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borderroamerhttps://fisherbelfast.wordpress.comThe Northern Standard, Monaghan. Reporter.

DESMOND FISHER (3)

06/01/2015 by borderroamer

Des Fisher interviewed by John Bowman Sept. 2011 Photo: RTÉ

Desmond Fisher was not just a noted Catholic religious commentator. He was also a senior RTÉ executive during an important time in Irish history that saw the outbreak of the troubles in 1969. He was a former Head of Current Affairs and Deputy Head of News at RTÉ and died last week, aged 94. In this article specially written for RTÉ News Online, RTÉ’s Religious and Social Affairs Correspondent Joe Little looks back at his career…

Mr Fisher was one of the last surviving journalists to have reported from Rome on the Second Vatican Council which ended half a century ago.

His family had asked that his passing on 30 December last should not be made public until after his cremation which, in accordance with his wishes, took place after a private family Requiem Mass was celebrated last Friday, 2 January.

In a document released by his family, he described his experiences as a senior editorial manager at RTÉ in the early years of the Northern Troubles as the most stressful time in his working life.

Before coming to broadcasting, Des as he was widely known, had worked on the Nationalist and Leinster Times and with the Irish Press where he served as London Editor and Political Correspondent.

In 1962, as Pope John XXXIII was convening the Second Vatican Council, he took the helm at the Catholic Herald in London.

A graduate of UCD, he belonged to a post-revolutionary generation of thinkers hungry to learn about the wider world and particularly about stirrings of change in the universal Catholic Church which were stifled by the hierarchy here, thanks largely to the ultra-conservative Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, who was appointed in 1940 when Des Fisher was 20 years old.

“It was alienating modern men and women and losing many existing members…”

Writing for this website two years ago, he described Pope John’s motivation in calling the Vatican Council which was to bring the Church face-to-face with the modern world: “He had seen that the Roman Catholic Church was not fulfilling the task for which Christ established it.

“Instead of motivating more and more new members to follow Christ and come to love and worship God, it was alienating modern men and women and losing many existing members.”

He described how most of the 2,500 Council Fathers or church leaders who favoured change had to reckon with a highly regimented traditionalist minority: “They took their lead from the Roman Curia, which was against change from beginning to end of the Council and is still opposed to implementing the Council’s decisions.

Desmond Fisher photo for RTÉ News Online article taken on his laptop Oct. 2012

Despite the obstacles the Council produced five major documents.

Taken together, they portray a new kind of Catholic Church very different from the 16th century Counter-Reformation version that still prevails.

The Vatican II Church abandons the existing portrayal of the Church as a pyramid with the Pope on top of descending tiers of cardinals, bishops and priests sitting on a bottom layer of lay Catholics whose only function, as a bishop told the Council, seems to be “to pray, to obey and to pay”.

The Vatican II version of the Church is a “communion” of members sharing a common task to convince all the people of the world that God loves them and that Christ is the example of how to love and serve him.

In this Church lay people are not the passive onlookers they are seen as now but the most active workers at the coalface.”

Mr Fisher’s reference to the Curia’s ongoing opposition to reform foreshadowed the yet-to-be-elected Pope Francis’ scathing attack last month on Vatican’s administrators for being infected with careerism, scheming, greed and “spiritual Alzheimer’s”.

Not surprisingly, the veteran journalist welcomed the Argentine Popes election in 2013.

Des Fisher interviewed by John Bowman about RTÉ Sep. 28 2011 Photo: © Michael Fisher

Extracts relating to RTÉ from Desmond Fisher’s own summary of his 70-year career in journalism have been released by his family.

They recall that one year after the Council ended, he left the Catholic Herald and freelanced to support his family in London.

But 18 months later, his former Irish Press colleague and fellow Derry man Jim McGuinness, Head of News at RTÉ, suggested he should apply for a job, about to be advertised, as his deputy.

After short attachments with the BBC and ITV in London in 1967 he came to Dublin in early 1968 to take up the job and to live full-time with his family which had moved to Dublin months earlier.

In October 1973, he was appointed Head of the Current Affairs Grouping, a new area in RTÉ responsible for all current affairs programmes on radio and television.

He wrote of this period: “What I do remember most about my time in RTÉ is that it was the most stressful time in my working life. My time there coincided with external pressure on RTÉ from a Government intent on denying publicity to the IRA and internal conflict between RTÉ producers and journalists working on current affairs programmes.”

“It was probably inevitable that a disaster would occur…”

Those twin pressures soon took their toll: “In the circumstances of the time, however, it was probably inevitable that a disaster would occur. The Current Affairs area is the most vulnerable in broadcasting, especially in a public service organisation with staff of divided political and trade union loyalties at a time when the country is in turmoil.

“On the night of October 17, 1974 while I was in Galway at the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, a seven Days programme on internment in the North was rushed on to the air…replacing the programme which I had cleared for transmission. It later transpired that the filmed programme included a sequence from a London agency, which had been brought in a short time before transmission, edited at the last moment and put out without my clearance.

“This led to a public attack on me on two successive evenings by the then minister in charge of RTÉ, Dr Conor Cruise O’Brien.

The inquiries that followed judged that I should have previewed the programme which, in my view, had been deliberately put out in my absence.

“I offered to resign if this would serve the institutional interests of RTÉ.

“This was refused but in April 1975 I told the then Director-General, Oliver Maloney, that the grouping would have either to be established as a full division with its own resources or closed down.

“He rejected the first alternative so I resigned and the Grouping was disbanded.

“Following my resignation, I was appointed Director of TV Development, a title later changed to Director of Broadcasting Development, a sideways move that really left it to me to determine what I would make of the job.”

He chaired the Planning Group for the station’s second television channel and continued to research and publish material for the public service broadcaster on a range of topics, including its relationship with government.

This was a particularly thorny subject given that in 1972, while he was Deputy Head of News, a Fianna Fáil government had fired the RTÉ Authority after the News Division broadcast a radio interview recorded with Seán Mac Stíofáin, then chief of staff of the Provisional IRA.

The then Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, justified the dismissal saying the Authority had breached a government directive, given under Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act, ordering them “not to project people who put forward violent means for achieving their purpose”.

The Fine Gael-Labour administration, elected in 1973, had continued to implement the directive.

And this was the context in which Fianna Fáil’s new appointees to the RTÉ Authority and senior RTÉ management figures like Des Fisher, had to handle the seven days debacle in October 1974.

Des Fisher left the national broadcaster in 1983, less than two years before reaching the mandatory retirement age.

He became Editor and Managing Director of the Carlow Nationalist and Leinster Times.

In 2009, approaching the age of 80, he contributed to the RTÉ documentary “If Lynch Had Invaded” about his role with RTÉ in 1969 when the Taoiseach Jack Lynch made a dramatic television broadcast to outline the Government’s response to the security forces attacking nationalist communities in Derry.

In 1967, his book on the Second Vatican Council, “The Church in Transition” was published by (Geoffrey Chapman and) Fides.

He is survived by his wife Margaret (Peggy), daughter Carolyn, and sons Michael, John and Hugh, other close relatives and a wide circle of friends.

DESMOND FISHER (2)

05/01/2015 by borderroamer

Desmond Fisher Photo: © Michael Fisher

My father Des Fisher was Editor of the Catholic Herald newspaper in London (1962-66) at the time of the Second Vatican Council. He reported from Rome and managed to attend one of the sessions dressed as a Protestant clergyman observer. Since his mother from Portstewart Co. Londonderry came from a Church of Ireland background, that was probably very appropriate and he was able to use his knowledge of Latin to goof effect. His last work as a writer was to finish a book on the Stabat Mater, and he produced his own English translation of this 14thC poem. I was helping him to finish the work by reading the first proofs up to a few days before his death at the hospice in Blackrock, Co. Dublin on Tuesday 30 December.

The Catholic Herald has published this story, based on the obituary written by Arthur Jones of the National Catholic Reporter. Arthur worked for my father in the Herald. There is a minor error in the last sentence. He had been married to my mother for 66 years. Their wedding was at St Macartan’s Cathedral in Monaghan on September 8 1948.

Former Catholic Herald editor Desmond Fisher dies….He covered Second Vatican Council during his time in charge of the paper…..

Former Catholic Herald editor Desmond Fisher has died, aged 94.

He passed away at Blackrock Hospice in Dublin on December 30, surrounded by his family, leaving behind his wife Peggy, daughter Carolyn, sons Michael, Hugh and John and four grandchildren. His funeral was held on January 2, in accordance with his wishes.

In a career spanning 70 years, Mr Fisher worked at the Irish Times, RTE news, Economist and the Irish Press in London, and his last article for the Irish Times’s Rite and Reason column appeared on September 30.

As editor of the Herald from 1962 to 1966 he covered the Second Vatican Council, after which he worked for RTE. He was in Rome in 1962 before the council was set up and covered the 1963 and 1964 sessions.

Born in Derry on September 9, 1920, during the troubles that led to partition in 1922, his father soon moved their wine and tea wholesalers business to Dublin, where Mr Fisher grew up. He won an all-Ireland scholarship at the age of 11 and throughout his life he had excellent Greek, Latin and Irish, writing a new translation of the Stabat Mater in his 90s. After graduating from University College Dublin he took his first job in journalism at 25, and moved to London in 1952 to become London editor of the Irish Press.

His reporting of the Second Vatican Council was said to be so incisive that Cardinal Cardinal Franz König of Vienna said he learned more from reading Mr Fisher’s reports than from being there.

Arthur Jones, who worked for Mr Fisher on the Herald, wrote in the National Catholic Reporter that with Fisher’s death “the legion of writers who covered the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), has thinned practically to vanishing point”.

Mr Fisher married Peggy in 1948, and the pair celebrated their 65th (sic.) anniversary last year.

DESMOND FISHER 1920-2014

04/01/2015 by borderroamer

Desmond Fisher Photo: © Michael Fisher

My father Des Fisher died on Tuesday 30 December, aged 94. His career in journalism spanned 70 years. During that time he worked for various media organisations, including the Nationalist and Leinster Times (Carlow), the Irish Press (London Editor), the Catholic Herald (Editor) and RTÉ (appointed Deputy Head of News in 1967). At his request, the family held a private Requiem Mass followed by cremation on Friday. Also in accordance with his wishes, the following death notice (now on rip.ie) will be published in The Irish Times tomorrow, Monday 5 January.

I would like to thank all those people who have been in touch to pass on their condolences. Over the coming weeks I will be publishing more details of his long career. He was an NUJ Life Member and helped to set up the Irish South-East Branch of the union.

The death has occurred of Desmond FISHER
Dublin

Dublin 14, journalist and author, aged 94, peacefully, after a short illness, in the care of the wonderful staff at Blackrock Hospice and surrounded by his loving family. Very deeply missed by his wife Peggy, daughter Carolyn, sons Michael, Hugh and John, daughters-in-law Evelyn, Ruth and Carmel, grandchildren Sarah, Clare, Sam and Lucy, sister Deirdre, sisters-in-law Nuala Fisher and Sr Nora Smyth, nephews, nieces and a wide circle of friends.

In accordance with his wishes, a private family Requiem Mass was held on Friday 2 January, followed by cremation.

Date Published: Saturday 3rd January 2015

Date of Death: Tuesday 30th December 2014

SEARCH FOR KIERAN MCAREE

03/01/2015 by borderroamer

Kieran McAree Photo: PSNI website

Since before Christmas, the thoughts and prayers of many people in North Monaghan and beyond have been focused on the family of Kieran McAree from Emyvale. With police in the North believing the 23 year-old is dead, after claims he entered the river near Enniskillen Castle, the focus now is on retrieving his body.

The PSNI and other agencies continue to conduct a search operation in the Round ‘O’ area, which began following the report on Wednesday, December 17^th, that he was missing. Kieran is described as 5’7” tall, with short curly brown hair, and wore glasses. He may have been driving a Volkswagen Golf car prior to going missing.

PSNI Chief Inspector Brian Foster said, “Significant water-based and land-based searches are continuing. Police have appealed for anyone who can help with their enquiries to contact them. We are also appealing for anyone in the vicinity to check outbuildings and land.”

Police divers searched the lake bed near to the Lough Gates at Lough Erne, eliminating areas of interest located by specialised sonar equipment. A police helicopter and victim recovery dog have also been used to check the surrounding area. Kieran McAree’s family and friends searched the river banks and kayakers along with private boats checked the Lough.

Boyne Fishermen’s Rescue and Recovery divers stayed overnight and were out on the lough at first light. Many dives where carried out in the fast river current making this a very difficult and dangerous task. Other dive teams attended for the family and worked till dark. Three police boats assisted in the tasks and will be back on the water in the morning.

PSNI launch Photo: PSNI Fermanagh facebook

Thomas Daly, a volunteer with the Boyne Fishermen’s Rescue and Recovery Service, has said his team which has included up to 37 people will not leave Lough Erne “until we have found Kieran”.

“We have spent the last two weeks searching from where the car was last seen, where the shoes were found. We have been studying the river and there was a fair flow on the river the morning he entered it. We are searching along the spots where we believe he could be”.

“We will not be leaving yet, no, not until we have found Kieran. We are thinking about the family and are here to help put an end to this, to help them move on,” he said.

Scores of people joined the search on Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day following appeals by family members on Facebook and Twitter.

“This is the biggest search I have ever witnessed on Lough Erne. The community in Fermanagh is really pulling together to help Kieran’s family,” Constable Gavin Huey told The Impartial Reporter.

“We have been using a helicopter, boats and sonar. The divers have been searching in very cold, fast flowing water. The speed of the river and poor visibility has made it difficult but we are determined to keep going for as long as we can. I have never seen a search of this nature last as long,” he said.

Rodney Edwards in his excellent reports from the scene says it is believed that Kieran entered the water after abandoning his Volkswagen Golf near Henry Street in the early hours of December 17. Some of his belongings, including his shoes, have been recovered close to the scene. For his father Martin, mother Geraldine, brother Damien and sister Aisling from Emyvale the wait is an agonising one and there has been a sombre mood at the Round ‘O’ where they have been standing every day since he disappeared. They wait and hope. There are tears, prayers and emotional scenes. Yet among all the sadness, there is a strong sense of community.

“The level of support from across the county and across Ireland has been quite extraordinary. From taking part in the search to making food. The Anchorage Coffee Shop at the Round ‘O’ have been making tea and sandwiches and other food for free. Everybody has been out in force; all types of groups, organisations and people – all eager to help,” explained Constable Huey.

“All our thoughts and prayers must continue to be with Kieran’s family. I know so many people are thinking about them and want to help and you can see that through this search and the reaction on Facebook. Many people have been getting emotional during all of this. We would just love to get a resolution so we can bring the family some closure. They really do appreciate all the help and support of the people in Fermanagh,” he said.

ON THIS DAY: 1979

02/01/2015 by borderroamer

On this day 35 years ago, Tuesday 2nd January 1979, my career as a reporter with RTÉ News began in the newsroom in Dublin. I had returned in December 1978 to Ireland from England, where I had worked for the BBC for nearly five years in London and Birmingham.

The Met Éireann records show that the lowest air temperature recorded in the 20th century was -18.8°C at Lullymore, Co. Kildare on that day. I can remember being assigned to do a radio report about the weather conditions, which were causing severe transport difficulties such as the cancellation of ferries. I remembered to include the Northern element, namely the sailings from Larne to Stranraer (as the two shipping companies then served). The detail of my reporting was subsequently praised by the editorial committee that met to review news coverage.

I joined RTÉ News on the same day as Conor Fennell, author of a book on ‘James Joyce in Paris’ (June 2011).

Conor Fennell at the launch of his book Photo: © Michael Fisher

Today was a very different day. The weather was much better, with clouds and sunshine and a temperature reaching 8°C.

NEW YEAR 2015

01/01/2015 by borderroamer

Haydon the AFC Wimbledon mascot Photo: © Michael Fisher

As we enter a New Year it’s good to know that within the week, AFC Wimbledon of League Two will be playing one of the biggest games since their foundation as a non-league side twelve years ago. The Dons will play Premiership Giants Liverpool in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. The game at Kingsmeadow is all-ticket and kicks off at 7.55pm, which means it will be televised live by BBC1 TV. Come on you Dons! And a Happy New Year to one and all.

ENNISKILLEN CASTLE

31/12/2014 by borderroamer

Enniskillen Castle (facebook page photo)

Thanks to my colleague in the William Carleton Society Frank McHugh (Fermanagh Family History Society) for alerting me to the new project at Enniskillen Castle. It involves the demolition of a former health centre, now derelict, at the entrance to the Castle. This also featured in a recent report by Julian Fowler on BBC Northern Ireland.

Exciting plans for the refurbishment of Enniskillen Castle Museums were unveiled at a recent series of information sessions. The project has received generous funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB), the European Regional Development Fund, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and Fermanagh District Council. Speaking about the plans, Chairman of Fermanagh District Council, Councillor Bert Johnston said:

“This is an exciting time for Enniskillen Castle Museums. Plans include a new visitor centre, improved amenities and a café as well as tourism, genealogy and heritage services. Four new galleries will interpret Fermanagh’s rich heritage, enhancing the Castle as the main introduction and gateway attraction for the region.”

Aine Kearney, Director of Product Development at NITB said:

“The Northern Ireland Tourist Board is delighted to announce part funding towards the development of this world class visitor centre within the historic grounds of Enniskillen Castle. Upon completion this project will provide the visitor with a unique and exciting experience.”

Enniskillen Castle was built in the 15th century by the Gaelic Maguires who ruled Fermanagh. Situated next to the River Erne and guarding one of the few passes into Ulster, it was strategically important throughout its history. The Castle is within easy walking distance of the town centre and contributes greatly to the unique character of the area.

The new project will involve the restoration and refurbishment of many of the historic buildings contained within the Castle complex for reuse as exhibition space. New visitor welcome and orientation spaces will be created to provide a more cohesive experience, hosting services such as a heritage, tourism and genealogy information point. A digital film archive and history hub will also be created to provide access to the museum’s archives, photographic records and library. Four new galleries will create additional space to showcase the Museum’s collections which consist of thousands of objects, images and oral histories relating to the region.

Commenting on the award, Head of HLF Northern Ireland, Paul Mullan, said: “Museums have an invaluable role to play in helping us to learn more about our past by using their collections to engage and inspire local communities, which is why HLF has already invested £31million in establishing and transforming our network of local and national museums.

“We are delighted to make this latest announcement of support for the museum sector which will see this hugely important heritage asset become the heritage gateway to the area. Having been awarded a first-round pass, Fermanagh District Council can now further develop the project to achieve its full potential and go forward to secure the full £2.47million grant.”

Mark Knight, of Kriterion Conservation Architects commented:

“We are delighted to be involved in sensitively transforming this significant heritage asset into a world-class visitor facility which will protect and enrich our built and cultural heritage. Conservation of the iconic buildings and integration of the new visitor centre will give new long-term sustainable uses to the Enniskillen Castle Museums and enhance the region’s rich heritage and tourism offering.”

Sarah McHugh, Fermanagh County Museum and Cllr Bert Johnston, Cahir, Fermanagh District Council Photo: Impartial Reporter

Speaking about the long term plans of Fermanagh County Museum, Sarah McHugh, Manager of Museum Services said:
“This is a real boon to Fermanagh and will enable the museum service to be even more ambitious. My hope is that we are building an inspirational space where locals and visitors can explore the unique heritage of the region, gain more access to our museum collections and enjoy bigger and better events and activities. During refurbishment, which has now begun and is due for completion in 2016, visitors will still be able to enjoy Fermanagh County Museum’s Medieval Maguires display and The Inniskillings Museum.”

MIAMI SHOWBAND

30/12/2014 by borderroamer

Miami Showband Photo: avaaz.org petition

Please consider signing the petition at AVAAZ.org:

Why this is important

Dear Bob Geldof, Bono, Sinead O’Connor, Van Morrison and all our Heroic Musical Family,

In 2015 we will mark the 40th anniversary of The Miami Showband Massacre when, during a carefully planned attempt to frame the hugely popular young band as terrorists, three innocent Catholic and Protestant musicians were savagely murdered by British security forces in collusion with the Loyalist terror organisation, The UVF.

In the early hours of July 31st, 1975, while attempting to hide a bomb on the band’s minibus at a bogus security check, two terrorists blew themselves up when the device they were secretly planting exploded prematurely. To eliminate all witnesses, the rest of the gang then opened fire on the unsuspecting musicians, murdering three of them: Lead vocalist / keyboard player, Fran O’Toole, lead guitarist, Tony Geraghty and trumpeter, Brian McCoy, all died at the scene.

Two serving members and one former member of the British security forces’ C Company 11 UDR were subsequently convicted and received life sentences; all three were also members of the Loyalist Mid-Ulster unit of The UVF terror organisation. The leader of the gang, Robert “Robin” Jackson, a former member of The Ulster Defence Regiment, avoided arrest following a tip-off given to him by RUC Special Branch police officers and, despite clear evidence linking him to the killings, Jackson was never charged with the murders. A recent investigation into The Miami Showband Massacre by the British Historical Enquiries Team (HET) identified Robin Jackson as a Police Special Branch agent. He died of natural causes in 1998 aged 49. The British Army Officer, with the posh English accent, in overall charge at the murder scene, has never been positively identified.

Had this evil plan succeeded, every Irish person, especially Irish musicians, would subsequently have been viewed as potential terrorists and the British authorities given carte blanche, by an unsuspecting world, to deal with the Irish as they saw fit i.e. in much the same way as many innocent races are dealt with today by powerful nations and falsely demonised by their compliant media. Fortunately, the wicked plan failed because, although critically wounded, the band’s bass player and saxophone player survived their horrific injuries and lived to tell the truth.

Now, forty years on, with the courageous and unyielding support of “Justice For The Forgotten” and “The Pat Finucane Centre”, the surviving members of The Miami Showband Massacre, bass guitarist Stephen Travers and saxophonist, Des McAlea, are taking a civil action against The British Ministry of Defence (MOD) and The Chief Constable of The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) for direct involvement in the outrage. Thankfully, this action will not be fought with bricks, bottles or petrol bombs on the streets of Belfast or Derry! It will not be a riot or a running gun-battle! This time, nobody has to die! Unlike the ordered practice of British security forces in 1975, this will not be a secret, murderous campaign waged against the innocent; instead, it will be open and transparent. The impending battle between this modern-day David and Goliath will be fought in a peaceful and civilized manner through the law courts where the truth about British state-terrorism in Ireland will be laid bare for all the world to see.
Remarkably however, while the evidence against the British authorities is overwhelming, the Irish Government has yet to respond to a request for assistance with the considerable cost of taking legal action against its closest neighbour for deliberately attacking and brutally murdering its own citizens. To date, the Irish Government has yet to formally request full British Government cooperation with the legal representatives of The Miami Showband Massacre survivors. In truth, the shameful silence from both governments on one of the most notorious atrocities of “The Troubles” is deafening.
On hearing the story of The Miami Showband Massacre for the first time, in an address by Stephen Travers to an international Radicalisation-Awareness convention, the former Beirut hostage, Terry Waite, exclaimed “Good Lord, they (the British) certainly kept this one quiet”. But, it is no longer morally acceptable to “keep this one quiet”. The time is long overdue for all responsible commentators to speak out publicly against the murder of a Rock n Roll band. The honourable and decent British public have no idea that this outrage was carried out in their name but they must be told in order to prevent it happening again!
Today, the survivors of The Miami Showband Massacre call on every self-respecting musician in the world to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them in their upcoming fight for justice against a regime that viewed innocent, Catholic and Protestant musicians as nothing more than lambs for the slaughter in pursuit of its own political and military objectives. We gratefully acknowledge the courageous support of our fellow Irish, British, European and American artists along with that of musicians, artists and writers from around the world and we now call on music celebrities that have the ear of world leaders to break their long and perplexing silence on this outrage and to use their powerful voices to demand justice for their slaughtered and permanently injured fellow musicians.
In another time and place…“Well tonight, thank God it’s them instead of you”.
Stephen Travers and John Desmond McAlea (Des Lee) The Miami Showband Massacre Survivors
Relevant Links
http://www.themiamishowband.com
http://www.regentstmedia.com/documentaries.html
http://www.terra-net.eu/files/publications/20131009124655Travers.pdf

Click to access 190_Stephen_Travers.pdf

CLONTIBRET ‘INVASION’

29/12/2014 by borderroamer

It was hardly an ‘invasion’ in the true military sense. Nothing like the 200,00 Allied forces that invaded Iraq in 2003 or the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 or of Poland in 1939. Yet Peter Robinson’s nocturnal excursion along with a group of 150 loyalists across the border into the quiet County Monaghan village of Clontibret on August 7 1986 was dubbed an ‘invasion’ by some sections of the media.

It was more like a sortie, a raid, an incursion or an infiltration. His intention was to show what he believed were the gaps in cross-border security, following the signing of the Anglo-Irish agreement in 1985. Yet it was the RUC who tipped off the Gardaí about his plans, according to Stormont papers recently released by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

Historian Éamon Phoenix who has researched them says that a note from a Northern Ireland Office official from the Political Affairs Division to the British Ambassador to Dublin refers to about 150 loyalists, “some wearing paramilitary uniforms and carrying cudgels” entering Clontibret.

They daubed the slogan “Ulster is Awakening” on a Garda station and from what I myself remember of the day in question, on some walls including that of a Church of Ireland school. The crowd also injured two Gardaí.

The BBC reports that the note said: “The RUC’s action in tipping off the Gardai during the night of 6-7 August about the incursion by Peter Robinson and his loyalist thugs was also warmly appreciated in Dublin, according to Michael Lillis [of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs].”

The NIO official who wrote the note told the ambassador: “We have done our little bit here by holding Irish hands in the [Anglo-Irish] Secretariat and feeding them with material for their hourly reports to their ministers during periods of particular tension.” The report notes that the crowd dispersed when gardai fired shots into the air.

“Robinson, who appears to have lingered behind deliberately, was arrested and held in custody for 32 hours (during which he refused all sustenance provided by the gardai, preferring the wholesome Ulster food brought to him by his wife) before being charged with four offences, including assaulting gardai and causing wilful damage.”

Although Mr Robinson was already in Ulster, this reference is to the breakfast brought to him by his wife Iris during his detention at Monaghan Garda station.

The official noted that Mr Robinson (who first appeared in court in Ballybay) was granted bail to appear in court in Dundalk on 14 August.

Other loyalist shows of strength planned to take place on the same night as Clontibret were limited by RUC activity to Swatragh in County Derry where a group of masked men, some carrying firearms, marched through the nationalist village, causing some damage to property. Both incidents were condemned by the British and Irish governments. For its part, the DUP hailed the operation “as a clear indication of the absence of cross-border security”.

A separate file reveals that Peter Robinson and his party leader, Ian Paisley, felt they “narrowly escaped with their lives” and made a formal protest to the British Foreign Office about inadequate protection, following a court appearance in Dundalk over the Clontibret incident.

Peter Robinson later took over from Ian Paisley as DUP leader and First Minister of Northern Ireland.

GOLLY! WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE

28/12/2014 by borderroamer

Black & White Minstrel Show Record Cover Photo: 991.com

My comments tonight are sparked by a Channel 4 television show: It was Alright in the 1970s. Episode two focused on old-fashioned Britishness on TV in the 70s. From blacking-up pre-watershed, through to rampant homophobia and xenophobia, it asked whether the 70s was the decade that taste forgot. Narrated by Matt Lucas, this two-part series included interviews with the people who appeared in the programmes, those who watched them and those who made them, and asked them ‘what were you thinking?’ at the time.

The programme included clips of shows I remember watching such as the ‘Black and White Minstrel Show’ and ‘The Goodies’. There were also bits of comedy from the series ‘Mind your Language’. One of the sequences included a flick through pages from a television guide (probably TV Times, as it included adverts). On one page there was an advert that said: ‘Golly it’s Good’.

Advert for Robertsons Jams 1959 Photo: historyworld.co.uk Advert Museum

This included a picture of a golly (it is no longer politically correct to use the full version of the word). This was the marketing symbol for many years for Robertsons jams, made in Scotland. Jars of Golden Shred were a common sight on the breakfast table when I was growing up. But six years ago, after being part of British life since 1864, the jam was phased out. The golly character had become very much non-PC.

The black-faced minstrel doll with his natty red bow tie and trousers, flowing blue jacket and distinctive yellow waistcoat, danced his way across the label on pots for the best part of a century. Critics complained that the image was an offensive caricature of black people and was based on slave dolls.

In 1983 the Greater London Council stopped buying the firm’s jam and marmalade, saying Golly was racist. A year later, councillors in Islington, North London, banned a Golly-bearing road safety poster as ‘offensive’.

Roberstons Jam Lid Photo: ebay

The Working Group Against Racism in Children’s Resources called it ‘undoubtedly an offensive caricature of black people; it embodies the mythical qualities such as the love of music and rhythm, superstition, large appetites, primitive simplicity and savagery’.

For years, Robertson’s defended Golly as a fictional nurseryland character, not a depiction of a black person. However, the character was axed from television adverts in 1988, and then disappeared from the labels printed in 2002. Premier Foods, who bought the brand from RHM in 2007 got rid of Robertson’s jam forever and promoted its other brand Hartley’s instead.

Golly! I had better watch my language in future in case of causing unintentional offence. However that did not seem to bother a 21st Century comedian on television last night. Des Bishop was very funny in parts but much of his sexually explicit language was in my view offensive.

Cartoon (origin unknown)