British Sinn Fein Takin the Piss Process Ireland

international | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis

Thursday July 25, 2013 18:01

by Brian Clarke - AllVoices

Release Martin Corey

'All this is doing is undermining the Peace Process and it doesn’t benefit anyone except those who want the Peace Process to fail' Seán Crowe Provisional Sinn Fein Member of Parliament. While separately Pat Doherty British Sinn Fein's Member of the Parliament In London stated:

“John Downey is a member of Sinn Féin and a long-time supporter of the Peace Process. The decision to arrest and charge him in relation to IRA activities in the early 1980s is vindictive, unnecessary and unhelpful.

Irish Peace Process?

'All this is doing is undermining the Peace Process and it doesn’t benefit anyone except those who want the Peace Process to fail' Seán Crowe Provisional Sinn Fein Member of Parliament. While separately Pat Doherty British Sinn Fein's Member of the Parliament In London stated:

“John Downey is a member of Sinn Féin and a long-time supporter of the Peace Process. The decision to arrest and charge him in relation to IRA activities in the early 1980s is vindictive, unnecessary and unhelpful.As part of the Weston Park negotiation, the British Government committed to resolving the position of ‘On the Runs’ (OTRs). John Downey received a letter from the NIO in 2007 stating that he was not wanted by the PSNI or any British police force. Despite travelling to England on many occasions, now, six years on, he finds himself before the courts on these historic charges.

This development represents bad faith and a departure from what was previously agreed by both governments. Sinn Féin will continue to support John until his situation is satisfactorily resolved. And we will continue to make whatever representations we feel will expedite John's release.John Downey needs to be released and allowed to return home to his family.”

Crowe who is also a member of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, called on the Tánaiste and the Irish Government to raise the issue with the British Government and request John Downey's immediate release.

“I discussed John’s arrest with the Tánaiste in the Dáil today and I welcome his commitment to follow John’s case closely and to ensure that he receives all the consular assistance he needs.However, the Tánaiste and the government, need to ensure that John Downey is released and allowed to return home to his family immediately.“All this is doing is undermining the Peace Process and it doesn’t benefit anyone, except those who want the Peace Process to fail, further stating that the Tánaiste needs to strongly remind the British Government of the commitments it signed up to and that his government won’t sit idly by while they break these mutually agreed guarantees.

He reiterated Provisional Sinn Féin’s view, that John’s arrest and treatment represents a departure from what was previously agreed by both governments. Crowe also said that John Downey's local TD, Provisional Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty, was denied his representational visit to Britain. Pat Doherty Provisional Sinn Féin' MP was also told that he will not be permitted a visit. Crowe also revealed that an Irish newspaper an Phoblacht was not allowed into John, “because of the Irish content in that newspaper despite the fact that other prisoners don’t seem to have a problem in relation to other language publications”.

Meanwhile traditional Irish Republican Martin Corey maintains he still has absolutely “no idea,” why he is being interned without trial more than three years.Speaking from a hellhole in Maghaberry Gaol, the Lurgan man said he believes he was interned strictly because of his political belief in a United Ireland.Martin said “I have been interned for more than three years now and I still have not been given a reason. They have put forward a number of allegations against me, and for three years, I’m not able to defend myself against any of them.They say I have been seen speaking to known republicans, and that I visited a number of houses in Lurgan Tarry but almost every house in my town is Irish republican. What does that matter? It doesn’t mean I’ve done anything wrong. They have absolutely nothing on me, and that’s why they haven’t charged me. When I went to court, I end up being ordered to be released by the Judge, but without a a shred of evidence against me the English Viceroyal again overruled the judge and interned me again.

When I was arrested, I was taken to Lurgan police station. None of the police officers knew why I had been arrested. I was then taken to Maghaberry. When I got here, the prison officers were surprised to see me. One of them asked me, what I was doing here, and I replied, 'You know as much as I do’. I was thrown into a cell and I have been here ever since.The fact that I’m in here and haven’t been given a reason, makes the whole thing even worse. If they have anything on me, they should charge me and send me to a proper trial. If not, I should be released.”

When I was released from Long Kesh internment camp originally, after serving almost 20 years, I did not get involved in anything. I would have attended the odd white-line protest picket, things like that. But that is definitely the most I would have been involved with. I have held down a steady job for more than a decade, and even got a character reference from Monsignor Hamill. To accuse me of posing a threat is just ridiculous.A hunger strike is looking like a very real possibility. The agreement is not being implemented. There are plenty of volunteers for a hunger strike. That’s one thing there’s no shortage of.”

According to Wikipaedia : "Taking the Piss" is a British term meaning taking liberties at the expense of others, or to be unreasonable.The term sometimes refers to a form of mockery in which the mocker exaggerates the other person's characteristics; pretending to take on his or her attitudes, etc., in order to make them look funny. Or it may be used to refer to a ruse where a person is led to believe something is true that is not (usually a fairly unbelievable story) for the purpose of ridicule of the subject.
In colloquial usage, "taking the piss" is also used to refer to someone or something that makes a claim which is not in line with a recognised agreement e.g. an invoice that is double the quoted price with no explanation for the added charge could be said to "take the piss", or likewise if something consistently misses a deadline, 'taking the piss out of' came to be synonymous with disparagement or mockery itself, with less regard to the pride of the subject.

Of course it is obvious to "Intelligent republicans" that British Sinn Fein are seriously compromised and do not have the wherewithall to activate the necessary and obvious actions, to be taken seriously by anyone, let alone Perfidious Albion. Any party remotely republican, embedded in the establishment of British Occupied Ireland, like Adam's party, would withdraw immediately, from all of these British institutions, like the SDLP did in a principled manner, when political internment was last introduced. Unfortunately it is now becoming clearer, that it is not just the British Tories who are taking the piss out of the long suffering Irish people, who have been hoodwinked again by those who would be Ireland's liberal elite.of betrayal.