One of the great scandals of my time.
I’m only after copping that was Nicky Kelly of the “free Nicky Kelly” fame. I’ll have to read up some more on it, I’d always meant to find out who he was and what it was all about.
He’s a Councillor now in Wicklow.
You couldn’t buy advertising like that sure.
He actually lost his council seat in the last election.
In May 1980, the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the convictions of Osgur Breatnach and Brian McNally. In the same month, the IRA claimed responsibility for the theft. In February 1981, the court explained its reasoning: the statements made in custody – the only evidence against them – had been made involuntarily. However, the Appeal Court declined to alter a so-called finding of fact by the Special Criminal Court, to the effect that the men had beaten themselves up.
Nicky Kelly had returned from America in June 1980 but disappeared into a judicial and custodial black hole which he did not break free of until July 1984. This was because the courts ruled he must serve out the sentence, the same one just set aside for his co-convicted, because, technically, the time during which he could appeal his conviction had passed.
In 1984, justice minister Michael Noonan cut through the mess and freed him on humanitarian grounds. Kelly received a presidential pardon in 1992 and he, Breatnach and McNally settled compensation claims the following year against the State for sums understood to be between about £400,000 and £750,000.
What a man lads.
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That only added insult to injury. Freeing him on humanitarian grounds without an acknowledgement of his innocence was considered to be a gross injustice.
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Was he actually innocent?
Nobody else was ever charged after, were they?
You can barely see it now, but for years I used to drive past that wondering what “Free Nicky Kelly” was about.
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According to my brief read up on it the RA admitted it was them after.
“Every tractor has a Nicky Kelly sticker,displayed for all to see,sure it is no wonder that the gardai made a blunder says yer man from RTE”
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Shock horror in Blueshirt getting Labour man off charges.
I think I’ll have a pint of plain tonight to honour the great man.
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The 75th Anniversary of 1916 was a different affair indeed. It took place 25 years ago today
Four thousand people take part in a parade in Dublin marking 75 years since the 1916 Rising.
Members of SIPTU, the Dublin Trades Council, and British Trade Union Movements were joined in the parade by bands from Northern Ireland and Scotland. The President of Sinn Féin Gerry Adams also took part.
The commemoration pageant was organised by the group ‘Reclaim the Spirit of 1916’ with the objective of giving a fitting tribute to the ideals of 1916. Artist Robert Ballagh, one of the organising committee for the commemorations, addresses the crowd outside the GPO in Dublin saying, _
If our current political leaders had even a fraction of the vision and self-sacrifice of the men and women of 1916, we might find it easier to forgive them their shame and guilt in this 75th anniversary year.
An RTÉ News report by Una O’Hagan broadcast on 6 April 1991
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Five years ago:
i) McIlroy fucked it up.
ii) Allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour by a well known Irish sports journalist surfaced on Twitter.
Eighteen years since IRA/SF accepted the terms of surrender offered by Her Majesty.
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What is this pillock talking about?