In response to the death of Mark Glennon, the following article appeared on the Indymedia newswire under the byline Blanch4life. While the crime reporters for the rest of the media can report breathlessly about the "westies" and the politicians and Guards can outdo each other with get tough responses, this article looks at why the trade that Mark Glennon and his brother supposedly died over took such a hold in D15 and what the celtic tiger is actually delivering for those who have jobs. People protested in Dublin this weekend at the deaths of two people left behind by our Celtic Tiger economy, and tried to find out why some citizens in the North are so alienated - who'll speak for those riding the tiger out in Blanch?

"So, what's the answer to all this? How do you stop young men becoming involved in gang culture? The traditional left wing answer is that the area is economically depressed, a 'blackspot', and needs more investment in jobs as well as extra Garda on the beat to combat crime. This may have been true in the 80's and even up to the mid 90's, but it is a blinkered response to the reality of Blanchardstown today. The Celtic Tiger is there in full effect..."

While the actions of Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan hold the Nations attention as the Rossport Five remain in detention, an Indymedia favourite (Judge Mangan) was in action again last week - this time finding in favour of peace activist Conor Cregan who was charged with S. 6 of the Public Order Act. Court Reporter provides a blow-by-blow account of the action which sees contradictory Garda evidence, "Erased tapes, missing evidence, Conor's third arm, and the invisible red book", all playing their part in this courtroom drama.

From the Report:
Mr. Cregan : [reads] “On arrival I saw D. Sgt Joe O’Brien and Detective Garda Fahy struggle with Owen Rice and Conor Cregan” . How were they struggling?
Sgt Harran : Trying to hold on to them
Mr. Cregan : D. Sgt O’Brien said he was holding Mr. Rice.
Sgt Harran : I can’t say who was holding who.
Mr. Cregan : Who was holding Mr. Cregan?
Sgt Harran : I can’t say who was struggling with whom. Garda Culliton went to D.Sgt O’Brien, I went to Det. Fahy
Mr. Cregan : How long did it take you to get there?
Sgt Harran : We arrived at 1.15. It took 2 minutes to get to the scene.
Mr. Cregan : Where were you sitting?
Sgt Harran : In the back of the patrol car
.........................
Mr. Cregan: Where in the patrol car were you sitting when you arrived?
Garda Culltn: Front passenger.
Mr. Cregan: So you would have had a better view than Garda Harran in the back
Garda Culltn: Yes
Mr. Cregan: Did you talk to me
Garda Culltn: No
Mr. Cregan: . Why was there no verbal contact?
Garda Culltn: As I recall you were writing in a book as we were going the station.
Judge [to Mr. Cregan] : It’s a matter for you to decide, but this witness has not incriminated you, you don’t need to pursue this line, if it may incriminate you.
Mr. Cregan: That’s okay Judge. You say there was no struggling.
Garda Culltn: Correct

History of the Case:
Dec 8th 2003, December 11th 2003, December 12th 2003, Jan 17th 2004, Jan 17th 2004, Jan 18th 2004, Feb 13th 2004, Feb 13th 2004, Feb 17th 2004, Feb 18th 2004, Feb 23 2004, Feb 24 2004, March 1st 2004, May 22 2004

From the newswire (our correspondents are everywhere)!:

April 27th 2005 (Indymedia.ie) Yesterday, Circuit Court Judge Carroll Moran was the guest speaker at a public talk hosted by the University of Limerick Law Society. Two local people with an interest in judicial standards heard about it and decided to attend. The judge gave a one hour talk on “A judge’s perspectives on Circuit Court Practices” in which he outlined his insightful views on the jury system. He was not comfortable with some of the questions at the end which related his own conduct while presiding over the trial of Mary Kelly (see previous indymedia.ie coverage).

The talk began at 6pm in the Charles Parson's Theatre in the University. Most of the audience were either studying law or teaching it. There was brief introduction listing Judge Moran's career path from a solicitor in 1970, to being a barrister, and then a judge. After this the judge briefly outlined the different tiers of the courts system in Ireland: District Court, Circuit Court, High Court, Supreme Court.

He said that there was a culture of expediency in the Circuit Court, where a case could be heard in a week that might take months to argue in the High Court.

He then spoke about the different parties in the Supreme Court: solicitors; barristers; jurors; witnesses; and the judge.

Given the audience he had (mostly aspiring solicitors and barristers) his discussion of solicitors and barristers was limited to comparing and contrasting them as careers rather than their functions in court. He also told his audience that they “probably know more law than [he] does, as one forgets so much of it after graduation, but compensates for this with experience and practice.”

Judge Moran had some interesting things to say about jurors though! He described the Jury System as a slow, expensive system that evolved by accident. He also said that “the jury system is not something we would invent if we were starting from scratch today”. He disagreed with the view expressed by some that a Jury is somehow the “democracy on the ground” of the judicial system.

He explained how in earlier times jurors had to be householders, “people who were considered safe, and reasonably pro-establishment.” He said that now many such people will beg to be excused from jury duty because of work, children or holidays, and that “juries tend to be mostly made up of unemployed or retired people”.

Considering his series of more and more hysterical outbursts I laid him out on the virtual indymedia couch to get to the bottom of the origin of his various neuroses and particularly his extreme symptoms of projection. Here are the suppressed memories that I uncovered. I feel the analysis has been a success and I believe that the various memories unearthed are the source of the unresolved unconscious guilt which is the ultimate source for the extreme symptoms of projection and hysteria the patient is exhibiting.

• Presiding over an unaccountable police force.
• Demonising and dehumanising significant sections of the population.
• Being complicit in the 'disappearing' of various untried persons to concentration camps and torture chambers.
• Knowingly deporting Irish citizens by deporting their parents.
• Adding to the number of special courts already in existence and creating two standards of justice.
• Tolerating the torture industry.
• Creating the conditions for racism to flourish while simultaneously portraying himself as 'anti-racist'.
• Gaining the fulsome approval of the Klu Klux Klan.
• Colluding in the use of fake terror scares as a method of suppressing legitimate dissent.
• Presiding over racial profiling, midnight arrests and deportations.
• Slandering and demonising anti-war activists.
• Deploying unaccountable and unidentifiable militias against the left.
• Supporting an illegal war of agression.
• Using Police to intimidate and chill the free speech of students.
• Using 'secret police' to conduct intimidating surveillance on non-violent political activists and dissenters.
• Exchanging intelligence on citizens with a state which is a known abuser of human rights.
• Attempting to create a police state with files on all citizens.
• Using draconian legislation to destroy the traditional lifestyle of a minority.
• Punitively denying a voice to the same minority when they protest this treatment in a legal manner.

This is an opinion piece recently published on the Indymedia Newswire based on a recently published bogus news item relating to a fictional tale of drug trafficking on the Luas.

The basic rules of journalism seem straightforward; verify your story from at least two independent sources and always get the important 5 ‘W’s’ and a ‘H’, who, what, when, where, why & how? For a clearer example of my belief that media crime coverage sometimes purposely tries to create a moral outcry, I decided to set up an experiment. Being an avid writer of fiction, I set up a false Hotmail account under a pseudonym. I wrote the mail in the guise of a disgruntled semi-retired member of a fictional unnamed residents association. I claimed to be acting on behalf of some concerned neighbours. I posted my mail to newspaper The Star. on the 5th of January, (2005). I requested that they look into a new Luas related drugs problem, figuring that drug stories are a solid popular crime issue and the inclusion of the new Luas system, (which had not yet been linked to any crime) would prove too tempting. I did not name any names and mentioned two districts in an effort to be more vague. I also stated that I wanted to remain anonymous, as I was well known in the area concerned.

On Sunday the 9th of January 2005, The Star Sunday printed a story, which read, ‘Claims Luas is Drugs Ferry’, (Hynes, F. P.12). This was my story. When not directly quoting me, I was paraphrased. Almost the entire content of my false Hotmail was there in print. I checked the account and found a reply from the Star’s News Editor requesting I contact Ms. Hynes. This was not an over eager journalist, but an entire chain of command prematurely printing a story relating to a fictional criminal matter. . . .