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December 08, 2005

Stormont 'Spy Ring' Charges Dropped

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News about Ireland & the Irish

UT 12/08/05 Charge Dropped Over Stormont 'Spy Ring'
BB 10/04/02 Back Ground: Police raid Sinn Fein offices
BB 08/02/04 Back Ground: O'Loan- Raid Not Political
II 12/08/05 Victims Complain Of McCartney Media Bias
NL 12/08/05 Failure Could Destabilise The Peace Process
II 12/08/05 Billionaire Shuts Purse For Watchdog
BT 12/08/05 The IRA Bagman And Kim Jong Il's Hot Dollars
DI 12/08/05 Opin: Morrison -Oppose Extradition Of Garland
BG 12/08/05 Bank Worker Charged In Heist
DI 12/08/05 Opin: Sharp Eye Needed On Bank Arrests
DI 12/08/05 Sinn Féin Denies Claims
DI 12/08/05 Opin: Infighting Over OTR Bill Adds To Pain
DC 12/08/05 McDonald: Irish Eyes Are Watchin'
SF 12/08/05 San Fran St. Brigid Decision Postponed To 2006
JO 12/08/05 Irish Rovers Offer Holiday Cheer
PB 12/08/05 Gabriel Byrne Offers Touch Of O'Neill

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http://www.utvinternet.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=68062&pt=n

Charge Dropped Over Stormont 'Spy Ring'

Charges against three men accused of operating an IRA spy
ring at Stormont before the collapse of devolution in
Northern Ireland were dropped in court in Belfast today.

By:Press Association

The acquittal was announced during a surprise and unlisted
court hearing.

Sinn Fein`s head of administration at Stormont, Denis
Donaldson, and his son-in-law Ciaran Kearney had been
accused of having documents of use to terrorists. A third
man, civil servant William Mackessy, was charged with
collecting information on the security forces.

A prosecution lawyer told Belfast Crown Court today that no
further evidence was to be put forward in the case and
declared that the prosecution was no longer in the public
interest.

Following the move, Mr Justice Harte said a verdict of not
guilty had to be returned and he told the men they were now
free.

The allegation that a spy ring was run by republicans at
Stormont plunged Northern Ireland`s power-sharing
institutions into crisis in 2002.

The Rev Ian Paisley`s Democratic Unionists and the Ulster
Unionists, led at that time by then First Minister David
Trimble, threatened to collapse the executive with
resignations.

The Government suspended devolution in the province,
embarking on three years of direct rule.

Since then, after telling the Provisionals that they must
abandon paramilitary activity for good, Prime Minister Tony
Blair succeeded, along with the Irish Taoiseach Bertie
Ahern and Sinn Fein, in persuading the IRA to declare an
end to its armed campaign in July.

In September the provisional IRA completed disarmament.

The British and Irish Governments have focused on trying to
revive the power-sharing institution since the collapse of
devolution in 2002.

But Mr Paisley`s DUP have emerged since then as the largest
political party in Northern Ireland in the 2003 Assembly
elections, the 2004 European elections and this year`s
general and local government elections.

The DUP has insisted it will not return to governing with
Sinn Fein until the Government rebuilds unionist confidence
in the peace process and they are sure that the IRA has
melted away.

In a statement after today`s hearing, Ciaran Shiels, of the
Madden and Finucane law firm which represented Mr Donaldson
and Mr Mackessy, said both men believed they were the
victims of a political operation by elements within the
security forces in Northern Ireland opposed to political
progress.

"Since October 2002 our clients have had extremely serious
charges hanging over them," Mr Shiels said.

"Both of them have vehemently denied the allegations
against them.

"Their arrests had not only serious consequences for
themselves and their families but also for the wider
community in the sense that their arrests led to the fall
of the power-sharing executive at Stormont.

"Our clients are of the clear view that they were victims
of a political operation by elements within the security
forces who deliberately used their position to hamper
political progress in this country."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/2298675.stm

Back Ground: Police raid Sinn Fein offices (10/04/02)

Sinn Fein's Bairbre de Brun in the office after search

Sinn Fein's offices at the Northern Ireland Assembly have
been raided as part of a major police investigation into
intelligence gathering by republicans.

It is believed a large quantity of documents was seized and
three people detained in the searches that took place in
north and west Belfast.

Among those being held is a former junior employee of the
Northern Ireland Office and Sinn Fein's head of
administration, Denis Donaldson.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said he had complained to
the British Government about the searches.

Police leave Stormont buildings after the raid

He accused the police service of being "anti-peace process,
anti-Sinn Fein and anti-democratic".

The raids began at about 0500 BST on Friday.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said the search at
Stormont was "confined to one desk and immediate
surrounding area".

They also said a number of computer discs were "seized for
further examination and an officer of the assembly was
present throughout search".

A number of premises in the north and west of the city were
also searched and a number of items were seized.

Speaking at Stormont, Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly condemned the
raids on his party's offices.

He said: "It's about blackening Sinn Fein to let David
Trimble off the hook - it is politically unbelievable."

The Ulster Unionist leader urged the British Government to
act following the latest development.

David Trimble said it would have "grave implications" for
the future of the power-sharing government at Stormont.

He said he suspected IRA intelligence was "directed at the
upper echelons of the government, having penetrated the
Northern Ireland Office".

He added: "This is on a par with the activities we believe
republicans have been engaged in for some time.

Gerry Adams: Complaint to government over raids

"We have long suspected that this sort of activity is going
on."

He said that was part of the reason why he gave Sinn Fein
the 18 January deadline for proving the republican movement
was committed to peace, or his ministers would quit the
executive.

Security sources said the searches and seizures were not
connected to the investigation into the theft of
intelligence files at Castlereagh police complex on 17
March.

A Sinn Fein spokesman said that homes of "community
activists" in west Belfast had also been raided on Friday
morning.

The spokesman said documents related to policing had been
seized.

On Friday afternoon, about 60 people held a protest at the
headquarters of the Policing Board in Belfast against the
raid at Sinn Fein's Stormont office.

Stormont, in east Belfast, houses the Northern Ireland
Assembly.

Sinn Fein has about 18 offices there.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/3943593.stm

Back Ground: O'Loan- Stormont Raid 'Not Political'

A police raid at a Sinn Fein office at Stormont almost two
years ago was not politically motivated, the Police
Ombudsman has said.

Nuala O'Loan said there was no evidence to suggest the
raid, in October 2002, was designed to damage the party and
the Northern Ireland political process.

It was part of a series of searches in Belfast linked to
allegations of republican intelligence gathering inside the
Northern Ireland Office at Castle Buildings, Stormont.

The allegations prompted a crisis in the political process
and the power-sharing institutions at Stormont were
suspended later that month.

After the search of the Sinn Fein office, the ombudsman
received six complaints.

There were allegations that the raid was politically
motivated and that the media had been tipped off about an
imminent search at Stormont.

'No proper consideration'

But in a statement on Monday, the ombudsman said she had
found no evidence to substantiate such claims.

"On the basis of the intelligence available, I can say that
the detective chief superintendent's decision to seek a
warrant authorising a search of a specific desk in the Sinn
Fein offices was reasonable, proportionate and legal," she
added.

"We have not uncovered any evidence that the police
decision-making was influenced inappropriately by any other
officers within the PSNI, by politicians or by any other
parties."

However, she said there was "no proper consideration" given
by police to the fact that they were searching the
buildings of a legislative assembly.

"This was a significant failing by police," she said.

Mrs O'Loan also criticised the scale and manner of the
search.

Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy said his party disagreed with the
ombudsman's findings.

"I think to say that there is no evidence that it (the
raid) was politically motivated is different from actually
that being the case," Mr Murphy said.

"I think if you examine the context and the conduct of the
raid on our offices in Stormont, I don't think you could
come to any other conclusion."

The DUP's Ian Paisley jnr welcomed the report and said the
Ulster Unionist Party should never have partnered Sinn Fein
in government.

"Whenever you hear Sir Reg Empey tell the BBC this morning:
'We were not looking for an excuse to leave the Executive,'
it becomes apparent that, were it not for the actions of
the DUP in the aftermath of the police raids, then the UUP
might still have been in government with Sinn Fein," he
said.

Ulster Unionist Sir Reg Empey said the key issue was not
the raid but the alleged gathering of intelligence.

"Basically I accept the report," he said.

"But I want to first of all take issue with Conor Murphy
when he says that we were looking for an excuse.

"We were not looking for an excuse to leave the Executive,
what we were looking for was the completion of the
disarmament process that was promised."

The SDLP's policing spokesman Alex Attwood said the report
confirmed what his party had claimed, that police action
was heavy handed.

"It is interesting that the Ulster Unionists, through Sir
Reg Empey, have accepted the report, thereby accepting that
the PSNI were heavy-handed," he said.

"It comes as no surprise however, that Sinn Fein have not
accepted the report of the Police Ombudsman's comments
about what motivated the police investigation."

Apology welcomed

The ombudsman's office interviewed 35 people as part of
their investigation, including police officers, staff at
the Northern Ireland Assembly and members of Sinn Fein.

They also examined PSNI intelligence files.

At the time, Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde
apologised for the "style" of the search.

He said: "I've looked at the film, and I think we could
have done the raid itself in a more sensitive and
appropriate style."

Mrs O'Loan said she welcomed the chief constable's
statement, adding: "He was right to do so."

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2004/08/02 08:19:40 GMT
© BBC MMV

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http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1521237&issue_id=13375

Victims Of Loyalists Complain Of McCartney Media Bias

CATHOLIC victims of loyalist death squads complained of a
"media bias" in favour of the family of Robert McCartney
yesterday, writes Conor Sweeney.

In Brussels to launch a campaign to get an international
inquiry into loyalist murders, the group Relatives for
Justice said their voices are being ignored.

"If it's not an IRA victim, no one wants to know. If it's
not one of the McCartney sisters speaking, the media aren't
interested," claimed Robert McClenaghan, whose grandfather
was killed in a bar bomb attack in 1971. The group is also
seeking to highlight alleged collusion by British
intelligence services.

Mr McClenaghan rejected the suggestion the campaign was
being used by Sinn Fein for its own political ends, arguing
it was the only party prepared to take an interest.

He said he would like to build a broader coalition with
Protestant victims, but they "don't want to know" as soon
as he raises questions about collusion between the PSNI and
loyalist paramilitaries.

Independent Newspapers coverage was directly criticised by
Hugh Jordan, the father of IRA member Pearse Jordan, whom
Hugh believes was killed by loyalist death squads in
November 1992 while driving his car.

He said false claims that his son had bomb equipment were
released by the RUC immediately after the killing, but were
later shown to be untrue.

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http://www.newsletter.co.uk/story/24727/

Failure Could Destabilise The Peace Process

Wednesday 7th December 2005

There could be huge implications for the peace process, if
the On-the-Runs legislation does not make it through
Parliament in a form which suits republicans.

The Government entered a deal with Sinn Fein and the IRA to
clear the way for the OTRs to return, free from the threat
of imprisonment.

In return, the IRA decommissioned and announced a standing
down of its members and an end to paramilitary and criminal
activity.

Should the Government fail to push the proposed laws
through Parliament, in largely the form they are now, there
is a huge risk that the IRA will say it has reneged on the
deal.

The potential consequences of major changes to the Bill or
a failure to get it through Parliament may include internal
unrest in republican ranks, problems for Sinn Fein and the
destabilising of "the peace".

It could also put devolution on the long finger, if the IRA
is not seen to be committed to peaceful and democratic
means.

Therefore the progress of the legislation through the House
of Commons and onto the House of Lords is of huge
significance.

The Bill has made it through its first two readings in the
Commons, where Labour's majority ensured a safe path. Later
it will go on to the Lords.

But yesterday it first of all reached the " committee
stage", where the Standing Committee on the Northern
Ireland Offences Bill met at Parliament.

Here, a group of MPs chosen to represent all the major
parties, began debating the proposed law line by line -
considering amendments to the draft legislation.

The Government has already conceded it will need to make
some changes to the legislation.

This is largely because it does not have an overall
majority in the House of Lords.

The questions is, do the Government agree to changes to the
Bill now (in committee) or wait until the House of Lords -
or even later?

If the Bill is rejected by the Lords, it will go back to
the Commons for consideration and probable changes.

There is the potential for it to become bogged down for the
best part of a year - which will undermine any attempt to
get peace talks moving.

And, if there are serious amendments, there is a view that
it could reach the stage where Sinn Fein no longer supports
it and it could wither on the vine. Eventually the
Government may even be faced with invoking the Parliament
Act to get it through - but this would be a massive
embarrassment that could seriously damage Tony Blair's
leadership and may be a step too far for Labour.

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http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1521394&issue_id=13375

Billionaire Shuts Purse For Watchdog

US billionaire Chuck Feeney has withdrawn funding for Frank
Connolly's inquiry centre.

US BILLIONAIRE Chuck Feeney's charitable trust has
withdrawn funding from the controversial Centre for Public
Inquiry.

Atlantic Philanthropies decided to end its €4m commitment
yesterday after weeks of discussion with the Board of the
CPI.

The decision came just hours after the CPI's executive
director, former journalist Frank Connolly, described as
"rubbish" reports in the Irish Independent that its funding
was threatened.

However, the paper has also learned that Atlantic
Philanthropies would have continued its €4m over five
years' funding if the CPI replaced Frank Connolly as
executive director.

Sources close to Mr Feeney's charity said that the chairman
of the CPI, retired judge Mr Justice Feargus Flood, was
reluctant for the CPI to continue without Frank Connolly as
executive director.

"Funding for the CPI would have continued if they had
appointed a new executive director," one source said.

It is not clear what the CPI board will do following this
news.

Theologian Enda McDonagh, broadcaster and writer Damien
Kiberd, solicitor Greg O'Neill and UNICEF's Thora Mackey
serve on the board with chairman Justice Flood.

The Taoiseach expressed his concern about the CPI at a
meeting with Chuck Feeney in the summer and subsequently
the Justice Minister showed Mr Feeney documentary evidence
supporting allegations about Frank Connolly.

Mr Feeney was shown a fraudulent application for a passport
containing a photograph of Frank Connolly and other
documentary evidence including the forged signature of a
Belfast priest.

It is understood Mr Feeney did not want to drop his support
but the Atlantic Philanthropies board said it could not
continue while Connolly remained.

The funding, according to sources, couldn't continue after
Mr Feeney was shown documentary evidence about a trip to
Colombia Connolly took with his brother, Niall, and IRA
man, Padraig Wilson.

Answering a written question in the Dail, Justice Minister
Michael McDowell said Frank Connolly had a lot of questions
to answer about his travels to Colombia under an assumed
identity with a subversive.

Mr McDowell said the Garda were satisfied that after the
Colombia Three were arrested in Bogota in August 2001, the
Colombian authorities established that three Irishmen using
false passports had entered the Farc-controlled region.

The minister said there was an arrangement where Farc
terrorists, funded by their control of the cocaine trade,
paid a "large amount of money in exchange for the Provos'
expert knowledge of explosives."

Mr Connolly earlier accused Mr McDowell of conducting a
"witch hunt" and said he was trying to destroy his
reputation.

And he claimed the minister had breached due process by
giving vent to allegations which were still the subject of
a Garda investigation.

"These allegations have been floating around since 2002,"
Mr Connolly told RTE radio.

"I have vigorously denied them. On every occasion I have
bene asked about them. What is noticeable is that they have
really taken steam since the CPI was announced in February.

"I believe Mr McDowell has abused his position as a
minister."

Sam Smyth and Senan Molony

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=672041

The IRA Bagman And Kim Jong Il's Hot Dollars

Sean Garland is legendary in Ireland for his violent
republican past. But was he also a frontman for a
counterfeiting scheme run by the communist regime of North
Korea? America wants to extradite the Workers Party chief
claiming he smuggled millions of dollars in fake $100 bills

David McKittrick reports

08 December 2005

It is a tale of codenames and counterfeiting, of the United
States secret service, Russia and North Korea, of
international political and criminal conspiracy and
intrigue, of millions of dollars in illicit currency.

Kim Jong Il, the paranoid leader of the hermit state of
North Korea, has a key role in it. Former IRA and ex-KGB
operatives also have parts, along with the Russian mafia
and underworld criminals in England and Ireland. Five-star
hotels in Moscow feature in it: so too may Guantanamo Bay.

And it all centres on an Irish pensioner, who claims
America is persecuting him because of his political beliefs
and wants to put him in Guantanamo. But this is no ordinary
pensioner. This is Sean Garland, legendary in Ireland for
his republican and revolutionary life. At one time he tried
to shoot the British out of Ireland; recently, his primary
struggle has been against capitalism.

Reverential republican lore has it that he risked his life
when, himself wounded by British bullets, he carried away a
dying comrade following an abortive IRA attack on a
security base in Northern Ireland.

Today, he is president of the left-wing Workers Party. He
acknowledges his violent IRA past ­ he could hardly deny
it, since it is the stuff of commemorative ballads ­ but
says he is now involved only in political activity.

The latest act in his incident-packed career came last week
when he jumped bail in Belfast, where he had been arrested.
He has appeared in court several times on a US extradition
warrant, but he has now fled south to his home. He is
vociferously campaigning to remain in the Irish Republic,
but the US Attorney General's Office has said it will issue
a fresh extradition warrant. It is also seeking to have six
other men ­ one of them reputedly a former KGB man ­
brought to the US.

The American case is that Garland and the others have been
involved in a multimillion-dollar counterfeiting operation,
run by the government of North Korea and encompassing more
than a dozen countries worldwide.

The long and detailed indictment alleges that Garland ­
"aka The Man with the Hat" ­ has used trips to Pyongyang,
the capital of North Korea, Russia and other countries for
criminal purposes. The American assertion is supported by
police in Moscow.

Travelling as president of the Workers Party, he is said by
the US to have used the cover of his position in the party
to organise the purchase, transportation and resale of
forged dollar bill notes on a huge scale.

These are no ordinary banknotes. They are among the best
forgeries in the world, a fact that causes the American
authorities huge anxiety. Called " superdollars," they are
of such exceptionally high quality that they often deceive
banks and experts.

Superdollars so worried the US that in 1996 it brought in a
series of new security measures, redesigning the $100 bill
by changing the central portrait of Benjamin Franklin.
Other intricate new safeguards included an enhanced
embedded security thread, a security watermark, changed
microprinting and the use of an optically variable ink.

To Washington's dismay, however, it took the North Koreans
just a few years to come up with a sophisticated forgery
based on the changed note, so that a new type of
superdollar began to turn up. The US does not go so far as
to say that North Korea is intent on undermining its entire
economy. But it regards the operation as an unwanted
instance of free enterprise that is undermining confidence
in the dollar.

Garland played an important part in a network, the US
claims, which included criminals based inBirmingham,
gangsters in places including Moscow and Latvia, and Irish
republicans linked to the small and secretive Official IRA,
generally known as "the stickies".

The network, according to the US, criss-crossed Europe,
operating in places such as Belarus, Poland, Denmark, the
Czech Republic and Germany. It is said to refer to the
forged notes as "jackets" and "paperwork" . A key
connection was in Moscow, where Garland reportedly went to
the North Korean embassy to collect bogus money. This had
been brought out of North Korea, it was said, in diplomatic
bags.

The pattern of the outfit's alleged activities has already
been fleshed out by an investigation by the BBC Northern
Ireland television programme Spotlight.

Korean defectors confirmed that the production of
superdollars was a government operation. "We bought the
best of everything, the best equipment and the best ink,"
said one. "We also had the very best people, people who had
real expertise and knowledge in the field. When government
officials or diplomats travelled to south-east Asia they
distributed the counterfeit notes, mixed in with the real
ones at a ratio of about 50-50."

In Moscow, General Vladimir Uskov of the Russian interior
ministry police has confirmed that Garland and others have
been under surveillance by special services. "Information
we received showed that he was involved in the supply of
counterfeit dollars," the general said.

"We registered his contacts with the North Korean embassy.
He visited the embassy several times. Our information was
that people working there may have been involved in the
transportation of counterfeit dollars." One of Garland's
most intriguing alleged associates was David Levin, an
Armenian-born Russian citizen who once worked with the KGB
and later moved to England, while keeping contact with the
Moscow mafia.

The American indictment describes him as "aka David
Batikovich Batikian, aka Gediminas Gotautas, aka Russian
Dave". Investigators believe that through Russian contacts
he arranged passports and visas for some of those involved.

In recent years Levin has had a particular run of bad luck,
for in 2002 he was jailed for nine years in Britain at
Worcester Crown Court for conspiring to import
superdollars. Last year, the Court of Appeal in London
rejected his appeal against a confiscation order for
£789,000 after hearing he had made more than £1m from
superdollars.

Levin, who was found to own a range of property in
Birmingham and London, has to pay the money within two
years or face an extra four years behind bars.

Two of the other men sought by the US were also jailed
along with him. One of them, Terence Silcock, was given six
years after admitting conspiring to distribute the fake
notes. Described by police as a lifelong professional
criminal in the Birmingham area, he was said to have
personally dealt with more than $4m worth of forged notes.

Garland, who was not charged with Levin and the two
Englishmen, freely acknowledges on his own website that his
past contains much violence. He is one of the last of the
flinty old IRA generation that waged a failed campaign in
the 1950s. Originally a traditionalist, he joined the
internal IRA faction which by the 1960s subscribed to
Marxism and Stalinism. Known as a man of iron ideology and
self-belief, even the fall of the Berlin wall did not
deflect him from his commitment to Communism.

Few believe that anything in his colourful career has been
motivated by personal gain, regarding him as one of the
keepers of the Communist flame. Although in Moscow staff at
the five-star Metropol hotel say he regularly stayed there,
his decades-long reputation for devotion to his causes
means no one thinks he was indulging in luxury for its own
sake.

In the 1950s he joined the IRA, who then instructed him to
infiltrate the British Army to procure arms. He carried out
his mission successfully, the IRA seizing guns from an Army
barracks with his inside help.

In his own words, he was "actively involved in organising
and participating in a number of major operations from
1955-56". The most famous of these was when he led an IRA
squad that attacked a police station in County Fermanagh
where two IRA militiamen, Sean South and Fergal O'Hanlon,
were shot dead. A republican song acclaims, "Another martyr
for old Ireland, Sean South from Garryowen". Garland was
seriously wounded in the incident. In the years that
followed, he was imprisoned on various occasions in both
parts of Ireland for IRA activities.

When the organisation split into traditional and Marxist
factions in the late 1960s he opposed the "narrow
nationalism" of the Provisionals, and pursued a left-wing
political path as one of the leaders of what was known as
the Official IRA. That faction announced a ceasefire in
1972, but for years remained intermittently involved in
violence. In particular, it was embroiled in a series of
often lethal feuds with the mainstream IRA and other
republican splinter groups.

There were many killings, especially during the 1970s, as
the Official IRA suffered fatalities and killed opponents.
The feuds were made all the more vicious by the fact that
many of those involved were former colleagues who knew each
other well.

Today, the Official IRA shuns publicity, but rumours
occasionally crop up that members are involved in
robberies, forgery activities and in running drinking
clubs. In one 1975 incident, Garland was almost killed in a
feud when he was reputedly shot by rival republicans.
Undeterred, he has over the years remained active in the
Workers Party, which he heads and dominates.

The party clings to the hope that Protestants and Catholics
in Northern Ireland will unite to overthrow the capitalist
system. This has not worked, attracting no appreciable
Protestant support while holding diminishing appeal for
Catholics. The Workers Party once held a number of seats in
the Irish parliament, but its strength has been greatly
reduced. It contests elections, but it receives less than 1
per cent of the vote on either side of the border.

Its approach is marked domestically by opposition to Sinn
Fein and traditional republicanism, and abroad by its links
with surviving Communist and Socialist elements. The party
is an implacable opponent of US foreign policy which, it
asserts, "has inflicted great suffering, repression and
untold deaths". Garland says this is why the US is after
him.

He denies any current involvement in the Official IRA and
has denied " any involvement in any criminal activity" and
knowledge of superdollars. He did not answer bail, he says,
because extradition arrangements between the US and the UK
mean there is no possibility of his being able to face
allegations "in an open and fair court".

He argues that coverage of the affair has been
"sensationalised". Garland's return to the Republic points
to a lengthy extradition process. The long-running affair
of the dodgy superdollars seems set to run for a long time
yet.

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http://dailyireland.televisual.co.uk/home.tvt?_ticket=Q4MVO09QBHSJ53J94NNAD0UEEKLAFS6DJQRFL1PAASUGATMGEQWMTRRITI5N9NTHNMLEGGSGX2L24NNAD0SEARP9CHYPTRRITYA&_scope=DailyIreland/Content/Comment&id=16453&opp=1

Opin: Morrison - Oppose The Extradition Of Seán Garland

Danny Morrison

In his presidential address to the Ard-Fheis of the Workers
Party in October, Seán Garland taunted the republican
movement three times when he claimed that, by
decommissioning its arms, the IRA had surrendered. However,
his tirade was delivered by Des O'Hagan because Garland
himself was in custody, having been arrested the previous
night at a Belfast restaurant by the PSNI on foot of a US
extradition warrant.

The warrant alleges that Garland was in conspiracy with
English criminals (who were subsequently convicted and
jailed) and the North Korean communist government and that
he used his Workers Party position as a front and Official
IRA volunteers as a conduit to circulate up to $1 million
of counterfeit US currency. Known as superdollars, the
currency is believed to be printed on highly sophisticated
machines by the North Korean government and are of such
quality that they often deceive experts.

Last year, the BBC's Panorama, using secret recordings and
police undercover footage, did an exposé of the
counterfeiting cartel, which was first discovered 12 years
ago when North Korean diplomats — among the few people
allowed to travel outside the state — were caught passing
on the superdollars.

The programme, quoting General Vladimir Uskov of the
Russian interior police, claimed that Seán Garland had
regularly visited the North Korean embassy in Moscow and
that this was the distribution centre for the counterfeit
money. However, all of the evidence presented on Panorama
was circumstantial.

The programme showed that Terence Silcock, who was
sentenced to six years, was a regular visitor to Dublin
(booking return flights but returning by ferry), that he
and Garland were in Moscow at the same time, and that
Silcock telephoned Garland's mobile number from Silcock's
Moscow hotel.

One of the gang, Hugh Todd, the "Irish courier" alleged to
have brought the dollars from Dublin to Birmingham for
distribution and laundering through David Levin, a Russian
criminal, told police his boss was called "Sean… He's a
communist. He has communist beliefs, which is what the old
IRA is." He also said: "He's old school… He's the colonel-
in-chief of the IRA."

Garland was arrested in Belfast and was subsequently
granted bail of £10,000 provided he stayed at the
Downpatrick home of Des O'Hagan. His bail conditions were
later amended to allow the 71-year-old, who suffers from
diabetes, to leave the jurisdiction and go to Navan in Co
Meath for medical treatment, near his home.

Last week, Garland failed to appear in the Belfast court
and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

It was either the height of stupidity or cockiness for Seán
Garland to have come to Belfast to attend his party's Ard-
Fheis — having been named in Worcester Crown Court and on
British television as one of the major players in the
conspiracy, and knowing that a US investigation was on his
trail. Maybe cockiness — after all, at the height of the
conflict, senior Workers Party members often seemed immune
from arrest and were certainly bosom drinking pals of RUC
detectives and leading figures in the Ulster Volunteer
Force.

Garland has said that he has skipped bail on the grounds
that Britain's extradition treaty with the United States is
"grossly unjust" and that, in a US court, he would not get
justice. Clearly, the US authorities, who had the warrant
for six months and could have issued it in the South,
waited until Garland was in the North and subject to the
UK-US Extradition Treaty Act. That act has lower standards
of proof than the agreement between the South and the
United States and does not require the requesting country
to make a prima facie case.

Undoubtedly, Garland would not receive justice in a US
court — neither a fair trial nor in terms of the sentence
imposed were he found guilty.

The Irish authorities could now face extradition requests
from Britain to have Garland returned to the North or from
the United States for his extradition, which will certainly
force all the political parties in the South to declare
their stance. His defence will be relying on the political
exception clause even though this has been virtually
whittled away over the years in cases involving Irish
republicans.

Since his arrest, the Workers Party has launched an anti-
extradition campaign, which has attracted support from many
who never expressed their opposition to extradition in the
past.

As a young man, Garland was a courageous IRA volunteer and
took part in the Brookeborough raid in Co Fermanagh in
1957, when his comrades Seán South and Feargal O'Hanlon
were killed. He became a Marxist in the 1960s and, after
the split, was a leading member of the Sticks.

The first republican killed in a feud was at the hands of
the Sticks — IRA volunteer Charlie Hughes in 1971. When the
Sticks split again in 1974, the first republican killed in
their feud with the emergent Irish Republican Socialist
Party was also at their hands — Hugh Ferguson in 1975.

The Workers Party, which started out as Official Sinn Féin,
was run by a bitter, twisted leadership. The group
continued to be armed, continued with its paramilitary
activities, whilst recognising, supporting and calling upon
people to cooperate with the RUC. Its leadership was
indulged by the state, certainly in the North.

The party supported the broadcasting ban in the North and
supported (if not ran) state censorship through section 31
in the South. It opposed political status for prisoners and
the hunger strike; demonised Sinn Féin; and supported the
extradition of Irish republicans from the Southern
jurisdiction to the North and to Britain, Belgium, France,
Germany and the Netherlands.

Indeed, Garland's predecessor as president of the party,
Proinsias De Rossa, in May 1990, asked the minister for
justice in the Dáil "if he intends taking any steps to
reassure public opinion in Northern Ireland that persons
suspected of serious offences there will not find refuge in
the Republic". How ironic.

Internationally, the Workers Party supported Stalinism in
the USSR, Soviet imperialism and various dictatorships —
including of course North Korea, where Kim Jong-il's
Superdollar Publications is based. It suffered more splits
in the 1990s and it split again in 1998, with a new
organisation, a lot closer to original republican
sentiment, emerging and exorcising itself of much of the
party's shameful past.

Seán Garland has no chance of getting justice in the United
States and it is on that basis — not out of sympathy for
the man or his party — that his extradition should be
opposed and resisted. Party spokesman John Lowry pompously
claimed that the arrest was "politically motivated. It was
designed because the Workers Party stand opposed to the war
in Iraq. We stand opposed to the policies of the US
administration."

I hadn't realised how towering and influential a figure
Seán Garland was in the anti-war movement.

Perhaps at some stage we could theoretically debate whether
the organised distribution of counterfeit US dollars is in
certain circumstances a legitimate, revolutionary act —
something akin to robbing a bank without actually going
into the bank — or is in all circumstances a criminal act.

Now, who would like to kick off that debate? The not-so-
busy Independent Monitoring Commission?

Danny Morrison is a regular media commentator on Irish
politics. He is the author of three novels and three works
of non-fiction and a play about the IRA, The Wrong Man.

http://www.dannymorrison.com/

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http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/12/08/bank_worker_charged_in_heist/

Bank Worker Charged In Heist

Supervisor cited robbers' threats

By Chris Thornton, Associated Press December 8, 2005

BELFAST -- A Northern Bank supervisor who said he aided a
gang of robbers under the threat of death was charged
yesterday as a willing participant in the record $50
million heist.

Chris Ward, 24, did not offer a plea as he stood in the
dock for his arraignment, but his defense lawyer Niall
Murphy, said the accusation that Ward was the gang's inside
man was completely circumstantial.

Magistrate Ken Nixon ordered Ward held without bail until a
Jan. 4 court appearance.

Police arrested Ward on Nov. 29 at his family home in
Poleglass, an Irish Republican Army power base on the edge
of West Belfast.

Government officials, police chiefs and a panel of
international experts have blamed the robbery last year on
the outlawed IRA, which denies involvement.

Ward said in interviews after the heist that an armed gang
took over his home the night of Dec. 19 and warned him to
cooperate with a robbery of the bank's central vault or he
and his family would be killed.

Specialists considered the Northern Bank raid the world's
biggest cash robbery of a bank in peacetime until it was
knocked into second place in August, when robbers stole
about $70 million from a Brazilian bank.

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Opin: Sharp Eye Needed On Bank Arrests

And so the farce goes on. The latest round of arrests in
the investigation into the Northern Bank robbery have seen
media-friendly raids in all parts of Belfast as well as in
those well-known republican redoubts of Castlereagh and
Carrickfergus.

All those arrested, with the exception of Northern Bank
employee and robbery victim Chris Ward, have been released
with nary a word of apology.

Similarly, there has been no explanation forthcoming from
the PSNI for the offensive search of Casement Park or the
raid on the home of the chairman of the Celtic supporters
club that had Mr Ward as a member.

Making little of the PSNI's efforts is a dangerous game for
the suspicion is that, as the force's efforts turn to sand,
the PSNI's determination to charge Chris Ward with
something… with anything… mounts.

Today, Mr Ward holds the dubious honour of having been held
longer in custody for questioning than any other suspect
over the past 30 years.

Are we really to believe that he is a greater threat to the
common weal than the Ulster Defence Association's
brigadiers of bling, who usually spend shorter periods on
remand than Mr Ward has now spent under interrogation?

Or that Hugh Orde believes Mr Ward really is the "Mr Big",
the "inside man" who masterminded the Northern Bank heist?

Those close to Chris Ward say there is zero possibility
that he had any involvement in the Northern Bank heist
other than as a frightened victim carrying out the orders
of the robbery gang.

Others in the PSNI, of course, suggest otherwise. After
all, he supports Glasgow Celtic, works part-time in a GAA
club and even once knew a man who voted for Sinn Féin!
Pretty much an open-and-shut case then!

Alasdair McDonnell, the SDLP MP for south Belfast, has
given the PSNI fair warning that its reputation, for what
it is worth, is going down the toilet.

Those words of advice are unlikely to be heeded by
secretary of state Peter Hain.

That is why the news that the Human Rights Commission is
keeping a sharp eye on the detention of Chris Ward is to be
welcomed.

However, much more must be done to stop further assaults on
the already fragile human-rights defences in the North.

Irish America needs to be mobilised and the Irish
government needs to speak out. The alternative is to allow
the PSNI to drag society back when it should be moving
forward.

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Sinn Féin Denies Claims

by Eamonn Houston

Sinn Féin's chief negotiator last night said he would never
have accepted the inclusion of British security forces in
forthcoming 'on-the-run' legislation.

Tom O'Driscoll said Mid-Ulster MP Martin McGuinness made
his comments amid claims by the SDLP that Sinn Féin had
reached a deal with the British government that might allow
fugitives to return to Ireland and exonerate members of the
British army and other state forces. His comments coincided
with the launch of a new book detailing the experiences of
those bereaved as a result of Bloody Sunday.

Edited by Derry journalist Eamonn McCann, The Bloody Sunday
Inquiry: The Families Speak Out details the experiences of
14 families bereaved by state violence. Mr McGuinness said:
"Hundreds of people were killed during 30 years of war but
Bloody Sunday was the most dramatic event. At no stage did
myself or Sinn Féin negotiate the escape of state
murderers."

Mr McGuinness said the SDLP had fabricated the SF position
on OTR legislation: "Sinn Féin would not support any
legislation that would free these people of guilt," he
said.

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Opin: Nationalist Infighting Over OTR Bill Adds To Pain And Anger Of Families Of Collusion Victims

BY Anne cadwallader

If I were related to a victim of loyalist collusion with
RUC Special Branch/British military intelligence, I would
be feeling incredibly let down by my political
representatives.

Imagine how it feels to have witnessed your husband or son
or daughter or wife shot in front of your eyes — and now be
mute witness to Sinn Féin and the SDLP tearing lumps off
each other over the "on-the-runs" legislation.

These families — many of them total novices in the world of
politics and the press — have screwed up their courage and
joined with others to vindicate their loved ones' rights,
albeit posthumously, through the courts.

Their cases are all at very different points in the legal
process. Some have exhausted all domestic legal remedies
and have gone through the European Court of Human Rights,
winning awards and costs (not the point, but getting
somewhere).

Some have sat, like the Bloody Sunday relatives, through
months of a public inquiry while others have yet to even
see so much as an inquest as they battle against the
complexities of "public interest immunity certificates" and
similar gagging orders intended to spare London's blushes.

In the case of the Finucane family, their case has become
an international cause célèbre, although stalemated over
the new Inquiries Bill — a blatant mechanism to prevent the
truth being exposed.

In the case of others, no one — outside their own family
circle or the stalwarts of Relatives for Justice — so much
as knows their names, let alone the private agonies they
have suffered.

They must all, however, be looking on in anguish at the row
being waged between the SDLP and Sinn Féin, a row that has,
among other things, collapsed relations between the two
parties on Derry City Council.

Try to imagine how the families of collusion victims must
feel. The pain and anger at what has been inflicted on them
by a state, supposed to protect their basic rights, can
only be compounded by watching this unlovely row.

For some families, it probably doesn't matter very much
which side is right or wrong. They just want the truth — a
truth that might be hidden forever if the OTR bill goes
through in its present form.

As John Kelly, whose brother Michael was killed on Bloody
Sunday, put it: "Those who committed murder — and those in
the British establishment who organised and approved it —
must have a big smile on their face.

"They can now walk away without repercussions. They will
never have to appear in court. All they will be required to
do is meet their solicitor, sign a licence and they can
walk off laughing at us."

In a nutshell, Sinn Féin's case is that there was no
discussion or negotiation on any provisions to offer an
amnesty for British state forces as part of the OTR
legislation.

The SDLP says this is untrue, and that Sinn Féin was
cynically prepared to allow loyalists, drug dealers,
British soldiers, police officers and "securocrats" (oh how
I dislike that word) off scot-free in return for the right
of two dozen OTRs to return home.

Frankly, I find that unbelievable.

The SDLP adds that, even if Sinn Féin was not aware in
advance of the possibility of state forces getting a "get
out of jail free" card, it should have made an informed
guess.

The SDLP claims it warned Sinn Féin in advance of that very
possibility. "Show us the evidence," counters Sinn Féin,
denying that the SDLP tried to head it off at the pass.

The SDLP argument against Sinn Féin is that either Sinn
Féin acted cynically or it negotiated incompetently. A
double whammy.

Sinn Féin strenuously denies both charges, of course. It
says it had no idea, until the last 48 hours before the
bill was published, that British state forces would be
included in the OTR bill. What happened, it says, was a
straight case of deceit and bad faith. Perfidious Albion
strikes again.

Should then Sinn Féin, as the SDLP suggests, now withdraw
all support for the bill? Republicans say that would only
result in its OTRs being left in limbo while the bill goes
through the House of Commons anyhow, to the advantage of
state forces.

The Sinn Féin leadership is incandescent with fury at what
it claims is the SDLP clambering onto the collusion
bandwagon at this late stage, having shown little interest
at the height of collusion in the 1980s and early 1990s
when Catholics and republicans were being butchered.

The arguments will no doubt continue to rage. The SDLP
believes Sinn Féin is on the back foot. Sinn Féin is
calling "foul". The families are stuck in the middle.

If both Sinn Féin and the SDLP made a heroic gesture and
buried their differences in the greater cause of the rights
of collusion victims to the truth, it could result in a
strange cross-community consensus.

For very different reasons, both the main unionist parties
also oppose the OTR legislation. Would London be able to
resist calls for the bill to be dropped if all of the four
main parties here demanded its burial?

Should the British government refuse to ditch the bill,
this would at least demonstrate that the main beneficiary
of the legislation as it stands are the corrupt and evil
soldiers, police officers and spooks who colluded in the
murder of innocent civilians by loyalist paramilitaries.

Anne Cadwallader is a freelance journalist, broadcaster and
author of Holy Cross: The Untold Story published by the
Brehon Press.

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http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/broomfield_opinion/article/0,1713,BDC_2504_4294766,00.html

McDonald: Irish Eyes Are Watchin'

By Cathy McDonald, Guest columnist
December 7, 2005

I decided to not attend college this year and instead work
at the Glencree Centre of Peace and Reconciliation in
Ireland.

One of the first trips I took on a weekend off was to
Belfast, which is beautiful in that very cinematic,
disheveled, perpetually dirty and grey kind of way. It was
freezing cold, threatening a soupy rain that October
weekend, so it gave the city even more of a gothic vibe.
Belfast is a small town —- less than half a million live
there, and it is mostly suburbs (into which tourists are
not allowed to go, that being a very ghetto type of living
space with sectarianism and the fences and what have you)
so the town center is only a few blocks square and very
easy to walk through.

I had only just finished checking into the youth hostel on
Donegal Road, which is the last neutral building on
loyalist territory. Next door was a mural that read
"Welcome to Sandy Row — You are now entering Loyalist
Territory." The union jacks and blue, white and red
pennants sort of gave it away.

I walked out into a police barricade. Either side of the
street was blocked by police vans and several swat-gear
clad policemen with see-through shields in hand. There was
a helicopter and a news crew and people assembled with
signs reading "Stop Police Brutality" and so forth.

I was definitely not in Broomfield anymore. Only a wrong
word or thrown rock away from all-out warfare, I thought. I
fortunately managed to get escorted away from the scene by
a news crew. It dissolved peaceably while I was elsewhere
shopping. Somehow I managed to get lost on my way back to
the hostel and got directions and a political lecture from
this funny old fella by the name of Edmund, who called me a
dumb yank and referred to the brits as the "accursed
English," yet he was still nice enough to walk me all the
way back to my hostel.

By that time I had a roommate, a 57-year old Scottish woman
who was barely even tolerable (What part of youth hostel
was in any way confusing?). But there were a lot of older
people there.

That night I wandered the streets sort of aimlessly looking
for something to do. I bumped into these guys I had met on
the elevator at the hostel and we went out for some drinks
(they had drinks, rather, I didn't. I don't drink.) One guy
said his name was Gary, from Ballycastle, and a law
student; the other was some dull Canadian boy, Evan, I
think it was. We had a bit of a laugh, talking about
politics and Hitchcock and rugby.

Then began the longest night of my life.

I had the most uncomfortable bed in Ireland, complete with
a teeny duvet and no sheets. I was freezing and my delicate
back was contorted. People were coming and going in the
hostel all hours of the night. And in the wee hours of the
morning, a group of Hare Krishnas began to serenade us from
the street.

The next morning wasn't much better. I couldn't shower the
next day, there being no shampoo or soap. Although, the
French toast breakfast did help to lighten the mood. After
that I went on a brief tour of the places in the city
visitors shouldn't travel alone (the Shankhill Road and
Falls area). Our tour guide was clearly a Nationalist, so
we didn't get to take pictures in most parts of the
Unionist areas.

I did get to see the Sinn Fein bookstore, but I didn't get
to go in. I snapped some lovely pictures of the murals (of
both parties). There was this fantastic Ulster Volunteer
Force mural (the loyalist answer to the IRA, which is
Nationlist) of a gunman wearing a balaclava. Driving from
one end of the street to the other, his eyes and the gun
were pointed right at you. Brilliant artistry, really.

I finally took the bus back to Dublin. The buses are crazy
on Sundays and you're hard-pressed to find any native Irish
in town, either. Craziest thing ever: Tourists just have
the run of the place on weekends. I was happy to be back in
one piece. It's good to get the city stink off. Although I
managed to return to Glencree Centre of Peace and
Reconciliation safe and sound, I picked up some bug because
I got sick, the kind of just-want-to-lay-in-bed-feeling-
sorry-for-yourself kind of sick. But I recovered.


I live in a dorm at the centre with a group of 15 other
employees from all over the world. We do various tasks such
as administration, cooking, cleaning and grounds keeping.
It's a pretty good gig for those of us who wanted to step
away from the grind of another year of college, but still
wanted to live with noisy roommates and get paid slave
wages.

I've no doubt that I am doing the right thing at the right
time.

Cathy McDonald, Broomfield High School class of 2004, will
report periodically about her work and travels in Ireland.
She plans to return to Broomfield at the end of next
summer. Contact her at sushieyes@hotmail.com

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http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/12/08/news/20051208_ne06_brigid.txt

St. Brigid Decision Postponed To 2006

By Emily Fancher
Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, December 8, 2005 1:29 AM PST

For supporters of St. Brigid, the colorful stained-glass
windows, ornate altar and dark wooden pews are as much a
part of the soul of the church as the Romanesque
architecture.

But after a decade of fighting to save the church,
supporters will have to wait until next year to see if both
the interior and exterior of the church, built in 1900,
will receive landmark status.

At a Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee hearing
Wednesday, the committee postponed a decision on the
designation, citing legal details that must be clarified
because of the unusual step of declaring the inside a
landmark as well. Very few public buildings have the
interior deemed a landmark.

At the same time, the committee members expressed support
for ensuring the building is protected.

The Academy of Art University, which bought the church at
Van Ness and Broadway this fall, plans to use it as a
community and public assembly space. The university
purchased the building from the Archdiocese of San
Francisco, which wanted to sell the church to a developer
who would have destroyed it to build housing on the site.

Elisa Stephens, president of the university, said her
organization supported landmarking the exterior, but was
uncertain about the interior.

Stephens said that though the university has no plans to
alter in any way any significant interior element, she also
wants to move quickly to seismically upgrade it without
being entangled in red tape. The church has been closed
since 1994 due to damage from the Loma Prieta earthquake

Church supporters, many of them former parishioners or
preservationists, touched on the spiritual importance,
architectural significance and historic value of the
church, particularly for Irish-Americans.

Supervisor Alioto-Pier, whose district includes the church,
praised the work of those who fought to protect the
building.

E-mail: efancher@examiner.com

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http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Entertainment/Headlines/03SceneMUS001120805.htm

Rovers Offer Holiday Cheer In More Ways Than One

By RICK de YAMPERT
Entertainment Writer
Last update: December 08, 2005

DAYTONA BEACH -- Where does Santa hang out after a hard
night's work on Christmas Eve? Anyone who heard the Irish
Rovers perform Wednesday night at SMT Downtown can hazard a
good guess: The Jolly Ol' Elf likely treats himself to a
few pints at a pub where the Rovers are playing.

The Rovers, a seven-man folk band composed of Irish
immigrants, have been roving around the United States for
40 years, playing the music of their homeland on button
accordion, keyboard accordion, cittern (a guitar
forerunner), banjo, tin whistle, guitars, drums, bass and
spoons. On Wednesday, they conjured Christmas spirit from a
most unlikely place -- the rollicking, belly-to-the-bar,
pub-rockin' ditties of their native turf . . . replete with
plenty of lyrics about drinking and carousing.

Sure, that doesn't seem to be a respectful way to celebrate
what happened in Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago. But the
Rovers' concert before a packed house silenced any doubters
via such songs as the feisty "I Wish Every Day Was
Christmas" and the spirited "The Bells of Belfast." On the
former, singer-guitarist George Millar sang a boisterous
toast to the Prince of Peace. On the latter, the lads
acknowledged the "troubles" -- the sectarian violence -- of
Northern Ireland's past and urged brotherhood across
religious and national borders to continue in these more
peaceful times.

But such rowdy songs weren't all wrapped in peace and
harmony. "Three Jolly Rogues," a pure party tale about
three gents who enter a pub on Christmas Eve, became a
rival of that "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" song as
Millar and company detailed the threesome's ever-increasing
intake of liquid spirits: "a jigger of gin, a glass of
wine," beer, Scotch, whiskey, mead and "a pint of Guinness
before we take our leave."

The Rovers went the traditional route with a gentle version
of "Silent Night," with George's cousin Joe Millar singing
and Wilcil McDowell adding lovely mandolin.

And the band sang such non-holiday songs as "The Ramblin'
Boys of Pleasure" and "A Little Bit More," a humorous piece
about the human tendency to always want more, whether it's
bar patrons speaking to a bartender, or a dying man
speaking to God.

But the highlights were the high-octane holiday ditties. If
word gets out about the way the Irish Rovers celebrate
Christmas, they'll become a Yule entertainment tradition on
par with the Grinch, Charlie Brown and "It's a Wonderful
Life."

rick.deyampert@news-jrnl.com

IF YOU GO
WHO: "Christmas in Ireland" with the Irish Rovers.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. today and Friday.
WHERE: SMT Downtown, 176 N. Beach St., Daytona Beach.
TICKETS: $30, $34 and $40, available at the Central Florida
Cultural Endeavors box office at 212 S. Beach St., Daytona
Beach, online at www.fif-lso.org, or by calling (386) 257-
7790.

INFORMATION: (386) 257-7790.

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http://www.playbill.com/news/article/96683.html

Gabriel Byrne Offers Broadway A Touch Of O'Neill, Opening Dec. 8

By Robert Simonson
08 Dec 2005

Gabriel Byrne, last seen on Broadway in A Moon for the
Misbegotten, opens in another Eugene O'Neill work, A Touch
of the Poet at Studio 54 Dec. 8. The Roundabout Theatre
Company revival began Nov. 11.

The production does not lack for Irish authority. Byrne was
born in Dublin, and his co-stars Dearbhla Molloy and Ciaran
O'Reilly also have roots on the Emerald Isle. Director Doug
Hughes, moreover, is of Irish-American heritage.

The cast also features Emily Bergl (The Rivals, Fiction),
John Horton (Noises Off), Byron Jennings (The Man Who Came
to Dinner, The Foreigner), Kathryn Meisle (Tartuffe, The
Constant Wife), Randall Newsome (The Heart is a Lonely
Hunter), and Daniel Stewart Sherman (Henry IV, The Full
Monty).

Long before August Wilson completed his play cycle of
African-American life during the 20th century, O'Neill
launched upon a similarly ambitious project. Poet and a
rough draft of More Stately Mansions are all that remains
of O'Neill's plan to create a series of plays examining the
history of materialism and greed in the U.S. O'Neill
destoyed much of his "cycle" writing before he died in
1953.

Set in 1828 near Boston, A Touch of the Poet is about
Cornelius Melody, an Irish immigrant who, based on a fraud
perpetrated by his wealthy father, presents himself a
distinguished gentleman to his family and neighbors, though
evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. All his illusions
are challenged, however, when his daughter (Bergl), who is
contemptuous of her dad's posing—his war stories, grand
accent and quoting of Byron—falls for the son of a wealthy
native Yankee.

The role of Melody was first played on Broadway in 1958 by
Eric Portman. Denholm Elliott played it in a subsequent
1967 staging, and reigning O'Neill interpreter Jason
Robards, Jr., finally got around to the part in 1977, the
most recent Broadway production.

Byrne earned a Tony Award nomination for his previous
Broadway turn as James Tyrone, Jr. in the 2000 revival of
O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten opposite Cherry Jones
and Roy Dotrice. The actor has also appeared Off-Broadway
in The Exonerated but is perhaps best known for his work in
such films as "Point of No Return," "Little Women," "The
Usual Suspects," "Polish Wedding" and recently in "Vanity
Fair" and "Assault on Precinct 13."

The design team for A Touch of the Poet features Santo
Loquasto (sets and costumes), Chris Akerlind (lights) and
David Van Tieghem (sound and original composition).

Hughes — who was honored with the 2005 Tony Award for his
direction of John Patrick Shanley's Doubt — recently staged
Roundabout's Off-Broadway stagings of Jon Robin Baitz's The
Paris Letter and Stephen Belber's McReele at the Laura Pels
Theatre. The director of Frozen also currently reteams with
the non-profit on the current Broadway premiere of Richard
Greenberg's A Naked Girl on the Appian Way. Other projects
on the busy director's schedule include Greenberg's The
House in Town, Shanley's Defiance and the new musical Ever
After.

Tickets to A Tough of the Poet are currently available by
calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212) 719-1300 or
online at www.roundabouttheatre.org
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