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News about the Irish & Irish American culture, music, news, sports. This is hosted by the Irish Aires radio show on KPFT-FM 90.1 in Houston, Texas (a Pacifica community radio station)
February 21, 2005
02/21/05 – Adam, McGuinness & Ferris In Jnt Statement
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Table of Contents - Overall
Table of Contents – Feb 2005
SF 02/21/05 Jt Statement Adams, McGuinness & Martin Ferris
EX 02/21/05 Ahern, McDowell Divided On Claims Of SF’s IRA Role
BB 02/21/05 Sinn Fein Facing Fresh Sanctions
UT 02/21/05 Police On Trail Of IRA Cash
UT 02/21/05 Ahern:'IRA Must Deliver'
TO 02/21/05 IRA Tried To Buy A Bulgarian Bank To Launder Millions
GU 02/21/05 Analysis: Central Paradox Which Leaves Adams On Hook
IO 02/21/05 Michael Stone Questioned In PSNI Probe In Murder Plots
IO 02/21/05 Guide To Pre-Famine Longford Published
******************************************
http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/8584
Joint Statement From Gerry Adams, Martin Mcguinness And Martin Ferris
Published: 21 February, 2005
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams MP, Martin McGuinness MP, and Martin Ferris TD in a joint statement issued in Dublin this today said:
"Sinn Féin is totally committed to the peace process and to engaging with the Irish government in these difficult times to find a way forward.
Despite our anger at attempts to criminalise our party and its supporters we have been measured in our comments. We have asked others to do likewise as we are conscious that a protracted war of words among Irish nationalists is deeply damaging to the overall process.
However given the seriousness of Michael McDowell's outburst on the national airwaves on Sunday we have taken the unusual step of issuing a joint statement in response.
We want to state categorically that we are not members of the IRA or its Army Council. Our involvement in the peace process is as leaders of Sinn Féin and as elected representatives for West Belfast, Mid Ulster and Kerry North respectively. As part of this, in the past we have met with the Army Council to put propositions regarding the peace process.
Sinn Féin's contribution to this process has been substantial and we will continue to play our part.
For some time now Michael McDowell has been unable to distinguish between his role as Justice Minister and President of the Progressive Democrats. He has made countless unsubstantiated allegations against our party and its leadership.
Recently the Irish government accused Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams of withholding information and of conspiring to rob the Northern Bank in December. We challenged the government to stand this accusation up and they failed to do so.
And then at the weekend Michael McDowell made his unfounded and serious allegation that we -Martin McGuinness, Martin Ferris and Gerry Adams - are members of the IRA Army Council.
For Minister McDowell to do this is an abuse of his office.
"If his view is shared by the Gardaí then the only way this issue can be confronted is for us to be charged with IRA membership"ENDS
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http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/ireland/Full_Story/did-sgDV-Rzi7zujssgHuTLc4nqWo2.asp
Ahern, McDowell Divided On Claims Of SF’s IRA Role
By Fionnán Sheahan
TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday attempted to defuse the furore over Michael McDowell’s naming of Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Martin Ferris as IRA Army Council members, by declining to back up the Minister for Justice’s view.
Mr Ahern said he had no “hard evidence” of who sits on the council.
The accusation was seen in Government circles as unhelpful, prompting Mr Ahern to return the focus to ending IRA criminality.
In a joint statement, the three Sinn Féin figures denied being members of the IRA or the Army Council and accused Mr McDowell of abuse of his office. Although Mr Ahern did not clash with Mr McDowell, he drew a distinction between security briefings and material evidence.
“There’s one thing about intelligence briefings, there’s another about hard evidence and I do not have hard evidence,” he said.
Mr McDowell said he was “absolutely confident” of his claim.
******************************************
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4285723.stm
Sinn Fein Facing Fresh Sanctions
Paul Murphy will address the House of Commons on Tuesday
Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy is expected to announce fresh financial sanctions against Sinn Fein.
It follows a report which said some senior party members were involved in authorising the £26.5m Northern Bank raid, along with other robberies.
The Independent Monitoring Committee's report recommended imposing financial penalties on Sinn Fein.
The statement on Tuesday is also expected to suggest the party's MPs are stripped of Westminster allowances.
The Independent Monitoring Committee - which monitors paramilitary activity - issued its report earlier this month.
It backed the police assertion the IRA was behind the raid at the Belfast headquarters of the bank on 20 December - a claim the IRA denies.
Nearly £3m found in raids in the Irish Republic last week during an investigation against alleged money laundering, is being tested to see if it is linked to the robbery.
Recall request
The IMC's findings were based on intelligence information.
The four-strong commission also blamed the paramilitary group for robberies in Belfast and County Tyrone in which several people were abducted.
The commission said it would have recommended Sinn Fein's exclusion from office if the assembly was still sitting.
In the absence of devolution, Mr Murphy should "consider imposing financial penalties", it said.
Sinn Fein has rejected the report because it said the IMC was "not independent".
Speaking after rallies in Belfast and Londonderry on Monday night, party chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said Sinn Fein would resist attempts to criminalise them.
Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has said the Northern Ireland Assembly should be recalled to set in motion the system for excluding Sinn Fein from government.
He said the action should be announced when Mr Murphy makes his statement to the Commons.
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http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=57004&pt=n
Police On Trail Of IRA Cash
Detectives will scour Europe in their attempt to shut down a multi-million pound IRA cash racket, a police chief pledged tonight.
By:Press Association
As Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern warned the peace process was being strangled amid allegations of a massive republican crime machine, Garda commissioner Noel Conroy revealed his officers were ready to go international on the trail of the money laundering operation.
Police on either side of the Irish border have refused to confirm if any of the near £3 million seized during raids in Dublin and Cork last week was part of the record haul stolen during the Northern Bank heist in Belfast.
Mr Conroy said scientific examinations of the notes was about to begin in order to confirm his suspicions.
But as his force steeled itself for an investigation that will take months and lead it into the heart of Ireland`s financial and business sectors, the Garda chief disclosed how far he was prepared to go.
Noel Conroy
He said: "Prior to the recovery of the monies we have recovered in recent weeks we did conduct investigations which led us in certain directions.
"It`s a bit too early at this stage to go into details on that, but we will be following up in relation to matters overseas."
With the republican movement under fierce pressure over its alleged involvement in robberies, money laundering and a pub brawl murder in Belfast, the Sinn Fein leadership came out fighting today against a declaration by the Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell that Sinn Fein`s Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness also helped run the IRA.
The two party leaders, along with Martin Ferris, a SF member of Dublin parliament, accused him of an abuse of office.
In a joint statement they said: "We are not members of the IRA or its army council.
"Our involvement in the peace process is as leaders of Sinn Fein. As part of this in the past we have met with the army council to put propositions regarding the peace process."
They added that if Mr McDowell`s view was shared by police "then the only way this issue can be confronted is for us to be charged with IRA membership".
Despite their robust rejection of his allegations, the Irish Justice Minister was scornful of the denials.
"I know of no person, anybody in this room for that
matter, that doesn`t share the view."
As the stakes were raised even higher, Mr McDowell insisted that Sinn Fein was not about to be excluded from the political process.
But with the Irish government convinced that Sinn Fein and the IRA were two sides of the same coin, Irish Prime Minister Mr Ahern appeared to issue a startling warning as the embattled Good Friday Agreement teetered on the brink of oblivion.
The process will continue to unravel unless republicans start keeping their side of the bargain, he said.
Sinn Fein is now facing an unprecedented crisis as it battles against mounting claims that the IRA not only robbed £26.5 million during the Christmas raid on the Northern, but has also been laundering enormous sums of cash through businesses, pubs and clubs across Ireland.
Their problems intensified with the killing of Robert McCartney after a row flared at a Belfast city centre bar.
Relatives of the victim, who was beaten and stabbed to death last month, blamed an IRA gang.
The British Government is expected to announce tomorrow that the republican party`s four Westminster MPs will be stripped of parliamentary allowances over the Northern Bank robbery.
Even though Northern Ireland secretary Paul Murphy could announce a fine of up to £500,000, unionists have claimed the punishment will do little to dent the finances of an organisation whose coffers were swollen so spectacularly by the record bank raid.
Fraud squad officers and the Irish Republic`s successful Criminal Assets Bureau have been brought in to assist the racketeering investigation that led to a series of high profile arrests on Friday.
Only one of those detained has since been charged with terrorist offences.
Dor Bullman, a chef from County Cork, is accused of membership of the dissident Real IRA after police allegedly discovered £54,000 stuffed into a washing powder box in a car.
The operation heightened speculation that detectives had made a breakthrough in the hunt for the Northern Bank cash.
But as Mr Conroy and Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde signed a joint protocol at Hillsborough Castle outside Belfast for closer cooperation between the two forces, both men insisted they could not yet confirm whether the money seized was part of the heist.
Mr Orde said: "It`s too early to say, we deal with evidence and we deal with fact."
And while he stood by his assessment that the IRA plotted the robbery, he could not give any details on the individuals involved.
"I`m not in the business of saying this was committed by X or this was committed by Y," Mr Orde said.
"I`m not clear in my mind who knew at what level."
But Mr Conroy was bullish over detectives` chances of smashing the scam.
He said: "There`s a lot of money recovered and it will take quite a bit of time to do all the technical examinations that have to be carried out.
"We are talking to Hugh and of course our forensic people.
They will be getting to work in the next day or two to sort that out.
"Hopefully they will come up with the result I expect them to come up with."
******************************************
http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=57001&pt=n
Ahern:'IRA Must Deliver'
The unravelling of the Northern Ireland peace process will get worse unless the Republican movement starts to deliver, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said tonight.
By:Press Association
With Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Martin Ferris categorically denying membership of the IRA`s army council, Mr Ahern said he was still prepared to do political business with Sinn Fein.
But he warned: "They now have to deliver. Otherwise it will continue to unravel. We`re into a unravelling situation that is serious and is going to continue to be serious from the knowledge that I have."
"If the Republican Movement says no. If the Republican Movement ties the hands of the political leadership like they did last December ...then we`ve have a huge dilemma."
Mr Ahern insisted that he wouldn`t exclude Sinn Fein from power-sharing talks despite the party`s alleged links to a multi-million IRA cash racket uncovered by police last week.
He also indicated that the tense marching season in Northern Ireland was only four weeks away and the party needed to clarify its position on decommissioning and on ending criminality and paramilitarism.
"The easiest thing for me would be to walk away and exclude them," he said.
Eight people were arrested - including a former Sinn Fein councillor - during the the massive garda operation which netted £2.5 million in nationwide raids on homes and offices.
Mr Ahern also insisted today that he has no "hard evidence" of who sits on the IRA`s army council and neither did justice minister Michael McDowell.
Mr McDowell provoked outrage from Sinn Fein yesterday when he bluntly named Mr Adams, Mr McGuinness and North Kerry TD Mr Ferris as members of the seven-man ruling army council.
But Mr Ahern said: "I do not know who`s on the army council. I understand that the process is they change it around.
"I don`t have intelligence reports on it. I do not have hard evidence," he said.
Mr Ahern said he blamed the Northern Bank heist on the IRA because he had the professional assessment of gardai based on their evidence, but this wasn`t possible in relation to information on the make-up of the Army Council.
However, the three Sinn Fein members tonight challenged gardai to arrest them for IRA membership if they believed Mr McDowell`s claims.
A joint statement said: "We want to state categorically that we are not members of the IRA or its Army Council.
"Our involvement in the peace process is as leaders of Sinn Fein and as elected representatives for West Belfast, Mid Ulster and Kerry North respectively.
"As part of this, in the past we have met with the Army Council to put propositions regarding the peace process."
They accused Mr McDowell of abusing the powers of his office by making unfounded allegations and damaging the peace process by sparking a war of words.
"For some time now Michael McDowell has been unable to distinguish between his role as Justice Minister and President of the Progressive Democrats.
"He has made countless unsubstantiated allegations against our party and its leadership.
"For Minister McDowell to do this is an abuse of his office. If his view is shared by the gardai then the only way this issue can be confronted is for us to be charged with IRA membership," they added.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1495160,00.html
IRA Tried To Buy A Bulgarian Bank To Launder Its Many Stolen Millions
By David Lister in Belfast
IRISH police believe that the IRA may have been trying to launder the proceeds of its sprawling criminal empire by buying a bank in Bulgaria in conjunction with an Eastern European crime syndicate.
As a further £437,000 of suspected IRA cash was seized in raids across the Irish Republic, it was claimed yesterday that republicans had been cultivating contacts with a Bulgarian gang who hoped to use the Provisionals’ financial clout to help them to buy a large financial institution.
At least one individual behind the IRA’s money-laundering network is believed to have been in contact with the Bulgarians for up to a year, while face-to-face meetings with the gang took place in Ireland from last November, the Irish Times reported.
The contacts are believed to have intensified after the IRA’s theft of £26.5 million from the Northern Bank in Belfast just before Christmas. Senior figures in the terrorist group apparently saw the idea of passing the money through a legitimate financial institution as a perfect way to hide the cash.
Of particular interest to police is the role played by a high-ranking member of Sinn Fein said to have almost complete control over party financing. His personal assets are said to include a nightclub in Bulgaria and an Algarve villa where he entertains leading republicans.
Seven men and one woman have so far been arrested over the alleged money laundering, although all but one have been released without charge.
Those voluntarily questioned include Phil Flynn, a prominent financier and former Sinn Fein vice-president who has since resigned as chairman of the Bank of Scotland (Ireland). Those arrested include Tom Hanlon, a former Sinn Fein councillor in Cork, and another Sinn Fein activist, George Hegarty.
The head of the Irish police, said yesterday that his officers would not hesitate to travel abroad in their pursuit of the IRA’s money-laundering network. Speaking after further seizures brought the amount of cash seized in the Republic to nearly £3 million, Noel Conroy, the Garda Commissioner, said: “Prior to the recovery of the monies we have recovered in recent weeks, we did conduct investigations which led us in certain directions. It’s a bit too early to go into details on that, but we will be following up in relation to matters overseas.” Announcing a new protocol on cross-border policing with Hugh Orde, the Northern Ireland Chief Constable, he said it was too early to link the money to the raid on the Northern Bank. “There is a lot of money recovered and it will take quite a bit of time to do all the technical examination,” he said.
As pressure mounted on Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, the party’s president and chief negotiator, launched a robust counter-attack against claims that they were members of the IRA’s ruling “army council” and accused Michael McDowell, the Irish justice minister, of being a “minister for smears”. On Sunday Mr McDowell claimed that the pair were at the heart of the terrorist group’s decision-making. Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness, along with Martin Ferris, a Sinn Fein member of the Dublin parliament, who was also named by Mr McDowell, said in a joint statement: “We are not members of the IRA or its army council. Our involvement in the peace process is as leaders of Sinn Fein.”
They added that if Mr McDowell’s view was shared by police “then the only way this issue can be confronted is for us to be charged with IRA membership”.
As he attended the police protocol signing at Hillsborough Castle outside Belfast, Mr McDowell said that he stood by his claim, although Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister, appeared to distance himself from it. Mr Ahern said that he had no “hard evidence” about who sat on the IRA’s “army council”.
Five men were found guilty of IRA membership at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin. The five, who were arrested at Bray, Co Wicklow, in 2003, were found with a stun gun, fake Garda uniforms and Sinn Fein elections posters. They will be sentenced later.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1419629,00.html
Analysis: Central Paradox Which Leaves Adams On Hook
Angelique Chrisafis
Tuesday February 22, 2005
The Guardian
They were the humble words that everyone who wants the peace process to succeed had hoped for. Gerry Adams, looking grey-faced and chastened, said criminals should be expelled from the ranks of republicanism: "No republican worthy of the name can be involved in criminality of any kind."
On the surface, it seemed proof that the leaders of Sinn Féin were prepared to walk away from the gun and all that went with it: the money-raising activities that had been necessary to keep the war going against the British.
But this week, statements by Sinn Féin are no longer accepted by politicians at face value. And behind Mr Adams, at an IRA commemoration in Strabane on Sunday, stood an honour guard in full paramilitary uniform. The message was clear: We are still here, despite Mr Adams saying that conditions had to be created so that the IRA "ceases to be".
That central paradox of the republican movement is the unavoidable hook on which Sinn Féin is now caught.
After further finds of allegedly laundered republican money over the weekend in the Irish Republic, things got even worse yesterday with five men convicted of IRA membership. The men, who police said were part of an active IRA service unit in Dublin, were in a van used for Sinn Féin electioneering which contained, among other items, a stun gun, CS gas and election posters for a Sinn Féin Dublin MP.
To the southern electorate, whose embrace of Sinn Féin and Gerry Adams has turned sour in the past fortnight, it seems further proof that the party and the IRA are one and the same as the justice minister, Michael McDowell, had always claimed.
The ferocity of Mr McDowell's attacks on Sinn Féin, whom he often brands as fascists, had seemed over the top a month ago, but yesterday an Irish radio poll found seven out of 10 people agreed he was right to name Mr Adams and Martin McGuinness and a southern MP, Martin Ferris, as members of the IRA's ruling army council.
While the party's rump support in Northern Ireland looks more assured, the real disaster for Sinn Féin is in the republic, where its backing had been steadily growing. Only a matter of weeks ago, Mr Adams was the most popular politician in the republic, and a Fianna Fáil minister admitted that one day Sinn Féin might become a coalition partner in the Irish government.
They sold themselves on an anti-corruption ticket in contrast to the culture of backhanders that had tainted Fianna Fáil. After the money laundering and criminality investigations, they seem to have been hoist with their own petard.
Eamon Phoenix, a political historian at Stranmillis University College in Belfast, said that "a party that never put its foot in banana skins, that always blamed the securocrats or the media, suddenly finds itself in a self-generated crisis". He said it must deal immediately with "the twin albatrosses of decommissioning and criminality".
Unionists and parties in the Irish Republic say Sinn Féin must now split once and for all from the IRA. Others see this as an impossibility.
In Northern Ireland, the party's problems run deeper than the political fallout from the Northern Bank raid. More important within the heartlands which have made Sinn Féin the biggest nationalist party in Northern Ireland, is the backlash from the brutal murder of an innocent father of two and Sinn Féin voter, Robert McCartney, who was stabbed and beaten outside a Belfast pub. A senior IRA member was involved and the family has complained that, despite their pleas that the killers should not be sheltered, those to blame are still free.
Sinn Féin's inability to hand over the culprits has led to an astonishing rebellion from within McCartney's community.
One of his sisters is considering standing against Sinn Féin as an independent councillor at the next election.
Danny Morrison, Sinn Féin's former publicity director, said the party might lose votes in the republic but was more resilient in the north. It had "come through these types of accusations before".
Sinn Féin has come out fighting, organising demonstrations yesterday in Belfast in defiance of "slurs and smears" against it. But Seamus Mallon, the SDLP MP for Newry and Armagh, said fundamental changes were needed before negotiations could resume.
"First, Sinn Féin must take their places on the policing board [the party does not endorse the reformed police service] so that criminality can be addressed. Second, they must get rid of the nonsense that there is some separation between Sinn Féin and the IRA - there isn't. Third, Sinn Féin has got to come out very clearly and say the IRA no longer exists and that it has no semblance of a mandate ... Finally, the IRA should decommission now."
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http://www.online.ie/news/viewer.adp?article=3207883
Stone Questioned In PSNI Probe Into 1980s Murder Plots
online.ie
2005-02-21 19:20:02+00
Milltown Cemetery killer Michael Stone has been questioned about plots to murder prominent political figures during the 1980s, it emerged today.
Stone, who was jailed for murdering three mourners at an IRA funeral in 1988, was released without charge after being quizzed by detectives.
A police spokeswoman confirmed: "A man was arrested by police yesterday and released without charge.
"He was questioned about serious crime in Belfast and was released from police custody shortly after 9pm."
Stone was questioned for eight hours at Antrim Police Station about plans to kill high profile targets, while he was operating as a freelance loyalist terrorist in the mid 1980s.
He claims he had admitted the murder conspiracies 17 years ago after being arrested for the Milltown Cemetery murders in March 1988.
It is believed his admission to police at that time involved plots to kill 11 people, including former then Taoiseach Charles Haughey, the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and former RUC Chief Constable John Hermon.
At the time he was only charged with three, including conspiring to kill Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness and former Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP Owen Carron.
Stone was convicted of murdering Coimhghin MacBradaign, John Murray and Thomas McErlean at the funerals of three IRA members killed by the SAS in Gibraltar.
Another 60 people were injured as Stone stormed through Milltown Cemetery in the Falls Road area, firing shots and hurling hand grenades.
He was released early under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, declaring "my war is over".
In August 2000, he caused uproar when he shared a platform alongside convicted UFF commander Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair.
He has been pursuing a new career as an artist but hit the headlines two years ago when he wrote a book about his terrorist past.
Families of his victims bitterly complained Stone was profiting from the deaths of their loved ones.
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http://www.online.ie/news/viewer.adp?article=3207828
Guide To Pre-Famine Longford Published
online.ie
2005-02-21 17:10:05+00
An Irish-American man has published a genealogical research guide of Longford's residents in pre-Famine days.
"County Longford Residents Prior to the Famine: A Transcription and Complete Index of the Tithe Applotment Books of County Longford, Ireland (1823 - 1835)," by Guy Rymsza aims to determinine the origins of Famine-era ancestors.
Rymsza compiled the work after discovering the ancestral house, complete with relatives still living in it, from which his great-great-grandfather had departed Ireland in the mid-1800s.
The book is published in the US by Dome Shadow Press.
----
Genealogical Index Puts Irish Famine Ancestors on the Map
South Bend, IN – February 15, 2005 – People with Irish roots worldwide may be able to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a renewed sense of connection to their forebears. The destruction of Irish Census returns from the 1800s has handicapped genealogical research in Ireland for decades, but County Longford Residents Prior to the Famine: A Transcription and Complete Index of the Tithe Applotment Books of County Longford, Ireland (1823 – 1835) by Guy A. Rymsza once again offers hope of determining the origins of Famine-era ancestors. Rymsza compiled the work after discovering the ancestral house, complete with relatives still living in it, from which his great-great-grandfather had departed Ireland in the mid-1800s. County Longford had one of the highest emigration rates after potato crops failed between 1845 and 1850, prompting over a million Irish people to immigrate to Canada, Australia, Great Britain, the United States, and elsewhere. Their descendents remain proud of their heritage today, but many have spent generations not knowing where in Ireland their ancestors originated, or who they left behind. Rymsza's index represents the opening of a census substitute, now useful as a starting point in the quest for those ancestors’ stories. A list of surnames represented is available at http://www.domeshadowpress.com.
Longford is one of thirty-two counties on the Emerald Isle for which the Tithe Applotment Survey was conducted. These taxation records include the full names of Irish citizens owning or renting land, but until now they had never been thoroughly indexed, nor had obsolete place names been reconciled to their current standardized names. County Longford Residents Prior to the Famine makes this valuable information easily accessible for the first time. Well-known Irish genealogist and author John Grenham of Dublin describes it as “a superb piece of work … meticulous, intelligent and comprehensive.” After an historical introduction and practical explanation of his method, Rymsza presents a full name index of over 12,600 men and women, and a recapitulation of records from over 930 neighborhood-like townlands. Twenty-seven maps showing the townlands in each civil parish and three maps of Longford’s major land divisions incorporate information found in the survey and are useful in the study of genealogy, geography, and social history.
A far cry from the original scrawled records or their microfilm images, this accurate, legible, and easily navigated volume creates a useful reconstruction of pre-Famine County Longford that will certainly cause Irish eyes to smile. The data integrity management skills and statistical process control methods Rymsza has acquired as a computer process engineer at a state-of-the-art steel mill proved to be valuable in solving the genealogical puzzle posed by the Tithe Books. “I am extremely impressed with the work Rymsza has undertaken,” states Brian Donovan, co-founder of Eneclann Ltd., Ireland’s leading publisher of historical and genealogical CD-ROMs.
County Longford Residents Prior to the Famine is available in fine bookstores or directly from Dome Shadow Press, 51905 Courtland East, Suite 556, South Bend, IN 46637 USA. Hardcover (US$49.95), CD-ROM (US$39.95), permanent e-book download (US$34.95), and temporary e-book download (US$7.95) editions are also available at http://www.domeshadowpress.com . Include $4.95 shipping within the U.S.; international shipping varies.
# # #
County Longford Residents Prior to the Famine: A Transcription and Complete Index of the Tithe Applotment Books of County Longford, Ireland (1823 -1835) by Guy A. Rymsza. First edition. 8½ x 11, 439 pages, 30 map illustrations, 2 historical document images, bibliography, microfilm reel directory. ISBN 0-9742673-0-9. $49.95.
Table of Contents - Overall
Table of Contents – Feb 2005
To receive this news via email, click HERE. No Message is necessary
Table of Contents - Overall
Table of Contents – Feb 2005
SF 02/21/05 Jt Statement Adams, McGuinness & Martin Ferris
EX 02/21/05 Ahern, McDowell Divided On Claims Of SF’s IRA Role
BB 02/21/05 Sinn Fein Facing Fresh Sanctions
UT 02/21/05 Police On Trail Of IRA Cash
UT 02/21/05 Ahern:'IRA Must Deliver'
TO 02/21/05 IRA Tried To Buy A Bulgarian Bank To Launder Millions
GU 02/21/05 Analysis: Central Paradox Which Leaves Adams On Hook
IO 02/21/05 Michael Stone Questioned In PSNI Probe In Murder Plots
IO 02/21/05 Guide To Pre-Famine Longford Published
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http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/8584
Joint Statement From Gerry Adams, Martin Mcguinness And Martin Ferris
Published: 21 February, 2005
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams MP, Martin McGuinness MP, and Martin Ferris TD in a joint statement issued in Dublin this today said:
"Sinn Féin is totally committed to the peace process and to engaging with the Irish government in these difficult times to find a way forward.
Despite our anger at attempts to criminalise our party and its supporters we have been measured in our comments. We have asked others to do likewise as we are conscious that a protracted war of words among Irish nationalists is deeply damaging to the overall process.
However given the seriousness of Michael McDowell's outburst on the national airwaves on Sunday we have taken the unusual step of issuing a joint statement in response.
We want to state categorically that we are not members of the IRA or its Army Council. Our involvement in the peace process is as leaders of Sinn Féin and as elected representatives for West Belfast, Mid Ulster and Kerry North respectively. As part of this, in the past we have met with the Army Council to put propositions regarding the peace process.
Sinn Féin's contribution to this process has been substantial and we will continue to play our part.
For some time now Michael McDowell has been unable to distinguish between his role as Justice Minister and President of the Progressive Democrats. He has made countless unsubstantiated allegations against our party and its leadership.
Recently the Irish government accused Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams of withholding information and of conspiring to rob the Northern Bank in December. We challenged the government to stand this accusation up and they failed to do so.
And then at the weekend Michael McDowell made his unfounded and serious allegation that we -Martin McGuinness, Martin Ferris and Gerry Adams - are members of the IRA Army Council.
For Minister McDowell to do this is an abuse of his office.
"If his view is shared by the Gardaí then the only way this issue can be confronted is for us to be charged with IRA membership"ENDS
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http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/ireland/Full_Story/did-sgDV-Rzi7zujssgHuTLc4nqWo2.asp
Ahern, McDowell Divided On Claims Of SF’s IRA Role
By Fionnán Sheahan
TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday attempted to defuse the furore over Michael McDowell’s naming of Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Martin Ferris as IRA Army Council members, by declining to back up the Minister for Justice’s view.
Mr Ahern said he had no “hard evidence” of who sits on the council.
The accusation was seen in Government circles as unhelpful, prompting Mr Ahern to return the focus to ending IRA criminality.
In a joint statement, the three Sinn Féin figures denied being members of the IRA or the Army Council and accused Mr McDowell of abuse of his office. Although Mr Ahern did not clash with Mr McDowell, he drew a distinction between security briefings and material evidence.
“There’s one thing about intelligence briefings, there’s another about hard evidence and I do not have hard evidence,” he said.
Mr McDowell said he was “absolutely confident” of his claim.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4285723.stm
Sinn Fein Facing Fresh Sanctions
Paul Murphy will address the House of Commons on Tuesday
Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy is expected to announce fresh financial sanctions against Sinn Fein.
It follows a report which said some senior party members were involved in authorising the £26.5m Northern Bank raid, along with other robberies.
The Independent Monitoring Committee's report recommended imposing financial penalties on Sinn Fein.
The statement on Tuesday is also expected to suggest the party's MPs are stripped of Westminster allowances.
The Independent Monitoring Committee - which monitors paramilitary activity - issued its report earlier this month.
It backed the police assertion the IRA was behind the raid at the Belfast headquarters of the bank on 20 December - a claim the IRA denies.
Nearly £3m found in raids in the Irish Republic last week during an investigation against alleged money laundering, is being tested to see if it is linked to the robbery.
Recall request
The IMC's findings were based on intelligence information.
The four-strong commission also blamed the paramilitary group for robberies in Belfast and County Tyrone in which several people were abducted.
The commission said it would have recommended Sinn Fein's exclusion from office if the assembly was still sitting.
In the absence of devolution, Mr Murphy should "consider imposing financial penalties", it said.
Sinn Fein has rejected the report because it said the IMC was "not independent".
Speaking after rallies in Belfast and Londonderry on Monday night, party chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said Sinn Fein would resist attempts to criminalise them.
Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has said the Northern Ireland Assembly should be recalled to set in motion the system for excluding Sinn Fein from government.
He said the action should be announced when Mr Murphy makes his statement to the Commons.
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http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=57004&pt=n
Police On Trail Of IRA Cash
Detectives will scour Europe in their attempt to shut down a multi-million pound IRA cash racket, a police chief pledged tonight.
By:Press Association
As Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern warned the peace process was being strangled amid allegations of a massive republican crime machine, Garda commissioner Noel Conroy revealed his officers were ready to go international on the trail of the money laundering operation.
Police on either side of the Irish border have refused to confirm if any of the near £3 million seized during raids in Dublin and Cork last week was part of the record haul stolen during the Northern Bank heist in Belfast.
Mr Conroy said scientific examinations of the notes was about to begin in order to confirm his suspicions.
But as his force steeled itself for an investigation that will take months and lead it into the heart of Ireland`s financial and business sectors, the Garda chief disclosed how far he was prepared to go.
Noel Conroy
He said: "Prior to the recovery of the monies we have recovered in recent weeks we did conduct investigations which led us in certain directions.
"It`s a bit too early at this stage to go into details on that, but we will be following up in relation to matters overseas."
With the republican movement under fierce pressure over its alleged involvement in robberies, money laundering and a pub brawl murder in Belfast, the Sinn Fein leadership came out fighting today against a declaration by the Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell that Sinn Fein`s Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness also helped run the IRA.
The two party leaders, along with Martin Ferris, a SF member of Dublin parliament, accused him of an abuse of office.
In a joint statement they said: "We are not members of the IRA or its army council.
"Our involvement in the peace process is as leaders of Sinn Fein. As part of this in the past we have met with the army council to put propositions regarding the peace process."
They added that if Mr McDowell`s view was shared by police "then the only way this issue can be confronted is for us to be charged with IRA membership".
Despite their robust rejection of his allegations, the Irish Justice Minister was scornful of the denials.
"I know of no person, anybody in this room for that
matter, that doesn`t share the view."
As the stakes were raised even higher, Mr McDowell insisted that Sinn Fein was not about to be excluded from the political process.
But with the Irish government convinced that Sinn Fein and the IRA were two sides of the same coin, Irish Prime Minister Mr Ahern appeared to issue a startling warning as the embattled Good Friday Agreement teetered on the brink of oblivion.
The process will continue to unravel unless republicans start keeping their side of the bargain, he said.
Sinn Fein is now facing an unprecedented crisis as it battles against mounting claims that the IRA not only robbed £26.5 million during the Christmas raid on the Northern, but has also been laundering enormous sums of cash through businesses, pubs and clubs across Ireland.
Their problems intensified with the killing of Robert McCartney after a row flared at a Belfast city centre bar.
Relatives of the victim, who was beaten and stabbed to death last month, blamed an IRA gang.
The British Government is expected to announce tomorrow that the republican party`s four Westminster MPs will be stripped of parliamentary allowances over the Northern Bank robbery.
Even though Northern Ireland secretary Paul Murphy could announce a fine of up to £500,000, unionists have claimed the punishment will do little to dent the finances of an organisation whose coffers were swollen so spectacularly by the record bank raid.
Fraud squad officers and the Irish Republic`s successful Criminal Assets Bureau have been brought in to assist the racketeering investigation that led to a series of high profile arrests on Friday.
Only one of those detained has since been charged with terrorist offences.
Dor Bullman, a chef from County Cork, is accused of membership of the dissident Real IRA after police allegedly discovered £54,000 stuffed into a washing powder box in a car.
The operation heightened speculation that detectives had made a breakthrough in the hunt for the Northern Bank cash.
But as Mr Conroy and Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde signed a joint protocol at Hillsborough Castle outside Belfast for closer cooperation between the two forces, both men insisted they could not yet confirm whether the money seized was part of the heist.
Mr Orde said: "It`s too early to say, we deal with evidence and we deal with fact."
And while he stood by his assessment that the IRA plotted the robbery, he could not give any details on the individuals involved.
"I`m not in the business of saying this was committed by X or this was committed by Y," Mr Orde said.
"I`m not clear in my mind who knew at what level."
But Mr Conroy was bullish over detectives` chances of smashing the scam.
He said: "There`s a lot of money recovered and it will take quite a bit of time to do all the technical examinations that have to be carried out.
"We are talking to Hugh and of course our forensic people.
They will be getting to work in the next day or two to sort that out.
"Hopefully they will come up with the result I expect them to come up with."
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http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=57001&pt=n
Ahern:'IRA Must Deliver'
The unravelling of the Northern Ireland peace process will get worse unless the Republican movement starts to deliver, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said tonight.
By:Press Association
With Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Martin Ferris categorically denying membership of the IRA`s army council, Mr Ahern said he was still prepared to do political business with Sinn Fein.
But he warned: "They now have to deliver. Otherwise it will continue to unravel. We`re into a unravelling situation that is serious and is going to continue to be serious from the knowledge that I have."
"If the Republican Movement says no. If the Republican Movement ties the hands of the political leadership like they did last December ...then we`ve have a huge dilemma."
Mr Ahern insisted that he wouldn`t exclude Sinn Fein from power-sharing talks despite the party`s alleged links to a multi-million IRA cash racket uncovered by police last week.
He also indicated that the tense marching season in Northern Ireland was only four weeks away and the party needed to clarify its position on decommissioning and on ending criminality and paramilitarism.
"The easiest thing for me would be to walk away and exclude them," he said.
Eight people were arrested - including a former Sinn Fein councillor - during the the massive garda operation which netted £2.5 million in nationwide raids on homes and offices.
Mr Ahern also insisted today that he has no "hard evidence" of who sits on the IRA`s army council and neither did justice minister Michael McDowell.
Mr McDowell provoked outrage from Sinn Fein yesterday when he bluntly named Mr Adams, Mr McGuinness and North Kerry TD Mr Ferris as members of the seven-man ruling army council.
But Mr Ahern said: "I do not know who`s on the army council. I understand that the process is they change it around.
"I don`t have intelligence reports on it. I do not have hard evidence," he said.
Mr Ahern said he blamed the Northern Bank heist on the IRA because he had the professional assessment of gardai based on their evidence, but this wasn`t possible in relation to information on the make-up of the Army Council.
However, the three Sinn Fein members tonight challenged gardai to arrest them for IRA membership if they believed Mr McDowell`s claims.
A joint statement said: "We want to state categorically that we are not members of the IRA or its Army Council.
"Our involvement in the peace process is as leaders of Sinn Fein and as elected representatives for West Belfast, Mid Ulster and Kerry North respectively.
"As part of this, in the past we have met with the Army Council to put propositions regarding the peace process."
They accused Mr McDowell of abusing the powers of his office by making unfounded allegations and damaging the peace process by sparking a war of words.
"For some time now Michael McDowell has been unable to distinguish between his role as Justice Minister and President of the Progressive Democrats.
"He has made countless unsubstantiated allegations against our party and its leadership.
"For Minister McDowell to do this is an abuse of his office. If his view is shared by the gardai then the only way this issue can be confronted is for us to be charged with IRA membership," they added.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1495160,00.html
IRA Tried To Buy A Bulgarian Bank To Launder Its Many Stolen Millions
By David Lister in Belfast
IRISH police believe that the IRA may have been trying to launder the proceeds of its sprawling criminal empire by buying a bank in Bulgaria in conjunction with an Eastern European crime syndicate.
As a further £437,000 of suspected IRA cash was seized in raids across the Irish Republic, it was claimed yesterday that republicans had been cultivating contacts with a Bulgarian gang who hoped to use the Provisionals’ financial clout to help them to buy a large financial institution.
At least one individual behind the IRA’s money-laundering network is believed to have been in contact with the Bulgarians for up to a year, while face-to-face meetings with the gang took place in Ireland from last November, the Irish Times reported.
The contacts are believed to have intensified after the IRA’s theft of £26.5 million from the Northern Bank in Belfast just before Christmas. Senior figures in the terrorist group apparently saw the idea of passing the money through a legitimate financial institution as a perfect way to hide the cash.
Of particular interest to police is the role played by a high-ranking member of Sinn Fein said to have almost complete control over party financing. His personal assets are said to include a nightclub in Bulgaria and an Algarve villa where he entertains leading republicans.
Seven men and one woman have so far been arrested over the alleged money laundering, although all but one have been released without charge.
Those voluntarily questioned include Phil Flynn, a prominent financier and former Sinn Fein vice-president who has since resigned as chairman of the Bank of Scotland (Ireland). Those arrested include Tom Hanlon, a former Sinn Fein councillor in Cork, and another Sinn Fein activist, George Hegarty.
The head of the Irish police, said yesterday that his officers would not hesitate to travel abroad in their pursuit of the IRA’s money-laundering network. Speaking after further seizures brought the amount of cash seized in the Republic to nearly £3 million, Noel Conroy, the Garda Commissioner, said: “Prior to the recovery of the monies we have recovered in recent weeks, we did conduct investigations which led us in certain directions. It’s a bit too early to go into details on that, but we will be following up in relation to matters overseas.” Announcing a new protocol on cross-border policing with Hugh Orde, the Northern Ireland Chief Constable, he said it was too early to link the money to the raid on the Northern Bank. “There is a lot of money recovered and it will take quite a bit of time to do all the technical examination,” he said.
As pressure mounted on Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, the party’s president and chief negotiator, launched a robust counter-attack against claims that they were members of the IRA’s ruling “army council” and accused Michael McDowell, the Irish justice minister, of being a “minister for smears”. On Sunday Mr McDowell claimed that the pair were at the heart of the terrorist group’s decision-making. Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness, along with Martin Ferris, a Sinn Fein member of the Dublin parliament, who was also named by Mr McDowell, said in a joint statement: “We are not members of the IRA or its army council. Our involvement in the peace process is as leaders of Sinn Fein.”
They added that if Mr McDowell’s view was shared by police “then the only way this issue can be confronted is for us to be charged with IRA membership”.
As he attended the police protocol signing at Hillsborough Castle outside Belfast, Mr McDowell said that he stood by his claim, although Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister, appeared to distance himself from it. Mr Ahern said that he had no “hard evidence” about who sat on the IRA’s “army council”.
Five men were found guilty of IRA membership at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin. The five, who were arrested at Bray, Co Wicklow, in 2003, were found with a stun gun, fake Garda uniforms and Sinn Fein elections posters. They will be sentenced later.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1419629,00.html
Analysis: Central Paradox Which Leaves Adams On Hook
Angelique Chrisafis
Tuesday February 22, 2005
The Guardian
They were the humble words that everyone who wants the peace process to succeed had hoped for. Gerry Adams, looking grey-faced and chastened, said criminals should be expelled from the ranks of republicanism: "No republican worthy of the name can be involved in criminality of any kind."
On the surface, it seemed proof that the leaders of Sinn Féin were prepared to walk away from the gun and all that went with it: the money-raising activities that had been necessary to keep the war going against the British.
But this week, statements by Sinn Féin are no longer accepted by politicians at face value. And behind Mr Adams, at an IRA commemoration in Strabane on Sunday, stood an honour guard in full paramilitary uniform. The message was clear: We are still here, despite Mr Adams saying that conditions had to be created so that the IRA "ceases to be".
That central paradox of the republican movement is the unavoidable hook on which Sinn Féin is now caught.
After further finds of allegedly laundered republican money over the weekend in the Irish Republic, things got even worse yesterday with five men convicted of IRA membership. The men, who police said were part of an active IRA service unit in Dublin, were in a van used for Sinn Féin electioneering which contained, among other items, a stun gun, CS gas and election posters for a Sinn Féin Dublin MP.
To the southern electorate, whose embrace of Sinn Féin and Gerry Adams has turned sour in the past fortnight, it seems further proof that the party and the IRA are one and the same as the justice minister, Michael McDowell, had always claimed.
The ferocity of Mr McDowell's attacks on Sinn Féin, whom he often brands as fascists, had seemed over the top a month ago, but yesterday an Irish radio poll found seven out of 10 people agreed he was right to name Mr Adams and Martin McGuinness and a southern MP, Martin Ferris, as members of the IRA's ruling army council.
While the party's rump support in Northern Ireland looks more assured, the real disaster for Sinn Féin is in the republic, where its backing had been steadily growing. Only a matter of weeks ago, Mr Adams was the most popular politician in the republic, and a Fianna Fáil minister admitted that one day Sinn Féin might become a coalition partner in the Irish government.
They sold themselves on an anti-corruption ticket in contrast to the culture of backhanders that had tainted Fianna Fáil. After the money laundering and criminality investigations, they seem to have been hoist with their own petard.
Eamon Phoenix, a political historian at Stranmillis University College in Belfast, said that "a party that never put its foot in banana skins, that always blamed the securocrats or the media, suddenly finds itself in a self-generated crisis". He said it must deal immediately with "the twin albatrosses of decommissioning and criminality".
Unionists and parties in the Irish Republic say Sinn Féin must now split once and for all from the IRA. Others see this as an impossibility.
In Northern Ireland, the party's problems run deeper than the political fallout from the Northern Bank raid. More important within the heartlands which have made Sinn Féin the biggest nationalist party in Northern Ireland, is the backlash from the brutal murder of an innocent father of two and Sinn Féin voter, Robert McCartney, who was stabbed and beaten outside a Belfast pub. A senior IRA member was involved and the family has complained that, despite their pleas that the killers should not be sheltered, those to blame are still free.
Sinn Féin's inability to hand over the culprits has led to an astonishing rebellion from within McCartney's community.
One of his sisters is considering standing against Sinn Féin as an independent councillor at the next election.
Danny Morrison, Sinn Féin's former publicity director, said the party might lose votes in the republic but was more resilient in the north. It had "come through these types of accusations before".
Sinn Féin has come out fighting, organising demonstrations yesterday in Belfast in defiance of "slurs and smears" against it. But Seamus Mallon, the SDLP MP for Newry and Armagh, said fundamental changes were needed before negotiations could resume.
"First, Sinn Féin must take their places on the policing board [the party does not endorse the reformed police service] so that criminality can be addressed. Second, they must get rid of the nonsense that there is some separation between Sinn Féin and the IRA - there isn't. Third, Sinn Féin has got to come out very clearly and say the IRA no longer exists and that it has no semblance of a mandate ... Finally, the IRA should decommission now."
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http://www.online.ie/news/viewer.adp?article=3207883
Stone Questioned In PSNI Probe Into 1980s Murder Plots
online.ie
2005-02-21 19:20:02+00
Milltown Cemetery killer Michael Stone has been questioned about plots to murder prominent political figures during the 1980s, it emerged today.
Stone, who was jailed for murdering three mourners at an IRA funeral in 1988, was released without charge after being quizzed by detectives.
A police spokeswoman confirmed: "A man was arrested by police yesterday and released without charge.
"He was questioned about serious crime in Belfast and was released from police custody shortly after 9pm."
Stone was questioned for eight hours at Antrim Police Station about plans to kill high profile targets, while he was operating as a freelance loyalist terrorist in the mid 1980s.
He claims he had admitted the murder conspiracies 17 years ago after being arrested for the Milltown Cemetery murders in March 1988.
It is believed his admission to police at that time involved plots to kill 11 people, including former then Taoiseach Charles Haughey, the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and former RUC Chief Constable John Hermon.
At the time he was only charged with three, including conspiring to kill Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness and former Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP Owen Carron.
Stone was convicted of murdering Coimhghin MacBradaign, John Murray and Thomas McErlean at the funerals of three IRA members killed by the SAS in Gibraltar.
Another 60 people were injured as Stone stormed through Milltown Cemetery in the Falls Road area, firing shots and hurling hand grenades.
He was released early under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, declaring "my war is over".
In August 2000, he caused uproar when he shared a platform alongside convicted UFF commander Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair.
He has been pursuing a new career as an artist but hit the headlines two years ago when he wrote a book about his terrorist past.
Families of his victims bitterly complained Stone was profiting from the deaths of their loved ones.
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http://www.online.ie/news/viewer.adp?article=3207828
Guide To Pre-Famine Longford Published
online.ie
2005-02-21 17:10:05+00
An Irish-American man has published a genealogical research guide of Longford's residents in pre-Famine days.
"County Longford Residents Prior to the Famine: A Transcription and Complete Index of the Tithe Applotment Books of County Longford, Ireland (1823 - 1835)," by Guy Rymsza aims to determinine the origins of Famine-era ancestors.
Rymsza compiled the work after discovering the ancestral house, complete with relatives still living in it, from which his great-great-grandfather had departed Ireland in the mid-1800s.
The book is published in the US by Dome Shadow Press.
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Genealogical Index Puts Irish Famine Ancestors on the Map
South Bend, IN – February 15, 2005 – People with Irish roots worldwide may be able to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a renewed sense of connection to their forebears. The destruction of Irish Census returns from the 1800s has handicapped genealogical research in Ireland for decades, but County Longford Residents Prior to the Famine: A Transcription and Complete Index of the Tithe Applotment Books of County Longford, Ireland (1823 – 1835) by Guy A. Rymsza once again offers hope of determining the origins of Famine-era ancestors. Rymsza compiled the work after discovering the ancestral house, complete with relatives still living in it, from which his great-great-grandfather had departed Ireland in the mid-1800s. County Longford had one of the highest emigration rates after potato crops failed between 1845 and 1850, prompting over a million Irish people to immigrate to Canada, Australia, Great Britain, the United States, and elsewhere. Their descendents remain proud of their heritage today, but many have spent generations not knowing where in Ireland their ancestors originated, or who they left behind. Rymsza's index represents the opening of a census substitute, now useful as a starting point in the quest for those ancestors’ stories. A list of surnames represented is available at http://www.domeshadowpress.com.
Longford is one of thirty-two counties on the Emerald Isle for which the Tithe Applotment Survey was conducted. These taxation records include the full names of Irish citizens owning or renting land, but until now they had never been thoroughly indexed, nor had obsolete place names been reconciled to their current standardized names. County Longford Residents Prior to the Famine makes this valuable information easily accessible for the first time. Well-known Irish genealogist and author John Grenham of Dublin describes it as “a superb piece of work … meticulous, intelligent and comprehensive.” After an historical introduction and practical explanation of his method, Rymsza presents a full name index of over 12,600 men and women, and a recapitulation of records from over 930 neighborhood-like townlands. Twenty-seven maps showing the townlands in each civil parish and three maps of Longford’s major land divisions incorporate information found in the survey and are useful in the study of genealogy, geography, and social history.
A far cry from the original scrawled records or their microfilm images, this accurate, legible, and easily navigated volume creates a useful reconstruction of pre-Famine County Longford that will certainly cause Irish eyes to smile. The data integrity management skills and statistical process control methods Rymsza has acquired as a computer process engineer at a state-of-the-art steel mill proved to be valuable in solving the genealogical puzzle posed by the Tithe Books. “I am extremely impressed with the work Rymsza has undertaken,” states Brian Donovan, co-founder of Eneclann Ltd., Ireland’s leading publisher of historical and genealogical CD-ROMs.
County Longford Residents Prior to the Famine is available in fine bookstores or directly from Dome Shadow Press, 51905 Courtland East, Suite 556, South Bend, IN 46637 USA. Hardcover (US$49.95), CD-ROM (US$39.95), permanent e-book download (US$34.95), and temporary e-book download (US$7.95) editions are also available at http://www.domeshadowpress.com . Include $4.95 shipping within the U.S.; international shipping varies.
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County Longford Residents Prior to the Famine: A Transcription and Complete Index of the Tithe Applotment Books of County Longford, Ireland (1823 -1835) by Guy A. Rymsza. First edition. 8½ x 11, 439 pages, 30 map illustrations, 2 historical document images, bibliography, microfilm reel directory. ISBN 0-9742673-0-9. $49.95.
Table of Contents - Overall
Table of Contents – Feb 2005
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