Charlie and the Provos

national | public consultation / irish social forum | opinion/analysis

Wednesday June 14, 2006 18:36

by Equaliszer777

This is as good a time as any to recall to mind the shenanigans that were going on in Dublin in 1970, as the Haughey clique sought to insulate their 'kingdom' from the storm that was about to break in the north of Ireland.

In 1970, Charlie Haughey and his cohorts saw the way the wind was blowing in the north of Ireland. Their priority was to safeguard the Fianna Fail gravy train in the south. Informal contacts were made between the Haughey clique and the newly emerging Dublin bosses of the Provisional IRA - Sean MacStiofain, Rory O'Bradaigh, Daithi O'Conail.
A certain understanding was reached.
Money and guns would be made available by southern politicians and businessmen, but strictly on the condition that the new IRA leadership would adhere to their declaration of an earlier decade that the IRA would not open fire on the southern police and the southern army, and would not plant bombs in the south.

(The occasional bank raid in the south could be tolerated, as long as no one could prove it was a Provo job........ and so Garda Fallon lost his life as a result of this policy...... nudge nudge, wink wink......)

And so we went on from there. All hell broke loose in the north of Ireland, partly funded by money and guns from southern politicians and businessmen.

Their agenda was clear. They foresaw in 1970 that all hell was about to break loose in Northern Ireland. Their priority was to confine the mayhem to north of the border, so that the Fianna Fail gravy train could stay on track south of the border, and they colluded informally with Sean MacStiofain and his successors to ensure that the mayhem would be confined to the north.

This is a good time to remember it.

save preference

Comments (7 of 7)

Balls

by Seriously

Thu Jun 15, 2006 00:06

That thing above is completely incorrect. Complete bullshit.

Warped logic

by Donnchadh

Thu Jun 15, 2006 02:13

The logic here is warped. One minute you say Haughey and co. saw that all hell was going to break loose in the north and took steps to prevent it moving south, then you say that all hell broke loose in the north because of Haughey's efforts to maintain his gravy train being disturbed in the south. Anyway, his attempt, no matter how incompetant, to aquire much needed weapons for the resistance in the six counties is one of the only really commendable things he did in his long career.

A wee ballad to ease the tensions

by an craoibhin aoibhinn

Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:04

O when men claim Ireland's freedom
The ones she'll choose to lead them
Will wear finely tailored Charvet shirts
From Gay Pareeeeeeeeee

Equalizer 777

by Historian

Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:27

This is just a tired old rehash of the sticky line from 1970. "Haughey set up the Provos to prevent a socialist revolution". Utter nonsense and totally disproven by the historical record. You, Roy Johnston and Sean Garland are probably the only people in the world who still beleive. At least Haughey did recognise that the sh*t was going to hit the fan when the "intellectuals" of the AC were running around telling people that Catholic/Protestant unity was on the cards! As someone else said here, trying to provide weapons for the people of Belfast was one of the few honourable things the old bastard ever did.

tired old nonsense

by Barry

Thu Jun 15, 2006 15:52

The authors of this stickie smear seriously and honestly believed that attempting to stop a marauding mob of orange savages from burning down your street and killing a few of your neighbours was a sectarian act , which is why they moved most of their gear out of Belfast when the orangemen were set to attack . They moved plenty of it back in when the provos started to recruit though . I agree it was one of the very few positive things Haughey ever attempted to do and although his sins should never be forgotten that at least should be remembered .

right for the wrong reason

Fri Jun 16, 2006 19:40

To try to provide arms to a beleaguered community to prevent genocide was the right thing to do. But what was the motive?
The Haughey gang didn't set up the Provos.
They had no control over that.
But the ruling group in the South were greatly alarmed at the prospect of all Ireland being destabilised.
They were desperate to protect their investments in the South and to insulate themselves from the coming storm by ensuring that the Provos would eclipse the Stickies and by getting the Provos to see the advantage for themselves in confining the mayhem north of the border.
The Haughey gang acted accordingly.

its all very interesting isn't it?

by the poet - (the future national one)

Sat Jun 17, 2006 20:43

No man described as doing his bit at the coalface of nationhood & a patriot to his fingernails in one short speech by Bertie Ahern could have been far from the events of that period.
But I wouldn't limit the interpretive possibilities of future revealation by using the phrase the Haughey gang . Those years had more to do with the moor of Titus Andronicus than the moor Othello. & no mister Garland didn't burn down the embassy. Both old Sean the fugitive & the late Charlie not given the fallen general's horse were simply "torch-bearers" in aside to others.

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/74112
¿esoteric - aint I .:. ?

a great day out was had by very few.

CJH offered tax free artist lifestyles - the geographer Gerry is in front of benefited. So did Bertie's daughter

Number of comments per page

Upcoming Events

New Events

Other Press

User Preferences

Feeds

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

The Saker

Public Inquiry

Voltaire Network

Charlie and the Provos

Comments (7 of 7)