A QUIET FELLA WHO NEVER LOOKED YOU IN THE EYE
A quiet fella who never looked you in the eye'
"A QUIET fella who let you talk and never looked you in the eye," was how one union official described Colm Murphy, the building sub-contractor who was yesterday convicted of plotting the worse single atrocity in Northern Ireland.
By all accounts, Murphy was a hated man in the Republic's bricklayers trade union, having sparked one of one of the most serious labour relations disputes in the country's history. A High Court judge jailed three bricklayers who refused to lift a picket on a building firm which hired Murphy's company, and dozens of workers later tried to storm the High Court after the three bricklayers refused to apologise.
The dispute began in 1997 while Murphy was doing subcontracting work in a number of sites for the well-respected Cramptons building company. Three of his bricklayers claimed that Murphy wanted them to take cash-in-hand payments and go on the dole, and sacked them for wanting to go straight and pay tax contributions.
The High Court granted Cramptons and injunction to stop hundreds of bricklayers from picketing a �29m office building development for Smurfit International, where Murphy was Cramptons bricklaying sub-contractor.
Three workers were jailed for refusing to obey the injunction and, in the words of the court clerk, "all hell broke lose" when supporters tried to storm the High Court. A judge in the case accepted Cramptons submission that the men were employed by Colm Murphy, and had no right to picket Cramptons. The worsening crisis made national headlines and nine months before the Omagh outrage, Murphy granted his only ever interview - to Sinn Fein's newspaper, An Phoblacht.
He denounced the BATU as a "little clique" and complained that some of its members were trying to "run me out of Dublin".
He also said that workers outside of Dublin wanted "nothing to do with unions".
In May of the same year, three months before the Omagh bombing, Murphy was named on a 'Workers Solidarity' website as affiliated with either Continuity IRA or Real IRA and the website complained of his heavy-handed treatment of unions.
"A QUIET fella who let you talk and never looked you in the eye," was how one union official described Colm Murphy, the building sub-contractor who was yesterday convicted of plotting the worse single atrocity in Northern Ireland.
By all accounts, Murphy was a hated man in the Republic's bricklayers trade union, having sparked one of one of the most serious labour relations disputes in the country's history. A High Court judge jailed three bricklayers who refused to lift a picket on a building firm which hired Murphy's company, and dozens of workers later tried to storm the High Court after the three bricklayers refused to apologise.
The dispute began in 1997 while Murphy was doing subcontracting work in a number of sites for the well-respected Cramptons building company. Three of his bricklayers claimed that Murphy wanted them to take cash-in-hand payments and go on the dole, and sacked them for wanting to go straight and pay tax contributions.
The High Court granted Cramptons and injunction to stop hundreds of bricklayers from picketing a �29m office building development for Smurfit International, where Murphy was Cramptons bricklaying sub-contractor.
Three workers were jailed for refusing to obey the injunction and, in the words of the court clerk, "all hell broke lose" when supporters tried to storm the High Court. A judge in the case accepted Cramptons submission that the men were employed by Colm Murphy, and had no right to picket Cramptons. The worsening crisis made national headlines and nine months before the Omagh outrage, Murphy granted his only ever interview - to Sinn Fein's newspaper, An Phoblacht.
He denounced the BATU as a "little clique" and complained that some of its members were trying to "run me out of Dublin".
He also said that workers outside of Dublin wanted "nothing to do with unions".
In May of the same year, three months before the Omagh bombing, Murphy was named on a 'Workers Solidarity' website as affiliated with either Continuity IRA or Real IRA and the website complained of his heavy-handed treatment of unions.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0821
Published Date: 23-Jan-02
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