The Contested Identities of Ulster Protestants review: grief and grievances
www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-contested-identities-of-ulster-protestants-review-grief-and-grievances-1.2520998
Wed, Feb 3, 2016, 15:02
Book Title:
The Contested Identities of Ulster Protestants
Eds. Thomas Paul Burgess & Gareth Mulvenna Publisher:Guideline Price:£68
“The problem I had with this book was….” These were the words with which the late , then leader of the began his contribution to a discussion on BBC television of my book, Northern Protestants – An Unsettled People, shortly after it was published in 2000. My heart sank. Ervine was a force for positive change in a community that urgently needed it. I wanted him to like the book. Then, however, he continued: “…that it was true and frightening and painful”. He went on to urge “every Protestant and every unionist” to read it. The problem I had with this book was that on page 2 I read my book described as “a deeply self flagellating tome” and a “personal exorcism of Protestant self-loathing”.
The putdown, while aggressive, is conventional. Though they are relatively young men, the chips that weigh heavily on the shoulders of Mulvenna and Burgess are ancient ones. The negativity that dismisses the questioning or critical insider as a Lundy is, in fact, explored in a compelling essay in this collection by James Greer. Lundy was the Governor of Derry who contemplated surrender during the 1689 siege, and his name is now used to denote treachery. Continue reading
The torture centre and the ‘hooded men’ Weekend read: In 1971 the British army took 14 men to a secret location in rural Co Derry and subjected them to a horrific interrogation from which they have never recovered. First published:
Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 02:30
There is a handwritten note in the margin of a letter written in 1977 by the British home secretary at the time, Merlyn Rees, to the prime minister, James Callaghan. The letter confirms Rees’s view that “the decision to use methods of torture in Northern Ireland in 1971/72” was a political one, taken by government ministers. The note in the margin, written by the head of the army, says: “This could grow into something awkward if pursued.”
Indeed it could. It is in fact still growing, and some of the victims of that torture now believe that, after more than 40 years, they may soon, finally, be vindicated. Continue reading
from the Irish Times 2/5/15
Murdered by the Glenanne gang: ‘Patrick lived till the ripe old age of 13’
Susan McKay
Last Updated: Saturday, May 2, 2015, 01:00
Dungannon in the 1970s was a difficult town in which to be young. It was bitterly divided and heavily militarised. But on March 17th, 1976, all that Patrick Barnard had in mind was celebrating St Patrick’s Day.
The 13-year-old spent the day at the parade in Coalisland, nearby, rushed home for dinner, then set out again with his friend Jimmy McCaughey to go to a disco at a local school. They called for another friend, but he was too busy watching The Magnificent Seven on television.
Patrick and Jimmy were outside the Hillcrest Bar, across the road from the school, when a car bomb planted by the Ulster Volunteer Force exploded. Patrick and Jimmy were killed, along with Andrew Small, a 62-year-old who had been walking home from Mass with his wife, and Joseph Kelly, a 57-year-old who had been in the bar between Mass and going to collect his wife after she finished her shift as a nurse. Almost 50 other people were injured, nine of them seriously. Continue reading
From the Irish Times 8 May 2015
Activities of Glenanne gang ‘deeply disturbing’, says judge
Susan McKay
Last Updated: Friday, May 8, 2015, 18:44
A High Court judge in Belfast has described the activities of a gang in which members of the security forces carried out sectarian murders alongside loyalist paramilitaries as “deeply disturbing.”
Mr Justice Seamus Treacey made the remark during a judicial review of the PSNI’s decision not to complete a report into the Glenanne gang by the now defunct Historical Enquiries Team.
The judge has deferred until next month the conclusion of the case brought by Eddie Barnard whose 13-year-old brother, Patrick, was murdered by the gang when it bombed the Hillcrest Bar in Dungannon, Co Tyrone in 1976, killing four people.
The gang is believed to have killed about 120 people, mostly mid-Ulster Catholics, during the 1970s. Mr Barnard wants Mr Justice Treacey to order the chief constable to have the HET’s report completed. The chief constable claims it is not his responsibility to do so.
The HET told families that as well as providing them with reports of individual case reviews it carried out, an overarching report into the gang’s activities was an “absolute necessity”. However, the report was abandoned in 2010 when it was almost finished. The HET was wound up in controversial circumstances in 2014 and it has yet to be replaced.
“The report is important because the families know that the state knows these cases were inextricably linked,” said Danny Friedman QC, representing Mr Barnard. “There is an enormous difference between the families and their supporters analysing those links and the state taking responsibility for that analysis.” It was about the value of truth and accountability and the interests of wider society, he said.
Tony McGleenan QC, representing the chief constable, said the case was “tilting at windmills”. There was no evidence of collusion in the Hillcrest attack and most of the material in the draft report had already been presented to families. In most cases the HET had found there were no futher evidential opportunities to pursue and no evidence of collusion.
He said the PSNI could not stand over the draft report. It was “flawed and inadequate” and “would need to be done all over again”. There was “no utility” in doing this, McGleenan said. “It will produce nothing new.” He said it was not the responsibility of the chief constable to investigate collusion.
Families heard that a spreadsheet presented in evidence on behalf of the Chief Constable of the PSNI included a list of members of the security forces who were either convicted of offences carried out by the gang or were suspects.
Mr Justice Seamus Treacey commented that the list ran over five pages.
Alan Brecknell, whose father, Trevor was murdered by the gang in 1975 said it was the first time a judge had commented on the disturbing and shocking nature of the Glenanne allegations. Mr Barnard said it saddened him to note that among those in court to listen to proceedings were the grandchildren of the victims.
“The pain of this is moving into another generation,” he said.
© 2015 irishtimes.com
Inez McCormack: A Challenging Woman
Showings: Washington and New York.
Washington, Georgetown University, Wednesday, April 8 at 5:30pm to 7:00pm. Book here.
New York, Thursday 9th April, 5.30pm see below
ICC Auditorium, ICC 37th and O St., N.W., Washington
“Inez McCormack: A Challenging Woman”
Screening of award-winning documentary “Inez: A Challenging Woman” and panel discussion on the role of women in the Northern Irish Peace Process
Wednesday, April 8, 2015 at 5:30 p.m.
ICC Auditorium, Bunn Intercultural Center, Georgetown University
3700 O Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20057
“Inez: A Challenging Woman” focuses on the life and work of Inez McCormack, a labour rights and civil rights activist, in bridging inequality and bringing peace to Northern Ireland. Please join us for a screening of this award-winning documentary, followed by a panel of experts discussing the legacy of Inez’s work and the important role of women in Northern Ireland’s peace process.
Event Type: Arts, Film, Academic Events
Departments: Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, BMW Center for German and European Studies, Georgetown Institute on Women, Peace and Security
https://inezmccormack.eventbrite.com
Open to the public and the press.
New York:
Please join New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Service Employees Union -Local 1199 (SEIU), for the first New York screening of the award-winning documentary, “Inez: a Challenging Woman”, about the life and times of the outstanding Northern Ireland human rights activist and trade union leader, Inez McCormack on Thursday, April 9 at SEIU Penthouse offices, 330 W.43rd St. Doors open at 5:30 pm with light refreshments,Film begins at6:30 pm .
Inez’s historic contributions to peace and equality in Ireland included her sponsorship, along with Dr. Sean MacBride, of the MacBride Principles for Fair Employment in Northern Ireland and her election as the first woman President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.