Blazes Boylan

Three Irishmen have been remanded in custody in Antwerp, Belgium, in connection with the theft of four of the most important paintings from the Beit Collection, stolen from Russborough House in Wicklow in 1986.

Works by Goya, Vermeer, Metsu and Vestier, which police said were valued between £30 and €40 million in total, were recovered from what was the biggest heist in the history of the state.

A Dublin businessman, Niall Mulvihill, and two associates, Damien O’Brien and Desmond Geraghty, have been charged with handling stolen property.

It was reported that three undercover policemen were murdered in the last 14 months during the international operation undertaken to track down the art.

The paintings were apparently held by a Belgian drug dealer as collateral for drug deals since May 1992, and three officers posing as drug dealers were murdered by underlings of the Belgian, and of another dealer from Holland. While the art was recovered, both dealers and two couriers escaped the police net.

In return for passing the paintings to the drug dealer in Belgium, Mulvihill was to receive a large amount of heroin, supposedly for sale in Britain.

Belgian, Dutch and Irish police hoped that Mulvihill would lead them to the drug-smuggling ring. A fourth man, a Yugoslav who hired the car used by the Irishmen at the time of their arrest, was also arrested.

Sir Alfred and Lady Beit donated 17 paintings, including those recently recovered, to the National Gallery in 1987. Lady Beit was said to be “overjoyed” at the find.

Although 15 paintings were stolen from Russborough House, four of lesser value were dumped nearby and found immediately. One was found in Istanbul in 1990 and three more in London last year. Police had been tracking the leader of the thieves for some time, but never managed to pin him down.

The men will not be extradited to Ireland to face punishment, as it cannot be proved that they had the paintings in their possession in Ireland.

Under Belgian law, they face a maximum sentence of five years.

In a later development, a lost masterpiece by the 16th century Italian painter Caravaggio turned up in Dublin. The painting, The Taking of Christ, valued at about $75 million, surfaced in the house of a Jesuit order and was authenticated by the National Gallery. The Jesuits, who received the painting from a Dublin pediatrician, have offered to donate it to the gallery, much to its delight.

“The picture is something every art gallery director on earth would give his eye teeth for,” a spokesman said.

Australia’s Prime Minister Paul Keating jetted across to Ireland after a brief visit with Queen Elizabeth Il at Balmoral in Scotland, where he reportedly told the monarch that Australia wanted to go it alone as a republic by the year 2001.

The Queen replied that it was OK with her if that’s what the majority of the people down under want.

While in Ireland, Keating met with various politicians and made an impassioned speech before the Dail (parliament) about his republican crusade, saying that “real, hard, political lessons” could be drawn from Ireland. Mr. Keating then paid tribute to those Irish emigrants who went to Australia in the 18th century, and spoke of the two countries’ historic ties. He said Australians felt “uncannily at home” with the Irish, that the attraction of Ireland was “an elemental thing — it fulfills a need in us. It is almost as if, one can say, that if Ireland did not ex-ist, countries like Australia would have to invent it.”

Mr. Keating attended the All-Ireland football final with his wife, Anita, and Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds. Keating took time to pay tribute to his Irish roots, in Tynagh, Co. Galway, from which his great-great-grandparents emigrated in 1855.

While in Galway, Keating went to visit the remains of the old school his ancestors had attended, and met a distant relative, 82-year-old Jim Keating.

Speaking of jet-setting politicians, President Mary Robinson has been busy, traveling to New Zealand and India, where she met with Mother Teresa in Calcutta. The saintly nun expressed her warm feelings for Ireland, where she trained with the Loretto Sisters. Robinson then flew low over the area devastated by the recent earthquake to inspect the damage, and pledged Irish aid for the tragic victims.

The recent announcement that the two main Nationalist leaders in Northern Ireland, Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein and John Hume of the SDLP (Social Democratic Labor Party), were ready to send a report to the Dublin government about proposals for peace that had arisen from their six months of talks sent shock waves through political circles in Ireland.

The mass of reaction since has embraced some of the most exciting and potentially successful proposals ever for a solution to the troubled history of Northern Ireland.

Following quickly on the heels of an Irish-American delegation to the North on a fact-finding mission about the need for a U.S. special envoy in the province, during which the IRA called an unprecedented seven-day cease-fire, the announcement by Adams and Hume has drawn the eyes of the world to the British and Irish governments.

The Irish-American delegation in September, led by former Congressman Bruce Morrison, with William Flynn of Mutual of America, Charles Feeney of General Atlantic, and Irish America publisher Niall O’Dowd, met with people fiom all sides of the political coin in the North in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of their viewpoints and problems.

Possible names put forward for the position of envoy include former President Jimmy Carter, civil rights leader Andrew Young, and Sol Linowitz, who was involved with the Carter peace accord at Camp David between Israel and Egypt.

But the peace initiative proposed by the Hume/Adams talks put the envoy question on the back burner for the moment, as the various political parties and governments gave it their full attention. Despite an initial reluctance on the part of the government in Dublin to comment on the report, which mainly deals with a British declaration of intent to withdraw, and a subsequent IRA cease-fire, Taoiseach Albert Reynolds soon threw his weight behind it, saying there was “significant potential” for peace in the agreement between Sinn Féin and the SDLP.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams wrote in response that “the belated statements of the Dublin government, while helpful and welcome, are not enough.

Dublin must seek to move this initiative forward, There is also a responsibility on the Unionists themselves to produce someone who will say something other than ‘No.'” Adams also wrote that the Clinton administration could play a positive role by creating a climate for peace, by lifting the ban on issuing a visa to him.

The IRA had indicated that it supported the initiative, and hopes of a possible cease-fire grew as Adams spoke publicly of Unionist fears, saying they were “real,” and referred to a “process of demilitarization.”

Unionist objections, he said, must be overcome before there is a settlement. “While they [Unionists] cannot be given a veto, we have to take on board their fears,” Adams said.

SDLP leader John Hume briefed Albert Reynolds and Dick Spring on October 7 during a meeting in Dublin. The government announced that the document given them by Hume

“set out the broad principles on which all of us agree there could be a just and lasting peace process established and worked upon.”

The Rev. Martin Smyth, Ulster Unionist MP, jumped in to say that Sinn Féin could have a seat at the table for talks if the IRA violence ended. The DUP (Democratic Unionist Party), led by the Rev.Jan Paisley, on the other hand, insisted that Ulster would still say no, and reiterated that they would never talk with Sinn Féin.

As the publicity grew, a poll of the Irish people showed that an astonishing 72 percent approved of the continuing talks between the Nationalist leaders, even while IRA violence continues. Only 19 percent disapproved of the talks, while 70 percent agree that a precondition for the IRA to stop the violence should be set before Sinn Féin are formally invited to join in negotiations.

The British, however, objected to the peace plan, and stood firmly behind the Unionists. Prime Minister John Major and Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Patrick Mayhew both seem prepared to reject any proposals from the SDLP and Sinn Féin.

At his party’s annual conference in Blackpool, England, Major announced his support for the Unionist cause, and warned that the IRA would have to stop all violence before Sinn Féin could be considered for admission to any talks process.

Mayhew went even further, saying if the Hume/Adams talks were seen as an obstacle to his own internal talks which collapsed last year, as Unionists have said, then they should end.

Mayhew also insisted that an IRA cease-fire would have to be in place for an unspecified, but lengthy, period of time before the British would taik with Sinn Féin. It is expected that the IRA would never agree to such a precondition, and reports have filtered through that the organization has told its members that no cease-fire is in the offing as long as Sinn Féin is kept out of any talks.

An IRA statement said its members had “a vested interest in seeking a just and lasting peace in Ireland,” adding that an all-Ireland solution was the best way. “Our objectives, which include the right of the Irish people to self-determination, are well known. Our commitment remains steadfast.” Meanwhile, Taoiseach Albert Reynolds had given a commitment to support possible changes to Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution, which refer to the right of the people of Ireland to claim the whole of Ireland as part of any possible settlement.

This support was viewed as an olive branch for the Unionists, in an effort to bring them back into the talks process. No specific details of the document presented by John Hume and Gerry Adams have yet been made available, but it is believed that the men have called upon the British to declare they have no long-term interest in staying in the North, and that they recognize the right of the Irish people to national self-determination. It is also believed that this would mean implementing a system of joint sovereignty in the North.

The Unionist opposition has threatened to escalate the violence in the North in retaliation.

In fact, while the British were naysaying the proposals, Loyalist gunmen attacked nine Catholics in Belfast on October 12, killing one and injuring five more. The IRA also continue their campaign in the North.

On October 12, the Irish Cabinet was briefed on the Hume/Adams proposals, and it is expected that John Major and Albert Reynolds will meet and discuss the plan in late October at the EC summit in Brussels. A key meeting of the Anglo-Irish Conference in scheduled for late in October also.

Saying it would be impossible for them to get a fair trial because of all the publicity, the Judge presiding over the trial of three West Midland policemen accused of perjury and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in the Birmingham Six case dismissed the charges against the men and set them free.

The announcement was regarded with disgust in Ireland when Justice Garland released former Det. Supt. George Reade, Det. Sgt. Colin Morris and Det. Cons. Terence Woodwiss from the Old Bailey on October 7.

Two members of the Birmingham Six, Billy Power and Paddy Hill, were present in the public gallery to hear the case dropped.

“Why do we spend 16 1/2 years in prison and they don’t even get before a jury?” asked Billy Power bitterly.

Justice Garland said that “the saturation” of publicity and comment on the case since 1974 prevented the jury from hearing the evidence with an open mind. Sinn Féin’s spokesman for Justice, Paddy McManus, said: “The excuse given is transparently dishonest. If it had been applied fairly, then the Birmingham Six themselves would never have stood trial.” 

In a statement, the Birmingham Six said they were saddened but not surprised. The Six intend to take civil action against the men who forced them to spend nearly two decades in prison for the 1974 bombings in Birmingham which they did not commit. In 1991, Patrick Hill, John Walker, Hugh Callaghan, Richard Mcilkenny, Gerard Hunter and Billy Power were finally freed on appeal when international attention was drawn to the case.

The three police officers pleaded not guilty to seven charges of conspiring to pervert the course of justice between November 20, 1974, and August 26, 1975, by manufacturing interview notes with Richard Mollkenny, and later claiming at trial that the notes were contemporaneous.

In another damning indictment of the British system of justice, their Home Secretary, Michael Howard, has proposed that the government abolish a defendant’s right to silence.

Earlier, a Royal Commission had suggested that defendants should speak about the substance of their case once the prosecution had given its evidence, but said the right to silence should be maintained Howard’s proposal suggests that a judge should be able to make adverse comments to the jury on the fact that a defendant refused to answer questions at any time.

The Home Secretary also proposed new stop-and-search powers against terrorism, and the Home Office said it is considering other areas of reform, such as a defendant’s right to trial by jury.

As we went to press, it was learned that ten people were killed and dozens injured when a no-warning IRA bomb exploded in a busy shopping district on Belfast’s Shankill Road on October 23, destroying the headquarters of the Ulster Freedom Fighters, the illegal paramilitary wing of the Ulster Defense Association.

As of 6 p.m. that day, the UFF said all its members were on “standby,” and within three days four Catholics had been shot dead in two separate retaliatory attacks.

The extradition hearing of Jimmy Smyth in San Francisco opened with the prosecution, on behalf of the British government, calling witnesses from the RUC and British Army to testify that Smyth should be deported to Northern Ireland to finish his 20-year sentence, imposed in his absence, for the attempted murder of an off-duty prison officer.

Smyth, one of the 38 prisoners who escaped from Long Kesh (the Maze) prison in Belfast in 1983, contends that his life would be in danger if he were returned to the North, and denies he is guilty of any crime.

The Governor of Long Kesh, John Baxter, admitted during questioning by the defense that numerous prisoners had been brutalized in the aftermath of the escape. He said he could not guarantee that Smyth would not be treated as a “Red Book’ prisoner if he was returned.

“Red Book” prisoners routinely undergo strip searching, being shifted from cell to cell regularly, having their lights turned on every 15 minutes during the night, and different visitation rights.

Before U.S. District Judge Barbara Caulfield, the defense produced witnesses who painted a brutal picture of life in the North.

Former Mid Ulster MP Bernadette McAliskey testified to the continual violence, and the treatment of prisoners and Nationalists by the security forces. McAliskey and her husband were shot by Loyalists in 1980. She told the court that before she left Ireland to testify, the RUC informed her that because of her current public profile she was in “imminent danger of assassination.”

RUC members used “national security” on numerous occasions to justify not answering questions on the stand.

Smyth was arrested last year in San Francisco by the FBI. If his fight against extradition is successful, the British are expected to appeal.

Dessie O’Malley, party leader of the Progressive Democrats, shocked political circles in Dublin recently with his surprise resignation on October 5.

In a short statement at a press conference, O’Malley said there were “absolutely no external or internal factors, personal or political” that were forcing him to resign. He said he had “chosen this time as appropriate to ask the next political generation to take over the helm.” O’Malley has been a member of the Dail (parliament) for 25 years, and a popular figure on the political circuit. 

As a member of Fianna Fail, he held various ministries before being expelled from the party in 1985 in a bitter row over Charlie Haughey’s leadership.

O’Malley started the PDs the same year, and later formed a coalition government with Fianna Fail, where he and Haughey worked in an uneasy truce. Current deputy leader of the PDs, Mary Harney, is the hot favorite to fill O’Malley’s shoes as leader.

Despite speculation in Dublin that a personal or party scandal forced O’Malley, 54, to withdraw, there have been no reports to substantiate any rumors. Labor leader and Foreign Minister Dick Spring, a fierce opponent of the PDs in the Dail, said in a tribute to O’Malley that he had “always respected his ability and integrity.”

The coveted Sam Maguire cup of the Irish superbowl, the All-Ireland football final, has made a third trip North in three years, as Derry beat Cork and took their first football championship in GAA history.

In front of such luminaries as An Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, and Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating with his wife Anita, the jubilant Derry captain, Henry Downey, hoisted the cup to the accompanying roars of the adoring fans.

It had been 35 years since Derry’s last appearance in a final, and this time they were determined to make it more memorable, although Cork were strong favorites in the run up to the game.

At a team reception in Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel following the match, the celebrations began in earnest before the victors traveled back across the border the next day to give the Sam Maguire to the ecstatic Derry people. One Derry man reported seeing a banner hanging across the front of a pub in a Unionist stronghold, bearing the message “Bring Samuel Back to Londonderry,” with a Union Jack on either end. An amazing victory for Derry and the GAA in the North of Ireland.

 

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the November December 1993 issue of Irish America. ♦