Showing posts with label Martin Galvin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Martin Galvin. Show all posts
Martin Galvin  ðŸ“° with a letter that appeared in the Irish News on 23-August-2023

Attorney General Brenda King has directed new inquests into 5 mid-Ulster killings, citing intelligence that British state agents/bodies played a role in the murders, ballistic evidence linking the weapons used, and wider evidence of collusion.

The families think that if allowed to proceed, these inquests will implicate the British Army’s Ulster Defence Regiment 8th Battalion, with direct links to other mid-Ulster murders, and a pattern of crown collusion around the six counties. The families of Phelim McNally, Thomas Casey, Sean Anderson, Dwayne O’Donnell and Thomas Armstrong have fought a heartbreaking legal battle just to get this far.

From the outset, local observers said the Ulster Volunteer Force was being used as a cover name by the UDR. After one related murder in the area, that of Liam Ryan, former MP Bernadette Devlin McAliskey told reporters “in Tyrone as in many parts of the North, the Ulster Defense Regiment and UVF are virtually the same thing”.

When these families saw the Royal Ulster Constabulary, showing little interest and less sympathy in investigating the killings of their loved ones, they made statements to Ms. McAliskey and Fr. Joe McVeigh, hoping public interviews would somehow lead to justice.

When they were told that a Historical Enquiries Team (HET) had been created within the PSNI Constabulary, to investigate legacy cases, these families engaged. They then waited years, only to see the HET disbanded in 2014 after scathing findings of favoritism for crown forces. They waited still more years just to obtain a copy of the HET report into two of the killings. It was finally released in 2021.

Relatives followed the Roseanne Mallon Inquest and saw hidden evidence uncovered linking the weapons used in these killings to other murders.

They saw other families uncover truth about collusion in the Loughinisland, Operation Greenwich, and Operation Achille, Ombudsman Inquiries. They then fought for and were promised a collective Ombudsman investigation into 60 murders by Dr. Michael Maguire in 2016. Operation Ashton has yet to begin.

The bereaved families and their solicitor Gavin Booth, now face a race against time and British amnesty shut-down deadlines. Will the PSNI Constabulary and Ministry of Defense provide timely discovery so the inquests can reach verdicts before the May deadline? Will the crown just deny, delay and run out the clock?

How much more heartbreak must families face in order to get justice?

Martin Galvin is long time
Irish American activist.

Tyrone Inquests In Race Against Amnesty Deadline

Martin Galvin  ðŸ“° with a letter that appeared in the Irish News on 17-August-2023

Re: Trevor Ringland (We should all make an effort to deal with legacy proposals-July 28th)

It is remarkable that Trevor Ringland has so little sympathy for nationalist perspectives, yet expects us to heed his directives. His latest letter concludes with a reference to Trojan King Priam kissing the hands of the Greek warrior Achilles, and pleading for the return of his son’s body. (We should all make an effort to engage with legacy proposals-July 28th) Mr. Ringland misses the irony of using this metaphor to tell bereaved relatives pleading for truth about murdered sons and daughters, to embrace a legacy plan by the same British government, which they believe carried out or colluded in these murders.

Mr. Ringland thinks there is so much anger at the British amnesty plan “because it made clear that justice would be difficult to deliver.” In fact, victims’ families are angry, because they feel the British are blocking the delivery of justice to keep the truth buried along with their victims.

The Ballymurphy Massacre Inquest proved that despite the passage of time the truth about many legacy killings can be delivered. Nearly half a century passed from the killings until the inquest verdict. Numerous civilian witnesses not only came forward, but welcomed the chance to testify. Judge Siobhan Keegan had no difficulty in finding the facts and rendering a comprehensive verdict. If there is anything still lacking it would be the failure of the PSNI Constabulary to commence an investigation into the unlawful killings of a Catholic priest, a grandmother and eight others.

Bereaved relatives like the Springhill Massacre or New Lodge Six families, or those listed for Ombudsman Investigations have waited their turn, and seemed on the cusp of getting justice for their loved ones. They are angry because they see the British government taking away legal mechanisms which worked for other families.

Mr. Ringland thinks it “grossly unfair” that there are so many civil actions against the British government for acts carried out by British crown forces. Presumably, as a solicitor, he knows the crown need only pay damages, where murders, beatings, or other acts committed by British forces were unlawful. Why does he blame Irish victims who suffered wrongful acts at the hands of British crown forces for merely seeking redress in British courts, instead of those who inflicted illegal acts in the service of British rule?

Lastly those familiar with the story, will recall that the warrior Achilles felt compassion for Priam and mercifully granted the bereaved king’s plea. Sadly the British government shows no such compassion for Irish victims, continuing to ram through its legacy cover-up bill despite bereaved families’ pleas for justice and truth.

Martin Galvin is long time
Irish American activist.

Burying Truth Along With Victims

Martin Galvin  ðŸ“° with a letter that appeared in yesterday's Irish News 

Chris Heaton-Harris claims Britain is pushing its Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill “to achieve better outcomes” in legacy cases. 

Certainly the British will expect to achieve better outcomes from their appointed Commission than those they get at inquests like Ballymurphy, Ombudsman Investigations such as Operation Achille, civil cases like the Miami Showband lawsuit, or Criminal trials like the McAnespie murder verdict. One can only imagine how bad the outcomes might get, if Britain ever allowed a genuine Historical Investigations Unit along lines prescribed in European Court cases and promised in the Stormont House Agreement.

There is no mystery why so little progress has been made in erasing the legacy backlog twenty-five years after Good Friday Agreement promises to honor victims by vindicating the human rights of all. If the British government wanted legacy truth, it would not need inquests to uncover whether British troopers had opened fire without justification at Springhill, or New Lodge. They would not need an Ombudsman investigation to tell them where payments were made to British agents and informers involved in collusion murders. It would not need a Barnard Review to discover if out of bounds notices were given to clear crown patrols so that the Glenanne killers could carry out murder and escape.

Victims’ relatives have persisted because they are confident their claims are true. The British government fought them at every turn. Deny the truth, until the truth becomes undeniable. Delay legacy inquests, ombudsman reports or other legal paths to justice, until no further delays are possible. Wait for survivors, eyewitnesses or close family members to die, and hope others lose heart. Block progress in legacy cases, and then claim the lack of progress proves no progress can be made.

Meanwhile British officials keep repeating that crown forces were responsible for only 10% of the north's killings, washing their hands of joint enterprise complicity in collusion murders by paid agents. Whenever justice breaks through, these officials lament with hollow words like "vexatious prosecutions" or "rewriting history," as if it were annoying or unfair that victims, like those of the Ballymurphy Massacre, be exonerated from the smears used to justify their murder.

The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill should be understood as Britain’s admission of guilt. British officials know the facts and are afraid to face the verdicts of their own courts, inquests, Ombudsmen etc. They must change the rules, so Britain can get better outcomes in spite of the facts.

Albert Einstein is believed to have said that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”. It does not take a genius to see it would be crazy for victims’ relatives to give up their rights to every legal channel that has worked for them, and trust a commission set up by the same British government that has tried to deny them truth at every turn.

Martin Galvin is long time
Irish American activist.

Better Outcomes For Britain

Martin Galvin ✍ There is a very old Irish joke, in which a tourist asks a local for directions to some not too distant village and is told “you can’t get there from here”. 

It was considered humorous that the local could not imagine directing the tourist to another location, in order to find a direct road to his destination. When invited to contribute to this important series of posts on the future of Irish Republicanism, it occurred to me that this question, indeed this challenge, must be the essential starting point - can we get there from here?

The Good Friday Agreement is being widely celebrated with international events marking its twenty-fifth anniversary, because the agreement has achieved peace. Irish Republicans join in welcoming the achievement of peace, but we cannot be satisfied if we end up making British rule and partition permanent.

Objectives

The first objective of Irish Republicans remains that stated by Wolfe Tone:

to break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country.

British rule in its current configuration, means direct control of the six counties serving British, (which generally means English) interests, and the power to impose policies e.g. Brexit, which unleash major consequences on all of Ireland, while giving the Irish little say and less thought.

A united Ireland would permit an Irish national government to administer Ireland’s politics and economy in the interests of the Irish people as a whole. It could begin showing unionists they will hold full citizenship, equal rights, and fair political influence in a united Ireland, instead of being an almost inconsequential minority, to be trotted out or discarded as best served British interests on issues like Brexit or the Windsor Framework.

This is not to say that a united Ireland would automatically guarantee that Republican values or ethos would immediately come to the fore, but national freedom would at least open the door to make that possible.

Barriers

As many contributors to this blog have written, the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, set out a path to secure Irish reunification. However this path is stacked with barriers that British officials confidently believe are enough to ensure that ending British rule will be forever an aspiration, never an actuality.

For a start, the agreement says that it is for the people of Ireland alone to exercise their right of national self-determination “without external impediment”. It then sets up the huge external impediment of a British secretary being empowered to deny a border poll simply by turning a blind (or should I say Nelsonian) eye towards evidence that a majority in the six counties want to live in a united Ireland.

Instead of one Ireland one vote, there are concurrent referenda north and south, allowing a tiny margin of voters in the six counties to veto an overwhelming majority of voters in the twenty-six counties about the future of their country.

Purported Stormont safeguards of parallel consent, cross-community requirements and weighted majorities which were supposed to lead to cooperation between Nationalists and Unionist politicians, have instead worked to harden divisions and heighten unionist fears about their place in a united Ireland.

British officials feel that with the above provisions, and some years of prosperity, they will never have to grant much worry about a border poll.

Anthony McIntyre has predicted that “No one who ever fought in the ranks of the Provisional IRA will ever live to see a united Ireland.” While never a member of the IRA, his prediction would certainly eliminate me given my age category from living to see a united Ireland. He may well be correct.

Agreement We Have

The Good Friday Agreement is settled as the agreement we have. However anyone might wish it to have been written differently or amended to allow a less difficult path to a united Ireland, such wishful thinking will not change the facts. If Republicans are to break the connection with British rule and assert independence for all of Ireland, it will have to be done through the Good Friday Agreement.

Do we say that the barriers to a united Ireland in this era are now insurmountable and give up or do we try to adapt and plan new political strategies to help achieve and win the border poll provided under the agreement? The question, indeed the challenge remains can we get there from here.

My personal answer, perhaps more reflecting stubbornness than a strategic assessment, is that while Anthony McIntyre’s prediction may well prove completely accurate, I cannot give up hopes of living to see to freedom for all Ireland, against all odds.

Opportunities

Republicans should be mindful of being gifted with certain unexpected opportunities in this political battle. The first is Britain’s propensity to blunder into policies like Brexit.

Brexit is a gift that keeps giving. It began as a Tory party election gambit. The referendum was then carried by little Englanders worried about immigrants, Europe and the loss of England as imagined through their fog of nostalgia. It was England setting policies to serve English interests, no matter about Ireland. It has been a political fiasco and economic disaster.

Britain said the north’s majority vote against Brexit did not matter, then claimed that the lack of Unionist consent mattered so much that it entitled them to discard provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement they had negotiated.

British Prime Minister Sunak negotiates a Windsor Framework, which should have allowed Jeffrey Donaldson and the DUP political cover to return to Stormont, and finds the DUP will still not move because they are intimidated by what Jim Allister might say.

Brexit has shown those in Ireland who did not know or did not want to know, about the colonial attitude, arrogance and hypocrisy pervading British rule. Brexit will continue to provide opportunities.

Independent Republicans might look at the role played by Jim Allister. He is able to influence and restrict the actions of the larger Unionist parties just by voicing hardline Unionist positions and being ready to highlight any compromises on these positions. Could an independent Republican play a similar role?

Before closing I want to reaffirm my view that Republican strategies today should Not include armed actions. As someone who decades ago defended armed struggle in the conditions existing in those days, it is clear that the political situation, levels of support, capacity, possibility of success, place within an overall political strategy and other conditions that I believe justified armed struggle then do not exist today.

Without such a justification, armed actions become not only morally wrong but pragmatically wrong, hurting the political struggle.

Martin Galvin is long time
Irish American activist.

Republicanism - Can We Get There From Here?

Martin Galvin responds to Trevor Ringland in the Irish News writing that "The Hunger Strikers’ political ideology was deeply flawed."

A Chara,

It was fitting that Trevor Ringland’s polemic, scolding all who honor the memory of the Hunger Strikers, appeared on the same day as the Ballymurphy Massacre inquest verdict. (The Hunger Strikers’ political ideology was deeply flawed-May 11th)

With words reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher circa 1981, Mr. Ringland complains about what he calls our deeply flawed political ideology. Why can he not see, much less be troubled by any flaws in the political ideology on display in Judge Keegan’s Ballymurphy Massacre findings?

Consider first that the Ballymurphy Massacre was regarded as a successful military operation. Why else send Colonel Derek Wilford and his Paras to Derry to do the same job on Bloody Sunday? Why else was future general, Mike Jackson, who gave discredited British Army versions of Ballymurphy killings to the press, given the same job, on Bloody Sunday? Surely, if British military commanders were displeased by the Ballymurphy killings, they would have given orders forbidding a second killing spree on Bloody Sunday.

Mr. Ringland says Republicans “struggle with the idea that a crime, including murder, committed for the cause is still a crime”. Why are the Ballymurphy Massacre killings, not murders committed for the cause of British rule?

A Catholic priest, Fr. Hugh Mullan, waving a white handkerchief, shot dead along with Francis Quinn, for going to help wounded victims. A mother of 8 children, Joan Connolly, shot and left bleed to death, in an act of “basic inhumanity”. Daniel Teggart, was felled by a bullet to the leg, then shot at least 11 times, as he lay on the ground. Noel Philips shot in the neck and throat at suspiciously close range. Joseph Murphy died from wounds aggravated by mistreatment.

Edward Doherty and John Laverty, shot in the back then labeled gunmen by Jackson, despite having no guns. John McKerr, a wounded British Army veteran, shot leaving Corpus Christi Church, and Edward Doherty shot and called a petrol bomber, without any trace of petrol.

Why in the name of justice, are these killings not crimes, no matter British law making the killers innocent and dead victims guilty for fifty years?

There are hundreds of families who cheered the Ballymurphy Massacre verdicts and believe genuine investigations by a Historical Investigations Unit, would prove their loved ones were also murdered by British crown forces, either directly or in collusion with loyalists.

Britain’s plans for those seeking justice today, are amnesty laws to stop prosecutions of crown forces and legacy mechanisms without a Historical Investigations Unit, to close down any path these families have to get the truth.

Mr. Ringland may see no flaws in his ideology that sanctioned a sectarian Orange state, state-sponsored murders, and internment etc. to uphold British hegemony.

Those across Ireland, and around the world, including myself, who honor the memory and ideals of the Hunger Strikers, will know better.

Slan
Martin Galvin

Martin Galvin is a
US Attorney-At-Law.

Making Killers Innocent And Victims Guilty

Martin Galvin
in a letter to the Irish News voiced his concerns about how legacy issues are being dealt with by the British government.  

United States Senators, led by Menendez and Collins introduced a Resolution, supporting “full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements including the Stormont House Agreement”. They called for “action to resolve the injustices of past violence”, including state-sponsored violence. These words reflect growing international attention to legacy issues, which justice campaigners have inspired.

The Good Friday Agreement promised to remember the conflict’s “legacy of suffering” by opening a new framework for legacy justice. For hundreds of families who saw loved ones murdered by British crown forces, or loyalist agents, their legacy of suffering is intensified by thoughts that the British state whitewashed the murder of their loved ones. The GFA meant new hope for truth and justice.

Families then fought British intransigence with justice campaigns, inquests, European Court decisions and negotiations. Finally the British and Irish governments entered the Stormont House Agreement in December 2014.They pledged 4 new legacy bodies including, crucially, a Historical Investigations Unit, to investigate all controversial conflict killings, even those by British forces or collusion killings.

Six years later the British hint at a decommissioned version of Stormont House, missing its key component of a genuine Historical Investigations Unit. This hollowed out version could be used to bury truth.

The week before the Senate Resolution was introduced, Connla Young provided a compelling example, tracking one blood-soaked rifle used to murder a dozen nationalists across East Tyrone and South Derry. (The blood-soaked journey of R18837. How powerful gun smuggled into north by loyalists has been linked to up 12 murders-March 8th).

Among its victims, was American citizen and longtime Bronx resident, Liam Ryan. Along with customer Michael Devlin, Liam was shot down at the doorway of the Battery Bar, which he returned to Tyrone to purchase. Mourners at his funeral included Cardinal Tomas O’Fiaich, future MP and Minister Martin McGuinness and former MP Bernadette Devlin McAliskey. Congressman Thomas Manton wanted an American Department of State investigation to include “continuing reports of collusion between the British government and pro-British paramilitary groups”.

Connla Young points to a litany of evidence showing that “UDR members were centrally involved”. Telltale signs of UDR collusion were spotted immediately. Bernadette McAliskey said:

it would be very hard to convince people around here that it wasn’t the Ulster Defense Regiment that killed Liam Ryan and Michael Devlin.

Cardinals, Congressmen or MPs, could not make killers change weaponry, much less make the crown charge killers, or conduct serious investigations.

The murder gang deployed the same rifle to kill nine more victims, in Cappagh, Cookstown, Moy and Dungannon, before the weapon was found near where killers murdered 76 year old Roseann Mallon.

Family members of those twelve victims were among 3500 signing Relatives for Justice open letter, urging the British and Irish governments to keep the promises of the Stormont House Agreement.

Westminster may introduce a sham version of Stormont House and pretend it offers legacy justice.

The Senate Resolution indicates Britain would not fool anyone.

Martin Galvin is a
US Attorney-At-Law.

No Decommissioning Legacy Justice

The Ancient Order of Hibernians, has issued the following statement via Martin Galvin.

FREEDOM for ALL IRELAND 

More than 3500 family members, fighting for truth about loved ones murdered during the conflict, appealed for Irish American support on a live webinar broadcast hosted by Hibernians. The event was highlighted by personal accounts from two family representatives, Poilin Quinn and Jim Clinton, joined by Sinn Fein Policing and Justice spokesperson Gerry Kelly and Relatives for Justice Director Mark Thompson. Leading members of Irish American groups, including the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, Ad Hoc Committee to Protect the Good Friday Agreement, Irish American Unity Conference, Brehon Society and Irish Northern Aid participated and are now examining ways to support the appeal for legacy truth and justice. 


Open Letter Appeal

The open letter addressed to the heads of the British and Irish governments was published in major Irish and Irish American newspapers. Spearheaded by Relatives for Justice, the open letter seeks to get the Stormont House Agreement implemented, and halt British proposals which would shut down paths to legacy truth in order to protect British troopers, constabulary and agents.

The open letter appeal stated in part:

In 2014 with the signing of the Stormont House Agreement we had hoped that at last, we would see human rights compliant investigations ... On March 18th 2020, the British Secretary of State ignored the wishes of the bereaved and wider society when he unilaterally broke this promise to all victims, affected by all actors to the conflict. Brandon Lewis totally disregarded over 17,000 submissions to the NIO consultation calling for the full implementation of the above legacy mechanisms...

We are further dismayed at attempts to secure an amnesty for British State forces and their agents ... No amnesty can be countenanced. Not for any actor to the conflict.

Mark Thompson said that the open letter signed by 3500 family members when published in newspapers, was now joined by over 4,000. Signatories went across generations, with children who were not even born when family members were murdered, now demanding justice.

During three decades of conflict, British forces had impunity and those who had family members killed by British forces or agents often had a palpable fear of being targeted if they dared to speak out. Families began to campaign, or use inquests or other legal avenues to get the truth, but were deliberately blocked. The British changed the rules and moved goalposts to keep a lid on real nature of the role of its forces during the conflict.

Now six years after an international agreement between the Irish and British governments backed by the Stormont political parties Britain wants to renege. These families are today appealing for American support to make Britain keeps its word.

Tyrone 


Poilin Quinn's brother, John Quinn, was murdered at Boyle's Bar, in Cappagh County Tyrone, with Malcolm Nugent, Dwayne O'Donnell and Thomas Armstrong on March 3rd,1991 with weapons linked to a number of other collusion murders in East Tyrone.

John had been born into a state which had seen sectarianism, internment, hunger strikes, plastic bullets, torture, and beatings by crown forces. One week before the killing, British troopers had searched the bar and parking lot and got a layout used to carry out the murders.

She and other family members want to know 'why their relatives were targeted for murder. The British government provided nothing but smokescreens , bad faith and dishonesty'.

Her issue was 'not so much with those who pulled the trigger ,as it was with the government who researched, funded and drove a policy of collusion'.

She noted that:

if the Irish government remains silent, silence will become consent. Her mother and another brother never lived to see the truth, but she and her family will fight for it and get it.

Ormeau Road

Jim Clinton's wife, Teresa, was murdered in their home, off the Ormeau Road in Belfast in April 1994. He noted that he lived a few streets from prominent AOH member, Malachy McAllister and had gone to Malachy's house after a loyalist attack on Malachy's home.

Jim was upstairs when he heard loud bangs He ran downstairs and found Loyalists had thrown a concrete block through his window, then shot Teresa at point blank range. The killers sped away but the Royal Ulster Constabulary, instead of following the killers, stopped outside his door. The RUC member who came to his door, had repeatedly harassed the Clinton family.

Three witnesses who saw and wanted to identify the killers went to the RUC Barracks. The RUC then read out the names and addresses of the witnesses in front of a well known loyalist. This meant that the witnesses would now be targeted.

The weapons used in the murder were a British Army issued sterling submachine gun and an RUC Ruger pistol.

Jim Clinton spoke about how upsetting the memories are even today:

Even today his children and grandchildren are grieving for their lost grandmother. It was very difficult to speak but he was doing it because it was important for his family and all of the families to get the truth.

Gerry Kelly

Gerry Kelly outlined the background of negotiations including the Eames-Bradley recommendations, Haas-O'Sullivan talks the 2014 Stormont House Agreement, and New Decade New Deal promises.

In December 2014 the British and Irish governments entered the Stormont House Agreement, which offered bereaved families hope of legacy justice. The formal agreement, supported by the Stormont political parties, pledged 4 new legacy bodies including a Historical Investigations Unit, which could investigate controversial conflict killings including those by British forces or collusion killings. It also proposed an Independent Commission on Information Retrieval, an Oral History Archive and an Implementation and Reconciliation Group.

In January 2020, the British government ,in the "New Decade New Deal" agreement promised to introduce new laws fulfilling the Stormont House Agreement within 100 days. None of these promises or agreements were kept.

He said 'the British know the truth, they just do not want to tell it' and asked Irish America to back the families.

AOH

AOH National President Danny O'Connell, then called on some of the Irish leaders who had joined the program. Former Congressman and co-Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee for the Protection of the Good Friday Agreement Bruce Morrison, said that the Good Friday Agreement did not end with establishing a Stormont Assembly. It included a framework to resolve other issues including legacy and his committee would be working on that very closely.

Former Irish Senator Billy Lawless said it was important for everyone to hear and understand the stories of those seeking legacy justice. Peter Kissel of the Irish American Unity Conference pledged support.AOH Vice-President Sean Pender, Ladies AOH President Karen Keane and LAOH Freedom for all Ireland Chair, Dolores Desch also appealed for a united effort. Members of the Brehons and Irish Northern Aid were also on the call as well as Hibernians across the United States.

The Ancient Order of Hibernian National Freedom for All Ireland Chairman Martin Galvin said:
 
It was impossible not to be moved by the words of Poilin Quinn and Jim Clinton. It is crucial to remember that they spoke as representatives of more 3500 family members who share the same heartfelt grief and demand for justice. Some of these families have been fighting for the truth for more than 50 years. They think that Irish America is crucial to help make Britain keep its word on legacy justice. We must not let them down!

Martin Galvin is a US Attorney-At-Law.

Americans Hear Legacy Justice Appeal

Martin Galvin with a letter  that featured in the to the Irish News on 26-11-2020.

 A chara,

The six county centenary on May 3rd will be followed by the 40th anniversary of Bobby Sands' death on May 5th. There is a direct connection between the centenary some will celebrate, and next year's Hunger Strike commemorations. You cannot understand the Hunger Strikers, without understanding the British state in which they lived.

Before surrendering her post as Victims Commissioner, Judith Thompson cautioned the British government "Don't take a Westminster view of something that is so important for Northern Ireland." Her words apply as strongly to the centenary, or Brexit as to legacy justice.

There is no mystery how centenary celebrations following the "Westminster view" would go. Just analyze how successive British secretaries regard the north, with ideas customarily adopted by unionist supporters.

Westminster and their adherents will hail their "wee country", founded upon democracy, which survived Irish opposition and periodic rebellion. Any sectarian flaws can be blamed on local attitudes, provoked by disloyal opponents and rebels.

Whenever Westminster sent troops to preserve British hegemony, their killings were not crimes, but within the rule of Westminster made laws. British troopers were "acting under orders, and instruction and fulfilling their duty in a dignified and appropriate way", said Karen Bradley. Regard other views as a "pernicious counter narrative" per Theresa Villiers.

Bobby Sands MP, indeed each of the Hunger Strikers lived a different reality. The six counties were no "wee country" but two-thirds of Ulster, which Britain gerrymandered out despite a democratic vote in the Westminster run 1918 general election and Declaration of Independence .

For fifty years, Britain's Orange State used systematic sectarian discrimination denying jobs, houses and votes to keep Croppy numbers down.

Peaceful civil rights marchers threatened this sectarian system. They were beaten off the streets, eventually shot down on Bloody Sunday. British troopers backed British hegemony with Internment and the Ballymurphy Massacre.

The Hunger Strikers felt a deep moral duty, despite risking imprisonment or death, to fight to end British rule because they believed it was the only means to end British injustice.

They suffered torture and death rather than be masqueraded in a criminal costume and used so that "Britain might brand Ireland's fight 800 years of crime".

You cannot understand the Hunger Strikers without understanding the British state in which they lived. You cannot understand the truth about celebrating a centenary of partition without understanding the Hunger Strikers.  


Martin Galvin is a US Attorney-At-Law.

Celebrating Centenary Of Partition

Martin Galvin with a letter to the Irish News earlier this week on Trevor Ringland's Competing narratives.

Trevor Ringland touts a "competing narrative" where "families whose loved ones were brutally murdered at Loughinisland" stop questioning collusion because victims' families and constabulary "both wanted the same outcome".(July 1st) How could constabulary arresting the journalists who named killers be the same outcome as arresting the loyalist killers themselves? The legacy crisis exists because families want facts not British fairy tale narratives about the murder of their loved ones.

Mr. Ringland mischaracterizes the issue as a dispute between those who think "violence outside the law was justified" and their opponents. He implies families of nationalist victims do not go to British crown courts, ombudsmen or investigatory bodies, seeking justice for murdered loved ones, but want some sort of justification for Republican armed struggle between 1968-98. He seems unable or unwilling to face the real question at the heart of the crisis.

Did violence within British law, mean British troopers, constabulary and loyalist agents were permitted to carry out or collude in murders, which the state legal machinery then justified, or simply would not prosecute the murderers?

Mr. Ringland cites Loughinisland. The film No Stone Unturned named and filmed suspects, and revealed that besides DNA evidence available from the recovered car, weapons, and clothing, the wife of one of the loyalist gunmen telephoned and wrote, confessing her role and naming the gunmen.

No one was charged except the filmmakers. Why should these families not suspect collusion or conclude that no prosecutions despite so much evidence, meant the loyalist killers were being protected by crown forces?

The legacy backlog worsens, 22 years post Good Friday Agreement, because nationalist victims' families must fight to get truth from inquest courts(Ballymurphy) ombudsmen(Loughinisland), or historical investigations (Glenanne). It exists because British officials deny and delay the quest for truth with legal roadblocks, apparently hoping, that relatives will be frustrated, die off or give up.

Today, instead of truth mechanisms they agreed 5 years ago at Stormont House, the British plan to create an "independent body" which many fear will be used as a magic wand to make hundreds of cases disappear, by repeating the words "no new compelling evidence and realistic prospect of prosecution."

If Britain did not fear legacy truth why do they go to such lengths to bury it?

Martin Galvin is a US Attorney-At-Law.

Violence Within British Law

Martin Galvin thinks all is not lost for Malachy McAllister, recently deported from the US.

Despite anger at the injustice done to Malachy McAllister, we must not overlook all that he won and what can still be won for him. Senators, Congressmen, Cardinals, law enforcement officials and so many Irish American leaders were not inspired to back a criminal. Over a quarter of a century he became, through no wish of his own, a living example of victims of British injustice. Americans must now use his case to fight the injustice of his deportation.

Malachy McAllister was a political prisoner decades ago, in a war now long over. It was a conflict in which he and his children were targeted for assassination, by the forces of British law and order, using loyalist agents.

Once America welcomed those who fled British rule under such circumstances, and benefitted from the political ability, hard work and leadership they gave with the opportunities denied them under British rule. Malachy's deportation was un-American, violating historic American tradition.

Few individuals could have inspired the sympathy and support needed to kept Malachy in America so long. Senators Menendez, Schumer, Congressmen King, Engel, Smith, Neal and Pascrell among others personally intervened time and again. Cardinal Dolan called the President. Many law enforcement and military officials publicly vouched for him. The Irish Embassy backed him. The AOH and other Irish organizations campaigned for him. Malachy became a leading AOH member fighting for others.

Irish Americans saw his children, who stood with Malachy as he prepared to walk to the federal building for deportation, and remembered they were targets for bullets fired into their Belfast home.

Irish Americans saw a man honored as an Aide to former Police Chief Ray Kelley on St. Patrick's Day, and remembered this same man was driven to fight against the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the circumstances of the 1981 Hunger Strike and imprisoned for it.

Irish Americans saw a man who built successful businesses, employing others, and remembered the sectarian system he faced while growing up, denied him such opportunities.

Malachy has multiple grounds which should have entitled him to full legal permanent residence under American law. The Good Friday and Weston Park agreements were thought to hold promises for ex-prisoners which were never kept.

Malachy McAllister became a political pawn, in the old British game of criminalization. The British think it politically advantageous to indelibly brand Republican opponents as criminals. In the north that policy is behind changing the definition of victim and to disqualify injured Republican ex-prisoners from conflict pensions. The British want the American government on board through deportation courts and visa denial.

Already Eliot Engel has become the first member of Congress calling for moves to reverse Malachy's deportation. Such a campaign could be the start of a bigger victory for Malachy McAllister and for justice.


Martin Galvin is a US Attorney-At-Law.

Malachy McAllister's Victory

Martin Galvin last week in a letter to the Irish News responded to the views of Denis Bradley on the British state's legacy plans. 

A chara,

Denis Bradley admits Britain's latest legacy gambit is "a sellout of the Stormont House Agreement", incompatible with European Law, and designed to cut-off investigations into crown force killings that could foreshadow prosecutions. He says Britain's motivation "probably stinks." Why imagine nationalists could "work on and improve" these proposals, instead of being further worked over by Westminster?

Denis thinks "there is enough sense within the British system" to know a "hierarchy" between British troopers and others responsible for deaths, "will not stand up judicially or politically". What facts justify such wishful thinking?

During the conflict, British officials repeated platitudes about "the rule of law" or "murder is murder etc." Meanwhile rules, laws, or rights to life could be ignored by British crown forces killing nationalists.

Nationalists witnessed mass murders like the Ballymurphy Massacre or Bloody Sunday. They saw Britain's hidden hand and expertise behind the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. Children were killed with plastic bullets. Collusion explained how loyalists moved freely through heavily patrolled nationalist areas to murder, while "no stone unturned" became a metaphor for burying evidence.

Only a literal handful of British troopers and Royal Ulster Constabulary were charged with these murders. Neither Britain's judicial nor political system seemed troubled by any "hierarchy of victims," even gifting an undeclared, de facto immunity to British forces.

Campaigners overcame denials, delays and the passing of many victims' relatives to get a Saville Inquiry, then a Ballymurphy Inquest.

They won landmark rulings in the European Court on Human Rights, requiring public and independent investigations into state killings. They campaigned for agreements, like Stormont House, to make Britain comply with European law.

This plan seems like a gimmick to close almost 2,000 unsolved cases and stop them from ever being re-opened. Cases would be reviewed by what the British deem an "independent body". Only where it saw "new compelling evidence and a realistic prospect of a prosecution", would they investigate. All other cases get permanently blocked from investigations.

How do you uncover "new compelling evidence" without any investigation? How do you "reinvestigate" cases never before investigated ? After Boris Johnson's Tories devise a legacy plan that " probably stinks", should we not expect their panel appointments to add to the stench of British injustice?

Slan,

Martin Galvin


Martin Galvin is a US Attorney-At-Law.

New Decade Same Legacy Injustice

Martin Galvin in a letter to the Irish News in the week past responds to Trevor Ringland - "We should stop moaning about Northern Ireland and enjoy its beauty" - February 18, 2020. 

A Chara,

Trevor Ringland offers a simple plan for getting nationalists to join the constabulary. Just "stop moaning", forget about British Army or Royal Ulster Constabulary "mistakes that sometimes had tragic consequences" and don constabulary uniforms. It would be easier to get past such "mistakes", if the new constabulary seemed more interested in uncovering truth about "mistakes" such as shoot-to-kill or collusion in murders.

Mr. Ringland writes wistfully of a Royal Ulster Constabulary where "religion was not an issue," virtual bystanders as "society descended into violence". Nationalists may remember the RUC differently as it enforced British rule and the Orange State, helped by the infamous B-Specials. The RUC dealt with civil rights by violence at Duke Street, or Burntollet Bridge, or with the fatal beating of Sammy Devenny and the "Battle of the Bogside".

During the "Troubles" Mr. Ringland says "the RUC was involved in 52 deaths." Books, documentaries, and court proceedings uncover mounting proof that British crown forces, including the RUC, colluded with loyalist agents in hundreds of state sponsored murders. The Good Friday Agreement, Patten recommendations, new name for the RUC, and new policing boards pledged a new British constabulary, which wanted justice, even where justice showed British troops or the RUC guilty.

Legacy cases tested these pledges. The PSNI seems more active pursuing journalists for naming Loughinisland killers, than in pursuing the killers. It fights the court ordered comprehensive investigation into 120 Glenanne Gang murders, including the Dublin-Monaghan Bombings and "Miami Showband Massacre." It opposes court orders to investigate and identify RUC or MoD officers behind the torture of the "Hooded Men." Stop and Search powers have been used to harass and hassle family members returning home from legacy inquests.

Should young nationalists join a constabulary which appears to deny truth, delay justice and wait as family members of legacy victims die without justice?

It is said that those who fail to learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat its mistakes. If the PSNI continues its mistake of stalling truth in legacy cases, it will be wedded to the crown's "Troubles" misdeeds.

Slan,

Martin Galvin

Martin Galvin is a US Attorney-At-Law.

Blaming Everyone But Constabulary

In a letter to the Irish News this week Martin Galvin responded to:

Trevor Ringland - Polarized politicians still pressing hate button when it comes to elections - November 19th


A chara,

After Pat Finucane's murder, I flew to Washington to get a letter from Congressmen protesting crown force complicity in his assassination. The British Ambassador quickly contacted some of these Congressmen insisting "her majesty's government would never sully its hands conspiring with murderers", and calling me a "scurrilous liar." The only question, given the known extent of collusion, was whether this British official was deliberately misleading Congressmen or been himself misled by superiors.

Trevor Ringland's letter raises similar questions. Can he be oblivious to Britain's malign role in events like the murder of Pat Finucane? His letters follow a pattern. Mr. Ringland laments some event, like the hate filled banners aimed at Pat Finucane's son John for standing in north Belfast. He then faults Republicans and unionists, for whatever wrongs he piously laments.

Mr. Ringland blames everyone but Britain, solemnly adding that violence "outside the law" is never justified. He seems to imply that murders or collusion killings by British crown forces were "within British law" and always justified.

His difficulty is that the facts and reality belie his fairy tale version of noble British rule. Does Mr. Ringland not understand why a banner bearing Pat Finucane's likeness would remind nationalists about violence "inside British law," where the role of British Army officers and RUC constabulary would be shielded?

How can he ignore the da Silva revelations, Cameron's apology for shocking state collusion or the family's heroic fight for a public inquiry and real truth?

Is Mr. Ringland unaware British Minister Douglas Hogg targeted the civil rights lawyer in Westminster, when complaining about "solicitors unduly sympathetic to the cause of the IRA?" British military intelligence agent Brian Nelson, passed on Pat's photograph, pointed out the Finucane home and abetted the killer gang. Almost all members of the death squad were paid British crown agents. An RUC checkpoint was pulled. Members of the RUC threatened Pat, asking loyalists why he was still alive.

Today's banner merely revives old slurs created by British forces to justify Pat's elimination.

It is time to ask, as he self-righteously ignores Britain's hand in the murder and banner, has Mr. Ringland been completely misled about these facts, or is he wilfully attempting to mislead others?


Slan,

Martin Galvin

Martin Galvin is a US Attorney-At-Law.

Ringland Ignores Facts Of Finucane Banner

Martin Galvin responds in the Irish news on October 18th to Trevor Ringland's -'Time to challenge those who want to chain us to flawed ideologies' which feature in the Irish News of October 4th.

A chara,

Trevor Ringland begrudges the 'Hooded Men' their court fight, putting British torture victims "well down the list" in his "hierarchy of wrongs that need to be investigated". This solicitor and former candidate opposes nationalists pursuing legacy justice, "whether they're doing it through the ballot box or law courts". Why should Irish nationalists be allowed lawsuits or elected representatives troubling British rule?

Mr. Ringland prescribes his reconciliation formula. Everyone else takes full responsibility for their actions in the conflict. Everyone else repents political beliefs or "flawed ideologies" motivating their actions. See, hear, speak and remember no evil for which British rule and state violence could be faulted.

We pretend that Westminster had no responsibility for its Orange State, Internment, Ballymurphy or Springhill Massacres, collusion with loyalist killers and the like. Stop disturbing the crown with legacy cases in British courts, or by electing anyone who raises inconvenient truths.

If nationalists adopt this selective amnesia, (plus surrender hopes of a reunited Ireland), Mr. Ringland feels, it would "free up future generations from the legacy of hatred."

Mr. Ringland's hostility to the 'Hooded Men' fits in this puzzle. They were selected for Internment without charge by British military. They were then selected to be tortured by British troopers.

How do we explain the 'Hooded Men' without blaming Westminster? How do we fault sectarianism instead of the British regime? Brian Faulkner wanted Internment. Did Edward Heath, his cabinet and military really have to approve and unleash British troops to begin Internment, 'Hooded Men' torture and the Ballymurphy Massacre? Every court victory for these torture victims is a reminder that British officials backed Brian Faulkner with terror and repression because of Westminster's deeply flawed Orange State hegemony and ideology.

Mr. Ringland instructs the 'Hooded Men' to wait their turn. It has only been 48 years. There are unsolved killings of British forces more worthy of investigation than mere Irishmen being tortured. Does he imply the RUC did not bother investigating, when RUC members or British troopers were killed by the IRA? Did they jail twenty-five thousand suspected Republicans without really trying?

Mr. Ringland urges "challenging those who want to chain us to the flawed ideologies which led to so much tragedy". I challenge you Mr. Ringland!

Slan,

Martin Galvin



Martin Galvin is a US Attorney-At-Law.

Ringland's "Hooded Men" Challenge

Martin Galvin in a letter to the Irish News welcomes inquest findings against the British state's role in Ireland. 

Better 47 years late than never, the Coroner's Court ruled British troopers had no justification for shooting unarmed Derry teen Seamus Bradley, then watching him die without medical treatment. Gregory Campbell loudly complained court rulings using law and evidence, are unfair to British crown forces and their state narrative. It seems that British legacy killings are indefensible, unless facts and law are buried under mythology.



Campbell is regurgitating the policy which created this legacy impasse. Nine months before Seamus Bradley's murder, Brigadier General Frank Kitson suggested "law should be used as another weapon in the government's arsenal ... little more than a propaganda cover for disposal of unwanted members of the public."

Behind this propaganda cover, the crown legally rubberstamped the 'disposal' of Seamus Bradley, Ballymurphy Massacre victims, Springhill-Westrock victims and so many others. Meanwhile they lauded British troops and the Royal Ulster Constabulary, for using "minimum force" only "within the rule of law" to "uphold law and order". They then said British forces were responsible for only 10% of the north's killings, washing their hands of collusion with loyalists in murders.

The DUP and Westminster Tories seem to think that twenty-five thousand suspected Republicans inside British prisons was not enough, but the handful of British troopers charged for murder were too many for victims' relative to look for more.

British officials, however, did not calculate that relatives might overcome decades of British delays, denials and waiting for family members to die or lose heart. As the truth emerges in courtrooms, British officials resort to pious words about "rewriting history" or "pernicious counter narratives." In plainer English, they fear that proceedings like the Bradley or Ballymurphy inquests are rewriting lies with truth and destroying British fairy tale myths about their dirty war in Ireland.

The Bradley inquest held that British troopers opened fire on an unarmed Derry teen, then concocted a cover story about firing a machine gun. It may make out crimes of murder and perjury. The Ballymurphy Massacre victims were ruled guilty of crimes which justified killing them. Should we not expect those findings to be rewritten with facts that destroy the British version? Meanwhile evidence mounts that Britain's crown forces were complicit in murders carried out by loyalist agents.

We will either see an amnesty or banners going up for more so- called heroes like "Soldier F."

Martin Galvin is a US Attorney-At-Law.


Inquests Correcting History And Destroying British Fairytale Myths

Writing in the Irish News on 25 April 2019 Martin Galvin responds to Trevor Ringland - "Honest debate needed on why conflict occurred and who was to blame" - Irish News April 9, 2019.

Trevor Ringland laments that "failure to deal fairly" with the legacy of crown force killings is "poisoning political life". He thinks "the English don't deserve the opprobrium heaped on them … they just wanted us to live in peace."(April 9th) In reality Britain sowed the seeds of today's legacy whirlwind because truth would have shattered their fairy tale justifications for crown force murders and for ruling part of Ireland.

An example of how Britain's "failure to deal fairly" with legacy murders ended up "poisoning political life" today, is the ongoing Ballymurphy Inquest. An ex-trooper from England, appropriately called C-4, gave explosive testimony which added the words "ghost gunmen" to the north's lexicon. "Ghost gunmen" were made up by British troopers to excuse murder. Another former trooper was requested to plant bullets on the dead. Some bodies were carried like sacks of potatoes, with the casual excuse there was a shortage of stretchers.

Why are shocking revelations emerging to haunt Britain today? Britain wasted 47 years of chances to "deal fairly" with the massacre of a priest, grandmother and nine other victims. Had the crown admitted the truth promptly, they might have spared themselves from "Bloody Sunday" and all that followed.

Instead British strategists opted for Internment, ‘Hooded Men’ torture and the Ballymurphy Massacre. They whitewashed Massacre with an orchestrated cover-up that branded the dead guilty. Instead Britain denied the truth, delayed any legal means of getting justice, and waited for parents to die and families to be ground down into submission that they would never get truth.

Had Britain come clean, twenty, ten, even five years ago, the Ballymurphy families would have responded generously to any genuine offer of justice. Now that Ballymurphy outlasted “deny, delay and die” tactics to get their inquest, Mr. Ringland blames everyone but Britain that the truth should emerge at all.

Ballymurphy is one example of Britain's strategic approach to hundreds of crown force and collusion murders. If, as Mr. Ringland recites, crown force killings were justified, why did they delay hearings which would exonerate their forces? Why resort to cover-ups at all?

However Britain may really fear a greater whirlwind to come. Books and documentaries are revealing mounting proof of what nationalists always knew. British "peacekeepers" worked with loyalist agents to commit hundreds of state sponsored murders. If Mr. Ringland wants reconciliation, he should begin by reconciling himself with the truth.

Martin Galvin is a US Attorney-At-Law.


Britain's Legacy Whirlwind