For such a short article, its words resounded as I worked this evening, and not only because it recounted the funerals of six of the fifteen victims of the McGurk’s Bar bombing including my own grandmother, Kathleen Irvine. Blogger John Ó Néill sent me this article from The Irish Times of Wednesday 8th December, […]
Six Pub Blast Victims Buried in Belfast Read More »
Below is a news review of the last few months regarding McGurk’s Bar and our campaign for truth. To court we go… 1st May 2014 BBC: McGurk’s Bar bombing families to sue government. Read more… 30th April 2014 BBC: McGurk’s Bar bombing: 69 year-old released. Read more… 30th April 2014 Irish Post: 69 year-old man
McGurk’s Bar in the News Read More »
It was the reasoned crisis of his soul Against more days of inescapable thrall S.I.W., Wilfred Owen Official records tend to be dry, perfunctory and prosaic. Documents like Director of Operations Brief, Duty Officer Report or Brigade Intelligence Summary may catalogue moments of violence and destruction but the words rarely convey context or the
Fusilier Thomas: A Forgotten Victim Read More »
In the coming days the Chief Constable will be forced by the court to hand over a report by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) which was “completed” nearly a year ago. We were forced to take Matt Baggott to court as we considered that his unprecedented suppression of the HET report was irrational, unlawful
Checklist For HET Report Read More »
A written submission by Ciarán MacAirt to Dr. Haass and Dr. O’ Sullivan of the Panel of Parties, NI Executive. “The Past and How It Impacts Upon the Present in the North of Ireland” was written in October 2013 on behalf of our loved ones who were killed or injured in the pro-State Loyalist bombing
The Past and How It Impacts Upon the Present in the North of Ireland Read More »
Foreword by Colin Wallace Colin Wallace (right), former Senior Information Officer at the heart of the British Army’s psychological operations unit in the early 1970s, has been helping me translate secret military archives which I discovered. When I wrote my book, he was the first and only person I wished would write its foreword. This
Foreword, by Colin Wallace Read More »
This morning (12th September 2013), families of those who were murdered in the McGurk’s Bar bombing of 4th December 1971 will be in Belfast’s High Court to begin legal proceedings against the Chief Constable and his decision to block the release of an Historical Enquiries Team (HET) report into the atrocity. At the same
Our statement in full: The Historical Enquiries Team (HET) has reviewed the RUC investigation into the McGurk’s Bar massacre of 4th December 1971. Its report was completed in December 2012 but its release has been blocked by the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Despite repeated requests and talks with the
McGurk’s Bar Families Take Legal Action To Access Blocked HET Report Read More »
Different Police Force… Same Old Story The conclusions of the Macpherson Inquiry (1999) into the Metropolitan Police Force’s handling of the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence rocked the British criminal justice system to the core. The Inquiry concluded that the Stephen Lawrence “investigation was marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of
Police: A Law Unto Themselves? Read More »
Tonight I learned that the one person convicted of murdering my grandmother has died. In the coming hours and coming days some will spit words of bitterness whilst others will trumpet the life of Robert James Campbell. The death notices of killers in newspapers make for a sobering read. None of these words sit