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IT WAS ON this day 40 years ago that a Dutch concentration camp survivor was freed after being held captive by the IRA for 36 days.
This included an 18 day period when Tiede Herrema and his captors were under siege at a council house in Monasterevin, Co Kildare.
Herrema had been kidnapped while on his way to work in the Ferenka factory in Ballyvarra, Co Limerick.
Prior to his location being traced to the house in Kildare, there was much fear that the industrialist had been killed by his captors.
He had been taken captive by Provisional IRA members Marion Coyle and Eddie Gallagher who planned to demand the release of three republican prisoners who had been imprisoned in Limerick.
Quickly it became apparent to the pair that they were in out of their depth.
The authorities refused to agree with their request for the releases and, after their location was discovered, they found themselves under siege in a single room of a house without facilities.
The siege eventually came to an end when conditions deteriorated.
Gallagher eventually began to show severe signs of sickness from the conditions, and the pair tossed their guns out the window of the building, bringing the ordeal to an end.
Gallagher went on to serve 14 years of a 20-year sentence in prison with Coyle serving 9 years of a 15 year sentence.
At a press conference in Dublin following his release Herrema had with him a bullet that had been held to his head by Gallagher – something that had been given to him a souvenir.
Speaking to the Irish Times last month, Herrema talked about how his time in a concentration camp during the second world war had prepared him for what happened.
In his early 20s at the time, he had been arrested while serving the Dutch resistance.
Herrema went on to become a notable figure following the incident, mostly due to the attitude he held about his kidnappers.
Following his release, Herrema expressed no grievances, saying: “I see them as children with a lot of problems. If they were my own children I would do my utmost to help them.”
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‘a single room of a house without facilities’ – Shinner types would probably complain about the poor facilities for IRA kidnappers.
Tap,it’s a shame your former sectarian police force the ruc allowed kidnappers like the Shankill rd Butchers to roam the streets of Belfast .
The only protection people had from killers like Lenny Murphy was the Ra.
Ha ha … Shinner deflects with unrelated comment. Is this a new tactic? Oh wait……
How could it be a new tactic with the simpleton Paddy Lyons and his other aliases bring SF and the IRA into every single article published on the Journal. The article could be about a new iPhone or a landslide on Brazil and he would somehow bring SF into it.
Classic whataboutery.
There’s that stupid f()cling YFG makey uppey word again.
Sigh…..no Paul it’s a well know NI phrase that perfectly describes political “debate” in the North.
Tell us how the Ra defended catholic areas from loyalists Juan? We know that the RUC and the courts put up to 10,000 loyalists in jail through the troubles but the IRA were killing police officers and judges so how were they helping? Did the IRA investigate and catch the Shankill butchers?
The Ra went as far as to prevent business owners from creating jobs because they didn’t want the poor Catholics to have any sign of hope on the horizon.
Gerry Adams complained when the Waterfront Hall was built. Bourgeois culture.
There was a very good program on it only a few weeks ago. It’s thought that there was a secret deal between the PIRA and the gardai to hand over the kidnappers because they were causing to much hassle for the rest of the Provos. It also said that the kidnappers got a deal from the gardai and the attorney general that limited the amount of time in prison that they would serve if they surrendered. When they did, the deal was thrown out the window and Fine Gael’s Dr Garrett Fitzgerald who was taoiseach at the time claimed that “he had no knowledge of it”.
Good, do you really think the deserved special treatment. Getting a deal when you have a gun to an innocent persons head, the deal should be thrown out
Tom, Tiede Herrema himself said that the deal should have been honoured, Dr Fitzgerald denies that he knew anything about it but has also said that if there was a deal (and there was) then it should have been stuck to as it could have had consequences down the line if a similar situation arose.
Fitzgerald was right.
You don’t think giving deals like that would encourage similar situations ? That would be a much more likely consequence, ah well worse case scenario I’ll cut a deal
Tom, I wouldn’t have given a deal in the first place but if a deal was done, signed by the kidnappers, the kidnapped person and the Garda commissioner, then it should have been honoured, Not only was is dishonoured it was also denied for a further 6 years until it was published in the papers. This had the effect of undermining any credibility that hostage negotiators and the gardai in subsequent cases.
Would you keep a promise you made to someone when they had a gun to your head ?
Tom that’s not the point and you know it. By reneging on the deal the government and gardai basically said that they couldn’t be trusted and greatly reduced any room for manoeuvre in further kidnappings.
Brian, lamenting the treatment of these sick criminals just shows how twisted you are.
Ah the poor kidnappers, imagine not being honest with a bunch of thugs willing to kidnap another human being? What’s the world coming to….
Diarmuid, Tiede Herrema himself spoke out about the length of sentences and the fact that the deal was reneged on. Are you saying that he is sick and twisted also?
Denied
Sorry the democratically elected of Ireland didn’t appease your beloved terrorists Brian.
I hope they enjoyed their prison food.
*government
The IRA treated him better than the Nazis
Diarmuid, I will ask the question again.
Tiede Herrema himself spoke out about the length of sentences and the fact that the deal was reneged on. Are you saying that he is sick and twisted also?
Ah yeah, because the victims of terrorism should have a right to override the democratically elected institutions and national security interests of this State?
Joker.
Don’t care that Tiede thinks it should be honoured or not – the victim of a crime does not get to pick the sentence given
Still not answering the question I see Diarmuid, why am I not surprised? You do realize that the deal was made by the gardai who are appointed by the democratic institutions of the State and that Dr Garrett Fitzgerald has also said that the deal should have been honoured so is he sick and twisted as well?
So the Provos had a right to kidnap, threaten and imprison this man, ignoring his human rights, but when the Provos were arrested they wanted this man’s opinion to then be respected?!!
Twisted shinner hypocrisy.
Brian did you ever hear of stockholm syndrome ? Tiede Herrema it seems might well have had it
Diarmuid once again it’s good to see you providing comic relief with your hilarious ramblings. You make wild statements, realize then that you have made an idiot of yourself once again and then either avoid any questions put to you or else just make $hit up to try and run from the mess that you have made for yourself.
You call the kidnap victim sick and twisted, you ignore the fact that I said that a deal shouldn’t have been struck and totally ignore the fact that a former FG taoiseach said that a deal should have been kept.
Keep it up diarmuid (and the rest of your accounts) it’s a rainy, rotten day outside and the rest of us could do with a good laugh!
Yes Tom I am well aware of the condition and I was waiting for someone to bring that up. The thing is that Herrema still maintains to this day that the deal should have been honoured and also that the sentences were too harsh. This is 40 years down the line so even allowing for an initial case of Stockholm syndrome in the aftermath of the kidnapping I think it is fair to say that that condition should be gone by now.
Brian, unlike you and your fellow shinnertrolls, I don’t victim blame.
The only twisted degenerates here are the terrorists and their cheerleaders.
Dermo/ your toppled beloved orange statlets policy of Internment without trial was mass kidnapping on a grand scale which had the knock on effect of the second class indigenous community joining the Ra in their droves.
Diarmuid you are the one who is blaming the victim here by implying that he is sick and twisted! Apparently in your eyes victims should have no say in the sentencing of those convicted of crimes so now you are denying people the right to give victim impact statements! As far as I can make up in your ramblings, victims don’t matter in a crime whatsoever and their input into the impact of the crime is irrelevant.
I very much doubt that any normal person in society would take that point of view with the exception of the lunatic fringe. But hey, keep calling everyone names if that keeps you massage your ego and whatever warped value system you dysfunction on.
Victims don’t choose the sentence. That is a fundamental principle of any modern western judicial system.
Victim impact statements may influence sentencing, but sentencing remains solely a matter of judicial discretion.
The hypocrisy is that the Provos wanted this man’s opinion to be respected only after they were arrested.
The hypocrisy is that you are more concerned with the welfare of the degenerate terrorists than the victim and the security of this State.
“The hypocrisy is that you are more concerned with the welfare of the degenerate terrorists than the victim and the security of this State.”
Really, then why did I say to Tom “Tom, I wouldn’t have given a deal in the first place”? Once again you shot your mouth off before you bothered to read the comments and now you are trying to backtrack on your stupidity. Diarmuid why don’t you man up for once and admit that you have made an absolute idiot of yourself?
From a guy who thinks a “deal” with terrorists should be honoured?
A deal “agreed” when terrorists were illegally imprisoning and threatening the life of an innocent civilian?
Heard of agreements being void for undue influence or illegality Brian? I’m sure you have, considering you are a legal expert who believes the opinions of victims override the judicial system.
Sorry you’re upset your beloved terrorists didn’t get out sooner Brian.
Diarmuid do you know what is really, really pathetic?
It’s the fact that with in 2 minutes of you posting your last few comments you “green thumbed” yourself 3-4 times each time. If you are that insecure about yourself then maybe you you should get help. If you do then maybe they can explain to you how stupid it is to write “From a guy who thinks a “deal” with terrorists should be honoured?” when the guys in question are a former taoiseach and the kidnap victim.!!
Seriously man , you need help or medication because if people laugh at you this much online just imagine how all of your act when your back is turned.
Eek, the paranoia is kicking in Brian. Don’t worry I won’t laugh at you, I don’t laugh at people I pity.
Even if a “deal” did exist, the authorities were entitled to say whatever they wanted to secure the freedom of an innocent civilian.
Poor terrorists couldn’t enforce a “deal” with the big bad government? Cry me a river.
Brian you can’t make your point stand up, so you make personal attacks. You seem to be given the old red and green thumbs a lot of attention yourself and then accuse dermot of it….. tut tut
Actually Tom I think that you will find that It was Diarmuid who started out making personal attacks and continued to make them when he realized that he had in fact called the kidnap victim and a former taoiseach “twisted” for wanting to honour an agreement. It’s his usual MO when he gets flustered or presented with facts that show him up.
As for the thumbs part, well i really couldn’t careless myself what my tally is but I do find it fairly pathetic when individuals feel that their arguments are so weak that they have to bolster it by green thumbing themselves and red thumbing their detractors. Normally I don’t comment on it but Diarmuid made it so obvious today that I couldn’t resist.
How could you possibly know who green thumbs themselves. You are treating your guesses as facts. I didn’t read it as him saying they were twisted, actually I thought that was what you done, twisted it
Diarmuid, thank you for that confirmation that you really haven’t a clue as to what you are talking about.
“Even if a “deal” did exist,”
It existed, was signed by the Herrme, a solicitor and the garda commissioner of the time. Denied by the Government of the time only to be reprinted some years later in the Sunday Tribune. Once again your lack of knowledge of the facts has exposed your bluster and waffling on subjects that you know little or nothing about.
Tom, anybody who posts a comment and suddenly gets 4 green thumbs in the space of 1 minute is obviously endorsing themselves. It’s not scientific I know, if you don’t buy it then I’m not going to argue with you .
You may not have read him as stating that they(Herrme etc) were twisted however I did ask on 2 separate occasions to clarify if Herrema, and on 1 separate occasion if Fitzgerald were “twisted” in their support for honouring the deal. He refused to answer on 3 separate occasions so I can only assume that he endorses the view of them being “twisted”.
Oh and this by the way was the start of the personal attacks that you accuse me way before I sank to Diarmuid’s level.
So a deal with terrorists should be honoured Brian?
The government had a right to sign whatever the hell they wanted to secure the release of an innocent civilian.
The terrorists have no right to enforce a deal procured under duress and threats.
Just a shame we didn’t have a proper swat team to take out these degenerates.
if it is a deal not made under duress, then the RA RA boys should have been able to make it before the kidnapping took place. Do you imagine that it would have been agreed to then?
People that break the law should not be entitled to the protection of it.
Marion went on to do some great community work on the Northside of Dublin around Drug rehab & does to this day.
Good to hear that she atoned for her stupidity in more ways than one.
These people and their likes on both sides of the divide brought pain and misery to their communities, through intimidating people, beating and shooting people, racketeering etc etc. Then they turn around and declare themselves community activists, personally I think they have really crazy inflated egos, somehow believing they know what’s best for people, when you look at the big picture of what these people have done with their lives, it says something different
It’s important to remember the terror the IRA brought to this island especially as we head towards elections and Sinn Fein try bury their barbaric past.
These were the only effective police force in their communities and protected the community and kept crime to a minimum. They continue to show bravery and community spirit by volunteering to better their communities.
On this day in 1983 the IRA murdered 11 innocent civilians attending a Remembrance Day ceremony in Enniskillen. (Cue the usual apologists making excuses)
It is important to remember the terror the british brought to this island. As we head to election and f.g lab and f.f try to hide the fact that they collaborated with the british security forces who were murdering innocent irish citizens on both sides of the border. Didn’t the irish government cover up the british armies involvement in bombing in Dublin, monaghan and Dundalk. will f.g/f.f & lab come clean and tell the irish people why they failed to stand up for them, was it cowardice or were they just happy to maintain the status quo whereby they shared power alternating, so that they could shaft the people and line their pockets(and their friends)
No, they beat kids with iron bars and clubs, to death sometimes, shot the knees off hundreds of people, murdered others in “their” own communities. Often for personal grievances, no right of appeal to sentence, no defence lawyer, just the word of a “volunteer”. And then they complain about the British and Irish justice systems as unfair.
Yes Gerry, all murders should be remembered and condemned, and it’s important to remember that the IRA murdered indiscriminately too, in a campaign that was ultimately a failure. Nothing justified the level of violence used by the terrorists on all sides.
Look at the red thumbs on any of these comments daring to stick the boot into the RA. Tells you all you need to know about who makes up the majority of Journal readers. It’s a joke.
It’s important to remember who’s responsible for people dieing on the streets and people dieing waiting on hospital waiting lists.Yes Fine Gael and Labour that’s right.
Haha!! And there we have it folks!!
Wonder, if Gerry was Taoiseach and some ‘former’ RA head in the ministry of justice, would they have negotiated with the terrorists?
He set out to create calm, to humanise himself in his kidnappers’ eyes. His eldest son was about the same age as Gallagher. Coyle, he noted, listened to the conversations but never spoke. “For me that was an indication: be careful with her. As long as I can get them talking I learn something. But she didn’t talk at all. I could never reach her.”
Doesn’t sound like the warm caring person you are trying to portray Malachy.
The IRA would never get involved in violence , of course
Interesting that it was Garda torture that lead to the discovery of the safe house. The Guards got some known colleagues of the kidnappers and beat the shiite out of tgem til they confessed…
Different times…. but it served a purpose
I remember this kidknapping pretty well even though I was a kid. I wouldn’t have cared too much how they got the information if it had been my dad they were holding.
Problem was it was the same “Heavy Gang” that were sent down to Caherciveen for the Kerry Babies affair… they got that one badly wrong. To the this day retired guards involved (yer man that writes in the herald) still stand by their story that Joanne Hayes simultaneously had 2 babies from 2 different fathers and killed both!!!
Reg Would you care if it was your Dad they were torturing?
Kerry Babies
Frank McBrearty
Frank Short
Sallins Train Robbery
Grangegorman Murders
How many innocents did they beat the shite out of?
He doesn’t need to rely on wiki the information is readily available before the common use of wiki
You’re right Martino I invented the 1980s Kerry Babies Scandal & subsequent official tribunal to enhance SF GE bid in 2016.
@rehab @reg you either support state sponsored torture or you don’t. The end justifies the means only if they get it right but unfortunately the “Heavy Gang” got it wrong quite a bit and as the Morris Tribunal showed this type of behaviour didn’t end with the abolition of the Murder Squad.
Tell me do you believe the behaviours displayed in the Morris Tribunal was confined to Donegal?
@Martino is the Oireachtas a reliable enough link for you?
http://opac.oireachtas.ie/AWData/Library3/Library2/DL035878.pdf
I remember the cops calling to our house as part of the nationwide search for him. It was hilarious in itself as we lived a few doors from the cop station and knew all the cops very well. “Howya’ Mick. Mind if we search the house for Dr.Herema?”. “Not at all Tom. Go ahead”. “I see the under 12′s won last weekend”.
This was a lone wolf operation by Eddie Gallagher and his crew. They usually worked as an independent ASU, much to the consternation of the IRA leadership. Here is the story told from Gallaghers viewpoint, really interesting and gives a different insight into the whole incident. http://indiamond6.ulib.iupui.edu:81/emcc711058g.html
Ah the old ‘It was nothing to do with us, your honour’ excuse.
What are you on about you clown, did you even read the article in the link?
Haha!! A link in The Blanket???!!!! Yeah, that’s something that can relied on for the truth!!!
It’s an interview with the leader of the kidnapping group, it’s hardly going to be in the Independent now is it, they only cater for a certain kind of republican, the dissident kind.
Robert can’t trust himself to read first-hand historical sources.
He needs someone to process it for him.
How the fùćk was this a lone operation or any different from any other operation? The IRA didn’t have a Corporate Governance department. People believe whatever they want to believe and ignore facts which upset them. It was a typical IRA operation, similar in viciousness and moral ambivalence to other “operations”.
How else can you deal with kidnappers. Beat the shyness out of them your only man.
Such a civilised, Dutch response.
These articles are great because they bring out the true Opinions of the majority of Journal readers, nothing but a group of IRA apologists. We have people posting links to The Blanket ffs trying to tell us this is where the truth can be found.
Skip on over to the Independent, they’re more your type, that a boy!
Nah ill stay here thanks and call RA supporters like you out. I’m still laughing at you posting a link to The Blanket!!!!
You do realise that the Blanket carries articles from Dolours Price, Richie O’Rawe, Michael McIntyre and Mick Fealty, amongst others. Yet these individuals have been referenced by the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Belfast Telegraph and most other media in this country numerous times, as well as by current government politicians. So what you are essentially saying is all media in this country is a joke as they use the same material as the Blanket when it suits their agenda.
That was you I assume “pjm” addressing me on Twitter? Why not keep things here?
Ah that’s sweet….I have some Journal RA heads now messaging me on Twitter instead of addressing points here where they belong. Stay classy folks.
His life doesn’t seem to have been in very much danger if they were only holding a single bullet to it………
Yeah, a single bullet is never enough to kill someone…. Oh wait….
Testing
1…2….3…
SF/IRA are extending their field of expertise and are planing to kidnap our votes. Part of the torture will be to force feed us the Irish language on public transport-, TV, all government paperwork, etc etc. They will ban the use of English and will subject is to speeches from Adems and Mary Loo.
Our TDs do deals with drug dealers, terrorists, people who shot Gardai, etc etc. They do deals with developers on children’s hospital even though it would cost lives of kids due to delays. Our politicians would do deals with the devil to meet the gravy train rolling.
have your say