16
10
203
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https://accounts.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/97133bc4800b2f99edb0fb77dc93405a.mp3
40d737536157a3d4137bdb5fa61d2769
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
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Published book; and Web site
Language
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English
Delayed Access
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No
Availability Online
Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain)
deposited
Coverage
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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
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Digital Audio File: MPEG-2 Audio Layer III (MP3)
Duration
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39 minutes 12 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>Con McCarthy </span><em>(story audio)</em>
Description
An account of the resource
Audio recording of interview with Con 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
Subject
The topic of the resource
The experiences of former police officers from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC; Northern Ireland) and the Garda Síochána (GS; Republic of Ireland), especially in relation to the border between the two jurisdictions.
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
2868
Diversity Challenges
Green and Blue
-
https://accounts.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/02138e22f5c9be7766f6bc77955281c2.pdf
df6ca934e8095a60178019d94c938ca3
PDF Text
Text
Green & Blue Project
Con McCarthy Interview
I am seventy two. I’m from Listowel, County Kerry, yeah.
I was promoted from Kanturk in ’77, and I went to the border on the end of
November of that year, and I suppose if you want to get my own personal feelings
on it, I remember I thought I calculated the journey, and I was out by about twenty
five to thirty miles, it was longer than I thought, and I felt that, when I was in Sligo
I felt that, if I thought it was as far then, I’d nearly have turned home. However I
continued on, and I went to my base at Lifford, just across from Strabane... and in
peacetime there would be one sergeant I suppose, and four guards would be the
max., which is there now, in our time there was five sergeants and thirty five
guards. Accommodation was difficult to come by... communications at that time
were not great. Well even between stations, and across the border I suppose there
was a kind of a scramble telephone line in operation all right, but it was rarely used.
While the people I felt were quite nice and Lifford and... Donegal, the work was...
tough, a lot of checkpoints and I took up duty and the following day after arriving
with, newly promoted myself, and a unit of seven guards, the oldest twenty two,
and the youngest nineteen just, so basically you were on your own, you had to kind
of find your way.
I was thirty one, thirty two, that was it, you had to find your way, you had to try and
get understand the system, ‘twas, I had done very little of three relief work prior to
that, I was always in country stations, I thought it was extremely difficult for the
younger members, younger guards. They were subjected to an awful lot of
continuous checkpoint, the main body of their work was ninety per cent of it was...
six a.m. to two p.m. checkpoint, two p.m. to ten p.m. and ten to six, and you got a
week of nearly of either, and they learned very very little, I thought about the
normal policing of an area, this was different style due to the... the conflict, and
while they were alert and... did great work, I felt it was extremely difficult for them
to adjust, and they got very little grounding then in normal or natural policing, due
to the fact that timing constraints didn’t allow it. However I think I kept my unit
together, they were, I will say the products of very good homes anyway, these
young fellas, but they were thrown in I felt at the deep end, conditions were difficult
and weather was fairly cold.
I would say that the station was, would only accommodate shall we say at the best
of times a sergeant and four or five guards, and we had to make do with very
cramped conditions, and while we were there it was being renovated, and which
made it even more difficult for a period of nearly six months, and ‘twas all across a
winter... and it was very hard, when fellas got wet on duty. If you didn’t have good
digs, or accommodation, it was fairly rough the conditions, and fairly demanding
now, to say the least of it, and these young fellas like found it very hard to... shall
we socialise, because... you basically didn’t know who was who and what was what,
�and then the harsh hours, like the switching from one relief to another, didn’t give
you much time, however I, we kind of got them together. I remember, myself and
another sergeant that was in the same transfer up, there was four of us transferred
together, because we were the first... sergeants that were transferred permanently
to the border, we were permanent, we were transferred as such permanently, and
to cut down costs, basically because there was no temporary transfer, it was these,
and so we went up and our period of time up there was unknown to us, whether or
whether, how long it would be, but so we settled in the best we could, and we were
all roughly the same age, and we all had young families left back down at home,
Oh my wife and family stayed in Kanturk, I had a new house at the time, that time,
and Niall was only a matter of weeks old, and Kay wasn’t six... and I left and I had
to buy a car, some kind of a banger of a car for Maire, and... we couldn’t take, any
of us didn’t take our family to the border. I suppose one , ‘twouldn’t be the safest
thing to do, and secondly we wouldn’t, we couldn’t get accommodation, we found it
extremely difficult ourselves to get accommodation, and that’s the way, I mean next
door to us was Castlefin, which in peacetime maybe there might be only one guard
and a sergeant there, now maybe, and the same amount of men but there they
were also operating a three relief system, and... ‘twas difficult, shall we say, in the
extreme, and the weather then, I suppose I had all my service down south, and you
mightn’t think it, but when you’re up there it is on a permanent basis, I would say
winter and summer, to be three to four degrees colder, it was one of the first things
I noticed, it was and, however we just had to bow to doing what we were supposed
to do, and there was a lot of supervision, and I suppose, if you... I suppose put the
wrong foot forward or did something you could spark off an international kind of a
political incident, unknown to yourself, you’d want to be fairly long-headed now, and
as I say you want to cut, measure twenty times before you cut once.
I was very conscious of that, and... then I suppose the most difficult policing of a
country is for any policeman I think is political crime... ordinary criminality is quite
different from subversive activity, and it’s amazing who would be supporting the
subversion and the political views and ideas come to the fore, and you don’t know
how to, it’s difficult to deal with it, and you may not think that everyone that’s not
interfering with you might be in your corner, shall we say, they may have politically
different views and viewed all policemen as possibly a little bit suppressive, maybe I
don’t know, that’s the impression, so you had to be extremely cautious now, and
then there was a number of atrocities that... my... my view on it was some major
atrocities that I would say in any normal situation a lot of atrocities that never hit
the headlines, never made the news. Hit the public arena like, happened above in
our area, there was some... ferocious arsons and assaults and shootings and it’s only
the real major incidents that made in on to the media, yeah I mean behind the
scenes I mean there was a lot more going on than you would think, I remember
quite well that... very shortly before I went up I think, a young fella from Donegal,
he had joined the RUC and he was a Catholic... he, on one of his visits home
incidentally he was shot and, shot dead and with his girlfriend one night, and... it’s
very difficult to get a... society can close very much in this, well there’s an element
�of fear in everyone, they may... good people might like to... to get involved, but the
fear factor always I think came to the fore, and that’s why it was difficult to get
knowledge and difficult... on incidents and difficult enough to solve things and I
suppose, we were on the side of southern side, and I suppose the people around
Donegal along the border there, Donegal... really would be very au fait with what
was happening really inside in the north, and the causes of it, much more than the
people further south like here in Cork now, in Kerry, but... they held their own
views on it, and I suppose they would be silently supporting... those and... however
we carried on, and whether we, with the Army I suppose, we kept,
The Irish Army, now we kept a lid on it, I suppose as good as we possibly could on
our side, and an even hand as much as even-handed ways, as the circumstances
would, would allow, shall we say. There was one evening I feel that there was an
RUC man, and I think he came across, to Killygordon, if I think, remember, across to
the south, he was a farmer’s son and he came across in a tractor and trailer for a
load of artificial manure to a creamery there, and on his way back he was shot,
killed, and incidentally the... the car that was involved burst through a checkpoint,
and subsequently was found in our area, and it... the whole thing now was fairly
difficult for three or four days to say the least of it, not going into it in any further
detail.
Oh indeed there was, great tension, and there was demands on either side and
these things can bring political questions to the fore very much, and the Guards
must be ever conscious of that, and that’s the way, they’re both I suppose
interlinked, but I spent, what fourteen months there, ‘twas difficult to get home it
was... a seven hour non-stop journey, two hundred and sixty five miles Very bad
roads then, at that time, in ’77, ’78 and I used to come home possibly twice a month
in one month, and three times another, and that would be after finishing early at
two p.m. and I’d be up since five and I’d finish at two and drive, have a bit of grub
and a shower, and drive continuously until I arrive home, and the kids were very
small and they would be all excited and they would, I’d be exhausted and they were
excited, and you had two forces pulling, and not possibly in the right, in the same
direction, but again... we survived it. Maire got Myra to visit, that was one of the
guards, the sergeants from Dublin, and his wife was in the last... days nearly of
pregnancy and eventually, it was I actually got the house, and I gave it to him...
because he was in the worse situation than I was, and he came, he brought her up,
they had three other young kids, and she had the baby and everything was fine, and
‘twas a place of anchor for Myra and my kids when they came up afterwards and
they used to have a great time together, you know, they visited maybe four or five
times, well four times anyway I suppose while we were there, shall we say... the
effects of... that period of policing in myself, I... I, it didn’t change me, I don’t think
as a person, it changed me... on my outlook on the values real and substantial
values of life, as to what all this was about.
Well... I suppose it’s back to the human being, and the human nature in all of us,
and I suppose it’s... the power of one society over another, or man’s inhumanity to
�man, or what way would I put it, but I suppose that’s the basis of the whole thing,
if... truthfully, and I’ve lived through lessons which I don’t want to go into, but if our
country wasn’t occupied we wouldn’t have, I don’t think we’d have that problem, full
stop. That’s what it was about, and while the majority of the people wanted to deal
with it by peaceful means, there was an element that thought otherwise was the
best approach, and that caused extreme difficulty for... all police forces involved, for
both armies involved, and for many many families and it created some great sad
occasions for many, I, that way I, it made me think more deeply about society in
general, not that I felt that I endured the hardships of the whole thing well enough,
I don’t think I was personally scarred... by it, but it made me think as to why we
can’t, if there was a little bit of peace and not... we were all a little bit more
accommodating in sharing with one another, then these things mightn’t happen, but
I suppose... society is such, what effects did it have on my family? I think... the
third, I have three girls and a boy, he’s the youngest [pause] the third girl was just
about two, two and a half and I think my coming and going affected her more than
anybody else. She was at an age just, she couldn’t understand why I’d come home
tonight, late and I’d be there for two, forty eight hours, and I’d put ‘em to bed, then
we’ll say at half six, seven o’clock, and when she’ll wake next morning, I was gone.
She was all the time, why was this... it took her a while, and incidentally she’s the
only one that’s joined the Guards, she’s a guard now herself! Isn’t that strange? It is,
and she’s quite happy in it, and grew to be big strong girl, bless her, she’s five foot
ten, but... the son [pause] we, when we came from the border, he was too young,
but he, during my year and a half there and he was couple of months before I went,
it was, but anyway by the time we were moving house, after selling our house in
Kanturk and moving down here, he was at that stage he was just two then, coming
up to two, and he was talking, quite well, and the day we left actually, having sold
our house, and had moved out all our stuff, and just coming down to anchor here, I
remember well, he had no stammer or anything, he was talking perfectly, and on
the way down, we were all quite sad leaving it, and to be honest, and he was in the
back of the car, and he started repeating, he started calling Maire ‘mam-mam-mam’,
and we came down here... it took him ages, a good, when I say ages now, maybe
six months to settle, he was, as far as he was concerned, he was just only living in
Skibbereen, but his home was in Kanturk, and during that period, up to... he
developed, we feel as a result of it, the shock, a stammer we were told subsequent,
we took him to every specialist, speech therapist and specialist that we found out
about, and eventually we were told he’d be eleven... before he would overcome it,
and between ten and eleven... and at eleven years of age, I, it was a remarkable
thing... he was cleared, that stopped. That is the truth, if you go in and ask Maire,
it’s the very same thing, and the only thing we did was, we were told to speak to
him at times, slowly, and when he’d get excited, ask him to slow down, and that,
that was the therapy, there was nothing more complicated than that, but it’s yielded
great results anyway, as far as we were concerned, so we got back, and he’s now a
grown man, he’s married and he’s fine, but that little thing, it took its toll, I suppose,
and on the family, I, going back again, again he was going to go in the Guards, he’s
in engineering now, but he was going to go in the Guards one time, and, but he did
the interview and got it and all, but he didn’t travel, and maybe, I wouldn’t have
minded him, you know, I wouldn’t mind, in peacetime now, but I joined I suppose...
in 1964 as a [pause] and people say like, there’s such a thing, he, he was a born
�policeman, I don’t know whether I was or not, but I joined as they say for the want
of money, for a job, truthfully, but I adapted I think well to it, and I hope I did
[pause] a reasonably good job, and that I was honest and decent with the public,
and that you know when you join you know you’re not joining a shall we say, a
popularity contest, you’re not, but so... the ups and the downs, like you have to take
them, and if you feel you were basically right and honest, you don’t, I wouldn’t have
any regrets, any... my daughter is saying it, but she’s in the in-service training
school in Cork, she’s not out... at all, but it made no difference, if she was, she was,
and that’s the way it fell for her, but...
I did have contact with the RUC on a number of occasions, on as I say, through
the... scramble telephone, and we had a couple of occasions like, we had to deal
with mental patients that incidentally, got out... got free inside in the six counties,
and came across to us, and these things like have to be dealt with very very
cautiously like, and we did, ‘twasn’t a question just handing them straight across the
border again, they had to be put into... the mental institutions in the southern side,
and had to be properly negotiated and written and dealt with, officially to get them
back out again, but that was happened. There were a number of shootings then,
Lifford has a place called Croghan Heights, it’s a very high area, like just out here
now, but it’d be closer to the town, and the outskirts of the town, and Strabane
police station was kind of inside, in the, more or less in the centre of the town, but
in a low-lying area enough, but it was encased in about, oh I’d say about at that
time, four or six different encasings of wire, but we used to have to be watching this
on a constant basis, but you mightn’t have left the place, or some incident might
have happened, and there’d be men taken away and there’d be shots fired from
there, because they could have a good view, across into the, in at the RUC station,
and beyond... ‘twas difficult too, they’d always try and escape across into, when
something would happen, as they say across in the north, they could come across
to... Lough Swilly, across the river, you know, the... and the Foyle as it was known
there, which ‘twas the Finn up as far as Lifford, and Strabane, and as you know
there’s only the... the bridge between the two places, and there was good
interaction there now, those two towns, and... we were, shall we say we had to deal
with a good number of incidents now, and there was, I remember one evening it
was... it was very very tragic and very... I suppose ‘twas a murderous act, happened
in the north where somebody rang up and pretended to be the parish priest of suchand-such a place in... Derry on the road into Derry city down there, and [pause] and
but some people had... some fella had been left outside his door, and he was dying
and the RUC went to go out, and on the way out they were ambushed and, two or
three of them killed and there was... definitely the river was being used and they
had their, the escape route plotted and, and they came down through the fields and
across into boats and ‘twas very difficult terrain now, this was difficult terrain like to,
to search it, and especially when you didn’t know the lie of the land, and we spent
days searching it now, and there was finds but there was some of the, I I think as
far as I can recollect, there was some of the fellas got all right, but ‘twas a major
incident now, there was police inspector I think killed, and there was one or two of
them very seriously injured there, they were fired on, and their jeep crashed and
overturned and... but so, all in all, as I say, we, again there was an awful lot of
arsons there of... can I say it was the other... persuasion, Protestant persuasion that
�had people in the south, their... farmyards and stuff were being burned out by a cell
of the IRA basically, oh yes.
Well they would be there, you see yeah, because there would be certain people who
would believe they’d be sympathetic to... the other side, whether that was, that was
the belief anyway I suppose, and when you have that belief I suppose these things
happen. Well we used to be going... constantly patrolling there, well there’d be fellas
on checkpoints, there’d be constant patrols, and there would be spots patrols, as
well, where you’d just, you’d drive down the road and you stop here and you
mightn’t be stopping in that place again for a month, but just kind of unsuspecting
stop and checkpoints as well, along with the permanent ones that were manned,
with the, we had the Customs, the Army and the Guards together, and you’d the
same with the other side.
We could see the [British] Army, I mean if you were in, you were in Lifford now,
and... when you get to know the lie of the land like, and you were driving kind of
west towards Stranorlar and... Ballybofey, the road goes parallel with the river, on
the southern side, equally on the north side, you go from Strabane on into Claudy,
which would be predominantly republican area, you could see the aerials, you could
see the RUC cars driving along, and you could see the aerials of the RUC, or the
British Army trucks... going along but, we never met them as such, face-to-face.
There was a lot of, a good bit of smuggling of stuff going on there too like, under
the cover of this, like, ‘twas, there was... cattle being smuggled. But... there was a
good bit of smuggling went on too, with cattle and you name it.
Oh I go into the north I visited, yeah. I visited the north... a lot, actually, I was in
Derry I’d say at least ten, twelve times at that time, I did, I just wanted to see what
the lie of the land was, and how you’d be, shall we say, treated, I mean you’d have
to go through the checkpoints, and which we did, we had to produce, we always had
our ID cards and driving licence and stuff, and... we went into the Bogside and into
Free Derry at that time, just wanted to see what it was all about, maybe it wasn’t
the safest thing to do now, with a southern registered car, but we did it anyway. I
remember one day myself and a couple of the young fellas off the unit, we went in
about, finished at two o’clock, we went in about three, half past three... and it’s, I
think, I forget now when it was... but I think there was a Foyle Valley... Festival on,
and the Guildhall anyway got a bit of a damaging that day, and there were a lot of
prefabs at the back, and we witnessed a share of them being set on fire, from the
distance now, and that again like would set off, spark off all kinds of moments of,
but thankfully I was... never felt in danger, while... there were one or two little
bombs went off all right, but I don’t know whether it was... being... naive or not, but
well we took precautions now, because the car I got, we got the car that was
involved in that shooting that I referred to earlier and we got it inside in a wood,
later that, the following morning, after being out all night, and the first thing you
would say, we saw that the doors were open and the lights were left on, and it was
driven in, it was slammed off a tree and, first thing you’d say to yourself, ‘is this
thing booby-trapped?’ You would have to be thinking that way, kind of security
�conscious, and everybody was alert enough, and... I suppose time and when, I
suppose, you know effective policing is effective policing, but how far does it go in
so far... goes to a certain point, but I always remember what John Hume says, said
like that you must... you must join in unified hearts and the minds of the people, I
think, and after that, when that did happen, we came with it, I suppose, and a lot of
peace, and... tranquillity and I suppose a lot of other benefits for, for others, for
everyone, for everyone, to society in general, I suppose when you go up first like,
and I went through the north a good few times, coming and going, I didn’t, I, to
vary the journey like to take the border more ways, I often went to Dublin, got the
train to Dublin, left my car in Dublin, and drove through the north, up through
Monaghan, and Aughnacloy, and on through the, Omagh, and out in Strabane,
and... it’s amazing like, the feeling you get I suppose when you’d see the red, the
red, white and blue, like but, and then you get pockets of either, and you know that
then but I suppose these are the experiences of life, and ‘twas of our time, and we
were of the age and we had to deal with it, and you know... I don’t know did it do
me any harm?
Well it was now, it was, the fact that like that you were so far from home, and family
life was... I mean when a man is married, I suppose and to be thrown into this
situation, it would no other, other choice, but into digs again, I found that like, there
was an element of loneliness in it, especially, you know when you were off duty,
like... it was, like, and I could see like that if you weren’t as strong, you’d want to be
fairly strong and level-headed, you could, even though I never drank, say at all at
any stage of my life, but I could see how fellas like they weren’t able to hack it, it
could affect them, now that danger was there, and I think that like affected the RUC
by, because I used to, as a delegate I was at their conferences on a few occasions
up in the north, as a fraternal delegate from... and we detected that, we listened to
their motions and discussions, and ‘twas a big factor in their lives like, because not
alone were they watching themselves, their wives and their children, it wasn’t, you
see it isn’t just watching in the morning, you have to watch where, come out when
you, after parking the car to do a bit of shopping, you have to come back again, and
you have to check and check and re-check, and keep re-checking, and that makes
life very, very stressful, there’s no doubt about it, like and I think it took its toll on a
lot of... yeah it’s difficult for a lot of the fellas that were kind of permanently working
up there too, there was a certain amount of fellas that were... from that we’ll say
guards were on Donegal, Monaghan, Cavan, that area and a lot of them were
maybe close to home, well then they were kind of stuck with this, year in, year out,
like and an awful lot of them gave their lives at it, the majority of their service, thirty
years at it, which was... the Garda Síochána then like was a different job to the
similar man down here, there’s no doubt in the world about it, and it’s amazing
how... following that pattern of... policing up there... how you could latch on to it,
and how, I had a, I can specifically remember kind of thinking, like... you have to
adapt, it’s slightly different here, people expect a different, you had to, there was,
you weren’t looking over your shoulder and, to stop that yourself, and to think,
�It is, you know, yeah you’re going from totally two different situations, and how I
got to deal with this, and ‘twould take you a little bit, there was an adjustment
period, I thought there, even though we were always conscious to do exactly what
suited the given situation, yeah you know, but... I don’t know is that of any value to
you or not?
The same job, and while you must look after yourselves, yourself, you also must
think of those like, and try and guide, guide them, a young fella of nineteen like, it
was a lot of responsibility, a lot of, there’s no doubt in the world, and I used always
try to tell them, and advocate like that I think that, the fellas of twenty three now
have been up there, and one fella had been up there for, since he was nineteen,
now he had four years of it done, and I always said to him, look I think you’ve
enough of this work done, and I, if I were you, I would look for a transfer, and
incidentally, each one of the unit, I was down here, and I had to go back to a
number of court cases afterwards, and I met him, because they were involved with
me, and... and they all had got out, but like, they I think the system too recognised
that there was a necessity for this thing, because you could become a bit of a robot
there I think. Not knowing how to, I mean newly enacted laws could pass you by
there fairly quickly other than those, there were those that were relevant to kind of
subversion, subversive crime, and there was a new instruction coming out about
that, and you know very very often, very frequently, and... so, sin é [that’s it].
Tá fáilte romhat [you’re welcome].
�
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
Con 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
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 </span><span>Con McCarthy </span><em>(story transcript)</em>
Description
An account of the resource
Transcript (PDF) of the audio recording of interview with Con 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
2868
Diversity Challenges
Green and Blue
-
https://accounts.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/27b4cecaac952d191ac4946b41d55b1b.mp3
c20e7abf1a422a3add28917fb595f315
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.)
13 minutes 9 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 Declan O'Callaghan </span><em>(story audio)</em>
Description
An account of the resource
Audio recording of interview with Declan O'Callaghan 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
Subject
The topic of the resource
The experiences of former police officers from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC; Northern Ireland) and the Garda Síochána (GS; Republic of Ireland), especially in relation to the border between the two jurisdictions.
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
2874
Diversity Challenges
Green and Blue
-
https://accounts.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/eaa07efeaaff8b4e2a6654fdbec01bc2.pdf
1bbdd6516f04397f327689a4188a6528
PDF Text
Text
Green & Blue Project
Declan O’Callaghan Interview
I’m seventy five. I’m originally from Cork city.
I suppose when I first heard I was going to the border, first of all I knew it was
coming anyway, I knew it was going to come, I kind of was... at time, felt it was a
step into the unknown, because I hadn’t been there before, and didn’t know what
was involved before I went, in other words, so what happened was, you just got
your... your forms and you were sent, for a month.
I was married. I was leaving my family. I had three children. That was a big change,
‘twas. I went to Blacklion. On the border there, yes. We were looking across at, ‘tis a
twin village between Belcoo in the north, and Blacklion in the south. I suppose it’d
be the ‘80s, would it? I suppose it’d be the ‘70s or the late ‘70s I’d say, yeah. I’m
going now on the age of my children.
It was tense enough, it was yeah, it was, but what we were basically in was a small
little village, there was a large number of gardaí there, you just went up, you got
digs, and you stayed there, you did your work, and that was the most difficult part,
would be because there was no recreation there as such, nothing to do, this was the
worst, the worst part of it really, you know, the fact that you were stuck in this
village, and where I suppose maybe the number of gardaí outnumbered the,[locals]
could well have been the equal, or outnumbered the number of people who lived
there! And... I suppose the feeling in the... in the area that at all costs you kept your
mouth shut, ‘cause you didn’t know where you were, who you were talking to, as
such, you know.
There’s only just a bridge between the two, between them, the bridge was there
between, and the river, between the twin villages, as such, and they were split by
the border, the centre of the bridge was the border.
Well, they, the RUC were generally very nice, and I remember the sergeant in the
RUC across the border at one stage contacting the sergeant on our side, and
offering us to come over and meet them, and... he, well more or less what he was
actually told was, he’d be better off not to, because of the security situation, you
didn’t know who was watching, or you didn’t know what the situation was, and we
felt it wouldn’t be safe for us to come across, as such, you know. Now, we’d one
experience with them... across from the border at one stage, I remember, and I
think there was three of us in the car, went across the border, and... to Belcoo on
the far side, and we were coming back, there was nothing on the bridge when we
were going, we were coming back, there was a giant RUC... checkpoint on the
�bridge when we were coming back, and they stopped us, and it was one of the
reserves that stopped us, and I remember the driver saying to him, he’s saying,
asking the driver who he was, we told him, where we were coming from et cetera,
and he then asked us to open the boot, which the driver did, he was one of the
gardaí who was actually stationed there at the time, and he opened the boot, and he
looked into the boot and then we closed the boot and got back into the car, and...
the driver said to him, ‘is that okay?’ and he said that he wasn’t satisfied... so he
said, ‘if you’re not satisfied, what I can do for you?’ so at that stage, there was an
RUC sergeant on the bridge, and he came over and he said, ‘what’s the problem?’
and the driver said to him, ‘well, he has asked me to show him the boot, I’ve done
that, and I’ve done as he requested’ he said, ‘and he says he’s still not satisfied, and
I’m just asking him to know what I can do for him’. So the sergeant, the RUC
sergeant said to him, ‘well what can he do for you? What’s the problem?’ and he
was more or less, what I call humming and hawing about it, and the sergeant said
to him, ‘get back on the bridge’ he told us to go ahead. But it brought home to me
like that, for example if the RUC hadn’t been there with the... it could have been a
difficult enough situation, you know, it could have been difficult kind of situation,
‘cause the first experience I had of the... the reserves, you know as such... it was a
hostile experience.
‘Twas the UDR, yeah and ‘twas a hostile experience for us, they were very, he was
very hostile, and aggressive and wasn’t a bit you know, wasn’t a bit nice, so we just
went back over and drove home, ‘twas one experience I had with them, and it
always stayed with me like that, you know, I just felt like that, you know if people...
we’ll say, if you were held up at night-time, now somewhere by these, by the UDR
and you met these type of people, you know, they could make it really rough for
you, they could really, you know?
The RUC station across the way was all sandbagged, as such, and behind us in...
Blacklion was a big high hill, you know, and that was always the worry, because you
know, in case there’d be... a crossfire between the, you know that they were
attacked, that they would attack the RUC station from the southern side, let’s put it
that way, and the checkpoints, they were all sandbagged, like...
We were, well we were to that extent, you know we were to that extent, there was
always a certain degree of, of... extra care that let’s put it that way, you know? And,
you did what you were supposed to, you didn’t, you didn’t, you didn’t venture
beyond that, you know, didn’t venture beyond that.
It was, it was, it stood out, well you get used to that up to a certain extent, but then
there was a, there was, every other... garda was stationed there had have had a
southern accent often, yeah... as such, you know, most of them had a southern
accent, so and I suppose they were quite used to it there at that time, like you
�know, ‘cause there was a regular turnover obviously of members going and coming,
you know?
The other experience of the RUC, of the British forces another time, where we went,
we went into... into the north itself... to... oh let me think of the town now, across
the border, I can’t remember the town, I’ll think of it in a minute, but we went there,
just for the day, and we were coming back, and we were stopped by the Army,
British Army, they had these Land Rovers, you know, across the road like as such,
and we stopped anyway and there, but... I found them to be very nice, once you cooperated, once you did what they asked you, then there was no problem with them
actually, they just said ‘go ahead’, you know, they were okay, the ones we met
anyway were okay, you know?
Oh you would, yeah, you would, you would, you would have to identify yourself like
if they ask you to identify yourself, and they’d check the vehicle, obviously like, you
know et cetera, as anyone would do, and but once, once you answered their
questions, you know, it’s quite straight-forward, they would say, ‘go ahead’, there
wasn’t, didn’t find any problem with them, you know as such.
I was, so happy to get out of it, because it was, it was very confined as I say, you
know, and like when you were finished work,
My colleague took up bingo, did he yeah? Yeah, I wasn’t interested in bingo
unfortunately! Of he was stationed there as such, yes that was the difference like
you see, he was stationed there and as such like that he would be, he would know
the locals and he would get to know them, we lasted just the month, so we didn’t
really come in contact much with people, other than stopping them at checkpoints
as such, you know.
Well, accommodation was bed and breakfast there, in the village, you were, ‘twas
kind of a standard thing like, one left, another came, you know, and ‘twas a
standard thing to get bed and breakfast accommodation there as such, you know?
I had a car going up there, we were okay, you were never, before you went
through, never got any information as to what you were... facing, or nobody like
this, asked you if you had accommodation or anything else, you were just expected
to look after all that yourself, you know?
No briefing about what we were going to, just that you were going to go there like
and that’s it, like, and you went to the station and you just, you just, you were put
on checkpoints, you were shown where to go, that’s what you did.
�Stopping cars coming in, coming from the north and going, coming and going, you
know.
I can never remember any hostility, ‘cause they were used to it, ‘twas an everyday
occurrence for them, so like I mean these checkpoints were manned round the
clock, you know, they were manned the whole time, like so, so they were used to it
like, you know.
That’s all, doing the same thing, yeah except you’d very seldom see the RUC out.
No, we’d never see them except, they were doing a checkpoint on the bridge or
something like that, it’s the only time I ever saw them, and they’d be, they were
always armed of course, they’d have to be. But they would just, they would just
come maybe and be on the bridge for an hour and then gone, you know, they never
had set times, I’d say, yeah they were never, they made sure they weren’t being
predictable, that’s the way I looked at it anyway, you know, which was the proper
thing to do, because you could be set up very easily if you were, if you were going
to be there from two to three every day, you know?
They were very vulnerable, they on that line, they were really, and... you know,
that’s why, that’s why I’d say they were, you’d very seldom see them out, you know,
‘cause they could be, like they could be attacked or anything.
‘Twas only the RUC. I’ve no recollection of the Army ever being there, on that
bridge, ‘twas always the, the one time that as I say now, ‘twas a joint RUC/UDR
patrol.
�
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
Declan O'Callaghan
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 Declan O'Callaghan </span><em>(story transcript)</em>
Description
An account of the resource
Transcript (PDF) of the audio recording of interview with Declan O'Callaghan 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
2874
Diversity Challenges
Green and Blue
-
https://accounts.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
-
https://accounts.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://accounts.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://accounts.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://accounts.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://accounts.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