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by Gene Kerrigan

In 1980 leading members of the current Amend-ment campaign wrote to a woman's employer,warning that she had worked for a family plan-ning clinic. The campaign has seen a resurgenceof such "traditional values", leading to a full-scale moral civil war. On page 6 Gene Kerrigantraces the battle lines.

Shattering Garret 21

Y oung Fine Gael is actively campaigning againstthe amendment. Mark Brennock examines the

changing role of Y oung Fine Gael within theparty and profiles its chairman, Chris O'Malley.

by Vincent Browne and Derek Dunne

In 1976 and 1977 there were persistent allega-tions of brutality against the Gardai. The Sallins

mail train robbery trial was the centre of theseallegations. In this major investigation, Magillexamines the allegations that the Gardai con-

spired to subvert the course of justice.

byRisteard 0Muirithille

"Austin Deasy is the weakest Minister for Agri-culture since EEC entry changed the role ofthe office."

Neil Jordan reviews Francis Ford Coppola's

two new films "One From The Heart" and

"The Outsiders".

Colm Toibin visited Derek Hill at the gallery

which he left to the nation near Letterkenny,Co Donegal.

Marathon Notebook 51Kerry Dougherty begins the coverage of the

6 I 1983 Dublin City Marathon.

In the midst of this sweltering summer, BernardLoughlin toured the country praying for rain.

How The Dubs Burgled The Banks 56

Why the J acks are back. Brendan 0hEithirreports.

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THE COMPARTMENT OF

the train was divided intothree. At one end were thelads; at the other were a

number of Gardai who hadgone to Cork for the day inorder to quell any possibleunruliness. The lads at theother end were being unruly.There were maybe ten ortwelve of them and theywere aged maybe fourteen orsixteen. They had bottles ofcider. Every so often andtotally in unison they woulddo a verse of "Roaming Inthe Gloaming" as thoughthey were around some campfire. In the middle of the

verse they would laugh hys-terically and they would allhaveto stop.

One of the cider drinkerswould straddle the aisle ofthe train with one foot on thearmrest of each seat. A bottleof cider in his hand, he wouldwave it down at the Gardai.

The Gardai thought this wasfunny. The lads sang a songabout Roger Casement andthen "The Boys of the OldBrigade". One of the Gardaicame in and had a very cor-

dial conversation with one ofthe lads.

But the lads really cameinto their own each time asmall fattish grey-hairedwoman passed through theirlair. They cheered her androared pro-Dub slogansat her.The woman was delighted atbeing made into some sortofmascot.

The train began to gothrough Dublin towardsAmiens Street Station. Thelads, cider all gone, began to

put their hands out of thewindows and pound the sidesof the train. The train wasindeed made of plywood; wehad been warned. The ladsscreamed at anyone in thesmall streets below the tracks

who would listen. And whenthey came into the station,they took their blue flagsand blue scarves and ranroaring down the platform.

It was not thus at 7.30that morning whenthe bleary-eyed hordes had paid 13 togo down for the match. Therehad been so much stuff inthe papers about how much

violence there was going tobe that the passengers eyedeach other cautiously, ner-vously and suspiciously forevidence of small missilesandbroken bottles. The Dubslooked out dolefully at thecarriage that was still lyingon its side near Kildare; thiswas the same make as thetrain that crashed, as theIndo had warned all week.

Three young Dubs weremaking their way to PaircUi Chaoimh. They didn't

notice that all along thewalls were daubed anti-Dubslogans. One of them read:"Dubs are full of shit".

They were lucky too that thepeople of Cork couldn't hearthe appalling imitations theywere doing of the Corkaccent.

"All Cork is up thereon that terrace," said oneman. "There's Dubs up theretoo," said the other man.But there didn't seem to beany Dubs up there. They

were all red and white andtwo or three of them seemedto be waving an Americanflagfor some reason.

If you were looking forDubs they were on the otherterrace. Most of the blokeshad taken their shirts off andexcitement was building up.Before the junior hurlingmatch the team came out totake a look around the pitch.The Dubs went mad. Andwhen the first match wasoverand very boring it was too, a

young bloke got onto thepitch who shouldn't have gotonto the pitch.

This chap had his armtwisted behind his back andwas led firmly by a securityman to his rightful place.

Several security men andguards looked at this securityman enviously.

The Dubs were winningand rightly so; the Dubs werebetter than Cork. Even achild could see that. On theDub terrace they were sureof that. They were all waving'their arms, roaring, wavingtheir scarves, trying to get

chants going and wonderinghow they were going to getout onto the pitch after thematch. This last was goingto be difficult.

Ten minutes into thesecond half the bloke behind,a Dub supporter, said to hiscompanion: "Wake me up atthe end." He was bored thatthe Dubs were doing so well.Just then Barney Rock got aball in the corner of thefield and somehow put it inthe corner of the net. The

bloke behind stood up onhishind legs and went hysterical.The goal had just woken himup.

Cork, however, never didwake up. And then came themoment the Gardai had beenwaiting for. The final whistlewhen some of the Dubsmanaged to get over the fenceand onto the pitch. Like abull to a red rag some of theCork supporters got overtheir fence and ran down thepitch as though it wereThe

Year Of The French. TheGardai stood in the middleand fended off these Southernwarriors. TheCorkmen quick-ly realised they were beatenand they ran back towardstheir terrace just as fast asthey came. The only skirmishwas between one of theirnumber and a Garda. TheGarda just tripped this fellowover and hit himwith abatonon the backside. Then thefellow ran back after his.companions.

story in his column in theEvening Herald about SenatorShane Ross.

"Fianna Fail, at the ex-press permission of CharlesHaughey, has approached awell-known stockbroker andasked him to join the party,"the story began.

"Senator Shane Ross hasbeen approached by the very

topmost in Fianna Fail - theoffer was made by generalsecretary Frank Wall and'David Andrews TD," it con-tinued.

Shane Ross denies this.He says he has not beenapproached by anyone inFianna Fail and asked to jointhe party.

The only reason he canthink of why Feeney mightcome to such a conclusionis that Feeney saw him ina restaurant with RoryO'Farrell and Frank Wall.

They were not, however,asking him to join FiannaFail.

In his story of August 19Feeney goesonto quote Ross.

"Said Ross last night -'Well maybe, and maybe Iwon't and who the hell wasimpertinent enough to tellyou about my private life.If I join Fianna Fail that'smy bloody business andyou've no right to ask me.Are you going to join that

bloody awful Labour partyagain? And how do youlike such questions - if I

join Fianna Fail it will besolely because I seethat partyas the most realistic and themost likely to do things."

Shane Ross says that henever said any of this noranything like it. He says thatFeeney did not contact himabout the story.

Feeney ends his story with"My feeling is that MartinO'Donoghue has been rightly

scuppered." Our feeling isthat someone should stopJohn Feeney's inventions inthe Evening Herald.

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In April of 1967 Brian Lenihan,Minister for Justice, went to theDail with a modest little Censorshipof Publications Bill. Four monthslater the measure was passed. In itselfthe Act was a minor reform. I n effectit was a major step away from whathave become known as "traditionalvalues". Five thousand books wereimmediately taken off the banned

list.That was the year that Donagh

O'Malley, Minister for Education,introduced major educational reforms,free education, free school transport.

Traditional values took a hammeringthat year.

Such developments were all therage in the Sixties. I n retrospect, itis easy to forget the breadth anddepth of the traditional values whichthe changes of the Sixties were chal-lenging. Prior to those changes thesouth of Ireland was an awesomecountry.

I n 1921 W.T. Cosgrave was alreadysuggesting that the Dail have a theo-logical board which would decidewhether legislation was in line withCatholic faith and morals.

I n the Twenties books by Shawand Maeterlinck were taken frompublic libraries and burned. I n 1925the Christian Brothers in Dublinorganised the burning ofPear'sAnnual.

I n the Thirties a librarian in Mayowas driven from her job solely becauseshe was a Protestant. The people ofMayo, said de Valera, "are justifiedin Insisting on a Catholic librarian".

When the Protestant resigned theCatholic Bulletin joyfully reported theevent on its front page, with the head-line, "Well Done, Mayo".

I n the Forties. the official recordof the Senate debates was censored,an incredible occurrance in a modernparliamentary democracy. A Senatorhad ptotested against censorship byreading parts of The Tailor and Ansteyto the Senate. The readings simplyweren't taken.down.

I n the Fifties the Catholic bishopsdestroyed the Mother and ChildScheme. Alan Simpson was arrestedfor staging a Tennessee Williams play.The 1958 Dublin Theatre Festival wascancelled because Archbishop JohnCharles McQuaid was opposed to theproduction of a Sean O'Casey playand a dramatisation of Ulysses.

Such events are usually recountedas examples of nasty clerics oppressinga freedom-seeking people. They werenot. Such was the mood of the times.For the most part, protest was con-fined to a small community of writersand artists. The clerics were represen-ting and upholding values that werewidely, deeply and genuinely held.

The renunciation of those values,

when it happened, came swiftly. Bythe end of the Fifties economicnationalism was seen to be a failure,having driven scores of thousands outof the country on cattle boats. Key-nesian orthodoxy was adopted andeconomic programmes drawn up toconvert the Republic into a modernindustrial society, with the help ofinternational capital. Almost inciden-tally, without discussion, without amandate, the values which supportedand were a part of the old economicnationalism were peeled away.

The new values were not imported,they sprang from the changed econo-mic and social structure. New formsof education were required, a newcurriculum. Thinking was now arequirement where previously it hadbeen discouraged. The censorship lawshad not been simply concerned with

pornography - they deliberately andcomprehensively suppressed writingswhich did not align with the traditio-nal values. A sample list of writerswho had books banned is enough toshow the extent of the suppression:

Graham Greene, Frank O'Connor,John Steinbeck, George Orwell, AustinClarke, Margaret Mead, Brendan Behan,Robert Graves, Balzac, Beckett, Gide,Proust, Hemingway, Nabokov, Seano Faolain, Norman Mailer, AldousHuxley, Walter Macken, ArthurKoestler, Alberto Moravia, LiamO'Flaherty, Georges Simenon, Dylan

Thomas, John Updike, Sinclair Lewis

and Daniel Defoe.A mind couldn't help but be

narrow.The easing of censorship and the

consequent increase in the intercourseof ideas was paralleled by the intro-duction of television. If the politiciansdodged discussion of social develop-ments the broadcasters didn't and inthe mid-Sixties the Late Late Showsubstituted for a national forum. Thenewspapers became more feisty and7Days made politicians sweat.

There were other changes. TheGAA ban on members attending

"foreign games" was dropped, asignificant move away from paro-chialism. I n 1970 Catholics wereallowed to attend Trinity College.I n 1956 the hierarchy had warnedagainst "the danger of perversion"in attending TCD and in 1961 Arch-bishop McQuaid reiterated that TCD"has never been acceptable, and is notnow acceptable, to Catholics". Catho-lics could not, under pain of mortalsin, "frequent non-Catholic schools orneutral schools or schools that areopen also to non-Catholics".

The changes which were taking

place must have made a lot of headsspin. Internationally the CatholicChurch was, through the SecondVatican Council, accommodating tochanges which had previously occurredat a gradual pace in most industrialsocieties. That accommodation, comingat a time of rapid change in Ireland,undermined any dogmatic defence ofthe old values. I n 1972 the Churchcooperated in removing its own"special position" from the Consti-tution.

I n 1966 there were 1,409 vocationsto the priesthood and religious orders.I n 1974 the figure was 547. There wasa' parallel and perhaps consequentdecline in religious involvement inteaching.

The position of women in societywas central to the developments -

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SPUC march and rally at Leinster House 27.12.1981

and the inevitable discussions ofsexuality must have been deeply dis-turbing and even offensive to the largesection of the population rearedaccording to the traditional values.Charlie Haughey brought in theSuccession Act in 1964 and veryslowly the reforms continued. Thecourts ruled that women could sit on

juries; the EEC ruled that a startmust be made on equal pay; legislationgot rid of the marriage bar in' the civilservice; the Supreme Court ruled oncontraception.

There are still a handful of pubs in

Dublin which will not serve womenin the bar. Another handful still havesnugs - quaint corners now, whereonce women huddled to be served abottle of Guinness through a hatch.Now the brightly clad young womenare gathered with their gins andslirnlines in the lounge, discussingthe contraceptive pill.

The reaction against the new valueswas always defensive, and alwayspeddling backwards. In 1979 the Popecame, took the ball away from thesecularists and passed it back to thetraditionalists. They tried to run with

it. For a year or two there wereattempts in some parishes to get thefaithful to hang out the bunting againon the anniversary of the Pope's visit.It didn't work.

During the 1977 general election

a small group, the Christian PoliticalAction Movement, canvassed againstpoliticians such as Michael D. Higgins,Conor Cruise O'Brien and BarryDesmond. The' previous year, thepresident of Muintir na Tire had calledfor the "silencing" of those whowould discuss "the pill, abortion anddivorce". He said that if there is "onehuman type more sad and disgustingthan the corrupted, it isthe corrupter",and that writers should stop focussingon "every unsavoury abnormality orsexual deviation".

The Council of Social Concern,

later 'to be one of the prime moversin the Amendment campaign,. toldthe Catholic Standard in 1978 thatit was "deeply concerned about cer-tain undesirable developments in Ire-land in recent years . . . we particu-larly refer to unsubtle attacks' on our

.religion, morality and culture bycertain women's organisations andby the lobbies for contraception,divorce and secular schools".

There was a sustained campaignin late 1978 and in 1979 against theproposed legislation on contraception.

TDs were bombarded with literature

from the traditional forces. TheLeague of Decency, later to be a con-stituent element of the Pro-LifeAmendment Campaign, sent picturesof foetuses to TDs just before Christ-mas 1978. There were speeches from

the pulpit. TDs got a letter from aRedemptorist priest, Fr John FrancisCorbett, demanding a referendumwhich would bring about a "pre-McGee" situation (the McGee casebeing the Supreme Court ruling whichallowed the importation of contra-

.ceptives).This kind of rearguard action had

been fought in vain over the yearsby the traditional forces. Now, how-ever, the heavies were getting involved,the Knights of Columbanus and OpusDei. The Knights are a secretiveorganisation of Catholic males who

promote their own conspiratorial andauthoritarian version. of religion: Theyexclude women and are predomi-nantly elderly - a f ew years back theyattempted to arrange a group insur-ance scheme and failed astheir averageage was too high. Opus Dei (see

. detailed article in Magill, May 1983)is another secretive organisation, moreexclusive than the Knights, whichconcentrates on recruiting or in-fluencing successful businessmen and'politicians. In 1972, disgusted withthe changes wrought by the SecondVatican Council, its secret journal,

Cronica, referred to an "authenticrottenness" within the Church anddescribed the Church as "a corpsein decomposition which stinks".

The Knights printed a pamphletcalled Gift of Life, three thousand

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of which they circulated to TDs, doctors and others. Theyfollowed that up with a lobby of TDs. Their contacts inthe media, the civil serviceand other influential institutionsensured that maximum pressure was brought to bear onthepoliticians.

Opus Dei also bombarded the TDs with representations.

The political and business contacts which the organisationencourages came in useful in ensuring their voice wouldbe heard. One Kildare member of Opus delivered an unceas-ing barrage of representations to Charlie Haughey duringthis period. The organisation prints regular Position Paperswhich it circulates to about twelve or fifteen hundredcarefully selected people. Position Paper 59, which wastheir anti-contraception propaganda, had a massively in-creased print run of eight thousand and was circulated topoliticians, doctors, priests and teachers. It quoted Arch-bishop McQuaid's 1971 statement that "contraception isevil" which would prove "a curse upon our country".

Position Paper 59 wasedited by Fr CharlesConnolly andMichael Adams. Last month Michael Adams appeared onthe Today Tonight debate, defending the Amendment.He

was described as "a publisher" and his opening words were:"Well, obviously I'mnot amember of PLAC, or any organi-sation which has supported the Amendment". MichaelAdams isamember of Opus Dei.

Charlie Haughey is as attuned to popular feeling as anypolitician can be. His "Irish solution to an Irish problem"of contraception in 1979 was not simply the hypocrisy ofa politician wary of the bishops. It was a genuine attemptto accommodate to the old values and the new, an imposs-ible task, breeding a piece of legislation ignored inpractice

and condemned on all sides.It was only a matter of time before the upholders of

traditional values went on the offensive. The key word,raised by the president of Muintir na Tire in 1976 was"silencing". The best known Knight of Columbanus, SirOliver J . Flanagan, told his brothers last month that the

passing of the Amendment would mean that the "liberalintellectuals will be silenced forever". By the end of theSeventies the upholders of traditional values, who hadtaken so much for so long, an unceasing babble aboutthings better left unspoken, were ready to go on the offen-sive.

Early evening, Friday February 8 1980, about twodozen people, mostly women, were picketing the

British embassy. Several carried candles that flickered inthe darkness. There's not much pedestrian traffic onMerrion Road at that time of day and the picketers didn'tattract much attention. That day the Corrie Bill wasup forvoting in the British parliament. The Bill, proposed byJohn

Corrie, aimed at restricting the 1967 Act which had intro-duced legalised abortion in Britain. There was amasslobbyof the House of Commons that evening and a handful ofIrish feminists had mounted a picket on the embassy insympathy with their British sisters. (The Corrie Bill, inci-dentally, was defeated.)

This was the first public pro-abortion rights initiativein the current controversy. The issue had been discussedbefore, usually on an academic level in feminist and leftwing groups. In the Socialist Labour Party in 1978, for in-

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stance, there were three camps: those who supported theright to abortion, those who opposed it - and those whothought it political suicide to evenmention the word.

The "women's movement", once imagined to be amonolithic bloc, had become a diverse, informal network,its activists involved in dozens of campaigns, issues andprojects. The most consistent coalition of interests was onthe contraception issue, but that wasflagging, bogged down

in Haughey's Irish solution.Inevitably, some of the women involved in the contra-ception campaign discussed initiatives on the abortion issue.Not because there is any predetermined contraception-abortion-euthanasia chain effect, but because we are adifferent society than existed twenty years ago. There ismore sex around, more unwanted pregnancies; economicand social choices are not as narrow; abortion Irish styleexists if you have the price of a boat ticket, which it didnot before; above all, the women who discussed the issuehad spent several years in the feminist movement, discuss-

ing problems, rights, theories and tactics. The fact that onehalf of the race bears the children is no small matter and noaspect of it would be left undiscussed. In the interminablebut necessary discussions which the feminist movementhad gone through it was not unnoticed that many of the

problems and inequalities stemmed from that fact -including wages, working conditions, the right to work,financial dependence, health facilities and ahost of others.

Fr Simon O'Byrne could tell In Dublin in July 1982 thatCatholics should "simply accept what the Holy Father saysand what the bishop of the diocese teaches and do notallow yourselves to be confused by the opinions of others".But that kind of thing didn't wash with people who knewyou could lose ajob or a flat if you became pregnant. Justas for those who adhere to the traditional values abortionis unthinkable, so for people who haveescaped those valuesis it unthinkable that the authoritarianism of Fr O'Byrne'sstatement should prevail.

The discussion on how those who must bear the childrencan best control that biological fact and prevent it causing

gross inequality inevitably involved discussion of abortion.Within the diverse feminist movement some agreed, somedisagreed, some thought it pointless raisingthe issue.

In February 1980 a handful of women, including someof those who had been on the British Embassy picket, cametogether to formthe Women's Right To Choose Group.

Two members of a British organisation, the Society forthe Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC), arrived inDublin in July 1980 for discussions with likeminded people.

Two months later an Irish SPUC was putting posters inshopping centres advertising meetings on "The CaseAgainstAbortion". SPUC was facilitated by local Catholic priests,providing halls, announcing meetings, organisingcollections

and in at least one case - Wexford - allowingSPBC mem-bers speak from the pulpit. As yet, the Catholic bishopswere not involved. SPUC's initial steps were taken on theperiphery of media consciousness, but in the heartland ofCatholicism - the parish halls, presbyteries and pulpits.It was a genuine grassroots movement. The section of thepopulation which had held fast to the traditional valuesnaturally contained a large number of priests, the foot-soldiers of the old authoritarianism. The bishops, dealingwith strategic and political matters, had to bemore careful.Some might even have been compromised, recognisingworthiness in some of the new values.

SPUC was distributing garish literature and within afewmonths had shown its equally garishfilm and slideshow inabout 250 schools. By then it had about 4,000 supporters

having quickly released the passions of the traditionalforces long held in check.Its problem was that it was all dressed up, in its Sunday

best, with nowhere to go. Abortion wasalready illegal.One of the major strands in the development of the

women's movement was its concern with health. Central tothat were the particular problems derivingfrom pregnancy.Anne Connolly, who ran the Well Woman Centre in Dublin,became a key hate figure for the traditional forces. If awoman wanted an abortion the centre, having discussed itwith her and counselled her, would provide a referral to aBritish clinic. By January 1981 SPUC's campaign had per-meated the grassroots political culture to such an extentthat a routine Fianna Fail meeting in Longford, whereAlbert Reynolds was stroking the troops, could include in

its calls for agricultural benefits, calls for the jailing of drugpushers, and for the removal of Kenny Everett from RTE,a demand that the abortion clinics in Dublin beshut down.

The law could do nothing. Abortion referral is not acrime. No government was prepared to contemplate thedraconian laws necessary to close off the route that severalthousand Irish women each year take to Britain. Early in

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1981 there was a political force gather-

ing without the traction to ~ve inany particular direction. The tradi-tional forces were fighting back, butthey had no practical demands.

W hen the Right To ChooseGroup had been formed inFebruary 1980 there were expec-tations of an amplified version of thehysterical denunciation which had metthe campaign on contraception. How-ever, there was little reaction. For themost part the media simply reportedon developments, without carrying

smears or admonishments. This was tocontinue for over a year. It was accep-ted that abortion could be argued asan issue like any other. The RTCpeople knew that SPUC was organisingdown among the grassroots but didn'trespond. They didn't want that kindof confrontation and in any case werenot equipped for that kind of cam-paign.

The RTC was always a group, nevera campaign. It followed the traditionalfeminist road of internal discussion -a necessary process, but one oftenundertaken at the cost of a lack of

public activity. They held meetings,but you had to have an eye and anear tuned to the women's movementto know about them.

One of the most successful meet-ings was held in the Junior Common

Room of TCD on Friday, August 8

1980. Apart from the RTC speakersthere was a speaker, Patricia McMahon,from the American group CatholicsFor a Free Choice and Jan Parkerfrom the National Abortion Campaignin Britain. About a hundred peopleattended.

The following month, on TuesdaySeptember 9, the RTC Group held apress conference at 3 Belvedere Place,the old HQ of the Contraception ActionProgramme, and announced the settingup of the Irish Pregnancy CounsellingCentre. This would provide counsellingfor women with unwanted pregnancies.

The counselling would be non-direc-tional, giving all the options includingabortion, and helping the woman tofollow whatever option she chose. Ifthe woman wanted an abortion theIPCC referred her to a clinic in Britainand provided counselling after theabortion if she wanted it.

In strict political terms it could beargued that the Group's main achieve-ment, the setting up of the IPCC, wasa diversion, accommodating to theunwritten position of the state - whichwas to avoid controversy on abortionby exporting the problem to Britain.

In practical terms there was little elsethey could do other than set up aservice to support the decisions manywomen were already taking. Theywere a tiny group without resourcesor the political direction to launch a

campaign. By the end of 1980 they

had established their presence, founda niche within the feminist movement,and little more.

Less than three. weeks after thesetting -up of the IPCC two meet-ings were held in Dublin which wouldprove important in guiding the tradi-tional forces. About 200 doctors fromvarious countries staged a congress ofthe World Federation of Doctors WhoRespect Human Life. Dr David Nowlan'of the Irish Times, who attended theconference, described it as "arrogant,

paranoid and sex-obsessed", with theissues of contraception and abortionbeing introduced to almost all sessions,including those dealing with subjectssuch as the care of the dying anddoctors' responsibilities to prisoners.It was organised by Professor JohnBonnar, a promoter of natural con-traception and a leading light of theAmendment campaign.

Professor Bonnar has links withboth the Knights of Columbanus andOpus Dei. In 1978 he lectured theKnights at their headquarters in ElyPlace. "Ireland stands alone", he said',

"in her fight to defend the Judeo-Christian moral code of sexual beha-viour and the sanctity of life". Hislecture was reproduced by Opus Deiin 1979 as part of their covert cam-paign against contraception legislation.

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Some of the doctors from that con-ference organised a second meeting atCarysfort College. This linked up thedoctors with the pressure groupswhich were preparing the grassrootscampaign. Representatives from the

British SPUC were there (the IrishSPUC was just' being formed) andmembers of The Responsible Society.

This group was set up in 1980 from ameeting on "The Permissive Society"organised by the Knights of Colum-banus. This was the meeting at whichProfessor John Bonnar made his"Ireland stands alone" speech. Fr PaulMarx, the energetic anti-abortion cam-paigner, famous for careering aroundthe world with foetuses in bottles,was also a participant at the Carysfortmeeting. Marx was a founder of theDoctors Who Respect Human L if e

organisation.Shortly after these two meetings

the strands of the Pro-Life AmendmentCampaign (PLAC) began to consoli-date. The idea for putting an Amend-ment in the Constitution had comefrom the Catholic Doctors Guild amonth or two earlier. This Guild,which also has links with the Knightsof Columbanus, was formed about tenyears earlier as a reaction to "thedecline in ethical values".

The structural link between thedoctors and the pressure groups was

provided by the Council of SocialConcern, an umbrella organisation fora number of groups (such as theLeague of Decency and the FamilyLeague) which had sprung up in theSixties and Seventies to express the

disagreement of the traditional forceswith the changes that were takingplace. The Christian Political ActionMovement, which had canvassed againsta number of politicians in 1977 waspart of COSC.

I n short, the organiser of the TCDconference which was the spark thatbegan PLAC, Professor John Bonaar,had links with the Knights and OpusDei. Dr Richard Wade, a key figure inthe Catholic Doctors Guild, whichfirst suggested a referendum, is aKnight. The Responsible Society wasset up from a meeting organised by

the Knights at their headquarters.The Council of Social Concern, whichlinked the doctors with the pressuregroups, then operated from the head-quarters of the Knights, 8 Ely Place.

Professor Bonnar wasn't too happyabout having the organisation frontedentirely by men, "especially senioracademic gynaecologists, who lookedlike a stuffy old bunch", he toldMagill in June 1982. Dr Julia Vaughanbecame chairperson of the group.

From the beginning of 1981 PLAC,which was as yet just a small grouping

of individuals with no public presence,began to seek the support of othertraditional forces, such as the CatholicNurses Guild and Muintir na Tire. I nApril they pulled in the biggest andmost effective force, SPUC. Previously,

there had been some wariness aboutSPUC. Its supporters tend to shoutabuse and make controversial state-ments about contraception and thelike - not at all the image of respons-ible concern which PLAC was pro-moting. But if PLAC had its generalsamong the doctors, its colonels andcaptains among the pressure groups,it still needed its troops.

The original idea was to organisea national petition for a Constitutionalreferendum, but there was a possibleshort-cut through the nervous poli-ticians. On March 30 1981 a vice-

president of Fine Gael, Maria Stack,said that there were medical circum-stances in which abortion might bepermissible, in her opinion. GarretFitzGerald and Paddy Harte respondedquickly and brutally and Stack wassilenced.

There was an election coming up,the politicians were vulnerable. OnApril 27 1981 PLAC held a pressconference and announced its exis-tence. Just three days later GarretFitzGerald and Charlie Haughey metits representatives.

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Charlie Haughey immediately agreed

in principle to a referendum and

reponed back three weeks later withagreement in detail. Frank Cluskey

said Labour would consider it, and put

it on the long finger.

Garret FitzGerald was in a tightercorner. If PLAC was to point the

abortion finger during the forthcoming

general election Fine Gael would be

particularly vulnerable because of the

Stack incident. Also, there was a feel-

ing amongst some of his advisers that

Garret's perceived image with sections

of the electorate was somewhat re-

mote, insufficiently in tune with the

traditional values of Catholicism. It

was felt that some of the electorate

didn't even know he was a Catholic.

The PLAC demand was an opportu-

nity to get into line.

FitzGerald met the PLAC delega-

tion at his house on April 30, along

with Gemma Hussey. The PLAC

delegation comprised a doctor from

the TCD conference, Julia Vaughan,

Professor Eamonn de Valera, Loretto

Browne of SPUC, Frank' Ryan (a

lawyer) and Denis Barror of The

Responsible Society. FitzGerald im-

mediately agreed to their demand.

The wording which PLAC was

pushing at the time was: "The State

recognises the absolute right to life

of every unborn child from concep-

tion and accordingly guarantees to

respect and protect such right by

law." There was no mention of the

mother and the commitment to an

"absolute right" placed the rights of

the foetus above those of the mother.

Such details didn't worry anyone in

those days.

Last April a founder of PLAC toldthe Sunday Tribune, "I'm sick todeath of the whole Amendment busi-

ness." At least one other founder

doubted the wisdom of continuing

with the campaign.

It wasn't supposed to work out

like this. The thing should have been

slipped through as easily as a Finance

Bill in the Dail, Ireland, in the words

of Julia Vaughan, would have "once

again become a beacon" which would

"turn the tide in the Western world".

In' choosing such an emotive issue on

which to fight, the traditional forcesshould have had a runaway victory by

last March. People would be asked if

they wanted to kill babies - answer,

no, ergo triumph.

Instead, amoral civil war developed.

There were initial victories. Gay

Byrne, who more than any other indi-

vidual symbolised the openness of the

new values and the willingness to dis-

cuss all issues and points of view, was

successfully shouldered onto the side-

line. A member of the Irish National

Teachers Organisation running for the

Senate this year was asked one ques-

tion by his executive: not on education

but on where he stood on the Amend-

ment. When he said he opposed it he

was refused his union's backing and

withdrew from the election. On

several RTE programmes, notably an

interview with June Levine, there was

censorship which precluded discussion

of abortion. One producer was repri-

manded and effectively barred from

working on certain programmes after

arranging an interview with Anne

Connolly of the Well Woman Centre.

Such foretastes of the resurgence of

traditional values culminated in the

purging of the anti-Amendment ele-

ments from the IF A.What wasn't expected was the size

and strength of the opposition. The

Right To Choose Group was supposed

to be the devil at which the fingers

would be pointed and all others would

join in the fingerpointing or be reveal-

ed as "anti-life". Instead, the opposi-

tion emerged on a wide scale based on

carefully thought-out grounds of res-

pect for the mother's life and a general

distaste at the moral superiority and

authoritarianism which the traditional

forces represent. The Amendment had

at first been compared to the Mother

and Child scheme, but as time went

'by it became apparent that the com-

parison was inaccurate. The Mother-

and Child debacle was a flexing of

well used muscles by the traditional

forces, and opposition collapsed im-

mediately. This time there was at least

a fight.

. .

At the time of Garret FitzGerald's

assumption of the Fine Gael

leadership, party activists believed that

at least a quarter, perhaps more, of

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the National Executive of the party were Knights of Colum-banus. Such a force, acting in concert while others actedindividually, had a large influence. The demonstration ofgreater efficiency and the process of attrition throughwhich FitzGerald's whizz kids assumed dominance in theparty saw the quiet eviction of the Knights.

So nervous was FitzGerald of this power group thatwhen he was forming his present Cabinet he extracted adeclaration from each male Minister that he wasn't a Knightand a promise that if he should join that organisation hewould leave the Cabinet.

Even so, the traditional forces were gathering withinthe party. I n January 1982 the Irish Catholic was able to

report that a group of "strenuously Catholic" TDs andSenators was organising within the party. Significantly,this group was aimed not alone at the Amendment but at"the promoters of marriage wrecking" - i.e. those whobelieved that the divorce laws should reflect the reality ofmarital breakdown.

FitzGerald, belatedly convinced of the dangers of theAmendment, tried to straddle two camps, the traditionaland modern, and hold the party together. Surprisingly,Paddy Cooney was on his side and argued strongly withinthe Cabinet that the wording was crazy. (Cooney, however,like J ohn Kelly, is unlikely to break with the traditionalforces with which he normally sides.)

One bishop made it known to FitzGerald that there werereservations within the hierarchy about the Amendmentbut it was up to the Government to stop it; the bishopswere unable to stop it. Some were totally committed toit - all recognised that the traditional forces within thelaity and the priests were making the running.

Fianna Fail atrophied and then became so unstablebecause of personality battles that it dare not discuss a live

political issue. The hatches were battened down.Outside, the wolves were in the streets.

Last Maya group of people held a meeting in Wexfordto discuss setting up a family planning centre. Abouttwenty members of SPUC descended on the meeting, inWhite's Hotel, with such slogans as "Instead of womencontrolling their fertility men should control their virility".A Fr Fortune, curate at Poulfur, criticised the two FineGael deputies, Avril Doyle and Ivan Yates, who werepresent in support of the meeting. He said that he nowknew that the two TDs were not pro-life.

Fr Jack McCabe, Parish Administrator, subsequentlyapologised to the TDs for the curate's remarks.

There was no apology for Fr McCabe's other remarks -that he hoped that Catholic hospitals would not be employ-ing people who subscribed to these views. He also madewarning remarks about teachers. There were teachers on theplatform. There was some laughter amid the protests atthe priest's remarks.

Such remarks are not funny, neither are they idlethreats. People keep files on people.

On May 12 1980 the Irish Times printed a letter signedby Sally Keogh in her capacity as Information Officer ofthe National Social Service Council (NSSC). This was notedby the Council of Social Concern, a constituent part ofPLAC and an organisation linked to the Knights. On J une6 J ohn O'Reilly of COSC wrote a confidential letter to the

Director of NSSC pointing out that a Sally Keogh had beensecretary of the Irish Family Planning Association in 1978and another Sally Keogh had been involved in the Contra-ception Action Programme.

"These latter two Sally Keoghs have their ideologicalcolours nailed firmly to the mast", wrote O'Reilly. They

. and the NSSC Sally Keogh might be one and the sameperson. "This is disturbing and I would be very grateful ifyou would confirm if it is true or assure us that it is false."O'Reilly added: "One could not help but worry that thepost of Information Officer in your organisation affordedsome good opportunity for the promotion of what we maycall the ideology of the contraceptive clinics."

O'Reilly is a former Knight, is vice-chairman of COSCand secretary of The Responsible Society - all organisations

involved in the setting up of PLAC.Getting no response from the NSSC he wrote to thedirector again on J uly 27 and warned, "In the event ofreceiving no reply at all, reluctantly, I shall be compelledto circularise the members of the Council". When thisthreat had no effect there were further measures to houndSally Keogh.

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On June 12 Nial Darragh, a Knightof Columbanus, member of COSC,veteran campaigner against contracep-tion and for the Amendment, wrote apersonal letter to Tomas Rosingrave,

a member of the NSSC, enclosing acopy of O'Reilly's letter to the direc-tor. Darragh said, "Need I say thatthere is absolutely no wish on my partto jeopardise the employment orcareer of the lady in question." (Thenwhy write?) "However, as you know Iam very concerned about the evileffects of contraception and the'contraception mentality' on ourChristian Irish youth and teenagers."

Darragh said that the letter pre-viously sent to the director was to besent to all members of the NSSC butinstead he wished to "seek less formal

.comment in confidence from afriend."He closed with an ambiguous and con-fused remark: "If what appears to bethe situation is in fact so, there wouldappear to be a basis for reconsidera-tion of the wisdom of appropriateaction. "

Rosingrave appears to have beenembarrassed by the approach andnothing transpired. A SUbsequentletter to Michael Woods, Minister for'Health, brought the reply that if therewas any specific allegations to be madeagainst Sally Keogh they should bemade to the director of the NSSC.

II COUrl.!CiL OF SOCiAL Cor\lCERN

CQUf\!CH. OF fJ OC1A/ r-I"1'CERN

~'JUlie 12th.

Baznb Lj L

Service61 Swor-ds Road

Dublin 9

27th Ju'1. 1980

near TO:ill\".

"ill

!>1(

O"r'

i('ilt;

A,';j

I 811 passint; tho f\ teached- to youfor

your infor'llll1t1on and _ ifyou have time - eoeeerre ,

NE>edI :Jaythat thore is a.5o~uh:ly"0

wishon1lC'part tJjeopardie~ theel!lployment or

car\eer o:.~theLadyin que' Hon. Hceever- asyou

kn

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M A G I L L /W I N DE R M E R E P R OM O T I O N

37,500 will buy a prestige one bed-room flat in one of the most soughtafter areas in Dublin - Sandyrnount.

This'special price is being offered forthe first 12 of these apartments to besold from the drawings. '

Thi 'esidential a has everytliing,near village a here: ofSandy~m6unftGreenandS ymount .Strandyet Close to town. This is a small site,in Gilford Road, a delightful quiettree lined road linking SandymountGreen with the Strand. Proof of thedesirability of location is that there

18 M A G I L L S E PT E M B E R 1983

are no less than 15 major sports clubswithin half a mile radius of the site.

, There are mature trees which are beingretained which will give the wholedevelopment' a maturity often lackingin new apartments.

Sellin'gagents, O'Brien Driscoll Ltd.,of Dublin point out that the finishedbuilding will be fashioned in tradi-tional materials which will weatherwell yet have an economical main-tenance commitment. The front of thedevelopment faces an open aspectwith a churchlike building across the

road; there is a small orchard to therear.

The apartments will comprise ofone and two bedroom units rangingfrom 420sq.ff. to 845sq.ft. There willbe four types: the one bedroom apart-ment, the two' bedroom apartment

with balcony, the two bedroom pent-house with balcony and terrace andthe very spacious one bedroom Pent-house with roof terrace. This showsgreat imagination and flair, the onecriticism that can, be made of so manymodern flat developments is the

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depressing sameness of each unit.Having four options not only offersprice choice it gives character to thedevelopment as can be seen by theaccompanying artists layout.

One of Ireland's leading interior

designers has been commissioned toprovide a choice of three co-ordinatedcolour schemes for early purchasers.Whichever choice is made they willachieve a tasteful balance harmonyand contrast in paintwork, wall cover-ing, ceramic tiling, bathroom suitecolour and colour of 'kitchen andbedroom fittings: This is a definiteplus particularly if purchasers wish togo further with this service. INSIDELTD., of Dame Court, will provide co-ordinated carpets and soft furnishings,in fact you can get the whole apart-ment completely furnished by them.

The penthouse will have 'L' shapedliving/dining rooms with patio doorsto both the balconies and the roofterraces. These will have uninterrup-ted views out over the mountains,the city and the sea.

The two bedroomed apartmentswill have balconies and generouslyproportioned halls. They will also have'L ' shaped living/dining rooms andfeature large bathrooms, a goodstorage provision and a small utilityroom. The one bedroom apartmentwill have well proportioned living/dining room with fireplace and bay

windows. Kitchen 'U' shaped and wellequipped .

Special Features* A Spacious Entrance Hall with aLift and Stair plus a TV Entry ControlSecurity System

* High Security Double GlazedWindows

* High Standards of Insulationthroughout

* Private Residents Garden with aWater Feature

* Individual Car Parking for EachApartment

* Ample Storage Space and Built-InWardrobes

* Full Ceramic Tiling in the Bathroom

* Fitted Kitchens

* Piped TVand FM

*Wiringfor Telephones

* Attractive Corner Fireplaces

* Individual Time and Thermostati-cally Controlled Heating Systems

Horan Cotter Associates are theArchitects. They have been involvedin apartment design for 10 years andare the recipients of the country'shighest award for housing, The Trien-nial Medal of The Royal Institute ofArchitects in Ireland.

Technical DetailsThe terms of purchases are standard

with a 5% booking deposit and a fur-

ther 10% on exchange of contract(approximately 3 weeks later). The

balance of 85% is payable on closing,within 10 days of the certificate ofcompletion.

The apartments will qualify underthe 6 year NHGB Scheme and certi-ficates of reasonable value will be

available. No stamp duty will be pay-able and all apartments will qualifyunder Section 23 of the Finance Act1981. Government grants and sub-sidies amounting to 4,000 are avail-able to first time buyers. The apart-ments will be sold on a 500 year leasesubject to a nominal ground rent plusvariable service charge and on grantingof the final lease the development willbecome vested in a management com-pany which will be controlled by theapartment owners.

Note For Investors

These apartments will be completedbefore 31st March. This area is one ofthe most desirable in Dublin for letting,giving a consistently high investmentyield.

Selling Agents, O'Brien Driscoll, ofElgin Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin haveall the details, including drawings andplans. Further information may be hadfrom them. Telephone: 601087/684475.

TWO BEAUTlFULL Y FURNISHEDSHOW FLATS WILL BE AV AIL-

ABLE FOR VIEWING THE FIRSTWEEK IN OCTOBER.

O'Brien Driscoll ltd.MIAVI ESTATE AGENTS AUCTIONEERS VALUERS PROPERTY CONSUL TANTS

SpecialisinginApartments

21, ELGIN ROAD, BALLSBRIDGE, DUBLIN 4. TELEPHONES: 601087,684475

MAGILL SEPTEMBER 1983 19

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N E T K

T he I r ish eI R .Kerry Dougherty talks to the managing director of Atlantic

Resources and considers the government's options

Inthe weeks since news of the Irishoffshore oil discovery broke thenames of high rollers like TonyO'Reilly, Jim Stafford and GerryMcGuinness have been bandied aboutas Ireland's new oil barons. But theman behind the find - who believedfor almost 20 years that the oil wasthere - is 54 year old Trinity educatedgeologist, Donald J .R. Sheridan, mana-ging director of Atlantic Resources.

With the strike, Mr Sheridan couldhave been transformed from an es-

timated 50,000 a year corporateexecutive into one of Ireland's richestmen. Could have, that is, if he hadexercised the options on his 110,000shares of Atlantic Resources stockwhich are his for the next seven yearsat 1 each. When Atlantic Resourcesstocks peaked last month at 6.60on the Irish market, Mr Sheridan couldhave made more than 500,000 over-night.

Instead, Don Sheridan held on tohis options, signalling his own beliefthat the offshore strike is so good thatin the future Atlantic Resources

shares will soar far beyond the sixpound mark.

In an interview shortly after the oildiscovery, Mr Sheridan exhibited re-markable cool for a man who hadsuddenly struck oil: "I had a fairlygood idea the hydrocarbons werethere. Geologically speaking, the CelticSea is very like the North Sea," hesaid. "We were quietly confident thatwewould find oil."

Sheridan and the other oil execu-tives involved are curiously secretiveabout the exact day oil was found.On the day in question, however, Mr

Sheridan said he was informed of thediscovery in his daily progress reportwhich had come to him regularlysince that particular test began on

J une 16. The geologists at AtlanticResources read their reports and thenexchanged low-key congratulations.

They did not pop the cork on a bottleof Dom Perignon or hop a helicopterto the rig to see for themselves.

"We knew it was coming any timeat that point. The reports we weregetting indicated the oil was there,"he says.

The massive public interest which

followed, combined with the sky-rocketing value of Atlantic Resourcesshares, surprised even a seasonedgeologist like Sheridan who summedup the Irish atmosphere in 11 word:"Hysteria. That's the word for it," he

M A GILL SEPTEMBER 1983

said, shaking his head. "Y ou don'tget this sort of reaction when youstrike oil in the middle of Libya."

W e should know. In his morethan 40 years in the field of oilexploration, Don Sheridan has beeninvolved in oil strikes in the PersianGulf, Lebanon, the UK, Canada andAmerica. (That much moving aroundis normal for members of his pro-fession he said, describing himselfand colleagues as "global itinerants".)

Sheridan's longest stint to date hasbeen in Ireland where he has lived withhis wife and four children "on andoff" for about 20 years. Until 1981Sheridan was the chief geologist withMarathon Oil, the people who arebringing you Kinsale Gas. In 1982Sheridan was lured to Atlantic Re-sources, reportedly with the attrac-tions of lucrative stock options, thepromise of vast exploration in theCeltic Sea and the position of mana-ging director.

It is widely believed that DonSheridan was frustrated at Marathon

because the company was short ofcash for exploration. This situationis blamed on the deal struck betweenthe Government and the companyover the Kinsale development. Whenasked if that was his reason for leavingMarathon, Mr Sheridan instead pre-ferred to cite his "geologists as itine-.rants" theory of oil exploration.When asked if Marathon has beenfinancially crippled by the Govern-ment on the Kinsale Gas deal, hereplied that he also had heard rumoursto that effect but would make nocomment on them.

Whether it was because of his ex-perience at Marathon or just inherentin the oil executive psyche, Mr Sheridanhas an intense scepticism about therole Government should play inmineral exploration and exploitation.Speaking of his deep belief that theoil is there, Mr Sheridan said hefeared that too much Governmentinterference and mismanagement couldresult in I rish oil industry being leftin a shambles like the Navan mines.

"We have an extremely sorry his-tory here with the Navan experience,"he said. "The Navan mine is one ofthe

richest lead zinc deposits in all ofEurope. Despite that there is preciouslittle money coming into this countryfor mineral exploration because of theNavan situation."

Observers point out, however, that

zinc and oil exploration are twodifferent matters. While the twoNavan mines have been big moneylosers since the mid-1970s it is onlypartially due to state interference and

mostly the result of a depressed zincmarket. The commercial value ofzinc is constantly in flux, while oilis always i n demand and the marketis consistently high.

In an interview with Magill, how-ever, Mr Sheridan returned repeatedlyto the theme that Governments shouldsteer clear of oil exploration.

"Governments the world over havemade a mess of oil exploration andthere is no reason to believe Irelandwill be any different," he said. "Ex-ploration is a hell of a risky businessand I honestly don't believe that state

oil companies are the answer."Under the terms of the Ireland

Exclusive Offshore Licensing laws, theGovernment is entitled to royaltiesfrom the crude on on a scale risingfrom 8 to 16 percent. It is also entitledto a one time bonus payment if thefield releases a very high level ofproduction.

In addition, the State has the rightto S O percent participation in theventure. This is presumably a higherstake than the Atlantic Resourceswould like to see the Governmentmake in its wells, although it is a

modest interest compared to thesituation in the Middle Eastern OPECnations and Britain and Norway inthe North Sea.

Sheridan reasons that if the oilcompanies take the risk and spendthe money on exploration they arecertainly entitled to a lions shareof the revenue from the wells.

Of course they're concerned aboutwhat the Government is going to

do," said Fianna Fail's George Colley,who granted Atlantic Resources its

exploration license when he wasMinister for Industry and Energy."They would like it if the Governmentsat back and did nothing, but theyknew very well what the frameworkwas when they signed."

Although the present Governmentsays it has no intention of nationalis-ing the oil companies or establishinganother state oil company to augmentthe Irish National Petroleum Cor-poration, secret talks are presentlytaking place between the Governmentand representatives of INPC as to whatrole Irish Petroleum should play in

the future.Mr Colley says he has "no doubt"

that the Government is contemplatinga move into exploration of its ownshould the Atlantic Resources fieldprove economically viable.

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NETWORKChances of the field proving com-

mercially sound are high according tosome observers who point to the low

costs of developing such a close-infield in shallow water.

While it will be some time beforeAtlantic Resources and its two part-

ners, Gulf and Union Oil, evaluatethe Irish find, current estimates place

possible production in the range of

40,000 to 50,000 barrels a day. Thatis miniscule by international standards

- the smallest well in the North Sea

produces 100,000 barrels a day andthe largest pumps 1.6 million every24 hours.

What would 50,000 barrels ofhomegrown crude mean to the averageIrish consumer?

Absolutely nothing unless you

bought Atlantic Resources shares andheld onto them like Don Sheridan.

"An oil discovery of this size willbe of enormous benefit to the be-leagured Irish economy but would

not really mean much to the averageIrish citizen," said Bart Collins, editor

of London's Petroleum Times. "Theoil companies involved would un-

doubtedly put pressure on the Govern-

ment to maintain Irish oil prices atprevious levels and to stay in line with

other oil producing countries. Basic-ally, the prices at the pump would

stay the same."

Shatter ing G ar r etMark Brennock examines the role and function of Young FineGael and profiles its Chairman, Chris O'Malley.

In 1979 when Chris O'Malley wasrunning for the presidency of UCDStudents' Union he made his position

on abortion clear: he was againstabortion. 1979 was the beginning of

a period when UCD students becameperceptibly more conservative andthere was concern that the Students'

Union leadership might be soft onabortion. The smear campaign orga-nised by one of O'Malley's supporters

on the abortion issue was thus very

effective. O'Malley did not initiatethe smear nor did he take part in it.

Nor did it do him any harm. Hewon the election.

O'Malley decided that he wantedto become president of UCD Students'Union while still at school. However,

his involvement in student politicsin his first two years in college was

peripheral. His announcement of his

candidature appeared surprising, hiselection appeared effortless.

Within two years of joining Y oung

Fine Gael in 1980 he was elected

chairman. He had no stiff opposition.

It is not his choice that Young FineGael's opposition to the amendment

has brought him to the fore. He wan-

ted to move Y oung Fine Gael awayfrom moral issues and to have an

input into social and economic policy.

Like Declan Costello in the 1960s

and Michael Keating in the 1970s,

Chris O'Malley makes no secret of thefact that he is a social democrat. Like

them in their day he wants Fine Gael

to become a social democratic party.

He sees Y oung Fine Gael as playing animportant part in that change, andwhen it takes place, the right wingers,the Alice Glenns of this world, will

leave. He feels that they should begiven every encouragement.

The Alice Glenns see it differently.Alice Glenn herself recently accused

Y oung Fine Gael of being unaware ofthe party's history. Chris 0'Malleyhas reason to find this amusing. He isa grandson of Kevin O'Higgins, Minis-ter for Home Affairs in the firstCosgrave government. He is a grand-

nephew of Tom O'Higgins, the presi-

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MAGILL SEPTEMBER 1983 21

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dent of the Blueshirts in the 1930s,and he is a cousin of the present ChiefJustice, Tom O'Higgins. The blueblood isn't confined to Fine Gael.His father is first cousin of Fianna

Fail Senator Eoin Ryan, and he is agrand-nephew of Dr James Ryan,TD for Wexford from 1918 to 1965and at various times Fianna FailMinister for Health and Social Wel-fare, Agriculture and Finance. Hisgrand-aunt married Sean T. O'Kelly.His mother is Una O'Higgins O'Malley,founder of the Glencree Centre forReconciliation. So strong was thelegacy of Civil War bitterness thatmembers of both families boycottedhis parents wedding.

Chris O'Malley also has a degreein history.

In the amendment campaignYoungFine Gael is providing a platform forAlan DUkes, Gemma Hussey, NualaFennell and Alan Shatter to speakagainst the amendment, while issuingpress statements using words suchas "conservative" and "reactionaryforces" to condemn the likes of AliceGlenn and Oliver J. Flanagan. Whenasked at the press conference whichlaunched the Young Fine Gael cam-paign if he thought that Young FineGael was out of line with the seniorparty he replied that they were onlycampaigning in favour of party policy.

Put another way it is the senior partythat is out of line with Young FineGael.

O n Saturday evening February 12Garret FitzGerald arrived at theLeisureland complex in Salthill toaddress the Young Fine Gael annualconference. As he sat in front of thespeakers rostrum, speaker after speakerstood in front of him, castigated theparty for supporting the amendmentand pleaded with him to change hisline on it. Delegates appealed to "thespirit of the constitutional crusade".The hall was filled to capacity, theonly such occasion throughout theweekend. Among the delegates therewas a sense that they were doingsomething important as they passedthe most strongly worded of threeanti amendment motions by a con-vincing majority.

Garret FitzGerald got up to makehis speech. He virtually ignored hisprepared script which was to refer tothe constitutional crusade. He said"my decision to set up Young FineGael has been totally vindicated bywhat has happened here today". Hepromised "to take the views that Ihave heard here into account" andthen cut his speech short. Manydelegates regarded the tone of hisspeech as patronising. They had

MA G I},;;},;; SEPTEM BER 19? 3

Chris O'Malley: unflawed pedigree

expected more. Several delegates re-fused to stand for the traditionalstanding ovation. Garret FitzGeraldwas no longer God. Young Fine Gaelwas prepared to take a stand withouta lead from him. According to seniorparty sources he was "genuinelyshattered" by his experience. On May29 he met the Young Fine GaelNational Executive. They informedhim of their intention to campaignagainst the amendment and asked himto clarify the party's anti amendmentpolicy.

C hris O'Malley has no difficultyin clarifying Young Fine Gael'spolicies. Since his election as chairmanhe has met several government minis-ters to explainYoung Fine Gael policyto them. He recently told one govern-ment minister that Young Fine Gaelcould oppose apiece oflegislation thatthe minister was keen to introduceunless certain specific changes werefirst made in the particular area.

Senior party members don't expectYoung Fine Gael to behave like this.From its foundation in 1978 YoungFine Gael has never carried any poli-tical weight within the party. It wasfounded as part of a strategy to makethe party appear more attractive tothat ever growing section of the elec-torate, the 18-25 age group. In this ithas been very successful. Since 1979Fine Gael's share of the vote in thatagegroup has more than doubled from19% to 40%. But Young Fine Gaelwas never intended to have any rele-vance to party policy. It wasagesture

to "the young people", a social clubfor the offspring of senior party

members with the odd disco and theoccasional perk of apatronising speechand a handshake from Garret himself.According to a former Young FineGael chairman, Roy Dooney , the mostsuccessful event of his year was theannual sports day.

The national profile of Young FineGael was virtually non-existent in theyear prior to February 1983. This wasdue in large part to the cancellationof the 1982 conference due to theGeneral Election campaign. In thesame period Young Fine Gael'sprofilewithin the party rose considerably.According to Senator Sean O'Leary,Fine Gael's national director of elec-tions in the three general electionsbetween the last two conferences"Young Fine Gael formed 25-30%of the active door-knockers".

In Dublin South West their impactwas most striking. Within three weeks

Young Fine Gaelers from outside theconstituency moved in to form anelection machine for newcomerMichael O'Leary who duly ousted thesitting Fine Gael TD Larry McMahon.Chris O'Malley was in charge of thatoperation. The importance of YoungFine Gael to the party machine isnowwidely recognised. As a result YoungFine Gael now feel that they have aright to demand an input into partypolicy.

While Chris O'Malley says thatneither he nor Young Fine Gael wan-ted this amendment to happen, thereis no doubt that in amatter of monthsthe campaign has enormously im-proved not only Young Fine Gael'smorale but has also helped to secureChrisO'Malley's political future.

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of the background and evidence in the case and we start

with the stories of the three accused persons - Osgur

Breathnach, Brian McNally and Nicky Kelly.

ON THE 5TH, 6TH, AND 7TH DAY S OF APRIL,

1976, there were in excess of twenty persons

arrested under Section 30 of the Offences

Against the State Act, 1939, in connection with

the robbery of the SaIIins mail train which had taken place

on the 31 st of March. The arrests were made in Dublin,

Cork, Wicklow, Limerick, and Carlow. ...

Among those subsequently charged with conspiracy

to commit armed robbery and with actual robbery of the

mails from theCork/Dublin train on the morning of the

31st of March, 1976, were Osgur Breathnach, Brian McNally, I

Michael Plunkett, John Fitzpatrick, Michael Barrett, and

Nicky Kelly. Four of the accused signed statements whilst

in police custody, incriminating themselves in the robbery:

Breathnach, McNally, Fitzpatrick, and Kelly. They alleged

that the statements, amounting to confessions, were signed

in order to stop beatings they were receiving at the hands

of the police.

All six charged were discharged by Justice 0hUadhaighthe following December, because of the failure of the

prosecution to produce a book of evidence against the

accused.

Subsequently, new charges were preferred against four

of the original accused. Fitzpatrick and Barrett were notcharged, even though Fitzpatrick had signed a statement

incriminating himself in the robbery, which meant that

there was precisely the same evidence against him as there

was against Nicky Kelly and Osgur Breathnach. No reason

was ever offered for this, and Fitzpatrick was never called

as a witness to confirm or deny allegations that it was he

who beat up McNally on the Wednesday night of the

crucial remand from a special sitting of the District Court,

back into Garda custody.

The trial of the four was aborted on the fiftieth day on

the death of one of the Judges, J udge John William

O'Connor. A new trial was set, and in the first few days

of this new trial, Michael Plunkett was acquitted. Breathnach,

McNally, and Kelly were found guilty and sentenced on

December 13, 1978. Upon appeal, Breathnach and McNally

had their convictions quashed on May 20, 1980. Nicky

Kelly was unsuccessful in his appeals to both the Court of

Criminal Appeal and the Supreme Court. He is still in jail,

serving a 12 year sentence.

O

SGUR BREATHNACH WAS ARRESTED

. under Section 30 of the Offences Against the

State Act, 1939, at 3.l5pm on the 31st March,1976. He was taken to the Bridewell where his

detention order was extended and he was released at

2.45pm on Friday, the 2nd of April, 1976. He had spent

47Yz hours in police custody.He was arrested again under Section 30 at 1.30pm on

Monday, the 5th of April, 1976, and taken to the Bride-

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well, where his detention order was again extended, and he

was released at 1.30pm on Wednesday, the 7th of April,1976. A total of 48 hours in police custody. It was duringthe latter part of his detention that he alleges he was beatenand forced to sign a statement, incriminating himself in the

Sallins mail train robbery.Upon his second release, he was again arrested under

Section 30, and was detained until he was taken to theRichmond Hospital, following a High Court Habeas Corpusapplication. The following day, he was arrested at common

law.The Court of Criminal Appeal quashed Breathnach'sconviction and ruled that his statements were inadmissiblein evidence because of his having been brought to a "mena-cing environment", a tunnel in the Bridewell during hissecond period in detention, in the early hours of the morn-ing, for an interview, and failure to vindicate his right ofaccess to a solicitor.

Upon his second arrest under Section 30, Osgur Breath-nach was taken to the Bridewell Garda Station and placedin a cell. After 40 hours in detention, at approx. 5.20am

on the Wednesday morning, he was taken down into atunnel leading to the District Court, and. interviewed byDetective Garda Fitzgerald and Detective Inspector John

Murphy. Breathnach alleged in evidence that he was ques-tioned in this tunnel, and that he refused to answerquestions without a solicitor. He alleged also that DetectiveGarda Thomas Fitzgerald and Detective Inspector JohnMurphy attempted to pull his coat off, that he was slapped,punched, kneed, banged against a wall, that his arms wereheld, and that he was shouted at. He alleged further thathis alleged part in the robbery was being repeated over andover again to him.

When he was taken back upstairs, he alleged that Detec-tive Garda Fitzgerald and Detective Inspector Murphypulled a chair from under him causing him to fall to theground, and that he was pulled from one detective to ano-ther, that he was by this time dizzy, sore all over, confused,

and had difficulty in breathing. He also alleged that he wasbeaten by other detectives whom he could not identify,that the statement he signed was not his own, but con-cocted by the Gardai, and that he was forced to sign it inorder to avoid further beatings. The time on his statementis 6.00am on Wednesday, April '7 - he had been in 'custody

41 hours at the time of his making a "confession".Dr. Noel Smith, who had been the Breathnach family

doctor for some years, was asked by relatives to go to theFour Courts to examine Osgur Breathnach prior to the

Habeas Corpus application on the afternoon of Wednesday,April 7. He examined Breathnach at 5.l5pm that evening,

just under 12 hours after the self-incriminatory statementhad been signed. Dr. Smith said in evidence that Breathnach's

head was painful and tender and that he had a lump on it,that his left leghad bruisesover the top lower third, lateral,to the side and back. That there were the early stages ofbruising on Breathnach's buttocks. In Smith's opinion,Breathnach was dangerously ill, suffering from concussionas a result of the head injury and suffering from otherinjuries which could not have been self inflicted. As a resultof an application to the High Court, Breathnach was re-moved to the Richmond Hospital.

Breathnacn was examined by Dr Leech of the Richmond

Hospital on his arrival at the hospital on the Wednesdayafternoon April 7th. Dr Leech said in evidence that hefound Breathnach to be in an anxious condition, that therewas a small bruise on the left hand side of the chest, a smallbruise on the inside left ankle, bruises over the lower onethird of the leg, and tenderness over the triceps of the leftarm. He said the injuries which he found were consistentwith an assault of minor degree.

Dr Carey, a senior neuro-surgeon at the Richmond Hos-pital, who examined Breathnach on Thursday morning,April 8th, said in evidence that he found no injury to theaccused's head, no evidence of loss of consciousness, noevidence of external injury to the head or neck. There was

tenderness of the scalp, on the left side of the jaw, andbruising on the left arm, left chest, back of the right calf

and on the left ankle. The bruisings on the arms was statedby Dr Carey to be consistent with a punch, behind the rightleg would be consistent with a kick or a knock.

Breathnach was discharged from hospital later that day,April 8th.

Thus while the medical evidence on Breathnach's con-dition was inconsistent (although the doctors concernedinsisted their evidence was not contradictory), there wasnonetheless considerable medical evidence that Breathnachwas suffering from injuries of some kind. At no stagethroughout the trial was there any evidence to the effectthat Breathnach could at any stage have inflicted these

injuries on himself or have had these injuries inflicted,other than at the hands of the Gardai.

Non-medical evidence about Breathnach's condition waseven more compelling. Aidan Browne S.C., who saw Breath-nach in the High Court before the Habeas Corpus applica-tion said in evidence: "To me, he appeared to be somebodyelse - as distressed as anyone I have ever seen and to adegree that was frightening as far as I was concerned ... Itwas an overall impression of somebody who was dehuma-nised, that the attributes of the human animal that dis-tinguishes him from the non-human animal were missingfrom him ... one other person that I had seen in custody,not in this jurisdiction, in Crumlin Road Jail where he hadbeen lodged after sustaining seven or eight days of interro-

gation ... that was the parallel between the two personsthat I made at the time." While Brown's evidence was madeto appear unspecific and vague under cross examination,his testimony was nonetheless powerfu1.

Mr Dudley Potter, solicitor, also giving evidence atOsgur Breathnach's trial, said he saw the accused at twelve

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midday on the 7th of April, 1976, and that there weremarks and bruises on his body and that he appeared to bein a very distressed state.

Taken all in all therefore, the evidence in Breathnach'scase was not just sufficient as to raise a reasonable doubtabout the voluntary nature of his confession. The evidencewas such as to suggest that inall probability he had in factbeen beaten up.

Brian McNally

BRIAN MCNALL Y WAS ARRESTED UNDER

the Offences Against the State A ct, 1939 ,at 7.l0amon the Monday morning of April the 5th, 1976.He was taken to Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station

and shortly afterwards, he alleged in evidence, he wasstruck on the cheek by Detective Garda Thomas Dunne,and also shouted at by him. He said he was assaulted by

Detective Garda Kieran P. Lawlor, who is alleged to havebeaten him on the right cheek bone, the lip, the ribs andthe chest.

McNally claimed also that he had been deprived of

tablets which had been prescribed for him. He was ques-tioned at intervals throughout the day, and alleged that by

midnight he was fatigued and unsure of himself as a resultof being deprived of such tablets. He was then brought to

the Bridewell Garda Station.His questioning resumed at 1O.OOam the following

morning and lasted until 6.00pm, when he was put to hiscell for tea. At 830pm, he was taken out to an interviewroom where he was interviewed until 9.l5pm.

McNally alleged that during this interview he was sittingon a double seat with Detective Garda Felix McKenna,that when he lit a cigarette, it was knocked out of his

mouth by Detective Garda Thomas FitzGerald, that Detec-tive Garda McKenna stood up suddenly and that he (Me-Nally), fell to the floor, that he was picked up by DetectiveGarda McKenna and pushed towards Detective GardaFitzgerald who slapped and pushed him and he fell back on

the seat.McNally further alleged that during the period when hewas being interviewed between 11.45 and 1.00am on the

Wednesday morning, that the door of the interview roomwas burst wide open and that four or five plain clothes

detectives came in, one of whom he identified as Detective

Garda J oseph Egan. He said that he was made to stand,

28 MAGILL SEPTEMBER 1983

that he was called a "Northern bastard", was slapped

across the face with the back of the hand; was pushed fromone Garda to another; was struck by Detective SergeantPatrick Culhane; had his shirt torn, the wing of his glasses

broken; and that he lost consciousness.He also said he was lying on the floor and that he heardscreams and that Detective Garda Michael Finn came intothe room, in the company of another member of the

Garda Siochana whom he couldn't identify. He said he wascaught by the shoulders and kneed in the stomach, pushed

around, hit on the head and the left eye, pushed against

the table and beaten on the shoulders, lips, ribs, back andshoulder blades and between the legs with a black jack.

He said he was punched on the head and eye and that hewas crying and screaming like a child. He said that he had

to be helped off the floor to go to the toilet.

He denied in court making any statement, and he allegedthat the statement was already written out and that whenhe refused to sign it, he was threatened with the black jackagain and therefore did so sign it in order to avoid a furtherbeating, at 7 .aOamon the Wednesday morning.

McNally was convicted by the Special Criminal Court

but the Court of Criminal Appeal held that the court oftrial had been wrong in admitting in evidence alleged verbal

admissions, as no note had been made by the Gardai con-cerned of these alleged admissions, and therefore McNallyhad not had an opportunity to read over such note, or anopportunity to amend same, or to sign it.

Solicitor Pat McCartan who was acting for McNally andalso Kelly asked Dr. Sean 0Cleirigh and Dr. Sean Magee to

examine McNally when he was transferred to Mountjoy -

he asked both doctors to attend to ensure that at least oneof them would be available. Dr. 0Cleirigh made the exami-

nation on the evening of Thursday, April 8 at around7.30pm, some 36 hours after McNally had signed the self-incriminating statement.

Dr O'Cleirigh said in evidence that he found marks overMcNally's left shoulder, consisting of a mixture of bruising,scratching and excoriation, approx. 2"x4", and similar typemarks below the left buttock. He found more bruising atthe back of the right leg and right thigh, 6"x2", a similar

mark below the right knee, 4", and two red scratch lines.There was a reddening of the skin over an area of 4" below

the left knee and calf and there was swelling and discoloura-tion of the left eye. The left ear was swollen and inflamed

and there was an abrasion of about a quarter of an inch onthe front of the middle ear.

In addition, Dr 0Cleirigh stated that he found all move-

ments of the neck, left wrist, and little finger of the left

hand painful, and that there was a marked tenderness allover his body, especially at the lower ribs, and that theinjuries were of a type consistent with the beatings thatMcNally had described to him.

Dr Magee, who also examined McNally gave evidenceat the trial, corroborating that already given by Dr 0Cleirigh.

Thus in McNally's case there was consistent medicalevidence of the fact that he was suffering from injuries by

the time he got to Mountjoy on the evening of April 8th.The Garda and the state's response to this evidence was tosuggest that McNally had been beaten up either by himselfor by a cell-mate in the Bridewell on the night of April 7th.

We will be examining below the extraordinary circum-stances whereby McNally and the others came to be inGarda custody in the Bridewell that night.

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Nicky Kelly

t:DWARD NOEL (NICKY ) KELLY WAS A RRES-

ted under Section 30 of the Offences Against theState Act, 1939, at Arklow, at 10.00am on theMonday morning of the 5th of April, 1976, and

brought soon afterwards to Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station.He said in evidence that repeated requests for legal coun-

sel were ignored and alleged the first assault took place

around midday when Detective Garda Thomas Ibar Dunneturned him round by the shoulders against his will in the

presence of Detective Sergeant Francis Campbell and thathe was shouted at by Dunne.

Later on, he said, Dunne slapped him about the face andears, shouting at him all the time, and that Dunne sprinkledholy water on him. Kelly said that Detective Garda MichaelFinn entered the room, slapped him, and asked him if hewas ready to make a statement. Further, Finn made himstand up and sit down on a chair repeatedly, and thenpulled the chair from under him, causing him to fall to the

ground.Kelly alleged that the next assault occurred when

Detective Garda Dunne punched him on the arms. Detec-tive Garda Finn was the next to assault him by ramming hishead off a locker, whilst Detective Garda William Maherwas present also. Together, the Gardai shouted at him to

"own up", he said.He claimed they then "spreadeagled" him against a wall

and kicked his legs apart, causing him to fall to the ground.They jabbed him in the ribs when they were doing this.Dunne is alleged to have cursed throughout.

The last alleged assault on the Monday was when Detec-tive Garda Finn brought Kelly up to a cell and shoved hishead into a toilet bowl five or six times. Kelly was taken

(tthe Bridewell Garda Station at approx. 1.00am on theTuesday morning, where he rested the night in his cell.I On Tuesday morning, April 6th, Kelly said Detective

Garda Dunne shook him and that Detective Garda Maher

pushed him about and that, later on, Detective GardaLawlor and Detective Garda Boland pushed him from oneto the other, and shouted at him. At one stage, Kelly fell

to the floor, and he alleged that Detective Garda Boland hithim with a chair. Further, that Detective Garda Lawlor andDetective Garda Boland punched him on the arms andslapped him on the upper body.

After lunch, Kelly alleged, that Detective Garda Finnwas responsible for him falling off a seat and stood behindhim asking questions, slapping him on the ears when hegave "unsatisfactory answers". By late afternoon, Kelly

alleged that Detective Garda Dunne punched him on thearms and suggested to him roles that he played in the

robbery.Between the hours of 9.00pm on the Tuesday and

5.30am on the Wednesday, Kelly underwent continuousquestioning during which time he alleged that he wasshouted at by Detective Garda Dunne and punched repea-tedly on the arms by him, and that he was also beaten by anumber of detectives whom he couldn't identify.

Detective Garda Michael Finn and Detective SergeantPatrick F. Cleary were accused by Kelly of beating him on

three separate occasions with a black jack. He alleged hewas beaten under the arms and from the legs to the knees,that he was being punched and shouted at to sign a state-

ment. He also alleged that Detective Garda Finn threatenedto break his nose..

On the third occasion when he alleged he was beatenwith the black jack by Detective Sergeant Cleary, a state-ment had already been written out, and it was his refusalto sign it which brought on the third, and according to

Kelly, the worst of the beatings with the black jack.He also alleged that during this period Detective Garda

Egan slapped and punched him about the arms, ears, andface, and that Detective Sergeant Culhane shouted androared at him, and that Culhane punched him, causing himto fall to the ground. After the third beating with the black

jack, Kelly said he signed a statement at 5.l Sarn in order tostop further beatings.

Dr Sean O'Cleirigh, the independent medical witness,examined Kelly at Mountjoy Jail at 730pm on Thursday,the 8th of April, 1976. Dr O'Cleirigh said in evidence:

"He had bruising over the left arm covering approxi-mately the upper three quarters of the left arm and he hada similar type of'bruislng over approx. the middle two-thirds of the right arm. From the tip of the shoulders toabout three-quarters way down the arm. There was also alarge area of bruising, I call it ecchemosis, that was an area

approx. six inches over the left shoulder, at the back of theleft shoulder on the back of the trunk .... "

Dr O'Cleirigh said there was discolouration over the arms- "a blue black discolouration". He said "the whole area

was blue black. Over the back, there were areas where thediscolouration was much fainter. He also had bruising overboth buttocks.

"I want to describe the area where it was: it was belowthe crest of the illium, the crest of the illium is what we

would normally call the hips: the upper crest of the pelvicbone - and this extended down for about two inches. Itwas right across the back. I called it a linear bruising be-cause there were little lines through it. It was a slatey bluecolour.

Over the left thigh, there was an area of slight bruising:the discolouration was very slight; and this was approxi-

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mately two inches by four inches. It extended from thetuborsity - the prominence aat the top of the hip bone ...the tuborsity to the femor - the bone between the hip

joint and the knee - and this was tender. By what I mean,when I palpitated it, there was pain present. It was roughlytriangular in shape. The base was roughly two inches andthe sides were roughly four inches.

"There was a similar type of bruising between themiddle and the lower third of the thigh. That is about two-thirds of the way between the hip joint and the knee joint.The left thigh. This was approx. two inches in diameter.

"There were also -two small bruises on the front of thebody. One just below the breat bone - the sternum - oneabout an inch below the sternum; and the other about threeinches above and one inch outside the line of the left nipple.

They would have been at most one inch in diameter. They

were small bruises. He had extensive bruising of the left earitself and behind the left ear. In other words, the dis-

colouration extended from the ear itself. It extended for acouple of inches but it also extended down below the levelof the ear. There was discolouration behind the right ear.It was alight brown - I describe it as 'browning' ... "

Referring again to the left ear, Dr 0Cleirigh said: "Idiscovered that there was a swelling there and there wassome discolouration there