In Memory of John P. Fogarty

SAN FRANCISCO -  John Fogarty, longtime Irish American activist died Wednesday July 7,  2010 in Stockton, California, after fighting a long battle with cancer.
 
Fogarty was born in Bronx, New York, 1946 to William and Helen Fogarty. He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister Carol.
 
He is survived by his sons John Lynch, Sean Fogarty and Keith Phillips and his daughters Shana Fogarty, Meghan, Heather (Tony) and Whitney MacKenzie. Two brothers Kenneth and William Fogarty and one sister Rita Angelopoulas.
 
A staunch union supporter, John was a member of Local 510 Sign & Display for over twenty years.
 
 Fogarty moved to  San Francisco in 1968. He had been a long time activist for peace and reconciliation in Ireland. John had served locally, regionally and nationally in the Irish American Unity Conference, but it was his work on behalf of the H-Block Four that made him a well known figure within the San Francisco Irish community as well as Irish American communities across the country.
 
John's longtime friend Geordy Austin remembers. "John spent a lifetime in pursuit of fairness and many injustices were overturned because of his efforts. I don't know of one major problem in the North that John was not aware of and worked to change. To say that John was the cutting edge in the many challenges to the Irish is putting it mildly, razor edge would be more appropriate."
 
John assumed the role as National President for the Irish American Unity Conference in 2007, but had to resign in 2008 due to health reasons.
 
Former Sinn Féin Belfast City Council Member and personal friend Bobby Lavery stated "John's death has left the Republican family very sad and he will be sorely missed."
 
A true friend to everyone. A caring father, a loving grandfather. John was very respected and now will be mourned and missed by all who knew him.
 
 
George Trainor
Irish American Unity Conference
 

The following tribute to IAUC Past President Bob Linnon was written by National Board member Michael Cummings:

If memory serves me correctly Bob Linnon was the third National President of the Irish American Unity Conference (IAUC)  following the founder Jim Delaney of Chicago, Ill and San Antonio, TX and the irrepressible Dan Kennedy, a native son of Ireland and then Detroit, MI.  The IAUC was a newcomer on the activist Irish American scene after the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Irish Northern Aid Committee but quickly established itself as a player by appealing to civil rights and human rights activists and professionals from every religious and political persuasion.

A Seton Hall Professor,  Linnon seemed perfectly suited to lead such an organization and he did so skillfully at one of the most critical times in the history of the Anglo-Irish conflict.  The AOH and INA had long records of  fundraising and in giving voice to the victims of British oppression in the North of Ireland.  But the IAUC under Bob’s leadership expanded the limited lobbying efforts in Washington and established a base there  which continues today  in  efforts to highlight British abuses of law and justice and most recently their discrimination against the Gaelic language.

He traveled the length and breadth of this nation to testify on behalf of laws  linking  the use of the MacBride Fair Employment Principles in investing and purchasing with public funds.  He was a catalyst in the Council of  Presidents of Irish-American Organizations  which strengthened the voice of  all in the corridors of power on Capitol Hill and in State capitols  like Boston, Albany, Columbus and Sacramento.  His cool command of facts and issues  and quiet demeanor became a trademark of all those he called to Washington for Lobby Day. 

However, perhaps his finest hour came when he called for an investigation into how the International Fund for Ireland money was  being used.  The brainchild of  then Speaker Tip O’Neil, the IFI was  quickly  crafted by the British to disburse the funds only to loyalist groups East of the Bann River thus reinforcing decades old discrimination against Catholic/Nationalist groups.   The Irish government played its usual supporting role in this and few in America were ready to make waves against  Speaker O’Neil’s project.  Faced with the research conducted by IAUC member  Professor Gerry Coleman with the insight of the late Oliver Kearney, President Linnon arranged for an appearance before the Foreign Affairs sub-Committee of Lee Hamilton.  The scathing IAUC testimony prompted a St Patrick’s Day op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal  exposing the waste and abuse and oversight was improved at once.  Bob’s courage in standing up to powerful interests defined the man,  the issue and proved the IAUC as a group to be reckoned with in advocating on all issues.

Apart from his leadership and fierce pride in IAUC initiatives, Bob Linnon was a man of  a  sincerity and compassion that was easily felt by all those he worked with in America and, more importantly, by those long victimized by British troops and their treachery.  He was a credit to his profession as he patiently worked to educate the media, legislators, citizens and other educators on the finer points of extradition, deportation and why the term famine was appropriated by the British to describe An Gorta Mor.

On  behalf of President Kate McCabe and my fellow Board Members we extend our sincere condolences to Bob’s family and friends and thank God for his example of commitment and courage in the fight to end the partition of Ireland.
 
Michael J. Cummings
Member, National Board
Albany, NY
 

Commentary by National Board member Michael Cummings:
 
He may be new but  British Prime Minister  David Cameron will  soon  be dealing with an old  problem…the conflict in Ireland.  The coalition  of the Conservative and Liberal Democrats will be the first change in government since the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1998.   What will this change mean for the  N. I. peace process, a topic barely mentioned in the campaign?   The Prime Minister is due to release the Saville Report reviewing the events of January 30, 1972 in Derry, otherwise known as Bloody Sunday.  The  Report, 16 years in the making and at a cost of 200 million pounds, was  made necessary by Lord Widgery’s  farcical 1972 account  of the killing of 14 unarmed civil rights protestors by the British Army.   Saville will  spin the deaths as isolated, accidental, the result of poor training and communication and a  cover-up of all that was misguided.  It will   not be the last word on  one of the conflict’s most grisly episodes.    A key  provision  of the 1998  peace pact  requires an  independent inquiry into the   1974   Dublin-Monaghan bombings and that is where it gets dicey for Mr. Cameron.    Together these two acts of slaughter transformed the civil rights struggle for jobs, housing and voting equality into a violent conflict to end  British garrison rule.    Will the  Cameron government  give us the truth of these monstrous events or offer  more delay, cover-up and absolution of wrongdoers?  Lord Saville’s report is just the beginning of the  struggle for the  facts and truth of the conflict.  
 
What is at stake for  the British is the credibility,  particularly in America, of   Britain’s widely promoted  ‘honest broker’  image in the conflict and the credibility of  England’s image  as a  effective  promoter of  democracy, justice and the rule of law around the globe.    Will  the Cameron-Clegg coalition continue this legacy of deception or embrace a more candid and accountable chapter in British history.

Please join us for an important event in Washington, DC to highlight the need for rights-based protection for Irish language speakers in the North of Ireland.  This is a non-partisan event sponsored by the IAUC, AOH, INA, Irish American Republicans, Irish American Democrats, and the Brehon Law Society.

Congressional Briefing on Irish Language Equality & the Irish Peace Process

Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-340 Washington, DC

The Irish language is at the center of the contemporary struggle for equality in the north of Ireland and is an issue of primary importance to the Irish peace process yet to be resolved.  Irish speakers are penalized under policies like the obsolete 1737 Administration of Justice (Ireland) Act, which prohibits the use of Irish in the court system. In addition, we believe that the lack of government funding and support is choking economic renewal and investment opportunities related to the Irish language, particulary in marginalized communities. We believes that the Irish Language Act will create an opportunity for the growth of the language and for the provision of services to current speakers.

On May 4th we will host an educational panel discussion featuring Janet Muller, Chief Executive of POBAL; Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, Managing Director, Belfast Media Group and Publisher, Irish Echo; Micheál Duibh, Development Officer of Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (the Council for Irish Medium Education); and Domhnall Ó Cathain of the Brehon Law Society. Please join us for this opportunity to educate the Congressional community and provide suggestions on how Congress can support American and Irish interest in this important equality issue.

Janet Muller is the Chief Executive of POBAL, the non-governmental umbrella organisation for the Irish speaking community in the north of Ireland. She is responsible for the organisation’s strategic direction in relation to advocacy work and community development. She has spearheaded the initiative to establish an Irish Language Act for the north and been active in work around the Bill of Rights NI and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. She has overseen the drafting of POBAL’s monitoring and research reports on the first nine years of implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. She has researched legislative and planning initiatives nationally and internationally as well as studying and promoting models of good practice. She has a PhD from the University of Ulster and will shortly publish her first book, on conflict resolution and language policy in planning. She has been invited as an expert by the Council of Europe to conferences in different parts of Europe regarding language legislation.  She is a member of the Committee of Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, the north’s premier Irish language Arts Centre, and a member of the Board of Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (The Council for Irish Medium Education).

Máirtín Ó Muilleoir is the managing director of the Belfast Media Group which publishes community newspapers in Ireland and the US, most notably the Andersonstown News in Belfast and the Irish Echo in America. A graduate of QUB, he is a former Sinn Féin councillor and longstanding Irish language advocate. He developed the first training facility for young Irish speakers, the award-winning An Nasc building, which opened in West Belfast in 2001. He has also developed new headquarters for the Belfast Media Group, Teach Basil, a 10,000-square foot £1.25m building which opened in 2000 and includes press offices and a print hall. Latterly, he developed the Aisling Business Park in West Belfast, 10,000 square feet of industrial units which are occupied by, among other businesses, a daycare centre. He is heading the group behind the public artpiece Aisling an Phobail, the largest-ever public artwork in West Belfast which will celebrate the Irish language and welcome visitors to the Gaeltacht Quarter. The work, by Irish American artist Brian O’Doherty is part of a £225,000 project due for completion by the summer of 2010. Dr. Micheál Ó Duibh is currently employed by Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (the Council for Irish Medium Education) as Development Officer.  His main job responsibilities lie in the strategic development of IM post-primary provision, IM ethos, IM trustees and IM governorship.  Previous to this post he spent 3 years as Senior Development Officer with Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta.  Dr. Ó Duibh is the Chairperson of POBAL and is also a Board Director and the Policy and Planning Officer on the Board of Directors of GAELSCOILEANNA TEO, an Irish-medium representative Body based in Dublin.  He graduated from the University of Ulster, Coleraine with a Doctorate in Philosophy.  Micheál first started to work in the Irish-medium sector as an Irish Language Development Officer with Pobal an Chaistil in Ballycastle, which is the founding organisation of the IM primary and pre-school in Ballycastle.  After working 2 years and achieving grant-aided status for Bunscoil an Chaistil he changed employment and went to work with Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta as a Development Officer.   After 3 years as a Development Officer he was promoted to Senior Development Officer, a post which entailed responsibility, amongst other duties, for the strategic development of the IME sector.  Previous to working in the IME sector he has taught as a part-time lecturer in both University of Ulster and University College Galway.  Micheál’s working life so far has been spent working with the promotion and development of the Irish Language and Irish-medium Education.    Dr. Ó Duibh is a native of Armagh and has a keen interest in Hurling and Gaelic football. Domhnall O'Cathain is Secretary and Publicity Director of the Brehon Law Society, New York. He is associated with the law firm of Lesnevich & Marzano-Lesnevich, LLC.

Domhnall was born and raised in Ballincollig, Co. Cork. He was raised in a bilingual household, where Irish and English were spoken. All of his schooling through age 18 was done in Irish.  His family has a long tradition of advocacy for the Irish language. Most notably, his mother, Blanaid Ui Chathain, is a published author and expert on Irish poetry and the Irish language in the former Irish speaking districts of west Co. Cork. Her grandfather, Peadar O hAnnrachain, devoted his life to the preservation and growth of the Irish language.

Domhnall continues this tradition with the Brehon Law Society. The Brehon Law Society is a staunch supporter of all efforts to continue the growth of the Irish language.

Domhnall has lived in the USA since 2002. His parents and two sisters continue to live in Ireland. Domhnall and his wife, Francesca O'Cathain, a native of New Jersey, live in Jersey City. They are expecting their first child this summer.

Article from the Irish Times by Deaglán de Bréadún:

THERE WAS “no greater stain” on the policing and justice system in Northern Ireland than the assassination of Belfast lawyer Patrick Finucane, a prominent Irish-American congressman has said.

Chairman of the Congressional Friends of Ireland, Democrat Richard Neal of Massachusetts was speaking at the unveiling of a Robert Ballagh painting of Mr Finucane, commissioned by Belfast Media Group and Belfast art collector Paul Cooper.
A 39-year-old father of three, Mr Finucane was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in front of his family at their North Belfast home on February 12th, 1989 and his wife, Geraldine, was wounded. The circumstances of the attack immediately gave rise to allegations of involvement by state security services.

The British government has offered to hold an inquiry into the case, but this was rejected by campaigners on the basis that it would take place under new legislation whereby the public could be excluded from part of the hearings and material withheld from the final published report.

“There is no greater stain on the policing and justice system in the north of Ireland than the Finucane assassination and I think the continued presence of American interest is pivotal,” Congressman Neal said at the ceremony, which took place last Thursday.

Artist Robert Ballagh said: “Being asked to do this portrait was a huge honour for me.” Pat Finucane had “displayed enormous courage in defending the human rights of people who got caught up in the conflict in the North”. Máirtín Ó Muilleoir of the Belfast Media Group said the painting would be displayed in a number of state houses throughout the US.
 

From Relatives for Justice:

Yesterday evening the family of Roseanne Mallon sat at the 35th preliminary inquest hearing into the death of their 76yr old aunt in May 1994.
 
This attack, observed by undercover British soldiers, and carried out by a UVF death squad also injured their mother Bridget Mallon.
 
High Court Judge Reg Weir, the Coroner in the Mallon case, expressed his dissatisfaction and frustration at the PSNI and Ministry of defence for their continued tactics of delay and avoidance.
 
He told the counsel for the MoD and PSNI that their refusal to meet deadlines for providing relevant materials to the inquest is “unsatisfactory and inconsiderate”.
 
He told the representatives for the MoD that it is not for the MoD to decide how this matter proceeds and that the MoD were clearly moving at their own time in their own way and despite this - it is not for them to determine the timetable.
 

This statement came as a further application for delay in provision of relevant materials to the coroner was made. This follows three earlier extensions of time already having been granted since December 2009.

Counsel for the MoD and PSNI stated that the PSNI will be seeing the Minister Paul Goggins next Tuesday and requesting that he conduct a “balancing exercise”  on the materials which may be provided to the coroner’s court and applications for Public Interest Immunity. The Ministry of Defence were less certain as to when the British Minister for defence Bob Ainsworth would be available to conduct a “balancing exercise” into military materials and determine on what and whom Public Interest Immunity would be requested. They have requested that they received an extension for this until 1st April.

Judge Weir expressed his deep frustration particularly at the Ministry of Defence on this matter. He stated that timetabling cannot be left in the hands of interested parties. He told the solicitor for the MoD Mr Murray that the letters emanating from him were a model of obfuscation on every point.
 
On this discussion counsel for the Mallon family Fiona Doherty stated that the PSNI and MoD are minded to ignore all deadlines. It is clear at this point that Public Interest Immunity applications have not been done or prepared, despite the assertion that British ministers will be conducting balancing exercises this week.

Despite allowing an extension until the 1st April Mr Weir stated that the application was wholly unjustified and despite him not being happy about it he was only allowing it on faith of the assurances that all obligations would be met by 1st April – and he will see if this deadline is complied with.
 
Speaking last night Martin Mallon, the nephew of Roseanne Mallon said:
 
“This was another deeply disappointing day. It was the 35th time I have sat in a Coroner’s Court hoping that all matters will be moved along so we can begin the inquest.
 
“While Judge Weir was scathing in his comments to the PSNI and in particular to the Ministry of Defence – we have been here before with the Coroner in Tyrone Roger McLarnon making similar remarks – the MoD and PSNI just treat all of these occasions and this family with total contempt.
 
“It is unbelievable that it was just taken as acceptable that two British ministers in Downing Street would be used as another reason for delay. This was a killing of 76 year old woman sitting in her own home by an illegal paramilitary organisation. Why are the PSNI and MoD seeking Public Interest Immunity Certificates in such a case?
 
“We of course know now that our house was under surveillance. We know that the British army watched as the killing took place.
 
“The questions to be answered are whether the British state also ordered and directed the killing of my aunt and wounding of my mother that night. Were there state agents involved? These delays and the interventions of British ministers do nothing to allay our suspicions. Why would the PSNI and British government through its ministers seek a gagging order in relation to the murder of our aunt - a 76 old pensioner - and the wounding of our mother by an illegal paramilitary organisation?
 
“This killing happened in 1994 – 16 years ago. The longer this runs on the more impact it has on our family and on the wider community.
 
“We are now of course concerned that there will be direct political intervention into this inquest.
 
“They have until April Fools Day to hand over all materials and have all their paperwork completed – we shall see who the fools are.”
 

From the Set the Truth Free Campaign:

With mere days until the scheduled release of Saville’s report into Bloody Sunday, relatives this week delivered a powerful message to the British government by returning several key aspects of history to officials at Downing Street, the Ministry of Defence and Buckingham Palace.

On St. Patrick’s Day the group travelled to London to reclaim the history of Bloody Sunday and highlight concerns over delays in the publication of the Saville Report. First on the agenda was to return a symbolic copy of the original Widgery Report to Downing Street, giving back the British Army version of what happened on January 30, 1972. Families then demonstrated on the Mall with their Set the Truth Free banner as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s cavalcade passed.
Tony Doherty, whose father Paddy was murdered on Bloody Sunday, hand-delivered a copy of Widgery’s original report to 10 Downing Street, accompanied by a letter to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The campaign then made its presence felt outside the Ministry of Defence, where relatives and supporters chalked the outlines of fourteen bodies on the pavement, symbolising the fourteen men and boys murdered on Bloody Sunday. This moving gesture formed the backdrop as family members returned the infamous and wholly inaccurate ‘shot list ‘originally drawn up by the British Army’s former Chief of General Staff, General Mike Jackson to the MoD.
Relatives also delivered a letter listing the real heroes of Bloody Sunday to the Queen at Buckingham Palace, highlighting the fact that parachute regiment commander Lieutenant Colonel Derek Wilford was decorated by the Queen, receiving an OBE just months after Bloody Sunday. An impromptu invitation to the official St. Patrick’s Day Reception in Parliament also gave relatives the opportunity to meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown briefly and handed over their letter in person.

Families were warned on a number of occasions by the Metropolitan Police that their actions were technically in breach of new legislation that bans any demonstration within one kilometre of Parliament, but family spokesperson Tony Doherty said: “Highlighting Bloody Sunday at Buckingham Palace, the Ministry of Defence and Downing Street was more important on this occasion than any alleged technical breach of this new law. We will demonstrate where and when we want and that’s what we did.”

END
For further information or to arrange interviews with relatives, please contact:
Press Officer - Julieann Campbell on: 078. 8972. 0080 or email: julieann@setthetruthfree.org
 

From the Pat Finucance Centre:

Representatives of the Bloody Sunday families will this week leave for London and the US to further highlight the need for urgency and vigilance regarding the long-awaited release of the Saville Report.
 
John Kelly and Jean Hegarty (sister of Kevin McElhinney) will travel to Washington to coincide with planned events at the Whitehouse and will meet senior US politicians to appraise them of recent developments concerning the imminent release of the Inquiry Report.
 
John Kelly in a statement said that “We feel that is very important to take our just demands of truth and justice at this time to both Britain and the US.  Just hours after our loved ones were mown down on the streets of Derry by the Parachute Regiment, the British Embassy in Washington were able to describe and condemn the dead as gunmen and bombers.
 
“We cannot allow an open field for the British Government, either officially or unofficially, to stage and manipulate the release of the report for their own ends.  While we are confident that our long campaign for truth and justice will be completely vindicated, the next few weeks will be crucial in seeing the hated Widgery Report entirely repudiated.
 
Reclaiming history in London
 
Meanwhile several relatives will travel to London on Wednesday, St Patrick’s Day, to ‘reclaim the history of Bloody Sunday’ at 10 Downing Street, the Ministry of Defence and Buckingham Palace as part of the ‘Set The Truth Free’ Campaign.  In order to illustrate this, family members will return an original copy of the Widgery Report to 10 Downing Street on St Patrick’s Day, symbolising the end of  Widgery’s 38-year tenure as the only official British record of Bloody Sunday. At the MoD the families will return the infamous ‘shot list’ drawn up by former Chief of General Staff of the British Army General Mike Jackson. At Buckingham Palace the families will hand in a list of the dead and injured to remind the British Monarch of the ‘real heroes of Bloody Sunday’. Months after the massacre the Queen decorated Para commander Lt Col Derek Wilford who was awarded an OBE. Tony Doherty said “Wilford was no hero-the dead and the injured were the real heros who went out that day to demand civil rights and ended up as targets for the Paras. Wilford should be stripped of his honour.”

 
Families also announced that there will be a rally this coming Saturday in Derry-details to be announced later this week.
 
END
 

Click here to help Set the Truth Free and sign the petition in support of the Bloody Sunday families.  The text of the petition is as follows:

To:  British Government
We the undersigned support the following statement released by the Bloody Sunday families and call on British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to "Set The Truth Free" and instruct Lord Saville to publish his report independent of any government interference.

Please join IAUC members and more at tonight's fundraiser for Haiti sponsored by the Irish American Writers and Artists Association.  Tonight's event is a collaborative effort and a multicultural celebration of island nations.  One hundred percent of proceeds will go to Concern Worldwide's humanitarian efforts in Haiti. Highlights include Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, National Book Award winner Colum McCann, Haitian band Brother High Kanaval, TJ English, Malachy McCourt, Michael Patrick McDonald, and Geraldine Hughes.  Concern CEO Tom Arnold will discuss their work in Haiti, and a representative from the Irish government will make a very special announcement.  Details on our Events page.