User talk:LukeOR

Hello,

Firstly, condolences on the loss of your grandfather. My own father knew him and more particularly his son Manus throught trade union activities.

Regarding the first point, I think that people, including myself, assumed that Micheal was a native speaker because he born in a Gaeltacht area. I saw in the Irish Times obituary that this was not the case and that he learned his Irish while interned in the Curragh.

Regarding the Mitrokhin reference, the allegation is not that he ran guns for an offensive campaign, but that he was approached in August 1969 by the IRA under the conditions that nationalist areas were under loyalist attack. Mitrokhin alleges that Andropov approved the transfer of arms for this purpose, but that they did not reach Ireland until 1972, when they were recieved by the Official IRA. Now we have only Mitrokhin's word for this and no verification, but given that many people, including Fianna Fail and the Irish government, looked into getting arms into the north in the particularly volatile climate of 1968, it doesn't seem entirely implausible to me.

Regards,

Jdorney 14:38, 24 May 2006 (UTC)