Brendan McFarlane

Brendan McFarlane (nicknamed "Bik") is an Irish Republican activist. Born in 1951, he is married with three children and was brought up in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast. At 16, he left Belfast to train as a Roman Catholic priest in a north Wales seminary. [cite web |url=http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/irish_news/arts2005/mar11_hunger_strike_war_of_words.php |title=Former comrades' war of words over hunger strike |accessdate=2008-06-11 |last=McCaffrey |first=Steven |date=2005-03-12 |work=nuzhound.com |publisher=Irish News] After witnessing the violence which erupted in Northern Ireland during the tumultuous summer of 1969, he decided reluctantly to leave the seminary.Fact|date=September 2008 He joined the Provisional IRA that same year.

Bayardo Bar attack

In 1976 McFarlane was sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with a gun and bomb attack on the Bayardo Bar on Aberdeen street in the area of Belfast's Protestant Shankill Road that killed five people - two male civilians, two female civilians and a loyalist paramilitary. In a 1995 House of Lords debate Gerry Fitt, formerly nationalist MP for West Belfast, alleged that McFarlane had machine-gunned three female pedestrians who were passing by the Bayardo as it was blown up. [cite web |url= http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199495/ldhansrd/vo950615/text/50615-20.htm |title= Lords Hansard Text (150615-20) |accessdate= 2008-06-11 |date=1995-06-15 |work= Parliament Publications and Records, Lords Hansard |pages= Column 1964 ] The bar was attacked because it was allegedly frequented by member of the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force, however, only one of the five people who were killed had links to loyalist paramilitaries. The IRA initially denied it had carried out the attack.cite book |last=English |first=Richard |authorlink=Richard English |title=Armed Struggle - A History of the IRA |origdate=2003-08-07 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0195166051 |pages=p209] The attack occurred against a background of severe sectarian violence.

In Prison

McFarlane tried to escape the Maze Prison dressed as a priest in 1978. The bid failed, McFarlane’s Special Category Status was withdrawn, and he joined the dirty protest in the H-blocks. He was Provisional IRA Officer Commanding in the Maze during the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike in which 10 republicans died. He took over from Bobby Sands in March 1981 at the start of the strike who gave his job to McFarlane. Asked why, Sands is said to have replied: “Because you will let me die.” McFarlane's tenure as OC of IRA prisoners during the hunger strike saw a total of ten republican prisoners starve to death. He later described 1981 as, "probably the worst year of my life. Despite the political gains, the loss of that year is always with me".

McFarlane went on to lead the Maze Prison escape, the mass escape of 38 republican prisoners from the Maze in 1983 in which a prison officer died of a heart attack. Fifteen IRA men were caught in the vicinity of the prison, four were captured later that day, 19 got away, with three never being recaptured.

Tidey Kidnapping

After the breakout McFarlane resumed his IRA activities. In December 1983, he is alleged to have kidnapped supermarket executive Don Tidey in a bid to ransom him to raise money for the IRA. The kidnap was one of spate of kidnappings and robberies ordered by the IRA Army Council in the early 1980s to raise funds. [cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Brendan |authorlink=Brendan O'Brien (Irish journalist) |title=The Long War: IRA and Sinn Fein from Armed Struggle to Peace Talks |origyear=1993 |edition=2nd rev (1995) |publisher=O'Brien Press |location=Dublin, Ireland |isbn=0862784255 |pages=p121] Tidey was taking his 13-year-old daughter to school when he stopped at what he believed to be a Gardaí (Republic of Ireland police) checkpoint. A gun was put to his head and he was bundled into a waiting car. A few days later his photograph was sent to Associated British Foods, and this was followed by a phone call demanding a IR£5 million ransom.Citation | title = Kidnap finally catches up with Sinn Fein warrior priest | newspaper = The Sunday Times | date = 2006-03-12 | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2091-2081698_1,00.html]

The Gardaí eventually tracked Tidey and his kidnappers — four in all — to Derrada Wood in Ballinamore, County Leitrim on 16 December 1983. In the subsequent shoot-out, a trainee garda and an Irish Army soldier were killed. Tidey’s kidnappers escaped.

On 16 January, 1986 McFarlane was recaptured in The Netherlands along with fellow escapee Gerry Kelly, and subsequently extradited to Northern Ireland, and released on parole from the Maze in 1997. [cite web | title = Passport in man's home bore the name of another man | | url = http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1998/05/08/ihead.htm | publisher = Irish Examiner | date = 30 April 1998 | accessdate = 2007-03-11] [cite web | title = Dutch Extradite Two I.R.A. Fugitives | url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DEFDE113EF937A35751C1A960948260 | publisher = New York Times | date = 4 December 1986 | accessdate = 2007-03-11] [cite web | title = Go ahead given for kidnap trial | author = | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6161347.stm | publisher = "BBC" | date = 8 December 2006] | accessdate = 2007-03-11]

Recent activities

According to Henry McDonald of The Observer McFarlane was part of the IRA delegation that met with the Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade in August 2004 to discuss Gerry Adams' remarks that the IRA might disband to prevent it being used as an excuse to delay a power-sharing agreement which would include republicans. [cite web |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1283590,00.html |title=IRA heals rift over Adams 'disband' remarks |accessdate=2008-06-11 |last=McDonald |first=Henry |authorlink=Henry McDonald |date=15 August 2004 |work=The Observer |publisher=Guardian Media Group]

He is now a member of Coiste na n-Iarchimí ("the Graduates") - a welfare organisation for republican ex-prisoners. [cite web |url=http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/story/0,9061,1538680,00.html |title=Veterans may assume policing role |accessdate=2008-06-11 |last=Chrisafis |first=Angelique |date=29 July 2005 |work=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian Media Group]

The political wing of the Provisional Republican movement, Sinn Féin, describes him as a voluntary worker, and he has been a vocal supporter of the party’s political stance, appearing beside both Gerry Adams and Gerry Kelly at rallies and reiterating former prisoners’ support for the direction the party is taking.

McFarlane has formed a band, "Tuan", which is a regular on the Irish republican entertainment circuit. [cite web |url=http://republican-news.org/archive/1999/December09/09imea.html |title=An Phoblacht/Republican News |accessdate=2008-06-11 |date=9 December 1999]

In 1998, McFarlane had been pictured shaking hands with the Irish president, Mary McAleese, who is also from Ardoyne area of Belfast.

MacFarlane has also shown solidarity with the radical Basque nationalist movement and has been interviewed in the Basque and Spanish press on the subject of the Basque peace process and the proposed release of ETA prisoners. He has described the ETA prisoners as having been engaged in a, 'legitimate struggle' similar to that of Irish republicans. [cite web |url=http://www.noticiasdegipuzkoa.com/ediciones/2006/06/17/politica/euskadi/d17eus17.225155.php |title=Las excarcelaciones provocaron momentos difíciles para las víctimas, pero prevaleció la paz |accessdate=2008-06-11 |date= 17 June 2006 |work=NOTICIAS DE GIPUZKOA |language=Spanish |quote="las actividades que nosotros desarrollamos eran parte de una lucha por los legítimos derechos de Irlanda y por lo tanto nosotros no íbamos a pedir perdón por una lucha legítima. De la misma manera, a los presos vascos no se les debe hace este tipo de exigencias, porque están en la cárcel por una lucha legítima" "Our activities were part of a struggle for the legitimate rights of Ireland and because of that we don't have to ask forgiveness for [having been part of] a legitimate struggle. In the same manner, the Basque prisoners don't have to give in to these type of demands because they are in prison for [being part of] a legitimate struggle".]

He lives in Belfast and is the father of three children.cite web |url=http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2008/03/06/story57024.asp |title=Supreme Court clears way for McFarlane kidnap trial |accessdate=2008-06-11 |date=6 March 2008 |work=Irish Examiner |publisher= Thomas Crosbie Holdings]

Charged with Kidnapping

In 1998 McFarlane was first charged in the Republic of Ireland with Tidey’s kidnapping, but he challenged this on the basis that Gardaí had lost a number of exhibits containing fingerprints — the central evidence in the case. The Irish Supreme Court ruled in March 2006 that the trial could proceed. [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4782270.stm |title=Republican will face kidnap trial |accessdate=2008-06-11 |date=7 March 2006 |work=BBC News, Northern Ireland |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation]

The Gardaí based the Tidey charges on items recovered from the kidnap site, including a milk carton and a plastic container, on which fingerprints were discovered. Although the items went missing from Garda headquarters during renovation work, the fingerprints had been photographed and a forensic analysis done.

McFarlane was due to stand trial on 3 October 2006. However his legal team launched a second judicial review in May 2006, on the grounds that McFarlane could not get a fair trial due to "systematic delays in bringing the prosecution". [cite web |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0515/mcfarlaneb.html |title=McFarlane launches second judicial review |accessdate=2008-06-11 |date=15 May 2006|work=RTÉ News |publisher=Radio Telifís Éireann] This held up his trial until the Irish High Court ruled on the issue on 8 December 2006. However, McFarlane's representatives appealed this decision in turn. Their appeal was finally dismissed on March 6 2008, and the trial opened in Dublin on 11 June, 2008 [cite web |url=http://news.todayfm.com/story.asp?sid=15262 |title=McFarlane trial opens today |accessdate=2008-06-11 |date=2008-06-11 |publisher=Today FM] only to collapse on 26 June when the Garda evidence was ruled inadmissible. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7475724.stm |title =Maze escaper kidnap case collapse|accessdate=2008-06-26|date=2008-06-26|publisher=BBC]

References