Johnny
White and Peter Collins break their 35-year silence
on the events of 1969 after receiving invitations
to a press conference for a campaign to clear Capt
Kelly's name.
It
was 1969 in Derry and the local Officer Commanding
of the IRA, Johnny White, got a request to set up
a meeting the next day through a member of the IRA
in South Derry. During this period Captain James
Kelly had been holding meetings throughout the six
counties on behalf of the Dublin regime as a result
of the Loyalist and RUC attacks on Catholic neighbourhoods
and the burning of thousands of Catholic homes.
The Dublin regime was coming under increasing pressure
to help the beleaguered population in the North
who were virtually defenceless. Pleas were made
by Catholics for the government to help.
We
now understand that Captain Kelly was sent north
with a mission, a mission to divide the Republican
Movement, and to provide the traditionalists with
money and weapons and to isolate the more radical
Marxist leadership. The twenty-six county regime
was afraid that if the then Dublin leadership stayed
in control of a growing and vibrant movement then
that was a threat to the state itself.
The
day after the initial contact a meeting took place
in Derry City attended by Johnny White, Peter Collins,
Micky Montgomery and Captain James Kelly of the
'Free State' army. Two of those at the meeting,
Captain Kelly and Mickey Montgomery, have since
died. The following is an account of the meeting
given to the Starry Plough by the two surviving
men who attended the meeting.
MEETING
SET UP
"The
Kelly meeting in 1969 was arranged following a previous
meeting in South Derry. Contacts were made with
Johnny White (OC) asking for a meeting with the
Derry Brigade. The following day Johnny White along
with his Adjutant, Mickey Montgomery, and Derry
Brigade Intelligence Officer Peter Collins met with
a man who introduced himself as Captain James Kelly
and said he was an intelligence officer with the
Irish Army (Free State). He also said he had the
authority to speak on behalf of the Free State regime
at the time.
£50,000
The
meeting lasted only a few minutes. Kelly after explaining
his role offered those present arms, training and
money (£50,000). When those present asked
Kelly what the Government wanted in return Kelly
said 'A guarantee that the struggle would be contained
within the six counties.' The OC then pointed out
to Kelly that he knew as well as him that situation
was guaranteed already as the standing orders within
the IRA prevented any attacks within the 26 counties.
"At
this point the OC then demanded to know exactly
what Kelly wanted in return for these weapons and
money and aggressively demanded, while pointing
his finger towards Kelly, that he give him a straight
answer. Kelly then said 'the elimination of certain
members of the leadership of the Republican Movement.'"
"SIX"
"At
this point both Mickey and Peter joined into the
conversation in a heated way and Mickey asked 'How
many?' to which Kelly answered 'Six.' Kelly was
then told in no uncertain terms to 'F*** off!' The
meeting then ended.
"Immediately
after this the three members of the Derry Brigade
made contact with the General Headquarters of the
IRA in Dublin and explained that a serious situation
had arisen and that they needed a meeting with the
leadership as soon as possible. The following day
a meeting was held at a venue in South Derry where
a report of the previous day's events was relayed
to the Chief of Staff of the IRA. The Chief of Staff
told the Derry Brigade OC that he should have got
the £50,000 first then told Kelly to 'F***
off!'"
NO
FURTHER ACTION
"The
representatives from Derry were then told that as
they had now reported the approach from Kelly to
the leadership they should take no further action
and the leadership would take care of it from then
on. After returning to Derry City both meetings
were reported to the local command staff.
"Over
the years nothing was said about these events other
than to a very few very prominent republicans and
former civil rights campaigners. We are not, at
this stage however, prepared to name these people
but believe that they will come forward in due course."
FREE
STATE AGENT
"We
would take this opportunity to urge all republicans
to have nothing to do with this campaign to clear
the name of this 'Free State' agent whose only legacy
was the division and split of the Republican Movement.
"We
believe the reason the 'Free State' government was
offering this deal was because they feared less
an armed struggle contained within the six counties
than an armed struggle throughout the thirty-two
Counties. They feared a scenario where tens of thousands
working class men and women would take to the streets
and challenge their authority and attempt to change
their system into one that put working class people
first.
"As
the Republican Movement was to the forefront of
that struggle it would have been important to divide
the movement and form a organisation that would
have been prepared to pay lip service to the Free
State government. In order to orchestrate this it
would have been necessary to eliminate those from
within the leadership who would have been considered
socialist or communist. This would then have laid
the groundwork for the formation of a right wing
and Catholic leadership that would have been prepared
to dance to the tune of the Dublin regime."
THE
PROVOCATION THAT LED TO THESE CLAIMS BEING MADE
PUBLIC
Johnny
White and Peter Collins both agree that the final
insult to them came when cards dropped through their
respective letterboxes inviting them to attend a
press conference that was part of the Captain Kelly
Justice Campaign. So incensed they were that someone
who they had intimate knowledge of attempting to
split the Republican Movement in 1969 should be
lauded as an innocent victim of injustice that they
decided to attend the press conference to finally,
after 35 years silence, get this information into
the open.
The
invitation, printed here, proved to be the final
insult to these two veteran republicans. Thirty-five
years after meeting Captain James Kelly and being
offered £50,000 for the elimination of six
leaders of the Republican Movement they now found
themselves invited to a campaign press conference
that would aim to clear the name of someone they
viewed as nothing more than an agent of the Free
State regime and whose motives in 1969 were to split
and divide the Republican Movement.
Johnny
and Peter have both stated categorically that they
would not have attended the press conference if
it hadn't been for the secretary of the said campaign,
Fionnbarra O'Dochartaigh, sending them both personal
invitations to attend. But when these invitations
landed on their doorsteps it was then, and only
then that they decided to attend and reveal the
full truth behind Captain Kelly's motivation in
1969. Johnny White commented, "We both took
this as a grave insult to every republican who stood
up against the 'Free State.' It is ironic that if
the 'Free State' apologists who attended the meeting
had only listened to what myself and Peter had to
say it could have actually helped the Kelly family
find the justice that they are looking for. Although
from our point of view no such justice was shown
to republicans right from the foundation of the
state. Right from Ballyseedy, Drumboe, the Curragh,
Enda McGee, Martin Bryan, John Morris, Ronan MacLochlainn,
the list goes on and on of republicans denied justice
by the Free State. These are all prime examples
of 'Free State' justice shown towards republicans
and republican socialists."
He
went on, "We would also, as former leaders
of the Republican Movement in Derry, categorically
refute claims made by Fionnbarra O'Dochartaigh,
that he was a member of the leadership of the Republican
Movement in Derry. At no time was this person ever
anywhere near leadership level, especially during
the period in question. In fact at that time he
spent more time in Cork than in Derry."
When
asked if they would support Fionnbarra Ó
Dochartaigh's call for a tribunal into these events
both Peter Collins and Johnny White said that they
would no problem supporting such an inquiry. That
view has also been echoed by another prominent veteran
Derry republican, Liam O'Comain, who was also prominent
at the time. Johnny said, "We would definitely
support an inquiry into these events, not just Kelly's
court cases but also into Kelly's role in 1969 and
into the orders he was given and why?"
©
Copyright Starry Plough Publications 2004
