In the rush to go on a short holiday, I missed posting this first-hand account of the death of Michael Collins, the hero of the fight for the freedom of Ireland. During the War of Independence he was Director of Intelligence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and a government minister of the self-declared Irish Republic.
He was then Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State from January 1922 and commander-in-chief of the National Army from July until his death in an ambush in August 1922, during the Civil War.
John O’Connell, the interviewee in this video, was a private in the Free State army, travelling in the convoy that was ambushed on 22 August 1922, when Michael Collins was killed. He was travelling in the Crossley Tender which was one of the three vehicles ambushed when the convoy met a road block at Béal na Bláth.
Michael Collins died without seeing the realization of his dream of a united Eire, free of the hated British oppressors. Indeed, the day has not yet come. Ireland remains divided. But the fight continues, albeit at the ballot box rather than in the streets.
Apparently some readers were not impressed with the Saint Patrick's Day greeting which we posted yesterday (a day ahead of schedule, but it was already the 17th in east Asia). Here's a video with a somewhat stronger message.
Happy Saint Paddy's Day to all of yez, then, from Walt, Poor Len [and Ed.! Ed.]
Walt is almsot always happy to report on a nationalist political party doing well at the polls, because nationalism (IMHO) is natural to human beings. Globalism is unnatural. People prefer being with other people like themselves, in their own country, on their own land.
The Irish, after an inexplicable interlude in which they flirted with internationalism, diversity, inclusivity and all that rubbish, appear to have woken up, and I don't mean that in the liberal way! Since June of 2017, the government of the Irish Republic has been headed by Leo Varadkar, who has served as Taoiseach (Prime Minister) and Minister for Defence.
Mr Varadkar is ethnically Indian, and openly as gay as 18 balloons. It was therefore a bit of a surprise that when former Taoiseach Enda Kenny decided to quit in May of 2017, Mr Varadkar stood in the election to replace him as leader of the governing Fine Gael party. Although more party members voted for his opponent, Mr Varadkar prevalied, and was elected leader, thus becoming, at age 38, the youngest- (and gayest-) ever Taoiseach.
This weekend the plain people of Ireland (Hello Myles na Gopaleen!) had a chance to express their opinion of Mr Varadkar and his government, and surprised the pundits by (apparently) voting in roughly equal numbers for Gael, the opposition Fianna Fáil, and... wait for it... Sinn Féin, a left-wing party committed to reunification of the island. Sinn Féin is regarded, unofficially at least, as being the political arm of the Irish Republican Army.
Its many critics accuse Sinn Féin of having failed to repudiate the role of the IRA in the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. The plain people of Ireland apparently don't have a problem with that, as exit polls show the party in a virtual dead heat with the two parties that have governed since the country won independence (for all but the northern part of the island) almost a century ago.
Ballot counting is still under way as I write, but with 96% of first-preference votes tallied, Sinn Féin had 24.1%, Fianna Fáil 22.1%, Fine Gael also 22.1%, the Greens at 7.4%, and small left-wing parties and independents comprising the rest. The Grauniad calls the result "stunning".
Preliminary vote tallies suggested Sinn Féin could win around 36 seats, up from 22 in the outgoing Dáil, far exceeding its own expectations. It appealed to young voters in particular, who felt left behind by a booming economy and chafed at soaring rents, homelessness, insurance costs and hospital waiting lists.
The predicted outcome means some type of coalition government is almost inevitable, with Sinn Féin likely to be a central player in the negotiations to form one. Until now, both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have refused to work with Sinn Féin because of its links to the IRA. Now, though, the centrist parties' resolve may weaken as politicians reckon with the reality of Sinn Fein's strong showing.
But their sudden grudging acceptance of Sinn Féin may come too late. Sinn Féin says it's ready to talk about forming a government... to everyone but the two major parties! "I want us to have a government for the people," said Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald. "I want us to have, ideally, a government with no Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael in it. I have started the contact with other parties to explore over the next days whether that is a possibility." Stay tuned.
Recommended viewing: Michael Collins, starring Liam Neeson, a mostly-true story about the struggle for the Irish Republic. Here's the trailer.
You can just fast forward past the love story part, with Julia Roberts in as horrible example of miscasting as I've ever seen. That aside, Michael Collins is a great movie about a great Irishman.
30 January 1972 is known now and forever in Derry as Bloody Sunday, the day when 13 innocent Irish people were killed while participating in a civil rights march. They were killed by British soldiers. Or maybe just one (1) British soldier, according to the UK Public Prosecution Service. For that's the total number charged with murder. ONE.
The charge against the murderer, known only as "Soldier F", was laid just this week, more than 47 years after the fact. The former paratrooper was not named because all military witnesses were granted anonymity by the Saville Inquiry into the circumstances around the killings. The PPS said there was enough evidence to prosecute Soldier F for the murders of James Wray and William McKinney... only those two, out of 13 dead. He also faces charges for the attempted murders of Patrick O'Donnell, Joseph Friel, Joe Mahon and Michael Quinn. There was "insufficient evidence", PPS said, to prosecute 16 other soldiers. Hardly surprising, after nearly half a century.
The sole prosecution is seen as a terrible disappointment by some of the families of the 13 people killed. James Wray's brother Liam told the BBC he was "very saddened for the other families" of those killed on Bloody Sunday. "Their hearts must be broken," he said. "It has been a sad day but the Wray family are relieved." But, he added, "There are a lot of sad and heartbroken people today."
To all the Irish -- including those who identify as Irish, those who feel like they're Irish, and those who wish they were Irish [and who doesn't?! Ed.] -- wherever they are -- in Derry, Sligo, Coleraine, Tullamore, Adjala Township and/or south Boston -- HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY TO YEZ, and don't rest until Ireland is united for the Irish!
Recommended reading: na Gopaleen, Myles (pseudonym of Flann O'Brien): The Best of Myles, Picador 1977. In particular, Walt likes the chapters titled "The Brother" (how could yez not laugh?) and "The Plain People of Ireland".
Some will say that the Eire of today is not the Ireland of Mr O'Brien's time. Many denizens of the auld sod won't be able to read the parts written in Irish Gaelic. [Faith now, I can't read it meself! Ed.] But the Irish are still the Irish, even if they live in a part of Ireland separated from the rest by the foreign (read: English) oppressors. God bless all of them, and haste the day that the Six Counties will be reunited with the rest of the country.
