16 Comments

• seamus60 | Sep 15, 2012, 11:30 AM EDT

  darao. Sure it only takes a sen cop to say he believes they are members. They wouldn`t give him the same power though when it comes to crooked bankers or the likes.

• DanOLoingsigh | Sep 15, 2012, 10:29 AM EDT

  The Official Defence Forces website calls the Army 'the Army'...so that's official...unless the Army doesn't know the proper title of their own organisation?

• darao | Sep 15, 2012, 08:16 AM EDT

  according to RTE three men were charged. They were charged with membership in an illegal organization.

• O'Hanlon | Sep 15, 2012, 07:48 AM EDT

  Petty nitpicking aside pulling someone up for not referring to the an tArm as the 'Defence Forces' or Óglaigh na hÉireann is a bit like pulling up someone in English and pointing out "I'll thank you sir to refer to the army as the 'Ministry Of Defence' to their proper title etc...etc..."zzzzzzz Windbaggery aside they are the an tArm and saying that there is only one proper way to describe them would be an anomaly in any language as most have many different ways of saying or describing the same thing. It certainly isn't true in this respect and if you seriously believe it is then I'm afriad it is you who has no grasp of the flexibility and expressiveness inherit in all European languages. Next time you see me I'll see fit that you refer to me not as a "fella", "guy" or "human" but to my proper title as "homo sapien". Sheesh, and I thought the Brits were windbags and bureaucrats for this stuff. Appears we have a few in Eire too.

• GregShox | Sep 14, 2012, 12:23 PM EDT

  IrelandNorth. Thank you for the lecture, though I'm not clear what point you're making). (BTW it's saoirse, not saóirse).

• leahkinsella | Sep 14, 2012, 11:58 AM EDT

  Gerry Adams "disaproves of the Real IRA funeral with their guns and black flags, gangland activity etc. and the Gardai were right to make arrests." Who's he kidding when the PIRA started all this and he should know this as he attended so many IRA funerals, has links with Hugh Morgan the convicted fuel launderer (who sent the false tweet which ruined Sean Gallagher in the Presidential Election, Slab Murphy (who disappeared), drug dealing, protection rackets etc. The plot calling the kettle black comes to mind. You won't curry favour with the Irish public that way. We see through you so do the Irish security forces who keep a close watch on you Adams and your friends. Republicans are going to subject Dubliners to another show of strength tomorrow when they march through the city centre to demand the release - yet again - of IRA bomber Marion Price, holding up Dubliners trying to shop on the busiest day of the week (who will largely ignore them as usual) just when we are trying to up the tourist numbers. Will no one rid us of them all?

• seamus60 | Sep 14, 2012, 11:38 AM EDT

  Now we have Adams congratulating the arrest of Republicans. If only he had the same vigour when it came to arresting some one he believes to be a peadophile.

• IrelandNorth | Sep 14, 2012, 08:41 AM EDT

  GregShox! The Permanent Defence Forces (PDF), (commonly if inaccurately, though conveniently, referred to as the "Irish Army" (sic)), traces its military lineage back to the Free State Army (FSA), which in turn originated out of the generic Irish Republican Army (IRA). The distinction being a repeat of the earlier Redmondite vs Mac Neill split into the National vs Irish Volunteers respectively. Án Gárda Síochána, on the other hand, traces it's corporate lineage back to the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) and Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), the northern nominal successors of which were the subsequently disbanded Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) - now trading as the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Knowing ones history avoids repetition. It's worth remembering that the senior British Army (BA) man the English sent over to supress the 1916 Rising, Maj Gen Sir John Grenfal-Maxwell, opined that the IRA were a reactionary formation to Carson's extra-constitutional Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), both of which he considered equally subversive. Either everyone plays by the rules or they do not. Having said that, I do fear that the RIRA may not fully appreciate that a lot more may be happening on the constitutional stage that may even surprise them. To paraphrase John Lennon: "All we are sayin' - is give [the] peace [process] a chance!" Tíocfaidh ár saóirse!

• bogsidebunny | Sep 14, 2012, 07:29 AM EDT

  Guess what? "Arrest" in Ireland really means "ONLY bring in for questioning,". Not a big deal. Being "charged" is equivilent to American's "arrest". Depending on the seriousness of the crime the "arrest detention period" can last from a few hours to a week or two.

• GregShox | Sep 13, 2012, 06:55 PM EDT

  O'Hanlon -- This is the kind of site where you need to state the obvious. (By the way, it's not called the an tArm. No marks for your Irish language comprehension).

• aloistmartin | Sep 13, 2012, 06:01 PM EDT

  Her Majesty`s Satanic Requests ~

• O'Hanlon | Sep 13, 2012, 05:50 PM EDT

  Yep, sure there's only one national army in Eire the an tArm. Wouldn't thought that would need any clarification but for stating the bleeding obvious top marks to the man below there.

• GregShox | Sep 13, 2012, 05:17 PM EDT

  There's only one army in this country, and it's not a bunch of drug-dealers in army-surplus uniforms.

• Gordan Duggan | Sep 13, 2012, 02:55 PM EDT

  Go Gardai and Special Branch. You got 16 today now go get the rest of them and teach them respect the people and laws of the Irish State. Oh, and teach them to march in time.

• cillowen | Sep 13, 2012, 02:35 PM EDT

  shatter will handle this for paddy

• pilib04 | Sep 13, 2012, 01:00 PM EDT

  The Blue Shirt Minister of Justice tracks down 14 suspects in the shooting of a volley at a burial. The same Shattner fails to track down even one suspect in the murder of the man who was buried. Drug Cartels are apparently sacred cows to Fine Gael.