9 10 1267 https://k8s-accounts-01.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/8b57297b58d0760fe78171201fee1f45.pdf 66c3af73a59861cc851253a5a4f05abe PDF Text Text Green and Blue Project Tim Kelly Interview Transcript I’ll be seventy nine on the twenty fifth of this month. Originally from Abbeyfeale in County Limerick. I joined the Guards seventeenth of April 1958. And... on completion of training, went to Store Street in Dublin... and I was there until the fifth of April, 1963... transferred to Castlefin, County Donegal... where I spent two years... and... moved then... after two years... in Castlefin, moved to Convoy... in... May ’65, actually the twenty seventh of April, ’65 on promotion, and... I was there ‘til the sixteenth of October, 1969. Oh they were quiet then, oh they were quiet then, they were quiet then, like... there was just a sergeant and two Guards in Castlefin at that time. So there was... but it was, it was good. I came from Convoy, came here to Letterkenny... where I’ve been ever since! Well I was, I was sergeant here in Letterkenny from 1969... and... we were kind of the ground I suppose, at the time, and the troubles started and you had people... moving out from the North to the Republic, escaping from the troubles as it were, when it started off... and you had people looking for accommodation and that, and there was some of them accommodated out in Rockhill House. We were aware of people moving that was, that was basically it, and while you were conscious of all that was going on and that, it just progressed and... then it got... got more and more involved... like when the IRA became active then... do you see? And... that’s when it, when it really got... hot. Well, do you see, it certainly, it certainly upped the workload considerably. You just didn’t know from one day to the next what you were going to be confronted with, you see? And... like as I say, it was... at the start of it, we just had the basic requirements, which was adequate in terms of numbers and that... but then as... as the thing got worse, like checkpoints were set up, they all had to be manned and... it meant that there was a big influx of people and they were transferred from all over the country up here to Donegal... especially along, along the border. And... it meant that there was... an awful lot more personnel. You could say it went from... what you would call ordinary policing which would be out patrolling, meeting people just on a community level, but then I mean it was... you had to deal with the subversive element then you see, which was quite considerable. 1     �Well, the lads that would have come up from the country and from down, we’ll say Cork, Limerick... midlands, whatever... they wouldn’t, they wouldn’t have been... well known at all like to the local people, but those of us that were here at the time, we would have been known, and that was one thing that existed that time, there was great community relation... and everybody knew everybody. The local knowledge of a Guard sure that was paramount... that was paramount so it was. Well, as sergeant here in Letterkenny, I was sergeant in charge here in Letterkenny, I wouldn’t have been at that level I wouldn’t have been out... but... then when I was promoted inspector or super... as an inspector then like I mean I would have been out along the border and you know visiting the checkpoints and all that. The safety, the safety of, of your people on the ground, I mean that was the number one priority, so it was... and thankfully we were very fortunate. We were very fortunate in that respect we never lost a member during the whole period, and indeed... there was often times now and it was... scary enough especially with young, young recruits, there was a lot of recruiting done at that time too, and you had a big influx of recruits and that... and... like... to get them tuned in... and to be aware of the dangers that existed when you went out on searches, all that kind of thing, and particularly if he came on something you could come on... an arms dump or whatever... and... like you had to be extremely careful in those situations, and you had to make sure that young fellahs were aware of the dangers they faced. The most significant incidents I suppose... well the one that would really stand out would be the murder of Sam McClean... up in Drumkeen. Sam was, Sam was an RUC man... and... he was from Drumkeen, just out the road here and... he was stationed... he was stationed somewhere around mid Ulster, I think. But, on his days off... Sam came regularly, he came home... and they had a bit of a farm... and he used work away on the farm and that. And... it was something they were always conscious of... but [pause] sadly, poor Sam was... ambushed, he was... he was shot dead at the, the laneway going up to his own house. Along the side of the main road. It was, it was a dreadful, it was a dreadful, dreadful tragedy. So it was... like it certainly, it brought the reality home. because nobody expected, despite the fact the danger was always there, I suppose the fact that he was who he was... and... that he was serving in the RUC as they were at the time. We all, we were always very conscious of it, we were always conscious of it... and... in fact the day that he was killed... I was super here in Letterkenny at the time, and I was in the Strand Road at a meeting... when the word came in, and even prior to that like, you would talk to the colleagues, say ‘this man is coming out... make sure he’s aware of the dangers’... and... he had been warned and had been told by his superiors but... he 2     �still came out anyway, but I suppose his father and mother were alive and... his brother lived there as well, and it drew him. So it was an awful tragedy, so it was. Regular hours went out the window... that went out the window, you just... you just didn’t know from the time you left the house in the morning when you were going to get home. Just didn’t know... and... because... you could get a call, you could be home, but you could get a call, you just have to go, that was it like, you had to respond. It was there from, from the early ‘70s on right up to the... until the troubles ended. The pressure was, the pressure was there all the time, so it was... because you never, you never knew... and even... you had ceasefires... then the ceasefires were broken and... you just didn’t know what was going to happen. There was, there was a lot of it, an awful lot of pressure. There was an awful lot of pressure, and at times it was quite draining. So it was, quite draining... and... not alone on me personally, but on everybody... ‘twas, ‘twas the same for everybody, so it was... but [pause] if it wasn’t for the fact that people stuck together and... helped each other out the Guards, the Guards themselves. They, they certainly... it was shoulder to shoulder, stuff like, there was no such thing as one fellah swinging the lead or something like that. Every, everybody had to... put their shoulder to the wheel, as it were, Because you couldn’t afford to let your guard down as it were... and it was, everybody had to be... alert at all times, like... that was the long and the short of it... Well you see you had... you’d guys that would come out here from the North... on the run, as it were... and... but there were quite a few of them came out here to Letterkenny. And... like, they were, they were a full time, full time job like keeping tabs on them, and... surveillance on them and that. And... but that would be you know, the plain clothes... staff would be... responsible now for the surveillance aspect of it because... there wasn’t much point in putting a uniform Guard on surveillance duties like. But all that, all that like I mean, you had to... more or less be aware of... that they were here, where they were, what they were up to, And... then of course they were... recruiting, trying to recruit some of the locals, which they did And... that was, that was just the way it was. I mean there was two local lads... and... they had, they served time. And... it was tough on their parents and... and their families because they were, they were innocent, greenhorns, and didn’t realise what they were letting themselves in for. A lot of, a lot of your work would be, picking out particular areas and... searching... you’d to go out on searches... and that... and then... you could come across... a pipe in a ditch that might be... an AK47 stuck in it, and... or you could have... maybe a hole in the ground would be camouflaged over... which we found on a few 3     �occasions... and it would be, you’d have... weapons stuffed into barrels, plastic barrels... and... homemade explosives then. All that kind of stuff... and... all which was extremely dangerous, particularly the homemade explosives, because it was so volatile, so unpredictable, and... I remember one occasion, down in, when I was down in Buncrana... and... two boys out on patrol, two Guards... two young Guards out on patrol, they stopped a car and a trailer one night... and... there three quarters of ton of homemade explosives... on it. Experience taught you, like I mean you knew what... and... but... the... the car, the patrol car was... more or less hijacked that night... and they tore the radio out of it, and... and they didn’t take the car like, but... they pulled out, they disarmed the radio and the lads couldn’t make contact and... but... that was a terribly wet night too... we got one of the fellahs afterwards, we got... the following morning, so... but he was, he was a Donegal man, but... he, he got eight years... for that, but we had, like it was on the side of the road... you had to close off the road, you couldn’t take a chance... and then you had to get the Army out to dispose of it... and like... three quarters of a ton of stuff was quite... It was, was it, there was a fair sized trailer, now... and the car towing it, But like the two young Guards, like that came across that... it was a traumatic experience for them, like you know? I think that because we were unarmed that kept us as we were as it were, And... the fact that we didn’t go down that road, and I hope they never will But... I think it was our saving grace... the fact that we were unarmed We weren’t a threat to anybody. We weren’t a threat to anybody... and we were there... for one specific purpose... and that was the safety of everybody else. But... and I think it was the one thing that, that... like okay the... plain clothes boys would be armed and that all right. But like the plain clothes unit, that we had here in Donegal was, was a small enough... unit like I mean it wasn’t that we had... dozens of men or anything like that... But... they were, they were armed all right, but the uniformed, the uniformed force wasn’t armed, which was... I think it was, ‘twas the one thing that they stuck to us I think and... in that way I think we were... never alienated from the, the general public... I think that was the, that was the big, big factor. The RUC, they would... communicate with headquarters here in Letterkenny, you see, with the communications centre, and then that would be circulated... you see out onto the ground as it were, and so that everybody... and then of course, checkpoints, all that... and mobile patrols would have to be alerted... and on that level, and... but then like as time went on then we used to have meetings with them at officer level. And... it was to try and streamline operations and type of stuff. And... they would come out here on specific occasions, and we would go in to meet them. And... but it would be basically to... discuss activities and operations and that. 4     �There was cooperation in that respect like. But it took quite a while for that to develop, like... because there wasn’t a great, before the troubles started like, now while I, when I was in Castlefin and that now, Strabane and Castlederg would have been the two... areas that would have been adjoining, And I would have known a few of the... RUC men there... and, like we would have contact... on a, on a lower level scale there, And... you’d get to know a few... and it would be just at that level. But then... as, as the thing... as the thing progressed then, and... it went... when it went higher up the chain, and then when governments got involved... you see, they would pass it down to... to our level, as it were... and that’s where the meetings would take place. Well the radio, the radio communications and like I mean at least that kept, that was a big help, because... it was essential, there wasn’t much point in, there wasn’t much point in having patrol cars out... and having men out on checkpoints... if there was no communication, but it was all the radio... communication, they’d no walkie talkies and that, so that was, that was certainly a big help. Visits were done very discreetly and... and we all knew what was... like they were coming out here, we’d take certain precautions out here and make sure that everything was... taken care of, as it were... that roads would be patrolled and... and that the route would be known and the road would be patrolled and... they’d be taken to their destination and... left safely back home again. And vice versa, then like. It would be formal for the most part, now you had to keep it at a formal level for our operational purposes and all that, but then like I mean you would, of course you would develop and with... a few people. You never knew when you’d get back, like because it depended on what... what was happening on the ground, many a dinner was burnt in the oven. Well... my family back home were, there was a certain apprehension... so there was, certain apprehension... but like... as I say you just... try keep... much as you could from them like I mean, they... they’d hear it on the television or the radio or whatever, or read it in the newspapers. Paul my son he was the only one that... followed the uniform line he is in the Army. Oh there was good times, indeed there was... there was good times too 5     �The Garda family, that was vital... that was vital. As the fellah, ‘twas vital to your survival... as it were And... it was, it was very, very essential that there was that... bond... there And that... you could depend, everybody could depend on each other, because that’s basically what it was about. 6     � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Green and Blue Across the Thin Line (<em>collection</em>) [NC] Description An account of the resource A collection of 39 stories that were compiled as part of a project with the aim: "To develop a storytelling project reflecting the cooperation and interaction between former members of Royal Ulster Constabulary and former members of An Garda Síochána along the border from the establishment of the two Police Forces to 2001." (From the Green and Blue website.) Extracts from the 39 recorded interviews were published in book format in 2014. The associated Green and Blue website contains full transcripts for 24 of the interviews. The website also contains 18 interview audio files (as of 22 January 2016). URL Non DC - URL of Organisation / Project http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Stories Collected Non DC - Number of stories recorded as part of the project. 39 Stories Deposited Non DC - Number of stories deposited with Accounts of the Conflict. 18 Collection Permission Form Non DC - Collection permission form signed and returned. Yes (signed: 21 March 2015) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Published book; and Web site Language A language of the resource English Delayed Access Non DC - Yes/No on request for delayed access. No Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Police Services; Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland; 1920s to 2001 Publication A book, article, monograph etc. Author Author of the publication Tim Kelly Date Type Publication, Submission, Completion date etc. Completion date 2014 Publication Title Full title of publication, as it appears on item. Transcript of audio interview. Publication Status Published, in Press, Unpublished, etc. Published on-line Number of Pages 6 Publisher Location Place of publication: city / town Website Publisher Diversity Challenges Board Publication Type Report, Book, Manual etc. Transcript Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Untitled Story</em><span>, by </span><span>Tim Kelly </span><em>(story transcript)</em> Description An account of the resource Transcript (PDF) of the audio recording of interview with Tim Kelly which was recorded as part of the Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF version of transcript Language A language of the resource English Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Catalogue ID Non DC - ID for the Catalogue entry that relates to this entry 2862 Diversity Challenges Green and Blue https://k8s-accounts-01.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/560aeca4d9ab92d6c25524fb3fdf9355.mp3 4952ca949789050b5f37df6f9d61a830 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Green and Blue Across the Thin Line (<em>collection</em>) [NC] Description An account of the resource A collection of 39 stories that were compiled as part of a project with the aim: "To develop a storytelling project reflecting the cooperation and interaction between former members of Royal Ulster Constabulary and former members of An Garda Síochána along the border from the establishment of the two Police Forces to 2001." (From the Green and Blue website.) Extracts from the 39 recorded interviews were published in book format in 2014. The associated Green and Blue website contains full transcripts for 24 of the interviews. The website also contains 18 interview audio files (as of 22 January 2016). URL Non DC - URL of Organisation / Project http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Stories Collected Non DC - Number of stories recorded as part of the project. 39 Stories Deposited Non DC - Number of stories deposited with Accounts of the Conflict. 18 Collection Permission Form Non DC - Collection permission form signed and returned. Yes (signed: 21 March 2015) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Published book; and Web site Language A language of the resource English Delayed Access Non DC - Yes/No on request for delayed access. No Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Police Services; Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland; 1920s to 2001 Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Transcription also available Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Digital Audio File: MPEG-2 Audio Layer III (MP3) Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 29 minutes 36 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 192 kbps Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Untitled Story</em><span>, by </span><span>Tim Kelly </span><em>(story audio)</em> Description An account of the resource Audio recording of interview with Tim Kelly which was recorded as part of the Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Relation A related resource See also the Green and Blue website: http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Audio (MP3) Language A language of the resource English Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Catalogue ID Non DC - ID for the Catalogue entry that relates to this entry 2862 Diversity Challenges Green and Blue https://k8s-accounts-01.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/8abbcb2db95947fdd92cde84efb214ef.pdf 7de39af40f68b54f075346db5b524b33 PDF Text Text Green and Blue Project Pat Finn Interview Transcript I’m from Galway. And I came to Clonakilty in May, 1968, and I had my full service in Clonakilty apart from my temporary transfers. My first trip to the border was in 1970, I went there in March... of 1970, to Ballyconnell was on the border ‘twas in the Cavan/Monaghan Division, and... we thought we’d be there for a couple of months, but as it happened... the Conroy Commission... was set up prior to that and... the Conroy Commission was published around that time, and the individuals... most of the fellahs who were on the border, there was very few females at the border at that time, but we were all brought back to our stations and for the first of April, because new conditions came into the Garda... police force, Garda force, in 1970, so that was my first trip to the border. Well we knew like ‘twas border patrols, but now I knew where Ballyconnell was on the map, but ‘twas my first trip to the border, and the fact that there was a number of sergeants there, we were in... all different accommodation... and I replaced some of the members from Clonakilty, or Clonakilty District, so... I would have gone into the same accommodation, as they left, so then we would have been on... long shifts I think that time, prior to the Conroy Commission a long shift would be... maybe... nine, nine hours maybe or well maybe even ten hours maybe, you wouldn’t have the same now, when the Conroy Commission came in, this, ‘twas eight hour shifts as such, but prior to that you could have been on longer shifts, and you would, there was... in actual fact you got no, you got no pay for overtime in other words. You could be called out, and there’d be no, there’d be no payment for the longer hours, but as it happened we were... now, I got to know the... the number of people that were in the sergeants and the Gardaí and as well, and I got to know the border areas, now we were told it could be towards the border, it’s one good thing about... all my trips to the border, is the fact that... each individual... that I met... they were very helpful... because they knew like that we didn’t know the border areas, and they also gave us... advice in relation to the people that we could mix with, and the areas that we should not mix in. I would have known a bit about it, but not to the extreme, the fact that you see, sometimes you see people might talk, to talk to you, and they could be... asking you questions, which, which now though I’m lucky enough that time we got advice, in the winter when we arrived there, and now luckily enough again I didn’t meet anybody... that... I got any awkward questions... from. 1     �You had to be vigilant, is right, and ‘twas good experience as well, because... being only in Clonakilty, and I was in Dublin for... a number of months, way back in 1969, and outside of Clonakilty that was, Ballyconnell was my... other station, first station the border, and... again it gave me an insight into what the border was about. You see, the border was totally different to the... Clonakilty, and to Dublin, because you met... different people... that could be... subversive in other words, and in actual fact, crossing the border then, as well as everything else, now you went as far as the border, but you didn’t cross the border, and the border was new to me, ‘cause I’d never been in Northern Ireland, prior to that... and Northern Ireland was, to me, even though I had been in England, and I had met a lot of people from different nationalities... but I did not know people from the north of Ireland, and... also the fact of the criminal activities that were happening there, I would have known nothing about that, and a fortnight was too short, so I didn’t learn an awful lot at that particular time. I went back up to Kinlough in 1971... Kinlough is in, is in north, is in north Leitrim, it’s quite close to the Donegal border as well, and I, being single that time, being single we were sent there for two months, and the one thing about Kinlough that I remember clearly about Kinlough is the fact that there were a number of people living in Kinlough Sub-District... and they had escaped from Long Kesh... so we got to know then individually, and collectively as well, and we did... well we met them different times, and we’d have stopped them at checkpoints, and we were aware of who they were, and... that time, there was very few individuals carrying... firearms... and they would, sometimes you would be accompanied by Army... and then you’d be quite, you know... happy to stop individuals who you knew like were subversive and they could be dangerous, maybe we didn’t know, but as it happened, they didn’t create any difficulty for us, even though they did... tell us that they didn’t like being stopped... and the fact that if they, you know that if they were stopped too often that they could, you know they could get angry... but now we didn’t allow anybody getting angry, because we said we were told to do our work, and our duty, and... it was part of our work to... stop them, and search the cars, and search themselves if they need be. No, no there was nothing found that we, that I, at that particular time, now we did do, we did some searches, but there was nothing found of... in relation to anything that... subversives would need, or... would have hidden, so we don’t know whether they had or not, and these fellas that we knew like that time, came across the border, and they just weren’t, didn’t want to be part of Northern Ireland, because they knew they were wanted in Northern Ireland, and... we... did have some... knowledge, but they will, the [pause] RUC, police in the north knew they were living there, but and we were... we were... kept notes in relation to the times we stopped those people, and who they were, you know, just give them some, and would be passed on, I think it was passed on, we passed it on to our sergeants and 2     �inspectors, and the superintendent, and that would be passed on probably, I assume it was passed on, I don’t know, but we didn’t do it ourselves. Just would meet the RUC on the border, we’d have just general conversation with them now... because again we wouldn’t have been, and see... you don’t talk to people too long... when you don’t know them, and we just got to know them, and we knew they were policemen, and they knew that we were from the south of Ireland, and they didn’t, you know, we just give them the time of day, or maybe just talked about a few things that were happening, maybe ‘twas... about football, which they would be... you know, some of them would have known a good bit about football and things like that as well, because... they wouldn’t know that much about hurling, and on the border, so... and whatever was happening in the areas as well, we’d just have a short discussion with them. In actual fact, that was my first time using the... the car radios, we didn’t have car radios in... in West Cork at that particular time, so got used to them again in the... the two-way, because they had a radio... in every station in the border at that time, and we were able to have communication when we were out, and with the station at all times, which was a big help as well. It was, we thought it was at that time, but... ‘twas very small compared with communication nowadays. Well what we did socially now, we... we travelled, you know to Kinlough, and just before we’d start duty, maybe an hour or two before we’d start duty, and... now, and again ‘twas eight hour shifts, we started maybe on a, ten o’clock on a maybe a Monday night... and then we would finish maybe on the... next Saturday, and we’d go to dances in, the Beach Hotel was one of the places we used to go to in... down in Mullaghmore... and Mullaghmore in actual fact, that was one of the things, place we covered actually during the summer, because of Lord Mountbatten. I was there, there were different times when Mountbatten, the Lord have mercy on him, Lord Mountbatten was, was coming there on holidays... and we would patrol that area, and we got to know him, you know casually now, we didn’t, what I mean casually, we had a... short conversation with him too, from time to time during the summer that he was there, he was there for a couple of months in summer... because he had a residence there, and... we seen him go out in his boat as well, and... some of the people that he would be with as well, you know... again we... just knew him... and we didn’t know very few, we knew some of the staff, but we didn’t know them by name, and he was very nice towards everybody, you know, and... very courteous to us as well, now he seemed a... fine, straight individual, and and... very friendly. We got back into normal routines again, and then that was my, you know, the 1971 was my, I spent two months at that time, and then eight months after I went back, 3     �in 1973... and I spent any number of, I spent eight months at that time, ’72 – ’73... and again we would have done the same thing, but again like I said, we could have Bundoran maybe for, you know when we would have... time off, and we would go to the local dances there, and as well as that, we would go to the beaches in... Mullaghmore, or Bundoran, and we got to know... you see we were only temporary, and we got to know the fellas from the different areas, that would have been nearer the border and we got friendly with them as well too, so we created good friendship, and again... where we were living where, it was quite good accommodation as well, we got well fed, and we got on well with the sergeants that were there as well and they were there permanent, there was three sergeants there at that particular time, and I remember the sergeant in charge of... Kinlough, and he couldn’t have been nicer to us, he gave us loads of advice, and... anything we wanted, and if we wanted change of shifts... you know he would have been, he’d be very helpful that way as well too. We went across the border a few times now, we were gone to... different areas and then the border, but now ‘twas, we went in our own time in actual fact, I went dancing a few times across the border as well too, but not too often now, but we would, we would just, have our identification with us, we didn’t, we drove our own cars, and that was it, we didn’t, you know that... we were, we would be always terribly... careful as to where we went, and the fact that we didn’t want people to know that we were in the Garda force, because we were afraid just of the fact that if they knew we were Gardaí, they mightn’t like it, some of the people that we’d have met up there, so we just kept to ourselves that way. There was no, there was no difficulty... no difficulty for our ID, sometimes we weren’t even asked for ID, But we just made sure that we were, you know that in case we were stopped and we did have ID with us. I went to Blacklion then in 1975, I spent two months there actually, and Blacklion was right on the border, and there was... an Army post as well right on the border, and... again it was a smaller area, and the fact that even though, what I found about Blacklion is the fact there was some members from... permanent there, and they were very young, and they found it very boring, and that’s what I would have seen, that’s one of the things disappointed me, is the fact there wasn’t enough facilities for entertainment, or you know, off time, for individuals who were there permanent, they would have been... get, I know some of the individuals that were there in my time, they had a problem with alcohol, you know, again that was one of the things that disappointed me, now I’m lucky enough again like that I was staying in Manorhamilton, when I was in Blacklion, and we used to go for games of handball, and different things like that as well with some of the lads, so... 4     �Twas just part of the duties, and I, we didn’t worry about it, the fact that we were, we became acclimatised to it, and we got good advice at all times as well too, and we did what we were asked to do. There was, it was across the border, on both sides, and they, there was... the Irish Army were right on the, right on the border... and I’d say they found life boring as well, because ‘twas very very boring, because they, they were doing all their duties in the one spot. No, nothing, nothing... nothing to be alarmed about, now the other thing, the other station I went to, was Monaghan, I was there in nineteen... the 1980s, 1985-86, that was now, Monaghan was different, because Monaghan was one of the... I suppose areas where there was a lot of... subversives there... and we knew, we got to know them, now and I got to know some of them as well too, and there was incidents when, when I was in Monaghan... because there was... two subversives I can’t think of their names now, but they were shot in the north of Ireland, and there was funerals that we attended, and... Scotstown was one of the areas where there was one of the, those people buried, and... the build up to the funerals was, now... that was a bit scary... now not for ourselves, but you could feel, you could feel the tension, the tension that was building up because they, the Garda force knew like that there was a big funeral coming off, and they knew like that there’d be a lot of... publicity and the fact there would be so many people, subversives and lots of other people supporting them, now we, we had no worries about them, deep down, but you could, again there was tension, but lucky enough I think on all the funerals they were at, and McIlwaine was one of the individuals I can remember now, I just thought of his name now, they were shot when I was there you know, and... you could feel again all the pressure... and... the public themselves were waiting for things to happen, now there was... fellahs in balaclavas, they would have fired shots at the grave and things like that as well too, and then there was checkpoints going to and from the, the funerals, you know that I was at, so again, that was one of the times that you could feel the tension again, like I said... and also the fact... that there was always a danger point or the possibility of a danger point. Ah ‘twas tense in that you could feel a bit, each individual was, every individual was going out there was... was tense because of the... possibility of something happening, ‘twas more so the possibility, so... people were delighted when, I can tell you when the, those... funerals were over, we felt sorry for the, you know the people who were shot, but there was nothing we could do about it whatsoever, because the fact that... they were doing probably something they shouldn’t have been doing, and I mean sure they were in places, where they shouldn’t have been. I was in Monaghan two different, three, two or three different occasions... matter of fact I was in two stations in Monaghan, because I was in the old station, and the 5     �new station, because my first time up there was in the, in the old station, and then by the time I got back again... so again we met, now made a lot of good friends there, and that’s the other thing about Monaghan that I remember clearly, is the first day I arrived there, I was told if I, that if I was taking a drink... there was some of the pubs... that I should avoid... and also the fact that... the pubs that were safe to go into, and that you wouldn’t be taunted or asked questions, and... that you would feel... comfortable, which is very very important, and that was great advice again. Oh you could, safety... safety comes, is very very important to each and every one of us, and the fact that you were... because people would get to know you... in a short period of time if you were inside in a pub, and no matter where you went, that you’re a stranger... so and then you would, maybe you went with a couple of more colleagues, and then you like, They’d recognise is right, and they could be, if you went to the wrong pub, you’d never know what you... we were advised, got great advice. I felt in actual fact there was more tension as well too, like Monaghan was... was now the one station like I said, in relation to all the tension when I was in... Kinlough, and Ballyconnell and Blacklion, there was less tension up, less tension because I think the next factor was less fear... even though they... some time afterwards there was an incident, there was serious, bomb, there was bombing in, in Blacklion, but that wasn’t in my time now, but you could feel some of the, you know, this again... the locals in Blacklion were lovely, but it was who was coming and going through Blacklion was the danger. ‘Twas busy, oh ‘twas busy, yeah... so there was full-time checkpoints... It was at your discretion, now again you took, now there’d normally be some of the local... Gardaí... that were permanently there, and you’ll be supporting them, more so than anything else, and the same, any station we were in, and they weren’t, We were lucky with accommodation now, each time I went to the border... in, in Ballyconnell and Kinlough, we were lucky enough that we got... very good accommodation, even though there was... now, one in Kinlough, on one occasion... and one of the time we were there for a number of months, we moved into a house, four of us moved into a house on our own, so we did our own cooking and our own, you know, everything else, which was a small bit cheaper than... getting... fed from landladies and things like that as well, and I can definitely say that... the landladies looked after us well. 6     �The weather in the north of Ireland, I found now, not so much in Kinlough or... well Blacklion yes, in some ways there was a bit, a lot colder, now ‘twas the month of January and February that I was there in 1975... but in 1985 I went to... Monaghan... and the weather was very very cold there, in actual fact ‘twas so cold the first couple, I was only there a couple of days, I went back and I decided I’d buy... pair of long johns, and... because again ‘twas five or six degrees colder than here, and the checkpoints were longer then too, because we, at that time I was armed... I was armed you see, now I was in the Technical Branch when I went to Monaghan, and the fact that you were armed, you’re doing eight hour duties, and... and if you’re there from ten o’clock at night ‘til six in the morning and it was very very cold, and there was an occasion actually, on a number of occasions, I suppose the weather was so cold that fellahs went to light a fire nearly on the side of the road Yeah, keep themselves warm, that’s what we found now, that there was, other than that the conditions we were in great accommodation in fairness. Well we had to keep walking in matter of fact, because if you stayed standing you would get, you’d be very very cold altogether, so what we’d do was we used to go in pairs and... pace the road as much as we could, and everything was stopped that particular time as well. We also did escorts as well too from time to time from the Post Office, from Sligo, when I was in Kinlough, now, the escorts of the mails, and we used to go to the different village, you know we’d be in Sligo in the mornings, especially if there was any morning they’d be carrying cash could be the first Tuesday... and then on the Friday mornings, we did, you know we did that fairly regular from Kinlough, that’s the only other thing I can remember now, there was... I was married when I was in... Monaghan...We had, yeah, we had children in, two children in 1985, ’86 but sometimes they would have stayed in Galway because my wife’s from Galway as well, and they might have stayed in Galway for some period, so then times they stayed in Clonakilty. There was no mobile phones in other words, yeah you would’ve... kept contact with the Garda station, the Garda station was, you know you could ring the Garda station and... you’d make the time, that you’d be there. Well yeah, maybe on occasions, yes... but then we were home on our rest days, we were home for the... two or three days, in you know every week, so that was... 7     �Ah ‘twas yeah, it was two hundred and fifty miles from Clonakilty to Monaghan, but you, at that time when you’re younger you don’t take as much notice as you would, The roads were bad, but lucky enough like, that there was only one occasion that I had a mishap, a slight mishap, when I was travelling from, there was a lot of snow on the road from... Kinlough to Galway... my car skidded and snowed very very heavy snow, and I just... touched a wall, lucky enough I didn’t do... I just broke a headlamp, that was all, It was, but you knew, you see, you would be only away for a week, you know, Come back is right, then you didn’t mind that, and you knew like that things were going... you know, that you would saw [sic] them... regularly. 8     � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Green and Blue Across the Thin Line (<em>collection</em>) [NC] Description An account of the resource A collection of 39 stories that were compiled as part of a project with the aim: "To develop a storytelling project reflecting the cooperation and interaction between former members of Royal Ulster Constabulary and former members of An Garda Síochána along the border from the establishment of the two Police Forces to 2001." (From the Green and Blue website.) Extracts from the 39 recorded interviews were published in book format in 2014. The associated Green and Blue website contains full transcripts for 24 of the interviews. The website also contains 18 interview audio files (as of 22 January 2016). URL Non DC - URL of Organisation / Project http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Stories Collected Non DC - Number of stories recorded as part of the project. 39 Stories Deposited Non DC - Number of stories deposited with Accounts of the Conflict. 18 Collection Permission Form Non DC - Collection permission form signed and returned. Yes (signed: 21 March 2015) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Published book; and Web site Language A language of the resource English Delayed Access Non DC - Yes/No on request for delayed access. No Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Police Services; Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland; 1920s to 2001 Publication A book, article, monograph etc. Author Author of the publication Patrick Finn Date Type Publication, Submission, Completion date etc. Completion date 2014 Publication Title Full title of publication, as it appears on item. Transcript of audio interview. Publication Status Published, in Press, Unpublished, etc. Published on-line Number of Pages 8 Publisher Location Place of publication: city / town Website Publisher Diversity Challenges Board Publication Type Report, Book, Manual etc. Transcript Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Untitled Story</em><span>, by Patrick Finn</span><span> </span><em>(story transcript)</em> Description An account of the resource Transcript (PDF) of the audio recording of interview with Patrick Finn which was recorded as part of the Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF version of transcript Language A language of the resource English Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Catalogue ID Non DC - ID for the Catalogue entry that relates to this entry 2855 Diversity Challenges Green and Blue https://k8s-accounts-01.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/741a8901595dd820c818bb7861d673d9.mp3 a87a3e581bbab69489eefa2621698551 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Green and Blue Across the Thin Line (<em>collection</em>) [NC] Description An account of the resource A collection of 39 stories that were compiled as part of a project with the aim: "To develop a storytelling project reflecting the cooperation and interaction between former members of Royal Ulster Constabulary and former members of An Garda Síochána along the border from the establishment of the two Police Forces to 2001." (From the Green and Blue website.) Extracts from the 39 recorded interviews were published in book format in 2014. The associated Green and Blue website contains full transcripts for 24 of the interviews. The website also contains 18 interview audio files (as of 22 January 2016). URL Non DC - URL of Organisation / Project http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Stories Collected Non DC - Number of stories recorded as part of the project. 39 Stories Deposited Non DC - Number of stories deposited with Accounts of the Conflict. 18 Collection Permission Form Non DC - Collection permission form signed and returned. Yes (signed: 21 March 2015) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Published book; and Web site Language A language of the resource English Delayed Access Non DC - Yes/No on request for delayed access. No Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Police Services; Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland; 1920s to 2001 Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Transcription also available Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Digital Audio File: MPEG-2 Audio Layer III (MP3) Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 25 minutes 06 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 192 kbps Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Untitled Story</em><span>, by </span><span>Patrick Finn </span><em>(story audio)</em> Description An account of the resource Audio recording of interview with Patrick Finn which was recorded as part of the Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Relation A related resource See also the Green and Blue website: http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Audio (MP3) Language A language of the resource English Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Catalogue ID Non DC - ID for the Catalogue entry that relates to this entry 2855 Diversity Challenges Green and Blue https://k8s-accounts-01.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/d6a11c1e959919a4e5bdbbeb0ffe887b.pdf 07905f2bc82852bc14e97c877086fbd4 PDF Text Text Green and Blue Project Myra McCarthy Interview Transcript It was tough being the wife of a Guard we had four small children and... there was four and a half years between the four of them, and the baby was only eight weeks when he went away... and... no mobile phones, had to wait until he got to the other end to say he got there safe... and it was tough because... when he got home then... it would be late, very late in the evening by the time he got home, and we would try to keep the children up... see their daddy, and then we will be gone, whatever day or two later, he’ll be gone before they get out of bed in the morning, and they’ll be looking for their daddy... and... it was, you know, because I’d no family near me, We were in Kanturk, North Cork, and... I had no family near me, nobody to call, nobody to come at all, so... if any adult that I knew in Kanturk, they’d visit me... some people were very good, and kept in touch and came to, you know, came to visit me... I’d know now and then, open the door, I’d say ‘oh thank God for an adult conversation’! because I only had baby talk all day long, and... but... I suppose the good side of it, and it made it a bit easy for me is the kids were all healthy, you know, and that... so... Communication, he’d ring when he’d get up to say he arrived safe, and... that’d be it, and he might ring then, do you know, during the... maybe... during the week, there’d be no regular phone calls because... he wouldn’t be near a phone, and you know everything like that, and... yeah communication was very sparse, yeah. We had a phone at home, so it would have been that little bit easier, but you’d still wait for that call, and as I say, when he say he got up safe, and... I remember one time and that’s a piseog [superstition], and I know it’s, it came from his mother’s side, robins, robin in the house for a... he left one morning, and the kids obviously were up, he must have left a bit later or something, and the next thing he came running in, he said ‘mammy, mammy there is a... a robin in the house’, or there’s a bird inside... a robin, and I put him out, and I came back in, there was another one there... and I tell you, I nearly died between that and when he got up to say he’d arrived safe, and I don’t believe in piseogs, but... I thought this is awful strange, you know? We would have had a television all right like, so it was sitting in front of the television, get the kids to bed, but yeah this girl had started school then I suppose, I’m not sure he started, or she started when he was there, and... I’d have to walk down in the morning, until I got the car, we were about half a mile from the town, 1     �was a matter of put... two kids into the double push chair, and... strap the other two children... in their cots, really and said our Hail Marys on the way up the road, He might get down maybe... maybe every three weeks or something, sometimes... he’d come down, it would scare me... be on duty all day, and he’d arrive down like at whatever hour, late at night, without any sleep, you know which was very, extremely dangerous, then we kind of went through two winters where we’d frosts only, we’d a lot of frost as well, because in Kanturk you would get snow and frost, where in West Cork we don’t anyway, and... I remember him coming home one evening with the other Guard, Sergeant at the time, and they were all wrapped up with coats, the windscreen was after breaking on the way down! They were frozen, you know and... and that and... He, maybe one or two days, I can’t quite remember now, depending on his roster, on the roster, you know? Oh the kids were hyper, hyper... now once or twice he came on the train, and we were kind of lucky enough there was a train station about... three miles, four miles, Banteer Train Station, outside Kanturk, and... we went... went to Mallow actually I think, went to Mallow to meet... one time! And everybody got off the train, and all the kids were excited about their daddy coming, and even the small little fellah, and... no sign of him... and I thought, ‘oh my God, no mobile phones, what do you do?’ so I went to the office and he says ‘he’s after getting off, he fell asleep on the way down and got off’... there was two fellahs asleep and once he woke up, he was ‘get up, grab this, wake up, wake up, it’s Mallow!’ the two of them out there and the train off! So that was okay too, but you know these kind of little disappointments for the children, that’s understandable you know, and that, but... it was mostly he drove now, the odd time as I say he... came down in the train and that... Well we got another car then we got... and it was a banger of a car, it got me from A to B, which was great really it gave me freedom then, I had a bit of freedom then, because I could visit one or two friends of mine, do you know that I had, friends I had made in Kanturk, and right, I plagued them, probably, I probably ended up at their door one particular... maybe ten o’clock in the morning, I’d be outside their door, do you know, and I stayed there for most of the day with the kids playing with the other kids, just for an adult conversation. But we did went up then... oh some time in that summer... 2     �I took the four of them up with me, yeah up in the train, and he was to pick me up in Dublin, and that we’d drive the rest... and... I went up and I said ‘now we’ll be leaving, my own children won’t be leaving me now, because when they come to visit me the kitchen sink comes, the bags... I went with four children, one on my arm, and two big bags, cloth nappies and clothes, and that’s how I went travelling with the two, or four kids, I said if anyone saw me! But lucky enough the other sergeant above and his wife were very good, we stayed with them in Lifford, and... we are still friends today. We stayed a week. Now they were very good, but I mean in, in turn Con and the other sergeants would have been good, there was six of them went up at the time, they were promoted, and there was only one house available... and that lady was pregnant, she was the only one was pregnant, so everybody said that... they could have the house, so nobody else moved up, the other sergeant moved up, only that sergeant, and we are great friends today... we visited there recently, but to arrive into anyone’s house with four children! Yes, you see I knew that I could wash the clothes there for the kids, so I didn’t have to take the kitchen sink with me, you know? Back down I think, I’m not sure if he drove, I can’t remember that now, we drove down, did Con bring us all the way, did he come home that time with us, or not, but yeah. The loneliness, yeah... the loneliness of everything at that time, like you know, and what would be on television like you had to... do you know, the loneliness and then... even if you were sick, you had, or felt unwell, you had no-one to help you, do you know I remember one time... the youngest girl, we had three girls first and then Niall is the only boy, is the youngest, and the youngest girl, she got croup, I was told, and there was a shortage of petrol as well, right, so that was being rationed, and we had frost... so we had to get the doctor to come up, I couldn’t go down, and I was extremely sick myself, I never... remembered pain I had in my face, I never understood, sinus, was the first attack of sinus I ever got, got three in my life, but that was the first one... and I, he had to come up to the two of us... he had petrol, I had no petrol, and then... he told me like the croup, so... well she had croup and I had sinus, so he had given me some kind of medication, that you dissolve them in water, like Alka Seltzers, they were the old... tablet long ago, I don’t know what these were, but they were similar to that, and oh... was... I... sick... couldn’t keep it down, I had Clare sick in the other room, and the other three running around, so... I felt like... if I could get sick when I had help I would be delighted! That you could stay in bed yourself, you know? And I had to ring him again the following day and he’d come up and inject me to stop me from vomiting... and you know, I still had to get up and do the things with the children, and... with the other three lively ones. The children missed him ... and so much now where, the youngest nine could never understand his daddy going away, he could never never understand daddy going 3     �away, and... the others were just that little bit two, three, four... so but when we came... to Skibbereen, that’s jumping a bit now, we going to Skibbereen, we had rented a house, kind of the street below the Garda station... you could see, and Con’s office actually was facing the house we had rented and we had to rent a house with a railing because Niall was a divil, that would keep him in off the street, and he spent the first... week I’d say... standing at the front window looking at his daddy had gone, and he couldn’t understand, and daddy’d come down maybe, see, he came down, we were trying to settle in, and... he’d come down a few times out of the office, you know, probably shouldn’t be down, but I mean he’d call down to know was everything all right, and Niall couldn’t understand his daddy coming in uniform, and he was gone to work again, and he could be back in two hours, when he was gone to work before he could be gone for a week, you know, for a child of two and a half to you know, take that in, was... Like Niall he developed an impediment then as a result of all the coming and the going, and that yeah, and I was putting him to bed one night and he said to me, I said ‘come on, say your prayers’, two and a half, two and a half, and he said ‘I don’t like Holy God’... and I said ‘why don’t you like Holy God?’, ‘because he makes me say Kay, Kay, Kay’ – that’s the eldest girl, and he’s you know, he was trying to explain that while God was making him repeat the word, It was in kind of a quiet way for them I suppose, and... they weren’t the experts there, never the inspectors then, he’d only call for daddy and I’d say he’ll be back in a few days, and you try to keep him occupied, and you know... Madness when he came home. But the morning he left, was extremely sad, they were up that morning, and I have pictures of that, and he crying, and they crying. He was going to the unknown, we didn’t know what it was going to entail, but I suppose what that was through it really is... we didn’t know where it was going to end, and it was kind of a journey for us, maybe a rough journey, but... you know, we didn’t know when it was going to end, so you’re hoping it’s going to end and I think that’s what kind of what kept us going, do you know? He was up there from... oh was it two, eighteen months or something, and he had to dig in two winters yeah I think. And he came down I think in October and we did move to Skibbereen, we had to sell our house then as well, and the eldest there was making her Holy Communion, so she would have been seven... before we came down to Skibbereeen, so yeah. 4     �It cause adjustment really, because I had him in the house one day, you could kill him! I had a routine, yeah exactly, and you know like he’s bringing, have three quarters of an hour for their lunch, that time, and we’d have our dinner in the middle of the day, so... dinner had to be on the table when he came in, no matter what, how... what the children were doing, or how sick, or whatever they’d be, you know you had to have whereas, when he was away then I could be that little bit... relaxed ‘cause I wasn’t set to a... time clock like, yeah. It’s still raw! You know we used to think about it, yeah, I didn’t think now it would be but it is. The kids don’t talk about it at all now, yeah... the move then I think, the move was another thing in, in the Guards like, the move didn’t go too well at all from Kanturk to Skibbereen with them, no, no no... yeah. I mean the eldest one of them was gone to school and the second one was in school there and the third one just had a day or two for you know, they... take them to school a day or two, they used to do that a day or two before the summer holidays and they would be starting then in September, so she had started there as well, and... he was talking, he was... talking about going back to Kerry, because of his parents, go back nearer, because we moved from Kanturk, I moved a little bit nearer to home, but say not very much, I am from Kinsale, but he lived, he moved twice as far from home, from Listowel, to Skibbereen, that made that journey twice as far, I didn’t gain much... road at all like, but... you know he wanted to go back maybe to Kerry, and... one time he got a transfer to... Macroom, and... when I mentioned, when the eldest girl came in and she, I said we’re moving to Macroom, now he had turned it down at that stage, he wasn’t going to, and... didn’t take it, and... she just ran up the stairs crying, and I said ‘come down, I’m only joking, daddy’s not going to take it’, she was so upset... the other two... didn’t take any notice, the little small fellah, then when he came in I said it to him as well, and he said ‘well we’re not going until we can take Skibbereen in the trailer’! so Skibbereen to Macroom, that’s innocence, you know. Everything’s good at that stage. We’re in Skibbereen since ’79, oh ’79. You know, my father died, yeah we’d just were moved... I was staying in Kanturk, yeah he died in February, yeah we moved here in August. 5     �Con found it as tough as the children really, tougher probably, because... he couldn’t say goodbye to them in the morning, he’d be leaving, he might be gone at six o’clock in the morning, you know, and he wasn’t able to say goodbye to them then, either when he was going back, you know, and... Then you’d have to keep them up until he got home, Yes, daddy’s coming home, yes, now in fairness he brought down clothes to them, and that, that kept him going, and shopping across the border, you know, washing powder and things now were much cheaper, so he’d come down with the boot full, and he always got, you know, they always got something, but ‘twasn’t sweets or things they got, they got... clothes, dresses, or... you know things like that, and there was always a kind of a little, well not every time, now he didn’t bring it every time, he would have brought the household stuff maybe all right, but... that kept him sane as well above. Doing that little bit of shopping and achieving and getting... something for them, Yes, in that way was kicking out the brushes for the kids, you know, when they’ve... photographs, they’re always saying... ‘Jaysus’! Oh he was losing out time, with them growing up, and the things they were doing, and going to school, and they doing the homework with them, like at that stage, and with your first child, you need to be around for things like that, because that’s all the new experiences, God help the second and third they’re just told ‘do your homework’! But there’s always something with the first child, you know, it’s all new experience for parents, but then... yeah, I don’t think, I don’t think there’s anything else now in fairness, yeah, you know, [End of Recording Part One / Start of Recording Part Two] He was in good digs, and they were in Lifford, down... and... they were excellent people, then we went up and stayed with them, and... we’ve been friends today, her husband is dead now, and... she’s still alive, she’s eighty five, we talk every year for her birthday, and if I don’t ring, she said is something, if I don’t ring early in the morning, sometimes I may go late on the day, but I’d always ring her on the day, and... she’ll say ‘oh that Myra, is Myra all right? I didn’t hear from Myra today’, you know so, but that made it easy, being in with a good digs made it much much easier for Con, because the first place he was in... I think ‘twas kind of... you roll out of 6     �bed, and I roll into bed, and you roll out of bed... but, when he got into that digs like it made so, so homely, and they, yeah. He was able to ring, he was able to ring more often then, from them, yeah. They’d the phone at home as well, yeah so... that definitely made it easier for both of us, yeah. Yes, and being up there and staying there, and knowing where he was staying, and... you know, seeing where it was, and... what kind of people were... and that, yeah. 7     � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Green and Blue Across the Thin Line (<em>collection</em>) [NC] Description An account of the resource A collection of 39 stories that were compiled as part of a project with the aim: "To develop a storytelling project reflecting the cooperation and interaction between former members of Royal Ulster Constabulary and former members of An Garda Síochána along the border from the establishment of the two Police Forces to 2001." (From the Green and Blue website.) Extracts from the 39 recorded interviews were published in book format in 2014. The associated Green and Blue website contains full transcripts for 24 of the interviews. The website also contains 18 interview audio files (as of 22 January 2016). URL Non DC - URL of Organisation / Project http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Stories Collected Non DC - Number of stories recorded as part of the project. 39 Stories Deposited Non DC - Number of stories deposited with Accounts of the Conflict. 18 Collection Permission Form Non DC - Collection permission form signed and returned. Yes (signed: 21 March 2015) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Published book; and Web site Language A language of the resource English Delayed Access Non DC - Yes/No on request for delayed access. No Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Police Services; Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland; 1920s to 2001 Publication A book, article, monograph etc. Author Author of the publication Myra McCarthy Date Type Publication, Submission, Completion date etc. Completion date 2014 Publication Title Full title of publication, as it appears on item. Transcript of audio interview. Publication Status Published, in Press, Unpublished, etc. Published on-line Number of Pages 7 Publisher Location Place of publication: city / town Website Publisher Diversity Challenges Board Publication Type Report, Book, Manual etc. Transcript Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Untitled story, </em><span>by Myra McCarthy</span><em> <em>(Story transcript)</em></em> Description An account of the resource Transcript (PDF) of the audio recording of interview with Myra McCarthy which was recorded as part of the Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF version of transcript Language A language of the resource English Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Catalogue ID Non DC - ID for the Catalogue entry that relates to this entry 2870 Diversity Challenges Green and Blue https://k8s-accounts-01.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/e27da3f414bbf9f6058e790b8e6c90fd.mp3 c65759c604240414a993569bdb11d9a5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Green and Blue Across the Thin Line (<em>collection</em>) [NC] Description An account of the resource A collection of 39 stories that were compiled as part of a project with the aim: "To develop a storytelling project reflecting the cooperation and interaction between former members of Royal Ulster Constabulary and former members of An Garda Síochána along the border from the establishment of the two Police Forces to 2001." (From the Green and Blue website.) Extracts from the 39 recorded interviews were published in book format in 2014. The associated Green and Blue website contains full transcripts for 24 of the interviews. The website also contains 18 interview audio files (as of 22 January 2016). URL Non DC - URL of Organisation / Project http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Stories Collected Non DC - Number of stories recorded as part of the project. 39 Stories Deposited Non DC - Number of stories deposited with Accounts of the Conflict. 18 Collection Permission Form Non DC - Collection permission form signed and returned. Yes (signed: 21 March 2015) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Published book; and Web site Language A language of the resource English Delayed Access Non DC - Yes/No on request for delayed access. No Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Police Services; Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland; 1920s to 2001 Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Transcription also available Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Digital Audio File: MPEG-2 Audio Layer III (MP3) Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 18 minutes 44 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 192 kbps Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Untitled story, </em><span>by Myra McCarthy</span><em> <em>(Story audio)</em></em> Description An account of the resource Audio recording of interview with Myra McCarthy which was recorded as part of the Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Relation A related resource See also the Green and Blue website: http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Audio (MP3) Language A language of the resource English Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Catalogue ID Non DC - ID for the Catalogue entry that relates to this entry 2870 Diversity Challenges Green and Blue https://k8s-accounts-01.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/7f436a4b2da8322f1b398e7f92a95b81.pdf 966eb6adcac5f9b9ab450a453b50d54b PDF Text Text Green and Blue Project Eileen Twomey Interview Transcript Yes I went up in May ’72.when my husband J.P. was serving on the border We had two children, a two and a half year old... and about a six week old. We had an apartment in the monastery, which was the... Christian Brothers had... and I suppose the Christian Brothers left, they left Carrickmacross, and a lady bought the... monastery, and she converted it into... oh maybe there was five or six apartments in it. So we had people we new. They were transferred from Galway, and we just happened to go at the same time, because his dad had died... and he put back his transfer until the fourth of April as well, so that, you know to get, get his father... sorted out, buried and all that kind of thing... so, yeah only for them I don’t know, would I have... or maybe it made it easy not to mix... having people... Yes, it’s like say our apartment was here, and maybe theirs was at the end of the house, just a corridor away... and we just had... kind of kitchen/living... room, sitting room, and... a bedroom, shower and toilet, and for the kids we got maybe our bedroom divided in two just... so we’d a double bed and a single bed at the other side of the partition. Probably... maybe busy... busy you know, you washed the clothes, we didn’t have a washing machine, we washed by hand. And... you know, trying to get to the clothes line with kids, and you know, all that kind of thing...that owned the apartment was just fantastic, and just loved the kids, and loved to talk to them, and... or maybe J P might take us shopping, and I presume the local Guards didn’t know whose... wife was who. People in Carrickmacross were... nice people I suppose once you understood... their accent. Right, so that was a complete, like you’d never been up that side of the country, had you? There was some lovely women, and we had children, I remember the first time I went for a walk with Clare after being born... a friend came down and we walked together, do you know, my first outing with the pram, you know, nice people, and I suppose ‘twas hard, you only saw that... relationship I suppose... and... maybe one or two nights we were out on our own in Carrickmacross... and the Guards that were there came over and asked us to join them, which was... very nice of them... and 1     �they would mainly have been from... you know, a line from Galway to Dublin up, where we were from the south completely, yeah. Well I suppose being a Guard’s wife at that particular time, very few had their own homes. Now they did in Carrickmacross... they did have their own homes, we had rented in Clonakilty, and... this is our first home, you know, we came here [pause] as I said the twenty second of December, ’72 and J P had bought this site, so I had no input at all into it! I [pause] loneliness, probably was number one, And... I suppose the hours that the men worked, you know ‘twas case of... do you know, you’re in for lunch, you’re in for dinner, and... the phone would ring, he was gone again like the squad car would arrive... I suppose there was a lot of stress attached to it, that you didn’t know where they were. How handy mobiles are today, lack of communication, probably was a huge I suppose it was bound to happen, with stress, stress. And... you know, sometimes you’d, I suppose nine times out of ten you’d turn on the radio and say, ‘what’s happening around... where would he be?’ Yes, and you know I remember he saying one time, say here, down south... one guy would go off in the squad car on their own, or maybe two at night, but ‘twas four to a car... Always... always... you’d be on the alert all the time, you know? Yes, that when you went into the, into the supermarket you had to put your basket... on the window sill, and then went along and did your shopping and picked it up as you had your shopping done, I probably found that very strange, Presumption on my part it must have been, presumption it must have been, but I didn’t, wasn’t used to it, and... kind of felt guilty, you know just, gee am I going to take anything, or what is the idea of it, but I got used to it, it didn’t... you know and I suppose you go in with a pram, and two children like you know that probably the ways and means of, you know I just forgot about it afterwards, but I found it very strange, ‘Twas a different, yeah, you know I still have that thing, the box, the basket is still in the house, 2     �‘Tis, yeah full of Lego, but... yeah I found that... probably a country town [pause] you know, cattle were walking the street, Yes, it reminded me of home, really, Castleisland. It was very like, well home isn’t, my home is Tralee really, but Castleisland was our, would be a shopping town for us as well, and it was a huge wide street and fair days there were something similar, and I suppose that reminded me of home as well. J P was there from April to December, And I was there from May to December. I suppose we were anxious to get back south, we were [pause] I think he did apply. He heard at that particular time there was a vacancy in Bantry, and he applied I think three times, so when it came, oh! we were to leave in November, and Darren was in hospital with meningitis, So we had to put it back again, so... you know ‘twas tough times I suppose with the kids sick, and...Very stressful, you know it was very stressful, yeah. Being so far away and if you wanted to make a phone call you’d to go to town to a telephone kiosk. It was, and you, we were about a mile out from town, so... it was a lovely setting like, it was lovely... but you know, I suppose that’s what we did, and... you know we kind of moved in... lock, stock and barrel... would go in a car, a carry cot, and... pram on top of the car. Well he did several stints on the border, he did, yeah kind of a month at the time, but sure sometimes twice a year. I suppose he started going to the border... in nineteen sixty... seven I suppose, with the foot and mouth disease. It was, he did a fair, I couldn’t tell you now exactly how many he did, but he did... Totally different... well of course, if somebody’s away from home, you’re worried anyway. But, I have to say overall the people were very nice, I never had a... everywhere, no matter what group we dealt with, they were quite nice. 3     �4     � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Green and Blue Across the Thin Line (<em>collection</em>) [NC] Description An account of the resource A collection of 39 stories that were compiled as part of a project with the aim: "To develop a storytelling project reflecting the cooperation and interaction between former members of Royal Ulster Constabulary and former members of An Garda Síochána along the border from the establishment of the two Police Forces to 2001." (From the Green and Blue website.) Extracts from the 39 recorded interviews were published in book format in 2014. The associated Green and Blue website contains full transcripts for 24 of the interviews. The website also contains 18 interview audio files (as of 22 January 2016). URL Non DC - URL of Organisation / Project http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Stories Collected Non DC - Number of stories recorded as part of the project. 39 Stories Deposited Non DC - Number of stories deposited with Accounts of the Conflict. 18 Collection Permission Form Non DC - Collection permission form signed and returned. Yes (signed: 21 March 2015) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Published book; and Web site Language A language of the resource English Delayed Access Non DC - Yes/No on request for delayed access. No Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Police Services; Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland; 1920s to 2001 Publication A book, article, monograph etc. Author Author of the publication Eileen Twomey Date Type Publication, Submission, Completion date etc. Completion date 2014 Publication Title Full title of publication, as it appears on item. Transcript of audio interview. Publication Status Published, in Press, Unpublished, etc. Published on-line Number of Pages 4 Publisher Location Place of publication: city / town Website Publisher Diversity Challenges Board Publication Type Report, Book, Manual etc. Transcript Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Untitled Story</em><span>, by Eileen Twomey </span><em>(story transcript)</em> Description An account of the resource Transcript (PDF) of the audio recording of interview with Eileen Twomey which was recorded as part of the Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF version of transcript Language A language of the resource English Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Catalogue ID Non DC - ID for the Catalogue entry that relates to this entry 2883 Diversity Challenges Green and Blue https://k8s-accounts-01.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/dc23cf4c8617b889889c8b7ffba8b82e.mp3 361cc17b10c919e161169fca4d3041a4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Green and Blue Across the Thin Line (<em>collection</em>) [NC] Description An account of the resource A collection of 39 stories that were compiled as part of a project with the aim: "To develop a storytelling project reflecting the cooperation and interaction between former members of Royal Ulster Constabulary and former members of An Garda Síochána along the border from the establishment of the two Police Forces to 2001." (From the Green and Blue website.) Extracts from the 39 recorded interviews were published in book format in 2014. The associated Green and Blue website contains full transcripts for 24 of the interviews. The website also contains 18 interview audio files (as of 22 January 2016). URL Non DC - URL of Organisation / Project http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Stories Collected Non DC - Number of stories recorded as part of the project. 39 Stories Deposited Non DC - Number of stories deposited with Accounts of the Conflict. 18 Collection Permission Form Non DC - Collection permission form signed and returned. Yes (signed: 21 March 2015) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Published book; and Web site Language A language of the resource English Delayed Access Non DC - Yes/No on request for delayed access. No Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Police Services; Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland; 1920s to 2001 Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Transcription also available Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Digital Audio File: MPEG-2 Audio Layer III (MP3) Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 9 minutes 40 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 192 kbps Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Untitled Story</em><span>, by Eileen Twomey </span><em>(story audio)</em> Description An account of the resource Audio recording of interview with Eileen Twomey which was recorded as part of the Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Relation A related resource See also the Green and Blue website: http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Audio (MP3) Language A language of the resource English Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Catalogue ID Non DC - ID for the Catalogue entry that relates to this entry 2883 Diversity Challenges Green and Blue https://k8s-accounts-01.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/7ab21b321a35f1c1e026e6beed39a89f.pdf 9ff672e8bfd20737d3e4303f2224ef77 PDF Text Text Green and Blue Project Dónal Cullinane Interview Transcript I am coming up... sixty five born 1949 I suppose I was on the force for two to three years... and mostly all single people were drafted up that time, because of... I suppose, it costs... cost less to send... single fellahs more than married people. So I was stationed in Waterford, and... I think ‘twas a month or two months at the time, I’m not sure, but I remember anyway, people were dodging Christmas, and... you know, people were drafted in for that, so I was sent up... over the Christmas period, and I think I spent two months there. From Waterford city to Kiltyclogher County Leitrim. Oh no, ‘twas just an ordinary Garda station, in the little village... of about... I suppose a hundred or two hundred people. I don’t know how many were stationed there that time, but they were all like myself, there was... probably two local Guards, and a sergeant, and I was I suppose one of... about ten I suppose who were, who came up from... the Waterford/Kilkenny Division filled different stations, and that was one of the stations that they... When you arrived... you might think like that someone would say look, we’ll drive you down now to... this is, this is actually the line, or... no, I never saw! I never saw the line or I never was shown... the line, I was told ‘twas down there, just down by the bridge, down there, but we never went down, and you know, that was to me a little... a little, I suppose... I thought if I was in charge that’s the first thing I would do, was...Yeah, this is our area, and... but that was, that was it... and you did the ordinary week of nights and the ordinary... earlies and that... and we spent Christmas... over Christmas, I’d say I was one of the only Pioneers there. And I remember Christmas day, I was the only fellah working. Well, they were all working, but I was the only, So... I did all that, and we had absolutely the most fantastic... lodgings I ever had, hot and cold water in the room, back in nineteen seventy one or two. Unbelievable now, unbelievable... the nurse, what was her name? She was an old midwife nurse, and she had one daughter, and they were all winking at her. But... she was a lovely lady, they were fantastic, I’d say she made no money out of it. 1     �The grub was so... Oh supreme, yeah. Oh yeah, ‘twould be oh full Christmas Diner yeah and she was, I tell you now the food there was... now better than home if you know... You’d be, I suppose you’d be assigned... you’d be given I suppose certain vehicles to watch out for, or certain people to... if you did come across them, to log, to log down same, to drive such roads... to drive, we’ll say the main... the main ones, but... not necessarily down to the actual border, which may not, you know these were... you see a lot of the roads... they were all coming into Kiltyclogher, now especially, was one of these roads that was blocked off, so there wasn’t much good in driving down there per se, because there was all these concrete prisms or... Pylons in the middle of the road, you know, but other than that we didn’t get any specific... you know, we were there as, I’d say, to me, looking back on it now, you were there as a token, as a presence on the border, and sure we’d nothing...I wasn’t told anyway. Sure I didn’t question it, really, I didn’t question it, sure I was only a raw recruit really, at the time, I mean I was only... joined the Guards in... March ’69, this was seventy one or two, surely... you know... you were only beginning to get to know people more than, you were still, and I was still only twenty two, twenty two years of age. You did not question authority at that time. Oh Jesus, not really, no [pause] there was another incident now, I just recalled it... there was a reformatory school over in, was it Black...No, that’s in, that’s in Galway... I’ll think of it now in a minute, but on Bloody Sunday we were sent, we were sent there because they were expecting refugees, the Sunday after Bloody Sunday, and that was over in... ‘twas one of these, the priest’s houses... where they’re training priests, and... I’ll think of it in a minute... but I remember spending a day, the full day over there, just patrolling around, walking around, and I met... I remember... a fellah... and actually the, we... if we go back far enough, he’s... he you know, came from Durrus, and I had... an uncle who joined the Guards from Durrus, and they were actually related, so we had a... anyway eventually came, I worked with him here in Cork afterwards... what is that place? No harm anyway, but nothing arrived that day. I suppose ‘twas a contingency plan really, I mean the Bloody Sunday was... a horrible day, and then it was... do we know if it was going to flare up afterwards, and I suppose they had these places if people did, had to run across or whatever, or get out, they had these billets, or these, ‘twas like these, one of these schools, reformatory schools... ‘twas down in Blacklion I’d say, or... 2     �I’ll think of it now before I go, but... that was at another day, anyway as such... but... Oh I was only on one, one... I’ve a feeling ‘twas for two months, because of the Christmas now and wanted to... and then you were young, I suppose the only good thing about it, there was extra money in it, you got subsistence allowance, and that was tax-free, and I suppose there was some bit of compensation for... but we used travel up and down to home then, I suppose it was our long weekends off, and... ‘tis only now, you’re, when you’ve children of your own, that you can understand what they (my parents) were thinking... but... ‘cause I’d no fear, you know, you’ve no fear, really... not... not in the slightest, like you know. Yeah, there was a bit of drinking going on all right, but I just, I never drank until... I won’t tell you when! When I broke it, but I broke it anyway, but I, I never drank at the time, and then, I imagine now in days of... Christmas Days and days like that... you were saddled with... and all these things, but... it didn’t matter to me, I mean if you there doing your thing, so you might as well be doing something. The phone now was a thing... you’d have to dial... you’d have to crank up the machine... there was no such thing as the dialling, and you were told to be careful about... phone numbers that... you were, it was alleged... that people were listening in... you know? Do you know, as I know... from exchanges, that can happen, like and it was just, just be careful and, yeah... because that was I suppose one of the IRA’s avenues of getting information. It wouldn’t be that much discussion of pliitics like, but... I mean I, from what I understand a local married a Guard. But... she was completely... you know, you felt completely at home with her, but then there was local Guards... staying with her as well, the two local guys, one of them actually was from Fermanagh, he was a native of Fermanagh, which was... just past the border... and I thought was... unusual, you know, I did think... and [pause] but I never mixed, I never mixed with... people that really, you know, I suppose I’d say... in our meetings, I’d often say what we did in the winter time, when it snowed or anything, we were playing cards, you know, and ‘twas... harmless stuff, now. Yeah, well you had, you hadn’t any... you hadn’t any, I suppose great uniform like what I suppose they have... up to today. But still... it never bothered me that way, right I never, I felt... I was absolutely delighted to join the Guards, when I, since I was a child... I wanted to join the Guards. 3     �Well he’d be an uncle-in-law, through marriage, but there was no, there was no connection that way, but... where I was from, we used to keep lodgers, and there was always two or three Guards in the house, and I just had great respect for it, like, and... since whenever I did, that was my, my aim at the time, and I remember... joining and talking to the local fellah below, and he said ‘look’ he said, ‘go in there now’, he says, ‘you’ll be in there now’ he says ‘for about six months’ or whatever it is, ‘keep your nose clean in there’ he says, ‘when you come out’ he says ‘you’ll have a good time’. And I absolutely loved it, loved it, now I mean there were, you know I had ups and downs but... and when I left it, I had no problem with leaving, I was stationed in Waterford for three years, Buttevant for ten months, my mother died... and I was transferred then to the city, and to traffic, and I spent my last nine years at immigration. ‘Twas lovely, immigration was great for a start, but... the influx came then, and it became stressful enough... people thought it was lovely because you were in... you were dressed up like, but... could be stressful enough, you know? A Thursday morning, I couldn’t tell you what year now, but I’d say ‘twas ’72, I have a feeling. I was on six to two, and... hoping the eight hours would go by, because we were going home for the weekend, and we were going home with... a fellah by , in police station back in... He’s stationed back in Skib... I was on anyway, and around, what... I would say it was around half past nine or ten, we could hear some... some hammering and... like... I suppose machinery going below... at the border, which would be... down a narrow road from the village, but you could not actually see it... so [pause] I was in the car anyway, and... next thing is the sergeant arrived, and he said, ‘come on’ he said ‘we’ll go and we’ll have a look... to see what’s happening’... so I drove away and he said ‘come up here now’ he said ‘we’ll have a vantage point here’ and we drove up and in through a kind of a... I suppose a small hill where there was furze and heather... and that type of surface... and there was no, I don’t think there was any kind of a road... so we stopped anyway, we could look down and we could see... not... I suppose, as the crow flies they’d be about four or five hundred yards away, the British Army, and they... I suppose reinforcing the barriers at the, this kind of border road... so we were there looking, we’d... a black Avenger car... and we’d no roof sign... and, we’d only our uniform on us, and well... ‘twas a black car and, you could be identified if you wanted to be, I suppose, but... there was no sign, there were no signs on the car like they are today or anything like... so after about ten minutes anyway, we could hear... shooting... ‘Jaysus!’... now, it’s hard to say where it came from... but it looked like as if it came from behind us... firing across at the... at the British Army, or whatever, whatever it was down there... so... and next thing we could hear machine gun firing, [makes shooting noises]. Not a fear of my life, like... you know yourself, the next time we’re going to, what’s going on, you’re not going to get out of here now, you’d say that all right, but... I remember it, I never had nightmares about it! You know what I mean? That to me is afraid. 4     �So we, we lay on our, we got out of the car, and we threw ourselves down on the ground, and kind of, half under the car, and next thing there was a lull, and it would come again, from both sides, well we thought enough, now definitely it was the, the machine gun was from the... from the north side, and I would think that the... it sounded like rifle fire now to me, from behind us, which would be the south side... and... after there was a lull came anyway, and the fellah who was with me, and he said ‘come on’ he said, ‘we’ll try and get out of here’, so we put on our hats anyway, see could we... see would they see us with our caps on, and... I got into the car and tried to turn it, there was no space to turn it, I can recall, and I backing in, with this Avenger, and eventually headed slowly, drove slowly, as they say you’re no threat! [laughs] and... got out of the place, now it took us I suppose... by the time we got up off our belly, into the car and ran it... it took us... three to four minutes before we... we’ll say we got out of fire, and we went back down into the station, and... the next thing the helicopter arrived, and ‘twas over us, and ‘twas over... I would say ‘twas over the station, like. ‘Twas in our, in Irish aerospace, we’ll say, and people, I remember some local coming along, and he saying... ‘that shouldn’t be up there’, he says ‘that’s over...’ and you know, and I was saying... ‘what can I do about this at the present, go in there and make a complaint’ or whatever, so [pause] we were, we wouldn’t take much notice, I mean... the fellah that was with me went in, and I suppose he notified the authorities, I went in and I rang my mother... and I said... ‘we mightn’t be home this evening, there’s a, there’s a kind of an incident here’, and I mentioned cross-border, and ‘shut up!’ he says, don’t say cross-border, he said, ‘because this could be an international... thing more than’, do you understand what I’m saying? That, we’ll say if you... Incident, like and I was... it meant nothing to me, an incident or same, but ‘twas some... I suppose ‘twas an incident, seemingly ‘twas on the one o’clock news all right, and... people at home heard it when I came... so... I finished my tour of duty... at two o’clock, got into our car, three of us, and we drove off down to West Cork... so, I wasn’t asked anymore reports on it. Well, I’ll just give you one incident now, And this is just internal, now... and there was... a man in charge of us we’ll say, not in the station now, but we’ll say from Manorhamilton, he used come out visiting, and doing a parade, and we’d parade in front of him... every now and again... and this fellah who... he, he, kind of [pause] a good clump of hair behind, you know? And he was... he picked them and he said... ‘hi’... I won’t mention his name now, he says, he says ‘you’ he says ‘you go away and get a haircut’ he says... and this to me now, the first bit of... someone talking to authority, he says... ‘I will, superintendent’ he says, ‘when you forward to me’ he says ‘my advance subsistence allowance’. And he was right, and he was right, like, and your man had no, but they thought he could pick him for, imagine now and me above on the border, and this... rubbish... you know? But... I can still remember that... but, and your man then... he was a bit of a... the Guard now, was a bit of a... you know, you know how a kind of a 5     �sloucher, like... Jaysus he became... he became a sergeant afterwards... kind of... called in fellahs himself, like... I hate that... I fucking hate that... I do, like, Jaysus if you’re not true to yourself... if I ever got I don’t think I’d change a day, like... sincerely. Looking, in hind... you know what I mean, people were maybe saying that the Guards should be... in hindsight to me anyway, I think you were... you were a way better off without them, because... you see Ireland being a neutral country, you’re no, you’re no threat... right? And being without, you’re a Guard, unarmed Guard, you were no threat, and that to me was a safeguard in itself. You know all these things about Ireland now, you know, you’re loved nearly around the country, , we’re not, we’re not going to, we’re not like Britain, like we’re not going to plunder anyone, you know we haven’t the forces to do it, you’re no threat to anyone, and that to me was, would be that... 6     � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Green and Blue Across the Thin Line (<em>collection</em>) [NC] Description An account of the resource A collection of 39 stories that were compiled as part of a project with the aim: "To develop a storytelling project reflecting the cooperation and interaction between former members of Royal Ulster Constabulary and former members of An Garda Síochána along the border from the establishment of the two Police Forces to 2001." (From the Green and Blue website.) Extracts from the 39 recorded interviews were published in book format in 2014. The associated Green and Blue website contains full transcripts for 24 of the interviews. The website also contains 18 interview audio files (as of 22 January 2016). URL Non DC - URL of Organisation / Project http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Stories Collected Non DC - Number of stories recorded as part of the project. 39 Stories Deposited Non DC - Number of stories deposited with Accounts of the Conflict. 18 Collection Permission Form Non DC - Collection permission form signed and returned. Yes (signed: 21 March 2015) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Published book; and Web site Language A language of the resource English Delayed Access Non DC - Yes/No on request for delayed access. No Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Police Services; Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland; 1920s to 2001 Publication A book, article, monograph etc. Author Author of the publication Donal Cullinane Date Type Publication, Submission, Completion date etc. Completion date 2014 Publication Title Full title of publication, as it appears on item. Transcript of audio interview. Publication Status Published, in Press, Unpublished, etc. Published on-line Number of Pages 6 Publisher Location Place of publication: city / town Website Publisher Diversity Challenges Board Publication Type Report, Book, Manual etc. Transcript Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Untitled Story</em><span>, by </span><span>Donal Cullinane</span><span> (</span><em>story transcript</em><span>)</span> Description An account of the resource Transcript (PDF) of the audio recording of interview with Donal Cullinane which was recorded as part of the Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF version of transcript Language A language of the resource English Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Catalogue ID Non DC - ID for the Catalogue entry that relates to this entry 2850 Diversity Challenges Green and Blue https://k8s-accounts-01.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/a143600a2e1691ac5974cf08add589f9.mp3 1c3fb3c8787a8cc27be2b87b020d94cd Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Green and Blue Across the Thin Line (<em>collection</em>) [NC] Description An account of the resource A collection of 39 stories that were compiled as part of a project with the aim: "To develop a storytelling project reflecting the cooperation and interaction between former members of Royal Ulster Constabulary and former members of An Garda Síochána along the border from the establishment of the two Police Forces to 2001." (From the Green and Blue website.) Extracts from the 39 recorded interviews were published in book format in 2014. The associated Green and Blue website contains full transcripts for 24 of the interviews. The website also contains 18 interview audio files (as of 22 January 2016). URL Non DC - URL of Organisation / Project http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Stories Collected Non DC - Number of stories recorded as part of the project. 39 Stories Deposited Non DC - Number of stories deposited with Accounts of the Conflict. 18 Collection Permission Form Non DC - Collection permission form signed and returned. Yes (signed: 21 March 2015) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Published book; and Web site Language A language of the resource English Delayed Access Non DC - Yes/No on request for delayed access. No Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Police Services; Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland; 1920s to 2001 Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Transcription also available Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Digital Audio File: MPEG-2 Audio Layer III (MP3) Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 21 minutes 38 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 192 kbps Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Untitled Story</em><span>, by </span><span>Donal Cullinane</span><span> (</span><em>story audio</em><span>)</span> Description An account of the resource Audio recording of interview with Donal Cullinane which was recorded as part of the Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Green and Blue – Across the Thin Line project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Diversity Challenges Board Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Relation A related resource See also the Green and Blue website: http://www.green-and-blue.org/ Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Audio (MP3) Language A language of the resource English Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Catalogue ID Non DC - ID for the Catalogue entry that relates to this entry 2850 Diversity Challenges Green and Blue