Planning grant for 246 homes at Cork site where executed RIC constable believed to be secretly buried
Constable Thomas Joseph Walsh was court martialled and executed by the IRA in Blarney during the War of Independence
Planning has been granted for 246 homes to be built at a Cork site where the secret burial place of an executed RIC constable is believed to be located.
An Bord Pleanála upheld planning permission on May 6 for Clockstrike Ltd to build the houses and a creche at Ringwood, Shean Upper in Blarney.
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Irish Daily Mirror
7 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
The problem with Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein wanting to 'put manners' on media
Gerry Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA. There, that's that out of the way. These days it's good practice to get your disclaimer in early. Especially if you're in the journalism business. Anything else could be construed as bad manners. And 'manners' is what Gerry's €3 million libel battle with the BBC all boiled down to in his own words. The case he took in the Dublin High Court 'was about putting manners on the British Broadcasting Corporation' he announced minutes after a jury awarded him €100,000 in damages. They had agreed that a Spotlight programme had defamed Gerry by alleging he sanctioned the murder of IRA spy Denis Donaldson in 2006, eight years after the Good Friday Agreement had sealed his place among the peacemakers. Gerry's grandiose reaction to the decision was described as 'chilling' by the National Union of Journalists. For a man who has dealt in secrets during a lifetime of politics, it was certainly candid. This was Gerry saying the quiet part out loud. Because as long as the press has been around, there have been those in political power who fantasise about 'putting manners' on it. Not least the many other members of Sinn Fein who have taken libel actions against the Irish media in recent times, as they are of course entitled to do. They would also be entitled to ask the Press Ombudsman to adjudicate their grievances instead. It's a process that exists to put manners on journalists without damages or the €3 million tab for lawyers' fees. Weeks before Gerry's big win at the High Court, Sinn Fein TDs also voted in the Dail against the reform of Ireland's defamation laws. Their biggest issue was getting rid of juries like the one that gave Gerry a hundred grand last week. They take the view that a group of lay citizens are best qualified to stand judgement on that most precious of things to the Irish – our reputation. Over the years juries have deemed it to be vastly more valuable in compensation terms than literally losing life or limb. Sinn Fein believes that people should be summoned from their day jobs as butchers, bakers and candlestick makers, and asked to rule on this wickedly complex area of civil law that divides and defies legal experts. And be relied upon to not lose the run of themselves when awarding damages. I've been in the high court before when juries were asked not to lose the run of themselves. When advised to use the yardstick of a family holiday or a small car to assess damages, they have returned with eye watering six-figures sums. That's quite the family vacation. But there is a bigger problem I have with Gerry's swagger at sticking it to the BBC and Sinn Fein's general animosity towards the media. 'Putting manners' on the press has become a dark obsession among others who view journalists as 'the enemy of the people'. And they are willing to use far less legitimate methods than a high court jury to do it. Last year was the deadliest on record for media workers around the world with over 200 reporters killed, the vast majority in Gaza where the press have become legitimate targets. In the world's biggest democracy, the American media is bearing the brunt of an authoritarian crackdown. Respected outlets are banned for refusing to report a warped view of reality sanctioned by the ruling regime. Handpicked lackies and sycophants are favoured to replace experienced reporters because they ask the right questions. Amnesty international this week named Northern Ireland – where Sinn Fein leads the Government - as one of the most intimidating places to be a reporter because of threats from crime gangs. Meanwhile hatemongers attack and intimidate journalists 24 hours a day in the unpoliced laneways of cyber space where they replace news and facts with their own disinformation and conspiracies. Against that climate, we need political leaders to choose their words and actions carefully when they have a beef with the media. Politicians whose first instinct is not to join in the 'let's put manners on them' pile-on. And who remember there are alternatives to multi-million libel lotteries before you march to the High Court behind the battle cry: Tiocfaidh ár Law!
Irish Times
17 hours ago
- Irish Times
Death In Derry - Martin McGuinness and the Derry IRA's War Against The British: Strong on candour, weak on analysis
Death In Derry: Martin McGuinness and the Derry IRA's War Against The British Author : Jonathan Trigg ISBN-13 : 978-1785375477 Publisher : Merrion Press Guideline Price : €19.99 This book is a valuable contribution to the literature of the Troubles period and the history of the IRA. Jonathan Trigg has secured interviews with several former British soldiers and IRA members, many under pseudonyms. This is new material. The weaknesses in the book are that it is not strong on political analysis and that it accepts simplistic versions of key events such as the Battle of the Bogside and the Falls Road rioting of August 1969. He says, for instance, that the 1971 internment raids were not extended to loyalists because of unionist pressure. Actually, this was on legal advice that such a measure could not be used against a force that did not threaten the state – the same logic by which the Irish government refused to intern IRA members at the same time. READ MORE Trigg is happy to describe the period of violence as a war, accepting terminology favoured by the IRA themselves. He writes of IRA activists in a tone bordering on admiration, apparently as one soldier respecting others. [ A former British army officer and author on former IRA members opening up to him: 'Trust is a huge issue' Opens in new window ] That will grate with some who will prefer a more moralistic approach and will not like to read of murders being described as 'successes'. Trigg is a military historian. His strengths are in understanding military culture and warfare. It is almost endearing how he admits to occasional failings in his research. One IRA man refuses to tell him what he was jailed for and he leaves it at that, when another researcher might have gone into the newspaper archives and found out. He misses some important nuances. In a chapter about the south Derry IRA centred around Bellaghy, he attributes the reduced level of republican militancy in the area to the presence of the literary centre Seamus Heaney HomePlace, and the 'thousands of tourists wandering around with their camera phones'. Clearly he hasn't been to Bellaghy lately. However, he has secured the candour of several former Provos and soldiers, and this factor provides an understanding of their actions and their thinking that earns the book a place on the shelves of any serious future researchers or writers on the period. One amusing detail is that the British army developed a remote control camera system for monitoring suspects but had to scrap it because those suspects would hear the click and the whirr of the film winder. That wouldn't be a problem with the technology of today.
Sunday World
a day ago
- Sunday World
Man hired to burn down warehouse for Wagner Group wanted to link ‘Kinahans' in with Russia
The Old Bailey heard how Dylan Earl had grand ambitions to 'build a link' between the IRA, the Kinahans and Russia, as he declared: 'We have direct connection to the Kremlin, we can do something big' A court has heard how a man hired by the terrorist Wagner Group to burn down a warehouse linked to Ukraine boasted about linking up the IRA and the Kinahan crime cartel with Russian agents. Leicestershire man Dylan Earl has admitted orchestrating an arson attack on the warehouse in east London last year, as well as plotting to burn down Mayfair businesses and kidnapping their Russian dissident owner. Described as the 'architect' of the scheme, the Old Bailey heard how 20-year-old Earl had grand ambitions to 'build a link' between the IRA, the Kinahans and Russia, as he declared: 'We have direct connection to the Kremlin, we can do something big.' Earl, who had been recruited by the terrorist group that was conducting a sabotage campaign on behalf of Russian intelligence, has admitted aggravated arson on behalf of the Wagner Group on the warehouse in Leyton, East London. The fire destroyed over £100,000 worth of equipment, including generators and vital satellite equipment destined for Ukraine. Jurors at the Old Bailey were shown chats between Earl, of Elmesthorpe, near Hinckley, and a Wagner Group contact identified by the handle Privet Bot, on Telegram. Dylan Earl News in 90 Seconds - 6th June 2025 The day before the arson attack, Privet Bot instructed Earl to watch the television series The Americans, about KGB agents undercover in the US, "in order to understand (the) work". The court was told how Earl allegedly roped in Jake Reeves (23) from Croydon, south London, to help recruit people to carry out the arson attack on the warehouse. Earl also revealed his plans to Ashton Evans (20) from Newport, Gwent, on Signal, Snapchat and mobile phone messages, it is alleged. Four men accused of carrying out the arson attack, Jakeem Rose (23), Ugnius Asmena (20), Nii Mensah (23) and Paul English (61) were told to live stream it to Earl so he could report back to the Russians on the success of the 'mission'. The four have denied aggravated arson relating to the warehouse fire. Jake Reeves (23) from Croydon, south London The blaze at 11.40pm on March 20 last year started with a jerry can of petrol and caused more than £1 million in damage to the premises, which was targeted because of its connection to Ukraine, with the warehouse being used to store StarLink satellite equipment and humanitarian aid bound for the war zone. However, Russia refused to pay the arsonists because the blaze wasn't up to the Wagner Group's 'standards', the court heard, as the arsonists made a series of errors, forgetting to film the attack and having to return to the scene where they were captured on CCTV. Reeves, from Croydon, South London, who has already admitted his part in the conspiracy, later complained: 'They were supposed to make it burn.. but they just ran in there.' Two days after the attack, Earl admitted he was 'waiting on payment still, apparently it'll land today but it's nowhere near the amount because they didn't burn the whole thing'. The following day, the court was told Evans had asked Earl: "Did you light it up?" before discussing the plot to burn down Hide restaurant and Hedonism wine shop in Mayfair, snatch the owner and hand him over to Russia. On April 1 2024, Earl asked Evans to delete their chats and asked if he could make connections with the IRA or the Irish Kinahan crime family. Earl suggested he wanted to "build a link" between the Kinahans and Russia, saying: "We have direct connection to the Kremlin, we can do suin (something) big." After his arrest, Evans claimed he did not take the chat seriously, having jokingly told Earl: "And this is all in Minecraft (the computer game) right?" He also claimed in a police interview that he was just stringing Earl along to get a refund for £300 of fake cocaine he had bought. Both Earl and Reeves have pleaded guilty to aggravated arson of the east London warehouse and an offence under the National Security Act. Prosecutor Duncan Penny, KC, told jurors: 'This was deliberate and calculated criminality - at the behest of foreign influence. 'In the case of these defendants at the time of the fire they may have been ignorant of that influence and the motive may have been financial - good old-fashioned greed. 'For others, however, it appears to have been both political and ideological.' The case continues.
