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How will history remember Cpt. Robert Nairac?

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Comments

  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,913 ✭✭✭galwaycyclist


    tac foley wrote: »
    This is funny?

    How to win friends and influence people.

    Not.

    tac

    In fairness Tac if you come from a community that believed Nairac organised the murder of unarmed musicians (among others) then I'd say it would get a good giggle.

    Robert Nairacs predecessors in the Cairo gang et al tried the same "undercover" stuff in Dublin in the 1920s and any who were identified paid the price.

    its not like we're talking Geneva convention here. There can have been no doubt of the outcome if he got caught. Nor could there be any expectation of sympathy.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,108 ✭✭✭pedroeibar1


    How will he be remembered?

    Probably in this little couplet, designed to illustrate the subtleties of the Belfast accent. (It only rhymes if you speak Bolfost.)

    Captain Nairac was a spy
    Where's Captain Nairac now?

    That was already posted in #7

    Personally I find it odd that a Mod would thank such a post.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,301 ✭✭✭Snickers Man


    That was already posted in #7

    Just goes to show how well known a couplet it is. OK it's black humour, (as is common in the North) but the butt of the joke is really the Belfast accent.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 631 ✭✭✭RoadhouseBlues


    The SAS agent who has been hailed as a hero by some & a lawless maniac by others behind some of the worst atrocities during he mid 70's of the Troubles, linked to things like the Kingsmill massacre to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

    until he got caught he had a very good run from around 71 - 76 getting a number of top IRA men when his cover was finally blown when he walked into a Republican pub (something he would regularly do to gather int. on Republicans) in South armagh & gave his name of that as a Official IRA man who had just died.

    Those who call him a hero attribute this to his bringing to justice of some high profile IRA figures while operating dangerously deep in enemy territory

    The ones who say he was a maniac are some high profile British Army members who say he organized the Dublin bombings & other massacres like kingsmill & the Miami showband killings because he was against the 75 ceasefire & wanted inflame sectarian tensions (he was a Catholic himself) & he was also involved with the Clockwork Orange operation, a military coup that would go ahead if Labor pulled out of Ireland & overthrow the government.

    Opinions?

    First of all, I'm no expert. I only discovered this story bout 6 years ago. But in all fairness, he sounds like he had some personality issues. Christ we all do, but I think he wanted to be the hero or maybe the one who wrapped everything up. I read an interview bout an Ira fella who was there at the time. He said RN was the bravest fella he ever seen. He said he got the gun from the crowd who got him, but it jammed. Only for that he would have got away. That could be rubbish but we will never know.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,577 ✭✭✭jonniebgood1


    That was already posted in #7

    Personally I find it odd that a Mod would thank such a post.

    The couplet is a very accurate reflection of how he is remembered in many sections of the north- I find it odd that this is not clear to one and all. Refer to thread title. Not everyone analyses history from a book so the couplet contains a hell of a lot more than it appears on the surface. I read into it as containing gallows humour but perhaps also a more sinister message/ warning. The rhyme or variants of it were used as a tool in some quarters to tease/ threaten soldiers. Also the fact that it is so well known means that in reality it may be the first reply from many people in the north when faced with the question in the thread title.

    On a seperate note a mod is allowed thank any damn post they want for whatever reason they wish. In this case the post was thanked for the reason stated above, not that I should need to justify it.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 2,649 ✭✭✭Whelo79


    Sorry for reviving such an old thread but it makes for interesting reading after this was released yesterday

    https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2020/01/24/news/mod-documents-link-robert-niarac-linked-to-miami-showband-massacre-1823416/


  • Registered Users Posts: 27,564 ✭✭✭✭steddyeddy


    tac foley wrote: »
    Opinions are like ***holes. everybody has one.

    Let's be seeing some real evidence behind your preposterous accusations, and I'm sure that our opinions will follow pretty quickly.

    So far, all we've heard is opinions of 'others'. Would I be far too off the mark in thinking that in posting this diatribe of alleged infamy that you share them?

    Time to put up, Sir, or shut up.

    tac

    I genuinely don't know whether these sorts of posts are indicative of a general ignorance of the events and claims over the years or as a defence of anything to do with the British army. How on earth was intelligence from the RUC, senior army officers and many others involved in the intelligence services to be considered preposterous? It's well established that there was terrorist-British security force cooperation during the troubles and Nairac was a pivotal character in all this.

    The put up, as you describe it comes in form of MOD intelligence and documents relating to Nairac. Link from the BBC.
    British Army intelligence documents have linked undercover soldier Robert Nairac to the Miami Showband massacre, The Irish News has revealed.

    Three members of the band were killed by the UVF on a rural road after a gig in Banbridge, County Down, in 1975.

    The Irish News says the documents, seen for the first time, suggest the British soldier obtained equipment and uniforms for the killers and was responsible for the planning and execution of the attack.

    The papers were released to a solicitor representing the widow of Miami Showband lead singer Fran O'Toole.

    Capt Nairac was abducted by the IRA while on an undercover operation in a pub in south Armagh in 1977. His body has never been found.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,780 ✭✭✭BalcombeSt4


    Depends on what side of the fence you're on.

    If your on the pro-British Army occupation of Ireland he will be remembered as a great soldier.

    If your on the Irish National Liberation and civil rights causes he will be remembered as man who committed massacre all over Ireland. Kingsmill, Miami, John Francis Green, Dublin & Monaghan, Kays Tavern Dundalk, Castleblaney. Based at the huge Castledillon military base, if Holroyd, Weir & Collin Wallace are to be believed he's helped to kill over 40 people.

    I think his activity down South should be looked at more closely & the British Army in general. In 1976 around the time Nairac was running around, an eight man SAS unit armed with shotguns & SMG's were arrested by the Gardai after crossing into Louth. What was a heavily armed SAS unit doing in the South of Ireland? This type of thing with undercover soldiers crossing the border happened all the time around the the mid 70's, after Nairac was killed Loyalist attacks in the South seemed to magically stop. The UDA used some firebombs in Donegal in the 1980's bu these were clear amateur bombs, no bigger than a box of fags, kids stuff, nothing like the very sophisticated 400 lb car bombs used in Dublin & Monaghan or Belurbet, Pettigo, Clones, Dundalk etc.

    So I view Nairac as a very skilled & good soldier, but a horrible human. being.


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