Wednesday, December 03, 2008

A review of Maria Gatland's book

Yesterday I reported the striking news that a Conservative councillor from Croydon had resigned her cabinet post after admitting she had close ties with the Provisional IRA in the early 1970s.

Time reviewed Maria Gatland's book, which was written under her maiden name of Maria McGuire, in 1973:

Dave O'Connell, the Provisional I.R.A.'s political-military swing man, took Maria along as interpreter on an arms-buying trip to Europe. Their mission began as Irish low comedy and ended in fiasco. In Amsterdam their cover was blown, their planeload of Czech bazookas, rocket launchers and hand grenades was impounded, and Maria and Dave lammed out just ahead of the cops.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

not hard to find the date - it's at the top of the page - Monday October 8 1973.

Don't see what the fuss is about. She left the IRA almost 40 years ago, publicly damaged it and the people who were once her bosses are now in government. boring story.

Jonathan Calder said...

Thanks for pointing out the date. I have edited the posting in the light of it.