In the face of naked sectarianism and a brutal suppression of the Catholic population, I resisted foreign rule and was sentenced by a juryless court for offenses against the crown. Upon my release, a Loyalist death squad aided by police intelligence attempted to assassinate me and were nearly successful in claiming the lives of my four young children. My late wife Bernadette and I bundled up our family and fled, hoping to find shelter from persecution in America.

The legal battle to stay in our adopted land has been long and heartbreaking, with the Board of Immigration Appeals reversing a judicial decision and a final hearing scheduled for July 1 at the Third District Court of Appeals meeting in Newark Federal Court Building. Consider this your invitation to attend this hearing.  A show of support will be most helpful as this is our last judicial chance.  While we are hopeful of a positive result from this hearing, we are aware that the court may find that Congress has not provided means within the Immigration and Nationality Act to grant us relief.

Congressman Steve Rothman has introduced a bill in Congress requesting that in the event of an adverse decision by the Third District Court, the grounds for removal be waived. He and Congressman Peter King are soon to be circulating a congressional sign-on letter addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff requesting that deportation proceedings against my family and myself be suspended.

This letter, if signed by a sufficient number of legislators, will send a powerful message and could possibly prevent our deportation.   I appeal to everyone who reads this to contact their representative in Congress and ask them to sign on to this letter.  Write, fax or e-mail your Congressperson and ask for their support.  Phone your constituency office. Sometimes just a few such requests are sufficient to convince a legislator to commit his or her support.  If you need help finding out how to contact your district's representative, you can visit our website at www.mcallistercampaign.com or e-mail us at stopdeporting@aol.com.

Since fleeing Belfast in 1988 and settling here in America I have strived to be a productive, positive part of this society.  My children have grown up here and are virtually American. My beloved Bernadette is buried here. All I ask is the opportunity to do what millions before me have done, to come to America and find freedom.

Your support is my children's and my only hope. Please approach your Congressional Representative and ask him or her to sign onto this letter and perhaps our struggles will not have been in vain.  Your help will be appreciated beyond what you can imagine.
                                                                      
Malachy McAllister

• What you can do
   
• Congressional Sign-On Letter to Homeland Security Secretary

Malachy McAllister's address at the Irish American Republicans Party at the Republican National Convention, NYC August 31, 2004

Firstly, I would like to thank the Irish American Republicans of New York, in particular their leaders, Grant Lally and Chairman Brian J. McCarthy, for the opportunity to address you this evening.  It is certainly ironic that we are gathered here at the site of the Irish Famine Memorial, which is described by Irish men and women as An Gorta Mór (the Great Hunger). 

I think most of you of Irish heritage know or have read about those dark days, the Black ’47 days, when hundreds and thousands of Irish men, women and children died of starvation.  At that time, hundreds and thousands of Irish people boarded ships and headed to America in the direction of hope, in the direction of freedom from oppression for being Irish and Catholic, and in the direction of a new life and a brighter future for generations of their descendants. 

For over 150 years since An Gorta Mór, further generations of Irish men and women have been forced to leave Ireland for economic reasons, and some Irish men and women have been forced to leave because of what is commonly termed The Troubles, which were the result of the struggle for freedom, independence and a united country.  Those goals were the same goals that the first American president, George Washington, had for the young United States when he fought to end British control. 

My family’s journey and our nightmare didn’t start when we reached the shores of America.  For Bernadette and me, our struggles started the day our first child was born in Belfast.  As parents we had a duty to our children to love, care for, and protect them against all harm.  We who lived in the North of Ireland know about evil and where it exists and festers.  It exists in the minds of anti-Catholic sectarian bigots.  It exists in the minds of those sectarian bigots who, for example, showed the world their hatred towards the young, innocent children who attended the Holy Cross School in Belfast.  This is but one example that we all witnessed, through the media, with our own eyes. 

In 1988, my family and were forced to flee Ireland after an assassination attempt by a loyalist paramilitary death squad.  My mother-in-law and three of my children were at home that night when four gunmen, dressed in Halloween masks, arrived shortly before 8 p.m. on a Sunday evening.  Two proceeded up the walkway to the front door and window of our house.  Then all hell broke loose.  One of the gunmen shot through the glass panel of the front door into the hallway.  The other loyalist gunmen fired 26 shots from an AK-47 into the living room and when my son, Gary, was spotted at the bedroom window, the gunmen directed their weapons up into my children’s bedrooms, narrowly missing all three.  My mother-in-law managed to escape to the rear of the house and huddled down in a corner.  When the shooting finally stopped, my children were found huddled up together with a blanket over them for protection.  A call was placed to the “security forces,” who took 20 minutes to respond, giving the gunmen enough time to escape. 

It was a miracle that no one was struck by any of the bullets but nevertheless the psychological and emotional scars exist to this day.  We were later notified that a security force file containing my personal information was found in a loyalist safe house, along with the guns used in the shooting.  This proved that there had been collusion between the British “security forces” and the loyalist paramilitaries and that I was being deliberately targeted for assassination. 

As a Catholic in the North of Ireland, I grew up under the heavy hand of British and Unionist rule and I know what it is like to be treated as a second-class citizen.  I know what it is like to be denied the right to vote; what it is like to be denied a proper education; to be denied proper housing, to be denied proper health care; I know what the fear is like of having a gun put to my head and ordered to leave my job because of my religion; to be stopped several times a day and harassed by British soldiers or by the RUC, the so-called police force.  I know what it is like to be assaulted and beaten by them and then dragged into a Diplock Court and criminalized. 

And, yes, I and hundreds of other nationalist youths in the North of Ireland took a stand and fought back against the evil force which invaded our country and the oppressors from within, just as America has fought the evil force that invaded them by attacking the World Trade Towers on 9/11/2001.  The Irish and the Irish-Americans look back on 9/11 with sadness and rage and we can never forget the policemen, firemen, emergency workers and civilians that perished at the World Trade Center on that day.  Many of them were of Irish descent.  That was an act of “terrorism” of enormous proportion and should never be forgotten. 

Along those lines, the Irish people can never forget the murder of 14 unarmed innocent civilians shot down in cold blood on the streets of Derry by British paratroopers during a peaceful civil rights protest.  That was an act of “terrorism.” 

The Irish people can never forget the Dublin and Monaghan bombings when, on May 17^th 1974, 26 civilians died in Dublin and six civilians died in Monaghan.  This heinous act was carried out by loyalist paramilitaries under the direction of British intelligence agents.  That was an act of “terrorism.”  The murder of civil rights attorney Pat Finucane in front of his family while they ate their Sunday dinner; the assassination of Rosemary Nelson with the assistance of the RUC; and the death of Robert Hamill who was kicked to death by loyalist bigots while the RUC watched from their land rover just a few hundred feet away:  these were all acts of “terrorism.” 

The list of murders in the Catholic and nationalist community goes on and on and the attempted murder of my whole family by a loyalist death squad run by the British “security forces” who provided the information to the loyalists to carry out the attack was an act of “terrorism.” 

Some would condemn me for my involvement and my actions and would ignore the facts of my case.  But the truth is, and with respect, they have not walked in my shoes.  They have not suffered extreme persecution, including the lifelong discrimination we suffered as Catholics.  They have not suffered the constant campaign of harassment from the loyalists, whom the government was unwilling or unable to control.  They have not suffered the incidents of public humiliation and physical abuse by the British “security forces” and they haven’t suffered murder attempts that I suffered against me and my family. 

These words are not only my words.  They were the words used by a Federal Court Judge in the United states to describe the life that me and my family had to endure in Belfast when he granted my wife and children political asylum back in October 2001.  However, that decision was unbelievably reversed by an Immigration Court of Appeals last November.  That decision was clearly a political decision and an injustice not only to me and my family but to all of Irish America. 

For more than two centuries, the United States has represented a safe haven for those who were fleeing persecution due to their political or religious beliefs.  My family did not leave Ireland for an economically better life in America:  we fled for our lives and for the lives of our children.  We did the only possible thing we could do to protect our children and we are being persecuted for it. 

We are not asking for pity; we are asking President Bush and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge to suspend our deportation proceedings and allow us to remain in America. 

As a family, we have never wanted to look back on what we had to endure.  We have always been prepared to forgive and forget and to move forward.  All we ever wanted to do was to bring our children up in peace, and free from bigotry and hatred.  Since our arrival in the U.S., we have been hard-working, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens. 

My family and I should not have to live with the constant threat of deportation.  There was no legal basis for nor was there any need for Federal agents to storm our home in the early hours of the morning last November, traumatizing my wife Bernadette and my younger, threatening them with arrest.  Further, it is with regret that I must conclude, as others have concluded, that the above actions by the Federal agents was a contributing factor in my wife’s sudden illness and death.  But, again, I hold no bitterness as I know Bernadette would only want me to continue to fight for our children’s freedom. 

We all understand the need for better security in the post-9/11 world.  But why, in light of the Good Friday Agreement and an American government that brokered it, are the Irish and the Irish-American families being targeted for deportation?  What threat do we post to the national security of our adopted country?  What purpose does it serve American citizens to see our families torn apart and our dream of a better future for our children, away from the background of bigotry and hatred, shattered? 

The Irish Americans want President Bush or the next elected president to renew the quest for peace and justice in Ireland.  Irish Americans want to see the Good Friday Agreement implemented.  Irish Americans want to see and end to discrimination and to the persecution of nationalists.  They want equal rights in the North of Ireland.  They want to see a police force that is representative of both sides of the community, a police force that all can be proud of and respect as much as New Yorkers and Irish Americans respect the NYPD. 

With that, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Patrick Lynch, President of the PBA, for his continued support.

I stand before you today seeking your support.  I would like each and every one of you to know who I am and be confident of who I am.  I am an Irish nationalist who loves the United States of America and who cherishes American values and supports its presidents.  I am not a terrorist.  I am a family man.  I am the husband of a great woman, Bernadette McAllister, who gave her life for the love and dedication of her family.

Help me to keep her memory alive.  Help me raise our cause to the national level.  Let the politicians know that Irish America is concerned and that they stand for civil rights and democracy in the North of Ireland and they are a voice against injustice there and a voice for the protection of innocent people.  Help to bring an end to the persecution myself and my family have had to endure for so long. 

As we head towards election day, the presidential candidates should be reminded that Irish Americans are looking for a leader who will stand up to the plate and commit to Irish issues.  The US/UK Treaty and the removal of the political offense exception is an affront to Irish Americans and indeed to all Americans. 

Let America continue to be the symbol of freedom throughout the world.  Let Ireland one day achieve peace and justice and be united at last. 

Thank you. 

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Malachy McAllister’s address IAUC Chicago Sunday, August 1, 2004

It is good to be back in Chicago.  I believe I can honestly say that it is one city that I believe has a strong Irish Republican family and one in which I know I have friends. 

But I am not here on a friendly visit.  I am here to stir some emotion within the IAUC and the Irish-American republican family and community. 

I want to thank the IAUC for inviting me to address you and especially Diana Turner for all her hard work and for keeping this very important issue alive. 

It is with a heavy heart that I address you today after the sudden illness and death of my wife, Bernadette.  She was diagnosed with cancer on the 1^st of April and died six weeks later on the 10^th of May, 2004 – her 46^th birthday. 

Bernadette and I had been together for nearly 32 years.  She was 15 and I 16 when we met on the Lower Ormeau Road and started dating.  For 16 years we have been fighting deportation back to the North. 

It was last November that we celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary; then, just a week later, our world was turned upside down again.  Federal agents, without warning or a warrant, stormed our home in Wallington, New Jersey, illegally seeking to arrest me and deport me back to Ireland which we had fled from 16 years earlier.  If this was not traumatic and stressful enough (!!!), my wife and children were also threatened with arrest and issued a deportation order to leave the country in 30 days.  These moves came about after a Federal Court dismissed my appeal and the Immigration Court of Appeals reversed an earlier decision made by a Federal Court Judge granting political asylum to Bernadette and the children in 2001.  This decision was clearly political and an injustice, not only to my family, but also to the Irish-American community.  With regret, I must conclude, as have others, that the stress caused my wife by the above actions by this Administration and by the Federal Agents was a contributing factor to her sudden illness and death. 

For those who can’t relate to or understand this, it is an example of what stress can do to families -- Going through these proceedings year in and year out, not knowing what is going to happen next.  I unfortunately know first hand the sacrifices we as parents have to make for our children because my wife paid the ultimate sacrifice of her life. 

It is just another form of persecution, the 2004 version of “Irish Republican Families Need Not Apply.”  But it should not be happening here on American soil at the behest of the British Government. 

Just a few days ago at the Democratic Convention in Boston, we heard the rallying call in support of John Kerry and the claims of patriotism from former comrades during the Vietnam War.  During his 46-minute address, John Kerry  said a lot of good things on the domestic front and blasted Bush for the politics and the present situation in Iraq. 

But there was no mention of Northern Ireland, but that is hardly surprising, is it?  In my opinion we need to organize an Irish-American National Convention to gain back the respect the Irish-Americans deserve. 

In recent articles in The Irish Voice and The Irish Echo, we complained that the Democratic Irish platform is not very strong, and that the Irish-Americans are not given enough respect by the Democratic and the Republican leaderships.  But who is to blame for this? 

There are over forty million Americans of Irish heritage and there is not a true leader for the Irish cause, for Irish freedom, for Ireland to be free from British occupation and tyranny.  Do our fellow Irish-Americans and nationalists not understand that they can be Irish on more days than just the 17^th of March?  Irish-Americans must ask themselves why there are no more leaders like Bill Clinton, who will speak up and who will promote the Good Friday Agreement. 

They say that African-Americans carry the weight of the past with them.  We have all heard Al Sharpton carry on about discrimination and the exploitation of Blacks.  We should remember that the Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland and the Civil Rights Movement here in the U.S., led by Dr. Martin Luther King, were based on the same principles – the principles of democracy, the principle of the right to vote (though it seems that that goal has not been met yet in the U.S., judging from the last election!).  In my opinion, Irish America needs its own Al Sharpton or another Bill Clinton to provide leadership and to win the respect of both political parties. 

The country we live in is a different one post 9/11 and we all understand the need for security.  But why is this Administration targeting and terrorizing the Irish and the Irish-American families by threatening deportation?  What threat do we post to the national security of our adopted country?  What purpose does it serve American citizens to see our families torn apart and our dream of a better future for our children, away from the background of bigotry and hatred, shattered? 

Our journey and our struggles did not start when we reached the shore of the United States.  For Bernadette and me, our struggles started the day our first child was born in 1976 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  As parents we had a duty to our children to love, care for, and protect them against all harm.  We who lived in the North of Ireland know about evil and where it exists and festers.  It exists in the minds of anti-Catholic sectarian bigots.  It exists in the minds of those sectarian bigots who, for example, showed the world their hatred towards the young, innocent children who attended the Holy Cross School in Belfast.  This is but one example that we all witnessed, through the media, with our own eyes. 

For those of you who do not know me, I come from Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.  I am the second oldest of eight children born in the Markets area of South Belfast.  The neighborhood I grew up in is a stone’s throw from Belfast City Hall.  As a Catholic, I grew up under British and Unionist rule and knew what it was like to be treated as a second-class citizen.  I knew what it was like to be denied proper housing.  I knew what it was like to be denied the right to vote.  I knew the fear of having a gun put to my head and told not to come back to work anymore because the job I held was in a Protestant neighborhood and it was a job for a Protestant.  I knew what it was like to be stopped several times a day and harassed by the soldiers of the British Army and by the RUC.  I know what it is like to be assaulted and beaten by them and dragged into a Diplock Court by them, then convicted and criminalized by them. 

The situation described above all came to a head in 1981 when ten Republicans died on hunger strike in the Long Kesh prison.  Subsequently I joined the struggle to free our country from occupation and from oppression from within, as did many young nationalists in the North.  Later I was arrested on the word of a supergrass (paid informer) and convicted of political offenses and so served four years in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh. 

In 1988, my family and I fled Ireland after an assassination attempt by a loyalist Death Squad.  On that occasion, 26 shots from an AK-47 were fired into the living room of my home, including into the children’s bedrooms, narrowly missing my mother-in-law and three of my children.  Miraculously, no one was struck by a bullet, but we all carry the psychological and emotional scars to this day.  The British “security forces” later notified me and my family that a file containing my personal information had been found in a loyalist safe house, along with the guns used in the shooting.  This was the proof that I was deliberately targeted for assassination. 

The present Administration would condemn me for my involvement and my actions when I lived in Belfast and would ignore the facts of my case.  But the reality is they have not walked in my shoes.  They have not suffered the persecution we suffered, including the lifelong discrimination we suffered as Catholics.  They have not suffered the constant campaign of harassment from the loyalists, whom the government was unwilling or unable to control.  They have not suffered the incidents of public humiliation and physical abuse by the British “security forces” and they haven’t suffered murder attempts that I suffered against me and my family. 

I would like to point out to you, my friends, that these words are not only my words.  They were the words used by a Federal Court Judge in the United states to describe the life that me and my family had to endure in Belfast.  I ask you all, had I not the right to fight back? 

The Irish people can never forget the murder of 14 unarmed innocent civilians shot down in cold blood on the streets of Derry by British paratroopers during a peaceful civil rights protest.  That was an act of “terrorism.” 

The Irish people can never forget the Dublin and Monaghan bombings when, on May 17^th 1974, 26 civilians died in Dublin and six civilians died in Monaghan.  This heinous act was carried out by loyalist paramilitaries under the direction of British intelligence agents.  That was an act of “terrorism.”  The murder of civil rights attorney Pat Finucane in front of his family while they ate their Sunday dinner; the assassination of Rosemary Nelson with the assistance of the RUC; and the death of Robert Hamill who was kicked to death by loyalist bigots while the RUC watched from their land rover just a few hundred feet away:  these were all acts of “terrorism.” 

Let us not forget that for many immigrants to the United States, the country represented a safe haven for those who were fleeing persecution due to their political or religious beliefs.  My family did not leave Ireland for an economically better life in America:  we fled for our lives and for the lives of our children.  We did the only possible thing we could do to protect our children and we are being persecuted for it.  We are not asking for pity; we are only asking for justice. 

I stand before you today seeking your support.  I would like each and every one of you to know who I am and be confident of who I am.  I am an Irish republican.  I am a nationalist.  I am a family man and husband of a great woman, Bernadette McAllister, who gave her life for the love and dedication of her family and the country she came to love. 

Help me raise our cause to the national level.  Help me make our case an election issue in states and communities across the country.  By doing so, you will help not only me and my family, but also other families who are similarly situated.  Help Americans to understand that John McNicholl should not have been deported!  Help Americans to understand that Ciarán Ferry should not be in jail!  Help Americans to understand that Paul Harkin and his family should not be under the threat of arrest and possible deportation! 

Let the politicians on both sides of the coin know that Irish-Americans are concerned and that you stand in support of civil rights and in support of democracy in Ireland.  Let them know that Irish-America is the voice for the Catholic minority in the North of Ireland and a voice against injustice and for the protection of the innocent.  Help to bring an end to the suffering and pain that me and my family and other families have endured for so long. 

In closing, I pray that it will be the Irish people to decide the future of Ireland and that Irish-America continues to support my family in our struggle for justice and freedom and that justice and everlasting peace come about. 

With the guidance of my beloved wife, Bernadette, may her soul rest in peace.

Thank you!

Malachy McAllister’s address National AOH / LAOH Convention Thursday, July 8, 2004

Reverend clergy, Cardinal, worthy President, Vice President, National Board, Ladies AOH and all delegates:  I am blessed and privileged to be given the opportunity to address you this morning. 

However, I do so with a heavy heart or should I say a broken heart after the sudden illness and death of my wife, Bernadette.  She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer on the first of April and died six weeks later on her birthday, May 10^th 2004. 

I know many of you Brother and Sister Hibernians knew or knew of Bernadette and may have seen her beside me on numerous occasions and events, or have even seen photos of us both in The Irish Echo or The Irish Voice. 

In fact, Bernadette had been beside me for almost 32 years.  She was 15 and I was 16 years of age when we started dating, and just last November we celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary.  We loved each other very much and were looking forward to our next 25 years together.  But that wasn’t to be. 

It was just one week after our anniversary celebrations that our world was turned upside down again.  Federal agents, without warning or a warrant, stormed our home in Wallington, New Jersey, illegally seeking to arrest me and deport me back to Ireland which we had fled from 16 years earlier.  If this was not traumatic and stressful enough (!!!), my wife and children were also threatened with arrest and issued a deportation order to leave the country in 30 days.  These moves came about after a Federal Court dismissed my appeal and the Immigration Court of Appeals reversed an earlier decision made by a Federal Court Judge granting political asylum to Bernadette and the children in 2001.  This decision was clearly political and an injustice, not only to my family, but also to the Irish-American community.  With regret, I must conclude, as have others, that the stress caused my wife by the above actions by this Administration and by the Federal Agents was a contributing factor to her sudden illness and death. 

We all understand the need for better security in the post-9/11 world.  But why, in light of the Good Friday Agreement and an American government that brokered it, are the Irish and the Irish-American families being targeted for deportation?  What threat do we post to the national security of our adopted country?  What purpose does it serve American citizens to see our families torn apart and our dream of a better future for our children, away from the background of bigotry and hatred, shattered? 

My family’s journey and our nightmare didn’t start when we reached the shores of America.  For Bernadette and me, our struggles started the day our first child was born in Belfast.  As parents we had a duty to our children to love, care for, and protect them against all harm.  We who lived in the North of Ireland know about evil and where it exists and festers.  It exists in the minds of anti-Catholic sectarian bigots.  It exists in the minds of those sectarian bigots who, for example, showed the world their hatred towards the young, innocent children who attended the Holy Cross School in Belfast.  This is but one example that we all witnessed, through the media, with our own eyes. 

I would also like to mention how very proud I am of the support and comfort that the AOH has given these children and their teachers over the years, and especially the work and commitment of our National Vice President, Jack Meehan. 

For those of you who do not know me, I come from Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.  I am the second oldest of eight children born in the Markets area of South Belfast.  The neighborhood I grew up in is a stone’s throw from Belfast City Hall.  As a Catholic, I grew up under British and Unionist rule and knew what it was like to be treated as a second-class citizen.  I knew what it was like to be denied proper housing.  I knew what it was like to be denied the right to vote.  I knew the fear of having a gun put to my head and told not to come back to work anymore because the job I held was in a Protestant neighborhood and it was a job for a Protestant.  I knew what it was like to be stopped several times a day and harassed by the soldiers of the British Army and by the RUC.  I know what it is like to be assaulted and beaten by them and dragged into a Diplock Court by them, then convicted and criminalized by them. 

The situation described above all came to a head in 1981 when ten Republicans died on hunger strike in the Long Kesh prison.  Subsequently I joined the struggle to free our country from occupation and from oppression from within, as did many young nationalists in the North.  Later I was arrested on the word of a supergrass (paid informer) and convicted of political offenses and so served four years in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh. 

It was 1988 when my family and I fled Ireland after an assassination attempt by a loyalist Death Squad.  On that occasion, 26 shots from an AK-47 were fired into the living room of my home, including into the children’s bedrooms, narrowly missing my mother-in-law and three of my children.  Miraculously, no one was struck by a bullet, but we all carry the psychological and emotional scars to this day.  The British “security forces” later notified me and my family that a file containing my personal information had been found in a loyalist safe house, along with the guns used in the shooting.  This was the proof that I was deliberately targeted for assassination. 

Some would condemn me for my involvement and my actions when I lived in Belfast and would ignore the facts of my case.  But the reality is, and with respect, they have not walked in my shoes.  They have not suffered the persecution we suffered, including the lifelong discrimination we suffered as Catholics.  They have not suffered the constant campaign of harassment from the loyalists, whom the government was unwilling or unable to control.  They have not suffered the incidents of public humiliation and physical abuse by the British “security forces” and they haven’t suffered murder attempts that I suffered against me and my family. 

Brother and Sister Hibernians, these words are not only my words.  They were the words used by a Federal Court Judge in the United states to describe the life that me and my family had to endure in Belfast.  I ask you all, had I not the right to fight back? 

We look back on 9/11 with sadness and rage and we can never forget the policemen, firemen, emergency workers and civilians that perished at the World Trade Center on that day.  Many of them were of Irish descent.  That, Brothers and Sisters, was an act of “terrorism.” 

The Irish people can never forget the murder of 14 unarmed innocent civilians shot down in cold blood on the streets of Derry by British paratroopers during a peaceful civil rights protest.  That was an act of “terrorism.” 

The Irish people can never forget the Dublin and Monaghan bombings when, on May 17^th 1974, 26 civilians died in Dublin and six civilians died in Monaghan.  This heinous act was carried out by loyalist paramilitaries under the direction of British intelligence agents.  That was an act of “terrorism.”  The murder of civil rights attorney Pat Finucane in front of his family while they ate their Sunday dinner; the assassination of Rosemary Nelson with the assistance of the RUC; and the death of Robert Hamill who was kicked to death by loyalist bigots while the RUC watched from their land rover just a few hundred feet away:  these were all acts of “terrorism.” 

The list of murders in the Catholic and nationalist community goes on and on and the attempted murder of my whole family by a loyalist death squad run by the British “security forces” who provided the information to the loyalists to carry out the attack was an act of “terrorism.” 

Let us not forget, Brother and Sister Hibernians, that for more than two centuries, the United States has represented a safe haven for those who were fleeing persecution due to their political or religious beliefs.  My family did not leave Ireland for an economically better life in America:  we fled for our lives and for the lives of our children.  We did the only possible thing we could do to protect our children and we are being persecuted for it. 

We are not asking for pity; we are only asking for justice. 

I stand before you today seeking your support.  I would like each and every one of you to know who I am and be confident of who I am.  I am an Irish republican.  I am a nationalist.  I am a family man and husband of a great woman, Bernadette McAllister, who gave her life for the love and dedication of her family. 

Help me raise our cause to the national level.  Help me make our case an election issue in states and communities across the country. 

Let the politicians on both sides of the coin know that the AOH is concerned and that we stand in support of civil rights and in support of democracy in Ireland.  Let them know that the AOH is the voice for the Catholic minority in the North of Ireland and a voice against injustice and for the protection of the innocent.  Help to bring an end to the suffering and pain that me and my family and other families have endured for so long. 

Before I finish, I would like to thank our National President, Ned McGinley, for his remarkable leadership, our Vice President, Jack Meehan, our National Director, Brendan Moore, and the National Board for giving us a true understanding of what the AOH is all about and for bringing a measure of comfort and support to my family when it was needed the most. 

I would also like to thank Brothers Joe McManus, Tim Myles, Tony Creaney, and in my home state of New Jersey, Brothers Sean Pender and Bill Young for their ongoing dedication to my family’s cause. 

In closing, I pray that it will be the Irish people to decide the future of Ireland and that Irish-America continues to support my family in our struggle for justice and freedom and that justice and everlasting peace come about. 

With the guidance of my beloved wife, Bernadette, may her soul rest in peace. 

Thank you. 

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Malachy McAllister’s address Brehon Law Society Dinner in Honor of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Manhattan Club at Rosie O’Grady’s, New York, Friday, March 19, 2004

First of all, I am very thankful to be given this opportunity by the Brehon Council to address you this evening, especially in front of some distinguished – and may I say determined – women. 

Hillary Clinton is a true leader and a woman who, in my opinion, will lead this great country someday to a better future for all. 

Geraldine Finucane’s determination and her long struggle for justice and accountability for the murder of her beloved husband, Pat Finucane, is a tribute to the great civil rights work that Pat carried out as an attorney. 

And Bernadette, my wife of 25 years and the mother of my four children who has struggled along side me for justice and the right to bring up our children free from bigotry and from acts of state-sponsored terrorism. 

If I may, I would like to read you a short story about an event that took place in Belfast.  The event took place approximately 32 years ago in Belfast’s Lower Ormeau Road. 

Two teenagers were returning home from school when they were stopped by a British Army foot patrol:  “School bags on the ground and get up against the wall,” the soldiers ordered the boys while they aimed their rifles at them.  This meant that the boys had to face and lean against the wall with their arms and legs spread apart to get searched and ordered to answer a series of questions; for example:

Name, address, date of birth

Where are you coming from?

Where are you going to?

On seeing what was going on, a well-known woman who was out sweeping the front of her house came rushing towards the soldiers, calling on them to leave the boys alone as they were just returning from school.  After several minutes, a group of women gathered to protest the British Army’s actions.  The soldiers responded by pushing and prodding the women back with their rifles. 

As the exchange became more heated, the women used their brooms to defend themselves.  Then, all hell broke loose when a soldier hit one of the women with his rifle.  One of the teenage boys suddenly grabbed the room out of the hands of that woman and struck that soldier across the head and immediately took off running. 

With the soldiers in hot pursuit and calling on him to stop or they would shoot, he managed to escape by running into one house, out the back yard and over a wall into another house.  He was then spirited out of the area for a few weeks.  He was able to return home when that regiment had finished its tour of duty on the Ormeau Road.

The reason I have told this story was not to applaud the seemingly (seminally?) crazy split-second reaction of the young teenager, but to give you a sense of the role that women have played in the North of Ireland, of how brave they have been when confronted by the British “security forces” pointing their weapons at them and using their batons on them.  The women were the shields and the protectors of their families. 

The women of Ireland have suffered and endured so much over the course of the troubles.  One woman in particular was a close acquaintance of our ex First Lady and a longtime neighbor and friend of my family.  She suffered the loss of several family members and watched her youngest son, Gary, die after being shot at home by loyalist paramilitaries.  Even in light of this tragedy, Joyce McCartan found it in her heart to forgive her son’s killers.  It is her memory and her desire for peace and forgiveness that we must keep alive today in the North of Ireland. 

It is my opinion that forgiveness will come when justice and the acknowledgment of accountability and the proper implementation of the Good Friday Agreement are achieved.

The release of Judge Peter Cory’s report on collusion can only advance this process.  for the moment, the nationalists know all too well, however, what kind of justice they can expect in British courts.  The kind of justice they know they can expect was made evident by the recent ruling by five Lord Chief Justices in Britain to deny families the right to pursue any case of collusion against the British government prior to the year 2000.  This decision is an assault on civil rights and on the liberty of the families who have lost loved ones through collusion and, in my mind, makes a mockery of the investigation and of the recommendations made by Canadian Judge Cory into those killings. 

The present Administration has not, in my opinion, advanced the principles on which the Good Friday Agreement was based and which were furthered under the Clinton administration.  We were promised that there would be no more Joe Dougherties.  But tell that to the family of John Nicholl who are all U.S. citizens.   Or tell it to Ciarán Ferry’s young wife and young daughter.  John was deported in July of last year and Ciarán has been languishing in a prison cell in Denver, Colorado, for over a year.  Have our rights and have the aspirations of all Irish Americans been compromised by this Administration?  Does this all have to do with 9/11?

What I believe is really happening here on American soil is the persecution of Irish and Irish-American families for political reasons by the Bush administration at the behest of the British government.  This must stop and it is up to Irish Americans to speak out against it and be heard to put an and to these injustices once and for all. 

We all understand the need for better security.  But why is this Administration targeting for deportation and terrorizing Irish and Irish-American families?  What threat do we post to the national security of our adopted country?  What purpose does it serve American citizens to see our families torn apart and our dream of a better future for our children, away from the background of bigotry and hatred, shattered? 

Some would condemn me for my involvement and the actions that I took when I lived in Belfast but they would also ignore the facts of my case.  But the truth is they have not walked in my shoes.  They have not suffered extreme persecution, including the lifelong discrimination we suffered as Catholics.  They have not suffered the constant campaign of harassment from the loyalists, whom the government was unwilling or unable to control nor the incidents of public humiliation and physical abuse by the British “security forces” and they haven’t suffered the murder attempt that I suffered as along with my whole family. 

These words are not only my words.  They were the words used by a Federal Court Judge in the United states to describe the life that me and my family had to endure in Belfast when he granted my wife and children political asylum back in October 2001. 

Had I no right to fight back against that situation? 

The Irish and the Irish-Americans look back on 9/11 with sadness and rage and we can never forget the policemen, firemen, emergency workers and civilians that perished at the World Trade Center on that day.  Many of them were of Irish descent.  That was an act of “terrorism.” 

Along those lines, the Irish people can never forget the murder of 14 unarmed innocent civilians shot down in cold blood on the streets of Derry by British paratroopers during a peaceful civil rights protest.  That was an act of “terrorism.” 

The Irish people can never forget the Dublin and Monaghan bombings when, on May 17^th 1974, 26 civilians died in Dublin and six civilians died in Monaghan.  This heinous act was carried out by loyalist paramilitaries under the direction of British intelligence agents.  That was an act of “terrorism.” 

The murder of civil rights attorney Pat Finucane in front of his family while they ate their Sunday dinner; the assassination of Rosemary Nelson with the assistance of the RUC; and the death of Robert Hamill who was kicked to death by loyalist bigots while the RUC watched from their land rover just a few hundred feet away:  these were all acts of “terrorism.” 

For more than two centuries, the United States has represented a safe haven for those who were fleeing persecution due to their political or religious beliefs.  My family did not leave Ireland for an economically better life in America:  we fled for our lives and for the lives of our children.  We are not asking for pity, but for justice and an opportunity to live in peace. 

I would like all of you who are here to know and to pass on this message to your congressmen and congresswomen as well as to anyone else in power that cares to listen that neither I nor John McNicholl nor Ciarán Ferry nor our families are a threat to the national security of the United States.  The deportation of John McNicholl was wrong, and the manner in which it was carried out was wrong. 

This is the United States of America, not Belfast in the 1970s.  America helped to bring about the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland.  Irish Americans want the peace process to work.  We all want to move on peacefully and we all look forward to the ultimate goal of a united Ireland. 

Before I finish, I think I should identify the two main characters in the story I told earlier.  The woman with the broom was the late Joyce McCartan and the teenager was yours truly! 

In closing, I pray that it will be the Irish people to decide the future of Ireland and that Irish Americans continue to support my family and that we will all be granted justice and everlasting peace.  

Thank you. 

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