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Micheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig ★ Will Pat the Cope Gallagher and Charlie McConalogue face the People of Dún na nGall?


The recent vote i Teach Laighean is not a technical adjustment; it is a fundamental betrayal of what remains of Irish neutrality.

By voting to remove the triple lock, the UN requirement for deploying our soldiers to foreign wars, the political establishment has signalled its intent. But we must ask: why now, and for whom?
 
Pat 'the Cope' Gallagher and Charlie McConalogue voted for this ending of the UN requirement, effectively allowing Irish soldiers to be sent to wars not of our making.

Are they being honest and open with their electorate?

The rhetoric of "protecting Ireland" is a dangerous falsehood. By aligning them and therefore the people of Ireland, with EU militarism and NATO-adjacent structures, Ireland does not become safer; it becomes a target. We are being dragged into the warmongering nations, aligned with NATO and PESCO ambitions; supporting a 'weapons of death and destruction industry' based on manufactured Russian aggression.
 
This is not neutrality; this is submission to the imperatives of EU, Yankee, and English imperialism.

The hypocrisy is staggering. As our young people face a housing crisis, a health service crisis and the people ó Dún na nGall and elsewhere, living in collapsing dwellings, why is the money for wars and death not being spent on the living? There is no money for social justice and the material needs of the population of Ireland, but there is always money for militarism. Billions of pounds can be found for Wars. Wars that will mean death and destruction, along with food and fuel shortages; burdens that always fall heaviest on the working class people. Is this the future we want for our children and grandchildren; to fight foreign imperialist wars in foreign lands? And to main and kill the poor and working poor of those countries? Just look at Palestine, Lebanon, Yemin, Iran and the wider West Asia. That's what we are lining our youth up to do.

Furthermore, the two TDs are masters of 'clientelism' and 'slights of hand' . . . the old 'three card trick'; doing favours like getting people their passports, two minutes before they would have arrived anyway. All this to maintain a veneer of caring, while ensuring the welfare of the rich and powerful comes first. They are a full and willing part of that capitalist system.

But their pretend words cannot hide the truth. If they truly believe in the ending of our neutrality, will they hold public meetings right across the country, to ask the people's opinions on our neutrality and sovereignty? Or will they hide behind the party whip?

And what of the English occupation of the 6 counties? What do the two TDs, Charlie and Pat the Cope say about that? Is that somehow different? If so, why is it different? If they are so concerned with "defending" Ireland, why is the English imperialist presence in the North not their primary focus? Why is it acceptable to join a Western military NATO/PESCO bloc, to defend others but not to address the root cause of division on this island? Namely partition and colonial occupation?

We are witnessing the dilution of Irish sovereignty. The people ó Dún na nGall deserve answers. We demand public meetings on this. We demand that our TDs explain why they are choosing the interests of imperialist powers over the welfare of their own constituents.
 
Neutrality is not weakness; it is a shield for the the majority i Éireann , especially the working class. We must defend it with every sinew in our bodies.

#PattheCopeGallagher
#CharlieMcConalogue


Micheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig 
is an independent councillor on Donegal County Council.

A Betrayal Of Neutrality

Anthony McIntyre ⚽Without Jay's input, I don't think we made a prediction for the clash with Derry.


His presence at the games is determined by whether his mates are going. I was much the same at his age. Once my da had taken me to see Glentoran host Derry in a 2-2 draw at the Oval some time in the 1960s, I would go to future games with my buds. Better craic out of range of the parental eye. 

It is possible that either I or Paddy did forecast a result but not being of mythical judicial sobriety, if we did it escapes my memory. Before Paddy arrived, I decided to finish off what was left in the brandy bottle, probably a glass. Just as he was puling up at the house I started to fill the hip flask with what remained in the Bacardi bottle. As it wasn't enough to fill the tank, I reached for the poteen which is in a 'The Chita' bottle, a superb Japanese whiskey given to me by Philip Smith but long since drained. Although Philip is in the legal profession he seems to have little interest in keeping me as sober as a judge. The poteen came from the late Patrick Callaghan, a renowned republican activist from South Armagh. He had given eight bottles to a friend, and fortunately one made its way to me. 

On the way to the bar, we called in for my pre-match drink in the Windmill, a double whiskey, which went down quicker than usual given that the match was right upon us. Still, kudos to Paddy for having the patience while I imbibe the uisce beatha. As he drives he can't do what I do but will make up for it in two weeks time when we head off to the FAI Cup Final, a pub tour on our way to the match and the same on our way back. I no longer do the all day exceptions with the relish of old but cup final day has become a tradition. 

As for the Drogs, they needed the points, while Derry didn't. The Candystripes can't win the league and neither will they be relegated. With the cup final on Candystripe minds, it was our hope that unlike myself the Drogs would put in a sober performance. Which is exactly what they did. 


Seven minutes in saw Brandon Kavanagh score direct from a corner kick. Not often do we get to see that at a live game. If Derry were unnerved by that they soon recovered their composure and began to squeeze the Drogs. From our vantage point in the stand, it looked like Derry were the dominant side and could easily have drawn level but for some stout Drogheda defending. I grumbled to Paddy about the determination the Candystripes were showing. I couldn't figure it out,  why their players would risk an injury going full throttle when the game, from their point of view, was pretty much a dead rubber, the result not much mattering, win or lose. 

Fortunately, the Drogs finished pretty much as they started. Having taken the lead seven minutes after the start they doubled it seven minutes before the end. Mark Doyle seized on a defensive blunder and guided the ball home: an opportunist goal seized with gusto and finished with aplomb. The flares across the park came out and for once I didn't complain despite feeling they are a most unwanted and potentially maiming intrusion. 


That is the seventh visit on the trot to the home of the Drogs in which Derry have failed to overcome the opposition. The Drogs victory coupled with Waterford losing to Bohemians allowed the Claret and blue to haul themselves out of the drop zone. I hauled myself out of my seat at the end, hip flask drained and dry. 

Both sets of fans left Sullivan and Lambe with everything still to play for. Relegation battles might make for a nervy run in to the end of the season but they are hardly the stuff of tedium. Had Derry not been in the cup final their end of season final furlong would have been a mundane affair. It all adds up to this evening's away match between the Drogs and Waterford being crucial. It is a game Drogheda simply cannot afford to lose. Win it and then take all thee points from next Friday's final game home clash with Galway, and Premier League soccer next season will be secured. Without it, a season in the lower division offers a dull prospect - no matches against at the big Dublin sides. Getting a season ticket for that as a Xmas gift would have the feel of a booby prize.  I will know soon enough what I want from Santa.

⏩Follow on Bluesky.

Drogs ⚽ Derry ⚽ Delight

Christopher Owens 🔖“There is something urgent and sad about his work. His paintings are full of isolation and silence. Very often windows are a key feature of the composition and the viewer observes figures through them (as in Nighthawks, for example). The windows seem to emphasise the sense of separation and self-containment in his work.”


Written by Kate Innes, the above gets to the heart about what it is people seem to love about Edward Hopper. Although he would downplay it later in life, so many seem to see his art as an expression of loneliness and solitude (which, it’s important to note, aren’t necessarily the same thing). Like his contemporary Norman Rockwell, Hopper depicts an America that no longer exists, but the memory of the dream lives in the art.

With that thought, it’s no wonder Sergio Rossi and Giovanni Scarduelli made it their mission to create this graphic novel, described in the press release as an attempt to dive:

 . . . into the life of the acclaimed artist Edward Hooper, whose iconic works depict quintessentially American scenes and experiences. While many of Hopper's most acclaimed works have been embraced by American culture, the artist himself rejected much of the lyricism and romance that his audience imposed on his paintings. This unique overview of Hopper's life and career offers a fascinating and unflinching portrait of an artist trying to establish himself and define his own style.

Certainly a lot of ambition is at play here, because Hopper lived a fairly quiet life so how has the end product turned out?

Rather well, naturally.

Much like Will Eisner: A Comics Biography, it’s not the most piercing insight into Hopper’s psyche but it is a great tribute to him thanks to the combination of Scarduelli mimicking Hopper’s style and Rossi’s plain dialogue which never expresses more than it needs to, adding a crisp veneer to proceedings.

The narration is a back-and-forth conversation between Hopper and his wife/muse Josephine Verstille Hopper (an artist in her own right). Sadly there’s only one indication that the two them used to beat each other up but there is an element of tension in places where she complains about having to give up her own dreams in order to be his admin assistant and she tries to tease out relationships he may have had in Paris.

Simple, direct and successful.

Sergio Rossi (Author), Giovanni Scarduelli (Artist), 2021, Edward Hopper: The Story of His Life. Prestel. ISBN: 978-3791387352

⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.

Edward Hopper 📚 The Story of His Life

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of Two Thousand One Hundred And Thirty One

 



Religious Derangement Syndrome @ 21

 

A Morning Thought @ 3302

Tommy McKearney ☭ During his recent visit to Ireland, Donald Trump behaved much as expected. Unwilling to share the limelight, he stole attention from Shane Lowry, winner of the Irish Open, by announcing a lifting of tariffs on Irish whiskey exports to the USA.

4-October-2026.

This populist gesture in Doonbeg was, however, superseded by repeatedly voicing support for Irish reunification. While the former gesture was widely welcomed, the latter call caused considerable discomfort among a number of political parties and senior politicians. Trump’s long-term admirers in the DUP were upset and deeply embarrassed by the president’s pronouncement. Nor was discomfort confined to northern unionists. The neo-Redmondite Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, appeared equally discommoded by the comments. Rather than address the issue directly, the Fianna Fáil leader opted instead to distract attention from Donald’s words by attacking Sinn Féin.

Elsewhere there was an acknowledgment that Trump’s intervention had certainly put the issue back on the table, for a time at least. This came in the aftermath of a blunt dismissal by Britain’s Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, of any possibility of constitutional change.

What, if anything, therefore, was behind this intervention in what is generally deemed as something beyond the remit of a US politician, even one who is the president? Trump is of course well known for his unpredictable, often ill-considered outbursts. This was offered as one possible reason for his surprising stance. Elsewhere, other commentators speculated that he was attempting to influence Irish American voters in the upcoming mid-term elections in the US.

There is, though, another plausible explanation. That is, the US deep state intervening through their president to ensure the future direction of events in Ireland. Seems far-fetched? Well, let’s consider the facts.

Notwithstanding the Fianna Fáil leader’s resistance to contemplate an end to partition, there is an inexorable momentum in that direction. A hapless, incompetent, non-performing six-county administration is incapable of generating support for that failed political entity. How long can the partitioned statelet survive in light of changing demographics and a lack of confidence among many members of the unionist community? Anyone doubting that this is widely understood in the corridors of power need only read a recent article in the arch-conservative, pro-establishment British newspaper, The Telegraph.[1]

In a lengthy piece by Lily Shanagher under the headline “Generation Kneecap’s plan to break up the UK and reshape Ireland”, she reports that in a study conducted by Queen’s University and Ulster University, a majority of all those under 35 years in the north favour reunification. These facts are neither missed nor misread by the US embassy in Dublin and reported back to Washington. Reunification over the coming decades is seemingly inevitable and, in their view, this may pose a risk to the United States’ imperial interests.

Capitalism is being challenged through its own contradictions and working people in the West are experiencing ever increasing hardship. In spite of threats from fascism, there appears to be a growth of left-leaning movements, as evidenced by Die Linke in Berlin and Zohran Mamdani in New York. Not enormous, admittedly, but indicative of a potential for change, especially when taken together with the encouraging example offered by the People’s Republic of China.

So, how does Ireland fit into this scenario? While there may be no imminent threat of a revolutionary upsurge in this country, the potential for such is always present. The enormous support for Palestine is, alone, a disturbing factor for Washington. Why, it may be asked, would a country with no obvious relationship to the Middle East demonstrate that depth of support? The answer lies in a deep-seated hostility to imperialism (in any of its manifestations) as a result of our traumatic history. There is also the evidence provided by the Catherine Connolly election campaign of a possible united front among left-leaning elements in Irish society.

Taken together with the above-mentioned leftward movements in Europe and New York, coupled with their obsessing over China’s exemplar economy, the US deep state might well believe it has cause for concern. A campaign for Irish reunification could generate the conditions for the realisation of James Connolly’s workers’ republic. For them, there is then the nightmare of a socialist state in Western Europe, or Cuba in the North Atlantic, as the British military once suggested.

So along comes the US president and emphasises his desire to see an end to partition. As a consequence, many supporters of a united Ireland may well view this development as something to be welcomed. And, moreover, under no circumstances should this advantage be imperilled by opposition to America’s agenda or its policies.

Whether or not this was the reason for Trump’s pronouncements is a matter for speculation. What is more certain is that his statements may possibly detrimentally influence the opinion of a section of Irish society that might otherwise follow a more progressive course, now and into the future.

Therein lies a challenge for the Irish left, in that the case for a workers’ republic has to be made without concession to compromise. The future must be socialism, not Yankee-led barbarism.

Notes

[1] Lily Shanagher, “Generation Kneecap’s plan to break up the UK and reshape Ireland”, The Telegraph, 18 September 2026. 
Tommy McKearney is a left wing and trade union activist.
He is author of The Provisional IRA: From Insurrection to Parliament.
Follow on Twitter @Tommymckearney

Trump Embarrasses Irish Political Establishment!

Heartlands Tribune ☭ Written by Paul Knaggs.

On 21 October 1966, a mountain of colliery waste came down on a Welsh village and killed 144 people, 116 of them children. The National Coal Board had been warned in writing, three years earlier, that it would.

The last ordinary sound in Pantglas Junior School was children’s chatter about half-term. The holiday started at midday. Library books had been put away, the first lesson had begun, and when a rumbling came down off the hillside, low at first and then louder, a teacher told his class not to worry. It was only thunder.

It was not thunder. It was Tip No. 7.

Earlier that morning mothers had stood in their doorways and watched their children go up the wet streets into a fog thick enough to hide the mountain. They waved. It costs nothing to wave. You do it a thousand times without once thinking about it, and that is the particular cruelty of Aberfan: nobody got to say a proper goodbye, because nobody knew that a goodbye was required.

At around a quarter past nine, roughly 300,000 cubic yards of liquefied spoil, slack, broke away and went down the valley at speeds of up to 50mph. 

The Aberfan Disaster

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ During the course of our lives how often have we heard the virtues of being a ‘responsible honest citizen’ usually from the police when they are looking for a tout to work for them! 

Another piece of contaminated information we are fed, usually by misguided but well-meaning parents, is “the law applies to all of us” and “we are all equal in the eyes of the law”, sentiments often echoed by schoolteachers. Of course these observations by those who, as children, we are supposed to respect are utter rubbish. We are not all equal before the law and the law. 

While on paper it may apply to everybody that the sentences handed down for similar offences by judges are certainly not equal. In Britain working-class people are more likely to a heavy sentence for such offences as assault as are people from a middle class or bourgeois background. Of those from working class backgrounds people of ethnic backgrounds are likely to get even harsher sentences. Black and Asian people tend to suffer these disparities in British law which is supposed to not recognise or prejudice against race or ethnicity. 

In the UK the state tends to heavily police and prosecute ‘street crimes’, such as low-level theft, which are more visible in working-class areas. Complex corporate fraud, tax evasion usually associated with wealthier individuals are less heavily policed and rarely result in a custodial sentence. Very similar socioeconomic and systematic prejudices are present in the twenty-six-counties legal system. Research published by the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) reveals that individuals from the most socioeconomic and deprived communities are 25 times more likely to be imprisoned than those from financially better off areas.  Even in sport, inequalities on the terraces are apparent. Before the gentrification of football and takeover of big clubs by crooked owners occasionally supporters would invade the pitch. This was usually branded as ‘hooliganism’ or ‘thuggish behaviour’ by the bourgeois media. When, however, the same or similar incidents occur at a Rugby Union game, like Twickenham frequented by the bourgeoisie, the crowd behaviour by the same media is described as ‘high spirits’ or ‘great sport’. 

Back in 1976 I was at a football match between Aston Villa and Manchester United at Villa Park. The Red Army had a reputation, partly deserved, partly not, and we were massed on the Witton Lane End terrace. At the foot of the terracing surrounding the playing area reporters from various newspapers were urging the United fans to “give us something to report tomorrow” and “come on lads invade the pitch”. Adjacent to these reporters were the West Midlands Constabulary who, in theory and if they were policing impartially, should have arrested these reporters for inciting criminality, even riot! Not one reporter was detained yet a young United fan who had done nothing was arrested supposedly for inciting violence! The older United fans, sixties men, restrained the younger hotheads, they’d been there before. The truth was these older supporters did a better job policing our end than did the official forces of law and order!

In Britain the trade unions have the law stacked against them in trade disputes. The right-wing government of Margaret Thatcher introduced a law limiting the number of pickets to a mere six. This number of pickets does not express to those contemplating going to work when they should be on strike the strength and depth of feeling among those taking strike action. The scabs would not take a token picket of six seriously and may claim, as I’m sure the legislators were aware, that this number could be perceived just how weak support may be for the strike. Of course, this legislation suited and continues to be beneficial to the employers as the 1906 reversal of the 1901 judgement by the House of Lords against the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants Judgement (trades dispute act), was eroded by Thatcher. The 1906 reversal granted limited immunities in law to the trade unions. Once again, the law is designed not for the benefit of the working-class but to make life easier and protection of the employer’s profits and property in a trade dispute.

Such draconian anti-union legislation does not apply to trade disputes or trade union laws in the twenty-six-counties where pluralist industrial relations still to a large extent prevail. I remember many years ago a trade union man in Britain, the late Sam McCluskey, the former General Secretary of the National Union of Seamen (NUS) - now part of the RMT union - was asked “what about the law”. He replied his interviewer on the radio; “I’m sick of hearing about the law, the law is there to crush us, I don’t care about the law.” Which gives us a clear idea of Sam’s opinion of the anti-union legislation.

During the eighties we witnessed on TV and, in some cases at first hand, Thatcher’s law being handed out to pickets. Police used baton charges on striking coalminers in the 1984/85 strike simply for wishing to put their case for the strike to would be scabs. The police were instructed to get these blacklegs into work at all costs with minimal or, preferably, no contact with the pickets. At Orgreave Coking plant the law was enforced using mounted cavalry police against miners. At Wapping the print dispute was again policed very aggressively to protect the scabs and property of Thatcher’s mate, Rupert Murdoch. In both these disputes the media told bare faced lies within their reports claiming ‘pickets attacked police’ which was most certainly not the case.

Capitalism is a dishonest system, it is ”not virtuous, it is not a success, it is not intelligent, it is not beautiful, it is not just – and it doesn’t deliver the goods” (John Maynard Keynes). Because this system which the police superintend is corrupt it does not need an honest police force. In fact an honest police force administering the law even handed would be detrimental to the class society which epitomises capitalism, the illegal and legal sides alike. Back in the 1960s reports tell us that many senior metropolitan police officers of inspector and above were in the pay of the Krays in East London or the Richardsons in South London. Both these organisations, the Krays and Richardsons, were ruthlessly violent gangsters. Every now and again a straight honest applicant to An Garda Siochana or one of the many British Police forces slips through the recruitment net. These Gardai or Bobbies usually start and end their careers as beat officers unless they change their ways and become corrupt tools of a bent political and economic system which discriminates against the ‘population’ to protect the ‘nation’.

This is not to suggest individuals who feel aggrieved go out and purposely break the law, do not go and drink a bottle of whiskey and attempt to drive a car just because the rich and powerful can do it. If a working-class person were to do this, get caught, and breathalysed they would lose their licence and/or be given a custodial sentence. If a rich influential person did the same the chances are a mere warning would be given and they might even get an apology! Neither am I suggesting taking a sawn-off shotgun and committing armed robbery which, although in certain circumstances may be understandable, it is not condonable. What is understandable and condonable is a person whose family are going hungry through lack of food going out and by whatever means necessary obtaining nourishment from shops which have shelves full of it. The crime here would be not doing so. Another example of breaking the law being acceptable and condonable is when a greedy landlord wishes to evict a tenant for no other reason than wishing to increase the rent. The wronged tenant would be perfectly justified in occupying the property. They would of course be told; they’re “breaking the law” yet the landlord can quite legally make a family homeless! 

The next time some well-meaning but misguided individual in defence of the system preaches a lot of rot about all being ‘equal before the law’ and how we must all ‘obey the law’ either ignore them or tell them the truth, they’re talking crap! In Nazi Germany the discriminatory laws against Jewish people were enacted at Nuremberg, 1935, many people later must have wished they’d broken those laws!!!

Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

A Question Of Law?

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of Two Thousand One Hundred And Thirty

 

A Morning Thought @ 3301

Jim Duffy  🏴 Oh no. Not Clare. I valued her. She helped me understand trans issues.

Clare Farrell

I admired her. I found myself checking what I posted as I would not want in any way inadvertently to cause her, and the trans community, offence. I probably didn't always get it right, but Clare and others were a reminder of the nature of the experience of the trans community.

Growing up on a farm taught me to realise that sexuality is not binary. The very first calf I saw born, in I think 1969, was neither male or female but had the organs of both. I remember the black cow that give birth to it didn't care that it had male organs and female organs. She just loved it.

It taught be that sexuality is never binary. There are people who biologically are neither male nor female. There are people who are born physically in one sex, but psychologically feel they are trapped in wrong body. Then there are some people who are attracted to their own sex, and those who are attracted to the other. And there are other variants.

All those variants exist in nature. We had a gay ram who had no interest in ewes, but had the hots for the neighbour's ram - much to the chagrin of the heterosexual neighbouring ram - who would keep running away from our gay ram basically saying "go away. I don't want to have sex with you!"

I remember overhearing Dad, Granny and Mammy in the kitchen of the old house discussing how to explain to me how the new calf had female bits and male bits and other calves due to be born wouldn't. They didn’t need to explain though. I got it. Sex is not straightforward. 

People, like the Catholic Church, who think everyone fits into one of two boxes are dead wrong. Sex, plus identity plus orientation and much else is is effectively on a scale and many of us, whether Claire, I myself, that little calf or one of Uncle John's part male part female pigs, are at different points on it. If you pardon the expression, nothing is straight.

RIP Clare.

⏩ Jim Duffy is a writer-historian.

Clare Farrell

Dixie Elliot ✊"Orange Order 'deserves credit' for Drumcree dispute remaining peaceful says Gerry Adams."


Adams would have been well aware that such a statement coming from himself at this time would have been a further distraction from the sentencing of Jeffrey Donaldson, yet he went ahead and did it.

Had the Orange Order and their two agitators, Bryson and Lockhart, got their way they would have gleefully watched on as the Garvaghy Road was 'sanitised' for them to walk through it.
 
They didn't so they tried to criminalise those people by describing them as 'a mob' who had guns and petrol bombs and who were prepared to kill the Orange Men and the PSNI.
 
So while the Sinn Féin party faithful and their supporters are still basking in the perceived glory of having stood up for the residents of the Garvaghy Road against the bigotry of the Orange Order, Adams is only too willing to contradict not just them but those determined people.
 
Simply because he wants to be seen as a peacemaker and some great reconciler.

His loyalty was only ever to himself. He led a generation of brave young Irish men and women to early graves and abandoned them by his constant denials that he was a member of the IRA. He only ever had to say that, for legal reasons, he couldn't admit to having been a member.
 
He wants the world to believe that he was an influential member of Sinn Féin who managed to convince the IRA to take the path of peace.
 
No matter how hard he tries Adams can never wash his hands of his past just as he can't help himself when it comes to betraying even those who remained loyal to him.
 
The email to the Garda Commissioner regarding the killing of the screw Brian Stack being but one example. And now this . . . 

Thomas Dixie Elliot is a Derry artist and a former H Block Blanketman.
Follow Dixie Elliot on Twitter @IsMise_Dixie

The Great Reconciler

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