Category: Haughey, Charles
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Dick Walsh, obstacle to the peace process.
Introduction. It says a lot about The Irish Times that a bust of Dick Walsh – the most revered journalist in The Irish Times pantheon – takes pride of place in the foyer of paper. Dick Walsh was an adviser to Cathal Goulding, chief of staff of the Official IRA. Between 1970 and 1983 the…
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Bring Back The Phoenix, Part III. Check out 50 plus stories from 2025.
Continuing our campaign to bring back The Phoenix magazine, here is a selection of stories from 2025 which underline what we are missing. They cover MI5 and MI6 dirty tricks, neutrality, and much more besides. A selection from 2026 will appear next week. The PDF at the end of this article includes a selection of…
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Bring back The Phoenix Part II: 50+ espionage and dirty trick stories from 2024.
Click on the link below to read a selection of stories from The Phoenix 2024, including: Brig. Frank Kitson’s dirty war; what really happened on Bloody Sunday (not the nonsense in the Savile Inquiry report); Patrick Crinnion, MI6’s spy inside the Gardaí; the Dublin and Monaghan bombings; Barrie Gane of MI6; Freddie Scappaticci; the Kincora…
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Sir Garret (Webbook)
Introduction. Charles Haughey of Fianna Fáil and Garret FitzGerald of Fine Gael took very different approaches when dealing with Britain’s covert intelligence services and the more questionable diplomats assigned to the Dublin embassy. While FitzGerald was happy to dance with Her Majesty’s emissaries and spooks, Haughey recoiled. This contrast was never more apparent than when…
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Mooney (Webbook)
Hugh Mooney, a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, worked at The Irish Times before becoming the UK’s foremost black propagandist in the early 1970s. Among his many successes, he distorted the truth about what happened on Bloody Sunday, the bombing of McGurk’s bar and circulated smears about John Hume. The Bloody Sunday and John Hume…
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Micheál Martin and Fianna Fáil are promoting a book on FF’s ‘Bulletin’ newsletter which claims some of its ministers tried to arm the Provisional IRA. Here, IRA veteran Des Long debunks this as a ‘fairy tale’.
In this interview, Des Long debunks the myth about Charles Haughey and the Provisional IRA, as a ‘fairy tale’. It is one that has resurfaced in a new book, ‘Charlie v Garret’, which is being promoted on Fianna Fáil’s ‘Bulletin‘ newsletter. Long starts the interview by providing a brief outline of his career in the…
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FG’s ‘flawed pedigree’.
1. Smearing ‘the bejaysus’ out of Catherine Connolly. When Ivan Yates spoke about ‘smearing the bejaysus’ out of Catherine Connolly, he was merely saying out loud what members of his party have whispered from the shadows for decades. Yates made remark on his Newstalk podcast ‘Calling It’. He outlined what he would do if his…
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Psyop (Webbook)
In November 2025, a British ‘security expert’ inadvertently disclosed the broad outline of a British-led psychological operation (PsyOp) to undermine Irish neutrality to London’s Financial Times. The paper revealed that an anti-neutrality campaign was underway, although ‘still far from fruition and would have to be extremely carefully managed‘. The purpose of the operation was to…
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Nest of Spies (Webbook).
1. Introduction. Part 1: A bloodsoaked start, after which cooperation was achieved. 2. From the elimination of the Cairo Gang to intelligence cooperation. 3. Spying on a Zionist TD for MI5. 4. Cooperation during the IRA’s Operation Harvest. Part 2. An aristocratic spy ring. 5. ‘It was as simple as picking up a phone.’ 6.…
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Operation Clockwork Orange Vol 1 [WebBook.]
By David Burke. Introduction: the fish rots from the head. The United Kingdom is paying a ghastly price for the decades during which the State turned a blind eye to a wide spectrum of sexual offences committed by the elite of British society. At least three forces became the instruments of amoral politicians and their…
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Dining for Her Majesty.
Introduction: The Irish Times apologetically sought guidance on what to report from London. In an earlier article in this series – which looks at British intelligence propaganda operations and The Irish Times – I outlined how Maj. Thomas McDowell, the Belfast-born Unionist, ex-British Army, ex-MI5, owner of the paper, had approached 10 Downing Street in…
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MI6 smeared John Hume. He was also placed under MI5 surveillance in Dublin with the assistance of the Gardaí. [WebBook]
A webbook by David Burke. An official portrait of the late Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume is to be unveiled in Westminster today. A sculpture of him was put on display at the European Parliament in Strasbourg earlier this year. The new portrait by Colin Davidson – which is magnificent – will hang in Portcullis…
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From the Vaults (1989): How the US Helps Maggie Listen to Irish Calls. By Frank Doherty.
In August of 1989, Frank Doherty, editor of Now in Ireland magazine, revealed details of the technology GCHQ, Britain’s electronic eavesdropping intelligence service, was using to monitor calls made by people in Ireland. One shudders to think what the snoops at GCHQ are capable of capturing now in terms of mobile phone calls, internet searches,…
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RTE’s ‘Gun Plot’
By Sean Brennan. The documentary titled ‘Gun Plot’ which was shown on RTE 1 last night was fascinating television. The RTE production team should be commended for this brilliant documentary on a very important and significant political and legal event which occurred 50 years ago but has not been properly addressed by the media up…
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From the Vaults (1989): The Riddle of Garret FitzGerald’s missing Dalí. By Frank Doherty.
Netflix is currently broadcasting a documentary on Salvador Dali, the celebrated Spanish artist famed as an exponent of surrealism. The Dalí film brings to mind the controversy – or, more accurately, the non-controversy – about Ireland’s missing Dali. The Irish state was presented with a Dalí picture (some say a sketch) by the Spanish government…
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Misrepresenting Haughey’s relationship with the Provos.
The Irish Times promoted the Official IRA’s version of the Arms Crisis
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Vilification Once More
Des O’Malley, the Minister for Justice in 1970, continues to ignore the hard questions about the Arms Crisis. Instead, he persists in smearing anyone who dares to disagree with him. Some of his latest slurs question the integrity of those in RTÉ responsible for the ‘GunPlot’ series. It is now time to stop throwing the…
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The British Spy, Saor Éire and the murder of Garda Richard Fallon
By David Burke Taoiseach Jack Lynch and British Ambassador John Peck alarmed at prospect of Captain Kelly’s book After Captain James Kelly was acquitted by the jury at the infamous Arms Trial in October 1970, he began to write a book about what had happened to him. His efforts were closely monitored by the British…
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Prodigal Prince.
Introduction. King Charles III has recieved briefings from two British Secret Service (MI6) chiefs, Sir Richard Moore and Blaize Metriwell, thus far into his reign. Prince William has been courted by the intelligence community, notably making a high-profile visit to the HQ of GCHQ, where British cyber espionage takes place. Queen Elizabeth II received…
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The Artful Dodger:
By Sean Brennan. I have just read the article in the Sunday Independent [20 June] concerning whether RTE contacted Des O’Malley first while the station was producing the GunPlot series. It is the second article which the Sunday Independent has produced about the issue. The earlier one – written by Des O’Malley – appeared on…
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O’Malley’s silence has become thunderous.
By Sean Brennan The purpose of this article is to examine Des O’ Malley’s Role in the events which are commonly known as The Arms Crisis and The Arms Trials 1970. The Arms Crisis erupted during the early hours of 6 May 1970, when a press release issued by the Government Information Service announced that…
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Paudge Brennan, the forgotten man of the Arms Crisis
A note from the editor: This article is about the late Paudge Brennan, the Fianna Fáil Minister who resigned a little over 50 years ago after the eruption of the Arms Crisis. It is written by his son, Sean. Not surprisingly, it is partisan. It does, nevertheless, yield an insight into a perspective on Irish…
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Ducking all the hard questions.
The print edition of Village magazine posed a number of questions to Des O’Malley about the Arms Crisis but he ignored them. They arose out of an article he had published in the Sunday Independent in September. He also used that article as a platform to attack recent research on the crisis without addressing any…
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Sean Haughey
By David Burke. Deputy Sean Haughey has repeated his request for the release of certain Garda files from the Department of Justice. There is a lot more to his question than readily meets the eye. In the late 1960s and 1970s C3 was the most secretive and sensitive department within an Garda Síochána. It provided…
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Des O’Malley
UPDATE: Des O’Malley is going to reveal what he knowns about the new allegation that Seán MacStíofáin was a Garda informer in The Sunday Independent tomorrow. Hopefully, O’Malley will answer the 10 questions Village raised in the original version of this article In the event that O’Malley does not address these questions in The Sunday…
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Captain James Kelly’s family phone was tapped
By David Burke. The family phone of Captain James Kelly and his wife Sheila, in Terenure, Dublin, was tapped by the gardai in 1970. Captain Kelly was one of the Arms Trial defendants who went on trial 50 years ago this week. He was acquitted. It is inconceivable that Mícheál Ó Móráin, who served as…
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Seán Haughey TD.
By Michael Smith. Justice Minister Helen McEntee has confirmed the existence of secret and “sensitive’” Garda files relating to the Arms Crisis. She did not rule out releasing them in “appropriate” circumstances. Her comments were made on Tuesday evening in response to Seán Haughey TD of Fianna Fáil who was asking her to confirm that…
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Smear sheet.
By David Burke. Introduction. The Arms Trial opened fifty years ago later this month, 22 September. It has since become clear that the prosecution was one of the most tainted episodes in modern Irish legal history and that, more than anyone else, the former Taoiseach Jack Lynch was responsible for the sham. The prosecution which…
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Vandalising history.
By David Burke. Introduction. The story of the Arms Crisis is a perfectly simple one. It only becomes complicated when the lies, fantasies and myths that engulfed it are entertained as if serious. Only two participants in the débacle told the full, accurate and unvarnished truth: Captain James Kelly and Colonel Michael Hefferon, both dutiful…
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Dick Walsh’s covert committee monitored OIRA media enemies. Future Irish Times Assistant editor put colleagues on lists.
By David Burke. THE OFFICIAL IRA AND OFFICIAL SINN FÉIN The IRA fractured in December 1969 into what became known as the Provisional IRA and the Official IRA. Sinn Féin split along the same lines the following month. Before the division, the IRA had been led by IRA veterans such as Cathal Goulding, who was…
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Irish Times fraud.
The Assistant Editor of the Irish Times distorted the truth about the Arms Crisis. He was a friend of both the chief of staff of the Official IRA and the Taoiseach, ‘Honest’ Jack Lynch. The Official IRA had a vested interest in manipulating the story. Over time, the journalist portrayed Lynch as the hapless victim…
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The Forgotten Arms Crisis Scoop.
Séamas Ó Tuathail was the first journalist to discover details of what was to become known as the Arms Crisis but chose not to report it. Unbeknownst to him, some of the information he dug up was relayed to a British journalist by a talkative senior member of the IRA. The resulting British newspaper article…
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