1971 AD - 1 January / February

                                                                                                                                                      "Vale Richard Mulcahy""

1971 AD January. The population of the Irish Republic was now at 2,978,248, and in the 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province still under the control of the British Conservative Imperial Government it was 1,536,065 with  the number of people in Ireland now speaking the Irish Gaelic language down to 70,000.   

     In the Irish Republic, Richard Mulcahy had died, who had been born in 1886, and was one of the original Irish National Volunteers in 1913 and then their commander under Michael Collins, and the "leader" of the Fine Gael Party in 1944 after William. T. Cosgrave.

In the 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, by the British Imperial Coalition Government and also still under the control of the Ascendancy "Official" Unionist Stormont Government, due to a review of their policy the Queen's University in Belfast in Co. Antrim had 32% Catholic students attending there by now, giving them an opportunity to achieve a greater "education" and the opportunity to learn the ways and means of bringing about "reform" through Constitutional means.

January:  Francis Card, Liam Hannaway (Hanvey) and Patrick Martin from the "Provisional Anti - Treaty I.R.A." in these 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, by now had nearly 1,200 men under their control in the area that they now "protected" from assault and violence, and at this time they had entered into "secret" discussions with the commander of the British Military Royal Anglian Regiment to try and settle the area down and maintain order, which also boosted their own "confidence." The Royal Anglian Regiment had also opened up a "discotheque" in Springfield Road for public relation purposes, and to also gather local information on the area, and the youths there responded by "overturning" their vehicles and attacking them with "stones" and "petrol bombs."

January 15th: In these 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, the "last riot" occurred in Ballymurphy and 6 groups of "Anti - Treaty I.R.A." men went to Belfast in Co. Antrim were they planted "incendiary devices" in the individual stores, which created "great damage" and havoc there, and rioting once again occurred in the suburbs, which led onto further "rioting" over the weekend with the British Imperial Military Forces having 6 Battalions throughout the City.

      Major James Dawson Chichester - Clark the "Official" Unionist Stormont Prime Minister in these 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, went over to England to get further "assistance" from Edward Heath and the British Conservative Government, but received no direct results, and he was then forced to return to Ireland to utilize his own "resources" and a week later 170 of the 900 members in the "Official" Unionist Party called for his "resignation" with the hard - liners led by Sir William Craig and Harry West, moving a motion of, "No Confidence" in his leadership. Lord Carrington then arrived into these 6 Counties in Ulster Province from England, but stayed only for "one day," where he spoke to the Ascendancy "Official" Unionist Cabinet at Stormont in Belfast in Co. Antrim without mentioning any further British Imperial Military input into these 6 Counties in Ulster Province still under their control. He did infer that the British Imperial Military would soon introduce a "new weapon" into the 6 Counties "against" the Irish Catholics, and also increased the local Defence Regiment to a force of 6,000 men.

     in these 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, the "Provisional Anti - Treaty I.R.A. / Provos" at this time were still keeping up their contact with the British Imperial Army commanders who agreed to "keep ou"t of the "No - Go" areas to keep the pressure off of the Irish Catholics.

January 27th:  in these 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, Sir William Craig the Unionist  anti - Catholic hard - liner, remonstrated in the Stormont Parliament when he found out that the British Imperial Military Forces had escorted two of the Ascendancy "Official" Unionist R.U.C. police out of Clonard so that there would be "no" clashes there, and because of this he accused the British Imperial Military of being in "collusion" with the "Anti - Treaty I.R.A."

February 3rd - 6th: Ian Freeland, the British Imperial Military General, "retired" from his position as the British Army Commander - in - Chief in these 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, with the record of not losing any of his men, and now that he was gone certain members of the the Ascendancy "Official" Unionist R.U.C. police inferred to those who were now in charge of the British Imperial Military that the "Anti - Treaty I.R.A." had obtained "lists" of the British Special Branch who were working "undercover" as Secret Agents in Belfast in Co. Antrim. They further specified that these "lists" were in the hands of certain leaders in the Irish Catholic Falls Road area, and they also made accusations of "collusion," which put pressure on those now in charge of the British Imperial Military Forces who then made a decision to go "into" the, "No Go" areas and sent in the British Royal Anglian Regiment who searched the "homes" there with great vigour, but found "nothing." All they did was create further great "turmoil" among the Irish Catholic population there, and also made the mistake of compounding their error by "staying" in the area and eventually they came under "defensive" attack by the "Anti - Treaty I.R.A." defenders there, and by 12 p.m. the non - Catholics who were working in a factory "across the road" also decided to "join in" the frey, but it was all to be over within an hour. Despite this the British Imperial Military Forces still continued to "stay" there, so the "Anti - Treaty I.R.A." together with the Irish Catholic population in the area then erected "barricades" across the streets to hold their position against further "intrusions" by the British Imperial Military Forces who with the Ascendancy "Official" Unionist R.U.C. police and the non - Catholics were now on the "outside." The "Anti - Treaty I.R.A." by now were prepared for a "full" onslaught attack from "without," and were more then ready to "defend" the area if needed, and during the night the British Imperial Military Forces began using "machine guns," "water cannons", "rubber bullets," "batons" and "gas," which they rained down on the "residents" there all night, while the "Anti - TreatyI.R.A." and the residents returned this ongoing aggression with "bottles," " stones," "petrol bombs" and "gelignite," with the occasional "nail bomb" also thrown in. The next morning the British Conservative Government sent over another British Imperial Military Battalion of 500 more soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and put another 1,400 British Military Force from their Defence Force on the job full time, and besides these extra forces also sent over the Royal Scots Greys under the command of the Duke of Kent.

       Major James Dawson Chichester - Clark the "Official" Unionist Stormont Prime Minister made a statement that the British Imperial Army will now "defeat" the Irish Republicans and the British Military commander, General Farrar - Hocking who had received compliance from the "Anti - Treaty I.R.A." up until this present raid made the "error" of going on T.V and publicly naming the 5 members of the "Anti - Treaty I.R.A." who had been "co - operating" with him to keep the peace, including, Francis Card, Kevin Hannaway, William Hannaway, William Mac Kee and Patrick Martin.                  

       In the "riots" to follow during the Friday and the Saturday, Robert Curtis a British soldier from the Royal Artillery Regiment who was a gunner was the "first" English soldier to be "killed," near New Lodge in Belfast in Co. Antrim, and also "killed" were another 2 Irish Catholic men, Barney Watt, and the 19 year old James Saunders who was an "Anti - Treaty I.R.A." member, while another 3 Irish Catholic men were also to be "arrested" during his "funeral" as these 3 men were carrying "hurling sticks" for their "protection," so they were charged under the Special Powers Act, "For wearing uniforms and carrying offensive weapons." Three weeks later due to their appearance in the court on these charges there were to be further "riots," with more "deaths" and more "arrests" with even more "agitation" and the body of a non - Catholic man was found, who had been "shot dead" on the Aldergrove Road to Belfast in Co. Antrim and 4 non - Catholic children were to be "injured" during a "gunfighf" there in New Lodge.      

February 10th: 2 B.B.C. technicians and 3 local workmen were "killed" near a B.B.C. Transmitter, which had been "damaged" by a "bomb" in Co. Fermanagh another of these  6 Counties "artificially partitioned from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, in the far - west when their vehicle ran over an "explosive device" that had been set there for the British Imperial Government Military patrol.

February 25th: In these 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, a Committee was now set up under the Chairmanship of Patrick Mac Rory to review the reorganization of the Local Government authorities and a Housing Executive Act was also brought in for a central housing authority to be set up also.

     In these 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, in the Ardoyne area the "Anti - Treaty I.R.A." went after Inspector Cecil Patterson from the British Special Branch and shot him "dead," but during the attempt they also unintentionally "killed"Constable Robert Buckley an Ascendancy "Official" Unionist R.U.C. policeman.

     In these 6 Counties"artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province, the British Conservative Government's Military commander who had taken over from General Ian Freeland had died within a month of assuming command of the British Imperial Armed Forces, so Edward Heath the British Conservative Prime Minister appointed Sir Harry Tuzo to the position and they now had an 8,000 British Imperial Military Force there and another further British Military Battalion was also sent over from England to be placed into the Irish Catholic areas. To continue with the "aggression" the Ascendancy "Official" Unionist Stormont Government were now also demanding that the British Imperial Military Forces carry out further "punitive raids" into the Irish Catholic areas after the riots, and the request was signed by Major James Dawson Chichester - Clark who was still the Ascendancy "Official" Unionist Prime Minister in these 6 Counties in Ulster Province.

     Back in England, Reginald Maudling the British Conservative Government's Overseerer for these 6 Counties "artificially partitioned" from the 9 Counties in the Ulster Province,, made a decision to carry out a "flying visit" to these 6 Counties in Ulster Province, still under their control in Ireland, which was just another "time wasting" affair for all concerned as all he did was make a "speech" and then left Ireland to return to England.   

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