Item 89 - Copies of documents from a classified FBI file on contacts between Irish American political activists (specifically the Irish National Caucus) and members of Provisional Sinn Fein and possibly the Provisional I.

11 pp

Copies of documents from a classified FBI file on contacts between Irish American political activists (specifically the Irish National Caucus) and members of Provisional Sinn Féin and possibly the Provisional I.R.A. According to the attached explanatory note Peadar MacFhínín received the documents as part of a file copied and sent to him by 'a decent senior FBI special agent sympathetic to Irish American activists. The note also explains that the special agent retyped most of the documents and put the parts which were 'confidential/national security denials' in capitals. The vast majority of the material included in these photocopies is in capitals. Includes memo from an attaché at the U.S. Embassy, Dublin addressed to the director of the F.B.I. dated 9 August 1973. According to the memo Dr. F. Burns-O'Brien of the Irish National Caucus and later an advisor to President Ford recently visited Ireland where amongst others he met with Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Sean Kennan and Maire Drum in Northern Ireland. In Dublin he also met with Congressman Mario Biaggi 'an unabashed supporter of the IRA.' According to the memo 'This type of activity is very troublesome to The State Department who maintain close relations with the U.K. and Dublin, the former because of their being N.A.T.O. partners.' Also includes correspondence dated November-December 1973 between the Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Senator Barry Goldwater in relation to Goldwater attending a reception for Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and others sponsored by the majority leader Thomas P. O'Neill. The British embassy were apparently alarmed by the event. Goldwater responded that while he was relatively uniformed about the situation in Ireland he wasn't going to judge 'the methods of Irish how they deal with the British.' He goes on to say that 'the founder of conservatism was an Irishman, Edmund Burke, whose philosophy was keep all that is good and change that which is not. Evidently, the Irish fighters think change is needed.' Also includes a letter dated January 1974 from United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger addressed to the British Foreign Office in which he advises the British Foreign Office against directly opposing the 'The Irish American Community in The United States Congress' and instead to stress positive points in their policy. He goes on to say that 'In truth, the Irish Government fears the Irish Americans and are going to send people to confront them because it appears that they are passive on the issue and even called Pro-British. They will do the political attacks you need to avoid.' Also includes a memo dated January 1975 addressed to FBI headquarters, Washington, D.C. from U.S. Customs, Internal Affairs on the Subject of Fred Burns-O'Brien. Burns O'Brien had been appointed to the President's Commission on Amnesty (which was primarily concerned with 'draft dodgers'). The U.S. Customs Internal Affairs department write that 'they 'will be monitoring him to insure he does not use [his] position to help his friends in Ireland.'

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27/06/2013
24/07/2025