diary, this diary has been seen by senior police officers. I have been a prolific diarist from 1980.
On Saturday 15 August, 1998, I was in Portrush in a mobile home and listening to the radio expecting to hear that the bomb had been stopped on its way to Omagh, when news of the bomb exploding came on the radio, it put me to my knees. I could not believe that the bomb had not been intercepted. I phoned Garda Detective Liam Donnelly, he had no explanation other than the decision was taken in Dublin, and he sounded like he was under pressure.I then phoned renowned journalist Barrie Penrose with whom I was working on the, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy case, at that time and I put on record with Barrie everything that had happened over the previous weeks including the names I had given to the Irish authorities.
I also got a bus to Belfast, left my partner and children in Portrush, and briefed a couple of trusted journalists as I believed the truth about Omagh would never be told.
The Omagh Bomb became very personal for me, when it became clear that Avril Monaghan, Avril's mother, Mary, Avril's little daughter Maura and Avril's unborn twins were all murdered. Avril's husband Michael and his brother Dermot were school friends of mine, we had played GAA together at St Ciaran's Secondary school in Ballygawley and in our local clubs of Aughaloo and Augher.
My cousins Willie, Eugene and Dessie McKenna had a small pub in Augher close to Monaghan's pub and I had played darts in both bars many times over many years, this was a small rural community ripped apart in Omagh on the 15 August, 1998.
In 1998, in the immediate aftermath of the Omagh Bomb when I publicly criticised Bertie Ahern and John O’Donoghue for directing Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, not to arrest the Omagh Bombers pre-Omagh, both Ahern and O’Donoghue stated publicly that they could not direct the Garda Commissioner in his operational duties.
Unfortunately, by the time of the Omagh Bomb investigative journalism had all but died alongside the truth, nobody would investigate my claims, all of which have since been proven true.
In 1970, the head of Garda Special Branch had pleaded with Jack Lynch, not to order him to arrest the PIRA Army Council who were meeting in Cavan, the head of Garda Special Branch had told Jack Lynch that An Garda Siochana had agents at the table. Jack Lynch had in 1979 directed the Garda Commissioner of the day not to investigate Narrow Water, when 19 British soldiers had been murdered following sanction from Martin McGuinness.
It was this action by Lynch in 1979, that led certain Garda officers in Monaghan Town to form a coherent intelligence unit that would work closely with other agencies to exchange information on the Provisional IRA.
In 2021, former Minister for Justice in The Irish Republic, Michael McDowell SC would tell publicly how Bertie Ahern’s Government did in 2002 grant a De Facto Amnesty to Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA murderers. McDowell stated that Bertie Ahern’s Government directed the Garda Commissioner to focus Garda resources against the Real IRA, Continuity IRA and hands off the Provisional IRA.
In February 1999, it was clear that there was nobody interested in establishing the truth about the Omagh Bomb, and in order to place pressure on my Garda contacts, I used a public platform to name Michael McKevitt as the Leader of the Real IRA and responsible for the Omagh Bomb.
Many in the world of politics and media, used the excuse, that naming suspects could prejudice future trials, however, this was a convenient lie, as such trials would take place before professional judges and not a jury. The same reluctant commentators had no problem naming suspects in the past, however, this time it was different, the bombers had been sitting with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness only months earlier.
Immediately following my public disclosure An Garda Siochana, in the form of my Garda contacts, including Liam Donnelly, arrested Colm Murphy. However, while Colm Murphy would be charged in relation to the Omagh Bomb, he would be eventually acquitted as Liam Donnelly had tampered with Colm Murphy's statements. Bizarrely, the tampering exposed by a Garda Forensic expert.
Newly Discovered Facts
Declassified files in Northern Ireland in 2021, show that just months before the Omagh Bombing by the Real IRA in 1998, Sinn Féin/Provisional IRA privately played down the threat from dissident republicans and chided the British Government for how seriously they were being taken.
These declassified files show that the Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Leadership were advising the British Government through various channels, including MI6, that the Real IRA posed no serious threat. The Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Leadership were also advising the Irish Government that no action should be taken against the Real IRA.
State Papers released in December, 2021, show that, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told British Prime Minister Tony Blair only two weeks before the Omagh bombing on 15 August, 1998 that while the breakaway Real IRA had attracted hard core members it did not seem to be “overly active”.
This at a time Bertie Ahern knows the Real IRA are preparing a fresh bombing campaign. If Bertie Ahern believed, as he told Blair, that the Real IRA posed no serious threat, why did Ahern send Dr Martin Mansergh to talk with the Real IRA.
In a telephone conversation between the two leaders on July 31, 1998, the day before Bandbridge Bomb exploded, Ahern shared intelligence on the new paramilitary group, composed of former Provisional IRA members who opposed the ceasefire and the peace process.
“Our security people, like yours, I think overstate the position,” he said. “Even when we check it out [the Real IRA] obviously have somewhere close to a hundred people.
“The quality of them I think are probably good enough in that they have an awful lot of the wrong people from our point of view. But they don’t seem to be overly active.”
He added: “Now there is a hard core that of course never stops, never has stopped, and they never will…as long as it doesn’t numerically get too big it means we can keep a good eye on it.
“There is always the worry that somewhere along the way somebody slips you but I think our guys feel fairly happy that they know they’re keeping a handle on it,” he told Mr Blair, who replied “Yeah, I see.”
In the above statement, Bertie Ahern shows his hand, "somebody slips you", this the day before the Banbridge bomb explodes injuring dozens of men, women and children.
A little over a fortnight later, on August 15, a car bombing carried out in Omagh, Co Tyrone, by the Real IRA killed 29 people, one of them a woman pregnant with twins, and injured 220.
The transcript of the conversation between the two leaders is contained in confidential records from 1991 to 1998 held by the Department of An Taoiseach which have now been transferred to the National Archive for public viewing.
Kevin McKenna had been known to me from the time I was a small child, when Kevin would cycle into Aughnacloy and Kevin would take me on the crossbar of his bike to my grandparents house in Coronation Park.
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In 1981, I had graduated from Na Fianna Eireann to working on Internal Security with JB O'Hagan, the PIRA member in uniform front left was dismissed from The PIRA because of my evidence to The PIRA Command Staff. For example, this PIRA member told me about certain matters that placed men and equipment at risk.
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD swore me into Sinn Fein/PIRA at a meeting attended by JB O'Hagan, Kieran Starr's and Padraigin Ui Mhurchadha (sister of Fergal O'Hanlon, shot dead 1957). I do not think that Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin ever knew that I was close to Kevin McKenna.
I am in the picture below 1981 on the left carrying a symbolic coffin in Monaghan Town to commemorate the death of PIRA Hunger-striker, Kieran Doherty TD. This picture was reproduced in An Phoblacht in 2013 for a National Hunger-strike commemoration. In 2013, I was back on the inside of Sinn Fein/PIRA in Dublin and helping to develop their Information Technology systems.
My main contact 2013-2015 was Bobby Storey, I parted company with Bobby again when he admitted the Provisional IRA Army Council including Bobby had sanctioned the murder of Kevin McGuigan in Belfast.
Two of the PIRA gunmen, Cathal and John would not be known as PIRA outside Sinn Fein/PIRA. The OC, facing the camera, John 'Dinger' Bell.
The Plan to Murder Gerry Adams
Background
From the outset of the sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, be that The IRA Border Campaign 1957-62 or the retraining and restructuring of The IRA 1962-66, there were constant efforts made by both the British and Irish Governments to maintain ‘peace’ within a Law and Order rather than a Social Reform framework.
In the 1960s it would have been difficult for any Irish Government to demand a certain standard of living and freedoms in Northern Ireland when the same standard of living and freedoms were not available to the majority of people in The Irish Republic.
When Jack Lynch became Taoiseach, he was given an assessment of The IRA by then Secretary of The Department of Justice, Peter Berry, for Lynch’s first meeting with British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson.
Peter Berry explained to Jack Lynch that up to one-thousand men, women and children were under the command of The IRA Army Council, this was an increase from the estimate of six-hundred-fifty in 1962 when the failed IRA Border Campaign was halted.
Peter Berry further reported that The IRA had been involved in drilling and arms training since its announced cessation in 1962. While The IRA were numerically strong, they lacked the finances for any sustained campaign of violence and Peter Berry was also aware of Communist leanings by some of The IRA leadership.
Peter Berry concluded in his assessment of The IRA, that, any number of sparks could be used by The IRA to light a fresh campaign of sectarian violence.
When the sectarian conflict began for real, there were many efforts by many stake-holders to end the violence. In my own estimation, the British Foreign Office through MI6 were in contact with The Provisional IRA Army Council from the outset.
The British Government also used the British Embassy in Dublin to built a relationship with the Irish Government, with varying degrees of success.
I do not support the view of many, that MI5, RUC Special Branch, British Military Intelligence and The NIO were opposed to any dealings with The Provisional IRA. All of these stake-holders were simply more cautious in their dealings with Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA as they knew them on the coal-face, not from behind a desk in Whitehall.
All of that said, there remains key question marks over the role of MI6 Officer, Michael Oatley and his dealings with Martin McGuinness. The complexity of this relationship, is captured in the 1993 Communication from Oatley to McGuinness.
In the 1993 Communication from MI6 Officer, Michael Oatley to Martin McGuinness, Oatley signs off with: (see, Exhibit 1).
“I hope you will not mind me ending with a new meaning to Tiocfaidh ár lá (Our Day will Come).”
NOTE: This Communication was initially hand-written by Michael Oatley and addressed to Martin McGuinness. However, Officer, Robert (see, initial) typed up the Communication in order to remove Martin McGuinness’s name from the top of the document and Michael Oatley’s from the bottom. Surely, if McGuinness was acting on behalf of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA there should have been no fear of disclosure.
Tiocfaidh ár lá in Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA parlance means a continued armed campaign until such time as a United Ireland free from British interference is achieved.
So, what is the “new meaning” that MI6 Officer Oatley is referring to? The surrender of The Provisional IRA, the removal of The Irish Republic’s claim over Northern Ireland, as then contained, in Articles 2 and 3 of Bunreacht na hEireann (Irish Constitution) and an acknowledgment by Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA that Northern Ireland is an integral part of The United Kingdom by Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA administering British Rule from Stormont.
Whatever, the “new meaning” alluded to by Oatley, it is clear that the relationship between Oatley and McGuinness was not one of McGuinness being a negotiator on behalf of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA and Oatley being a messenger to the British Government.
MI6 attempted to recruit me on two occasions, 1995 in Cambridge and 1999 in London. The 1999 encounter was the most telling, as the MI6 Officers, had no concern about the fact that Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness had armed the Real IRA. It would not be unfair to say that MI6 held the same view as Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness:
“The odd bomb going off here and there will help keep Unionists focused on working with the ‘Doves’”.
Such a view could easily be understood within a certain set of circumstances, however, can such a view be justified when those bombs deliver mass-murder, intentional or not, as happened in Omagh 15 August, 1998. It can certainly be said that in the absence of the full facts in 1998 which lead to the Omagh Bomb, the Omagh Bomb and its aftermath were used as leverage to nudge unionists into power-sharing with Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA.
However, it is my view, from real-time operational experience, that as late as 1999, MI6 knew virtually nothing about the operational capacity of the Real/Continuity IRA, and I am not sure they were too bothered. MI6 offered me money, which would be funneled to me through a Manchester based businessman, and if the money was discovered, the businessman would say he was funding my peace work.
MI6 told me they had funneled money to Bertie Ahern in exactly the same way. Bertie Ahern, while before The Mahon Tribunal on political corruption many years later, would try and explain away large amounts of sterling he received by saying he had won the money on the horses.
MI6 had achieved their objective as directed by The Foreign Office, which was the removal or dilution of Articles 2 and 3 of Bunreacht na hEireann (The Irish Constitution) that laid claim to Northern Ireland. MI6 had secured the agreement of The Irish Government and Sinn Fein/PIRA to that dilution or removal and which was then ratified by Referendum in The Irish Republic.
John Taylor MP who was a key Unionist negotiator at the talks leading to The Good Friday Agreement, said:
"At the talks leading to the Belfast Agreement both the Republic of Ireland Government and Sinn Fein agreed to The Republic of Ireland abandoning its claim over Jurisdiction of Northern Ireland. They therefore agreed to the abandonment of Articles 2 and 3 and recognised Northern Ireland as part of The UK. The people of the Irish Republic agreed in referendum." (Twitter, 17 February, 2023).
From a security point of view the operational capacity of Sinn Fein/PIRA was left to The RUC, MI5 and An Garda Siochana. The London and Dublin Governments were not losing any sleep due to the continued gangland criminality of Sinn Fein/PIRA and Others. Such gangland criminality viewed by both Governments as "Internal House-keeping" and not breaches of their Articles of Surrender.
From my own knowledge of the RUC (and by definition MI5) cooperating with An Garda Siochana, significant numbers of operations that could have completely derailed the 'peace process' were prevented. The only significant departure from this cooperation, was Banbridge and Omagh. This departure explained in this submission.
Banbridge and Omagh Bombs
On 4 July, 1998, I received a phone call from my cousin Seamus McKenna. In 1998, Seamus McKenna was working within a tight circle of Real IRA and Continuity IRA members who were mainly based in County Louth and to be found socialising in the Emerald Bar in Dundalk owned by Colm Murphy.
Seamus McKenna was well known to me since I was a small child. I would as a child visit my Uncle Sean's house in Newry (These visits referenced in Sean McKenna Jnr Biography) with my Father, Grand-father and Great-Grand-Father. During my Uncle Sean's funeral in 1975, I had stayed in my Uncle Sean's house in Newry for his wake.
In later years, when I had moved to Monaghan Town, my cousin Seamus would visit me. Seamus McKenna had extreme loyalty to me, as I had also taken care of his brother, Sean McKenna Jnr (PIRA Hunger-striker, 1980) when Sean was released from Long Kesh (The Maze Prison). Seamus would often talk about his Father, Sean McKenna Snr who had died as a result of the torture he had been subjected to during Internment.
Seamus always wanted me to know that he was still fighting in order to punish the Brits for what they had done to his Father. Seamus always spoke openly to me about what he was doing.
Seamus told me on the 4 July, 1998 that the Real IRA were going to bomb Banbridge and Omagh. I passed over what Seamus said and did not draw too much attention to it, because if Seamus thought I was trying to get information, rather than him giving information, he would simply say “Fuck Off”. I reminded Seamus about a time was I was placed in a cell in Omagh Court House and there was no back wall in the cell as PIRA had blown it up a short time before.
As soon as I finished my phone call with Seamus 4 July, 1998, I immediately phoned a Garda Special Branch Officer, Liam Donnelly, in Monaghan Town, whom I had known for some years. I told Liam Donnelly, what Seamus had said, and he said he would pass it on and get back to me.
Note: Garda Detective, Christy McNamee, known to me from 1980, who had retired, was in the 1990s working as a Private Detective. I had employed Christy as a Private Detective in relation to a number of matters. Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly, while employed by An Garda Siochana was doing freelance work with Christy McNamee, it was Christy who introduced me to Liam Donnelly.
On Monday 6 July, 1998, my Garda contact, Liam Donnelly, phoned me and asked if I would meet with someone from Dublin who wanted a face to face. It just so happened that I had been invited to a function at Áras an Uachtaráin, the home of The Irish President, Mary McAleese, 11 July, 1998. I told my Garda contact Liam Donnelly that I would meet his contact at Áras an Uachtaráin on the 11 July, 1998.
When I arrived at Áras an Uachtaráin on the 11 July, 1998 in the company of three others, who did not know my mission, we were welcomed by Mary McAleese and her husband Martin. Mary McAleese was known to me, as she had attended some of my peace work at Queens University in Belfast, when she was lecturing at QUB and I was a student.
When I received a call on my mobile phone, I excused myself from my company, and went to a side room of the main room where the function was taking place.
NOTE: In 1998, mobile phones were not as widely available as today, however, I had been employed by a Market Research Company called 'High Fliers' (Cambridge) to carryout Graduate Research at Queens University, when my Graduate Research was complete, High Fliers, allowed me to keep the mobile phone they had supplied to me for the Research.
I repeated at Áras an Uachtaráin to a senior Garda Officer what my cousin Seamus McKenna told me about Banbridge and Omagh, and I made it absolutely clear that I wanted Michael McKevitt, Bernadette McKevitt Sands, Seamus McGrane, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy, Seamus Daly and Seamus McKenna arrested and taken out of circulation.
When I left Áras an Uachtaráin in the early hours of 12 July, 1998, I was satisfied that both the Banbridge and Omagh bombs would be stopped. As we prepared to leave
Letter Ref: JDM/dh, dated 30 September, 1998, signed by Solicitor, Jason McCue working for Henry Hepworth, London, to Vincent McKenna.
Faxed again to Vincent McKenna from: Henry Hepworth – 0171-242-7998 on 3 December, 1998.
The letter explains that on dates including, July 14, 1998, I was a significant witness against Provisional IRA Chief of Staff, Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy. I was a witness as I hoped that exposing the personal fortunes accumulated by Leadership members of Sinn Fein/PIRA would discourage lower ranking Sinn Fein/PIRA members from continuing to support acts of violence in the name of the 'cause’.
Following my disclosures at Aras an Uachtarain, 11 July, 1998, about the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs, I was asked to give sworn testimony in a closed Court setting, in order to prepare for the arrests of the Real IRA Leadership by Warrant. The date for this closed Court clashed with the date for me to give evidence against Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy.
The Judge presiding at the closed Court hearing wanted an explanation as to why I was absent from the closed Court hearing, but did attend on another day, hence the letter from Jason McCue.
In the end, none of the above mattered as Bertie Ahern Directed the Garda Commissioner, not to arrest the Real IRA Leadership, prior to the Banbridge and Omagh Bombings.
On the 18 July, 1998, I was assaulted by six members of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA lead by Provisional IRA killer, Sean Clinton. One Sinn Fein/PIRA member would plead guilty to this assault and the threat to kill was left on the books by agreement with Vincent McKenna. The PIRA members had not done their homework, I had just won a silver medal in The UK Regional Martial Arts Championship.
When the Banbridge Bomb exploded 1 August, 1998, I phoned Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly, and asked him why Michael McKevitt and the bombers had not been arrested, he had no explanation other than the decision was taken in Dublin. I told him that I might have been better going to the media, and he said, “Jesus don’t do that”.
Following the Banbridge Bomb my cousin Seamus McKenna phoned me again and sounded disturbed about the fact that so many civilians had been injured. Seamus talked about the on-going plan to bomb Omagh, Seamus said that there had been a meeting between Michael McKevitt, Bernadette McKevitt Sands and Irish Government officials before Banbridge.
I am satisfied that the meeting between Irish Government officials and the Real IRA before Banbridge was as a direct result of my meeting at Áras an Uachtaráin 11 July, 1998 and my insistence that the Real IRA Leadership be arrested.
Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue TD while visiting me in Wheatfield Prison in early 2001, confirmed to me that he and Bertie Ahern had sent Dr Martin Mensergh to meet with The Real IRA following my tip-off, 11 July, 1998. According to John O'Donoghue TD the Government did not want to undermine Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness by arresting the sister of Bobby Sands, shortly after signing The Good Friday Agreement.
Between 2010-2011, I was close to Bernadette McKevitt-Sands and she confirmed that the meeting between Dr Martin Mensergh and the Real IRA was before Banbridge, and Mansergh had made it clear that the Government knew the Real IRA were planning a fresh bombing campaign.
Bernadette confirmed that in the aftermath of Omagh, Dr Mansergh meet with the Real IRA Leadership again and offered a full-amnesty in relation to Omagh if the Real IRA would disband. The Intel Report below was submitted by me, six-weeks before Paddy Dixon was blown up in Navan with a booby-trap bomb.
In 2011, Bernadette McKevitt-Sands, was working in Navan, Paddy Dixon and I were living in Navan, County Meath.
In the aftermath of the Omagh Bomb, I was able to prevent further Bomb attacks that were being directed by the Leadership of Real/Continuity IRA. My source for this information was Seamus McKenna and specifically related to the 500lb bomb destined for the residence of The Secretary of State in Northern Ireland, Peter Mandelson.
The difference between this bomb being stopped and the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs being allowed to run, was the fact that I provided the information about the Mandelson bomb to the RUC, not An Garda Siochana. As the bombers were being arrested, an RUC officer phoned me and thanked me for providing information that prevented the bombing.
The London bomb team including Queen's University student, Darren Mulholland, who was known to Seamus McKenna in Dundalk, was also arrested in 1998 based on my information. However, unlike the Banbridge and Omagh bombs, An Garda Siochana shared my information with MI5.
BBC Spotlight would later state that I had lied about students being recruited for a bombing campaign in England, even though the student bombers had been arrested with semtex before the program was aired. It may be the case that 'dark forces' had wanted the bomb attacks to go ahead, however, my going public had prevented the attacks.
I had also prevented attacks on leading members of Sinn Fein/PIRA in Belfast and bomb attacks in The Irish Republic, these were planned loyalist attacks, however, I cannot at this time name the informants, as one at least is still alive. Gerry Adams and Caoimhghin O'Caolain were only made aware of this aspect of my work in 2018.
In 2019, I meet Bertie Ahern at a function in north Dublin, and Bertie Ahern confirmed that he had directed Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, not to arrest the Real IRA Leadership prior to the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs, as he was taking his direction about the Real IRA from Phil Flynn, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Caoimhghin O'Caolain.
Bertie had chosen to send Dr Martin Mensergh to talk to the Real IRA. Bertie said that Phil Flynn, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Caoimhghin O'Caolain, described Bernadette-McKevitt-Sands in particular, as republican royalty, and her arrest with her husband Michael McKevitt could undermine Adams and McGuinness on their home ground where there was strong opposition to The Good Friday Agreement. This opposition, manifested in brutal attacks by Sinn Fein/PIRA on Kevin McQuillan in Belfast and Mickey Donnelly in Derry City.
Seamus McKenna said the Court House in Omagh was going to be bombed on Saturday the 15 of August, 1998, he was not happy about it, but what could he do.
I phoned Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly in Monaghan and updated him on what Seamus had said about the plan to bomb Omagh Court House on the 15 August, 1998. Garda Detective Liam Donnelly assured me that the bomb would be stopped and to say nothing to anyone else. I made a note in my 1998 diary, this diary has been seen by senior police officers. I have been a prolific diarist from 1980.
I then phoned renowned journalist Barrie Penrose with whom I was working on the, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy case, at that time and I put on record with Barrie everything that had happened over the previous weeks including the names I had given to the Irish authorities.
I also got a bus to Belfast, left my partner and children in Portrush, and briefed a couple of trusted journalists as I believed the truth about Omagh would never be told.
The Omagh Bomb became very personal for me, when it became clear that Avril Monaghan, Avril's mother, Mary, Avril's little daughter Maura and Avril's unborn twins were all murdered. Avril's husband Michael and his brother Dermot were school friends of mine, we had played GAA together at St Ciaran's Secondary school in Ballygawley and in our local clubs of Aughaloo and Augher.
My cousins Willie, Eugene and Dessie McKenna had a small pub in Augher close to Monaghan's pub and I had played darts in both bars many times over many years, this was a small rural community ripped apart in Omagh on the 15 August, 1998.
In 1998, in the immediate aftermath of the Omagh Bomb when I publicly criticised Bertie Ahern and John O’Donoghue for directing Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, not to arrest the Omagh Bombers pre-Omagh, both Ahern and O’Donoghue stated publicly that they could not direct the Garda Commissioner in his operational duties.
Unfortunately, by the time of the Omagh Bomb investigative journalism had all but died alongside the truth, nobody would investigate my claims, all of which have since been proven true.
In 1970, the head of Garda Special Branch had pleaded with Jack Lynch, not to order him to arrest the PIRA Army Council who were meeting in Cavan, the head of Garda Special Branch had told Jack Lynch that An Garda Siochana had agents at the table. Jack Lynch had in 1979 directed the Garda Commissioner of the day not to investigate Narrow Water, when 19 British soldiers had been murdered following sanction from Martin McGuinness.
It was this action by Lynch in 1979, that led certain Garda officers in Monaghan Town to form a coherent intelligence unit that would work closely with other agencies to exchange information on the Provisional IRA.
In 2021, former Minister for Justice in The Irish Republic, Michael McDowell SC would tell publicly how Bertie Ahern’s Government did in 2002 grant a De Facto Amnesty to Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA murderers. McDowell stated that Bertie Ahern’s Government directed the Garda Commissioner to focus Garda resources against the Real IRA, Continuity IRA and hands off the Provisional IRA.
In February 1999, it was clear that there was nobody interested in establishing the truth about the Omagh Bomb, and in order to place pressure on my Garda contacts, I used a public platform to name Michael McKevitt as the Leader of the Real IRA and responsible for the Omagh Bomb.
Many in the world of politics and media, used the excuse, that naming suspects could prejudice future trials, however, this was a convenient lie, as such trials would take place before professional judges and not a jury. The same reluctant commentators had no problem naming suspects in the past, however, this time it was different, the bombers had been sitting with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness only months earlier.
Immediately following my public disclosure An Garda Siochana, in the form of my Garda contacts, including Liam Donnelly, arrested Colm Murphy. However, while Colm Murphy would be charged in relation to the Omagh Bomb, he would be eventually acquitted as Liam Donnelly had tampered with Colm Murphy's statements. Bizarrely, the tampering exposed by a Garda Forensic expert.
Newly Discovered Facts
Declassified files in Northern Ireland in 2021, show that just months before the Omagh Bombing by the Real IRA in 1998, Sinn Féin/Provisional IRA privately played down the threat from dissident republicans and chided the British Government for how seriously they were being taken.
These declassified files show that the Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Leadership were advising the British Government through various channels, including MI6, that the Real IRA posed no serious threat. The Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Leadership were also advising the Irish Government that no action should be taken against the Real IRA.
State Papers released in December, 2021, show that, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told British Prime Minister Tony Blair only two weeks before the Omagh bombing on 15 August, 1998 that while the breakaway Real IRA had attracted hard core members it did not seem to be “overly active”.
This at a time Bertie Ahern knows the Real IRA are preparing a fresh bombing campaign. If Bertie Ahern believed, as he told Blair, that the Real IRA posed no serious threat, why did Ahern send Dr Martin Mansergh to talk with the Real IRA.
In a telephone conversation between the two leaders on July 31, 1998, the day before Bandbridge Bomb exploded, Ahern shared intelligence on the new paramilitary group, composed of former Provisional IRA members who opposed the ceasefire and the peace process.
“Our security people, like yours, I think overstate the position,” he said. “Even when we check it out [the Real IRA] obviously have somewhere close to a hundred people.
“The quality of them I think are probably good enough in that they have an awful lot of the wrong people from our point of view. But they don’t seem to be overly active.”
He added: “Now there is a hard core that of course never stops, never has stopped, and they never will…as long as it doesn’t numerically get too big it means we can keep a good eye on it.
“There is always the worry that somewhere along the way somebody slips you but I think our guys feel fairly happy that they know they’re keeping a handle on it,” he told Mr Blair, who replied “Yeah, I see.”
In the above statement, Bertie Ahern shows his hand, "somebody slips you", this the day before the Banbridge bomb explodes injuring dozens of men, women and children.
A little over a fortnight later, on August 15, a car bombing carried out in Omagh, Co Tyrone, by the Real IRA killed 29 people, one of them a woman pregnant with twins, and injured 220.
The transcript of the conversation between the two leaders is contained in confidential records from 1991 to 1998 held by the Department of An Taoiseach which have now been transferred to the National Archive for public viewing.
Conspiracy to Silence
9 December, 2002, I, as a Common Informer (Common Law Term) issued criminals proceedings against Minister for Justice, John O’Donoghue TD on 9 December, 2002, stating that John O’Donoghue TD by his actions had Perverted the Course of Justice in DPP v Vincent McKenna. Documents released to me under a Freedom of Information request, proved that O'Donoghue had given direction to The DPP, James Hamilton.
This intervention by O'Donoghue was at all times about burying the truth about Omagh, as the intervention is made at a time that O'Donoghue's Department was lobbying on behalf of some of Ireland's most prolific sex offenders including serial child-rapist Patrick Naughton.
10 December, 2002: Detective Superintendent, Tadgh Foley, of Monaghan Garda Station, did seek and was granted a Section 42 Warrant for my arrest from Wheatfield Prison, accusing me in relation to the Omagh Bomb. I had prior knowledge of my arrest and I was warned to keep my mouth shut.
One of the Garda Detectives involved in this bogus arrest, told me that I could thank John O’Donoghue TD for the outing.
Following my release from Garda custody back into prison custody, I was on a second occasion taken from custody under a Section 42 Warrant in 2003 and simply warned to keep my mouth shut about the Omagh Bomb.
This second arrest took place after I had Notified, Garda Special Branch in Dublin, in April, 2003, that my cousin Seamus McKenna was making a “Big Mix” (Bomb). I did not deliver this message personally.
I asked a senior prison officer to deliver my message to Special Branch. I done this for two reasons, the first was to ensure that I had an independent witness and secondly, to show prison management that I was not the devil being portrayed in the media by pedophile journalists such as Tom Humphrey's and Patrick 'Paddy' Tierney, just to name two.
Seamus McKenna was, following this tip-off and subsequent Garda surveillance, arrested in possession of the largest quantity of explosives ever found in The Irish Republic in June 2003.
Seamus McKenna as sentenced to 6-years, as this was Seamus McKenna’s first terrorist conviction.
The fact that I had proven again that I had information from my cousin Seamus McKenna, gave credibility to my assertions that I had pre-warned An Garda Siochana and the Irish Government about the Real IRA plan to bomb Banbridge and Omagh in 1998.
October, 2003, Bertie Ahern would admit that he misled the Dail in 2002 over Omagh. I had provided information, that proved that Bertie Ahern was a liar about his pre-knowledge of Omagh.
Former, Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell SC, 2022.
Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, Easter Bank Holiday 2022, Fairy House Race Course, Irish Grand National.
9 December, 2002, I, as a Common Informer (Common Law Term) issued criminals proceedings against Minister for Justice, John O’Donoghue TD on 9 December, 2002, stating that John O’Donoghue TD by his actions had Perverted the Course of Justice in DPP v Vincent McKenna. Documents released to me under a Freedom of Information request, proved that O'Donoghue had given direction to The DPP, James Hamilton.
This intervention by O'Donoghue was at all times about burying the truth about Omagh, as the intervention is made at a time that O'Donoghue's Department was lobbying on behalf of some of Ireland's most prolific sex offenders including serial child-rapist Patrick Naughton.
10 December, 2002: Detective Superintendent, Tadgh Foley, of Monaghan Garda Station, did seek and was granted a Section 42 Warrant for my arrest from Wheatfield Prison, accusing me in relation to the Omagh Bomb. I had prior knowledge of my arrest and I was warned to keep my mouth shut.
One of the Garda Detectives involved in this bogus arrest, told me that I could thank John O’Donoghue TD for the outing.
Following my release from Garda custody back into prison custody, I was on a second occasion taken from custody under a Section 42 Warrant in 2003 and simply warned to keep my mouth shut about the Omagh Bomb.
This second arrest took place after I had Notified, Garda Special Branch in Dublin, in April, 2003, that my cousin Seamus McKenna was making a “Big Mix” (Bomb). I did not deliver this message personally.
I asked a senior prison officer to deliver my message to Special Branch. I done this for two reasons, the first was to ensure that I had an independent witness and secondly, to show prison management that I was not the devil being portrayed in the media by pedophile journalists such as Tom Humphrey's and Patrick 'Paddy' Tierney, just to name two.
Seamus McKenna was, following this tip-off and subsequent Garda surveillance, arrested in possession of the largest quantity of explosives ever found in The Irish Republic in June 2003.
Seamus McKenna as sentenced to 6-years, as this was Seamus McKenna’s first terrorist conviction.
The fact that I had proven again that I had information from my cousin Seamus McKenna, gave credibility to my assertions that I had pre-warned An Garda Siochana and the Irish Government about the Real IRA plan to bomb Banbridge and Omagh in 1998.
October, 2003, Bertie Ahern would admit that he misled the Dail in 2002 over Omagh. I had provided information, that proved that Bertie Ahern was a liar about his pre-knowledge of Omagh.
Former, Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell SC, 2022.
Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, Easter Bank Holiday 2022, Fairy House Race Course, Irish Grand National.
Reasons Why The Omagh Bomb was Allowed to Run
Before I had the opportunity to speak with the majority of key-players involved in the Omagh Bomb attack, 15 August, 1998, there were three reasons being offered by many commentators as to why the Omagh Bomb was allowed to go ahead, if advanced warning had been given. I set them out here simpliciter:
1. To protect an Agent who was being embedded into The Real IRA in 1998. David Rupert was an FBI/MI5 Agent and was paid $10,000,000 for infiltrating The Real IRA.
Sean O’Driscoll has written a book, The Accidental Spy, about David Rupert’s infiltration of both Continuity IRA and later The Real IRA. I have not read the book, but I have read a pre-view of the book published in The Belfast Telegraph, 12 January, 2019, and in that pre-view, there is an interesting passage:
“After the Omagh Bomb in 1998, his mission became all the more urgent. By now, the FBI had contacted MI5, who needed someone in the larger and deadlier Real IRA”.
This passage if taken at face value, could rule out the Omagh Bomb being allowed to run to facilitate Rupert’s infiltration of The Real IRA.
Paddy Dixon and his Garda Handler, Garda Sergent, John White, would, following Omagh, claim that they had given advance warning to senior Garda Officers.
2. To undermine the Sinn Fein/PIRA Leadership as the majority of ordinary citizens and international observers would not be able to morally distinguish between Sinn Fein/PIRA and The Real IRA.
3. To use the Real IRA bombing campaign as leverage to force Unionists into a power-sharing Executive with the Sinn Fein/PIRA ‘Doves’, this was certainly the view expressed to me by Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness pre-Omagh and these were the people advising Bertie Ahern.
Now in 2023, with the announcement by the British Government of a Public Inquiry into the Omagh Bomb and having had an opportunity over 25 years to speak with many of the key players relating to the Omagh Bomb, the reason why the Omagh Bomb was allowed to go ahead can be summarised as follows:
A. The Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Leadership by arming, by inaction or design, the Real IRA, believed that they could use the Real IRA (Hawks) as Proxies. To bomb Unionists into power-sharing, while Sinn Fein/PIRA presented themselves as the Peace Doves. Unionists could work with the Doves or face the Hawks.
B. The Real/Continuity IRA led by Michael McKevitt, believed that their continued campaign of violence would undermine Gerry Adams and his Peace Strategy. This campaign more personal than political. McKevitt never really understanding that he was simply copper-fastening The Good Friday Agreement.
C. Bertie Ahern and by extension John O’Donoghue, taking advice from Phil Flynn, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (First Sinn Fein TD elected 1997), did not want to undermine Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness or the peace process by arresting ‘republican royalty’ Bernadette McKevitt-Sands (Sister of PIRA Hunger-striker, Bobby Sands) and her husband, Michael McKevitt, whom a few months earlier was The Provisional IRA Quarter Master General and sitting on The PIRA Army Council with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.
The third option is the easiest to sustain, and is the option that is easily supported by the evidence.
The third option is the easiest to sustain, and is the option that is easily supported by the evidence. Bertie Ahern was in 1998 already at the centre of a Political Corruption Scandal that would be proven many years later by The Mahon Tribunal. However, as early as 1997, Bertie Ahern’s mentor, Charles Haughey had been exposed, it was only a matter of time before Bertie Ahern walked to the political gallows, and only the distraction of Northern Ireland could delay that public hanging.
NOTE: In July, 1997, Charles Haughey gave evidence to the McCracken Tribunal on corruption confirming that he had received IR£1.3 million (€1.7 million) in gifts from businessman Ben Dunne, which he had previously denied. This damaged Haughey's reputation beyond repair.
Bertie Ahern needed the cloak of delivering 'peace' in Northern Ireland to regain some political value within Fianna Fail and the population in general. Bertie Ahern was not going to do anything that could under-mine Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and by association the peace process.
Bertie Ahern was taking his advice about Northern Ireland from former Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Vice-President, Phil Flynn. Phil had resigned as Vice-President of Sinn Fein/PIRA at the Sinn Fein/PIRA, Ard Fheis in 1984, but as he delivered his resignation speech at the Ard Fheis he swore publicly, in blood, to always remain available to Sinn Fein/PIRA. Phil Flynn would be named as being key to the money-laundering operation that followed the Northern Bank Robbery in 2004.
While I had been in close proximity to Bertie Ahern in 2005/06 as part of a Special Garda Operation and again in 2013 in relation to a money-laundering operation, It would not be until December, 2019, that I would get an opportunity to ask Bertie Ahern why he had directed Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, not to arrest Michael McKevitt and the Omagh Bomb Team before the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs in 1998, and rather chose to send his advisor Martin Mansergh for tea and biscuits with Michael McKevitt and the Omagh Bomb Team.
Bertie Ahern told me that, Phil Flynn, Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams and Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Runner for PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna) advised him not to arrest McKevitt and the would-be Bombers for fears such arrests could undermine Adams and McGuinness.
Bertie Ahern, was also aware that in the run up to The Good Friday Agreement and beyond, Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA could at any time call the Fianna Fail government out on its abandonment of Articles 2 and 3 of Bunreacht na hEireann, which laid claim to Northern Ireland.
Although Sinn Fein/PIRA had also agreed to the abandonment of Articles 2 and 3 they would in such circumstances simply deny having agreed to such abandonment. Bertie Ahern was prepared to do whatever it took to keep his political position.
On 21 December, 2022, Bertie Ahern’s key-advisor on Northern Ireland, Dr Martin Mansergh told RTÉ documentary Two Tribes, about Ahern’s concerns about Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA in 1998, the potential dual positions of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA, arose over concerns in The Irish Republic about the removal of articles 2 and 3 of The Constitution, which made claim to Northern Ireland.
Such political duplicity was not uncommon for Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA, and a good example was in 2011, when Martin McGuinness welcomed Queen Elizabeth in Belfast, while Gerry Adams went on RTE Television and stated that Queen Elizabeth was not welcome in The Irish Republic.
Mr Mansergh, who was an adviser during the peace process, said Sinn Féin's planned opposition to the accord in the Republic had worried Bertie Ahern and his government.
"They did contemplate supporting the referendum in the north and opposing it in the south, they had literature printed against the changes to articles 2 and 3," Dr Mansergh said.
The documentary linked the "nervousness" within the Republic's government to the decision by the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to release four PIRA prisoners known as the Balcombe Street gang.
On their release the four men then appeared at a Sinn Féin Ard Fheis supporting the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Ahern told the RTE program: "I took the decision that we should release the Balmcombe Street prisoners who had been sent back from England on the transfer of prisoners act".
"They were released in the afternoon and turned up at the Ard Fheis. I think the euphoria made sure we got across the line".
If Bertie Ahern had directed Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne to arrest Michael McKevitt and his bomb team prior to Omagh, this could have been done on the 'Belief' evidence of a Garda Superintendent. If McKevitt and his bomb team had been taken out of circulation neither the Banbridge nor the Omagh Bomb would have happened.
Bertie Ahern lied to Dail Eireann in 2002 about his knowledge of The Real IRA pre-Omagh:
Nov 2002 - https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30075592.html
Oct 2003 - https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ahern-admits-real-ira-talks-25926350.html
Notes: In 1991, the Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats program for government was reviewed. Bertie Ahern was a key player in these talks yet again. His involvement prompted Provisional IRA Gun-runner, Charles Haughey to remark of Ahern:
“He's the most skilful, the most devious, the most cunning of them all”.
During 1993, while he was Finance Minister, Ahern accepted payments of IR £39,000 from various businessmen, these were corrupt payments and confirmed as such to me by Paddy Reilly AKA Paddy the Plaster, who would appear before The Mahon Tribunal.
In July, 1997, Charles Haughey gave evidence to the McCracken Tribunal on corruption confirming that he had received IR£1.3 million (€1.7 million) in gifts from businessman Ben Dunne, which he had previously denied. This damaged Haughey's reputation beyond repair.
Earlier allegations resurfaced about Ahern's Foreign Minister, Ray Burke. Burke eventually admitted to receiving IR£30,000 (€38,000) in a corrupt payment and chose to resign. Arising from those two matters, the government established the Moriarty Tribunal and the Flood Tribunal.
Speaking at the 1916 Easter Rising commemoration at Arbour Hill in Dublin, in 1998, Ahern said:
“The British Government are effectively out of the equation and neither the British parliament nor people have any legal right under this agreement to impede the achievement of Irish unity if it had the consent of the people North and South...Our nation is and always will be a 32-county nation. Antrim and Down are, and will remain, as much a part of Ireland as any southern county”.
Background
Martin McGuinness with Liam Adams opening new Sinn Fein Office in Dundalk when Martin knows that Liam has Raped 4-year-old Aine. Liam Adams would continue to be promoted within Sinn Fein/PIRA when his brother Gerry Adams MP knew Liam was a child rapist.
Vincent McKenna, 17 years old, front-left carrying coffin to commemorate Death of PIRA hunger-striker, Kieran Doherty TD, 1981, Monaghan Town.
Vincent McKenna's Diary from 1986, while Vincent McKenna worked in several roles within Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA, Vincent McKenna was at all times answerable to his cousin PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna.
Vincent McKenna kept a detail record of all Murders, bombs, weapons finds and so forth for Kevin McKenna. In 1986, there was no Google, and so this diary was the only record available to Kevin McKenna as he directed hundreds of PIRA operations.
Vincent McKenna with John Hume 1994, many who now claim ownership of the 'peace-process' tried very hard to frustrate that process, and set out to undermine those of us who were trying to create a conversation around peace.
Vincent McKenna began the public conversation about Political Prisoners when most were afraid to touch the subject, yet it was a subject that would be at the core of making a 'peace-process' that would have some chance of success. Vincent McKenna, William Smyth UVF and Barry McElduff PIRA.
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The key focus of Vincent McKenna's work up until the end of 1997 was pushing the public conversation about a 'peace-process', without preparing the public with this discourse it would have been virtually impossible to thrust upon the public a Referendum on any agreement.
Letter: 2nd October 1997, from Secretary of State, Mo Mowlam to Vincent McKenna: This letter is 8 Days before PIRA Army Convention in Falcarragh, County Donegal:
“Thank you for all your hard work, an agreement is much closer now due to your efforts, I wish you, Gerry and Martin well for the 10th”. NIO Ref: McKenna/BB
I was not a delegate for the 1997 PIRA Convention in Donegal, I was a driver for a senior member of The PIRA. While we waited for others, I asked him to explain how The Convention would work and the possible outcomes.
It should be noted that Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and I, had very different reasons for wanting to surrender the PIRA.
Gerry Adams wanted The PIRA to stand down as he could see a political opportunity that would not come again. Gerry knew that if The PIRA continued then they would be subject to an intensified effort by The SAS and would be reduced to dust.
Martin McGuinness wanted to surrender The PIRA as he wanted to please his MI6 Masters, who had groomed him over decades, the evidence that I have gathered show McGuinness being an Agent for MI6 since 1986, however, others have suggested he was an Agent from the 1970s.
I wanted The PIRA surrendered, because I had believed for a very long time that they were nothing more than criminals masquerading as Freedom Fighters. I believed that if we could surrender The PIRA, then Sinn Fein could play a role in the democratic processes of the Island of Ireland.
Following the PIRA Convention in Oct 1997, which was attended by Kevin McKenna, Hensey McKenna (south Derry), Brendan McKenna (south Derry) Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy, Michael McKevitt, Bernadette McKevitt, Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Pat Doherty, Martin Ferris, Pat Treanor, Joe Cahill and so forth, Michael McKevitt, Seamus McGrane and a handful of others founded The Real IRA in a shed outside Oldcastle in County Meath.
On the 5 of November, 1997, I meet with leading members of The PIRA in Belfast and Mid-Ulster to establish how much support there was for Michael McKevitt and what would become The Real IRA. It was clear that Mid-Ulster was going to be a problem. I was still the runner between Martin McGuinness and PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna.
It is fair to say that by November 1997, I had a very clear view of where The Real IRA were going to draw their support. My cousin Seamus McKenna who was based in County Louth, and who had extreme loyalty to me as I had taken care of his brother Sean McKenna, when Sean was released from Long Kesh, told me that the PIRA were allowing McKevitt to empty PIRA arms dumps.
When Seamus McKenna told me that The PIRA leadership, namely Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy, Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness were allowing McKevitt to empty PIRA Arms Dumps, I went immediately to Monaghan and asked Kevin McKenna if he was allowing McKevitt to empty PIRA Arms Dumps.
Kevin McKenna asked me to drive him to County Meath, where we meet with Michael McKevitt and Seamus McGrane in a shed outside Oldcastle. Kevin McKenna asked Michael and Seamus to give Adams an opportunity to deliver and if he did not it would not be difficult to go back to full-scale attacks. Michael and Seamus made it clear that they were setting up their own organisation.
When Kevin and I left the meeting with Michael and Seamus, I believe they meet others at a another shed near-by and formed the Real IRA. I asked Kevin, what he intended doing about Michael McKevitt taking Provisional IRA explosives, weapons and ammunition to which he replied:
“The odd bomb going off here and there will keep Unionists focused on working with the ‘Doves’”.
Following this admission by Kevin McKenna, which was confirmed by Martin McGuinness, I went to war against Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA due to their duplicity, and this war is set out below.
I had worked long and hard to deliver a peace process and I was not prepared to support an arrangement that would facilitate continued acts of terrorism.
The War on Duplicity
I decided to take Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA to task on their adopted tactic of manufacturing opposition to Loyal Order parades. I carried out a Survey on the Ormeau Road, February, 1998, to establish the true feelings of local residents in relation to Loyal Order parades.
This extensive survey found that 80% of Nationalists would accept Loyal Order parades if certain minimal conditions were in place. The survey also exposed the fact that Sinn Fein/PIRA did not represent the views of the local population in relation to Loyal Order parades.
Following the widely publicised findings of the survey, Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA were fully exposed for manufacturing sectarian tensions that were resulting in extreme violence and murder. I immediately came under sustained attack by Sinn Fein/PIRA personnel, with whom, only a few weeks earlier, I was sharing the same pot of tea.
I had absolutely no contact, at this time, with the Labour Party and Conservative Party MPs who raised the threats against me in Westminster, the threat against me was based on RUC Intelligence received from their Agents and Informers within the PIRA in Belfast. Threats Raised at Westminster 1998
In February, 1998, absolutely no allegation of a sexual nature had ever been made against me, I was talking to my ex-wife and children every day. Following the high-profile campaign against me by Sinn Fein/PIRA for exposing their duplicity, my ex-wife told me that she was being put under pressure by her employer, Dr Marian Smyth, who had a child to PIRA protected child-rapist and serial killer, Michael 'Pete' Ryan. My ex-wife was a cleaner and part-time secretary for Dr Smyth, and was in a precarious position.
I told my ex-wife that I had a job to do and I could not stop as people were going to die, I apologised for the fact that she was being put under pressure, but I told her it would blow over. My ex-wife had previously been harassed in 1994 by a member of Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan (that member being an Informer, wife beater and Pedophile) however, I had contacted Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin in 1994 and that threat had been addressed.
This threat in 1994, had come about after my 'peace run' from Belfast to the Sinn Fein/PIRA Ard Fheis in Dublin, which was part of the process of creating a public conversation about peace, this would not have been understood by Sinn Fein/PIRA foot-soldiers who had no clue that the PIRA were about to surrender.
In 1995, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin contacted me to ask if I would vote for him as my name was still on the electoral register in Monaghan. I travelled to Monaghan at my own expense and voted for Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and I acknowledged his brother Fintan when I came out of the Polling Station at Saint Louis Convent. In 1998, I was not going to ask Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin to intervene as it would have simply compromised my position, Caoimhghín would have wanted me to stand down.
As Sinn Fein/PIRA continued with their campaign against me, I gave an exclusive front-page interview to Liam Clarke, Sunday Times, in which I explained the Policy of Ethnic Cleansing being pursued by Sinn Fein/PIRA since 1986. At this point in 1998, the newly elected PIRA Chief of Staff, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy had brought a Civil Action against The Sunday Times for describing him as Chief of Staff.
My interview with The Sunday Times, simply covered information that was already in the public domain, however, as I had been associated with the most senior members of Sinn Fein/PIRA including Kevin McKenna, Martin McGuinness, Joe Cahill, Jim Lynagh, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and so forth, my interview with Liam Clarke was viewed as treachery.
Following my interview with The Sunday Times, conversations with my ex-wife became strained, she said she was being put under extreme pressure by Dr Marian Smyth and Owen Smyth. I continued to travel to Monaghan Town each week to collect my children, and I told my ex-wife that I had to do my work or people would die.
On the 17 April, 1998, I arrived at the car park of The Four Seasons Hotel in Monaghan Town, I had been invited to a wedding, it was very late in the evening. I seen my-ex-wife outside the front door of the hotel, she was very drunk.
Fiona McCleary, 17th April, 1998, Four Seasons Hotel
I spoke to my ex-wife, she told me she was being put under extreme pressure to do me harm, she said that Owen Smyth and Marian Smyth were putting her under pressure to help them to do something to discredit me. My ex-wife was not making much sense so I got back in the car and went back to Belfast.
We know that on the 18 April, 1998, my ex-wife continued on her drunken binge and teamed up with Blackmailer, Carmel Mulhall (nee, Gallagher) who had been threatened with imprisonment by Mr Justice Paul Carney, at The Central Criminal Court, when Mulhall had tried to Blackmail an innocent man for £10,000 by falsely accusing him of Rape. Judge Carney said he would have sent Carmel Mulhall to prison if it were not for the number of children that she had to several different men.
This collaboration between my ex-wife and Blackmailer, Carmel Mulhall, would be the planned catalyst to force the alleged complainant in DPP v Vincent McKenna to make a non-descript complaint of abuse. This non-descript complaint would then be used in a Blackmail attempt.
On Thursday 23 April, 1998, I received a phone call to inform me that my 22-year-old cousin Jimmy had just been found dead in north Belfast, I was devastated. At exactly the same time as I took the call relating to Jimmy's death, the postman dropped a letter in the post-box.
When I opened the letter, it was from The North Eastern Health Board in Monaghan Town, the letter was one-line, "Can you contact us at your earliest convenience". I simply assumed the letter was related to my petition for Divorce, against my ex-wife, that was before The High Court in Belfast the following Monday 27 April 1998.
I had never went through the process of divorce before and I simply thought the letter related to formal arrangements for the children, which had already been agreed in High Court papers between my wife and I.
At my trial in 2000, my ex-wife would swear on Oath that she had Divorced me, that, like all else, was a comprehensive lie, but deliberately used to paint a dark caricature of my person.
I immediately phoned my ex-wife, 23 April, 1998, and told her about my cousin Jimmy and asked her about the letter from the NEHB. My ex-wife had no explanation for the letter from The NEHB and so I thought it was not important. At this time, I recorded all of my phone calls as I was receiving death threats on a regular basis.
I was also at this time involved in significant matters, those significant matters when concluded ensured that many lives were saved and the 'peace-process' prevailed.
When my cousin Jimmy was buried, I went before The High Court in Belfast on 27 April, 1998, to deal with my petition for Divorce. While my ex-wife and I had agreed to everything in the Divorce petition, including arrangements for the children and to keep the house in both our names so that we could borrow against it in the future for the children's education, my ex-wife had sent a letter to the High Court asking for the house. The Judge said he would ignore the letter as it appeared to be malicious.
When I returned home from The High Court, I immediately phoned my ex-wife to tell her that the Divorce had been granted to me. I asked my ex-wife about the letter she had sent to The High Court, only now did I realise that my ex-wife was angry about the Divorce and the fact that according to her I was, "Playing Happy Families". Which was bizarre, as my ex-wife and I had attended marriage guidance classes in Armagh in 1992/93, and without being indiscreet she had chosen a different path.
This different path fully exposed in a suicide note, left by a member of Sinn Fein/PIRA, in Monaghan Town in 1994 when he had shot himself with a double-barrel shotgun but survived. I gave the suicide note (which was one of three suicide notes) to Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly.
Eventually, my ex-wife disclosed in 1998 that the letter from The NEHB related to an allegation of sexual abuse made against me by my eldest daughter who was 17 years-old at that time. My ex-wife told me that if I tried to contact the complainant I would be arrested for harassment and that I needed to speak to the NEHB.
Interestingly, no actual allegation had been made at this time, but we do know that the alleged victim had been drugged with an unlicensed mind-altering drug, Seroxat, by Dr Marian Smyth, who had a child outside her marriage with protected child-rapist and PIRA serial killer, Michael 'Pete' Ryan.
At this point the allegations were already in the public domain and being used to discredit my work in Belfast, the language being used on the internet by Sinn Fein/PIRA in relation to the complainant was perverse, they simply used her as they had used thousands of women and children before.
I made dozens of calls to The NEHB over the following days, but the Social Worker who was in charge of the case refused to speak with me or arrange a meeting which was protocol, of course I learned terms like protocol much later. It would later transpire that the Social Worker was socialising with my ex-wife. The Social Worker was removed from the case, but it was too late.
The only saving grace was that on the 7 May, 1998, my ex-wife phoned my house in Belfast and told my Fiancée that, "All that has been said is lies, but it has all gone too far". It was on 7 May, 1998, that I had sought advice from my Solicitor as nobody would meet with me. My only concern was the complainant, who had stayed with me on her own only a few weeks earlier for two weeks.
Bizarrely, while the complainant had stayed with me on dozens of occasions on her own in Northern Ireland, she made no allegations in relation to Northern Ireland. When asked under Oath why she had stayed with me on her own between 1992-95, she said to protect children that I had in another relationship, in fact there were no other children 1992-1995.
Sinn Fein/PIRA offered me the opportunity to walk away from the allegations if I would stand down, however, I declined their offer. PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna, was anxious that I stand down, he had known me from when I was a child, he said:
"We know you have the character to stand up to The IRA, but you also have to have the wisdom to stand down".
Bizarrely, as Sinn Fein/PIRA were persecuting me, I was, in another role, responsible for preventing the murder of many of their leading members in Belfast. There are people alive and well who know that I prevented the assassination of senior Sinn Fein/PIRA personnel who would be key in delivering the 'peace-process'.
Eventually, I would learn that the complainant had been drugged with an unlicensed mind-altering drug by Dr Marian Smyth, who had a child to protected child-rapist and PIRA Serial Killer, Michael ‘Pete’ Ryan.
This case DPP v Vincent McKenna is back before The Court of Criminal Appeal in 2023.
Why Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA manufactured opposition to Loyal Order Parades
Following The PIRA ‘cease-fire’ of August, 1994, The Sinn Fein/PIRA Leadership needed to adopt various tactics to occupy their rank-and-file members, or those rank-and-file members might start to ask what it was they had achieved.
The tactics adopted such re-opening border roads, release of prisoners and de-militarisation, happened or begun to happen, at a much faster pace than anticipated. This fast pace of change meant that the Sinn Fein/PIRA Leadership needed a tactic with some longevity, and one that would fit with the long-term Policy of Ethnic Cleansing.
Fergie O'Neil leads the campaign to open border roads in Monaghan
The decision was taken to manufacture opposition to Loyal Order Parades across Northern Ireland, this tactic would serve several purposes, it would be a tactic with longevity, it would occupy the rank and file and it could be used in various areas to drive out remaining Protestant communities. In places such as the Ormeau Road, the last vestiges of Protestantism such as the Cricket Club would be burned down by Sinn Fein/PIRA.
As early as 1995 I had argued, within Sinn Fein/PIRA, against adopting this tactic, as I believed that it would simply cause opposition to the ‘peace-process’ and fill the ranks of those who may wish to undermine the push for ‘peace’. I even argued that such a tactic with such longevity would play into the British narrative that Northern Ireland was simply a conflict between two sectarian tribes, a narrative that Sinn Fein/PIRA had rejected for decades.
The tactic was adopted, Sinn Fein/PIRA personnel, mainly former PIRA prisoners, were selected to lead the campaign in various geographical locations. Gerry Adams championed the tactic in a speech in 1996 in Athboy in County Meath, a speech that was heard by only Sinn Fein/PIRA supporters and their proxies in the media.
Even when it was clear that opposition to Loyal Order parades was being manufactured and was not organic, journalists who knew that it was a Sinn Fein/PIRA tactic, pointed at the alleged intransigence of the Loyal Orders.
The Loyal Orders were an easy target for propaganda, the parades issue was quickly high-jacked by extremists such as The Loyalist Volunteer Force, and moderate voices within the Loyal Orders were drowned out. Sinn Fein/PIRA once again presented themselves as the victims in a modern conflict, that they had again manufactured.
As Gerry Adams and the Leaders of Sinn Fein/PIRA sat comfortably behind the bulletproof glass in their homes, which was provided for them by The British Government, innocent Catholics such as Michael McGoldrick were murdered as they done an honest day’s work.
Michael had been a friend and fellow mature student at Queens and we had often had a cup of tea together, he simply wanted a better life for his family and he had no time for any violent group.
As Sinn Fein/PIRA intensified their campaign against me, in 1998, I published a list of 100 Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Rapists who were being protected by the Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Leadership, Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA denied my Claims, in 2014 Gerry Adams exonerated my claims, too late for thousands of Rape Victims.
The Omagh Bomb
As The Real IRA became organised and structures were put in place, plans emerged for a bombing campaign, the core function of that bombing campaign was to undermine Gerry Adams and his apparent enthusiasm to surrender The Provisional IRA.
Gerry Adams in the other hand believed that a limited bombing campaign by the Real IRA could help leverage Unionists into a power-sharing executive with Sinn Fein/PIRA.
While I had gone to war against Sinn Fein/PIRA because of their duplicity, I also wanted to do everything possible to keep the 'peace process' moving forward, in the hope that those within that process could eventually achieve the surrender of The Provisional IRA.
On 4 July, 1998, my cousin Seamus McKenna made me aware of The Real IRA plan to bomb Banbridge and Omagh, these disclosures were made in general conversation, rather than any attempt by Seamus to Inform on his comrades.
These disclosures by Seamus, were passed on to Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly in Monaghan Town and lead to a high level security meeting at Aras an Uachtarain (home of The Irish President) on the weekend of 10 July, 1998, or to be more precise, on the night that the three Quinn Children were Murdered in Ballymoney.
On the night of 11 July, 1998, Mary and Martin McAleese were holding an evening of multi-cultural entertainment, which included instruments and music from both Irish and Ulster-Scots traditions. Mary McAleese is personally known to me since my time at Queens University when she attended events that I organised.
On the night of the 11 July, 1998, I was personally welcomed by Mary McAleese. The security meeting that I facilitated and participated in on that night, was a side-bar to the evening of entertainment provided by Mary McAleese, the entertainment was used as cover for the security meeting.
NOTE: On the 18th July, 1998, I was attacked on the Ormeau Road by six members of Sinn Fein/PIRA, led by Sinn Fein/PIRA Killer, Sean Clinton, one of the Sinn Fein/PIRA attackers later pleaded Guilty in Court to assaulting me. The RUC did not want to prosecute any of those who attacked me. Later that night The PIRA in Belfast murdered Andrew Kearney.
Following my attendance at Aras an Uachtarain on 11 July, 1998, I was confident that both the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs could be stopped. In the immediate aftermath of The Omagh Bomb I publicly named the Bombers, I done this as I believed the Truth would never be told about Omagh and so that the public could see that The Real IRA were simply Sinn Fein/PIRA Proxies.
Following the two bomb attacks certain Gardai became hostile towards me, this included Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly to whom I had disclosed Real IRA plans to bomb Banbridge and Omagh. I was angry, the wife, daughter and unborn twins of my school friend Michael Monaghan had been Murdered in Omagh.
Bertie Ahern mislead Dail Eireann, when asked if he had directed his Special Advisor, Dr Martin Mansergh to meet with The Real IRA prior to the Omagh Bomb in 1998, this meeting was directed after the Government had been advised by me of an imminent bombing campaign, Bandbridge and Omagh.
One-year, 14 October, 2003, after misleading Dail Eireann, The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, said that his then special adviser Dr Mansergh:
"Did have contact with the 32-County Sovereignty Movement in 1998, some weeks before the Omagh atrocity and with a view to persuading the Real IRA to cease their activities".
"Regrettably the Real IRA did not heed this message and, indeed, subsequently resumed their activities," he said. He reiterated that there was "no 'deal' done by the Government either directly or indirectly" with the Real IRA in return for a ceasefire or in seeking their disbandment.
This attitude, to the Truth, by Bertie Ahern, is in stark contrast to the findings of The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), in relation to dealing other Real IRA actions.
Mr Ronan, MacLochlainn, a member of The Real IRA, was killed during an attempted armed robbery of a Securicor van in Ashford, Co Wicklow in May 1998.
"This would have encouraged recognition by its members of the need for accountability and real independence in an investigation," the report says, in addition to possibly prompting better records and systems being maintained, which "ensured that full and appropriate disclosure was made by the organisation and thereby minimised the potential for theories of wrongdoing to fester".
"These measures could have saved the family of Mr MacLochlainn the long ordeal of seeking answers that this process became," the report said.
Michael McKevitt was very clear about what had transpired between Bertie Ahern and The Real IRA Leadership, post-Omagh, McKevitt said that an Amnesty had been offered to The Omagh Bombers and those who directed them in return for a cease-fire.
The Real IRA called a ‘cease-fire’ in September 1998 to consider Ahern’s offer, but concluded that the offer had only been made as the security forces and members of The Irish Government had prior knowledge of The Real IRA plan to bomb Omagh.
NOTE: Bertie Ahern does not say that no deal was offered, simply that no 'deal' was done.
In 1999, when Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA in Belfast, murdered a young man who had been Raped by a senior member of Sinn Fein/PIRA, Bertie Ahern said:
"Until there is an acceptable police force in Northern Ireland these things will continue to happen".
Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA admitted after the Omagh Bomb, that it was only in the aftermath of the Omagh atrocity that they visited the homes of Real IRA members and directed them not to take any further explosives and weapons from their arms dumps, the dumps were already empty.
This post-Omagh act proving beyond doubt that Sinn Fein/PIRA were happy to use The Real IRA as Proxies, until that tactic literally blew-up in their face with the Omagh atrocity.
Note: Sinn Féin is holding to its position that it will not encourage republicans to provide information to either An Garda Siochána or the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) on who was responsible for the Omagh bombing four years ago (Gerry Moriarty, Irish Times, Fri, Aug 16, 2002).
In 1998, I was asked to meet with a Senior Civil Servant from The Northern Ireland Office, at The Europa Hotel in Belfast. The Senior Civil Servant offered me £200,000 to end my high-profile campaign against Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA. I declined the offer, although at that time, I could not pay my Electric Bill, I could not be bought.
On 12 January, 1999, I was arrested in Monaghan on the basis that allegations of sexual abuse had been made against me on the 8 January, 1999. Worth noting that on the 8 January 1999 a leading member of The UFF told Hugh Jordon of The Sunday World he had just been offered £5,000 to murder me and use UFF Code-word to claim the murder, story published 10 January, 1999.
NOTE: The Murder Plot: Sources independent of me, show the following: On 8 January, 1999, the alleged victim made a complaint to Gardai in Monaghan, we also know that there was communication between Sinn Fein/PIRA and corrupt Gardai. We know that two members of Sinn Fein/PIRA offered a senior member of The UFF £5,000 on the same day to murder me and use UFF code-word to claim responsibility.
We know that Sinn Fein/PIRA knew that I was going to be arrested on 12 January, 1999, when I was making an application before The Family Court in Monaghan in relation to my children. Even before my arrest, Sinn Fein/PIRA in Belfast had begun to paint wall murals describing me as a Paedophile and MI6 Agent, we now know that those directing this activity were Paedophiles and Informers. Before I entered The Family Court in Monaghan, I was told by protected child-rapist and member of Sinn Fein/PIRA, Patrick ‘Paddy’ Tierney, that I was going to be arrested after the hearing.
In the full glare of my high-profile arrest, and in the shadow of fifty wall murals across Belfast, I was to be murdered by The UFF and a UFF code-word would be used to claim my murder. However, this murder bid was thwarted when a leading member of The UFF spoke to Hugh Jordon and I was consequently informed by the RUC.
My detention on 12/13 January, 1999, in Monaghan Garda Station, was not recorded, although it was a statutory requirement, no notes were taken and I was released without terms or conditions after 20 Hours. The Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly, who had prior warning of The Banbridge and Omagh Bombs facilitated and participated in my detention.
The Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly, to whom I had provided information about the impending Banbridge and Omagh bomb attacks in 1998, told me during my detention in Monaghan 12 January, 1999, that the allegations made against me were not worth the paper they were written on. The same Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly, also said that RUC Informer, Owen Smyth, had offered them guns in exchange for my high-profile arrest.
Irish Independent, 16th January, 1999: “Gardai believe the heavy machineguns found in a field in Monaghan on Thursday are part of the same Provisional IRA arsenal discovered last October”.
Bizarrely, while detained in Monaghan in January 1999, Gardai tried to recruit me as an Agent to work on their behalf in Northern Ireland, here is the name and address where I was supposed to send reports about Unionists/Loyalists, Sinn Fein/PIRA and 'Dissident Republicans'.
Garda Detective Richard ‘Dick’ Caplice would not have known that Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly was my contact. These security issues within An Garda Siochana in Monaghan Town would be high-lighted by Chief Supt Tom Curran at The Smithwick Tribunal many years later. The conspiracy against Garda Sergent, Maurice McCabe, would also expose some of the corruption in the Monaghan/Cavan Division during the same period.
When I returned to Belfast after my detention in Monaghan in January, 1999, I exposed the attempt by An Garda Siochana to recruit me, I gave all the details including the contact name and address to Journalist Nell McCafferty. Nell McCafferty phoned the Garda Detective and he admitted that he had given me his phone number, name and address to send him reports.
It is no secret that certain Gardai based in Monaghan Town could not be trusted, and this was summed up at The Smithwick Tribunal by Chief Supt, Tom Curran when he said he would not disclose the name of an Informant to the Garda Intelligence Collator in Monaghan.
It is worth noting, that the car used for the Omagh Bomb, seen here in the picture, was stolen a few yards from the home of Garda Detective, Richard Caplice, now, I know we live on a small island, but this is something of note. Especially, when we remember that the car was stolen by a Garda Informer.
When I returned to Belfast, 13 January, 1999, over fifty wall murals had been painted by Sinn Fein/PIRA across the city, describing me as a Pedophile and MI6 Agent, bizarrely those Sinn Fein/PIRA members who directed this activity against me, have all since been exposed as Pedophiles and British Agents/Informers. Freddie Scappitticci, Dennis Donaldson, Jock Davidson, Marty Morris and so forth.
NOTE: The alleged victim in the case against me would allege that I had sent a relative to her with pictures of the wall murals and asking her to withdraw her allegations, at no time did I have any knowledge of anyone approaching her in such a fashion, if I had wanted the allegations withdrawn, I would simply have taken up the offer from Sinn Fein/PIRA, including Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness.
Gardai were further disappointed when a Medical Report based on an examination of the alleged victim arrived and stated categorically that the alleged victim was Virgo Intacta, not only did this information contradict the allegations made, but also placed the alleged victim in a very special category, as 60% of girls are not Virgo Intacta by the age of 12-years due to normal activity such as cycling.
The Gardai were now desperate, they had no record of my detention and now they had a Medical Report that contradicted the allegations being made. In a desperate bid to get The DPP to bring charges, the Gardai in Monaghan called the alleged victim back into the Garda station and got her to change her original statement materially. The DPP now under political and media pressure brought charges.
After my release from Garda custody, I was now determined to expose the Truth about the Omagh Bomb, and it was with this intention that I attended The UKUP Conference in February, 1999 and named those responsible for the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs in the full glare of the cameras. This high-profile exposure of The Omagh Bombers forced Gardai to arrest and charge Colm Murphy on 21 February, 1999.
However, the case against Murphy collapsed and a retrial was ordered, again the second trial collapsed. At the core of the failure of Murphy's two trials, was the Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly, who had prior knowledge of Omagh, the same Garda Detective who facilitated and participated in my detention 12 January, 1999.
A Garda Inspector, Joseph Sullivan in Monaghan Town, began to issue negative press briefings about me to pro-Sinn Fein/PIRA Journalists, while I had never been questioned about sexual abuse allegations in Monaghan during my detention in January, 1999 on the basis of such allegations, those allegations now took on new meaning for rogue Garda Officers.
I was not the only person to be subject to the activities of dark-forces who often worked to their own narrow agenda rather than seeing the bigger picture. Michael Gallagher, who has led the campaign for Justice for the Omagh Victims and their Families was also the subject of a smear campaign.
Following my exposure of The Omagh Bombers and my critique of the failure of The Irish authorities to take decisive action, Garda Inspector Joseph Sullivan (later promoted to Superintendent) continued to brief the media negatively about me, in order to ensure that if charges were brought against me for alleged sexual assault, I could not get a fair hearing and would be silenced by the negative publicity he was generating.
"Asked if the Garda investigators expect formal charges to be directed by the DPP, Inspector Sullivan told the Irish Voice, 'we are confident that there will be a prosecution and we are confident that we will secure convictions against this suspect'." (https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1999/10/vmk-o20.html)
If these abuses being directed against me by corrupt Gardai, were directed against a member of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA, the case would never see the inside of a court room. Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA did offer me the opportunity to walk away from this case, in return for my silence, however, I declined those offers.
Garda Inspector, Joseph Sullivan, nicknamed, 'Provo Cop' by PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna, would continue to work for dark-forces when he perjured himself and perverted the course of Justice when he lied on Oath in the case of DPP v Vincent McKenna. Those lies now fully exposed in a tape recording, in which Garda Inspector, Simon O'Connor of The Garda Press Office, states that Sullivan admitted to him, what Sullivan had denied under Oath.
While rogue Gardai in Monaghan continued to abuse my Legal and Constitutional Rights, I continued to do the job that they were failing to do. I continued to work with members of An Garda Siochana who were prepared to place the public and national interest before any selfish or corrupt motivation. My work was saving lives, while the actions of corrupt Gardai in Monaghan was placing many lives at risk.
One of the reasons that Omagh Bomber, Colm Murphy walked away from the charges was that his presumption of innocence had been taken away by media commentary pre-trial. This was due to a Spotlight Documentary; however, the over-riding reason was the actions of at least two Gardai.
Following the attempt by The NIO to buy me off with £200K, the Gardai attempt to recruit me and a relentless campaign of abuse by Sinn Fein/PIRA and their Proxies in the media, I worked with CBS 60 Minutes to produce a documentary that would impact seriously on Sinn Fein/PIRA and their cheer-leaders in America.
On Sunday 14 March, 1999, the CBS 60 Minute Documentary presented by world renowned broadcaster and journalist Mike Wallace was watched by 80,000,000 Viewers, due to the fallout from the CBS 60 Minutes exposure of Sinn Fein/PIRA many Sinn Fein/PIRA fund raising functions in America on Saint Patrick's Day were cancelled.
It is estimated by The FBI that the CBS 60 Minutes Documentary and its repeats cost Sinn Fein/PIRA Millions of Dollars. As an added bonus, American President, Bill Clinton had to quickly change his St Patrick's Day speech 1999 to include a heavy condemnation of ongoing Sinn Fein/PIRA Human Rights violations.
Following my exposure of the duplicity of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA in the CBS 60 Minutes Documentary on the 14 February 1999, threats and attacks on my person intensified in Belfast.
It was at this time that I gave an interview to Toby Harnden for his book, Bandit Country (Hodder, 1999) in which I explained that Sinn Fein/PIRA had small numbers of Gardai working for them. I explained how certain Gardai in Dundalk had colluded in the Murders of Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan.
My disclosures about minimal Garda collusion with Sinn Fein/PIRA in the border counties lead to denials of such collusion by Minister for Justice, John O’Donoghue TD and Sinn Fein/PIRA. My assertions about collusion were exonerated by The Smithwick Tribunal.
It is worth noting, that even as The Smithwick Tribunal was making finds of collusion, Minister for Justice, John O’Donoghue remained in denial of such collusion. Bizarrely, one of the people John O’Donoghue had meet with in relation to the campaign against me, was the person who gave Sinn Fein/PIRA access to the Telephone Exchange in Dundalk so that Sinn Fein/PIRA could monitor phone calls.
The more pressure I was put under by various groupings, the more determined I became, by June 1999, I was viewed as someone who could be useful in helping to promote the MI6 view of what a 'peace-process' should look like. In June 1999, I had travelled to Westminster to update politicians on continued Human Rights abuses by Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA and their proxies, it was during this visit that I was approached by MI6 Officers associated with Martin McGuinness.
I rejected the advances of MI6, even though they had proven to me that Martin McGuinness did not pose a threat to the 'peace-process'. However, the 'peace-process' proposed by MI6 included abandoning the Catholic community, including women and children who had been raped by Sinn Fein/PIRA, to the dictate of Sinn Fein/PIRA.
In 1999, I pushed on in my campaign to expose the duplicity of Sinn Fein/PIRA. I assisted two German academics to produce a book on Sinn Fein/PIRA's campaign of Ethnic Cleansing, I arranged interviews for them with key players in Northern Ireland and so forth. The book, 'From Myth to Mafia' went on to become a best seller in Germany and played a significant role in reducing German support for Sinn Fein/PIRA and their proxies.
By mid-1999 it was clear that the British Government and elements of the Irish Government, namely corrupt and self-serving politicians such as Bertie Ahern and John O'Donoghue were prepared to turn a blind eye to ongoing Murders and Rapes being committed by Sinn Fein/PIRA. Blair and Ahern had created a 'peace' narrative that existed in their heads only, and had not materialised for the long-suffering people of Northern Ireland.
The majority of political commentators had adopted a, hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil, policy. Investigative journalism had become redundant in the 'new' political dispensation. However, as so often happens in Northern Ireland, an opportunity to expose the rot presented itself, in a cowardly murder.
On 30 July, 1999, a 22-year-old Catholic lad was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by a Sinn Fein/PIRA gang which was led by an RUC Informer, this individual along with other members of the gang were also known rapists within Sinn Fein/PIRA.
Following the murder of Charles Bennett, word quickly spread that it was Sinn Fein/PIRA who had murdered Charles. Due to the number of high-level Agents and Informers within Sinn Fein/PIRA right across Belfast it did not take The RUC long to identify the murderers.
Speculation now mounted as to whether Secretary of State, Mo Mowlam, who referred to Martin McGuinness as "Babe" would declare the murder of Charles Bennett as a breach of The PIRA 'cease-fire'. Mowlam tried to avoid the question of the 'status' of the PIRA 'cease-fire' by stating that it was a matter for her Chief Security Advisor, Sir Ronnie Flanaghan to determine who murdered Charles Bennett.
It so happened that Sir Ronnie Flanaghan was going to be on a Television program with a group of students, and those students would be allowed to ask Sir Ronnie about policing in the 'new' political dispensation.
I received a call from a young friend, whom I had known at Queens University, he said he was placing some students on the Television show that Sir Ronnie was going to appear on. My friend asked me if I had any particular question I wanted to ask Sir Ronnie. I told him, to get one of the students to ask Sir Ronnie, who murdered Charles Bennett.
Sir Ronnie Flanaghan answered the question very clearly, The PIRA murdered Charles Bennett, no question about it. The reason why Sir Ronnie was so certain about the identity of the murderers would become much clearer when Bobby Storey raided Castlereagh RUC Station in 2002 and stole files containing the names of dozens of Sinn Fein/PIRA Agents and Informers.
On a Friday afternoon, I received a call from a journalist, who said that NIO had just told him off the record that the murder of Charles Bennett was being viewed as "Internal House-keeping" and not a breach of The PIRA 'cease-fire'.
I phoned The NIO and recorded the call, below, a record of the call and transcript. The tape recording was given to BBC Newsnight who flew over from England specifically to record the story. The BBC Newsnight exposure effectively finished Mo Mowlam's position as Secretary of State, a severe body blow for Sinn Fein/PIRA.
While Tony Blair, Sinn Fein/PIRA and other duplicitous mud-larks rallied around Mowlam, I quickly drove the final nail into Mowlam's political coffin.
Following my exposure of Mowlam's flawed "Internal House-keeping thesis", Mowlam was hanging by a thread, while I was at war with Sinn Fein/PIRA, I still had many contacts within Sinn Fein/PIRA. I was told by a senior member of Sinn Fein/PIRA that a list of On-The-Run Sinn Fein/PIRA members had been drawn up and they were to receive Comfort Letters, Amnesties and Royal Pardons.
The senior Sinn Fein/PIRA member was providing me with this information, because he knew that twenty-seven of the initial list of forty-one OTRs drawn up, had actually been moved out of Northern Ireland after they had admitted to Sinn Fein/PIRA that they had Raped women and children.
I press released the list of forty-one Sinn Fein/PIRA Murderers and Rapists who were to be given Comfort Letters/Amnesties/Royal Pardons, this caused a political storm around Mo Mowlam and the Northern Ireland Office, with everyone running for cover.
In October, 1999, Mo Mowlam was replaced by Peter Mandelson, Mowlam had signed her own political death warrant by going native with Sinn Fein/PIRA.
David Rupert’s decision to become the Prosecution’s star witness against Michael McKevitt, followed his final trip to Ireland as an undercover agent in October 2000.
Conspiracy to Silence
In June 2000, while I was under sustained attack by Sinn Fein/PIRA for exposing their inner secrets, I was contacted by Garda Special Branch Officer, Liam Donnelly. Liam Donnelly asked me if I would travel to Monaghan Town for a meeting. I had just returned from Germany having prevented the importation of commercial explosives, weapons and ammunition to the Real IRA, I had also prevented the murder of the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Peter Mandelson and his staff, the bomb was stopped a short distance from Mandelson’s residence. I was reluctant to meet with Liam Donnelly, however, Liam Donnelly sounded like he was under pressure and so I agreed.
Liam Donnelly told me to book into the Swan Lake Hotel, North Road, Monaghan Town, as it was owned by Garda Detective, Peter Driver and I would be safe there. I booked a room in the Swan Lake Hotel as instructed and waited in the room to be contacted. When Liam Donnelly knocked on my door, I opened the door expecting to see Liam Donnelly only. However, Liam Donnelly was accompanied by a senior Garda Officer from Garda Headquarters and a senior Official from the Office of An Taoisigh and both were introduced to me by Liam Donnelly.
Liam Donnelly, explained that there was a genuine concern that I was going to go public about my security meeting at Áras an Uachtaráin, 11 July, 1998, and that such a public disclosure could bring down the Government and negatively impact on the peace process. The senior Garda Officer and the senior Official echoed Liam Donnelly’s concerns. I explained my position in relation to the security meeting 11 July, 1998, at which I had made clear the need to arrest the Real IRA Leadership and prevent the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs.
Liam Donnelly, the senior Garda Officer and the senior Official told me that the charges against me for sexual assault, would disappear if I agreed to sign a document declaring that I had not given An Garda Siochana and The Government any pre-warning about the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs. I made my position very clear; I would rather die on his feet than live on his knees. When it finally became clear that I would not sign the document presented by the senior Official, the meeting ended.
In November 2000, I went voluntarily to Monaghan to face charges of sexual assault, this is covered in more detail below, and the case has returned to The Court of Criminal Appeal in 2023. I was convicted on 10 November, 2000 and sentenced 21 November 2000. Following my sentencing every tramp and his dog was given a platform against me, many of whom would later be exposed as rapists and child abusers.
Following sentencing in Cavan Circuit Court, I was in handcuffs and shackles and I was attacked by a number of Sinn Fein/PIRA members, two of whom had been moved out of Monaghan Town by The Provisional IRA as they had admitted Raping Children, such was the perverse nature of the campaign against me.
The Director of Public Prosecutions Directed a charge of assault against one individual, however, a corrupt Garda Inspector ensured that this individual was never brought before the Court. The letter below from Superintendent O'Connor explains that The DPP has directed assault charges against one person in relation to the assault at Cavan Circuit Court. Two of the Sinn Fein/PIRA members who attacked me in Cavan Circuit Court had been moved out of Monaghan some years earlier when they admitting raping children in Monaghan Town.
Before my 'trial' in November 2000, Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly, who had prior knowledge of the Omagh Bomb, warned me that the safety of my children could not be guaranteed if I raised anything at my trial that would embarrass An Garda Siochana in Monaghan. My children continued to live in Kieran Doherty Park, where 80% of active Sinn Fein/PIRA members in Monaghan lived.
The then Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue TD who had publicly criticised my high-profile campaign against Sinn Fein/PIRA's continued Murder and Rape, had become involved in the case against me both publicly and privately in order to ensure that I was buried and silenced. The Irish Government did not want continued Sinn Fein/PIRA Murders and Rapes highlighted. This De Facto Amnesty for Sinn Fein/PIRA Murderers, would be exposed by Michael McDowell SC (2021).
O'Donoghue had no interest in the allegations against me, he wanted to bury me as he also knew about the meeting at Aras an Uachtarain on 11 July, 1998.
O'Donoghue instructed the DPP, Mr James Hamilton, by Letter to bury me. I discovered this letter under a Freedom of Information request and O'Donoghue moved quickly to change the FOI legislation, which was passed without question by Dail Eireann.
O'Donoghue visited me in prison and apologised for interfering in the Judicial process, I rejected his apology and he continued to do me harm, to the point that he met with The Judge who would preside over my Appeal, at that Judge's holiday home in County Kerry. This shortly before John O'Donoghue's other legal buddy, Judge Brian Curtin, also County Kerry, would be charged with possession of child rape images.
O'Donoghue's continued commentary about me in the media resulted in my person being subject in prison to violent assault including being stabbed in the head and arm. O'Donoghue was aware of the harm being done to me but he continued.
I then issued Criminal proceedings against Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue TD in The District Court in Dublin, I sought to have O'Donoghue charged with Perverting the Course of Justice, due to his Criminal interference in my case. I was representing myself in the District Court, O'Donoghue was represented by senior Counsel who are now High Court Judges.
While I was able to show The District Court the Freedom of Information documents disclosed, including the draft letter from O'Donoghue to the DPP, The District Court Judge refused to issue an Order of Disclosure in relation to the actual letter received by the DPP, and he ruled that without the letter received by the DPP, he would not issue a summons.
The DPP had admitted that they had received the unlawful letter but they would not disclose it, the Judge would not order disclosure of the letter, and he then ruled that without the letter received by the DPP, he would not issue the summons against O'Donoghue. This bizarre case highlighting yet again the dangerous relationship between corrupt Politicians and some within the Judiciary.
O'Donoghue signed Transfer orders for members of The Real IRA to be moved to the non-political prison in which I was being held. Those Real IRA prisoners told me that 'Gardai' involved in their transfer had reminded them that I had named The Real IRA, Omagh Bombers. Dissident republicans transferred to the prison in which I was being held realised that they were being used and did not engage in violence against me, in fact we all trained together in the prison gym.
Eventually, it became clear that I would not be silenced or go on lock-up due to the vitriol and violence being directed at me and so dark-forces (facilitated by same Garda Detective in Monaghan) made their boldest move so far, I was arrested from prison in relation to The Omagh Bomb. I was returned to prison after being questioned at Lucan Garda Station for several hours, the basic tenant of that questioning was to keep my mouth shut.
Bizarrely, I would on a second occasion be taken from prison, allegedly arrested in relation to The Omagh Bomb, this according to Gardai many years later was not a lawful arrest, no record exists and appears to have been a kidnapping to warn me to keep my mouth shut.
Plan to Murder
Following my kidnapping from prison by rogue Gardai, it was clear that I was not going to be silent, and as my release date came ever closer, corrupt Politicians and Gardai were anxious. Three weeks before my release, there was a final attempt on my life. This was an organised attempt and one that took some planning and co-operation.
I was returning from a visit, everything appeared normal, I was escorted from the visiting area by a prison officer that I did not know. Prison officers were constantly transferring between prisons and so it was not unusual to see new faces.
When I stepped through the final security gate on the long corridor that led to my landing, I heard the gate close behind me, normally the prison officer closes the gate and walks in front of the prisoner to his landing. When the security gate had been closed, I simply looked ahead and waited for the prison officer to walk past me.
When I looked around, the prison officer was gone. I had probably one-hundred feet to walk to my landing and so I proceeded alone. This all felt very eery, simply not right, as I walked along the corridor, I could see that the main security door to another landing was open, but no sign of any prison officer.
Then five prisoners, clearly armed with brand new Stanley blades lined out across the corridor to block my path. I knew that if my assailants got me down on the ground I would be sliced and probably murdered.
I decided to take out the biggest lad, I ran straight at the biggest lad, I hit him so hard that my fist deflected off his face and hit the rough plaster wall behind him, I lost the knuckle on my index finger on my right hand. The prisoner that I had punched was half unconscious, I held him up and used his as a shield, there was blood everywhere, I kept kicking and punching until prison officers eventually arrived.
While the majority of prison officers were professional, there were always prison officers for hire, and if a handful of rogue officers landed the same shift together prisoners could die and sometimes did. Contracts on individuals is as common in prison as it is on the street. Before I was released, one of the five prisoners who had attacked me, told me they had been paid in heroin to attack me.
Background and Key Milestones
The most important thing to remember about The Omagh Bomb is that, there were a great many agendas at play, the victims were of little concern to those agendas, as had been the case from 1969. However, the people of Ireland were told exactly what was happening before, during and after Omagh, but nobody wanted to listen.
The people were told loudly and clearly that the Sinn Fein/PIRA Leadership had armed The Real IRA in order to use them as proxies, to do their dirty-work while the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership presented themselves to the world as ‘peace-makers’.
This was a tactic used many times, for example, following The Good Friday Agreement, Sinn Fein/PIRA used Direct Action Against Drugs, to murder those drug dealers who were refusing to pay protection money to Sinn Fein/PIRA.
The Good Friday Agreement
Following The Good Friday Agreement Sinn Fein/PIRA used shootings, beatings and murder to silence those who offered any challenge to their authority, this included Sinn Fein/PIRA Rape victims. This violence by Sinn Fein/PIRA post-Good Friday Agreement was described by British Secretary of State, Mo Mowlam as “Internal House-keeping” and was not viewed as a breach of the agreed Sinn Fein/PIRA cease-fire.
This determination by Mowlam, while an outrage against civil society, God and man, was technically correct, as Sinn Fein/PIRA had deliberately excluded Catholics from the Terms and Conditions of their agreed cease-fire, The Irish Republic including its Armed Forces were also excluded from the Sinn Fein/PIRA Terms and Conditions.
Effectively, Sinn Fein/PIRA had been given a license to murder, as long as those murders were within the Catholic community. If State sponsored collusion ever existed in Northern Ireland, then this is its greatest example, fully exposed in the light of day, yet those who should have known better turned a blind eye.
Between 1992-1997 I was a runner between, my cousin, PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness, PIRA Army Council.
Kevin McKenna was also using another member of Sinn Fein/PIRA as a runner with Northern Command; however, McKenna was concerned that the second runner may have been compromised. As I had a genuine reason for visiting Monaghan each week and a genuine reason for visiting Derry each week, the security forces were less likely to take me under their notice, or so Kevin McKenna believed. I meet with McGuinness at a safe-house on The Culmore Road in Derry on a regular basis.
Kevin McKenna and I, could trace hour heritage back to Niall McKenna of 1641, who had massacred over 2,000 Protestants in the Monaghan/Tyrone region while stripping thousands more Protestants of their belongings and driving them from their homes.
While Kevin McKenna was happy to kill British military personnel, he derived his greatest pleasure from purely sectarian operations such as Kingsmill (10 Protestants), Enniskillen (12 Protestants), Teebane (8 Protestants) Shankill (10 Protestants dead, 57 Protestants injured).
Kevin McKenna never tired of targeting Protestants in his native Aughnacloy, County Tyrone and while he had murdered a number of Protestants in Aughnacloy and Monaghan in the 1970s, McKenna failed to carry-out any successful operations in Aughnacloy from 1980 onwards.
Martin McGuinness is a very different kettle of fish; McGuinness had been groomed by MI6 from those early days in the 1970s when the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership meet with British Officials. According to Sean O’Callaghan (a Garda and MI5 Agent) who was in regular phone contact with McGuinness in the 1990s, McGuinness was formerly recruited by MI6 in the mid-1980s.
O’Callaghan claimed that he witnessed many meetings between McGuinness and MI6 Officer Oatley during a period that the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership claim there was no contact between the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership and The British. O’Callaghan also claimed that when Oatley used Irish in his communications to McGuinness, it was O’Callaghan who provided the Irish, anyone who knew McGuinness, will know that his IQ was not overwhelming.
This is the actual Communication from MI6 Officer Oatley to MI6 Agent Martin McGuinness in 1993, it was initially hand-written by Oatley and then typed up by MI6 Officer Robert, so that Guinness's name could be removed from the top and Oatley's name removed from the bottom. Read the content and see the total disregard for those who had just been murdered by Sinn Fein/PIRA in England and Northern Ireland.
In 2017, David Trimble, who had become friendly with McGuinness admitted that he was with Sean O’Callaghan when Sean O’Callaghan received a long and detailed phone call from Martin McGuinness in the 1990s. However, the greatest indictment against McGuinness is the communication below, the provenance of which the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership continue to deny, to accept its provenance as set out here is to accept that McGuinness, ‘the republican hero’, was in fact an MI6 Agent who had a free hand from his Handlers to engage in and direct murder, nothing new there when we look at all the other British Agents/informers/touts who did and continue to sit at the top of Sinn Fein/PIRA.
PIRA Cease-fire, August 1994
In August, 1994, The PIRA Army Council declared a cease-fire, the Terms and Conditions of that cease-fire have never been seen by anyone other than members of The PIRA Army Council and MI6 Officers reporting to The British Prime Minister. I had sight of several communications between Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness.
On Friday, 9 February, 1996: one hour after a statement ending their ceasefire, the Provisional IRA detonated a large lorry bomb near South Quay DLR station in the London Docklands, killing two people, injuring 40, and causing £150 million worth of damage. The IRA ceasefire had lasted 17 months and 9 days. It is not too much of a stretch to imagine that those running McGuinness, where happy to allow this bombing to go ahead and force Unionists into Government with Sinn Fein/PIRA. The tone of the communication from MI6 Officer Oatley, supports this view.
On 20 July, 1997, The PIRA Army Council restored their 1994 cease-fire, stating:
“We have ordered the unequivocal restoration of the ceasefire of August 1994. All units have been instructed accordingly”.
This “Restoration” of the 1994 cease-fire means that there was only one cease-fire, it broke down and was restored. This means that the Articles of Surrender agreed between Martin McGuinness and MI6 Officer, Michael Oatley, in 1994 never changed.
So, while Sinn Fein/PIRA would sign up to The Mitchel Principles in 1997, those Principles had no effect on the Articles of Surrender agreed in the 1994 cease-fire. The 1994 Articles of Surrender excluded Catholics and The Irish Republic, including members of An Garda Siochana.
On 10 October, 1997 a Provisional IRA General Army Convention was held in Falcarragh, County Donegal, and was attended by Kevin McKenna, Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Pat Doherty, Michael McKevitt, Bernadette McKevitt Sands and so forth.
By the time the Sinn Fein/PIRA Army Convention was held in Donegal in October 1997, the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership were infiltrated to the point that Agents, Informers and Touts outnumbered actual Sinn Fein/PIRA members. This level of infiltration was fully exposed when Bobby Storey, raided Castlereagh RUC Holding Centre, in 2002, however, no action could be taken as several levels of the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership would have had to be wiped out.
The Real IRA
Following, the Sinn Fein/PIRA Convention in Donegal in October 1997, Michael McKevitt who had been Quarter-Master General on The PIRA Army Council, created The Real IRA at a shed in Oldcastle, County Meath. McKevitt was surrounded by members of The PIRA who wanted to continue with a campaign of violence to undermine Gerry Adams whom they viewed as a traitor who had signed up t an arrangement that gave Unionists a veto over the constitutional position of Northern Ireland.
Interestingly, I only parted company with Martin McGuinness following the Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA General Army Convention which was held in Falcarragh, County Donegal, On 10 October, 1997. I parted company with McGuinness as I was advised by members of my extended paternal family in Dundalk and south Armagh, Seamus McKenna, that Michael McKevitt and others were being allowed, by the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership, including Kevin McKenna, Martin McGuinness and Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy, to empty PIRA arms dumps as they prepared to set-up The Real IRA.
I travelled from Belfast to Monaghan at the end of 1997 to ask Kevin McKenna (Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy had just been appointed Chief of Staff of the PIRA – Murphy was no less ruthless than Kevin McKenna but he was easily bought as he was promised by MI6 that his criminal empire would remain untouched by the security forces in the north) why the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership were allowing McKevitt to take explosives, weapons, ammunition and personnel without sanction. Kevin McKenna said;
“The odd bomb going off here and there would help keep Unionists focused on working with the ‘Doves’”.
Kevin McKenna, PIRA Chief of Staff, 1983-1997/98
Normally anyone who misused or misappropriated as much a bullet belonging to The PIRA was court-martialled and punishment administered, two of the disappeared had allegedly mis-used a single gun belonging to the PIRA.
I was devastated by Kevin’s answer as I had put a lot of work into the peace-process and I had convinced a lot of people to give Sinn Fein a chance to move away from violence. Kevin McKenna and the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership had decided to use The Real IRA as proxies to do their dirty-work, just as they had done with many proxy groups over the years. This tactic would back-fire with the Omagh Bomb, and only then did the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership condemn the so called ‘Dissidents’.
Martina Anderson MLA used her position as MEP to lobby The Irish Government not to extradite Omagh Bomber, Liam Campbell, yet again exposing the lie of so called ‘Dissidents’. Sinn Fein members on Fermanagh and Omagh District Council supported a call by Republican Sinn Fein/CIRA not to extradite Omagh Bomber, Liam Campbell.
While there are many examples of the hand in glove relationship between Sinn Fein/PIRA and so called ‘dissidents’, the examples above, are good recent examples, that expose the Truth about The Omagh Bomb in 1998.
When Kevin McKenna told me that Sinn Fein/PIRA were arming The Real IRA to use them as proxies, I changed tactic, in March 1998, I gave an exclusive front-page story to The Sunday Times in which I described my time in Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan and the Ethnic Cleansing strategy developed and operationalised by Jim Lynagh and the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership in 1986.
In March 1998, I went to war with Sinn Fein/PIRA on the parades issue, I had known from 1996 that Sinn Fein/PIRA had manufactured opposition to Loyal Order parades and I had tried to convince them that this was wrong on all levels. I had initially engaged with all parties involved in the parades issue and some good work was done, however, Sinn Fein/PIRA were not reciprocating the bold moves being made by the Loyal Orders.
Over the following months and years, I would be subject to many attacks for the stand I had taken, as it was not simply a stand against Sinn Fein/PIRA but also a stand against the See, Hear and Speak no Evil Brigade. Stormont was a goldmine and the peace process was being sponsored by hundreds of millions from America and The EU.
I spoke with Bill Clinton’s key-advisor, Ron Browne, when Ron was in Belfast with Bill Clinton. I asked Ron, why America was prepared to give $260,000,000 to an untested process. Ron said that corporate America viewed Ireland as a steppingstone in to mainland European Markets. So American interest more about the bottom-line than ending human rights violations.
Real IRA as Proxie
While on the 31 of August 1994 The PIRA Army Council issued a general press statement declaring their cease-fire, through P. O’Neil, This press statement did not contain any meat on the bones of the Articles of Surrender of the PIRA cease-fire, the detailed Articles of Surrender which have never been altered to this day were delivered by Martin McGuinness to MI6.
There was in fact a twin-track approach, The Good Friday Agreement did not mirror the Articles of Surrender of The PIRA cease-fire. The Good Friday Agreement did not contain any detail about ‘Comfort Letters’, it did not contain any detail about Sinn Fein/PIRA being allowed to continue Human Rights abuses against the Catholic community (including murder and rape) and so forth.
The latter is why, The British Secretary of State, Mo Mowlam, stated in 1999 that the murder of Charles Bennett by The PIRA was not viewed as a breach of The PIRA cease-fire but was viewed by the British as “Internal-House-keeping”.
British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, tried to under-mine my efforts and the efforts of others, by offering a false sense of security to those who has suffered at the hands of Sinn Fein/PIRA and Loyalist terrorists for decades, when on, Wednesday 20 May, 1998, Blair delivered a speech at the Coleraine campus of the University of Ulster in which he unveiled a hand-written set of pledges to the people of Ireland in advance of the Referendum on 22 May, 1998.
The text of the pledges was as follows:
“I pledge to the people of Northern Ireland:
1. No change in the status of Northern Ireland without the express consent of the people of Northern Ireland.
2. Power to take decisions returned to a Northern Ireland Assembly, with accountable North/South co-operation.
3. Fairness and equality guaranteed for all.
4. Those who use or threaten violence excluded from the Government of Northern Ireland.
5. Prisoners kept in unless violence is given up for good”.
The Omagh Bomb
On the 15 August, 1998, 29 people were murdered and over 200 injured in Omagh, County Tyrone, by a Real IRA Bomb that had the DNA of three organisations.
The Leadership of Sinn Fein/PIRA would reinstate their agreed cease-fire with MI6, and while Sinn Fein/PIRA would no longer attack British Military, their Racist campaign against the Protestant community would continue, although by means of different tactics.
Sinn Fein/PIRA would also use their now redundant murders to take iron fist control of those communities in which Sinn Fein/PIRA engaged in whole sale criminality including murder and rape.
The Omagh bombing was a car bombing on 15 August 1998 in the town of Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It was carried out by a group calling themselves the Real Irish Republican Army, a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) splinter group who opposed the IRA's ceasefire and the Good Friday Agreement. The bombing killed 29 people (including a woman pregnant with twins) and injured some 220 others, making it the deadliest single incident of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Telephoned warnings had been sent almost 40 minutes beforehand but were inaccurate, and police had inadvertently moved people toward the bomb.
The bombing caused outrage both locally and internationally, and in that outrage the Truth was lost, and political spin directed from Whitehall won the day. The Real IRA denied that the bomb was intended to kill civilians and apologised, shortly after, the group declared a ceasefire.
The victims included people of many backgrounds and ages, Protestants, Catholics, six teenagers, six children, a woman pregnant with twins, two Spanish tourists and others on a day trip from the Republic of Ireland. Both unionists and Irish nationalists were killed and injured. As a result of the bombing, new anti-terrorism laws were swiftly enacted by both the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.
The Sinn Fein/PIRA tactic of using The Real IRA as proxies to force unionists into a power-sharing Assembly had back-fired, although the political spin did present Sinn Fein/PIRA as the 'Doves', in the 'republican' menagerie of murder.
It has been alleged that the British, Irish and US intelligence agencies had information which could have prevented the bombing, most of which came from double agents inside the Real IRA, but this information was not given to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).
In 2008, the BBC reported that British intelligence agency GCHQ was monitoring conversations between the bombers as the bomb was being driven into Omagh.
A 2001 report by the Police Ombudsman said that the RUC Special Branch failed to act on prior warnings and criticised the RUC's investigation of the bombing. Police reportedly obtained circumstantial and coincidental evidence against some suspects, but they were unable to convict anyone of the bombing. Colm Murphy was tried, and convicted. He was released on appeal after it was revealed that Garda Special Branch Detectives, Donnelly and Fahy based in Monaghan Town, forged interview notes used in the case.
Murphy's nephew Sean Hoey, was also tried but was acquitted. In June 2009, the victims' families won a £1.6 million civil action settlement against four defendants, who were found liable for the bombing. In 2014, Seamus Daly was charged with the murder of 29 people; however, the case against him was withdrawn in 2016. All of the above had been named by me in 1998.
The Real IRA's tactics were the same as those of the PIRA before it. It targeted the British security forces and also carried out bombings of symbolic or economic targets. The goal was to damage the economy and cause severe disruption, to put pressure on the British government to withdraw. Warnings were sent before such bombings, along with a code-word so that the authorities would know it was genuine. The Real IRA began its paramilitary campaign with an attempted car bombing in Banbridge, County Down on 7 January, 1998.
The 300 pounds (140 kg) explosive was defused by security forces. Over the following months, it mounted several car bomb and mortar attacks. There were attacks or attempted attacks in Moira, Portadown, Armagh, Newry, Lisburn, Belfast, and Belleek, as well as another car bombing in Banbridge on 1 August, 1998, which caused thirty-five injuries but no deaths. Banbridge was not condemned by Sinn Fein/PIRA.
The Omagh bombing took place 13 weeks after the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998 was signed. Intended to be a comprehensive solution to the Troubles, it had broad support both in Ireland and internationally. While The Good Friday Agreement offered a blue-print for an agreed settlement, it was the Dirty-Deal done between the Sinn Fein/PIRA Leadership and MI6 that would and continues to under-mine confidence in The Good Friday Agreement.
On 13 August, 1998, a maroon Vauxhall Cavalier was stolen from outside a block of flats in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, by Paddy Dixon, a Garda informer, who was being handled by Garda Sgt John White.
At that time, it bore the County Donegal registration number of 91 DL 2554. The bombers replaced its Republic of Ireland number plates with fake Northern Ireland plates (MDZ 5211), and loaded the car with about 500 pounds (230 kg) of fertiliser-based explosives. The boaster pack was filled with Provisional IRA commercial explosives.
On Saturday 15 August, 1998, the bomb car was driven from County Monaghan, by Seamus McKenna, across the Irish border to Omagh, travelling north and west. A 'scout car' drove ahead of the bomb car to warn it of any checkpoints, and the two cars were in constant contact by mobile phone.
At 14:19, the bomb car was parked outside S.D. Kells' clothes shop on Omagh's Market Street, at the eastern edge of the town centre, near the crossroads with Dublin Road. The driver, Seamus McKenna, could not find a parking space near the intended target, Omagh Courthouse, the scene of previous Provisional IRA attacks.
Seamus McKenna and his young Real IRA apprentice, armed the bomb and set the timer to detonate it in 40 minutes. They left the car and walked east down-Market Street towards Campsie Road, before leaving Omagh in the scout car. A family of Spanish tourists happened to take photos by the car. The photographer died in the bombing, but the man and child in the photograph survived.
The car with false registration plates had been stolen by Garda Informer, Paddy Dixon. Paddy Dixon was injured in a Real IRA bomb attack in Navan in County Meath in 2011.
Paddy Dixon's Address had been provided to The Real IRA by a member of Sinn Fein/PIRA, as part of a deal to ensure that Gerry Adams would not be opposed in Louth during his campaign to get elected to Dail Eireann.
Gerry Adams also meet with members of The Real IRA Army Council before he ran for election in 2011, in which he gave undertakings in relation to ensuring better conditions for Real IRA prisoners.
At around 14:30, three phone calls were made warning of a bomb in Omagh, using the same codeword that had been used in the Real IRA's bombing in Banbridge two weeks earlier: "Martha Pope”, it is believed that this code-word was chosen by a female member of The Real IRA Leadership. The calls were made from telephone boxes many miles away in south Armagh.
The first warning was telephoned to Ulster Television saying, "There's a bomb, courthouse, Omagh, main street, 500lb, explosion 30 minutes". One minute later, the office received a second warning saying, "Bomb, Omagh town, 15 minutes". The caller claimed the warning on behalf of "Óglaigh na hÉireann".
The next minute, the Coleraine office of the Samaritans received a call stating that a bomb would go off on the "main street" of Omagh "about 200 yards" (180m) from the courthouse. The recipients passed on the information to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).
The BBC News stated that police "were clearing an area near the local courthouse, 40 minutes after receiving a telephone warning, when the bomb detonated. But the warning was unclear and the wrong area was evacuated". The warnings mentioned "main street" when there was no street by that name in Omagh, although Market Street–High Street was the town's main shopping street. It runs for hundreds of yards east–west from the site of the bomb to the courthouse.
Given the warnings, police believed the bomb was near the courthouse, so they evacuated the surrounding buildings and streets. As it happened, they moved people away from the courthouse and towards the site of the bomb, placing a cordon at Scarffe's Entry. The courthouse is roughly 365 yards (334m) from the spot where the car bomb was parked. During the later Special Criminal Court trial of Real IRA Director Michael McKevitt, witnesses for the prosecution said that the inaccurate warnings were accidental.
Conclusion
On the 25 Anniversary of Omagh, this submission is as close as anyone will ever get to the truth, the information in this submission was made fully available in 1998, but the Truth was buried for political expediency.
I am well aware, that certain operations were allowed to run over the years to protect informants, my key concern with Banbridge and Omagh is the bizarre and criminal efforts that have been made to silence at least one of the messengers.
In 1998 great efforts were made to silence me, I told the public, that the Sinn Fein/PIRA Leadership had armed The Real IRA to use them as proxies, I publicly named those involved in The Omagh Bomb including those at Leadership level in Sinn Fein/PIRA who had taken the decision to arm The Real IRA. I also told the public that nobody would ever be convicted of The Omagh Bomb, 25 years later, who is the liar now?
NOTE: On an RTÉ radio show Morning Ireland in February 2008, Dr Martin Mansergh reassured listeners that Bertie Ahern's difficulties were no more than a spot of "inflight turbulence" with a safe landing in sight. When Fine Gael's, Tribunal Expert, Senator Eugene Regan dissented, Mansergh became quite agitated, questioning why Regan wanted to question Bertie Ahern's finances declaring to Regan that: "You should have respect for your betters!"
NOTE: Paddy Dixon Garda Informer:
Initially, I had not included Monaghan based Garda Informer, Paddy Dixon in this post, mainly because I find much of what has been said about him to be difficult to comprehend. Articles written in the early 2000s said he had been placed on the Witness Protection Program and living on the Continent.
Yet, Paddy was to be found living openly in Navan in County Meath in 2011, a long-established Sinn Fein/PIRA base, built up over many years by Joe O’Reilly, with many Real IRA living within a stone’s throw of Navan.
In fact, Paddy could have continued to live quietly in Navan if his location had not been traded by members of Sinn Fein/PIRA with the Real IRA so that Gerry Adams could have a bump free run for Arthur Morgan’s seat in County Louth, where Gerry had been parachuted in for the 2011 General Election. There was never any threat against Gerry from his old comrade Bernadette McKevitt-Sands, however, any type of unpleasantness could cost much needed votes.
Paddy Dixon was a car thief, who we are told began working as an informer for An Garda Siochana in 1992 when he would steal cars to order for The PIRA.
We are then told that Paddy Dixon graduated to The Real IRA in 1998, and was the most important police informer inside the Real IRA in the crucial months leading up to the 1998 Omagh bombing, in which 29 innocent men, women and children were murdered as were unborn twins.
It is alleged by various sources, including Paddy Dixon, that senior Garda Officers allowed the Omagh Bomb to run in order to protect Dixon’s position in The Real IRA. Yet, a tape recording produced to support these assertions has Dixon telling his Garda Handler:
"The Omagh investigation is going to blow up in their faces".
This reference to the ‘Omagh Investigation’ shows that this recording is made after the Omagh Bomb. Paddy Dixon also claims that:
“Every (PIRA) terrorist operation he knew about was compromised”
It is stated by Garda Detective Sgt John White who died in 2020, that he had warned senior Garda Officers about the Omagh Bomb a few days before it exploded. However, Garda Detective John White was found wanting by both The Morris Tribunal (Garda Corruption in Donegal) and The Nally Report, which investigated John White’s claims that he had warned senior officers about The Omagh Bomb.
John White was Paddy Dixon’s Handler when Dixon was stealing cars for the PIRA. In early 1998, Garda Detective Sergeant, John White, returned to Paddy Dixon and recruited Dixon again so that he could infiltrate The Real IRA.
When it became apparent in the third week of January, 1998 that the Real IRA was about to launch a major terror offensive, Sgt John White asked Paddy Dixon to offer his services to the Real IRA. Dixon had a long-standing connection with a republican in south County Dublin known as 'the Long Fellow'.
Sgt White suggested, under orders from senior Garda command, that his old agent reactivate his relationship with 'The Long Fellow' who owned a breaker's yard in south Dublin where Dixon's stolen cars were re-plated and huge explosive devices were secreted inside the vehicles.
Over the next seven months the Dixon/White axis would give the Garda vital insight into the Real IRA terror machine. Between February and August 1998 Dixon gave the force inside information on at least nine separate Real IRA attacks culminating in the bomb at Omagh.
In total, five Real IRA bombing missions were thwarted, thanks to Dixon's intelligence and White's diligence. But in order to give Dixon credibility within the terrorist organisation, White's superiors in the Garda ordered that a number of attacks be allowed through. They included a massive bomb attack that devastated Moira in February, 1998. No one died in the blast, but the next bombs to be allowed through, however, would have far more serious consequences.
On 2 July, 1998, Dixon rang White to say he had another phone call from 'The Long Fellow'. He told Dixon that he wanted another car for a bombing, warning that this was to be a big one, a real spectacular.
Dixon rang White again on 10 August, 1998. He said he was to arrange a car theft for the following day. White then met two senior Garda officers hours later at a pub in west Dublin. His description of the fateful meeting was vividly conveyed to detectives from Northern Ireland several months later.
White's superior said that Dixon was now under severe pressure from the Real IRA in South Armagh. The officer then supped his pint and said to White:
“John, we are going to let this one go through”
When Garda Detective Sergeant, John White asked his superior:
“What if anyone is killed?”
The senior officer dismissed White’s concerns pointing to the Real IRA's inability to inflict casualties on the security forces north of the border.
As late as 14 August, 1998, the day before the Omagh bombing, Dixon was in constant contact with White. 'The Long Fellow' said it would take place within 24 hours. Dixon said that a car, a Vauxhall, had been stolen. With hours to go before that car (it later emerged it was a Vauxhall Cavalier) was eventually driven over the frontier and into Omagh, White implored his superiors to act. But he was simply told again that it had to go through.
White's testimony to both the Police Service of Northern Ireland and Nuala O'Loan, the Police Ombudsman in the Province, was devastating. The Garda should have run a check on all stolen cars on 14 August, 1998, especially those that had gone missing near the border.
Moreover, Dixon had said the car was for a bomb and the breaker's yard where all Real IRA devices were mixed and put into vehicles had been under round-the-clock surveillance since White reactivated his agent in early 1998.
Both Nuala O'Loan and Superintendent Norman Baxter of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the officer in charge of the Omagh inquiry, were convinced that White was telling the truth. Baxter's team spent three days in July 2002 debriefing White.
Dixon was never been questioned either by O'Loan's officers or, more crucially, the PSNI's Omagh Inquiry team.
Michael Gallagher, whose son was killed at Omagh and a spokesman for some of the victims' families, said:
“The puzzle remains - why won't the Garda let Paddy Dixon talk to the PSNI?”
Exhibit 1
Communication from MI6 Officer, Michael Oatley to Martin McGuinness 1993. Initially denied by McGuinness and Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA, later accepted by both and placed on the Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA website. Sinn Fein/PIRA explained the Communication as part of an official line of communication between MI6 and Sinn Fein/PIRA, it was not.
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Secretary of State Murder Plan 2000
On the 18 July 1998, I was attacked by six members of Sinn Fein/PIRA who were led by Sean ‘The Rat’ Clinton on the Ormeau Road. One of these rats would later plead guilty to assaulting me and a threat to kill was taken into consideration.
Later that night a Sinn Fein/PIRA gang led by an RUC Tout and made up of known rapists and paedophiles, murdered Andrew Kearney in front of his baby daughter and partner.
Following these two events in 1998, I was contacted by Andrew Kearney’s Mother, Maureen Kearney, to assist her with her campaign for justice for Andrew Kearney and his family.
I lead a high-profile campaign for Justice for Andrew Kearney, however, as the gang was made up of protected Touts and Rapists, Justice would remain elusive.
In 1999, Maureen told me that she was concerned that her son Joseph Kearney had become involved with a Terrorist organisation due to his anger over the murder of Andrew by Sinn Fein/PIRA and their apparent protection by the State, in particular Mo Mowlam’s “Internal House-keeping thesis”.
I told Maureen that I would establish if Joseph was a member of a terrorist organisation and let her know.
My cousin Seamus McKenna was initially a member of Sinn Fein/PIRA, but was from 1998 floating between Continuity IRA and The Real IRA. Seamus had in fact delivered the Omagh Bomb.
I asked Seamus if Joseph Kearney was a member of CIRA or The Real IRA, Seamus went off and reported back that Joseph had joined a terrorist organisation, and was in 2000 to play a key role in the planned bombing of the home of the Secretary of State, Peter Mandelson, the plan was mass murder and the collapse of the 'peace-process’.
I was not a member of any organisation in 2000, and so I was free to talk to whom ever I pleased, I ensured that the authorities were fully informed about the planned murder of the Secretary of State and his staff. The bomb was stopped a short distance from the home of the Secretary of State.
If the planned Murder of the Secretary of State had succeeded, the fall-out would have been extraordinary, many innocents would have been murdered in retaliation and the ‘peace -process’ would also have died.
David Rupert’s decision to become the Prosecution’s star witness against Michael McKevitt, followed his final trip to Ireland as an undercover agent in October 2000.
Conspiracy to Silence
In November 2000, I went voluntarily to Monaghan to face charges of sexual assault, this is covered in more detail below, and the case has returned to The Court of Criminal Appeal in 2021. I was convicted on 10th November 2000 and sentenced 21 November 2000. Following my sentencing every tramp and his dog was given a platform against me, many of whom would later be exposed as rapists and child abusers.
Following sentencing in Cavan Circuit Court, I was in handcuffs and shackles and I was attacked by a number of Sinn Fein/PIRA members, two of whom had been moved out of Monaghan Town by The Provisional IRA as they had admitted Raping Children, such was the perverse nature of the campaign against me.
The Director of Public Prosecutions Directed a charge of assault against one individual, however, a corrupt Garda Inspector ensured that this individual was never brought before the Court. The letter below from Superintendent O'Connor explains that The DPP has directed assault charges against one person in relation to the assault at Cavan Circuit Court.
The then Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue TD who had publicly criticised my high profile campaign against Sinn Fein/PIRA's continued Murder and Rape, had become involved in the case against me both publicly and privately in order to ensure that I was buried and silenced. The Irish Government did not want continued Sinn Fein/PIRA Murders and Rapes highlighted.
O'Donoghue had no interest in the allegations against me, he wanted to bury me as he also knew about the meeting at Aras an Uachtarain on the 11th July, 1998.
O'Donoghue instructed the DPP, Mr James Hamilton, by Letter to bury me. I discovered this letter under a Freedom of Information request and O'Donoghue moved quickly to change the FOI legislation, which was passed without question by Dail Eireann.
O'Donoghue's continued commentary about me in the media resulted in my person being subject in prison to violent assault including being stabbed in the head and arm. O'Donoghue was aware of the harm being done to me but he continued.
I then issued Criminal proceedings against Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue TD in The District Court in Dublin, I sought to have O'Donoghue charged with Perverting the Course of Justice, due to his Criminal interference in my case. I was representing myself in the District Court, O'Donoghue was represented by senior Counsel who are now High Court Judges.
While I was able to show The District Court the Freedom of Information documents disclosed, including the draft letter from O'Donoghue to The DPP, The District Court Judge refused to issue an Order of Disclosure in relation to the actual letter received by The DPP, and he ruled that without the letter received by The DPP, he would not issue a summons.
The DPP had admitted that they had received the unlawful letter but they would not disclose it, the Judge would not order disclosure of the letter, and he then ruled that without the letter received by The DPP, he would not issue the summons against O'Donoghue. This bizarre case highlighting yet again the dangerous relationship between corrupt Politicians and some within the Judiciary.
O'Donoghue signed Transfer orders for members of The Real IRA to be moved to the non-political prison in which I was being held. Those Real IRA prisoners told me that 'Gardai' involved in their transfer had reminded them that I had named The Real IRA, Omagh Bombers. Dissident republicans transferred to the prison in which I was being held realised that they were being used and did not engage in violence against me, in fact we all trained together in the prison gym.
Eventually, it became clear that I would not be silenced or go on lock-up due to the vitriol and violence being directed at me and so dark-forces (facilitated by same Garda Detective in Monaghan) made their boldest move so far, I was arrested from prison in relation to The Omagh Bomb. I was returned to prison after being questioned at Lucan Garda Station for several hours, the basic tenant of that questioning was to keep my mouth shut.
Bizarrely, I would on a second occasion be taken from prison, allegedly arrested in relation to The Omagh Bomb, this according to Gardai many years later was not a lawful arrest, no record exists and appears to have been a kidnapping to warn me to keep my mouth shut.
While in prison I was in mobile phone contact with my cousin Seamus McKenna (CIRA/RIRA), Seamus told me he was doing a Big-Mix, I wrote this down, placed it in an envelope and gave it to Chief Prison Officer, Andy O’Riordan and asked the Chief Officer if could give the envelope to Garda Special Branch as it was important. The next day I was in the prison gym when Chief Officer, O’ Riordan approached me as I was using the chest-press, and he whispered to me that he had delivered my message to Special Branch. The Chief Officer also confirmed that my prize money from Listowel Writers Week had been placed in my tuck-shop account.
Following a surveillance
operation that lasted some weeks, An Garda Siochana did on the 13 June 2003
arrest my cousin Seamus, his bomb team and the largest bomb ever discovered during
the campaign of violence in Northern Ireland. The reason I had asked Chief
Officer O’Riordan to deliver the Intel Report to Garda Special Branch, rather
than simply talk directly on my mobile-phone to a Garda contact, was due to the
fact, that I needed both the Governor and senior Officers not to be influenced
by a campaign of harassment being directed at me by The Department of Justice.
Shortly after the arrest of my
cousin Seamus and his bomb team, which supported my position in relation to the
Omagh Bomb, I was taken from prison once again, allegedly in relation to the
Omagh Bomb, and told to keep my mouth shut about Omagh. I would learn much
later that this was not a lawful arrest as no record exists, and appears to have
been a kidnapping simply to warn me to keep my mouth shut about the Governments
pre-knowledge of the Omagh Bomb.
Plan to Murder
Following my kidnapping from prison by rogue Gardai, it was clear that I was not going to be silent, and as my release date came ever closer, corrupt Politicians and Gardai were anxious. Three weeks before my release, there was a final attempt on my life. This was an organised attempt and one that took some planning and co-operation.
I was returning from a visit, everything appeared normal, I was escorted from the visiting area by a prison officer that I did not know. Prison officers were constantly transferring between prisons and so it was not unusual to see new faces.
When I stepped through the final security gate on the long corridor that led to my landing, I heard the gate close behind me, normally the prison officer closes the gate and walks in front of the prisoner to his landing. When the security gate had been closed, I simply looked ahead and waited for the prison officer to walk past me.
When I looked around, the prison officer was gone. I had probably one-hundred feet to walk to my landing and so I proceeded alone. This all felt very eery, simply not right, as I walked along the corridor, I could see that the main security door to another landing was open, but no sign of any prison officer.
Then five prisoners, clearly armed with brand new Stanley blades lined out across the corridor to block my path. I knew that if my assailants got me down on the ground I would be sliced and probably murdered.
I decided to take out the biggest lad, I ran straight at the biggest lad, I hit him so hard that my fist deflected off his face and hit the rough plaster wall behind him, I lost the knuckle on my index finger on my right hand. The prisoner that I had punched was half unconscious, I held him up and used his as a shield, there was blood everywhere, I kept kicking and punching until prison officers eventually arrived.
While the majority of prison officers were professional, there were always prison officers for hire, and if a handful of rogue officers landed the same shift together prisoners could die and sometimes did. Contracts on individuals is as common in prison as it is on the street. Before I was released, one of the five prisoners who had attacked me, told me they had been paid in heroin to attack me.
Background and Key Milestones
The Good Friday Agreement
PIRA Cease-fire, August 1994
The Real IRA
Real IRA as Proxie
The Omagh Bomb
Conclusion
Initially, I had not included Monaghan based Garda Informer, Paddy Dixon in this post, mainly because I find much of what has been said about him to be difficult to comprehend. Articles written in the early 2000s said he had been placed on the Witness Protection Program and living on the Continent.
Yet, Paddy was to be found living openly in Navan in County Meath in 2011, a long-established Sinn Fein/PIRA base, built up over many years by Joe O’Reilly, with many Real IRA living within a stone’s throw of Navan.
In fact, Paddy could have continued to live quietly in Navan if his location had not been traded by members of Sinn Fein/PIRA with the Real IRA so that Gerry Adams could have a bump free run for Arthur Morgan’s seat in County Louth, where Gerry had been parachuted in for the 2011 General Election. There was never any threat against Gerry from his old comrade Bernadette McKevitt-Sands, however, any type of unpleasantness could cost much needed votes.
Paddy Dixon was a car thief, who we are told began working as an informer for An Garda Siochana in 1992 when he would steal cars to order for The PIRA.
We are then told that Paddy Dixon graduated to The Real IRA in 1998, and was the most important police informer inside the Real IRA in the crucial months leading up to the 1998 Omagh bombing, in which 29 innocent men, women and children were murdered as were unborn twins.
It is alleged by various sources, including Paddy Dixon, that senior Garda Officers allowed the Omagh Bomb to run in order to protect Dixon’s position in The Real IRA. Yet, a tape recording produced to support these assertions has Dixon telling his Garda Handler:
"The Omagh investigation is going to blow up in their faces".
This reference to the ‘Omagh Investigation’ shows that this recording is made after the Omagh Bomb. Paddy Dixon also claims that:
“Every (PIRA) terrorist operation he knew about was compromised”
It is stated by Garda Detective Sgt John White who died in 2020, that he had warned senior Garda Officers about the Omagh Bomb a few days before it exploded. However, Garda Detective John White was found wanting by both The Morris Tribunal (Garda Corruption in Donegal) and The Nally Report, which investigated John White’s claims that he had warned senior officers about The Omagh Bomb.
John White was Paddy Dixon’s Handler when Dixon was stealing cars for the PIRA. In early 1998, Garda Detective Sergeant, John White, returned to Paddy Dixon and recruited Dixon again so that he could infiltrate The Real IRA.
When it became apparent in the third week of January, 1998 that the Real IRA was about to launch a major terror offensive, Sgt John White asked Paddy Dixon to offer his services to the Real IRA. Dixon had a long-standing connection with a republican in south County Dublin known as 'the Long Fellow'.
Sgt White suggested, under orders from senior Garda command, that his old agent reactivate his relationship with 'The Long Fellow' who owned a breaker's yard in south Dublin where Dixon's stolen cars were re-plated and huge explosive devices were secreted inside the vehicles.
Over the next seven months the Dixon/White axis would give the Garda vital insight into the Real IRA terror machine. Between February and August 1998 Dixon gave the force inside information on at least nine separate Real IRA attacks culminating in the bomb at Omagh.
In total, five Real IRA bombing missions were thwarted, thanks to Dixon's intelligence and White's diligence. But in order to give Dixon credibility within the terrorist organisation, White's superiors in the Garda ordered that a number of attacks be allowed through. They included a massive bomb attack that devastated Moira in February, 1998. No one died in the blast, but the next bombs to be allowed through, however, would have far more serious consequences.
On 2 July, 1998, Dixon rang White to say he had another phone call from 'The Long Fellow'. He told Dixon that he wanted another car for a bombing, warning that this was to be a big one, a real spectacular.
Dixon rang White again on 10 August, 1998. He said he was to arrange a car theft for the following day. White then met two senior Garda officers hours later at a pub in west Dublin. His description of the fateful meeting was vividly conveyed to detectives from Northern Ireland several months later.
White's superior said that Dixon was now under severe pressure from the Real IRA in South Armagh. The officer then supped his pint and said to White:
“John, we are going to let this one go through”
When Garda Detective Sergeant, John White asked his superior:
“What if anyone is killed?”
The senior officer dismissed White’s concerns pointing to the Real IRA's inability to inflict casualties on the security forces north of the border.
As late as 14 August, 1998, the day before the Omagh bombing, Dixon was in constant contact with White. 'The Long Fellow' said it would take place within 24 hours. Dixon said that a car, a Vauxhall, had been stolen. With hours to go before that car (it later emerged it was a Vauxhall Cavalier) was eventually driven over the frontier and into Omagh, White implored his superiors to act. But he was simply told again that it had to go through.
White's testimony to both the Police Service of Northern Ireland and Nuala O'Loan, the Police Ombudsman in the Province, was devastating. The Garda should have run a check on all stolen cars on 14 August, 1998, especially those that had gone missing near the border. Moreover, Dixon had said the car was for a bomb and the breaker's yard where all Real IRA devices were mixed and put into vehicles had been under round-the-clock surveillance since White reactivated his agent in early 1998.
Both Nuala O'Loan and Superintendent Norman Baxter of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the officer in charge of the Omagh inquiry, were convinced that White was telling the truth. Baxter's team spent three days in July 2002 debriefing White.
Dixon was never been questioned either by O'Loan's officers or, more crucially, the PSNI's Omagh Inquiry team.
Michael Gallagher, whose son was killed at Omagh and a spokesman for some of the victims' families, said:
“The puzzle remains - why won't the Garda let Paddy Dixon talk to the PSNI?”
Omagh Bomb 25th Anniversary
I, Vincent McKenna, Certified Digital Marketing Professional, being 18 years and upward make Oath and say as follows:
Background
From the outset of the sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, be that The IRA Border Campaign 1957-62 or the retraining and restructuring of The IRA 1962-66, there were constant efforts made by both the British and Irish Governments to maintain ‘peace’ within a Law and Order rather than a Social Reform framework.
In the 1960s it would have been difficult for any Irish Government to demand a certain standard of living and freedoms in Northern Ireland when the same standard of living and freedoms were not available to the majority of people in The Irish Republic.
When Jack Lynch became Taoiseach, he was given an assessment of The IRA by then Secretary of The Department of Justice, Peter Berry, for Lynch’s first meeting with British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson.
Peter Berry explained to Jack Lynch that up to one-thousand men, women and children were under the command of The IRA Army Council, this was an increase from the estimate of six-hundred-fifty in 1962 when the failed IRA Border Campaign was halted.
Peter Berry further reported that The IRA had been involved in drilling and arms training since its announced cessation in 1962. While The IRA were numerically strong, they lacked the finances for any sustained campaign of violence and Peter Berry was also aware of Communist leanings by some of The IRA leadership.
Peter Berry concluded in his assessment of The IRA, that, any number of sparks could be used by The IRA to light a fresh campaign of sectarian violence.
When the sectarian conflict began for real, there were many efforts by many stake-holders to end the violence. In my own estimation, the British Foreign Office through MI6 were in contact with The Provisional IRA Army Council from the outset.
The British Government also used the British Embassy in Dublin to built a relationship with the Irish Government, with varying degrees of success.
I do not support the view of many, that MI5, RUC Special Branch, British Military Intelligence and The NIO were opposed to any dealings with The Provisional IRA. All of these stake-holders were simply more cautious in their dealings with Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA as they knew them on the coal-face, not from behind a desk in Whitehall.
All of that said, there remains key question marks over the role of MI6 Officer, Michael Oatley and his dealings with Martin McGuinness. The complexity of this relationship, is captured in the 1993 Communication from Oatley to McGuinness.
MI6 attempted to recruit me on two occasions, 1995 in Cambridge and 1999 in London. The 1999 encounter was the most telling, as the MI6 Officers, had no concern about the fact that Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness had armed the Real IRA. It would not be unfair to say that MI6 held the same view as Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness:
“The odd bomb going off here and there will help keep Unionists focused on working with the ‘Doves’”.
Such a view could easily be understood within a certain set of circumstances, however, can such a view be justified when those bombs deliver mass-murder, intentional or not, as happened in Omagh 15 August, 1998. It can certainly be said that in the absence of the full facts leading to the Omagh Bomb, the Omagh Bomb and its aftermath were used as leverage to nudge unionists into power-sharing with Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA.
However, it is my view, from real-time operational experience, that as late as 1999, MI6 knew virtually nothing about the operational capacity of the Real/Continuity IRA, and I am not sure they were too bothered.
MI6 had achieved their objective as directed by The Foreign Office, which was the removal or dilution of Articles 2 and 3 of Bunreacht na hEireann (The Irish Constitution) that laid claim to Northern Ireland. MI6 had secured the agreement of The Irish Government and Sinn Fein/PIRA to that dilution or removal and which was then ratified by Referendum in The Irish Republic.
John Taylor MP who was a key Unionist negotiator at the talks leading to The Good Friday Agreement, said:
"At the talks leading to the Belfast Agreement both the Republic of Ireland Government and Sinn Fein agreed to The Republic of Ireland abandoning its claim over Jurisdiction of Northern Ireland. They therefore agreed to the abandonment of Articles 2 and 3 and recognised Northern Ireland as part of The UK. The people of the Irish Republic agreed in referendum." (Twitter, 17 February, 2023).
From a security point of view the operational capacity of Sinn Fein/PIRA was left to The RUC, MI5 and An Garda Siochana. The London and Dublin Governments were not losing any sleep due to the continued gangland criminality of Sinn Fein/PIRA and Others. Such gangland criminality viewed by both Governments as "Internal House-keeping" and not breaches of their Articles of Surrender.
From my own knowledge of the RUC (and by definition MI5) cooperating with An Garda Siochana, significant numbers of operations that could have completely derailed the 'peace process' were prevented. The only significant departure from this cooperation, was Banbridge and Omagh. This departure explained in this submission.
Banbridge and Omagh Bombs
On 4 July, 1998, I received a phone call from my cousin Seamus McKenna. In 1998, Seamus McKenna was working within a tight circle of Real IRA and Continuity IRA members who were mainly based in County Louth and to be found socialising in the Emerald Bar in Dundalk owned by Colm Murphy.
Seamus McKenna was well known to me since I was a small child. I would as a child visit my Uncle Sean's house in Newry (These visits referenced in Sean McKenna Jnr Biography) with my Father, Grand-father and Great-Grand-Father. During my Uncle Sean's funeral in 1975, I had stayed in my Uncle Sean's house in Newry for his wake.
In later years, when I had moved to Monaghan Town, my cousin Seamus would visit me. Seamus McKenna had extreme loyalty to me, as I had also taken care of his brother, Sean McKenna Jnr (PIRA Hunger-striker, 1980) when Sean was released from Long Kesh (The Maze Prison). Seamus would often talk about his Father, Sean McKenna Snr who had died as a result of the torture he had been subjected to during Internment.
Seamus always wanted me to know that he was still fighting in order to punish the Brits for what they had done to his Father. Seamus always spoke openly to me about what he was doing.
Seamus told me on the 4 July, 1998 that the Real IRA were going to bomb Banbridge and Omagh. I passed over what Seamus said and did not draw too much attention to it, because if Seamus thought I was trying to get information, rather than him giving information, he would simply say “Fuck Off”. I reminded Seamus about a time was I was placed in a cell in Omagh Court House and there was no back wall in the cell as PIRA had blown it up a short time before.
As soon as I finished my phone call with Seamus 4 July, 1998, I immediately phoned a Garda Special Branch Officer, Liam Donnelly, in Monaghan Town, whom I had known for some years. I told Liam Donnelly, what Seamus had said, and he said he would pass it on and get back to me.
Note: Garda Detective, Christy McNamee, known to me from 1980, who had retired, was in the 1990s working as a Private Detective. I had employed Christy as a Private Detective in relation to a number of matters. Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly, while employed by An Garda Siochana was doing freelance work with Christy McNamee, it was Christy who introduced me to Liam Donnelly.
On Monday 6 July, 1998, my Garda contact, Liam Donnelly, phoned me and asked if I would meet with someone from Dublin who wanted a face to face. It just so happened that I had been invited to a function at Áras an Uachtaráin, the home of The Irish President, Mary McAleese, 11 July, 1998. I told my Garda contact Liam Donnelly that I would meet his contact at Áras an Uachtaráin on the 11 July, 1998.
When I arrived at Áras an Uachtaráin on the 11 July, 1998 in the company of three others, who did not know my mission, we were welcomed by Mary McAleese and her husband Martin. Mary McAleese was known to me, as she had attended some of my peace work at Queens University in Belfast, when she was lecturing at QUB and I was a student.
When I received a call on my mobile phone, I excused myself from my company, and went to a side room of the main room where the function was taking place.
NOTE: In 1998, mobile phones were not as widely available as today, however, I had been employed by a Market Research Company called 'High Fliers' (Cambridge) to carryout Graduate Research at Queens University, when my Graduate Research was complete, High Fliers, allowed me to keep the mobile phone they had supplied to me for the Research.
I repeated at Áras an Uachtaráin to a senior Garda Officer what my cousin Seamus McKenna told me about Banbridge and Omagh, and I made it absolutely clear that I wanted Michael McKevitt, Bernadette McKevitt Sands, Seamus McGrane, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy, Seamus Daly and Seamus McKenna arrested and taken out of circulation.
When I left Áras an Uachtaráin in the early hours of 12 July, 1998, I was satisfied that both the Banbridge and Omagh bombs would be stopped. As we prepared to leave
Letter Ref: JDM/dh, dated 30 September, 1998, signed by Solicitor, Jason McCue working for Henry Hepworth, London, to Vincent McKenna.
Faxed again to Vincent McKenna from: Henry Hepworth – 0171-242-7998 on 3 December, 1998.
The letter explains that on dates including, July 14, 1998, I was a significant witness against Provisional IRA Chief of Staff, Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy. I was a witness as I hoped that exposing the personal fortunes accumulated by Leadership members of Sinn Fein/PIRA would discourage lower ranking Sinn Fein/PIRA members from continuing to support acts of violence in the name of the 'cause’.
Following my disclosures at Aras an Uachtarain, 11 July, 1998, about the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs, I was asked to give sworn testimony in a closed Court setting, in order to prepare for the arrests of the Real IRA Leadership by Warrant. The date for this closed Court clashed with the date for me to give evidence against Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy.
The Judge presiding at the closed Court hearing wanted an explanation as to why I was absent from the closed Court hearing, but did attend on another day, hence the letter from Jason McCue.
In the end, none of the above mattered as Bertie Ahern Directed the Garda Commissioner, not to arrest the Real IRA Leadership, prior to the Banbridge and Omagh Bombings.
On the 18 July, 1998, I was assaulted by six members of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA lead by Provisional IRA killer, Sean Clinton. One Sinn Fein/PIRA member would plead guilty to this assault and the threat to kill was left on the books by agreement with Vincent McKenna. The PIRA members had not done their homework, I had just won a silver medal in The UK Regional Martial Arts Championship.
When the Banbridge Bomb exploded 1 August, 1998, I phoned Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly, and asked him why Michael McKevitt and the bombers had not been arrested, he had no explanation other than the decision was taken in Dublin. I told him that I might have been better going to the media, and he said, “Jesus don’t do that”.
Following the Banbridge Bomb my cousin Seamus McKenna phoned me again and sounded disturbed about the fact that so many civilians had been injured. Seamus talked about the on-going plan to bomb Omagh, Seamus said that there had been a meeting between Michael McKevitt, Bernadette McKevitt Sands and Irish Government officials before Banbridge.
I am satisfied that the meeting between Irish Government officials and the Real IRA before Banbridge was as a direct result of my meeting at Áras an Uachtaráin 11 July, 1998 and my insistence that the Real IRA Leadership be arrested.
Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue TD while visiting me in Wheatfield Prison in early 2001, confirmed to me that he and Bertie Ahern had sent Dr Martin Mensergh to meet with The Real IRA following my tip-off, 11 July, 1998. According to John O'Donoghue TD the Government did not want to undermine Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness by arresting the sister of Bobby Sands, shortly after signing The Good Friday Agreement.
Between 2010-2011, I was close to Bernadette McKevitt-Sands and she confirmed that the meeting between Dr Martin Mensergh and the Real IRA was before Banbridge, and Mansergh had made it clear that the Government knew the Real IRA were planning a fresh bombing campaign.
Bernadette confirmed that in the aftermath of Omagh, Dr Mansergh meet with the Real IRA Leadership again and offered a full-amnesty in relation to Omagh if the Real IRA would disband. The Intel Report below was submitted by me, six-weeks before Paddy Dixon was blown up in Navan with a booby-trap bomb.
In 2011, Bernadette McKevitt-Sands, was working in Navan, Paddy Dixon and I were living in Navan, County Meath.
In the aftermath of the Omagh Bomb, I was able to prevent further Bomb attacks that were being directed by the Leadership of Real/Continuity IRA. My source for this information was Seamus McKenna and specifically related to the 500lb bomb destined for the residence of The Secretary of State in Northern Ireland, Peter Mandelson.
The difference between this bomb being stopped and the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs being allowed to run, was the fact that I provided the information about the Mandelson bomb to the RUC, not An Garda Siochana. As the bombers were being arrested, an RUC officer phoned me and thanked me for providing information that prevented the bombing.
The London bomb team including Queen's University student, Darren Mulholland, who was known to Seamus McKenna in Dundalk, was also arrested in 1998 based on my information. However, unlike the Banbridge and Omagh bombs, An Garda Siochana shared my information with MI5.
BBC Spotlight would later state that I had lied about students being recruited for a bombing campaign in England, even though the student bombers had been arrested with semtex before the program was aired. It may be the case that 'dark forces' had wanted the bomb attacks to go ahead, however, my going public had prevented the attacks.
I had also prevented attacks on leading members of Sinn Fein/PIRA in Belfast and bomb attacks in The Irish Republic, these were planned loyalist attacks, however, I cannot at this time name the informants, as one at least is still alive. Gerry Adams and Caoimhghin O'Caolain were only made aware of this aspect of my work in 2018.
In 2019, I meet Bertie Ahern at a function in north Dublin, and Bertie Ahern confirmed that he had directed Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, not to arrest the Real IRA Leadership prior to the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs, as he was taking his direction about the Real IRA from Phil Flynn, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Caoimhghin O'Caolain.
Bertie had chosen to send Dr Martin Mensergh to talk to the Real IRA. Bertie said that Phil Flynn, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Caoimhghin O'Caolain, described Bernadette-McKevitt-Sands in particular, as republican royalty, and her arrest with her husband Michael McKevitt could undermine Adams and McGuinness on their home ground where there was strong opposition to The Good Friday Agreement. This opposition, manifested in brutal attacks by Sinn Fein/PIRA on Kevin McQuillan in Belfast and Mickey Donnelly in Derry City.
Seamus McKenna said the Court House in Omagh was going to be bombed on Saturday the 15 of August, 1998, he was not happy about it, but what could he do.
I phoned Garda Detective, Liam Donnelly in Monaghan and updated him on what Seamus had said about the plan to bomb Omagh Court House on the 15 August, 1998. Garda Detective Liam Donnelly assured me that the bomb would be stopped and to say nothing to anyone else. I made a note in my 1998 diary, this diary has been seen by senior police officers. I have been a prolific diarist from 1980.
I then phoned renowned journalist Barrie Penrose with whom I was working on the, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy case, at that time and I put on record with Barrie everything that had happened over the previous weeks including the names I had given to the Irish authorities.
I also got a bus to Belfast, left my partner and children in Portrush, and briefed a couple of trusted journalists as I believed the truth about Omagh would never be told.
The Omagh Bomb became very personal for me, when it became clear that Avril Monaghan, Avril's mother, Mary, Avril's little daughter Maura and Avril's unborn twins were all murdered. Avril's husband Michael and his brother Dermot were school friends of mine, we had played GAA together at St Ciaran's Secondary school in Ballygawley and in our local clubs of Aughaloo and Augher.
My cousins Willie, Eugene and Dessie McKenna had a small pub in Augher close to Monaghan's pub and I had played darts in both bars many times over many years, this was a small rural community ripped apart in Omagh on the 15 August, 1998.
In 1998, in the immediate aftermath of the Omagh Bomb when I publicly criticised Bertie Ahern and John O’Donoghue for directing Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, not to arrest the Omagh Bombers pre-Omagh, both Ahern and O’Donoghue stated publicly that they could not direct the Garda Commissioner in his operational duties.
Unfortunately, by the time of the Omagh Bomb investigative journalism had all but died alongside the truth, nobody would investigate my claims, all of which have since been proven true.
In 1970, the head of Garda Special Branch had pleaded with Jack Lynch, not to order him to arrest the PIRA Army Council who were meeting in Cavan, the head of Garda Special Branch had told Jack Lynch that An Garda Siochana had agents at the table. Jack Lynch had in 1979 directed the Garda Commissioner of the day not to investigate Narrow Water, when 19 British soldiers had been murdered following sanction from Martin McGuinness.
It was this action by Lynch in 1979, that led certain Garda officers in Monaghan Town to form a coherent intelligence unit that would work closely with other agencies to exchange information on the Provisional IRA.
In 2021, former Minister for Justice in The Irish Republic, Michael McDowell SC would tell publicly how Bertie Ahern’s Government did in 2002 grant a De Facto Amnesty to Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA murderers. McDowell stated that Bertie Ahern’s Government directed the Garda Commissioner to focus Garda resources against the Real IRA, Continuity IRA and hands off the Provisional IRA.
In February 1999, it was clear that there was nobody interested in establishing the truth about the Omagh Bomb, and in order to place pressure on my Garda contacts, I used a public platform to name Michael McKevitt as the Leader of the Real IRA and responsible for the Omagh Bomb.
Many in the world of politics and media, used the excuse, that naming suspects could prejudice future trials, however, this was a convenient lie, as such trials would take place before professional judges and not a jury. The same reluctant commentators had no problem naming suspects in the past, however, this time it was different, the bombers had been sitting with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness only months earlier.
Immediately following my public disclosure An Garda Siochana, in the form of my Garda contacts, including Liam Donnelly, arrested Colm Murphy. However, while Colm Murphy would be charged in relation to the Omagh Bomb, he would be eventually acquitted as Liam Donnelly had tampered with Colm Murphy's statements. Bizarrely, the tampering exposed by a Garda Forensic expert.
Newly Discovered Facts
Declassified files in Northern Ireland in 2021, show that just months before the Omagh Bombing by the Real IRA in 1998, Sinn Féin/Provisional IRA privately played down the threat from dissident republicans and chided the British Government for how seriously they were being taken.
State Papers released in December, 2021 show that, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told British Prime Minister Tony Blair only two weeks before the Omagh bombing on 15 August 1998 that while the breakaway Real IRA had attracted hard core members it did not seem to be “overly active”.
In a telephone conversation between the two leaders on July 31, 1998, the day before Bandbridge Bomb exploded, Ahern shared intelligence on the new paramilitary group, composed of former Provisional IRA members who opposed the ceasefire and the peace process.
“Our security people, like yours, I think overstate the position,” he said. “Even when we check it out [the Real IRA] obviously have somewhere close to a hundred people.
“The quality of them I think are probably good enough in that they have an awful lot of the wrong people from our point of view. But they don’t seem to be overly active.”
He added: “Now there is a hard core that of course never stops, never has stopped, and they never will…as long as it doesn’t numerically get too big it means we can keep a good eye on it.
“There is always the worry that somewhere along the way somebody slips you but I think our guys feel fairly happy that they know they’re keeping a handle on it,” he told Mr Blair, who replied “Yeah, I see.”
A little over a fortnight later, on August 15, a car bombing carried out in Omagh, Co Tyrone, by the Real IRA killed 29 people, one of them a woman pregnant with twins, and injured 220.
The transcript of the conversation between the two leaders is contained in confidential records from 1991 to 1998 held by the Department of An Taoiseach which have now been transferred to the National Archive for public viewing.
Conspiracy to Silence
9 December, 2002, I, as a Common Informer (Common Law Term) issued criminals proceedings against Minister for Justice, John O’Donoghue TD on 9 December, 2002, stating that John O’Donoghue TD by his actions had Perverted the Course of Justice in DPP v Vincent McKenna. Documents released to me under a Freedom of Information request, proved that O'Donoghue had given direction to The DPP, James Hamilton.
This intervention by O'Donoghue was at all times about burying the truth about Omagh, as the intervention is made at a time that O'Donoghue's Department was lobbying on behalf of some of Ireland's most prolific sex offenders including serial child-rapist Patrick Naughton.
10 December, 2002: Detective Superintendent, Tadgh Foley, of Monaghan Garda Station, did seek and was granted a Section 42 Warrant for my arrest from Wheatfield Prison, accusing me in relation to the Omagh Bomb. I had prior knowledge of my arrest and I was warned to keep my mouth shut.
One of the Garda Detectives involved in this bogus arrest, told me that he could thank John O’Donoghue TD for the outing.
Following my release from Garda custody back into prison custody, I was on a second occasion taken from custody under a Section 42 Warrant in 2003 and simply warned to keep my mouth shut about the Omagh Bomb.
This second arrest took place after I had Notified, Garda Special Branch in Dublin, in April, 2003, that my cousin Seamus McKenna was making a “Big Mix” (Bomb). I did not deliver this message personally.
I asked a senior prison officer to deliver my message to Special Branch. I done this for two reasons, the first was to ensure that I had an independent witness and secondly, to show prison management that I was not the devil being portrayed in the media by pedophile journalists such as Tom Humphrey's and Patrick 'Paddy' Tierney, just to name two.
Seamus McKenna was, following this tip-off and subsequent Garda surveillance, arrested in possession of the largest quantity of explosives ever found in The Irish Republic in June 2003.
Seamus McKenna as sentenced to 6-years, as this was Seamus McKenna’s first terrorist conviction.
The fact that I had proven again that I had information from my cousin Seamus McKenna, gave credibility to my assertions that I had pre-warned An Garda Siochana and the Irish Government about the Real IRA plan to bomb Banbridge and Omagh in 1998.
October, 2003, Bertie Ahern would admit that he misled the Dail in 2002 over Omagh. I had provided information, that proved that Bertie Ahern was a liar about his pre-knowledge of Omagh.
Former, Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell SC, 2022.
Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, Easter Bank Holiday 2022, Fairy House Race Course, Irish Grand National.
Reasons Why The Omagh Bomb was Allowed to Run?
There are three possible reasons why The Omagh Bomb was allowed to run:
1. To protect an Agent who was being embedded into The Real IRA in 1998. David Rupert was an FBI/MI5 Agent and was paid $10,000,000 for infiltrating The Real IRA.
Sean O’Driscoll has written a book, The Accidental Spy, about David Rupert’s infiltration of both Continuity IRA and later The Real IRA. I have not read the book, but I have read a pre-view of the book published in The Belfast Telegraph, 12 January, 2019, and in that pre-view, there is an interesting passage:
“After the Omagh Bomb in 1998, his mission became all the more urgent. By now, the FBI had contacted MI5, who needed someone in the larger and deadlier Real IRA”.
This passage if taken at face value, could rule out the Omagh Bomb being allowed to run to facilitate Rupert’s infiltration of The Real IRA (see, also Note at bottom of Blog Post, Paddy Dixon).
2. To undermine the Sinn Fein/PIRA Leadership as the majority of ordinary citizens and international observers would not be able to morally distinguish between Sinn Fein/PIRA and The Real IRA.
3. To use the Real IRA bombing campaign as leverage to force Unionists into a power-sharing Executive with the Sinn Fein/PIRA ‘Doves’, this was certainly the view expressed to me by Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness pre-Omagh and these were the people advising Bertie Ahern.
The third option is the easiest to sustain, and is the option that is easily supported by the evidence.
The third option is the easiest to sustain, and is the option that is easily supported by the evidence. Bertie Ahern was in 1998 already at the centre of a Political Corruption Scandal that would be proven by The Mahon Tribunal. Bertie Ahern needed the cloak of delivering 'peace' in Northern Ireland to regain some political value within Fianna Fail and the population in general.
Bertie Ahern was taking his advice about Northern Ireland from former Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Vice-President, Phil Flynn. Phil had resigned as Vice-President of Sinn Fein/PIRA at the Sinn Fein/PIRA, Ard Fheis in 1984, but as he delivered his resignation speech at the Ard Fheis he swore publicly, in blood, to always remain available to Sinn Fein/PIRA. Phil Flynn would be named as being key to the money-laundering operation that followed the Northern Bank Robbery in 2004.
It would not be until December, 2019, that I would get an opportunity to ask Bertie Ahern why he had directed Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, not to arrest Michael McKevitt and the Omagh Bomb Team before the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs in 1998, and rather chose to send his advisor Martin Mansergh for tea and biscuits with Michael McKevitt and the Omagh Bomb Team.
In December, 2019, I meet Bertie Ahern in north Dublin, I asked Bertie why he had Directed Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, not to arrest Michael McKevitt and the Omagh Bomb Team before Banbridge and Omagh. Bertie said, Phil Flynn, Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams and Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Runner for PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna) advised him not to arrest McKevitt and the would-be Bombers for fears such arrests could undermine Adams and McGuinness.
If Bertie Ahern had directed Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne to arrest Michael McKevitt and his bomb team prior to Omagh, this could have been done on the 'Belief' evidence of a Garda Superintendent. If McKevitt and his bomb team had been taken out of circulation neither the Banbridge nor the Omagh Bomb would have happened.
Bertie Ahern lied to Dail Eireann in 2002 about his knowledge of The Real IRA pre-Omagh:
Further into this Blog-post you will read how I was arrested in relation to the Omagh Bomb and on a second occasion kidnapped. As a result of both these perversions of our criminal justice system, Bertie Ahern came under intense pressure from Enda Kenny TD to tell the Truth about his role in the chronology of events that led to the slaughter of thirty-one innocent men, women and children at Omagh.
Nov 2002 - https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30075592.html
Oct 2003 - https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ahern-admits-real-ira-talks-25926350.html
Notes: In 1991, the Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats program for government was reviewed. Bertie Ahern was a key player in these talks yet again. His involvement prompted Gun-runner, Charles Haughey to remark of Ahern:
“He's the most skillful, the most devious, the most cunning of them all”.
During 1993, while he was Finance Minister, Ahern accepted payments of IR £39,000 from various businessmen, these were corrupt payments and confirmed as such for this author by Paddy the Plaster, who would appear before The Mahon Tribunal.
In July, 1997, Charles Haughey gave evidence to the McCracken Tribunal on corruption confirming that he had received IR£1.3 million (€1.7 million) in gifts from businessman Ben Dunne, which he had previously denied. This damaged Haughey's reputation beyond repair.
Earlier allegations resurfaced about Ahern's Foreign Minister, Ray Burke. Burke eventually admitted to receiving IR£30,000 (€38,000) in a corrupt payment and chose to resign. Arising from those two matters, the government established the Moriarty Tribunal and the Flood Tribunal.
Speaking at the 1916 Easter Rising commemoration at Arbour Hill in Dublin, in 1998, Ahern said:
“The British Government are effectively out of the equation and neither the British parliament nor people have any legal right under this agreement to impede the achievement of Irish unity if it had the consent of the people North and South...Our nation is and always will be a 32-county nation. Antrim and Down are, and will remain, as much a part of Ireland as any southern county”.
Background
Every aspect of this blog post has been known to the authorities for years, much of it taken from Court Transcripts or 'evidence' presented or submitted for consideration. There are those who want the Truth buried, as they must live a lie each day to justify their pathetic existence. However, if anyone has any issue with anything posted here they may DM on my Twitter Account and I will adjust if warranted.
Sinn Fein/PIRA stated publicly in 2000 that Vincent McKenna was never a member of, or involved with Sinn Fein/PIRA. The truth which is often elusive to Sinn Fein/PIRA Murderers, Rapists, Paedophiles and Informers, is somewhat different as you would expect.
Such statements about Vincent McKenna were usually issued by RUC Informers such as Owen Smyth in Monaghan Town, Dennis Donaldson in Belfast and indeed Liam Adams who would later die in prison while serving 15 years for raping his 4-year-old daughter. Liam Adams had been protected by Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness after Liam admitted raping 4-year-old Aine.
Martin McGuinness was on a TV panel with Robert McCartney QC, McGuinness believed that a member of the audience was going to ask him about allegations of child abuse. McGuinness was pro-active and admitted abusing a female child, he explained the abuse away by saying that such matters were not viewed in the same light back then as in the 1990s.
In 2000, one of Ireland's most prolific paedophiles, Michael Feeney, was before Monaghan Circuit Court charged with the sexual assault, including bondage, of twelve children, Feeney was armed with a Character Reference from Northern Ireland's Education Minister, Martin McGuinness. Michael Feeney was Headmaster of Ballybay National School where he raped the children. One victim told the Court, it would be easier to count the children Feeney did not sexually assault, than the ones he did. McGuinness and Feeney knew each other through the GAA.
Also worth noting that a Sinn Fein/PIRA member (JD) who ran a high profile campaign against Vincent McKenna, upon Vincent McKenna's release from prison, would a short time later be sentenced to 11 years in prison for Raping his children, making videos of those rapes and sharing them on Paedophile websites. The Sunday World, Irish Star and The Sun, who had given (JD) a platform against Vincent McKenna, had nothing to say when their hero (JD) was convicted of child rape.
However, it must be remembered that Paedophiles are as prevalent within Journalism as they are any other walk of life, Irish Times, Journalist, Tom Humphreys was an out-spoken critic of the Catholic Church and Paedophile Priests, until Tom himself pleaded guilty to Raping children.
It is worth noting that many who joined with Vincent McKenna in his work are now in key positions across the Island of Ireland and beyond.
Letter: 2nd October 1997, from Secretary of State, Mo Mowlam to Vincent McKenna: This letter is 8 Days before PIRA Army Convention in Falcarragh, County Donegal:
“Thank you for all your hard work, an agreement is much closer now due to your efforts, I wish you, Gerry and Martin well for the 10th”. NIO Ref: McKenna/BB
I was not a delegate for the 1997 PIRA Convention in Donegal, I was a driver for a senior member of The PIRA. While we waited for others, I asked him to explain how The Convention would work and the possible outcomes.
Martin McGuinness wanted to surrender The PIRA as he wanted to please his MI6 Masters, who had groomed him over decades, the evidence that I have gathered show McGuinness being an Agent for MI6 since 1986, however, others have suggested he was an Agent from the 1970s.
I wanted The PIRA surrendered, because I had believed for a very long time that they were nothing more than criminals masquerading as Freedom Fighters. I believed that if we could surrender The PIRA, then Sinn Fein could play a role in the democratic processes of the Island of Ireland.
Following the PIRA Convention in Oct 1997, which was attended by Kevin McKenna, Hennessy McKenna (south Derry), Brendan McKenna (south Derry) Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy, Michael McKevitt, Bernadette McKevitt, Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Pat Doherty, Martin Ferris, Pat Treanor, Joe Cahill and so forth, Michael McKevitt, Seamus McGrane and a handful of others founded The Real IRA in a shed outside Oldcastle in County Meath.
We now know, with the exposure of Martin McGuinness, Dennis Donaldson, Freddie Scappaticci, Roy McShane, Owen Smyth and many others, that The PIRA Army Convention was attended by more British Agents and Informers than it was by actual PIRA members. The level of infiltration was better understood following the raid on Castlereagh RUC station by Bobby Storey.
On the 5 of November, 1997, I meet with leading members of The PIRA in Belfast and Mid-Ulster to establish how much support there was for Michael McKevitt and what would become The Real IRA. It was clear that Mid-Ulster was going to be a problem. I was still the runner between Martin McGuinness and PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna.
It is fair to say that by November 1997, I had a very clear view of where The Real IRA were going to draw their support. My cousin Seamus McKenna who was based in County Louth, and who had extreme loyalty to me as I had taken care of his brother Sean McKenna, when Sean was released from Long Kesh, told me that the PIRA were allowing McKevitt to empty PIRA arms dumps.
When Seamus McKenna told me that The PIRA leadership, namely Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy, Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness were allowing McKevitt to empty PIRA Arms Dumps, I went immediately to Monaghan and asked Kevin McKenna if he was allowing McKevitt to empty PIRA Arms Dumps.
Kevin McKenna asked me to drive him to County Meath, where we meet with Michael McKevitt and Seamus McGrane in a shed outside Oldcastle. Kevin McKenna asked Michael and Seamus to give Adams an opportunity to deliver and if he did not it would not be difficult to go back to full-scale attacks. Michael and Seamus made it clear that they were setting up their own organisation.
When Kevin and I left the meeting with Michael and Seamus, I believe they meet others at a another shed near-by and formed the Real IRA. I asked Kevin, what he intended doing about Michael McKevitt taking Provisional IRA explosives, weapons and ammunition to which he replied:
“The odd bomb going off here and there will keep Unionists focused on working with the ‘Doves’”.
Following this admission by Kevin McKenna, which was confirmed by Martin McGuinness, I went to war against Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA due to their duplicity, and this war is set out below.
The War on Duplicity
I decided to take Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA to task on their adopted tactic of manufacturing opposition to Loyal Order parades. I carried out a Survey on the Ormeau Road, February, 1998, to establish the true feelings of local residents in relation to Loyal Order parades.
This extensive survey found that 80% of Nationalists would accept Loyal Order parades if certain minimal conditions were in place. The survey also exposed the fact that Sinn Fein/PIRA did not represent the views of the local population in relation to Loyal Order parades.
Following the widely publicised findings of the survey, Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA were fully exposed for manufacturing sectarian tensions that were resulting in extreme violence and murder. I immediately came under sustained attack by Sinn Fein/PIRA personnel, with whom, only a few weeks earlier, I was sharing the same pot of tea.
I had absolutely no contact, at this time, with the Labour Party and Conservative Party MPs who raised the threats against me in Westminster, the threat against me was based on RUC Intelligence received from their Agents and Informers within the PIRA in Belfast. Threats Raised at Westminister 1998
I told my ex-wife that I had a job to do and I could not stop as people were going to die, I apologised for the fact that she was being put under pressure, but I told her it would blow over. My ex-wife had previously been harassed in 1994 by a member of Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan (that member being an Informer, wife beater and Pedophile) however, I had contacted Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin in 1994 and that threat had been addressed.
This threat in 1994, had come about after my 'peace run' from Belfast to the Sinn Fein/PIRA Ard Fheis in Dublin, which was part of the process of creating a public conversation about peace, this would not have been understood by Sinn Fein/PIRA foot-soldiers who had no clue that the PIRA were about to surrender.
In 1995, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin contacted me to ask if I would vote for him as my name was still on the electoral register in Monaghan. I travelled to Monaghan at my own expense and voted for Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and I acknowledged his brother Fintan when I came out of the Polling Station at Saint Louis Convent. In 1998, I was not going to ask
As Sinn Fein/PIRA continued with their campaign against me, I gave an exclusive front-page interview to Liam Clarke, Sunday Times, in which I explained the Policy of Ethnic Cleansing being pursued by Sinn Fein/PIRA since 1986. At this point in 1998, the newly elected PIRA Chief of Staff, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy had brought a Civil Action against The Sunday Times for describing him as Chief of Staff.
My interview with The Sunday Times, simply covered information that was already in the public domain, however, as I had been associated with the most senior members of Sinn Fein/PIRA including Kevin McKenna, Martin McGuinness, Joe Cahill, Jim Lynagh, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and so forth, my interview with Liam Clarke was viewed as treachery.
Following my interview with The Sunday Times, conversations with my ex-wife became strained, she said she was being put under extreme pressure by Dr Marian Smyth and Owen Smyth. I continued to travel to Monaghan Town each week to collect my children, and I told my ex-wife that I had to do my work or people would die.
This collaboration between my ex-wife and Blackmailer, Carmel Mulhall, would be the planned catalyst to force the alleged complainant in DPP v Vincent McKenna to make a non-descript complaint of abuse. This non-descript complaint would then be used in a Blackmail attempt.
Why Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA manufactured opposition to Loyal Order Parades
The tactics adopted such re-opening border roads, release of prisoners and de-militarisation, happened or begun to happen, at a much faster pace than anticipated. This fast pace of change meant that the Sinn Fein/PIRA Leadership needed a tactic with some longevity, and one that would fit with the long-term Policy of Ethnic Cleansing.
The decision was taken to manufacture opposition to Loyal Order Parades across Northern Ireland, this tactic would serve several purposes, it would be a tactic with longevity, it would occupy the rank and file and it could be used in various areas to drive out remaining Protestant communities. In places such as the Ormeau Road, the last vestiges of Protestantism such as the Cricket Club would be burned down by Sinn Fein/PIRA.
As early as 1995 I had argued, within Sinn Fein/PIRA, against adopting this tactic, as I believed that it would simply cause opposition to the ‘peace-process’ and fill the ranks of those who may wish to undermine the push for ‘peace’. I even argued that such a tactic with such longevity would play into the British narrative that Northern Ireland was simply a conflict between two sectarian tribes, a narrative that Sinn Fein/PIRA had rejected for decades.
The tactic was adopted, Sinn Fein/PIRA personnel, mainly former PIRA prisoners, were selected to lead the campaign in various geographical locations. Gerry Adams championed the tactic in a speech in 1996 in Athboy in County Meath, a speech that was heard by only Sinn Fein/PIRA supporters and their proxies in the media.
Even when it was clear that opposition to Loyal Order parades was being manufactured and was not organic, journalists who knew that it was a Sinn Fein/PIRA tactic, pointed at the alleged intransigence of the Loyal Orders.
The Loyal Orders were an easy target for propaganda, the parades issue was quickly high-jacked by extremists such as The Loyalist Volunteer Force, and moderate voices within the Loyal Orders were drowned out. Sinn Fein/PIRA once again presented themselves as the victims in a modern conflict, that they had again manufactured.
As Gerry Adams and the Leaders of Sinn Fein/PIRA sat comfortably behind the bulletproof glass in their homes, which was provided for them by The British Government, innocent Catholics such as Michael McGoldrick were murdered as they done an honest day’s work.
Michael had been a friend and fellow mature student at Queens and we had often had a cup of tea together, he simply wanted a better life for his family and he had no time for any violent group.
The Omagh Bomb
As The Real IRA became organised and structures were put in place, plans emerged for a bombing campaign, the core function of that bombing campaign was to undermine Gerry Adams and his apparent enthusiasm to surrender The Provisional IRA.
While I had gone to war against Sinn Fein/PIRA because of their duplicity, I also wanted to do everything possible to keep the 'peace process' moving forward, in the hope that those within that process could eventually achieve the surrender of The Provisional IRA.
In July 1998, my cousin Seamus McKenna made me aware of The Real IRA plan to bomb Banbridge and Omagh, these disclosures were made in general conversation, rather than any attempt by Seamus to Inform on his comrades.
These disclosures by Seamus, were passed onto a Garda Detective in Monaghan and lead to a high level security meeting at Aras an Uachtarain (home of The Irish President) on the weekend of 10th July 1998, or to be more precise, on the night that the three Quinn Children were Murdered in Ballymoney.
On the night of the 11th July, 1998, I was personally welcomed by Mary McAleese. The security meeting that I facilitated and participated in on that night, was a side-bar to the evening of entertainment provided by Mary McAleese, the entertainment was used as cover for the security meeting.
Following my attendance at Aras an Uachtarain on the 11th night 1998, I was confident that both the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs could be stopped. In the immediate aftermath of The Omagh Bomb I publicly named the Bombers, I done this as I believed the Truth would never be told about Omagh and so that the public could see that The Real IRA were simply Sinn Fein/PIRA Proxies.
Following the two bomb attacks certain Gardai became hostile towards me, this included the Garda Detective to whom I had disclosed Real IRA plans to bomb Banbridge and Omagh. I was angry, the wife, daughter and unborn twins of my school friend Michael Monaghan had been Murdered in Omagh.
Berty Ahern mislead Dail Eireann, when asked if he had directed his Special Advisor, Dr Martin Mansergh to meet with The Real IRA prior to the Omagh Bomb in 1998, this meeting was directed after the Government had been advised of an imminent bombing campaign, Bandbridge and Omagh.
"Did have contact with the 32-County Sovereignty Movement in 1998, some weeks before the Omagh atrocity and with a view to persuading the Real IRA to cease their activities".
"Regrettably the Real IRA did not heed this message and, indeed, subsequently resumed their activities," he said. He reiterated that there was "no 'deal' done by the Government either directly or indirectly" with the Real IRA in return for a ceasefire or in seeking their disbandment.
This attitude, to the Truth, by Berty Ahern, is in stark contrast to the findings of The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), in relation to dealing other Real IRA actions.
Mr Ronan, MacLochlainn, a member of The Real IRA, was killed during an attempted armed robbery of a Securicor van in Ashford, Co Wicklow in May 1998.
"This would have encouraged recognition by its members of the need for accountability and real independence in an investigation," the report says, in addition to possibly prompting better records and systems being maintained, which "ensured that full and appropriate disclosure was made by the organisation and thereby minimised the potential for theories of wrongdoing to fester".
"These measures could have saved the family of Mr MacLochlainn the long ordeal of seeking answers that this process became," the report said.
The Real IRA called a ‘cease-fire’ in September 1998 to consider Ahern’s offer, but concluded that the offer had only been made as the security forces and members of The Irish Government had prior knowledge of The Real IRA plan to bomb Omagh.
Sinn Féin is holding to its position that it will not encourage republicans to provide information to either An Garda Siochána or the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) on who was responsible for the Omagh bombing four years ago (Gerry Moriarty, Irish Times, Fri, Aug 16, 2002).
On 12 January, 1999, I was arrested in Monaghan on the basis that allegations of sexual abuse had been made against me on the 8th January, 1999, worth noting that on the 8th January 1999 a leading member of The UFF told Hugh Jordon of The Sunday World he had just been offered £5,000 to murder me and use UFF Code-word to claim the murder, story published 10th January, 1999.
NOTE: The Murder Plot: Sources independent of me, show the following: On the 8th of January, 1999, the alleged victim made a complaint to Gardai in Monaghan, we also know that there was communication between Sinn Fein/PIRA and corrupt Gardai. We know that two members of Sinn Fein/PIRA offered a senior member of The UFF £5,000 on the same day to murder me and use UFF code-word to claim responsibility.
We know that Sinn Fein/PIRA knew that I was going to be arrested on the 12th January, 1999, when I was making an application before The Family Court in Monaghan in relation to my children. Even before my arrest, Sinn Fein/PIRA in Belfast had begun to paint wall murals describing me as a Pedophile and MI6 Agent, we now know that those directing this activity were Paedophiles and Informers. Before I entered The Family Court in Monaghan, I was told by a member of Sinn Fein/PIRA that I was going to be arrested after the hearing.
In the full glare of my high-profile arrest, and in the shadow of fifty wall murals across Belfast, I was to be murdered by The UFF and a UFF code word would be used to claim my murder. However, this murder bid was thwarted when a leading member of The UFF spoke to Hugh Jordon and I was consequently informed by The RUC.
My detention on 12/13 January, 1999, was not recorded, although it was a statutory requirement, no notes were taken and I was released without terms or conditions after 20 Hours. The Garda Detective who had prior warning of The Banbridge and Omagh Bombs facilitated and participated in my detention.
Irish Independent, 16th January, 1999: “Gardai believe the heavy machineguns found in a field in Monaghan on Thursday are part of the same Provisional IRA arsenal discovered last October”.
Bizarrely, while detained in Monaghan in January 1999, Gardai tried to recruit me as an Agent to work on their behalf in Northern Ireland, here is the name and address where I was supposed to send reports about Unionists/Loyalists, Sinn Fein/PIRA and 'Dissident Republicans'. This is not the Detective who had prior knowledge of Omagh.
When I returned to Belfast after my detention in Monaghan in January, 1999, I exposed the attempt by An Garda Siochana to recruit me, I gave all the details including the contact name and address to Journalist Nell McCafferty. Nell McCafferty phoned the Garda Detective and he admitted that he had given me his phone number, name and address to send him reports. It is no secret that certain Gardai based in Monaghan Town could not be trusted, and this was summed up at The Smithwick Tribunal by Chief Supt, Tom Curran when he said he would not disclose the name of an Informant to the Garda Intelligence Collator in Monaghan.
It is worth noting, that the car used for the Omagh Bomb, seen here in the picture, was stolen a few yards from the home of this Garda Detective, now, I know we live on a small island, but this is something of note.
When I returned to Belfast, 13 January, 1999, over fifty wall murals had been painted by Sinn Fein/PIRA across the city, describing me as a Pedophile and MI6 Agent, bizarrely those Sinn Fein/PIRA members who directed this activity against me, have all since been exposed as Pedophiles and British Agents/Informers.
NOTE: The alleged victim in the case against me would allege that I had sent a relative to her with pictures of the wall murals and asking her to withdraw her allegations, at no time did I have any knowledge of anyone approaching her in such a fashion, if I had wanted the allegations withdrawn, I would simply have taken up the offer from Sinn Fein/PIRA, including Martin McGuinness.
After my release from Garda custody, I was now determined to expose the Truth about the Omagh Bomb, and it was with this intention that I attended The UKUP Conference in February, 1999 and named those responsible for the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs in the full glare of the cameras. This high profile exposure of The Omagh Bombers forced Gardai to arrest and charge Colm Murphy on the 21st February, 1999.
However, the case against Murphy collapsed and a retrial was ordered, again the second trial collapsed. At the core of the failure of Murphy's two trials, was the Garda Detective who had prior knowledge of Omagh, the same Garda Detective who facilitated and participated in my detention 12 January, 1999.
A Garda Inspector in Monaghan, acting as a proxy for dark-forces, began to issue negative press briefings about me to pro-Sinn Fein/PIRA Journalists, while I had never been questioned about sexual abuse allegations in Monaghan during my detention in January 1999 on the basis of such allegations, those allegations now took on new meaning for rogue Garda Officers.
I was not the only person to be subject to to the activities of dark-forces who often worked to their own narrow agenda rather than seeing the bigger picture. Michael Gallagher, who has lead the campaign for Justice for the Omagh Victims and their Families was also the subject of a smear campaign.
Following my exposure of The Omagh Bombers and my critique of the failure of The Irish authorities to take decisive action, Garda Inspector Joseph Sullivan (later promoted to Superintendent) continued to brief the media negatively about me, in order to ensure that if charges were brought against me for alleged sexual assault I could not get a fair hearing and would be silenced by the negative publicity he was generating.
"Asked if the Garda investigators expect formal charges to be directed by the DPP, Inspector Sullivan told the Irish Voice, 'we are confident that there will be a prosecution and we are confident that we will secure convictions against this suspect'." (https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1999/10/vmk-o20.html)
If these abuses being directed against me by corrupt Gardai, were directed against a member of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA, the case would never see the inside of a court room. Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA did offer me the opportunity to walk away from this case, in return for my silence, however, I declined those offers.
Garda Inspector, Joseph Sullivan, nicknamed, 'Provo Cop' by PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna, would continue to work for dark-forces when he perjured himself and perverted the course of Justice when he lied on Oath in the case of DPP v Vincent McKenna. Those lies now fully exposed in a tape recording, in which Garda Inspector, Simon O'Connor of The Garda Press Office, states that Sullivan admitted to him, what Sullivan had denied under Oath.
While rogue Gardai in Monaghan continued to abuse my Legal and Constitutional Rights, I continued to do the job that they were failing to do. I continued to work with members of An Garda Siochana who were prepared to place the public and national interest before any selfish or corrupt motivation. My work was saving lives, while the actions of corrupt Gardai in Monaghan was placing many lives at risk.
Following the attempt by The NIO to buy me off with £200K, the Gardai attempt to recruit me and a relentless campaign of abuse by Sinn Fein/PIRA and their Proxies in the media, I worked with CBS 60 Minutes to produce a documentary that would impact seriously on Sinn Fein/PIRA and their cheer-leaders in America.
On Sunday 14th March, 1999, the CBS 60 Minute Documentary presented by world renowned broadcaster and journalist Mike Wallace was watched by 80,000,000 Viewers, due to the fallout from the CBS 60 Minutes exposure of Sinn Fein/PIRA many Sinn Fein/PIRA fund raising functions in America on Saint Patrick's Day were cancelled.
It is estimated by The FBI that the CBS 60 Minutes Documentary and its repeats cost Sinn Fein/PIRA Millions of Dollars. As an added bonus, American President, Bill Clinton had to quickly change his St Patrick's Day speech 1999 to include a heavy condemnation of on going Sinn Fein/PIRA Human Rights violations.
It was at this time that I gave an interview to Toby Harnden for his book, Bandit Country (Hodder, 1999) in which I explained that Sinn Fein/PIRA had small numbers of Gardai working for them. I explained how certain Gardai in Dundalk had colluded in the Murders of Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan.
My disclosures about minimal Garda collusion with Sinn Fein/PIRA in the border counties lead to denials of such collusion by Minister for Justice, John O’Donoghue TD and Sinn Fein/PIRA. My assertions about collusion were exonerated by The Smithwick Tribunal.
It is worth noting, that even as The Smithwick Tribunal was making finds of collusion, Minister for Justice, John O’Donoghue remained in denial of such collusion. Bizarrely, one of the people John O’Donoghue had meet with in relation to the campaign against me, was the person who gave Sinn Fein/PIRA access to the Telephone Exchange in Dundalk so that Sinn Fein/PIRA could monitor phone calls.
By mid-1999 it was clear that the British Government and elements of the Irish Government, namely corrupt and self-serving politicians such as Berty Ahern and John O'Donoghue were prepared to turn a blind eye to on going Murders and Rapes being committed by Sinn Fein/PIRA. Blair and Ahern had created a 'peace' narrative that existed in their heads only, and had not materialised for the long suffering people of Northern Ireland.
The majority of political commentators had adopted a, hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil, policy. Investigative journalism had become redundant in the 'new' political dispensation. However, as so often happens in Northern Ireland, an opportunity to expose the rot presented itself, in a cowardly murder.
On the 30 July, 1999, a 22 year-old Catholic lad was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by a Sinn Fein/PIRA gang which was lead by an RUC Informer, this individual along with other members of the gang were also known rapists within Sinn Fein/PIRA.
Following the murder of Charles Bennett, word quickly spread that it was Sinn Fein/PIRA who had murdered Charles. Due to the number of high level Agents and Informers within Sinn Fein/PIRA right across Belfast it did not take The RUC long to identify the murderers.
Speculation now mounted as to whether Secretary of State, Mo Mowlam, who referred to Martin McGuinness as "Babe" would declare the murder of Charles Bennett as a breach of The PIRA 'cease-fire'. Mowlam tried to avoid the question of the 'status' of the PIRA 'cease-fire' by stating that it was a matter for her Chief Security Advisor, Sir Ronnie Flanaghan to determine who murdered Charles Bennett.
It so happened that Sir Ronnie Flanaghan was going to be on a Television program with a group of students, and those students would be allowed to ask Sir Ronnie about policing in the 'new' political dispensation.
I received a call from a young friend, whom I had known at Queens University, he said he was placing some students on the Television show that Sir Ronnie was going to appear on. My friend asked me if I had any particular question I wanted to ask Sir Ronnie. I told him, to get one of the students to ask Sir Ronnie, who murdered Charles Bennett.
Sir Ronnie Flanaghan answered the question very clearly, The PIRA murdered Charles Bennett, no question about it. The reason why Sir Ronnie was so certain about the identity of the murderers would become much clearer when Bobby Storey raided Castlereagh RUC Station in 2002 and stole files containing the names of dozens of Sinn Fein/PIRA Agents and Informers.
On a Friday afternoon, I received a call from a journalist, who said that NIO had just told him off the record that the murder of Charles Bennett was being viewed as "Internal House-keeping" and not a breach of The PIRA 'cease-fire'.
I phoned The NIO and recorded the call, below, a record of the call and transcript. The tape recording was given to BBC Newsnight who flew over from England specifically to record the story. The BBC Newsnight exposure effectively finished Mo Mowlam's position as Secretary of State, a severe body blow for Sinn Fein/PIRA.
While Tony Blair, Sinn Fein/PIRA and other duplicitist mud-larks rallied around Mowlam, I quickly drove the final nail into Mowlam's political coffin.
David Rupert’s decision to become the Prosecution’s star witness against Michael McKevitt, followed his final trip to Ireland as an undercover agent in October 2000.
Conspiracy to Silence
In June 2000, while the Applicant was under sustained attack by Sinn Fein/PIRA for his exposing their inner secrets, the Applicant was contacted by Garda Special Branch Officer, Liam Donnelly. Liam Donnelly asked the Applicant if he would travel to Monaghan Town for a meeting. The Applicant had just returned from Germany having prevented the importation of commercial explosives, weapons and ammunition to the Real IRA, the Applicant had also prevented the murder of the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Peter Mandelson and his staff, the bomb was stopped a short distance from Mandelson’s residence. The Applicant was reluctant to meet with Liam Donnelly, however, Liam Donnelly sounded like he was under pressure and so the Applicant agreed.
Liam Donnelly told the Applicant to book into the Swan Lake Hotel, North Road, Monaghan Town, as it was owned by Garda Detective, Peter Driver and the Applicant would be safe there. The Applicant booked a room in the Swan Lake Hotel as instructed and waited in his room to be contacted. When Liam Donnelly knocked on the Applicant’s door, the Applicant opened the door expecting to see Liam Donnelly only. However, Liam Donnelly was accompanied by a senior Garda Officer from Garda Headquarters and a senior Official from the Office of An Taoisigh and both were introduced to the Applicant by Liam Donnelly.
Liam Donnelly, the senior Garda Officer and the senior Official told the Applicant that the charges against him for sexual assault, would disappear if the Applicant agreed to sign a document declaring that he had not given An Garda Siochana and The Government any pre-warning about the Banbridge and Omagh Bombs. The Applicant made his position very clear; the Applicant would rather die on his feet than live on his knees. When it finally became clear that the Applicant would not sign the document presented by the senior Official, the meeting ended.
Following sentencing in Cavan Circuit Court, I was in handcuffs and shackles and I was attacked by a number of Sinn Fein/PIRA members, two of whom had been moved out of Monaghan Town by The Provisional IRA as they had admitted Raping Children, such was the perverse nature of the campaign against me.
The Director of Public Prosecutions Directed a charge of assault against one individual, however, a corrupt Garda Inspector ensured that this individual was never brought before the Court. The letter below from Superintendent O'Connor explains that The DPP has directed assault charges against one person in relation to the assault at Cavan Circuit Court.
The then Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue TD who had publicly criticised my high profile campaign against Sinn Fein/PIRA's continued Murder and Rape, had become involved in the case against me both publicly and privately in order to ensure that I was buried and silenced. The Irish Government did not want continued Sinn Fein/PIRA Murders and Rapes highlighted.
O'Donoghue had no interest in the allegations against me, he wanted to bury me as he also knew about the meeting at Aras an Uachtarain on the 11th July, 1998.
O'Donoghue instructed the DPP, Mr James Hamilton, by Letter to bury me. I discovered this letter under a Freedom of Information request and O'Donoghue moved quickly to change the FOI legislation, which was passed without question by Dail Eireann.
O'Donoghue's continued commentary about me in the media resulted in my person being subject in prison to violent assault including being stabbed in the head and arm. O'Donoghue was aware of the harm being done to me but he continued.
I then issued Criminal proceedings against Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue TD in The District Court in Dublin, I sought to have O'Donoghue charged with Perverting the Course of Justice, due to his Criminal interference in my case. I was representing myself in the District Court, O'Donoghue was represented by senior Counsel who are now High Court Judges.
While I was able to show The District Court the Freedom of Information documents disclosed, including the draft letter from O'Donoghue to The DPP, The District Court Judge refused to issue an Order of Disclosure in relation to the actual letter received by The DPP, and he ruled that without the letter received by The DPP, he would not issue a summons.
The DPP had admitted that they had received the unlawful letter but they would not disclose it, the Judge would not order disclosure of the letter, and he then ruled that without the letter received by The DPP, he would not issue the summons against O'Donoghue. This bizarre case highlighting yet again the dangerous relationship between corrupt Politicians and some within the Judiciary.
O'Donoghue signed Transfer orders for members of The Real IRA to be moved to the non-political prison in which I was being held. Those Real IRA prisoners told me that 'Gardai' involved in their transfer had reminded them that I had named The Real IRA, Omagh Bombers. Dissident republicans transferred to the prison in which I was being held realised that they were being used and did not engage in violence against me, in fact we all trained together in the prison gym.
Eventually, it became clear that I would not be silenced or go on lock-up due to the vitriol and violence being directed at me and so dark-forces (facilitated by same Garda Detective in Monaghan) made their boldest move so far, I was arrested from prison in relation to The Omagh Bomb. I was returned to prison after being questioned at Lucan Garda Station for several hours, the basic tenant of that questioning was to keep my mouth shut.
Bizarrely, I would on a second occasion be taken from prison, allegedly arrested in relation to The Omagh Bomb, this according to Gardai many years later was not a lawful arrest, no record exists and appears to have been a kidnapping to warn me to keep my mouth shut.
Plan to Murder
Following my kidnapping from prison by rogue Gardai, it was clear that I was not going to be silent, and as my release date came ever closer, corrupt Politicians and Gardai were anxious. Three weeks before my release, there was a final attempt on my life. This was an organised attempt and one that took some planning and co-operation.
I was returning from a visit, everything appeared normal, I was escorted from the visiting area by a prison officer that I did not know. Prison officers were constantly transferring between prisons and so it was not unusual to see new faces.
When I stepped through the final security gate on the long corridor that led to my landing, I heard the gate close behind me, normally the prison officer closes the gate and walks in front of the prisoner to his landing. When the security gate had been closed, I simply looked ahead and waited for the prison officer to walk past me.
When I looked around, the prison officer was gone. I had probably one-hundred feet to walk to my landing and so I proceeded alone. This all felt very eery, simply not right, as I walked along the corridor, I could see that the main security door to another landing was open, but no sign of any prison officer.
Then five prisoners, clearly armed with brand new Stanley blades lined out across the corridor to block my path. I knew that if my assailants got me down on the ground I would be sliced and probably murdered.
I decided to take out the biggest lad, I ran straight at the biggest lad, I hit him so hard that my fist deflected off his face and hit the rough plaster wall behind him, I lost the knuckle on my index finger on my right hand. The prisoner that I had punched was half unconscious, I held him up and used his as a shield, there was blood everywhere, I kept kicking and punching until prison officers eventually arrived.
While the majority of prison officers were professional, there were always prison officers for hire, and if a handful of rogue officers landed the same shift together prisoners could die and sometimes did. Contracts on individuals is as common in prison as it is on the street. Before I was released, one of the five prisoners who had attacked me, told me they had been paid in heroin to attack me.
Background and Key Milestones
The Good Friday Agreement
PIRA Cease-fire, August 1994
The Real IRA
Real IRA as Proxie
The Omagh Bomb
Conclusion
Initially, I had not included Monaghan based Garda Informer, Paddy Dixon in this post, mainly because I find much of what has been said about him to be difficult to comprehend. Articles written in the early 2000s said he had been placed on the Witness Protection Program and living on the Continent.
Yet, Paddy was to be found living openly in Navan in County Meath in 2011, a long-established Sinn Fein/PIRA base, built up over many years by Joe O’Reilly, with many Real IRA living within a stone’s throw of Navan.
In fact, Paddy could have continued to live quietly in Navan if his location had not been traded by members of Sinn Fein/PIRA with the Real IRA so that Gerry Adams could have a bump free run for Arthur Morgan’s seat in County Louth, where Gerry had been parachuted in for the 2011 General Election. There was never any threat against Gerry from his old comrade Bernadette McKevitt-Sands, however, any type of unpleasantness could cost much needed votes.
Paddy Dixon was a car thief, who we are told began working as an informer for An Garda Siochana in 1992 when he would steal cars to order for The PIRA.
We are then told that Paddy Dixon graduated to The Real IRA in 1998, and was the most important police informer inside the Real IRA in the crucial months leading up to the 1998 Omagh bombing, in which 29 innocent men, women and children were murdered as were unborn twins.
It is alleged by various sources, including Paddy Dixon, that senior Garda Officers allowed the Omagh Bomb to run in order to protect Dixon’s position in The Real IRA. Yet, a tape recording produced to support these assertions has Dixon telling his Garda Handler:
"The Omagh investigation is going to blow up in their faces".
This reference to the ‘Omagh Investigation’ shows that this recording is made after the Omagh Bomb. Paddy Dixon also claims that:
“Every (PIRA) terrorist operation he knew about was compromised”
It is stated by Garda Detective Sgt John White who died in 2020, that he had warned senior Garda Officers about the Omagh Bomb a few days before it exploded. However, Garda Detective John White was found wanting by both The Morris Tribunal (Garda Corruption in Donegal) and The Nally Report, which investigated John White’s claims that he had warned senior officers about The Omagh Bomb.
John White was Paddy Dixon’s Handler when Dixon was stealing cars for the PIRA. In early 1998, Garda Detective Sergeant, John White, returned to Paddy Dixon and recruited Dixon again so that he could infiltrate The Real IRA.
When it became apparent in the third week of January, 1998 that the Real IRA was about to launch a major terror offensive, Sgt John White asked Paddy Dixon to offer his services to the Real IRA. Dixon had a long-standing connection with a republican in south County Dublin known as 'the Long Fellow'.
Sgt White suggested, under orders from senior Garda command, that his old agent reactivate his relationship with 'The Long Fellow' who owned a breaker's yard in south Dublin where Dixon's stolen cars were re-plated and huge explosive devices were secreted inside the vehicles.
Over the next seven months the Dixon/White axis would give the Garda vital insight into the Real IRA terror machine. Between February and August 1998 Dixon gave the force inside information on at least nine separate Real IRA attacks culminating in the bomb at Omagh.
In total, five Real IRA bombing missions were thwarted, thanks to Dixon's intelligence and White's diligence. But in order to give Dixon credibility within the terrorist organisation, White's superiors in the Garda ordered that a number of attacks be allowed through. They included a massive bomb attack that devastated Moira in February, 1998. No one died in the blast, but the next bombs to be allowed through, however, would have far more serious consequences.
On 2 July, 1998, Dixon rang White to say he had another phone call from 'The Long Fellow'. He told Dixon that he wanted another car for a bombing, warning that this was to be a big one, a real spectacular.
Dixon rang White again on 10 August, 1998. He said he was to arrange a car theft for the following day. White then met two senior Garda officers hours later at a pub in west Dublin. His description of the fateful meeting was vividly conveyed to detectives from Northern Ireland several months later.
White's superior said that Dixon was now under severe pressure from the Real IRA in South Armagh. The officer then supped his pint and said to White:
“John, we are going to let this one go through”
When Garda Detective Sergeant, John White asked his superior:
“What if anyone is killed?”
The senior officer dismissed White’s concerns pointing to the Real IRA's inability to inflict casualties on the security forces north of the border.
As late as 14 August, 1998, the day before the Omagh bombing, Dixon was in constant contact with White. 'The Long Fellow' said it would take place within 24 hours. Dixon said that a car, a Vauxhall, had been stolen. With hours to go before that car (it later emerged it was a Vauxhall Cavalier) was eventually driven over the frontier and into Omagh, White implored his superiors to act. But he was simply told again that it had to go through.
White's testimony to both the Police Service of Northern Ireland and Nuala O'Loan, the Police Ombudsman in the Province, was devastating. The Garda should have run a check on all stolen cars on 14 August, 1998, especially those that had gone missing near the border. Moreover, Dixon had said the car was for a bomb and the breaker's yard where all Real IRA devices were mixed and put into vehicles had been under round-the-clock surveillance since White reactivated his agent in early 1998.
Both Nuala O'Loan and Superintendent Norman Baxter of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the officer in charge of the Omagh inquiry, were convinced that White was telling the truth. Baxter's team spent three days in July 2002 debriefing White.
Dixon was never been questioned either by O'Loan's officers or, more crucially, the PSNI's Omagh Inquiry team.
Michael Gallagher, whose son was killed at Omagh and a spokesman for some of the victims' families, said:
“The puzzle remains - why won't the Garda let Paddy Dixon talk to the PSNI?”
Northern Bank Robbery 2004
While I was in prison (grievous miscarriage of Justice, returning to Court of Appeal 2021) in December 2004 when the Northern Bank Robbery took place, I was also in contact with An Garda Siochana on a regular basis, this related to various crimes that had been brought to my attention by fellow prisoners. One of the crimes that I was assisting An Garda Siochana with, was the Murder of Sophie Tuscan Du Plantier in Cork, a fellow prisoner had told me that a certain individual had admitted to him that he had murdered this young women.
During a conversation with senior Detectives following the Northern Bank robbery, they told me that Gerry Adams had been under surveillance before the robbery, and Adams had meet with Ted Cunningham in Cork, Ted would be convicted of laundering money totaling £3,000,000 from the Northern Bank robbery. Ted told Gardai that Phil Flynn, a former Vice-President of Sinn Fein/PIRA, was the Boss in relation to the money laundering.
Phil Flynn was also a Director of Bank of Scotland at the time of the Northern Bank Robbery and an advisor to Berty Ahern. When Phil Flynn stepped down as Sinn Fein/PIRA, Vice President in 1984, he said publicly at the Ard Fheis that year, that he would always be available to Sinn Fein/PIRA.
Provisional Sinn Fein/IRA always focused a great deal of their energy on placing people on the inside of banking and financial institutions, not simply to gain Intelligence on the movement of money, details for counter-fitting (1984), Tiger-kidnappings, but also to target members of the security forces and others of interest.
Tonight 3rd May, 2021, Darragh MacIntyre and Sam McBride will at 9pm on BBC examine the Northern Bank Robbery by Sinn Fein/PIRA in 2004. Sinn Fein/PIRA have always denied involvement due to the political fall-out, however, I am satisfied, having infiltrated Sinn Fein/PIRA again 2010-2015 that Sinn Fein/PIRA sanctioned and participated fully in the robbery and the money laundering that followed. Bobby Storey had no problem telling me that he had directed the Northern Bank robbery and that Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness were supportive of the robbery.
When Bobby and I spoke to each other, it was an honest conversation, as Bobby knew that I had prevented the Murder of senior members of Sinn Fein/PIRA in Belfast.
So, what do I know about the Northern Bank and Sinn Fein/PIRA?
In 1996, I handed the document below to a BBC NI journalist, Ann Cadwalader, so that she could give me a view on the possibility of having the document published as a book. I knew that Ann Cadwalader was married to a leading member of Sinn Fein/PIRA, Gerry O’Hare, however, I was trusting her journalistic integrity. While I knew Gerry when he was in Dublin, I knew his first wife, Rita O’Hare better as she was based at Sinn Fein/PIRA HQ in Dublin and now fronts Friends of Sinn Fein in America.
Shortly after I had given my document to Ann Cadwalader, I was told by a female ‘republican’ from Coalisland that two members of Sinn Fein/PIRA from west Belfast wanted to meet with me. The female from Coalisland had no explanation as to why Sinn Fein/PIRA wanted to meet with me. I agreed to meet with the two members of Sinn Fein/PIRA at Cloisters café in The Students Union at Queens University, where both the female ‘republican’ from Coalisland and I were studying.
A male and female member of Sinn Fein/PIRA arrived at Cloisters, both were in their early/mid-twenties and presented well. The two Sinn Fein/PIRA members made it very clear that they were representing Sinn Fein/PIRA Command Staff in west Belfast. They wanted to know what my ‘political’ position was, what I was up to. They certainly skirted around the document that I had given the BBC journalist, which was effectively a history of Sinn Fein/PIRA. They said that they had been told that I was a Born Again Christian and effectively a Protestant, I asked them, if I was, how would that be a problem, as the Father of Republicanism was a Presbyterian called Wolfe Tone. This piece of history appeared to throw them.
Having chatted for about half an hour the female and male Sinn Fein/PIRA members left, with as much information as they had when they arrived. While they would not have known it, I was still working with Kevin McKenna and Martin McGuinness.
Shortly after this meeting with the Sinn Fein/PIRA members from west Belfast, I called into Northern Bank, on the street in front of City Hall, to meet a friend for lunch. When I walked into the bank, my friend was working directly behind the counter, and to the left of him was the male and female members of Sinn Fein/PIRA who had meet with me at Cloisters. They were all imputing data from cheque-book stubs into computers.
In 2000, Ann Cadwalader, wrote lies about me and was paid for the publication of those lies, therefore exposing Ann Cadwalader as a liar and a fraudster. If this is not true, she can issue a Civil Action and see where it gets her.
Money Laundering Operation 2002
In 2002, I was in prison in The Republic, this was a non-political prison, however, Ministerial Orders were being signed and transferring Sinn Fein/PIRA, Real IRA and Continuity IRA in on top of me, for nefarious reasons.
It was in 2002, that one of Sinn Fein/PIRA’s most significant money launderers arrived into the prison having been sentenced to five-years. Kieran Byrne then (34) spoke freely to me as he would have known many of the people that I knew along the south Armagh/Louth border.
Kieran Byrne had been operating a Bureau de Change from a semi-detached building shared with a Garda Station at Dromad, Dundalk, a short distance from the south Armagh border, the bureau had a turnover of more than £17 million a year. It also operated as a private bank, handling up to £60 million for 150 customers, many of whom were Proxies for Sinn Fein/PIRA.
Kieran Byrne was able to tell me that other Proxy Finance companies along the border from Donegal, Monaghan to Louth were involved in laundering money for Sinn Fein/PIRA, most of the money coming from smuggling, robberies, protection rackets including drugs and so forth.
Kieran Byrne told me that members of Sinn Fein/PIRA who were well known to him would arrive with cash sums ranging from £50,000 to £350,000, usually in plastic bags, and he would launder that money for a percentage of the sum lodged. Kieran said that after the Good Friday Agreement Sinn Fein/PIRA were laundering millions with him as drug dealers were paying a higher percentage of their takings to Sinn Fein/PIRA as Sinn Fein/PIRA had Murdered a number of dealers.
Kieran had been convicted of a number of charges, failing to take measures to establish the identity of a customer of foreign exchange, carrying on a bureau de change at Dromad Enterprises, Dundalk, without authorisation and handling cash representing the proceeds of criminal activity. All of the charges related to dates between 1998-2000, however, Kieran said that money laundering had been on-going for decades.
Kieran’s premises were searched by Gardaí on October 19, 1999, and documents, cash totalling £700,000 and cheques and bank drafts for £900,000 were seized, and Kieran was arrested.
A forensic accountant working with An Garda Siochana, Mr David McManus, analysed documents seized at the premises including banking and business records. He said the business was mainly exchanging sterling and punt currencies and there were bank accounts both sides of the Border. The turnover from the Republic was mirrored in Northern Ireland, he said.
He said figures from the AIB in Dundalk showed that in the 3½ years from 1996 the turnover exceeded that declared to the Central Bank by £27.1 million.
Mr McManus said Byrne had accepted up to £350,000 sterling per transaction, and some individual accounts were in false names.
Among the documents seized were 12 customer cheques totalling £122,326 sterling, with no payee details. This was consistent with money-laundering schemes.
Soon after Kieran was sentenced to five years, Sinn Fein/PIRA made representations to the Irish Government and Kieran was given early release. People such as Phil Flynn, originally from Dundalk and once arrested and charged with being Director of Finance for Sinn Fein/PIRA, was in 2002 in a powerful position with Berty Ahern.
Northern Bank Robbery 2004
I am satisfied having infiltrated Sinn Fein/PIRA again in 2010-2015, and engaging directly with Bobby Storey that the Sinn Fein/PIRA Leadership including Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness sanctioned The Northern Bank robbery. Sinn Fein/PIRA needed a great deal of money if they were to make any significant electoral breakthrough in The Republic. It is not much of a stretch to imagine that McGuinness's MI6 Handlers would have been happy to allow the robbery to go ahead and this would explain why nobody has been successfully prosecuted in relation to the kidnappings and actual robbery.
While commentators talk about the risk to the ‘peace-process’ by carrying out the Northern Bank robbery, this is utter nonsense, Sinn Fein/PIRA had continued to Murder at will without political sanction north and south after Good Friday Agreement. The British Government had categorised continued criminality by Sinn Fein/PIRA, including murder, as “InternalHouse-keeping” (Mo Mowlam, 1999) and not a breach of their agreed ‘cease-fire’. This flawed thesis had been supported by Tony Blair and Berty Ahern. In 2021, former Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell would state publicly that Bertie Ahern's Government of which McDowell was part had granted a De Facto Amnesty to Sinn Fein/provisional IRA from 2002.
Following the Northern Bank Robbery, IRA member, Don Bullman from Cork was arrested in early 2005 at Heuston Station in Dublin, he was found in possession of a Daz washing power box containing more than €90,000, he was jailed for IRA membership. Those arrested by Gardai following the northern bank robbery, included several men from Derry and a former Sinn Féin candidate. While the PSNI arrested several well known Sinn Fein/PIRA including Brain Arthurs, arrested with this author in 1986 under 7 day detention order.
An Garda Siochana also recovered over £2,000,000 from the Northern Bank robbery during raids in Cork and Dublin. Around $100,000 in US banknotes was also recovered from a toilet of the police athletic association's Newforge Country Club. The PSNI confirmed the money was taken during the Northern Bank heist but said the stash was likely to have been "planted to distract detectives".
This latter act, the work of the same people, Bobby Storey, who would provide Gerry Adams with a list of 27 Sinn Fein/PIRA sex criminals protected by the Sinn Fein/PIRA leadership, in order that Gerry could give that list to An Garda Siochana and take the political pressure off.
Bobby had worn a women’s scarf about his head, placed the list through Gerry’s letter box, so that Gerry had images of a mysterious women on his CCTV placing the list through his front door and therefore a back-story to explain how he had the list.
Money Laundering in Cork
At a house owned by financial adviser Ted Cunningham in Farran, County Cork, £2.3 million was impounded after being discovered hidden in compost and Cunningham and his wife were taken in for further questioning. Phil Flynn, who was chairman of the Bank of Scotland (Ireland), had to resign as he was also involved in one of Ted Cunningham’s companies. Phil had been Vice-President of Sinn Fein/PIRA until 1984 and an Advisor to Berty Ahern at the time of the Robbery.
In March 2009, financial adviser Ted Cunningham from Cork was found guilty at Cork Circuit Court on ten charges of laundering over £3 million which came from the robbery. He was remanded into custody and later received a sentence of ten years' imprisonment. His son was also convicted on one count of money laundering. Ted Snr told Gardai that Phil Flynn was the Boss of the money laundering operation.
When Ted Cunningham senior appealed, his conviction was quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal in May 2012. The court viewed the warrant used to search his house as invalid because it had been issued by the senior Garda officer in charge of the investigation, as permitted by section 29(1) of the Offences against the State Act, a state of affairs which the Supreme Court had recently found to be repugnant to the Constitution of Ireland.
The court ordered a retrial on nine of the ten original counts of money laundering. It directed that the tenth, relating to a sum of money allegedly found in Cunningham's home, was not to be retried. Cunningham was remanded into custody with the possibility of bail.
At the retrial in February 2014, Ted Cunningham pleaded guilty and received a 5-year suspended sentence on two counts of laundering about £275,000. Cunningham avoided imprisonment on account of his bad health and his promise to resign from Chesterton Finance. The sums of £2.985 million and €45,000 which had been impounded during police raids were forfeited to the state. Cunningham sued Northern Bank in 2020 regarding the impounded money, alleging that the Gardai had seized it improperly.
Garda surveillance had recorded Gerry Adams meeting with Ted Cunningham before the heist took place. Alongside the murder of Robert McCartney, the heist caused the US government to block fund-raising for Sinn Féin/PIRA in the United States in March 2005. The ban was dropped in November 2005.
2005-2006 Political Corruption Ireland
The insider
In 2005 there was concern that certain corrupt politicians were taking bribes from Property Developers, in return for a Guarantee that The National Children’s Hospital would be built on the site of The Mater Hospital in Berty Ahern’s constituency. I volunteered my services to investigate.
Inspired by abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Daniel O’Connell said of Irish-American slave owners:
"How can the generous, the charitable, the humane and the noble emotions of the Irish heart have become extinct within you?"
In 2005, Dublin City was awash with cash, people like Tom McFeely, a former Sinn Fein/PIRA Hunger-striker, had his pockets bulging with cash as he built such infamous developments as Priory Hall, which would later be deemed unsafe. After McFeely left his £15,000,000 Mansion on Ailesbury Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin, over £200,000 cash was found hidden under the bath.
However, this article is not about Sinn Fein/PIRA Bagman, McFeely, it is about a Berty Ahern, Bagman and his associates.
Due to the volume of money being spent on The Mater Hospital site by Berty Ahern’s Government, which would total £40,000,000 including, €24.5 million for the business services team, €3.2 million for project management and €6.1 million for the integrated design team.
Another €6.1 million in administration and other costs were incurred. This sum included €1.6 million in planning expenses, €878,000 in legal expenses, €200,000 spent on communications and €132,000 in board fees.
This £40,000,000 Convincer, as well as placing Property Developers on The Board of The Mater Hospital, ensured that the Property Developers paid large cash sums to corrupt politicians. Berty Ahern was no stranger to The Mater Hospital, he had some years earlier worked in the Accounts Department of the Mater Hospital, Dublin.
Once the Property Developers were satisfied that Berty Ahern could deliver on his promise of The National Children’s Hospital being built on The Mater Hospital site, the Property Developers bought up all land and property in the vicinity of The Mater Hospital.
This property and land grab by the Property Developers would ensure that the thousands of construction site workers, who would later be replaced by thousands of healthcare workers, would have accommodation, food and drink venues on their door-step, and provide a return of millions of Euros for the Property Developers.
Establishing the facts
I secured work with a key Property Developer, who was also one of Berty Ahern’s key sponsors. I was hired as a Project Manager and a Health and Safety Officer for Castle Contracts. My employer, the owner of Castle Contracts, brought me to O’Neill’s pub on the corner of Dorset Street and Eccles Street.
O’Neills had been a favourite drinking place for members of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA before it had been closed some years earlier. My Boss and other partners had bought O’Neill’s as part of their property portfolio related to the promised siting of The National Children’s Hospital on The Mater Hospital site, a few yards away.
I specifically asked my Boss why he had bought O’Neills and it was at this point that he boosted about having inside information, as he was actually a close friend of Berty Ahern and he (my Boss) had been appointed as a Director of the Board of The Mater Hospital.
I began a complete refurbishment of O’Neill’s pub; I was working on my own for a good while because in 2005 labour was scarce due to the economic boom. My Boss built up a good relationship with me, as I worked hard and kept within a tight budget. Eventually I got some Polish lads to work with me and the project moved quickly.
As O’Neill’s had previously been a Sinn Fein/PIRA drinking establishment, we were not surprised when thousands of duty-free cigarettes would fall out of carefully constructed hides as we demolished walls and ceilings.
My Boss was a partner with others in the ownership of several properties and businesses, however, he was also a Property Developer, this meant that he was actually charging his partners for the supply of labour and materials. By the end of each project, his partners were heavily indebted and would be at his mercy, as he could call in outstanding debt.
The Corruption
On one occasion I was standing in the front room of one of my Boss’s Hotels, he was shoving a large amount of cash into a standard envelope, however, he could not get enough cash in and so he asked the receptionist to bring him a big A4 envelope, into which he stuffed the cash.
My Boss then asked me to drive him to his house in Drumcondra, the journey took us past Saint Luke’s, which was the name of the Fianna Fail Office in Drumcondra. My Boss told me to pull in to the left-hand side of the road across from Saint Luke’s, he got out of the car and walked over to Saint Luke’s, where he handed the envelope full of cash to a well-known politician.
On another occasion my Boss asked me to drive him from one of his hotels on the north side of Dublin to another one of his hotels on Stephen’s Green. On the way back from Stephens Green my Boss had the radio in the car turned on, and when the news came on, he turned the radio up.
The news reported that Mary Harney was considering moving the site for The National Children’s Hospital to a green field site. Upon hearing Mary Harney’s intentions, my Boss took his mobile phone from his pocket and initially tried to phone Berty Ahern, when he could not reach Berty Ahern, he phoned and got through to Martin Cullen, who was a Minister.
My Boss was very clear with Martin Cullen that there would be repercussions, if The National Children’s Hospital was moved from the promised Mater Hospital site, after the massive investment my Boss and his partners had made.
Before the phone call between my Boss and Martin Cullen had finished Martin Cullen assured my Boss that Harney would not get her way. My Boss then reminded Minister Cullen that he must enjoy a holiday at my Boss’s Hotel and golf resort in Scotland. I have no evidence against Martin Cullen for corruption, I am simply stating that he was on speed-dial for my Boss.
The corruption also included some Directors of The Mater Hospital Board enjoying free Holidays at my Boss’s hotels and having free maintenance carried out at their own private homes by myself and other employees of Castle Contracts.
Conclusion
There is absolutely no question that the political corruption set out above lead to many Millions of Euros being spent on a site that was never going to accommodate The National Children’s Hospital.
The estimated £40,000,000 spend has at this point been written off, however, the real cost of this political corruption has yet to be fully realised.
The years of unnecessary delays have now driven up costs to astronomical levels. A project that was estimated to cost approximately £650,000,000 is now estimated to cost at least £3 Billion.
Had the political corruption not delayed The National Children’s Hospital, it can be said that the hospital could have been built at a much-reduced cost to the Tax Payer and Children could have been prioritised over corruption and self-serving by the few.
Bertie Ahern and John O’Donoghue represented grievous excesses, greed and self-serving. The legacy of Bertie Ahern and O’Donogue is not as ‘peace-makers’ for Northern Ireland, for they simply used Northern Ireland as a distraction, a slight of hand.
The Mahon Tribunal
On 2 April, 2008, then-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern resigned due to continuing controversy over allegations relating to corrupt payments.
In all, The Mahon Tribunal said that he did not truthfully account for payments of £165,000 made to accounts connected to him.
This included the Manchester dinner with Irish businessmen, where The Mahon Tribunal rejected the assertion that two-thirds of the £24,838 figure mentioned was in punts. The Mahon Tribunal said it was solely a Sterling payment of £25,000, and suggesting that Ahern had not been truthful in his evidence.
Note: The Taoiseach did describe receiving a sum of money from a number of rich businessmen after speaking at a Manchester hotel, and also winning money through gambling on horses.
The Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments, commonly known as the Mahon Tribunal after the name of its last chairman, was a public inquiry in Ireland established by Dáil Éireann in 1997 to investigate allegations of corrupt payments to politicians regarding political decisions.
It mostly investigated planning permissions and land rezoning issues in the 1990s in the Dublin County Council area. Judge Alan Mahon was the final chair of the tribunal and its other members were Judge Mary Faherty and Judge Gerald Keys. The original Chairman, who was the sole member until just before his retirement, was Judge Feargus Flood, giving rise to the original common name of the Flood Tribunal.
The Mahon Tribunal used investigations to collect evidence and public hearings with witnesses, it investigated allegations made in the media prior to its establishment and allegations subsequently made to the tribunal itself. The tribunal ran from November 1997 to March 2012 and was the longest running and most expensive public inquiry held in the Republic of Ireland, with costs forecast to reach between €250 million and €300 million.
Public hearings concluded in September 2008, and following several delays due to legal challenges, the tribunal began preparing its final report. It published four interim reports, and the final report was published on 22 March, 2012.
Bertie Ahern Only Wanted to Talk about Good Friday Agreement
Over six-years after it delivered its report on Bertie Ahern, the Mahon Tribunal is being talked about again since the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, walked out of a German TV interview after being questioned over it.
Appearing uncomfortable at the line of questioning following earlier discussions about the Good Friday Agreement, Ahern said he was quite happy that he has cleared his name and that he was very happy with his evidence to the Tribunal.
When pressed, he maintained: “I’ve dealt with that issue and I am not saying any more about that issue.”
Shortly afterwards, he cut the interview short, saying he was there to talk about the Good Friday Agreement and had done so.
Department of Foreign Affairs 2006
As the initial investigation into corrupt payments to Bertie Ahern in relation to The National Children’s Hospital continued, I was asked to move across the city to Stephens Green. I would Project Manage a fourteen-bedroom extension to Staunton’s on The Green, and when that project was complete, I would landscape the building site left following that construction work.
I was instructed by An Garda Siochana to remove listening devices from the Department of Foreign Affairs, that had been monitoring activity and conversations within Dermot Ahern’s Department. All of the devices that I removed were on the exterior of the Department of Foreign Affairs building, the devices were small and had been used in similar covert operations, for example, the arrest of Eamon ‘Captain’ Cooke.
William Hampton Sinn Fein/PIRA Millions
Plan to Bomb American Military Plane at Shannon Airport 2008
The enterprise that Kevin wanted me to work on was a joint-enterprise between Sinn Fein/PIRA and the Real IRA to bomb an American Plane at Shannon airport. In 2008, Gerry Adams had been given the cold shoulder by Irish America including Ted Kennedy over the murder of Robert McCartney in Belfast in 2005. The Adams Project was going nowhere in the Irish Republic, with Sinn Fein/PIRA having less TDs than the Official IRA had in the 1980s.
Background and Thinking
While the Sinn Fein/Provisional
IRA Leadership could send a short sharp shock to the heart of London, their dependency
on Irish American support, both politically and financially, meant Sinn Fein/Provisional
IRA felt impudent when it came to punishing an unmoving American
Administration.
London was given a short sharp
shock with the detonation of a massive bomb at the Baltic Exchange in 1992, and
in a desperate bid to move the American administration to a more accommodating
position, Gerry Adams himself prepared a Global call-out to international
extremists to hit America in the aftermath of the Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA
spectacular at Baltic Exchange:
"Let's face it, if someone was to bring down the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in Manhattan it would be a severe blow to American prestige." (PIRA Army Council, AKA, Gerry Adams, 1992).
The call-out from the Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Leadership would be answered on 11 September 2001 when Al-Qaeda intentionally crashed three hijacked commercial airplanes with their passengers into the World Trade Center in New York.
According to a confidential record of a conversation in October 1994 between Irish Ambassador to Britain, Joseph Small, and Paul Lever, a senior official in the British Foreign Office, the UK Government believed that the Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams, sat on the PIRA Army Council. (Official State Papers, released under 30-year-rule in The Irish Republic, 28 December 2021)
2008 The Plan
Bombing an American plane at
Shannon Airport would help build relationships with Arab Terrorists such as
Hamas, bringing weapons to the Real IRA and much needed funding to Sinn
Fein/PIRA for the Adams Project in the Republic. The American administration would
learn a valuable lesson. Kevin McKenna, Bobby Storey and leading Real IRA
members based in Louth, would lead the plan to bomb an American plane at Shannon
in 2008.
Upon request from Kevin
McKenna to get involved in the plan to bomb an American Plane at Shannon
Airport, I phoned my Garda contact, meet with him and explained what I had been
asked to get involved in. My Garda contact got back to me a couple of days
later and told me to get on the inside of the operation and update him
regularly.
It was established that the
Cabin Crews on the rendition or normal military flights are actually Civilian
Contractors and therefore the weakest link.
The Dry Runs, one of which I
am absolutely 100% certain of, was to establish where the civilian Cabin Crew
members stayed while on a stop-over at Shannon, this was not difficult, a local
hotel in Ennis, County Clare.
The next phase was to
establish how security conscious the Cabin Crews were, not difficult. Befriend
a Cabin Crew member in the hotel bar, and see if they could be bedded, not
difficult.
The Plan, if sanctioned, was
to bed one of the Cabin Crew, and place a small explosive device in their
luggage before leaving their room the next morning. The Hindawi Affair in 1986 was
the example being used to explain how the operation could succeed or fail.
To conclude, the Plan was
real, Dry Runs were carried out, and it was established that such an attack
would be very easy. However, due to my on-going fears following the Omagh Bomb
being allowed to run, as well as keeping my Garda contact up to date, I also
sent a letter to the American Ambassador in Dublin, advising them that the
security of their planes at Shannon was weak, and particularly their cabin crew
were vulnerable.
In 2008, I was told by my
Garda contact and the FBI that it was in the national interest to keep the
plans to bomb an American Plane at Shannon Airport quiet as American
multi-nationals could pull out of Ireland in retaliation.
In 2020, the New IRA began to
enact the exact same plan as 2008, however, their leadership were arrested in
an MI5/PSNI operation in Northern Ireland.
While I was serving a sentence for alleged sexual assault, I continued to be associated in prison with individuals involved with various terrorist groups including Sinn Fein/PIRA, Continuity IRA, Real IRA and so forth. I also continued to work with An Garda Siochana while in prison. Upon my release from prison, I continued to work with An Garda Siochana and I gained easy access to various terrorist groups due to the manner in which I had conducted myself in prison and other related matters.
In 2005, I worked with An Garda Siochana investigating Bertie Ahern and others in relation to Criminal activity, that was separate to the criminal activity for which Bertie Ahern was before The Mahon Tribunal (Corruption). In 2006-7, my cousin Kevin McKenna asked me to help secure money from a man called William Hampton, which I duly did.
Kevin McKenna was convinced that because I had been poorly treated by various elements of The Irish State (see, Exhibits 2-6), Sinn Fein/PIRA had made a mistake believing that I had turned on my old comrades in Sinn Fein/PIRA and I was simply angry about their duplicity in relation to The Real IRA. For clarity on this, see, CBS 60 Minutes, Sunday, 14 March 1999, where I am interviewed by Mike Wallace.
In 2008, several things happened relating to Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA, who remain in 2022 under the Direct control of The Provisional IRA Army Council, an Army Council indebted to many enemies of The USA.
In 2008, then President of Sinn Fein/PIRA, Gerry Adams, was continuing to find a cold political shoulder from many Irish American politicians following the role of Sinn Fein/PIRA members in the murder of an innocent civilian Robert McCartney in 2005, and the subsequent campaign for Justice by members of Robert’s family, who were graciously received by your great country.
In 2008, An Garda Siochana pursued Provisional IRA Chief of Staff, Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy for taxes due on his multi-million Euro smuggling rackets, the profits of which were used to fund further arms purchases by Sinn Fein/PIRA post-Good Friday Agreement from Russia and in the USA. This is all now on public record.
In 2008, the Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Leadership were making very little electoral progress in The Irish Republic, this was due mainly to the continued murder of Irish citizens such as Paul Quinn (2007) by Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA and other criminality including child rape, that was widely known.
Sinn Fein Leader, Martin McGuinness MP, with Child Rapist Liam Adams
In 2008, many seasoned members of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA were resigning from Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA, these resignations were for a variety of reasons, the fact that the Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Leadership were being constantly exposed for protecting Child Rapists within their ranks, a lack of direction and vision, lack of policy and pathway and so forth. The mantra about a ‘United Ireland’ was wearing thin, as the economic crash left most Irish people struggling just to survive, they could not feed their families on aspirations.
In 2008, well considered members of The Provisional IRA resigned from Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA, simply disillusioned by endless political spin with no delivery. For example, former US Marine, John Crawley, who had worked closely with criminal, Whitey Bulger to import weapons to Ireland from America, resigned from Sinn Fein/PIRA in 2008.
In 2008, Top Secret USA Intelligence files, video and so forth fell into the hands of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA. These Top-Secret Intelligence Files, video and so forth came from within The Green Zone in Iraq, a place I know absolutely nothing about. Someone, working for an Electricity sub-contractor within the Green Zone had befriended USA service personnel and they had provided the Top-Secret Intelligence Files, video and so forth.
The most damming of the Intelligence provided to The Provisional IRA, were Video taken by Gunners in USA gunships, helicopters. These videos showed USA personnel using high power weapons to vaporise human targets on the ground, the human targets appeared to be no more than goat herders. I know very little about weapons, I was simply listening to my cousin Kevin McKenna, Provisional IRA Chief of Staff, 1983-1997, although remained effectively joint Chief of Staff with Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy, after The Provisional IRA Army Convention held in October 1997.
In 2021, former Irish Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell SC would disclose for the first time, that Bertie Ahern when Taoiseach, had granted a secret De Facto Amnesty to Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Murderers while he was in office, this included those Sinn Fein/PIRA still wanted in relation to the murder of members of An Garda Siochana, The Irish Army and Irish Prison Service. This included members of Sinn Fein/PIRA who had trained FARC Narco-Terrorists in Columbia and who were now back in Ireland, James Monaghan and so forth.
The latter point, De Facto Amnesty, is significant, in relation to the decision of the Provisional IRA to join in a plot with The Real IRA to bomb an American Military plane at Shannon Airport in Ireland in 2008, and gain favour with Arab terrorists, Russia and so forth.
I was asked by a senior Garda Officer, who had trained with the FBI in the USA, to get on the inside of the operation and establish any operational detail. This senior officer told me that The FBI would know about our role in this operation, however, I was not completely convinced about the latter and so when the operation was complete, I sent an anonymous letter to The American Ambassador in Dublin in 2008 and warned about security weakness at Shannon Airport in relation to USA Military Planes.
Bobby Storey who was Director of Intelligence for The Provisional IRA and Chairman of Sinn Fein in 2008, was the Director of the operation to bomb a USA plane at Shannon Airport, he would work in collusion with Kevin McKenna and leading members of The Real IRA. In 2008, Bobby Storey was with Gerry Kelly MLA, doing a road-show about the Provisional IRA escape from The Maze Prison in 1983, and so Bobby was able to travel under the radar in Ireland without any interference from the security forces on the island of Ireland. Effectively, Bobby was doing in 2008 exactly what he done in The Maze Prison before the escape in 1983, creating a false sense of security.
Bobby Storey and Kevin McKenna believed that the bombing which was to be a copy-cat of a 1986 attempt by an Arab terrorist (Nezar Nawwaf al-Mansur al-Hindawi) in England to bomb a USA plane, would help secure funding and particular weapon types such as Glocks from Arab Terrorist/Regimes, it would also gain much needed status for Sinn Fein/PIRA who were in the shadows of The Real IRA in Dublin. While it would be denied publicly that Sinn Fein/PIRA were involved, the right people, in the right place would know.
If the plan to blame foreign extremists for the bombing failed, The Real IRA would be the fall-guys and take the political pressure off Sinn Fein/PIRA, as with The Omagh Bomb 15 August, 1998. The Real IRA expected to be able to gain much needed kudos with the same Arab terrorists. This same plan, excluding Sinn Fein/PIRA, would again be discussed at a New IRA meeting in July 2020, which was covertly recorded by MI5 and the New IRA Leadership later arrested.
The first task in 2008 was to establish where Cabin Crews for American Military Planes stayed while on stop-overs at Shannon Airport in Ireland. This was quickly established, the cabin crews who were civilian contractors stayed at a hotel outside Ennis in County Clare. Once their location was established, the plan was to befriend cabin crew members in the hotel bar, isolate, zoom in on a particular cabin crew member, get into their bedroom (romantically or other) and plant a small bomb in their luggage, which would be timed to explode in mid-flight and kill everyone onboard.
It was established that the cabin crews were not very security conscious, and some simply could not countenance that a person with an Irish accent would be planning to blow up an American plane full of US Military. It also became clear that, while cabin crews were departing on early morning flights, the security going onto and on the planes was poor. Jovial chat between cabin crew members and security staff, meant that hand luggage was not even being checked before boarding.
What are known as ‘dry-runs’ took place, this meeting with, integrating with and getting close to cabin crew staff took place, of that I am 100% certain.
When the time was right for a bomb to be planted, the entire operation came to a halt, I have no idea why that was, I was told the FBI knew, I am not sure that they did. I believe that a decision was taken not to arrest Bobby Storey, Kevin McKenna and others involved, this was most likely connected to the De Facto Amnesty granted by corrupt politicians Bertie Ahern and John O’Donoghue some time earlier, and as disclosed by Michael McDowell in 2021.
Gerry Adams with PIRA Chief of Staff, Kevin McKenna
Kevin McKenna never offered any explanation as to why the operation was stood down, and when I meet with Bobby Storey in 2013-14, he never mentioned the operation.
The failure of the Provisional IRA and Real IRA to bomb an American plan at Shannon in 2008, did not stop both of these groups continuing to work together.
In 2011, both Sinn Fein/PIRA and the Real IRA were involved in a plan to murder Queen Elizabeth in Dublin, again this came close to fruition and was only frustrated by senior Garda officers and those working with them, when two bombs were discovered and a third bomb not assembled due to arrests.
In 2014, Bobby Storey was the Director of operations in the Plan to murder Daniel Kinahan, a senior member of the Kinahan Cartel. I had stumbled upon this operation while working with An Garda Siochana on a money laundering operation in north Dublin.
Bobby Storey was directing Sinn Fein/PIRA personnel who were working with another drug gang leader Gerry Hutch, and The New IRA (an amalgam of groups who had split from Sinn Fein/PIRA). The plan was to murder Daniel Kinahan and take control of the drugs trade in Dublin, for Sinn Fein/PIRA this was about gaining much needed money to try and make an electoral impact and holding onto their core membership in Dublin and elsewhere.
Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA members had worked closely with Kinahan Cartel members in Columbia. I had learned this from drug dealers that I had met while I was in prison. Sinn Fein/PIRA members who could speak Spanish acted as intermediaries between Kinahan Gang members and FARC. Sinn Fein/PIRA were also training FARC in terrorist techniques such as making mortars. Both the Kinahan Cartel members and FARC rewarded Sinn Fein/PIRA with drug money.
When the shipments of drugs would come into Ireland, the Kinahan Gang would sell the drugs, but needed Sinn Fein/PIRA to launder much of the money for them at that time, Sinn Fein/PIRA then retained a percentage of the laundered drug money. Sinn Fein/PIRA then lodged this money with a Financial Consultant, Ciaran Byrne, who was operating a Bureau De Change on the border of the Irish Republic with Northern Ireland.
By 2014, the Kinahan Cartel had effectively moved over-seas, with only enforcers and dealers on the streets of Dublin, Sinn Fein/PIRA being of a duplicitise nature, seen an opportunity to work with The Hutch Gang and The New IRA (mainly former members of Sinn Fein/PIRA, Real IRA and so forth) to take out Daniel Kinahan and take control of the drugs trade in Dublin as they had done in the 1980s. Unfortunately, in 2014, An Garda Siochana was in a state of total disarray due to a high-powered conspiracy, this conspiracy running from Garda HQ down through the ranks, against a Garda Sgt, Maurice McCabe, who was a Whistle-blower.
I made contact with Gardai about the early meetings of those planning to murder Daniel Kinahan, however, An Garda Siochana lacked the leadership necessary at that time.
The plan to Murder Daniel Kinahan would not be operationalised until 2016, with Sinn Fein/PIRA still at the centre of the operation. In October 2022, a Sinn Fein Councillor, Johnathan Dowdall (Closely associated with Sinn Fein President, Mary Lou McDonald) will stand trial in Dublin with Gerry Hutch (Drug Gang Leader) for the murder of David Byrne at The Regency Hotel in Dublin in 2016 during a failed attempt on the life of Daniel Kinahan. As is normal, Sinn Fein/PIRA are denying any role in the plan to murder Daniel Kinahan, and stating that Johnathan Dowdall was acting alone, he was not.
Bobby Storey and I, parted company again in 2015, when Bobby told me that he and The Provisional IRA Army Council had ordered and directed the murder of Kevin McGuigan in Belfast in 2015. Kevin McGuigan had been accused of murdering Jock Davidson, however, both Jock Davidson and Kevin McGuigan had been accused by Bobby Storey of misusing some of the money that Sinn Fein/PIRA had robbed from The Northern Bank in Belfast in 2004.
De Facto Amnesty and Suppression of Intelligence WHY?
In 1999, a 22-year-old, hardworking Catholic with childlike qualities, Charles Bennett, approached me to ask if I would help him. Charles said that he had read some articles in the media to which I had contributed, about Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA protecting Child-Rapists within their ranks. Charles told me how when he was a young boy he had been raped by a well-known Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA member, and then subject to a Kangaroo Court that was Chaired by a well-known member of Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA.
Charles Bennett wanted to tell his story; however, I told Charles that before he done that, he really needed to talk to people who were professionals in dealing with rape cases. I gave Charles the details for the Rape Crisis Centre in Belfast, which was being run at that time by a woman called Eileen, and to whom I had referred other women and children who had been raped by Sinn Fein/PIRA. I told Charles Bennett that when he had spoken with the people at the Rape Crisis Centre, if he still wanted to tell his story I would help him with that process.
I have no idea if Charles Bennett ever made his way to the Rape Crisis Centre, and in July 1999, Charles Bennett was kidnapped from his home by a Provisional IRA gang on the direct orders of The Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Leadership in Belfast. Charles Bennett was tortured to try and establish to whom he had spoken about his rape. Charles was so badly mutilated that his body could not be immediately identified when found. His body had been dumped at St Gall’s GAA Club on the Falls Road. Charles had been gagged and bound, then shot in the head.
Charles Bennett, claimed that he had been raped by Seamus Marley. Marley was some years older than Charles and Marley had targeted him and then threatened Charles with the Provisional IRA. Seamus Marley is the son of one of Belfast’s most senior Provisional IRA members, Laurence Marley, who was credited with the PIRA escape from The Maze Prison in 1983, Laurence then shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in 1989. Seamus Marley was moved out of Belfast, to a Sinn Fein/PIRA Safe-house in County Louth in The Irish Republic, Seamus Marley then raped at least two more children in County Louth for which he would later be sentenced to 7-years in prison.
Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA knew that they could murder Charles Bennett as they had murdered other Catholics post-Good Friday Agreement as Catholics had been excluded from The Articles of Surrender agreed between Martin McGuinness and MI6 to whom he surrendered The Provisional IRA. Sinn Fein/PIRA knew that they would not face political sanction for murdering Catholics. Comfort Letters, denied in the letter below had already been issued.
This secret truth, the exclusion of Catholics from the Sinn Fein/PIRA Articles of Surrender, would be unexpectedly exposed by the cowardly murder of Charles Bennett by Sinn Fein/PIRA rapists and informers.
When the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam was initially asked about the murder of Charles Bennett, she said she did not know who murdered Charles Bennett and it would be a matter for her senior security advisor, RUC Chief Constable, Ronnie Flanaghan to establish those facts.
Mo Mowlam believed that the murder of Charles Bennett would quickly become yesterday’s news. However, Sir Ronnie Flanaghan was to be a guest on a live TV program, where students would be able to ask him about policing matters. I received a phone call from a student, Johnathan, that I had known at Queens University, and he told me that he and a few others were going on the program with Sir Ronnie Flanaghan, and if I would like any particular question asked.
I told my friend to get one of the students to ask Sir Ronnie, who murdered Charles Bennett. When asked, Sir Ronnie did not hesitate, it was the Provisional IRA who had murdered Charles Bennett. Sir Ronnie was speaking with authority, because as we now know the most senior Sinn Fein/PIRA Leadership in Belfast were Informers and British Agents, including Dennis Donaldson, Freddie Scappitticci, Roy McShane and so forth. The scale of informers, would become clearer following a raid by Bobby Storey on Castlereagh RUC Holding-centre in 2002.
Following the revelations by Sir Ronnie Flanaghan on national TV, Mo Mowlam came under pressure to make a determination about the state of The Provisional IRA ‘cease-fire’.
I was then contacted by a well-known and respected Journalist, who told me that he had just spoken to Mo Mowlam’s Office and he had been told off-the-record, that Mo Mowlam was treating the murder of Charles Bennett as “Internal house-keeping” and not a breach of their agreed ‘cease-fire’. This determination by Mowlam was ‘technically correct’ as Sinn Fein/PIRA had excluded Catholics from The Articles of Surrender, however, it was legally and morally unjustifiable.
The journalist in question felt that he could not go public with the story about “Internal House-keeping” as it had been said to him off-the-record. I immediately phoned the NIO and spoke to Mowlam’s spokesperson; I recorded the short conversation and later that evening BBC Newsnight travelled from London and broadcast the story that night. I immediately updated all MPs and Mowlam was quickly persona non grata, except for Sinn Fein/PIRA and their many proxies in the media.
Tony Blair accepted Mowlam’s determination. Bertie Ahern, already being investigated for Corruption in Public Office, stated that:
“Until there is an acceptable police service in Northern Ireland, these things will continue to happen”.
It was clear to anyone with a political pulse, the British Government, the Irish Government, the American Administration and the EU Parliament were, for a variety of reasons happy to allow Sinn Fein/PIRA to get away with murder, as long as there were no bombs going off in London, no Bombs going off in Dublin, no Bombs going off in Germany and Sinn Fein/PIRA would no longer work with Narco-Terrorists such as FARC in Columbia (the latter would continue).
Bertie Ahern certainly received money from MI6, which was funneled through a Manchester based Businessman, Ahern was to do MI6s bidding in Dublin, however, the extent of that bidding would not become clear until 2021, when former Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell SC would state publicly for the first time, that Bertie Ahern and John O’Donoghue had granted a De Facto Amnesty to Sinn Fein/PIRA murderers.
A letter from Bertie Ahern to Tony Blair in 1999 also emerged in which Ahern urged Tony Blair to follow the Irish Government’s lead, and grant a full Amnesty to Sinn Fein/PIRA murderers.
Bertie Ahern’s decision to grant a De Facto Amnesty was deeply imbedded in Ahern’s Corruption and self-serving attitude while in public office, money certainly changed hands, corrupt payments were made and those who murdered Gardai, Irish Army, Prison Officers and civilians could be guaranteed to remain free from prosecution.
However, Bertie Ahern’s De Facto Amnesty, and those in An Garda Siochana who were prepared to administer it, was much more than simply turning a blind eye to ‘legacy issues’, the De Facto Amnesty was about suppressing Intelligence about on-going Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA criminality in The Republic.
This suppression of Intelligence from, The Irish Parliament, The British, The Americans, The EU and of lesser consequence Stormont, would see policies relating to Northern Ireland being formulated on false information, deliberately feed by the corrupt few.
This suppression of Intelligence ensured that ‘Peace Money’ continued to flow into The Irish Republic in the hundreds of millions during the economic crash, and American companies continued to invest heavily in the Irish economy generating Billions of Euros in Revenue and providing much needed employment.
Conclusion
This information is provided in good faith. It is essential for the security of your Embassy, Embassy staff and your Country that your ambassador refrains from any further contact with Terrorist enablers such as Bertie Ahern, this is sending the wrong message to the wrong people. Your government may also consider the on-going relationship between Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA and Narco Crime Gangs, particularly as Sinn Fein/PIRA appear to have convinced Daniel Kinahan that Sinn Fein/PIRA were not involved in the plan to murder Daniel Kinahan, they were.
I appreciate fully the special relationship between Ireland and America, I appreciate fully the many thousands of jobs American companies provide to Irish people, however, I believe that relationship will be stronger not weaker by facing some realities, rather than trying to conceal them. I knew Ron Browne when he travelled to Ireland with Bill Clinton in the 1990s, I gave him honest briefings about Sinn Fein/PIRA, so that the administration was not taken by surprise when Sinn Fein/PIRA broke their 1994 ‘cease-fire’. I meet with Bill Cleary from Silicon Valley and advised Bill that it would be better, in the medium-term at least, to place Tech Companies in Dublin as the Sinn Fein/PIRA Leadership in Belfast were planning to breach their 1994 ‘cease-fire’.
2011 Plan to Murder Queen Elizabeth during Dublin Visit
In 2011, I was working with a number of businesses in Gardiner Street, Dublin. I was fully and comprehensively aware of PIRA and Real IRA activity in north Dublin.
An Garda Siochana knew that there were serious threats against Queen Elizabeth, as they prepared for The Queen’s visit to Dublin, and those threats were made more real as The PIRA had provided both personnel and Commercial explosives for an attack on The Queen when she visited Dublin.
It is worth remembering that The DUP had been duped in 2006 when Sinn Fein/PIRA said that The PIRA was gone for good and full decommissioning had taken place, yet 5 years later the same Sinn Fein/PIRA were preparing to Murder Queen Elizabeth with Semtex.
Following the St Andrews Agreement in 2006, the DUP agreed to enter into power-sharing devolved government in Northern Ireland with Sinn Féin/PIRA. Despite reports of divisions within The DUP, a majority of the party executive voted in favor of power-sharing in 2007.
This picture was taken by this Author a few seconds before Queen Elizabeth was supposed to die if An Garda Siochana had not compromised the operation.
Thousands of Gardai were on high alert for the Queens Visit to Dublin. Every premises along the route that the Queen would take in Dublin had been visited.
While a pipe bomb was stopped on a bus on its way into Dublin, this made the situation even more serious as threats now became a reality. Nobody wanted to believe that The PIRA were involved, but they were, no politician would say publicly that it was The PIRA.
As security concerns heightened, Gardai found another bomb in Dorset Street a short distance from The Garden of Remembrance where the Queen was to visit.
While An Garda Siochana had pulled out all the stops, there was still a lingering doubt as to whether something had been missed, could The Queen still be in danger.
Even during the Queen's flight from London, doubts arose about whether it was safe for her to land in Ireland, and British Prime Minister, David Cameron, held an urgent meeting in the situation room in Downing Street in response, while Queen Elizabeth was airborne.
A senior Garda Officer called in a long serving security operative, and that operative walked every inch of the route to be taken by the Queen, and he then took up position in an area that he believed an attack would be most likely.
Sleeping rough on the back streets of north Dublin, the security operative finally got a break when he spotted Real IRA Leader, Alan Ryan, enter the rear of a building on Gardiner Street. The steel door that Alan Ryan entered lead to an unknown tunnel that ran/runs under Mabbot Lane which runs parallel to Gardiner Street.
As a result of this indicator Alan Ryan and others were arrested, but later released. The plan had been to assemble a bomb in the concealed tunnel and attach it with a magnet to the steel Railway bridge that runs over the bottom of Gardiner Street.
The PIRA had learned from operations in Northern Ireland that security vehicles were normally not fitted with blast proof roofs, so the intention was that the bomb would blow downwards and using shrapnel, kill The Queen inside her vehicle.
The Queen came within a hairs-breath of dying in Dublin, had it not been for the initiative of senior Gardai then The Queen would have died in 2011.
It would not be until 2014 that Garda Commissioner, Martin Callinan, would admit publicly for the first time that The PIRA were involved in the 2011 plot to Murder Queen Elizabeth.
Kevin McKenna 2019
June, 2019, In Cavan Hospital, I held the hand of a frail old man, my cousin, Kevin McKenna, had been Chief of Staff of the Provisional IRA 1983-97, Kevin’s eyes filled with tears as I reminded him of the many innocent people he had Murdered, including school boy Columba McVeigh.
Conspiracy of Perjury
Everything published in this post has been before the Courts as evidence or in sworn affidavits. When a Complainant waves their right to anonymity that means that all evidence, whether it went before the Jury or not, be that personal diaries, personal letters, recordings of phone calls, personal photographs may all be legally published without restraint.
On the 10 January 2022, I received a text message to ask if I had seen a certain video that had been posted on-line relating to my conviction in 2000. When I viewed the video, it was BBC NI documentary that I had never seen before as it was aired while I was in prison in 2000. Here are my rudimentary observations about that video.
Firstly, Sorcha McPhilips (AKA Sorcha McKenna, AKA Sorcha McGuinness) was drugged with an unlicensed mind-altering drug known as Seroxat before she made any complaint against me. Sorcha McPhilips was a patient under the care of Clinical Psychiatrist, Dr Owens at St Davnets Psychiatric Hospital.
Secondly, Sorcha McPhilips, never made any allegation of penile penetration. Thirdly and most importantly, Sorcha McPhilips only made allegations of digital penetration to An Garda Siochana, after she had been digitally penetrated by Dr Grannie Courtney in December 1998.
In 1998, Dr Courtney was presenting herself on professional profiles as being happily married to her husband, the reality was somewhat different, and I learned this by means of a letter sent to me in prison by a female who had a sexual relationship with Dr Grannie Courtney.
Based on this letter, I made a formal complaint to The Irish Medical Council about Dr Courtney and her fitness to practice medicine. The Head of the Sexual Assault Unit, Dr Moira Woods was struck off the Medical Register. Dr Marian Smyth also in involved in the case had a child (Michael) to Provisional IRA Pedophile and Serial Killer, Michael 'Pete' Ryan.
The key described allegation (of which there were 5-7) against me, which offered the only Corroborating Evidence in the case, related to an incident on the 6 July 1990. The Complainant, her mother (witness for the Prosecution) and I, all agreed, on Oath, in Court, that an incident had taken place. That incident was related to the Complainant being caught yet again stealing from her mother and then telling lies about her stealing. Nobody, not even the Complainant denied that she was a prolific thief and liar from a young age.
We all agreed that on the 6 July 1990, the Complainant had been slapped for stealing and telling lies. Even after the Complainant meet with a Social Worker in 1998, she told the Social Worker about this incident in 1990, and how she had been slapped 10-20 times on the bottom at the instigation of her mother.
However, by the time the Complainant had entered the witness box in November 2000, this slapping incident was described as a 10-minute session of digital penetration. Only now do we know that the un-licenced mind-altering drug Seroxat that was feed to the Complainant by Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA Medic, Dr Marian Smyth, causes hallucinations, suicidal and homicidal thoughts and actions, in 2000 the manufacturers of Seroxat, GlaxoSmithKline were denying the extreme side-effects of Seroxat and its addictive nature.
Please note, the Complainant never needed the services of a psychiatrist, until she was drugged with an unlicensed mind-altering drug.
The video is, by any informed objective reading, nothing more than Black Propaganda, setting out, not just to bury me, but also, selectively, some of those people who had supported my Public anti-Terrorist work in Belfast 1998-2000, for example, it includes David Trimble but it excludes John Hume. It is worth remembering that Irish Times, Journalist, Tom Humpreys also wrote extensively about me, before he pleaded Guilty to Child Rape.
I suppose the only positive to take from the video is that those making it and participating in it were stupid enough to believe my cover-story. In fact, what these idiots did not know, was that I was running a series of informants within a number of organisations. My public profile was to give those informants the necessary confidence to continue to work with me. If I was ‘taking on the terrorists’ then I was someone these informants could speak to in confidence.
My work, without being indiscreet, prevented the murder of The Secretary of State, Peter Mandelson and his staff. My work prevented the murder of senior members of Sinn Fein/PIRA in Belfast (this can be confirmed with Gerry Adams). My work prevented no-warning bomb attacks in Dublin and Monaghan in 1998. My work prevented no warning bomb attacks in London. So, while BBC NI and the idiots prepared to perform for them were trying to do me harm, many lived because of my work, as did the peace process. My work continued in prison and prison presented no obstacle to my work.
The BBC NI Documentary presents Monica McWilliams of the NIWC to state that my statistics on Human Rights violations (1998-2000) were, “Rubbish”, in fact Monica McWilliams had used the facilities of the NIWC to facilitate and promote my work.
In 1999, Monica McWilliams asked the me to meet with her at her offices at Stormont, and since then she has been obsessed with me, to the point that I have in 2022 reported Monica McWilliams to the PSNI for Stalking me on social media, where I have been a political commentator and author for twenty-seven years.
Monica McWilliams suggests in the video that I invented a story about weapons being handed over to the Gardai in exchange for my arrest in January 1999, in fact, my Garda contact told me that the only reason they had arrested me was due to the fact that they had been promised weapons in exchange for my arrest. I told this to Nell McCafferty, before the guns were found and I also gave Nell the piece of paper on which a Garda Detective had written down his name and address. Nell phoned the Garda Detective and he admitted that what I had said was true. Nell is still alive to my knowledge.
Sam Cushnahan (now dead) is presented in the video, as a man who has done good for ‘victims’, to state lies about me. In fact, and it was widely known for many years before this documentary was made in 2000, that Sam Cushnahan was one of the people who had Raped children at Kincora Boys Home in Belfast, and that he operated Brothels in Belfast into which women and children were trafficked. Cushnahan was also instrumental in suppressing information about the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings.
I had only been associated with Cushnahan as I had been so directed by a Garda contact, due to Cushnahan’s association with extreme loyalist elements. By infiltrating FAIT and getting close to Cushnahan, I was able to prevent many murderous atrocities, including planned no-warning blast-bomb attacks in Monaghan and Dublin in 1998, designed to undermine the Good Friday Agreement and the peace-process. In 1998, Sam Cushnahan was involved in at least two extra marital affairs, one with a woman from east Belfast and the other with a male journalist at BBC NI.
The Documentary also presents my former Mother-in-Law, Mary McCleary, and my ex-wife (witness for the prosecution in DPP v Vincent McKenna 2000). Both my former Mother-in-law and ex-wife were in 2004 subject to a major Garda investigation into child sexual abuse, including the unlawful destruction of unborn children, to conceal serious crimes. In the documentary my former Mother-in-law says that I sent her an obscene card, it is suggested that I sent other items in the post in 2000, in fact, all matters referred to were sent by two members of Sinn Fein/PIRA in Monaghan and this has long since been confirmed by Gardai, I am disappointed that Gardai did not relay this information to my former mother-in-law.
The Hoax Bomb was not sent to my former mother-in-law, but was in fact sent to my former father-in-law, Seamus McCleary, however, Patrick ‘Paddy’ Tierney had issued a press release about the hoax bomb, before it had actually been delivered. A journalist called me about the hoax bomb and I immediately called a Garda contact in Monaghan, the Garda said no such bomb had been delivered, it was delivered later that morning. I would never have sent anything to Seamus, as he and I had a mutual friend, Christy McNamee. The latter would not have been known, unless Seamus told Mary.
The Sinn Fein/PIRA members were telling my ex-wife and the media that I was behind this perverse behavior. Sinn Fein/PIRA were doing it in order to ensure my ex-wife did not weaken in her resolve against me. In 2005, one of the Sinn Fein/PIRA members involved in this perverse behaviour, Patrick ‘Paddy’ Tierney told me in front of a witness, exactly what Sinn Fein/PIRA had done and why. I reported this 2005 disclosure to An Garda Siochana, however, due to collusion between certain Gardai and Sinn Fein/PIRA, no action was taken. Garda corruption in Cavan/Monaghan was only coming to light at this time, thanks to Garda Sgt Maurice McCabe.
Presenter, Kevin McGee suggests in the documentary that I invented a story about students being recruited by the IRA in 1999 to go to England on a bombing campaign, in fact, a student and his bomb team were arrested in England shortly after my announcement, major atrocities prevented by my actions. If the police had listened to Kevin McGee and ignored my warning, many innocent people would have died.
My former Mother-in-law states that she knew I was ‘Evil’ from the moment she met me in 1980, in fact I was a child on my school holidays, and it was she who illegally facilitated the death of her unborn grandchildren and conspired to terminate the life of the Complainant in DPP v Vincent McKenna, for nothing more than her own convenience. The documentary also presents some carefully crafted imagery and inuendo, perhaps Kevin McGee learned about Paedophilia from Sam Cushnahan.
My ex-wife, in the video, asserts that I had forced the Complainant to masturbate me, yet my ex-wife told the court it was medically and psychically impossible for me to be masturbated, due to major surgery I had when I was a small child.
My ex-wife states in the video that she did not know the detail of the allegations being made by the Complainant until she heard those details in the Garda station in January 1999, attempted digital penetration, and yet she told the court she did not know the details of the allegations being made while she was in the Garda Station, she denied being present when the Complainant was making her statement.
In the video my ex-wife (witness for the Prosecution) states that the Complainant never disclosed any detail of the alleged abuse to her, and she understood that, because who would want to tell their mother that. Yet, my ex-wife told the Court (Nov-2000) that on 19 April 1998, alleged second disclosure (first alleged July 1990) she immediately phoned me (19 April 1998) and set out a raft of detailed abuse allegations, including anal abuse. I never received any such call from my ex-wife 19 April 1998. In fact, I spoke to the Complainant 20 April 1998 and she never mentioned any alleged disclosure (Phone records available).
My ex-wife comprehensively contradicts the ‘Corroborating Evidence’ that she gave in Court and in fact supports my evidence.
The Complainant in DPP v Vincent McKenna is presented and she continues to repeat matters that were proven manifestly untrue in Court. The Complainant continues to state that prior to her first described allegation in November 1985 when she was three years old, she believes that abuse took place.
In 1984 the Applicant was in Crumlin Road Jail for political matters, before going to Jail in 1984 the Applicant was living in Dublin for political reasons, the Complainant is suggesting that she has memories from 2-years-old. The side-effects of Seroxat can last a life-time, suicidal, homicidal and hallucinations (In 2000 this was not known about Seroxat).
In the video the Complainant states that she was armed with a knife when she visited me and my family at her request in Belfast in 1998, I find this very concerning that the Complainant had Homicidal thoughts, when in fact she had never alleged any type of abuse in Northern Ireland. It may well be that she was being drugged before Easter 1998.
Johnathan Dowdall, Gerry Hutch, Kinahan Hutch Feud, Sinn Fein, New IRA, Regency Hotel Attack
2014, I had, under supervision from senior Gardai, completed an investigation into a major money laundering operation in north Dublin. Those involved in this money laundering operation were Sinn Fein/PIRA, Real IRA, Hutch Drug Gang (later withdrew following tip-off from Corrupt Garda) and some old favourites from The Mahon Tribunal, no prize for guessing who.
As a spin-off from this money laundering investigation, other serious crimes were frustrated. This mainly, but not exclusively related to plans by some to carry out attacks on those involved in repossessing property, Judges, Courts, KPMG, Kieran Wallace and so forth. As the money laundering operation and other matters were concluding, it was by pure chance that I was in what was considered a secure space when some who would be key players in The Regency Hotel attack entered.
A short distance away from this secure space was O’Shea’s Bar at the bottom of Gardiner Street. It was in O’Shea’s that I would in 2013-15 have meetings with Head of Provisional IRA Intelligence and Chairman of Sinn Fein NI, Bobby Storey. Sinn Fein/PIRA were funding an office for me at this time to help develop their IT network. I asked Bobby if he was aware of the meetings taking place between Sinn Fein/PIRA personnel, New-IRA and Hutch Drug Gang, to which Bobby replied, “Yes”. I would part company with Bobby Storey later in 2015 when he admitted that he and the Sinn Fein/PIRA Leadership in Belfast had ordered the murder of Kevin McGuigan.
In 2014 as these meetings were taking place to formulate a Plan to murder Daniel Kinahan, there were serious problems at Garda Headquarters. Then Garda Commissioner, Martin Callinan had dug himself and others into a deep conspiratorial hole, as he and others orchestrated a bizarre conspiracy against Garda Sgt Maurice McCabe who was a Garda Whistle-blower. Prior to this madness, Callinan was, to the best of my knowledge, a solid anti-terrorist officer.
I found myself in a very difficult position, I had clear information that a feud was about to erupt between The Hutch and Kinahan Gangs, however, those Gardai whom I had trusted for a long period, were no longer available.
I knew a Garda in another county, he was professional and trustworthy. I contacted this other Garda and told him that I needed a trusted contact in Dublin very quickly. He gave me the name of a Garda Det Sgt, I meet with the Garda Det Sgt, and I immediately realised that this was the wrong man for the job.
As I left the Garda station in a state of total disbelief and disappointment, I meet a card-carrying member of Fianna Fail (still alive in 2022) whom I had known through the building trade over many years. I confided in this individual that a feud was about to kick off and Gardai were so consumed with the collapse of their leadership and the campaign against Garda Sgt Maurice McCabe they appeared uninterested in the impending feud.
I reluctantly contacted a senior Garda who had now retired and told him about my situation, he gave me the name of a serving senior Garda. I made contact with this senior Garda and he said they would monitor the situation, I was not convinced, but what could I do. In 2018 this senior Garda would ask me to plant a computer hard-drive in a boat-shed that was allegedly owned by Garda Sgt Maurice McCabe’s father, I refused, shortly after my refusal my address was taken from Garda Pulse Computer system and given to The PIRA.
How Journalists got the Story Wrong
Some journalists who have made their bread and butter from The Kinahan/Hutch Feud have stated in thousands of articles and even published books that the feud started with the murder of Gary Hutch in 2015, Gary Hutch was murdered in Marbella, Spain.
However, this is not correct, and the reason journalists got it so badly wrong was due to the fact, that many so-called experts were sitting in cosy offices not far away from a Garda Station and taking their lead on the feud from Gardai who were in the pay of The Hutch Gang and also being paid by lazy journalists. I had highlighted this corruption on New Year’s Eve 2013, when a Garda based in the same station, received a substantial payment from a journalist, relating to an on-going operation to arrest a dangerous rapist named John English who was on-the-run from Cork, and whom I helped capture.
The Plan to murder Daniel Kinahan began in 2014. The Kinahan Gang had moved over-seas, with only enforces and dealers left on the ground in Ireland. While Sinn Fein/PIRA have worked closely with the Kinahan Gang over decades, in Columbia and so forth, Sinn Fein/PIRA seen an opportunity to take control of the drugs trade in Dublin. The Hutch Gang would do the importing and distribution, the New IRA the muscle and Sinn Fein/PIRA taking care of money laundering and so forth.
The Plan to murder Daniel Kinahan would not be operationalised until 2016 at The Regency Hotel. All of the weapons used were Provisional IRA weapons, released to the New IRA. Those later identified as being involved in The Regency Hotel attack were members of Sinn Fein/PIRA, The New IRA and the Hutch Drug Gang. Some of these later murdered and some would face trial.
IRA member, Shane Rowan pleaded Guilty in 2016 to possession of the three assault rifles, including a Chinese Type 56, a Romanian PM63 and a Zastava M70, that were used in The Regency Hotel attack, this was a joint enterprise between, Sinn Fein/PIRA, New-IRA and Hutch Drug Gang.
Conclusion
Sinn Fein/PIRA including Bobby Storey were central to the Plan to murder Daniel Kinahan, yet the media have effectively removed Sinn Fein/PIRA from the equation, with headlines stating that Johnathan Dowdall is a ‘former’ Sinn Fein Councilor and therefore his actions are not related to Sinn Fein/PIRA. Johnathan Dowdall was at the time of planning the murder of Daniel Kinahan an active member of Sinn Fein/PIRA and regularly in the company of Mary Lou McDonald and other senior Sinn Fein/PIRA. If Daniel Kinahan had been murdered at The Regency Sinn Fein/PIRA would have shared equally in the bounty that would flow from the lucrative drugs trade in Dublin.
Upwards of 20 people have now been murdered in the Kinahan-Hutch Feud, the majority of media coverage has been based on a false narrative, that false narrative originating from corrupt Gardai who are now out of the force and some charged.
Many journalists and so-called experts have dug themselves into a hole, if they now tell the truth about the origins of the feud, they will look foolish. If they tell the truth about the central role of Sinn Fein/PIRA in the Kinahan Hutch/Feud they will be called Liars. I am not here to make friends with anyone, and so you now know the truth about the origins of the feud.
There is also a strong possibility that Daniel Kinahan does not want to face the fact that he was double-crossed by Sinn Fein/Provisional IRA. It is easier to murder a few soft targets rather than take on the guns of the PIRA.
