The IRPSG in London pledges unconditional but critical support to Saoradh and the New IRA (NIRA) and to Republican Sinn Féin (RSF) and Continuity IRA (CIRA) against the state attacks orcastrated by MI5.  MI5 agent Dennis McFadden was wielded in Operation Abracia against Saoradh and the NIRA. On 10 November 2020 following the MI5 bugging operation in 2014 the CIRA were sentenced. Patrick Blair and Liam Hannaway got 5 years ‘indeterminate’, i.e. renewable.

The IRPSG does not accept the claims that Saoradh, RSF, the Continuity Sinn Féin (CSF), the Republican Network for Unity are the political wings of the NIRA, CIRA, or Óglaigh na hÉireann (ONH). These political organisations do not engage in armed resistance.

 There are openly acknowledged political connections between Saoradh, the RSF, CSF, and RNU and the NIRA, CIRA and ONH primarily in opposition to the British occupation of the six north-eastern counties of the Irish nation.

We recognise that Irish Republicans have the right to choose their own methods of struggle against the British occupation of the six north-eastern counties. We have no right to condemn them or their methods.

As leading Bolshevik Karl Radek said to the founders of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) just over 100 years ago; “It is very easy at the moment to speak out in Britain against intervention in Russia, since even the bourgeois left is against it. It is harder for the British comrades to take up the cause of Irish independence and of anti-militarist activity. We have a right to demand this difficult work of the British comrades.”

McFadden had been undercover in the republican movement for MI5 for at least a decade. And that CIRA MI5 bugging operation took place 6 years ago but only now has the crackdown come. The Gardaí, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and MI5 are currently involved in 120 investigations into dissident activity in Ireland. PSNI Assistant Chief Constable, Barbara Gray, claims her partners are MI5, the Gardaí, Police Scotland, and the Metropolitan Police in London.

The Garda Siochana Policing Authority appointed Detective PSNI Chief Superintendent Paula Hilman its Assistant Commissioner last April. PSNI Detective Chief Inspector Stephen McCauley was appointed Superintendent in the Gardaí at the same time. In September 2018, former PSNI deputy chief constable Drew Harris became the first person from outside the Gardaí to be appointed Garda Commissioner.

This is reminiscent of when Britain ruled the whole of Ireland over a hundred years ago; Loyalist policemen from ‘Ulster’ occupied all the top positions in the Royal Irish Constabulary. Catholic policemen were regarded as unreliable; there were mass resignations when the ‘troubles’ began.

The ‘United Ireland’ now being touted is one under the British Commonwealth, but not necessarily with the Queen as head of state as is the case with some Commonwealth countries. That would be too much for SF’s base!

The question that immediately arises is why now? Why wait six and ten years to move? Thee are two closely related reasons. First there is a left anti-imperialist movement in Ireland reflected in the influx of youth into ‘dissident’ groups north and south. It is also reflected in the big vote for Sinn Féin in the south’s general election on 8 February. SF got 27 seats and an increase of 10.7% and the highest first preferences share of the votes at 24.5%. This was completely unexpected; SF would have taken several more seats had they stood more candidates.

This observation does not imply we advocate voting for Sinn Féin, no, just as we do not call for a vote for the Democrats in the USA; both are capitalist parties. But we do recognise SF’s base as leftist and anti-imperialist, just as our analysis of the US election recognises the Democrats as having a left-moving base to which we should appeal.

Sinn Féin have abandoned all opposition to British imperialism, they have accepted the Loyalist veto over the unity of Ireland and have welcomed the Queen, her family and representatives to Ireland. Moreover, they have imposed savage austerity in the north of Ireland on their own base and have sat on the Northern Ireland Policing Board since 2007; Gerry Kelly, Linda Dillon and Philip McGuigan are on it. These will have examined and endorsed MI5 activities in Ireland as a whole, which may well have included McFadden and others unknown.

On 25 July in Belfast Anti-Fascists (AFA) said activists had joined with members of Saoradh, Lasair Dhearg (Red Flame), the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the Connolly Youth Movement (CYM) to “shut down” an information stall run by the fascist Irish Freedom Movement.

“Upon receiving information that these fascists were planning on holding an information stall in our city centre, Belfast AFA got in contact with said other organisations and together mounted a direct response and in the end shut down the fascists in the city centre in front of a large crowd, and as a result the fascists didn’t get the opportunity to hand out a single leaflet, Fascists have no place in our society, whether they are Irish fascists or British fascists. We will confront them where and when they choose to appear.”

This is the second reason. The appearance of united action by Republican Socialist in Ireland caused great alarm amongst both the Irish and British capitalist class.

Victims of MI5 Agents

NIRA:

Sharon Jordan, David Jordan, Kevin Barry Murphy, Damien McLaughlin, Amanda McCabe (Mandy Duffy), Gary Hayden, Joseph Barr, Shea Reynolds, Patrick McDaid. Dr. Issam Bassalat (Palestinian).

CIRA:

Patrick Blair 5 yrs Indeterminate (renewable). Liam Hannaway 5 yrs Indeterminate (renewable). John Sheehy 2 half yrs 2 half yrs probation. Terrance 2 half yrs 2 half yrs probation, Kevin Heaney 21 mts, 21 mts probation. Jap Morgan 18 mts 18 mts probation.

Joseph ‘Tiny’ Lynch, 79, 2 half yrs, 2 half yrs probation (plea bargain, see box). ▲

Extract from Official Statement of Continuity Sinn Féin 17-11-20

We have confirmed that Joseph (Tiny) Lynch has been responsible for republicans been incarcerated for a very long time. This man was once classed as the third in command of the CIRA, when in fact he was nothing but an MI5 informer.

We would like to make this adamantly clear that this man is NOT a republican, we firmly believe he is nothing short of a criminal who only acts with his own best interests at heart.  To quote his own words; “I could talk the talk but never walk the walk”.

https://www.facebook.com/Continuitysinnfein.org/▲

Irish Republican Prisoners News POWs 2020

Shelton Abbey Prison

Arklow, Co. Wicklow

Ireland

Colin Casey

Castlerea Prison

Harristown

Caslerea

Roscommon

Eugene Kelly
Dean Evans

Portlaoise Gaol

Dublin Road

Portlaoise,

Co Laois

C1

Daniel Hegarty

C4

Seán Connolly

E1

Dónal Billings

Sharif Kelly

Jonathan Hawthorn

Michael McDermott

E2

Garret Mulley

Ryan Glennon

Joe Cassidy

E3 & E4

Philip Barney McKevitt

Patrick Brennan

Stephen Hendrick

Edward McGrath

Connor Hughes

Darren Fox

Joe Walsh

Dylan Cahill

Kevin Braney

Ciaran Maguire

Robert Day

Kevin Hannaway

Seán Hannaway

David Nooney

Conor Metcalfe

Damien Metcalfe

John Brock

Máirtín Manning

John Roche

Declan McDermott

Dóchas Centre

Mountjoy Prison

North Circular Road

Dublin 7, Ireland.

Eva Shannon

Hydebank

Fern One

Hydebank Wood

Hospital Road

Belfast

BT8 8NA

Mandy Duffy

Sharon Jordan

Christine Connor

Magahaberry Prison,

Old Road, Ballinderry Upper, Lisburn,

BT28 2PT, Ireland

Roe 4

Brendan McConville

Seán McVeigh

Luke O’Neill

Peter Granaghan

Gerard Lagan

Paul Campbell

Christie Robinson

Ciarán (Zach) Smyth

Seán Farrell

Shea Reynolds

Paddy McDaid

Joe Barr

Gary “Musky” Hayden

Kevin Barry Murphy

Damien “DD” McLaughlin

Davy Jordan

Issam Hajjawi

Ciarán McLaughlin

Davis House

Darren Gleeson

Quoile House

Barry Petticrew

Erne House

John Paul Wootton

No wing stated

John Downey

Limerick Prison, Mulgrave Street, Limerick, Ireland.

Rose Lynch (not on IRPN list) ▲

Letter to the Morning Star (unpublished)

Pauline Murphy has written a great essay on the international support Terence MacSwiney got following his death on hunger strike in October 1920 (M. Star Oct 24). She mentions the thousands in mock funerals in Glasgow, Liverpool, and Manchester, but the real funeral mass was more interesting.

Labour leaders Henderson, J.R. Clynes, J. H. Thomas, Atlee and Labour Lord Mayors of many London boroughs attended the mass in Southwark Cathedral. They had no support for the IRA, but were forced to attend by pressure from below. They betrayed their own members and the Irish struggle; they gave their prime allegiance to the British empire.

The Daily Herald reported:

‘The vast throng of marcher, Irish residents in England, first women of Cumann na mBan, of all classes but one spirit… after them were members, hundreds after hundreds, of Irish Self-Determination League. Each of the 27 London Boroughs had their banners… Thousands of ordinary men and women, most of them very poor … and nowhere a sneer or a laugh; for these were the Commons of England and not the House of Commons.’

The sympathy of the British working class and poor was with the IRA in the struggle. Karl Radek spoke at the Second Congress of the Comintern to the delegates who would found the CPGB the following month, ‘We greatly regret that our party comrades who are in the Labour Party did not tear the mask off these swindlers’ faces … It is very easy at the moment to speak out in Britain against intervention in Russia, since even the bourgeois left is against it. It is harder for the British comrades to take up the cause of Irish independence and of anti-militarist activity. We have a right to demand this difficult work of the British comrades.’

Gerry Downing Cricklewood ▲