Willie Carlin -a former MI5 spy inside Sinn Féin- has died. Carlin, aged in his 70s at the time of his passing, is reported to have passed away at the be.
Leitrim County Council recently received delivery of a new Class B fire appliance for the fire service. The new fire appliance was assigned to Manorhamilton fir.
Stars of Derby County team who won 1972 First Division title reunite 50 years on derbytelegraph.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from derbytelegraph.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
WAS it the secret war carried out by British agents inside the IRA which brought the Troubles to a close? Did British intelligence manipulate Sinn Fein into peace? Did either side really “win” the war in Ulster? Northern Ireland turned 100 years old this week. It is a fitting time to reassess the Troubles. Like most conflicts, it’s only with the passage of time that the violence which shook the north of Ireland and the rest of Britain for 30 years can begin to be understood. We know why the Troubles began – Northern Ireland was essentially a sectarian state, the Catholic population demanded civil rights, Ulster’s security forces brutally mishandled the situation, the IRA seized its opportunity and the British army was dragged into the conflict. But why did the war follow the course it did? Why did the violence come to an end? And what’s the legacy that the Troubles leave behind today?
Colonial powers carved up land between them, dividing age-old settlements, tribes and indigenous peoples. A map of Africa can tell us that. Other maps show boundaries, the result of partitions by Britain that remain a cause of violent conflict in the Middle East, Asia and the United Kingdom.
This year, 3 May marks the centenary of the creation of Northern Ireland, made up of six of Ulster’s nine counties (widely but wrongly referred to as “The Province”). It is not a time for celebration, even by Unionists, who support the UK.
Two books have now been added to the voluminous library devoted to this troubled land. One considers its uncertain future, the other how it became the killing field for the Irish Republican Army (IRA), “loyalist’ paramilitary groups, the British army, and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC the Northern Irish police force), aided and abetted by Britain’s domestic security agency, MI5.