A Realist, not woke, father of 3, grandfather of 8, great grandfather of 1, proud British Subject, love my Northern Irish culture & heritage, RIR Army veteran
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Joined October 2023
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How can these large quantities of commercial explosives end up with the PIRA without the Republic of Ireland Governments knowledge, was a blind eye turned by senior government members in support of the IRA bombing campaign that killed 100s and injured 1000s in Northern Ireland?
Ulster Unionist Party Leader Jon Burrows MLA has formally asked Irish Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan TD to review his decision not to hold an inquiry into how explosives made by Irish Industrial Explosives (IIE) were diverted to terrorists during the Troubles. He has sent the Minister a research paper setting out evidence he says the Government’s response does not address.
Jon Burrows said:
“The Minister’s position is that IIE explosives turning up in Northern Ireland does not show any failure by the State to stop them being diverted. I don’t believe that stands up against the records, so I have put those records in front of him.
“Start with the scale. The Minister’s own letter says IIE was sending 15 tons of explosives a week into Northern Ireland and had around 60% of the market here. Yet when the UK’s Chief Inspector of Explosives visited Enfield in 1972, he put the plant’s annual gelignite production at 32 tons. Those two figures do not sit easily together and they need explaining. Any inquiry also has to go beyond the factory gates, to how these explosives were transported, sold and stored at licensed mines and quarries.
“The warnings were there from the very start. In November 1971 the Dáil was told of seven gelignite raids in little over two months. That September, more than 2,400 lbs of explosives had been taken from Drogheda Cement Company. In the Seanad, Professor Kelly went as far as calling for production to be halted for a year. I want to know what the Government did with those warnings, and whether it was anywhere near enough.
“Nor did the problem go away. Irish Government files show that in 1975, 1,282 lbs of undyed IIE explosives were recovered in Northern Ireland, around 62% of the recorded total. The records carry on through to 1986, and in those examined for 1981 and 1982, virtually all of the gelignite recovered or defused was identified as IIE. That is more than ten years after the alarm was first raised in the Dáil.
“This is not just about gelignite either. A 1974 file refers to forensic analysis of around 50,000 lbs of ANFO recovered from three illegal plants in the Republic. An inquiry has to look at how the IRA got hold of commercial explosives and the materials to make its own.”
He added:
“Let me be clear about what we are saying and what we are not. This is not an allegation against IIE as it is today, its owners or its staff. Nor are we claiming every bomb can be traced back to Enfield. Finding IIE explosives in forensic records is not the same as proving how each consignment reached terrorists, and establishing that is exactly what an inquiry is for.”
The UUP Leader has asked the Minister to reconsider a full, independent statutory public inquiry and to respond properly to the evidence in the paper.
“This cuts across departments, agencies and both sides of the border. It is about what the authorities knew, when they knew it, what they shared and whether the safeguards actually worked. A departmental review cannot answer those questions with the independence or public confidence they deserve. An inquiry that can open the original files and hear from witnesses can,” he said.
The letter has also been copied to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Lordcarson West retweeted
Ulster Unionist Party Leader Jon Burrows MLA has formally asked Irish Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan TD to review his decision not to hold an inquiry into how explosives made by Irish Industrial Explosives (IIE) were diverted to terrorists during the Troubles. He has sent the Minister a research paper setting out evidence he says the Government’s response does not address.
Jon Burrows said:
“The Minister’s position is that IIE explosives turning up in Northern Ireland does not show any failure by the State to stop them being diverted. I don’t believe that stands up against the records, so I have put those records in front of him.
“Start with the scale. The Minister’s own letter says IIE was sending 15 tons of explosives a week into Northern Ireland and had around 60% of the market here. Yet when the UK’s Chief Inspector of Explosives visited Enfield in 1972, he put the plant’s annual gelignite production at 32 tons. Those two figures do not sit easily together and they need explaining. Any inquiry also has to go beyond the factory gates, to how these explosives were transported, sold and stored at licensed mines and quarries.
“The warnings were there from the very start. In November 1971 the Dáil was told of seven gelignite raids in little over two months. That September, more than 2,400 lbs of explosives had been taken from Drogheda Cement Company. In the Seanad, Professor Kelly went as far as calling for production to be halted for a year. I want to know what the Government did with those warnings, and whether it was anywhere near enough.
“Nor did the problem go away. Irish Government files show that in 1975, 1,282 lbs of undyed IIE explosives were recovered in Northern Ireland, around 62% of the recorded total. The records carry on through to 1986, and in those examined for 1981 and 1982, virtually all of the gelignite recovered or defused was identified as IIE. That is more than ten years after the alarm was first raised in the Dáil.
“This is not just about gelignite either. A 1974 file refers to forensic analysis of around 50,000 lbs of ANFO recovered from three illegal plants in the Republic. An inquiry has to look at how the IRA got hold of commercial explosives and the materials to make its own.”
He added:
“Let me be clear about what we are saying and what we are not. This is not an allegation against IIE as it is today, its owners or its staff. Nor are we claiming every bomb can be traced back to Enfield. Finding IIE explosives in forensic records is not the same as proving how each consignment reached terrorists, and establishing that is exactly what an inquiry is for.”
The UUP Leader has asked the Minister to reconsider a full, independent statutory public inquiry and to respond properly to the evidence in the paper.
“This cuts across departments, agencies and both sides of the border. It is about what the authorities knew, when they knew it, what they shared and whether the safeguards actually worked. A departmental review cannot answer those questions with the independence or public confidence they deserve. An inquiry that can open the original files and hear from witnesses can,” he said.
The letter has also been copied to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Lordcarson West retweeted
As a nationalist (but someone who values evidence over political allegiance), I fully support parents’ right to choose Irish-medium education. However, I fundamentally disagree with Alliance’s recent rhetoric.
Approximately 3% of NI schools are Irish-medium. Controlled and maintained schools educate far more pupils and should receive proportionately greater overall funding.
Parity in funding does not mean equality in allocation; it means equity in provision, reflecting pupil numbers, demand and educational need.
Disagreement over funding is NOT an attack on children’s rights, nor is it necessarily political point-scoring.
Let’s prioritise evidence over political rhetoric!
@EoinTennyson @allianceparty
Lordcarson West retweeted
Why does NI have endless budget problems.
£30m to feed children with no evidence they aren’t fed in the first place.
£4m for the Donohoe Inquest.
£25m on ongoing legacy investigations.
£500m on legacy investigations to date.
£600m budgeted for next seven years legacy.
Lordcarson West retweeted
🚨 BRITISH COUPLE CONFRONTED OVER REMEMBRANCE DAY POPPIES!
Imagine being harassed in your own country for honoring the men and women who sacrificed their lives for it.
Absolutely DISGUSTING. A British couple confronted at London's Victoria Station while wearing Remembrance Day poppies, and the woman ends up in tears.
These poppies honor those who fought and died for their country. The sheer disrespect is infuriating.
Britain, what the hell is happening to your country?!
Lordcarson West retweeted
Some more woke European two-tier injustice, meted out by Belgian judges - the father of a 6-year old is sentenced to 17 years prison for beating up the pedophile who raped his son.
💥UNFASSBAR, ABER WAHR:
"Wahnsinn. Ein belgisches Gericht verurteilt einen Mann zu 17 Jahren Haft, weil er den Pädophilen verprügelt hat, der seinen 6-jährigen Sohn vergewaltigt hatte.
t.me/oliverjanich/176835
Für mich ist immer wieder das Schlimmste zu sehen, dass diese Uniformträger nicht sofort ihre Uniformen ausziehen und den Befehl verweigern.
Auch Jesus Christus wurde gerecht verurteilt und ans Kreuz genagelt.
Er ist für unsere Sünden gestorben.
Leider war das offensichtlich sinnlos.
Gott hätte seinen Sohn nicht opfern müssen, er selbst hat darum gebeten, dass dieser Kelch an ihm vorüber zieht . Das wäre nur sinnvoll gewesen, wenn die Menschen etwas daraus gelernt hätten.
Die Menschen haben nie etwas dazugelernt,
und die Ordnungskräfte hätten auch schon 2020 erkennen müssen, dass hier Unrecht passiert.
In diesem belgischen Gericht ist ganz klar zu sehen wie diese Welt mittlerweile funktioniert.
Die schlechten Menschen dieser Welt wären hilflos, wenn nicht Ordnungskräfte immer wieder gegen ihr Gewissen und gegen den gesunden Menschenverstand handeln würden, überall auf der Welt.
Absolut schockierend!
Ich bin fassungslos!
Dr. Bodo Schiffmann
Lordcarson West retweeted
After shooting dead a 17 year old petrol pump attendant, and leaving a bomb in the petrol station, they opened fire on a group of Boy Scouts outside a Mission Hall with a machine gun.
Read that again and let it sink in!
#OnThisDay in 1974 the IRA murdered Joseph Taylor, 17. Protestant, Petrol attendant shot at work. W Circular Rd, Belfast, N Ireland. Bomb left then IRA fired on Scouts at nearby hall. Murder intended to draw RUC/Army to bomb #OTD. Foster parents unable to bring body home -Article
Lordcarson West retweeted
Borrowing to fund Irish unity would outstrip the Republic’s €23 billion rainy-day funds within seven years, according to economic analysis published as part of Fine Gael’s plan for a united Ireland.
Read more: tinyurl.com/y8b2bv2j
Lordcarson West retweeted
Sinn Fein will try to tell their base that it was only Catholics who were forced to flee their homes...
That's a lie...It happened to both sides...
“We have lost, I suppose, about 600 Protestant families.”
That was this clergyman’s estimate for the Suffolk area since August 1971. He said Suffolk Primary’s roll fell from 875 to 400, his Sunday school from 100 to 40, and the kindergarten from 60 to 12.
Lordcarson West retweeted
"FREE school meal ENTITLEMENT"
Nothing is free. Someone has to pay for it. The taxpayer.
Every child is entitled to food. But every entitlement brings an obligation. Whose obligation is it to feed children? Too often, we say the state. I say, the parents/ family.
Lordcarson West retweeted
SF complain about lack of funding for Irish medium while taking £30 m from the education budget to support the welfare budget.
SF cap bus fares, don’t increase support to transport companies and are surprised when the companies cut services.
That’s financial competence.
Lordcarson West retweeted
Let’s be very clear - the issue is the desperate and impossible position the education budget is under - the Education Authority is £150m in the red and drowning with the demand that there isn’t money to meet.
This legislation will add at least mandatory cost of £25million plus per year on the Education Authority - that money simply isn’t there. A SF MLA grins at putting the cost on EA all while his Sinn Fein colleague Finance Minister refuses to guarantee the money for it.
So who will be paying for it? The parents who are already squeezed and having to pay more, while Sinn Fein add more and more cost that needs to be paid for.
Shocking financial irresponsible. It is deeply unfair on those parents struggling to pay for school meals and other costs.
Utterly reckless by Sinn Fein - and deeply unfair.
Political unionism was accused of “not caring” about poverty as a bill aimed at tackling holiday hunger was passed in the Assembly tonight.
belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/…
Lordcarson West retweeted
In the House of Lords this afternoon, our General Secretary, Lord Young of Acton, proposed an amendment to the Courts and Tribunals Bill that would mean the right to choose a trial by jury is retained for people accused of speech offences.
These cases often hinge on the interpretation of words like like "insulting", "threatening", "abusive", "harassment", "alarm", "distress", "grossly offensive" and whether something has a tendency to "deprave and corrupt", and the meaning of those words is properly a matter for a jury — of 12 ordinary people — not an 'expert' in the law.
In addition, Lord Young drew their Lordships attention to some FSU research which showed that juries are twice as likely to find defendants accused of speech crimes not guilty as magistrates.
Watch Lord Young below 👇
PIRA protecting their own community
“She was underage.”
"They (The IRA) took all her hair off"
Kathleen Lennon says her daughter was beaten, had her hair cut off and needed hospital treatment. The IRA called it punishment for her behaviour.
Who gave the IRA the right to police a child’s behaviour while terrorising the Catholic nationalist communities it claimed to defend?
They brutalised and tortured the Catholic Nationalist community...
Lordcarson West retweeted
Utterly disturbing case details emerging out of Belfast.
Sipho Banda, 30, pictured below, has just been refused bail in Belfast having allegedly raped a 15 year old girl twice outside a Belfast city centre nightclub on the 28th of October.
He is already on bail for another allegation of rape and sexual assault against a 33 year old woman in May. In both cases, he found them drunk in the city centre and brought them back to his nearby flat in Citygate Apartments, Sussex Place, then raped them allegedly.
Great job to the court system that allowed an alleged rapist to continue to be free to keep doing it.
The 15 year old girl told him to stop, told him she was 15 and none of this prevented his actions. His claim of defence is that he didn’t know, not that it didn’t happen.
I am sparing a lot of court facts out of this post, but will link a full description in the comments.
Sipho was brought to Belfast when he was 9 years old, so 20-odd years he has been living here. This made no difference to his nature.
Unfortunately for Sipho, his name and face is now very public knowledge, and Belfast city centre is a very small place. He might receive quite a lenient sentence from the courts: he should consider voluntary remigration if he survives jail.
I ask this: how many more cases do some of you need to start taking action?
Lordcarson West retweeted
For all the angry Celtic fans jumping all over my post. This is William Angus from Carluke who played for Celtic and won V Cross for bravery. He got cheered at Celtic park when he returned. He would have got boo’d if it was today and he turned up at their game. Just saying.
Lordcarson West retweeted
Oh dear who would have thought this about the Irish Jew hating pop group KNEECAP………
