Plagiarism, A Lie and Omissions in Sean A. Murray’s Queen’s University Doctoral Thesis

You may have previously read my analysis of Sean Murray’s ‘Unquiet Graves’ film and my opinion that it may be viewed as IRA Propaganda.

When I wrote the article about Murray’s film, his Doctoral Thesis – which was effectively the outine of the film – had been embargoed for a year by Queen’s University on the grounds that Murray was seeking a publisher for it.

No publisher having been interested, Murray’s thesis has become available online and I downloaded it and discovered more plagiarism than would be tolerated in any of the four Irish universities where I studied – thankfully, Queen’s University not among them.

How did Murray’s plagiarism get past his two supervisors?

Supervisor	Des O’Rawe (Supervisor) & Cahal McLaughlin (Supervisor)

The fact that Murray refers a number of times to and quotes from the work of one of his Supervisors, Cahal McLaughlin, raises the possbility that the relationship between Murray and this Supervisor lacked critical distance or objectivity on the part of McLaughlin – in his Supervision of Murray’s thesis, McLaughlin failed to spot the obvious plagiarism and other matters I outline below – or if he did spot them, why weren’t they corrected?

Why didn’t Des O’Rawe or Cahal McLaughlin use Queen’s University’s own required software program [Turnitin] to check Murray’s thesis for Plagiarism?

Or, if they did, why did that software fail to uncover the clear examples of Plagiarism I have easily discovered?

Queen’s University claims:

Members of academic staff who mark assessed coursework are experts in that particular area. 

They will know the core texts/reading lists and will easily be able to identify when a student has not referenced correctly or has attempted to pass off an author’s work as their own. 

https://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/AcademicStudentAffairs/AcademicAffairs/AppealsComplaintsandMisconduct/AcademicOffences/Student-Guide/#

It would appear that Murray’s doctoral thesis was not properly checked or read before the award of his doctorate.

Let’s have a look at how Murray crafted much of his thesis – the normal text show’s Murray’s unattributed text – and the italicized text shows the publication(s) he plagiarised:

“In 2009 the government of Sri Lanka conducted the last few months of their offensive against the Tamil Tigers in virtual secrecy; the UN and international media were excluded and local press intimidated into silence. The perceived peace in Sri Lanka had cost as many as 40– 70,000 civilian deaths, a massacre that was virtually unknown around the world.”

In 2009 the government of Sri Lanka conducted the last few months of their offensive against the Tamil Tigers in virtual secrecy; the UN and international media were excluded and local press intimidated into silence. The perceived peace in Sri Lanka had cost as many as 40– 70,000 civilian deaths, a massacre that was virtually unknown around the world. [http://impactguide.org/library/Nofirezone-report.pdf]

“The question of such a process within the contemporary Irish context has been on the agenda from the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.”

The question of whether Northern Ireland should have a formal truth recovery process has been on the agenda since the signing of the 1998 Belfast Agreement. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238045923_Unionism_Truth_Recovery_and_the_Fearful_Past]

“At the core of all efforts in bringing about reconciliation in societies emerging from conflict is the thorny question of how to deal with the violent legacy of the past.”

At the core of all efforts in bringing about reconciliation in societies emerging from conflict is the thorny question of how to deal with the violent legacy of the past. [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/1467-856X.12050]

“Many practitioners of conflict transformation have long since recognized the art of storytelling as an effective tool for dealing with the past.”

Many practitioners of conflict transformation have long since recognized the art of storytelling as an effective tool for dealing with the past. [https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_international_comparative_law_review/vol39/iss2/1]

“Witness testimony allows audiences to interpret evidence in order to fill gaps in the audio-visual record. In reference to eyewitness testimony, Bruzzi notes…”

Witness testimony allows audiences to interpret evidence in order to fill gaps in the audio-visual record. In reference to eyewitness testimony, Bruzzi notes… [https://pure.roehampton.ac.uk/portal/files/451838/Shane_O_Sullivan_Final_Submission.pdf]

“While the concept of a formal truth process has been advocated by Sinn Fein and the Social and Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) for example, the views of the main unionist and loyalist political parties and associations – the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV), the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) and the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG) – have been much more negative, and their responses less than forthcoming.”

the concept of a formal truth process has been advocated and engaged with to a far greater degree by the main nationalist / republican political parties – the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Sinn Fein, the views of the main unionist and loyalist political parties and associations – the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV), the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) and the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG) – have been much more negative and the rationales behind their arguments less well developed. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238045923_Unionism_Truth_Recovery_and_the_Fearful_Past]

“In March 2014 the United Nations Commission on Human Rights voted to establish an independent international inquiry into the events uncovered in the film and consequent ongoing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. Despite international requests for this inquiry the government of Sri Lanka has refused to cooperate.”

In March 2014 the United Nations Commission on Human Rights voted to establish an independent international inquiry into the events uncovered in the film and consequent ongoing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. Despite international requests for this inquiry the government of Sri Lanka has refused to cooperate. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Fire_Zone]

“Irish Ways (1988), a film that focused on the daily confrontations between the British Army and Irish Nationalists. It highlighted the discrimination in housing and employment during this period, while focusing on the laws that permitted arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of Irish nationalists. The film also investigated the pervasive atmosphere of fear and mistrust – constant surveillance of neighbourhoods and business districts, television advertisements encouraging citizens to report suspicious neighbors to British troops, and the commonplace bombings and shootings.”

IRISH WAYS focuses on daily confrontations between the British Army and Irish Nationalists. It reveals discrimination in housing and employment, and laws permitting arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of Irish nationalists. The film investigates the pervasive atmosphere of fear and mistrust – constant surveillance of neighborhoods and business districts, television advertisements encouraging citizens to report suspicious neighbors to British troops, and the commonplace bombings and shootings. [https://www.icarusfilms.com/if-iris]

“In February 2019, the Department of Justice announced it is to set up a Legacy Inquest Unit in the Coroners Service to process Troubles inquests. Its aims are to speed up legacy inquest arrangements and deal with outstanding legacy cases.”

the Department of Justice announced it is to set up a legacy inquest unit in the Coroners Service to process Troubles inquests. It aims to speed up legacy inquest arrangements and deal with outstanding cases. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47416575]

For all those students who did not engage in lazy Plagiarism, it is scandalous that Murray’s thesis escaped proper scrutiny and that he got away with clear examples of plagiarism.

He should not have been awarded a Doctorate in view of his clear willingness to engage in plagiarism.

As a cheat, as a liar, as a plagiarizer, Murray’s Doctorate should be withdrawn forthwith.

Omission – Paul O’Connor

At the core of Murray’s thesis is the claim to have uncovered a hidden conspiracy involving members of the security forces and loyalist paramilitary terrorists.

One of the pillars supporting Murray’s thesis is the Pat Finucane Centre whose Director, Paul O’Connor was unmasked as an IRA terrorist gunman and bomber who hid his past for many years and promoted himself as a Human Rights activist – without ever admitting his own IRA Human Rights atrocities.

Paul O’Connor later admitted – after being unmasked – that he “went on the run” minutes after the body of IRA Volunteer Jim [James] O’Hagan bled to death on a bedroom floor of his home in the exclusive gated community of Deanfield.

Paul O’Connor was involved in Jim’s murder; Paul O’Connor was an IRA bomber for at least two years; Paul O’Connor was an IRA gunman for at least two years. Paul O’Connor was an IRA Company Commander in the Bogside for a year in charge of other IRA gunmen whose daily duty was to engage in gun attacks on police, soldiers and part-time UDR soldiers.

It is hardly credible that Murray – with his admitted IRA connections in his family and through members of Sinn Féin known to him who were also members of the IRA – did not know of O’Connor’s hidden terrorist past, but if in fact he did NOT know of it, then he would have become aware of it in November 2019 when I published the blog post “outing” O’Connor – a month before the award of his doctorate in December 2019.

Alternatively, he surely must have become suspicious of Paul O’Connor’s IRA background even earlier in December 2017 when Loyalist activist and blogger Jamie Bryson made claims about Paul O’Connor being in receipt of an IRA OTR letter.

But after the fact, when O’Connor was FORCED to admit his hidden IRA past, Murray owed it to other postgraduate researchers to acknowledge O’Connor’s IRA background so that they might make up their own minds about the quality, honesty and integrity of the Pat Finucane Centre’s IRA-Directed research.

He has not done this – he had a whole year to make an addition to his thesis while it was very kindly embargoed by Queen’s University to help him find a publisher.

Murray clearly doesn’t think it is important to warn those other students and researchers who might download his thesis about the IRA-tainted research incorporated in it.

Nor, apparently, does Queen’s University.

Omission – Anne Cadwallader

At the heart of Murray’s thesis and associated film is the work of Anne Cadwallader and the book she wrote “Lethal Allies – British Collusion in Ireland” while she worked for the IRA-Directed Pat Finucane Centre.

As someone who has relied for many years on the academic research of others in universities across the world, I believe it should have been vouchsafed by Murray in his thesis that Anne Cadwallader was married to IRA Volunteer Gerry O’Hare who had an extensive IRA background in the early 1970s including a number of terms of imprisonment.

Why not inform people so that they might make up their own minds?

O’Hare’s then wife was Rita O’Hare who was imprisoned after she was caught smuggling sticks of gelignite into Portlaoise Prison hidden in her vagina.

Rita O’Hare later became a senior leader of the IRA and the IRA’s representative in the United States. She was one of only two women ever to serve on the IRA Gang’s Terrorist Army Council.

Surely it is important to INFORM other academic researchers in universities abroad – or even within the UK and Ireland – that important sources quoted are and were very closely associated with a proscribed terrorist organisation or with members thereof, namely the IRA?

Clearly Murray did not think it was important to warn future readers and researchers of the IRA terrorist associations at the heart of his research and thesis.

Clearly, nor did Queen’s University.

A Downright Lie

Sean A Murray purports to have investigated Loyalist terrorist bombings in the Republic of Ireland.

However, Murray declares in his thesis that his father – an IRA terrorist bomber who was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for a failed double bomb attempt – was a “political” prisoner:

However, the story of Gibraltar holds a much more personal resonance as well as being a significant violent chapter in the conflict. One of the IRA members killed, Danny McCann, was my godfather, and a close cousin of my father. His death had a profound affect on me, as I was close to him growing up.

My father was jailed for political convictions in 1981 and it was Danny McCann, along with my grandfather, who became father-figures during his incarceration in Long Kesh, until his eventual release in April 1987.

The treatment of Danny McCann’s body by the Gibraltarianauthorities and the later gun and bomb attack on his funeral constituted a further low in the conflict that had already cost the lives of almost three thousand people.

As he was being buried at Milltown Cemetery, I was close to his coffin when the gun and bomb attack began and vividly recall being pulled to safety by Sinn Féin leader,Gerry Adams, as the first grenade exploded close by.

Surely Murray’s Supervisors – O’Rawe and McLaughlin – should have queried this entirely misleading assertion by Murray that his father, Sean Spike Murray, was a “political” prisoner when IRA Spike was caught while attempting to plant two “beer keg bombs” associated with a further TWO TONS of explosives uncovered by police – and was sentenced to 12 years in prison for what was clearly the same type of TERRORIST BOMBING that Murray was decrying in his thesis when practised by Loyalists?

Didn’t this fundamental contradiction deserve to be addressed?

Did anybody in Queen’s University actually READ Murray’s thesis?

Academic honesty is fundamental to the values of Queen’s and the University takes any instances of academic misconduct very seriously.

Students should not be allowed to obtain for themselves, or for anyone else, an unfair advantage as a result of academic dishonesty…

https://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/AcademicStudentAffairs/AcademicAffairs/AppealsComplaintsandMisconduct/AcademicOffences/

I have informed Queen’s University of the plagiarism in Murray’s thesis, but Murray is such a Big West Belfast Fish in Queen’s University Film Department that I hardly think his academic dishonesty and cheating will ever affect his “Doctored” title…