Dear Phil

Enclosed is the email address for the National Archives whom would send to you by link the files 929 and 1435 of National Military Archives. In them there is the ordering of execution of three captured Black and Tans by Donnacha O'Hannigan and his overseeing of this. Also, Donnacha wanted to execute someone because they burned Davey Clancys homestead in Cush but Clancy would not allow it…these two files are a MUST for you personally.

Best Regards

Joe Williams

Most certainly Donnacha O'Hannigan ordered and was present for the execution of three Black and Tans. His reasoning being that they were so hated by the native population that this deed ruthless as it was, it was going to be done. Reading these documents you can see the damage spies have done to the Irish Nation throughout history not just this particular period. There was mention in these documents of people they suspected as spies but there was a blank space left instead of names.

The Military Tribunals were set up by De Valera so Republicans could possibly write the history of that period. Their remit was to collect- either orally or in written form - the memories of the revolutionary generation while they could clearly recall what happened. The idea at the time was that these testimonies would remain sealed until a reasonable period - perhaps twenty-five years - had past. Most of the collected 'statements' (as these testimonies are known) did not see the light until the twenty-first century.

Joe Williams

Dear Phil,
I was watching and listening to your braodcast on ABC TV during the VFL finals and was very quick to can the bejaysus out of you (namely to my wife and blue heeler) for what I believed was a very biased call of the cats prelim game....i thought it was well deserved for the grand final. What I would like to do is commend you for a very solid and thoughful article in yesterdays Herald Sun on the new Ken Loach film.

My grandfather (who recently celebrated his 94th birthday) and his sisters served in the republican army in a number of capacities. He served a number of years in POW camps in Ireland. Although I don't agree with some of his ideologies he too is a man of quiet conviction and to this day believes in a free state. I would like to thank you for bringing some facts to a general public who have been denied them for so many years. If you are interested he has recently completed his autobiography and we are in the process of having it printed at the moment and i would be more than happy to forward a copy when it returns from the printer. Thanks once again and please be a little kinder on the cats...

Cheers
Sean

Dear Phil

Heard you on 774 the other day, but wasn't able to hear it all. Can't believe they all say "it's an old and well known story"! Texted your host, saying it is not at all well-known. Loach said you'd be lucky to find anyone in England on the High Street who would know anything about it. Nor would any Aussies know about it, save those who have an Irish background they haven't resiled from out of shame or Anglophilia. And how about "The Troubles" starting 30 years ago! I have Batt O'Connor's book 'With Michael Collins in the War of Independence' printed 1929, since reprinted and findable on? Abebooks.uk

The composition of the B$Ts was interesting. Rod tells me that the British soldiers were on strike, and they had to scrape the bottom of the barrel. O'Connor has a little more detail. But to get back to my point, they say the same whenever "The Famine" is ?mentioned. But there has been hardly anything written on The Great? Hunger, nor was it talked about, nor sang about.? Where are all the movies on the famine, the Black and Tans, any Irish History. Only Michael Collins, which falsified history, and a heap of action? movies and TV thrillers centering around IRA violence.?

Time to tell our stories….

Mary

 

Phil

good article in the Sun today (tuesday 3 Oct.) I would fight any bastards that occupied our country and most average joes worldwide would do the same no matter where they come from. Word of warning, the resident Herald Sun "right of Genghis khan conservative neo con" knuckle man of the right, Andrew Blot will be on your case and you should be afraid, think he played footy for west Pretoria under 14s, (he's a south african i think). Keep up the good work, the paper needs some balance from people like your self and the very lovely jill singer.

Regards Gary McCulloch.

Hi Phil

Congratulations on a wonderful article in today's Hearld Sun. I have seen the movie and it portrays life in Ireland in those troubled times exactly as my Father told it to me. He was in the IRA Volunteers. My Mother was shot at by a lorry full of Tans but was lucky to escape with minor injuries.

There is only one thing you may not be aware of the fact that the Tans were not regular British Army most were criminals released from jail armed and sent to Ireland to quell the uprising. I have met you once during the waterfront dispute in '98

Patrick Kirwan

G'day Phil,?

My family is from Tipperary, having been forced out by starvation? during the late 1840s. In the late 1920s, a Pom turned up in Bega, my hometown. He got pissed at the pub one night and revealed that he had been a Black and Tan. A week later he was dead, thrown off the balcony of the pub at? Tathra. The coppers didn't even investigate, taking the view that the death of someone who'd bragged in an Irish Catholic community about being a member of the Tans was as good as suicide.

Having said that, I thought THE event of 2005 was the decommissioning? of the IRA. And I knew it was going to stick when a hard bastard from the IRA called O'Neill made the announcement. Me and my mates reckon? part of the deal between Adams and Blair involved turning a blind eye to the robbing of the Bank of Northern Ireland, that it was 'retirement' money, leading us to call the IRA The Irish Retirement Agency. ALL disputes are eventually settled politically. You'd think that ?brain dead lunatic in the White House would know that.

In memory of Tom Barry

Eireann Abu!
Take care.

Bill