Open Letter to Professor Peter Finn, St. Mary’s University College, re Hosting the Hypocritical “Pat Finucane Annual Lecture”

Professor Peter Finn,

Principal of St. Mary’s University College, Belfast.

Dear Professor Finn,

I was shocked at your decision to host in St. Mary’s University (Catholic) College the IRA movement’s “Annual Pat Finucane Lecture” where one could see prominently in the audience leaders of the IRA’s 30 year campaign of abductions, torture, extra-judicial executions, disappearances of civilians/corpses, mass-casualty anti-civilian bombings – in fact leaders who ordered the IRA’s 1,700 murders and innumerable bombings, maimings, disappearances and who still withhold the corpse of Catholic soldier Captain Robert Nairac.

I was shocked because of the absence of balance in your support for the utterly hypocritical Finucane juggernaut which fails to recognise any of the IRA’s murders not only of Catholic and Protestant judges at home in front of their families, or of Catholic judges coming out of Mass, or of family member of judges coming out of Mass – including a graduate of your college, Mary Travers – herself murdered by the IRA coming out of Mass – or of family members murdered alongside their husbands – such as Cecily Gibson blown up alongside her husband on the border – or of almost entire families murdered, such as Robin, Maureen and six-year-old David Hanna of Hillsborough, murdered by an IRA bomb aimed at Justice Eoin Higgins.

Nor is it possible to forget the first judge murdered in Northern Ireland, namely Judge William Staunton murdered by the IRA in front his daughter, Sally-Ann, and other school friends as he dropped her outside your sister Dominican Convent Grammar School on the morning of the 11^th of October, 1972.

You must be fully aware that offering St. Mary’s as a venue for the hypocritical Finucane juggernaut where IRA leaders brazenly attend without any repentance whatsoever gives the clearest impression that St. Mary’s approves of the IRA’s campaign of mass murder and is unconcerned that your student body is not made aware of the fact that the IRA murdered not alone judges, lawyers and family members, but entirely unrelated families also in their attacks on the judicial system in Northern Ireland – indeed, murdered one of your own graduates.

One of the greatest evils of the Finucane juggernaut is that nobody associated with it will condemn any of the IRA’s murders of judges or family members or other families mentioned here, nor will they even make any reference to these murders. It is as if they never happened or, alternatively, it was morally correct that the IRA murdered these people.

There is a very real moral hazard flowing from the fact that a college which claims to represent Catholic ethos did not clearly state its opposition to all extra-judicial murders and did not make clear to IRA leaders in attendance at the lecture that the college’s hosting of the event did not represent tacit approval of the IRA’s campaign of murder.

You have the opportunity to clarify these matters – you should take it.

I am happy to give a lecture to your students about the IRA’s Human Rights’ record and the IRA’s practice of torture, extra-judicial executions and disappearance of victims’ corpses if you feel incapable of rendering balance to the college’s Catholic and Dominican reputation.

Please feel free to read the following article on my Blog regarding the IRA’s murders of Human Rights Lawyers and Judges

Regards and thanks for your time,

Shane Paul O’Doherty

The IRA introduced into Northern Ireland the murders of members of the legal fraternity by shooting dead Resident Magistrate William Staunton, a Catholic, on the 11^th of October 1972 as he drove his daughter, Sally-Ann, to St. Dominic’s convent grammar school on the Falls Road.

Judge Staunton was shot in his car in front of his daughter, Sally-Ann, and her school friends.

Visiting such trauma on children was of no concern to the IRA.

Judge Staunton died of his injuries three months later in hospital.

On the 16^th of September, 1974, the IRA murdered Judge Rory Conaghan, a Catholic, at his home in front of his 9 year old daughter, Deirdre.

Neighbours ushered Deirdre away from the murder scene.

Once more, inflicting trauma on a child was not a consideration of the IRA – trauma is clearly visible on Deirdre’s face in the photograph.

Fr. Edward Daly, the priest who famously waved a white handkerchief on Bloody Sunday, was appointed Bishop of Derry in 1974. He recalled in his book, A Troubled See:

In September 1974, I was called upon to officiate at my first funeral of a victim of violence since my appointment as Bishop of Derry… Judge Rory Conaghan was a member of a distinguished Derry family and a man of great intelligence, integrity and faith. He was a personal friend of mine and widely admired in both communities.

He was murdered by a Provisional IRA gunman posing as a postman at his home in Belfast on the morning of 16 September 1974. A Resident Magistrate, Robert McBirney was murdered in Belfast on the same morning.

In my homily I said, ‘The death we mourn today is not just the act of an individual but of an organisation. Before it took place, there was in all probability a meeting, a discussion, a decision taken and a man designated to do the deed. Can any member of such an organisation feel free from the guilt of this crime? Surely the murders of Judge Conaghan and Mr. McBirney must bring home to us the fact that our country has now reached a state where it can afford only one division, the distinction between those who believe in such deeds and those who do not.

Too many people who call themselves Christians offer passive support to organisations that, in their inner hearts, they know are directly opposed to the mind and teaching of Christ. Perhaps these deaths may help to unite all people in our community who are prepared to take a public stand for Christian values. They cannot kill us all. The difference between Unionist and Nationalist pales into insignificance when one is faced with this kind of savagery where a man is sent to his death at breakfast by a teenage gunman.

It would be better to die confronting evil than to live and condone it.’

On the same day, and at the time, the IRA also murdered Resident Magistrate Martin McBirney, a Protestant, at his home in front of his family.

He was standing in the back kitchen of his home when an IRA killer burst in and shot him dead.

Following the murders of Justices Conaghan and McBirney, the IRA Army Council’s mouthpiece – the Irish Republican Publicity Bureau in Dublin – declared that they were murdered because they were “willing agents of a most corrupt, rotten and evil judicial system”.

Martin McBirney was a prominent member of the Northern Ireland Labour Party.

McBirney had married a Catholic and, while a barrister, had acted for the defence in civil rights’ cases and had represented socialist activist Eamon McCann.

He had, among other things, jailed the Rev. Ian Paisley.

The IRA’s statement went on to mistakenly refer to the murder victims as ‘High Court judges’.

They weren’t High Court judges, but were in fact lowly Resident Magistrates, not that this ultimately mattered to the IRA.

The McBirney family’s grief was compounded when Frances Cooke, Mrs. McBirney’s sister-in-law, died of a heart attack after hearing the news of Martin’s murder.

On the 16^th of January, 1983, Judge William Doyle was murdered by the IRA as he came out of Mass in St. Brigid’s Catholic church on Derryvolgie Avenue in Belfast.

Judge Doyle had offered a 72 year old lady a lift home in his car and, as they both exited the church, two IRA gunmen fired at him.

He was hit by six bullets in the chest and stomach.

The 72 year old lady with him was shot in the stomach and seriously injured.

Sixteen months later, IRA gunmen again used the same Catholic church to attack Judge Tom Travers.

One gunman shot his 22-year-old daughter, Mary, in the spine. She fell to the ground and her mother fell with her.

A second gunman shot Tom Travers in the shoulder, knocking him to the ground. The gunman then stood over him and fired five more bullets into him – miraculously, he survived.

The second gunman then put his gun to Travers’ wife’s head and pulled the trigger twice – the gun misfired both times.

Mary Travers, however, died in her mother’s arms.

The IRA’s intent was clear – to murder the judge AND HIS ENTIRE FAMILY AS WELL.

Gerry Adams had appeared in court in front of Judge Travers a few weeks before the judge and his family were attacked.

Judge Travers never changed his belief that the attack was in some part related to matters that had occurred in the courtroom that day.

On the 28^th of April, 1987, the IRA murdered 73-year-old Appeal Justice Maurice Gibson and his wife Cecily by bombing their car at the border, with claims of collusion between the IRA and the Irish police, An Garda Siochana, in relation to the passing of information about the Judge’s travel details.

The fact that the IRA bombers were fully aware that Cecily Gibson was traveling in the car along with her husband did not cause the IRA any difficulty in detonating the massive bomb which murdered her along with her husband.

The couple were only identifiable by their dental records.

Fifteen months later on the 23^rd of July, 1988, IRA bombers attempted to repeat the border bomb tactic, this time intending to murder Catholic Justice Eoin Higgins who was traveling in his car toward Belfast.

On this occasion, when they exploded the bomb they instead murdered a Hillsborough family returning from Disneyland in Florida, Robin and Maureen Hanna and their 6 year old son, David.

The IRA had mistaken the Hanna’s car for the judge’s car.

Seventeen-year-old Peter Hanna and his nineteen-year-old sister, Pauline, were left to mourn their parents and sibling.

Pauline Hanna was readying a ‘welcome home’ party for her family when news of the explosion broke.

The 1,000 pound bomb blew a crater in the road and scattered luggage and body parts over a wide area.

Again there were hints of collusion between the IRA and elements of the Irish police, An Garda Siochana, regarding knowledge of Justice Higgins’ travel plans.

Rev. Gordon McMullan, the Anglican Bishop of Down and Dromore, told mourners attending the Hanna funerals:

”The spokesmen who represent the killers have made their excuses and expressed their regrets. But the fact is that Robin, Maureen and little David are dead because some people set out with lawless intent and deliberate planning to inflict injury and death on other human beings. If it had not been these members of the Hanna family, it would have been the members of some other family. The plotters planned death and death is what ensued.”

On the 7^th of December, 1983, two IRA gunmen shot Human Rights’ barrister and law lecturer Edgar Graham in the back of his head as he stood talking to his friend and colleague Dermot Nesbitt in Queen’s University.

Edgar Graham was not a judge.

As the 29-year-old law lecturer lay dying outside the campus library, cheering erupted among republican students in the students’ union as witnessed by Lady Sylvia Hermon.

Edgar Graham was a rising star in Unionism and he was tipped to be a possible leader of the Unionist Party.

The IRA admitted Edgar Graham’s murder in a statement, adding that it “should be a salutary lesson to those loyalists who stand foursquare behind the laws and forces of oppression of the nationalist people”.

By this reckoning, every Protestant with an opinion was a ‘legitimate target’ of the IRA.

Gerry Adams refused to condemn the killing since he was not prepared “to join the hypocritical chorus of establishment figures who were vocal only in their condemnation of IRA actions and silent on British actions” – Gerry’s “whatabout” paramorality…

That other mouthpiece, Danny Morrison, opined that “It has been a very, very bad time, when it seems everything the IRA has touched has turned to tragedy” – Morrison was referring to the fact that since the previous November, the IRA had murdered 17 innocent people “by mistake”.

You were right, Danny – every single death caused by the IRA was unnecessary, immoral and criminal and only after that ‘a tragedy’.

Commentator Alex Kane, recalling Edgar Graham’s murder, wrote:

“They murdered him because he was the sort of unionist they most feared: a unionist who wanted good, accountable, power-sharing government here; a unionist who was not afraid to criticise loyalist paramilitaries; a unionist who believed that the law was worth upholding; a unionist who could bring new thinking and leadership to the UUP. And, even after all this time, they still don’t like unionists like Edgar Graham. Who knows if Edgar would have become leader? All we need to know, and remember, is that he was killed because he was an enemy of all paramilitarism.”

A current member of Queens University law faculty, Dr. Peter Doran, who had put himself forward as a Sinn Féin election candidate, refused to condemn the IRA’s murder of Edgar Graham, expressing only “profound sorrow”.

For an article on the IRA’s use of Torture, click here.

For an article on the IRA’s Youngest Torture Victim, click here.

For an article on the IRA’s refusal to return the remains of Captain Robert Nairac for a Christian burial, click here.

Today marks the 260th anniversary of the birth of Scotland’s National Bard, Robert Burns.

In a letter written in 1788, Burns details his attendance at a service of thanksgiving to mark the centenary of the Glorious Revolution –

“To that auspicious event we owe no less than our liberties, civil and religious. To it we are likewise indebted for the present Royal Family, the ruling features of whose administration have been mildness to the subject, and tenderness of his rights.”

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He is regarded as Scotland’s national poet: an icon who has loomed large in Ulster/Scottish culture and consciousness ever since his early death at the age of 37. Arguably his best known work is the song Auld Lang Syne: a long established feature of New Year celebrations in every corner of the world settled by the Scottish diaspora (which means, in effect, every corner of the world).

Ian Adamson was a highly complex person, with a whole range of roles as physician, politician, historian, and cultural activist. What I will say today will only scratch the surface of what was an exceptionally rich and full life.

Ian is perhaps best known through the series of books he wrote, starting with the best-known, The Cruthin, published at the height of the Troubles in 1974, and ending with the most recent, The Voyage of Bran, published last year. His work on the prehistory of Ulster proposes what amounts to an alternative narrative of origins for the unionist community in Ulster. He traces the story of the original inhabitants, not only of Ulster but also of the British Isles, what he calls the “ancient kindred” (known as the Cruthin or Pretani), from pre-history into the Early Christian period and beyond. He saw his narrative as a means to establish a meaningful dialogue with Ulster’s Gaelic past, with both “traditions” together forming a “common identity,” a theme he has developed over the past few years with Helen Brooker through Pretani Associates.

This considerable body of writing hides another key aspect of his involvement in publishing. His imprint, Pretani Press, was behind the publication of a broad range of significant texts. I am thinking of the Folk Poets of Ulster Series in 1992 which made the Ulster-Scots material of the “weaver poets” available to the general public for the first time since their initial publication; or again his edition of Ferguson’s Congal in 1980, the first publication of this major text since 1907; or again the translation of the Old Testament into Scots, produced in 2014. It is important to underline the intelligence of this targeted policy of re-edition. This material provided clear evidence of cultural continuities that reflected much of what he was saying in his own work with regard to the specificities of Ulster’s position as an interface between Ireland and Scotland; but – equally importantly – it also allowed him to highlight the complex ideological shifts that have taken place within a culture that is far from being as monolithic as its critics would have us believe.

However, what made Ian’s work special was that things did not stop with a publication. What mattered more was how he managed to turn material that might otherwise have seemed obscure into something that was relevant to the everyday lives of people in Northern Ireland today. In particular, it is the creative and imaginative processes this material set in motion in the community that are important.

The example of a visit to France in the 1980s is a perfect illustration of how he worked.

One of my predecessors in Irish Studies at the Sorbonne, René Fréchet, was deeply impressed by Ian’s text, The Identity of Ulster, and invited him to present his work at the Sorbonne. Ian saw an ideal opportunity and, in collaboration with the Farset Youth Project, organised a trip with a group of young people from the Shankill and the Falls in Belfast and Tallaght in Dublin that would call in Paris and travel on through Europe in a bus. The idea was to follow in the steps of the 6th century monk, Colombanus, born in Leinster, trained down the road here in Bangor and who was destined to found a strimg of monasteries all over Europe. The connections Columbanus’s story opened up made him an ideal candidate for Ian’s particular brand of community relations. Ian was one of the rare people in this country to be able to see a direct cultural link between a Irish monk born in Leinster in the mid 6th century and a young unemployed loyalist in the Shankill in the middle of the Troubles in the 1980s. He was one of the rare people to be able to use the one to instruct the other in terms of his identity – to offer an alternative model to the sectarianism and violence that blighted everday life for so many. On the return journey, almost as an afterthought, he decided to stop off in the Somme, an initiative that was to lead to the creation of the Somme Association and the refurbishment of the Ulster Tower, a site that was to take on its fullest significance in the context of the 1916 commemorations

This trip is in many ways a résumé of the complex linkages that underpin Ian’s work. There is an interest in early Church history, the connection with Europe, the link in to the First World War and above all the overarching imperative of using this to educate young people who otherwise could never have imagined having such an opportunity.

The result of this multi-layered approach is that he has made an extraordinary contribution to the cultural debate here. Needless to say, his impact has been most clearly felt in certain sections of the unionist community. An obvious example is Rev. Ian Paisley with whom he had a close personal relationship. Indeed, Ian was Paisley’s advisor on history and culture from 2004 until the latter’s death in 2014. Ian’s influence can be seen in Paisley’s writings and Paisley gave him much-appreciated support on key projects like the refurbishment of the Thiepval Tower on the Somme and the insertion of Ulster-Scots – what Ian always refers to as Ullans – into the St Andrew’s Agreement.

But it is especially among the loyalist paramilitaries and former combattants that Ian’s ideas have had the greatest impact. Indeed, it could be argued that he effected a sea change in the loyalist imagination, extending their imaginative coordinates not only in terms of time but also space. The concrete results of this are to be found across the board in the work of the New Ulster Political Research Group, in a play like This is it! or in the work of Robert Williamson with the Dalaradia project which reflects many aspects of the educational programme of Pretani Associates, Ian’s most recent venture.

Thus, whether people like it or not, – and indeed many on both sides of the cultural debate do not! – his ideas have filtered into the collective imagination here. They have done so in a way that opens the loyalist imagination up beyond the Plantation, and the hyper-focus on the 17th century, challenging the stereotypes and the caricatures that have been used to confine it.

In short, Ian’s work was based on the premise that the past is not necessarily a trap; rather it should be used to open up opportunities for dialogue in and with the future.

Ian was first and foremost an Ulsterman, Although he worked all his life to ensure the maintenance of the Union, he systematically sought contact and dialogue not only with nationalists and republicans here in Northern Ireland but also with the Republic. He constantly sought to open channels of communication between the Irish State and the unionist and loyalist community here. I know that that he saw this particular dialogue as being one of the most important in his career. His efforts were readily reciprocated and we have evidence of this and the strength of the friendships thus established in the presence of the President of Ireland here today.

Before I conclude I would like to extend my sympathy to Ian’s wife Kerry whom he loved most deeply and who was for him a constant source of joy. Sadly, he has been taken from us all too soon. However, I am convinced that his energy – what I would call his imaginative legacy – will live on through the multiple projects that he initiated in such a wide variety of fields.

Ian Adamson was one the kindest, most interesting and disinterested men I have ever met. His spontaneous energy, his ability to see connections and opportunities where other people only saw walls, his capacity to circumvent problems and defuse tensions with a well-placed joke or an amusing aside; his encyclopaedic reading, his optimism, and inventiveness, these were some of his innumerable qualities.

He was for me a very dear friend- the kind of connection that happens only rarely in a lifetime. I feel immensely privileged to have known him and to have shared his friendship.

Wesley Hutchinson
Professeur émérite, Sorbonne-Nouvelle

It is with the utmost sadness Dalaradia mark the passing of their esteemed Patron Dr Ian Adamson.

An incredible human being who dedicated his life to his community, serving as a Paediatrician he served those children most in need. As an elected politician he represented all without fear or favour, also serving as Lord Mayor, Deputy Lord Mayor and High Sheriff of Belfast.

Working behind the scenes he was instrumental in promoting peace in our society by engaging with individuals across the divide regardless of their background, a work he continued right until the end. His sense of a common identity for all of Ulster’s people was perhaps 30 tears ahead of his time.

As a respected Author and Historian his works on the History of Ulster and its people inspired a generation, not least his pioneering endeavours being instrumental in securing the Ulster Tower and the Story of the Somme forever. A friend of Royalty and Presidents, he never lost the common touch, not least his hugely satirical blog which lambasted the failings of our politicians,- if ever Kipling’s poem “IF” applied to anyone, it was Ian Adamson. “If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch. You’ll be a Man, my son!”

A lover of native language, literature and culture be it Pritani, Cruithin, Ulster Gaelic or Ulster Scots / Ullans he showed how culture can be enjoyed and celebrated by all in an inclusive non-threatening way and never used as a political weapon. His final completed book, perhaps the oldest written Ulster story – ” A Journey To The Immortal Isles, The Voyage of Bran” being launched throughout working class unionist communities only a few months ago.

A huge loss not only to his friends but to the whole Ulster Nation. We will remember him through support for Respect – Heritage – Culture

Robed in Red Mantles and with caps of Red
No swords had they, nor bore they sword or shield
But each man on his knee a bagpipe held

All the committee and members of Reach UK wish to pay their thanks and respect to our valued friend and colleague.

The Loyalist Communities Council would also wish to pay their thanks and respect to our friend.