![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wordpress-887124-4052164.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/safe_image.php_.gif\" "\\"Irish")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nIrish Times – Wed, Mar 28, 2012<\/p>\n
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Sir, \u2013 Dessie O\u2019Malley\u2019s letter (March 26th), connecting Neil T Blaney to \u201cethnic bigotry\u201d is another disgusting display of Mr O\u2019Malley\u2019s self-righteous and delusional portrayal of the Arms Crisis, of which Mr O\u2019Malley had a hand to play in its outcome. There are a lot of questions that we would like Mr O\u2019Malley to answer, with regard to his actions in this whole murky saga.<\/p>\n
He talks of Fianna F\u00e1il choosing \u201cconstitutional republicanism\u201d over \u201cethnic bigotry\u201d as a reason to expel my father from the party. The reason they expelled him was to cover up for their lies. Jack Lynch and senior members of the Fianna F\u00e1il Cabinet knew that there were actions being taken to import arms to this country. Neil Blaney never went to trial because he never had a case to answer, ie, he was innocent of all alleged wrong-doing.<\/p>\n
The late Kevin Boland TD knew this to be the truth and consequently resigned from his position as Minister, as he could not be a party to the deception that Lynch, O\u2019Malley, Gibbons and other members of the party were perpetrating. The reason that only Lynch and a select group of the Cabinet knew of the plan to import arms was that Lynch was afraid the British would find out. It was a classic case of \u201cplausible deniability\u201d.<\/p>\n
At the time Britain accounted for over 73 per cent of our exports. The morning that my father was fired from government, Jack Lynch was late for the Parliamentary Party meeting. The reason he was delayed was that he was meeting with the British ambassador, and we suggest that you draw your own conclusions as to the topic under discussion.<\/p>\n
We have called in the past for a public inquiry into the Arms Crisis so we can find out exactly who did what and who covered up what. Dessie O\u2019Malley was working behind the scenes to bolster the Jack Lynch support within the party at the time. There was a power struggle for the leadership and they used my father, and many others, as a scapegoat.<\/p>\n
To put yet another slur on our father 40 years later is disgraceful. Our father is deceased and cannot defend his good name. It is ironic that Mr O\u2019Malley chooses to denigrate him once again, especially when we remember that without our father\u2019s hard work during the Mr O\u2019Malley byelection, he is unlikely to have been elected to the D\u00e1il at the time. \u2013 Yours, etc,<\/p>\n
EAMONN & ANNRAOI BLANEY,<\/p>\n
Muscat,<\/p>\n
Sultanate of Oman.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2012 The Irish Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"