Come home to Desertmartin, Raymond McElhennon – your Claudy Bombings are forgiven. Raymond, when I say that all is forgiven, naturally I am referring to the two Governments, British and Irish, which have no interest in inquiring into any of the IRA’s past Human Rights atrocities. Terrorist atrocities of yesteryear have been accorded the Special Category Status of Forgotten so that we can all move … Continue reading The IRA’s Claudy Bombings – Come Home to Desertmartin, Raymond, All Is Forgiven…

On March 1st, 1976, IRA volunteer Paddy Hackett from Nenagh, Tipperary, was carrying a bomb along Stanhope Gardens in South Kensington, London, when it exploded blowing off his hand and forearm and almost amputating his leg above the knee. Hackett was found gravely injured on the road between two cars and for a brief period he was regarded as an innocent victim of an IRA … Continue reading The Strange Tale of the IRA Army Council’s 1976 Tube Bombers

There aren’t that many Catholic priests whom leading IRA members have embraced down the years. If you recall the days when the Catholic church in Northern Ireland used to condemn the IRA – yes, it did condemn it, even if it no longer does so – the IRA saw the Catholic church as its sworn enemy in the battle for nationalist hearts and minds, not … Continue reading Fr. Gary Donegan & The IRA

Malachy, 37 days before The Claudy Bombings, you were King of the Heap in the South Derry Brigade of the I Ran Aways when you triggered a landmine that blew three British soldiers to bits and maimed four others. Then 24 years of age, you were four or five years older than most of the other young I Ran Aways and were undoubtedly a highly-regarded … Continue reading Open Letter to Malachy O’Kane re His Part in the Claudy Bombings

Rightly did the Police Ombudsman apologise to victims and victims’ families when he released his threadbare Claudy Bombings’ report whose admittedly ‘narrow remit’ effectively dwelt on only one alleged and named participant in the Claudy Bombings of July 31, 1972 – the priest James Chesney – thereby effectively cloaking the many other persons – all of them [bar one] members of the so-called ‘South Derry … Continue reading The Claudy Bombers & Man “A” Unmasked

Shortly after midnight on February 4, 1974, a 50lb IRA bomb exploded in the rear luggage compartment of a private bus ferrying off duty British soldiers and their families from Manchester to Catterick army base. While the person who informed the IRA of the target must have seen women and children regularly boarding the bus, the bombers went ahead and planted the bomb. The IRA … Continue reading Martin McGuinness & the M62 Coach Bomb

Fr. Edward Daly, the priest who famously waved a white handkerchief on Bloody Sunday, was consecrated Bishop of Derry on March 31, 1974. Six months later, the IRA murdered a close friend of his, as he recalled in his book, A Troubled See: In September 1974, I was called upon to officiate at my first funeral of a victim of violence since my appointment as Bishop … Continue reading Bishop Edward Daly vs The IRA

Bishop Noel Treanor will probably be best remembered for spending well over £1M on lavish upgrades to his Belfast residence, ‘Lisbreen’, on Somerton Road, over a third of the cost picked up by a generous Stormont grant in 2014. Bishop Treanor may also be remembered for his poor relationship with the head of the Catholic church’s own child protection agency, Ian Elliott, to whom the … Continue reading Bishop Noel Treanor and the Belfast Brigade of the IRA

What’s the story with CATHOLICS and the belief that global pandemics and wars are SENT BY GOD as a PUNISHMENT FOR SIN, for a WORLD TURNING AWAY FROM GOD? Almost exactly a century ago and three years into the First World War, three children in rural Fatima, Portugal, claimed that Mary, the Mother of God, appeared to them in 1917 in visions on the 13th … Continue reading Does the Catholic church believe that God sends Chastisements?

1) Where the Civil Rights’ movement and the Social Democratic and Labour Party successfully represented Northern Nationalists in the early 1970s, introduce an unwanted campaign of terrorism largely fought by teenagers and young persons. 2) Target not only British soldiers who were initially welcomed by the Nationalist community, but also Protestant neighbours, not only members of the RUC and UDR, but also Protestant neighbours who … Continue reading The 15 Takeaways of the IRA Army Council