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HISTORIAN FERRITER ARTICLE CENSORED

I posted ongratulations to Professor Diarmaid Ferriter for his article ‘Cosgrave’s support of the Garda Cast a long shadow.’ (Irish Times Sat, Oct 14, 2017) emphasising the role of the impartial historian to rise above historical revisionism/denialism. But no sooner than written, the Irish Times pulled the article from its archive and settled an action by ex- Justice Minister Patrick Cooney against the paper. (We publish the article in full below.)

Hanging Out on the 11th Floor- poetry

BREATNACH PUBLISHES FIRST POETRY BOOK

Traumatised by a criminal conspiracy to frame him in 1970s Ireland the author’s response, in part, was to turn to poetry.
Hanging Out on the 11th Floor is presented in a combination of lyrical free and blank verse, and concerns understanding internal change, in himself and others, over a lengthy period in honest emotional language.

WITCHES

Philip Casey, writer, poet and playwright, has passed. Philip knew a lot about pain, but he never raised it with me. I knew him only as friendly, witty, compassionate and diffusing a stillness that belied his gregariousness.

VERONICA GUERIN’S SECRETS

Not long before journalist Veronica Guerin was shot dead in Dublin in 1996 we met …and she confided she was working on a particular investigation of police corruption … she and I discussed sleaze and bribery in the Garda Síochána, Ireland’s police force.

SEASHORE VOICES

The voice from nowhere stipulates how I should take care of dog poo. I am early-walking the path behind the sea-breaker wall, close to Dublin’s Salthill train station, accompanied only by my intimate shadow and the sound of the voice of my mother.

MICK HANLY BATTLES RAGWORT

I see singer songwriter Mick Hanley is responding positively to an Irish Arts Center invitation to perform in Manhattan New York in November while battling with Rogwort in his back garden. Is he past the point of rescue?

THE STORY OF MOUSE LAND

You can never have enough democracy. I am a democrat with a small ‘D’. By that I mean not a US Democrat or even a Canadian Democrat as in the amusing YouTube video attached. But it is still well worth viewing.

In every other sense, like republicans of the socialist tradition, I am a democrat and believe you can never have enough democracy. This leads to the inevitable question of whether we have real democracy now. Watch The Story of Mouseland and decide.

SHANE MAC THOMÁIS -an untimely sudden death

TALL, FIT, soft spoken with a kindly mischievous glint in his eyes Shane Mac Thomáis was hard to miss in a crowd. When I first met him around 2001 I was already acquainted with his late father, Éamon, and had avidly read and followed his father’s folksy historical media contributions, such as bestseller Me Jewel and Darlin’ Dublin.