Issue 017, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (September, 1988)

              iitmh 17 mean fomhair - september 1988 25_p usa 50c per issue 18 per year issn 0791 - 0002 bulk rate us postage paid hummel dist corp return addi saoirse box 1053 south orange n.j 07079 h the tipperary team who beat galway in the 1st hurl ing all-ireland 100 years ago this centenary was celebrated recently in galway - see page 6 m tomas o neachtain in the centre pages looks at the career of eoghan harris and his influence in the 26-county rte broadcasting service the work ers party ideologist who now edits the only irish language current affairs programme cursaf thatmr aho haughty a hard lesson in the nature of british rule in the occupied six counties has been learned in recent weeks the lesson that the dublin government's total collaboration with the terror regime north of the border will not bring freedom justice and peace instead it will result in the increased oppression of irish people in their own country and will shield thatcher's colonial government from interna tional outrage at her actions in ireland that this is inescapable fact was shown j to be true in the last week of august 1988 on tuesday august 23 mr jhaughey's government in dublin sig nalled its complete subservience to london by extraditing gerry harte a political prisoner into the hands of ithe crown forces at the time of the alleged offences in 1979 he was just 15 years old a second irish citizen was handed over on saturday august 27 when pow robert russell was transferred from mountjoy jail to a waiting british heli copter on the border amid unprece dented scenes of decoy convoys and road blockades it was the despicable yet logi cal outcome of accepting the right of britain to rule in ireland three days later on august 30 the british revealed their true face with the ruthless gunning down of three tyrone men in their native place by imported sas thugs with no right to be anywhere in ireland this is the british response to haughey's servility — they put the boot in on irish nationalists secure in the knowledge that the dublin government has to share the responsibility through the mechanism of the hillsborough security pact of 1985 haughey's responsibility a large part of the responsibility there fore for the deaths of gerard and martin harte and brian mullin rests with mr haughey saoirse offers its deepest sympathy to the bereaved families we send con dolences to pat mullin pow long kesh who wrote to this paper in january 1987 expressing his support and encourage ment in a statement to saoirse on the extradition of gerry harte and robert russell ruain o bradaigh uachtaran shinn fdin poblachtach said the logic of the free state position is inescapable if one sits in leinster house one acceots the position of the 26-county state totally this involves acceptance of the british-made border in ireland as an international frontier with all the obli gations which that entails politicians from michael collins to de valera to tomas macgiolla and cj haughey have at times attempted to escape the logic of that position it is impossible to do so the 26-county state was set up in ireland by england to serve england's interests here it has faithfully done so for 66 years those who accept that state must serve those interests also britain's tools that is why republicans have refused to accept the free state have suffered and died rather than do so that is why they still reject it — because they will not become britain's tools in ireland charlie haughey and all others who accept and serve the 26-county state are actual or potential tools of england republican sinn fe'in alone upholds the republic of 1916 and refuses to do england's dirty work here — which is among the obligations assumed when one goes into the 26-county parliament england has demanded political extra dition from the 26 counties and that state has fulfilled the duty it accepted at its formation in 1922 see also bundoran hunger-strike march report p.3 ____._* _ _________ _ republican poblachtach 84u cfrd fh61s october 22-23 1988 spa hotel lucan co dublin delegates and visitors requiring billets please contact head office at 21 shaw street dublin 2 f6*n 01 718224