• Rita O’Hare, in the old editor’s office in 44 Parnell Square
THE BEST POLITICAL WEEKLY IN EUROPE BY RITA O’HARE My years as editor of AP/RN began in January 1985 after the sudden death of Mick Timothy. We carried the account of his funeral and Danny Morrison’s eulogy in that week’s edition. Mick’s photo was on the front page. I wrote then “That Mick Timothy will be missed, that the many positions of responsibility he held will be difficult to fill is an understatement. The loss to the Republican Movement is immeasurable and will become more evident when the shock of his death eases.” We went from his graveside to 44 Parnell Square. It was Wednesday, deadline day. The paper was published Thursday. The proofs had to get to the printers on time. The paper was crucial, particularly in a time of censorship, a hostile media, and the propaganda of both British and Irish Governments. We never missed a deadline. Remember, no computers then. No email. No mobile phones. We met Fridays to plan content for the next week. Consult with the northern editor, decide on the editorial and front page. The hardest working of all, the artists and layout people and typesetters arrived Tuesday and worked through Wednesday till the paper was ready. We often worked all through the night. We did everything except print it. These are my memories of those years. anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2020 - ISSUE NUMBER 4
The first paper of February carried the headline ‘IRA Call the Shots’. It came from a media story about John Hume saying that he would speak to the IRA rather than Sinn Féin. A poster was made from it and, years later, it was used to convict a young Sinn Féin member from Cork of membership of the IRA. February brought news of a conference in New York, organised by the City Comptroller Harrison Goldin. He raised the issue of discrimination in employment in the north of Ireland. This became the McBride Principles campaign. It was fiercely opposed by both British and Irish governments and by the SDLP. The deaths of IRA Volunteers, Diplock courts, prisoners, the show trials, extradition, and the sectarian murders by loyalists acting with impunity filled the pages of the paper. 48 Volunteers died in those years. We carried obituaries for them all and accounts of their funerals. Most of them were so young, yet they gave their lives to that struggle for freedom. We carried all the social issues of the day that affected people all over Ireland. Housing, health, homelessness, women’s rights, unemployment, gay rights, emigration, discrimination. The front page of May 9, ‘The Writing on the Wall’, is a photo of a young soldier, hunkered down, his rifle at the 33
