WISHING TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT REGARDING RIRA FUNDING ISSUE
Wishing to set the record straight regarding RIRA funding issue
Sir
With regard to your 18th January article entitled 'Michael Gallagher confronts fundraiser on Tonight Programme' concerning my meeting with Michael Gallagher, representative of the Omagh victim's' group, there are a few comments I would like to make.
I spoke with Mr Gallagher for nearly an hour (so much for the "reluctance"). Prior to the media ambush in the hotel lobby, I had been through a very lengthy interview upstairs with Mr Nickerson. Since the upstairs interview had run well over the one hour which had been agreed to, since every possible question had already been asked, I feel the subsequent hour was merely dragging things out until Mr Gallagher arrived at the hotel.
Mr Gallagher was correct in several instances, in particular: my contempt for Sinn Fein, my refusal to accept the Free State government (isn't this a basic tenet of Republicanism?), and the fact that I condemned the Omagh bombing (possibly an unpopular statement in Republican circles, but that's too bad). However, I am incredulous that he somehow missed what I felt was the one fact I wanted most to impart to him - that I am not now nor have I ever done fund-raising for the Real IRA, that in effect he was barking up the wrong tree.
My fame as an RIRA fund-raiser began in February 2000 with an article that appeared in several Irish and English newspapers. Titled "Blood Money", this story wove a fanciful and lurid tale of arms deals in Afghanistan, of my closeting myself with Real and Continuity personnel and moulding them into one unit, often million dollars raised for the dissident forces, and other fabrications.
I will probably never know if the author of this abomination made the story up himself or had it suggested to him, and, if suggested to him, by whom. Since that time, several other articles have appeared the timing on the last onslaught, the weekend before President Clinton's visit to Ireland, was no doubt an effort to convince him to add the RIRA to the American terrorism list.
In the 29 January issue of the Boston Globe (a well-respected American paper) Joe Lauria presented an excellent article titled "Funds Raised for Irish Radicals". (I believe Mr Lauria is the Globe's United Nations correspondent.) Lauria managed to write a lengthy article on IRA fund-raising without once mentioning my name. I noted with some interest his quote from Congressman Peter King, to the effect that there is no IRA fundraising going on here. ( I had made the same comment to the Tonight interviewer two weeks ago. ) I heartily recommend this article to anyone interested in the topic of American RIRA fund-raising.
I have not yet received a copy of the tape for the Tonight show, which I believe will be shown this week. When it does arrive, I will probably not look at it. So far as I am concerned, the one good thing that came out of that whole session was that M. Nickerson inadvertently gave me a title for a novel about the Clan na Gael I've been working on "Paymaster".
And, oh yes, one final comment - It is a bad idea, a really bad idea, to keep accusing people of things they have not done. Some number of them just may decide, "Well, hell, I have the name, I might as well , have the game."
Dorothy Robinson
New Jersey/USA
Sir
With regard to your 18th January article entitled 'Michael Gallagher confronts fundraiser on Tonight Programme' concerning my meeting with Michael Gallagher, representative of the Omagh victim's' group, there are a few comments I would like to make.
I spoke with Mr Gallagher for nearly an hour (so much for the "reluctance"). Prior to the media ambush in the hotel lobby, I had been through a very lengthy interview upstairs with Mr Nickerson. Since the upstairs interview had run well over the one hour which had been agreed to, since every possible question had already been asked, I feel the subsequent hour was merely dragging things out until Mr Gallagher arrived at the hotel.
Mr Gallagher was correct in several instances, in particular: my contempt for Sinn Fein, my refusal to accept the Free State government (isn't this a basic tenet of Republicanism?), and the fact that I condemned the Omagh bombing (possibly an unpopular statement in Republican circles, but that's too bad). However, I am incredulous that he somehow missed what I felt was the one fact I wanted most to impart to him - that I am not now nor have I ever done fund-raising for the Real IRA, that in effect he was barking up the wrong tree.
My fame as an RIRA fund-raiser began in February 2000 with an article that appeared in several Irish and English newspapers. Titled "Blood Money", this story wove a fanciful and lurid tale of arms deals in Afghanistan, of my closeting myself with Real and Continuity personnel and moulding them into one unit, often million dollars raised for the dissident forces, and other fabrications.
I will probably never know if the author of this abomination made the story up himself or had it suggested to him, and, if suggested to him, by whom. Since that time, several other articles have appeared the timing on the last onslaught, the weekend before President Clinton's visit to Ireland, was no doubt an effort to convince him to add the RIRA to the American terrorism list.
In the 29 January issue of the Boston Globe (a well-respected American paper) Joe Lauria presented an excellent article titled "Funds Raised for Irish Radicals". (I believe Mr Lauria is the Globe's United Nations correspondent.) Lauria managed to write a lengthy article on IRA fund-raising without once mentioning my name. I noted with some interest his quote from Congressman Peter King, to the effect that there is no IRA fundraising going on here. ( I had made the same comment to the Tonight interviewer two weeks ago. ) I heartily recommend this article to anyone interested in the topic of American RIRA fund-raising.
I have not yet received a copy of the tape for the Tonight show, which I believe will be shown this week. When it does arrive, I will probably not look at it. So far as I am concerned, the one good thing that came out of that whole session was that M. Nickerson inadvertently gave me a title for a novel about the Clan na Gael I've been working on "Paymaster".
And, oh yes, one final comment - It is a bad idea, a really bad idea, to keep accusing people of things they have not done. Some number of them just may decide, "Well, hell, I have the name, I might as well , have the game."
Dorothy Robinson
New Jersey/USA
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0736
Published Date: 01-Feb-01
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