Planning grant for 246 homes at Cork site where executed RIC constable believed to be secretly buried
Constable Thomas Joseph Walsh was court martialled and executed by the IRA in Blarney during the War of Independence
Planning has been granted for 246 homes to be built at a Cork site where the secret burial place of an executed RIC constable is believed to be located.
An Bord Pleanála upheld planning permission on May 6 for Clockstrike Ltd to build the houses and a creche at Ringwood, Shean Upper in Blarney.
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Sunday World
2 days ago
- Sunday World
Men ordered to stand trial accused of IRA membership and having weapons
'We are New IRA, we are here to clean up the bars, if you don't clean up the bars we are going to do it - the bars are full of drugs' Three men were ordered to stand trial accused of IRA membership and having weapons. Standing side by side in the dock of Coleraine Magistrates Court, the three all confirmed their identities and that they were aware of the charges against them. The three men are: Michael Conwell, 31, from Castleton Square, Fintona; Dermot Burke, 60, from Bass Road in Dungiven; Oisin Conwell, 18, from the Gortscreagan Road in Claudy. The trio are jointly charged with two counts of membership of a proscribed organisation, namely the IRA, possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and possessing weapons in a public place, namely two metal poles. None of the background facts were opened in court but previous courts have heard how three masked men entered a number of licensed premises in Dungiven on 19 January 2024. Michael Conwell According to the police case, Michael Conwell 'leads the charge' with the firearm in his left hand as the trio of masked terrorists visited four pubs and St. Candice's GAA club over the course of an hour between 7-8pm. The gang declared to patrons during their 30 second visits: 'we are New IRA, we are here to clean up the bars, if you don't clean up the bars we are going to do it - the bars are full of drugs.' Dermot Burke Previous courts have heard how detectives had obtained CCTV footage from the various premises, and data from a Ford car connected to Michael Conwell, which suggests the Ford car met up with a white Citreon van in the car park of Owenbeg GAA on the Foreglen Road in Dungiven. That van was then used to transport the masked terrorists to each of the pubs, as well as St. Candice's GAA club. Police believe the registration plate of the van had been 'doctored with black tape' but that in actuality, the van belongs to Burke's employers and he regularly drives it. There was also evidence obtained by police which connected Michael Conwell to his mother's white motability Ford Ecosport car and also that a mobile attributable to him had been in contact on numerous occasions both before and after the incident, with Burke's mobile number. Michael Conwell and Dermot Burke News in 90 Seconds - June 18th The court heard that while the mobile phones of both Burke and Conwell show no activity during the hour while the masked terrorists make their intimidatory pub crawl, suggesting they had been switched off, Michael Conwell's Ford ecosport has a built in SIM card. A detective told the court that within 24 hours of Burke being arrested, someone had tried to perform a 'factory reset' on the car infotainment system to delete data stored on it but despite that, a PSNI technical officer had been able to retrieve GPS data which puts the car entering the Owenbeg car park at a time when it parks up beside the van used by the terrorists. In court, a prosecuting lawyer submitted there was a case to answer against each of the defendants and their respective lawyers conceded the point. None of the three commented in the charges or called evidence on their own behalves. Freeing them all on continuing bail, District Judge Peter King returned the case to Belfast Crown Court and although he did not specify a date for their arraignment, he said it was likely to be on 12 September.
Sunday World
4 days ago
- Sunday World
Priest who admitted role in IRA bombings and arms dealing dies in Dublin aged 95
Fr Patrick Ryan admitted his role in arming the IRA for a series of bombings on mainland Britain, including the attack on the Grand Hotel in Brighton A Catholic priest who admitted his role in arming the IRA for a series of bombings on mainland Britain, including the attack on the Grand Hotel in Brighton in 1984 targeting Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, has died. Fr Patrick Ryan had been accused of involvement in Provisional IRA activity in 1988 and had been the subject of two unsuccessful extradition attempts at a time when Mrs Thatcher called him 'a very dangerous man'. Fr Ryan, who was a native of Rossmore, Co Tipperary, died in Dublin on Sunday at the age of 95 following a short illness. He had been ordained as a priest in 1954 at the Pallottine College in Thurles and later served in Tanzania and London. In January 1990, he was dismissed from the Pallottine Fathers. He no longer had permission to say Mass or administer the sacraments. Becoming known as 'The Padre', he spent decades denying accusations, claiming he had raised money both inside and outside Europe for victims on the nationalist side in the Troubles but had 'never bought explosives for the IRA or anybody else' and had never been requested by the paramilitary group to do so. But the priest had allegedly become the main contact for many years between the IRA and one of its main sources of weaponry and finance — Muammar Gaddafi's Libyan regime. His meetings with Gaddafi were documented in journalist Jennifer O'Leary's book The Padre: The True Story of the Irish Priest Who Armed the IRA with Gaddafi's Money. Ryan was also the first priest to contest an election in Ireland, when he ran in the 1989 European Parliament election in the Munster constituency as an Independent with Sinn Fein support. He failed to be elected but received more than 30,000 votes. But it was his alleged role in supplying arms for the IRA that brought him under most scrutiny and caused a political storm between the UK, Belgium and the Republic of Ireland. He had been arrested in Belgium in 1988. Following the killing of three off-duty British servicemen in the Netherlands, a tip-off led Belgian police to an IRA sympathiser's home and to Ryan's arrest. He was believed to be the quartermaster of an active IRA unit in Belgium, a crucial logistical figure. Bomb-making equipment, manuals and a large sum of foreign currency were seized. Repatriated to Ireland, after going on hunger strike as the UK sought to bring him to trial, the country then refused to extradite him to the UK believing he would not receive a fair trial. Patrick Ryan being interviewed on Spotlight on The Troubles: A Secret History in 2019 (BBC) News in 90 seconds - 16th June 2025 Mrs Thatcher once described the cleric as having an 'expert knowledge of bombing' and, in 2019, in an interview for BBC's Spotlight on The Troubles: A Secret History, he was asked if he was involved in any of the incidents of which Mrs Thatcher had accused him, to which he responded: 'I would say most of them. One way or another, yes, I had a hand in most of them. Yes, she was right.' Asked if the PM was right to connect him to events such as the Brighton bomb, he replied: 'One hundred per cent.' Five people died when, on October 12, 1984, an IRA bomb exploded inside the Grand Hotel, where Margaret Thatcher's ruling Conservative Party was holding its annual conference. As the programme explored his key role in IRA arms shipments from Libya, he went on to take credit for introducing the organisation to a type of timer unit it used to set off bombs which he had discovered while in Switzerland. Asked if he had any regrets, Mr Ryan said: 'I regret that I wasn't even more effective, absolutely. I would have liked to have been much more effective, but we didn't do too badly.'
Sunday World
4 days ago
- Sunday World
Killer fined and sister gets suspended sentence after prison visit drug exchange
Thomas Valliday (37) has been in jail since 2008 when he battered and bludgeoned former IRA man Frank 'Bap' McGreevy to death A convicted murderer has been handed a fine and his sister a suspended jail sentence after a drug exchange during a prison visit. Thomas Martin Valliday and Ellen Louise Valliday were sentenced at Antrim Crown Court. Judge Alistair Devlin said the gravity of the case was not the amount of drugs but rather 'that drugs were brought into a supposedly drug-free environment.' Thomas Valliday (37), who has been in jail since 2008 when he battered and bludgeoned former IRA man Frank 'Bap' McGreevy to death, was handed a £500 fine 'with an immediate warrant' so he will serve seven days in default. Thomas Valliday His sister Ellen (31) Valliday, from Conway Street in Belfast, was handed a nine month jail sentence, suspended for two years. At an earlier hearing, Thomas Valliday entered guilty pleas to having class C prescription-only drugs Pregabalin and Gabapentin on December 18 2019. Ellen Valliday entered guilty pleas to supplying the class C drugs and conveying 'list A articles' into HMP Magilligan. Thomas Valliday News in 90 seconds - 16th June 2025 A second sister, 35-year-old Karen Valliday from the Stewartstown Road, was also due to be sentenced but after she failed to attend court, Judge Devlin issued a warrant for her arrest. He outlined how the sister had gone to the prison to visit their brother but Ellen Valliday had 'thrown an item' over the barrier between them. Despite a prison officer's 'commendable efforts' to grab the package, Thomas Valliday 'swiftly' grabbed it and shoved it in his mouth. While the sisters were detained until police arrived, Thomas Valliday was taken to a separate room. Warned that he would be subject to a full body search, Valliday conceded 'OK I'll hand it over' and on examination, the package transpired to be a single Pregabalin and a single Gabapentin. During his sentencing remarks, Judge Devlin said it was clear 'there had been some pre-planning' on the part of the sisters and also that he had to take account of Thomas Valliday's 'significant record,' including the entry for murder. But the judge said he also had to take cognisance of not only their guilty pleas, but also the 'culpable delay' of more than five years in a case which 'was fairly simple and straightforward.' Frank 'Bap' McGreevy Thomas Valliday is coming towards the end of the minimum sentence he received for the murder of Mr McGreevy. At the end of his trial in February 2010 Valliday was convicted of killing the 51-year-old west Belfast father-of-two. Valliday was high on a cocktail of drink and drugs when he battered the victim with a variety of weapons including a pick-axe handle in his flat in Ross Street in March 2008. Imposing a life sentence and ordering Valliday to serve a minimum of 17 years behind bars, Mr Justice Hart said the convicted killer 'has shown no remorse whatever for his crime and I am satisfied that there are no mitigating factors in the case.' In 2016 Valliday had an extra year added to the sentence after he went on the run for four days after escaping from prison guards at the Ulster Hospital.
