http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/0929/1222420015272.html

A BBC programme on the IRA prison break causes unease with its recounting of violence as a cheery caper, writes Ann Marie Hourihane

WHAT WITH the economic meltdown - or whatever we are calling it this week - and Iraq and Afghanistan and the health service and climate change, one gets the feeling we've gone off Northern Ireland just a tad. One gets the feeling even people in Northern Ireland have gone off Northern Ireland, and are bored of their politicians and their squabbles. So it was interesting to see a television programme on BBC2 last Thursday, which brought us back to the glory days of the escape from the Maze Prison in 1983.

"The most daring escape since Colditz," said the voice-over on the programme. Given the tone of the production you would have been forgiven for thinking it was called Colditz II. But instead it was called, rather disappointingly, Breakout.

There were four narrators of this story of how 38 IRA men escaped from the Maze Prison: Bobby Storey, Gerry Kelly, Brendan "Bik" McFarlane and Campbell Courtney. The first three were IRA prisoners in 1983, when Courtney was a prison officer at the Maze. The three IRA men looked the very picture of cheerful and self-satisfied middle age. Courtney didn't look the best. He looked sad. On television, these things matter.

We are pretty well-inured at this stage to middle-aged men entertaining us with tales from their distant and extraordinarily vigorous youth. Our cultural tolerance for this type of anecdotage is high. And surely the story of the Maze escape should be recorded while the participants are still living: that's what archives are for. But Breakout told the story of the Maze escape so blithely that watching it brought deep unease, not least because you saw how IRA men have mutated into golf club bores. Time does strange things.

Not that the former prisoners seemed at all uneasy. Au contraire. Kelly has never seemed more relaxed in a candy-striped shirt - perhaps Stormont, where he is most regularly filmed, depresses him. Storey was filmed in front of a large framed poster or painting which consisted, literally, of the digits 1916. McFarland was filmed - this is really true - beside the Tricolour. We saw how these men want to be seen.

It was thus that they told the story of how they had made friends with prison staff, creating a more relaxed atmosphere prior to the escape. It was thus that Kelly told us how he had shot the warder in charge of the control room twice (we didn't hear what happened to this man, who we were told had survived).

It was thus that Kelly also described how he lay across the foot-well in the cab of the hi-jacked food lorry - the other escapees were in the back - with a gun stuck in the stomach of the driver, Davey McLaughlin. Kelly was talking to McLaughlin to keep him calm and, Kelly acknowledged, McLaughlin was talking to him to keep him calm. (You can bet he was.)

Kelly, according to himself, was asking McLaughlin if he was married, if he had children and so on.

Then he asked the driver how much he earned. To which he replied "Not f--king enough". Gerry Kelly thought this witty in the circumstances, which it was. He obviously found it a very funny memory. But one could not help wondering how funny McLaughlin thought it was.

During the escape, Courtney was shot and five other warders were stabbed. One of these was Courtney's friend, James Ferris, who subsequently died. There was a shot of Ferris's gravestone.

There were postscripts on what the three IRA men are doing now: Storey is giving slide-show presentations about the Maze escape. There was no information on how Courtney spends his time.

On the one hand, it was interesting to see the IRA voluntarily become Dad's Army, with its benevolent telling of its tales of derring-do. On the other hand, one could not help wondering if the republican public relations machine, always its most efficient weapon, has begun to eat itself. The last time I saw McFarlane, he was in the dock at Green Street courthouse in Dublin, accused of participating, in December 1983, in the kidnap of Don Tidey, and in the murders of Private Patrick Kelly and Garda recruit Gary Sheehan, charges that he very much denied. The case collapsed. But I wondered how Patrick Kelly's widow and sons, and Gary Sheehan's family, would react to seeing McFarlane filmed beside the Tricolour.

The IRA are politicians now and we all know that it's the job of all politicians to convince their supporters that they have won when they have done no such thing. But viewers of Breakout were left asking if there is no spectacle the Protestant people of Northern Ireland will not have to endure to make republicans feel better about themselves. Is there no victory dance, be it ever so puerile, that they are not going to be forced to witness?

There's a real danger that the IRA is going to bore the rest of us to death. But even Free Staters know the name of one person murdered by the IRA.

Watching Breakout, that name kept on reverberating through the twinkling orgy of machismo: Jean McConville. Jean McConville. Jean McConville.
 

PARISHIONERS who were forced to hold their Sunday school classes in a car for fear of violence are among stories of survival told for the first time in a report published by the Church of Ireland.
Whatever You Say, Say Nothing outlines the trials of Protestants living along the border during the Troubles.

The report centres on Protestants living in the Diocese of Clogher and includes harrowing accounts of people feeling isolated and vulnerable and surrounded by hostile neighbours.

The "rugby ball-shaped" diocese stretches from Donegal in the west across to Co Louth in the east and from Tyrone and Fermanagh in the north to Co Monaghan in the south.

Contributors to the report, who chose to remain anonymous, spoke of the complex situation between them and their Catholic neighbours. It varied between distrust and feelings of being watched, to tales of acts of kindness and cooperation.

The report says that the Church was seen in a dual role as "both a flag and duvet". Churchgoers donned boots to ford streams to get to their place of worship, because roads were impassable after being cratered by the Army to stop the IRA using them.

Author David Gardiner said: "This report is a social enquiry, an exploration and examination of how personal, social, cultural, religious and political beliefs and personal experiences influence people's attitudes, behaviours and outlook on life.

"It's essentially the voice and experience of ordinary people recounting their feelings. None of them got paid for it and none of them will be getting famous for doing it – it's just the honest accounts of people who lived through, and to some extent survived, a very difficult time.

"It shows the enormous resilience and the bond of rural people joined by all those practical hands-on things. It gave a kind of cohesion and people enormously valued that, but on the other side of the coin, people were being murdered and people were being targeted and they felt it must have been people close to them who gave that information – so suspicions and fear underpinned that rural cohesion."

He said this was the contradiction that people had to live with – and were still living with today.

"A lot of stuff was hidden and masked behind politeness and getting on with business so things never come to the surface and are never addressed."

The Rev Earl Storey, director of the Hard Gospel Project which commissioned the report, said:"This report addresses a difficult and immensely painful period. It does so in a way that is honest and that seeks to be constructive.
I believe that it enables experiences to be voiced in a way that will be heard by other parts of the community.

“It is one of the most important initiatives that the Hard Gospel Project has been involved with.

“We are immensely grateful to all those who shared their experiences and thoughts.”

Bishop Michael Jackson feels that his diocese has broken fresh ground “in the quest for understanding and mutual respect in asking the invisible questions”.

He said: “I have every confidence that, while particular to Clogher diocese, it will resonate by its honesty of its insight into every corner of the Church of Ireland and beyond.”

A FORMER Maze Prison officer has broken his silence on the Maze Prison escape to denounce what he called an "IRA propaganda" film shown by the BBC.

Committed to preventing the IRA prisoners' escape 25 years ago today, Billy McKane has told how he rammed his car into the food lorry filled with armed escapees and helped recapture some of the prisoners.

Mr McKane, who spent a lifetime in the security forces, said the programme – which the BBC is to screen again tonight – contained "blatant lies" about prison officers.

During the documentary, a remorseless Gerry Kelly – now Sinn Fein's policing and justice spokesman – recalled how during the escape he shot a prison officer in the head at point-blank range.

Meanwhile, the DUP was last night caught in a row over plans to collect a peace award in New York alongside Mr Kelly.

Junior Minister Jeffrey Donaldson of the DUP was due to accept a trophy in the Big Apple – but after the Maze controversy surfaced he announced he would not be taking part in the handover ceremony.

Jim Allister, leader of the hardline Traditional Unionist Voice, attacked the DUP yesterday after details emerged of the plan for Mr Donaldson and fellow Junior Minister Mr Kelly to speak at a Co-operation Ireland dinner at New York's Roosevelt Hotel.

A statement from the Northern Ireland Assembly's Office of First and Deputy First Minister said the pair were to collect a Peace Dove Award in recognition of the peace process.

In response to the statement, Mr Allister hit out at the DUP, claiming it was criticising Mr Kelly for the portrayal of his paramilitary past on Tuesday and sharing a gong with him on Wednesday.

In the documentary screened by the BBC on Monday evening, Mr Kelly recalled how he used a gun smuggled into the top security jail as part of an escape plan involving 38 IRA prisoners.

A prison officer who was stabbed during the escape later died, while others were injured.

The Ulster Unionist Party's Tom Elliot last night said: "It strikes me as absurd that they are prepared to address a New York audience about 'the progress which has been made economically and socially in Northern Ireland', yet the Executive has been in suspended animation since June and hasn't been able to take one single decision on economic matters."

A spokesman for the DUP said Mr Donaldson, who was scheduled to take part in a number of engagements with Mr Kelly in New York, would not be collecting the award.

The DUP said: "Mr Donaldson holds to the view that any peace award for Northern Ireland should be given to those who stood against terrorism including prison officers, not those who shot prison officers as part of their Province-wide campaign of terror."

A Sinn Fein spokesman said: "It is time the leadership of political unionism stood up to mavericks like Jim Allister."

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Maze officers' bravery on day of jailbreak

TWENTY five years ago today, Billy McKane rammed his car into a prison food van containing armed IRA terrorists breaking out of the Maze Prison.
Ignoring an IRA man brandishing a gun – despite shouted warnings that he would be killed – he pursued the fleeing prisoners and returned four terrorists to the jail.

Yesterday, for the first time since 1983, Mr McKane decided to speak publicly about what actually happened on that day.

The 68-year-old said he did not want to be feted for bravery but rather wished to set the record straight after the "blatant lies" of the IRA prisoners broadcast in Monday night's BBC documentary Breakout.

"I was on duty in the car park area of the prison – about 500 yards from the main gate," he recalled. "I was cleaning the area with two colleagues but was finishing at tea time because that Sunday was the Harvest Thanksgiving service in my church and I wanted to get home early.

"I had turned the car and was facing the gate of the prison, getting ready to head on home.

"That evening staff were reporting for duty and everything seemed normal but suddenly there was an officer who went to go through a door. But when the door opened he staggered back, pulled out his whistle and started to blow it.

"I wound down the window and asked what was wrong. 'There's an escape,' he said. 'The IRA have taken over the Tulley Lodge – McFarland's standing in there in a prison officer's uniform and they are in the meal lorry."

Mr McKane, who joined the Prison Service in 1975 and served until his retirement in 1999, recalled what happened next.

"At that point the main gate started to open to let the lorry out. I started the car and as the gate opened I spun round and drove it straight to the front of the lorry.

"I got out and drew my baton and walked up to the passenger door of the lorry."

He didn't recognise the man wearing a prison officer's uniform in the passenger seat, but thought he may have been a new officer.

"I said: 'Get out'.

"He spun round, pointed a gun at me and said 'Keep quiet or you're dead'.

"I slammed the door of the lorry and then they piled out of the back of the lorry and headed towards me.

"I shouted at them: 'Get back, get back!', but one of them pulled a gun out and said 'F*** off or you're dead'.

"Most of them started running and clambered over a fence, dashing up through the fields.

"One of them called Murray got stuck in the fence and that was the point at which (fellow prison officer) Campbell Courtney ran at him."

Then, as the fleeing IRA prisoners got closer to the fields beyond the prison, they became more ruthless. The pursuing prison officers bravely went to tackle them, despite the prisoners being armed.

"Murray pointed the gun at Campbell but he was very brave and kept on and grabbed him. There was a bang and Campbell fell back holding his leg.

"Murray got over the fence but dropped the gun and I went forward and lifted it.

"I went to fire it but it jammed.

I cleared the blockage and fired a single shot after him but by now the squaddie in the watchtower realised what was happening.

“He put his rifle out and shouted ‘Halt or I’ll fire’ but he kept running. There was a bang out of the rifle and Murray fell down with a bullet through his leg.”

Mr McKane joined three other prison officers in pursuit across the fields.

The officers followed the banks of the River Lagan until they found some of the prisoners who came out of the water with their hands above their heads.

“We went on up and there was a fella called Sean McGlinchy in the water on our side of the river.

“I pointed the gun that I’d taken off Murray at him and told him to come out with his hands up.

“He came out and we brought the four of them down to the bridge.”

Mr McKane said that he felt Monday night’s documentary did not portray the efforts of the prison officers to be even-handed as they upheld the law – despite the prisoners having murdered one of their colleagues during the escape.

“In the film on Monday night, Storey was interviewed and said that we ripped the clothes off him and kicked him into a police Land Rover.

“That was absolute lies – the police and Army were there at the time but we wouldn’t have done that anyway.”

THAT FAIR HAVE ASKED REPEATEDLY FOR THE IRISH GOVERNMENT TO EXPLAIN HOW 3.5 TONNES OF EXPLOSIVES AND 2000 DETONATORS WENT MISSING FROM AN IRISH REPUBLIC EXPLOSIVES FACTORY.  THIS WAS STOLEN BY THE IRA AND THE IRISH GOVERNMENT KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON.  THOUSANDS WERE HURT AND HUNDREDS KILLED BY THESE EXPLOSIVES.  REPUBLICANS TALK OF COLLUSION OFTEN, BUT NEVER HAS COLLUSION BEEN SO BLATENTLY OBVIOUS.  WHY WILL THE IRISH GOVERNMENT NOT ANSWER FAIR’S REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION RELATING TO THESE MULTIPLE THEFTS OF EXPLOSIVES?

After the Irish Government’s attempts to make political capital from the issue of collusion, with a partisan and fanciful report on alleged collusion by the British Government it is long overdue to consider the whole picture. They have been far from candid about their own collusion both by acts of commission and omission. The former was partially exposed by the Dublin Arms Trial but then here the Irish State managed to cover up the worst extent of the affair. However one major aspect of their collusion by an gross act of omission was in regard to the supply of explosives to the PIRA.

As a group FAIR can now reveal the main conclusion of a Report commissioned by their Research and Policy Unit. The shocking conclusion is that prior to the supply of Semtex by the Libyan government the PIRA’s major state sponsor of terrorism by way of supplying explosives was the Republic of Ireland. From the late 1960s and early 1970s the Dublin government ignored repeated warnings from their own armed forces that the IRA was able to secure explosives for its deadly bombing campaigns from the Irish Industrial Explosives Plant at Clonagh, Co Meath.

The Irish Defense Forces took responsibility for security at the plant on behalf of the Department of Justice. This means that responsibility for the failure to secure the explosives rests squarely with the Irish Government. Despite warning from the Irish army tasked with administrating the security at the factory nothing was done. From April 1974 Captain Patrick Walsh warned his superiors that the plant was perfect for the needs of Irish Republican terrorist groups. Indeed he was later to state that "It was a supermarket for bombers with no one on-duty at the checkout."

Even when honest Irish soldiers whose fears were falling on deaf ears reported the matter to their elected representatives in this case Patrick Donegan TD who was Minister of Defense the matter was covered up. However not all soldIers were so scrupulous as was shown in October 1974 when two Irish Army soldiers were convicted of stealing explosives. Another senior army officer, Colonel James Cogan, later described the situation as "a scandalous and criminal lack of security". The diligence of Walsh and others was ended by the state on February 6, 1975 when unexpectedly, the military security duties at Clonagh were transferred to another unit.
This scandalous episode leads us to one inescapable conclusion – that collusion did exist and its trail led to the highest office in the Irish Government. The facts surrounding the PIRA’s procurement of explosives from this and other facilities under the control of the Irish State must be established. To the victims of such explosives we demand to know the truth and to see justice done. The Dublin government is every bit as guilty of supporting and supplying the PIRA as Gadafi and the Libyan government and they must address the matter just as Libya has to.