Former INLA leader to move to north when sentence complete
FORMER INLA leader Declan 'Whacker' Duffy has said he will be moving back to Northern Ireland as soon as he completes a prison sentence for membership of the organisation. Duffy pleaded guilty last week at Dublin Special Criminal court to membership of an illegal organisation.
MEMBERSHIP: Declan Duffy is pleading guilty to charges of membership of the INLA but says he is no longer a member and plans to return to Armagh when his sentence is served.
However, the court was told the INLA veteran had since turned his back on the organisation and was no longer a member.
Speaking to The Irish News yesterday Duffy said he plans to move his family back to his former home in Armagh city as soon as he serves his pending jail term.
Now on bail, he is due to be sentenced on May 29 in Dublin. When jailed he says he will not be returning to Portlaoise prison’s INLA wing but will be placed in the prison’s non-aligned republican wing.
“I’m finished with violence and just want to have a normal life. I’m moving back to Armagh, it’s what my family wants,” he said.
In March the leadership of the INLA released a statement saying it had stood down members of its Dublin unit while an investigation into allegations of criminality was carried out.
The statement, while not naming him, referred to Duffy, who has been accused of involvement in a turf war with a well known Dublin drug cartel.
With a long history of violent activity, Duffy was jailed in 2001 for six years for his part in a bloody incident in Ballymount industrial estate in Walkinstown on the outskirts of Dublin.
Patrick Campbell (22), formerly of Ballymurphy in west Belfast, died after being beaten and hacked with a machete during the violent clash.
Duffy, a senior member of the INLA for almost two decades, claimed yesterday he had now turned his back on violent republicanism.
“I have been on bail for 10 days now and no-one has approached me to question me about any allegations or investigation,” he said.
“You would imagine if there was a thorough investigation being carried out by the INLA they would have at least came and spoke to me.
“I’m going back to prison and, you know, apart from the upset to my family I don’t really care.
“You think about things a lot when you’re inside and get your priorities straight.
“I can’t deny that I’m disappointed with the way the INLA has handled things but at the same time I’m not going to get into a sniping match with them.
“What’s happened has happened. That’s me finished with the INLA and done with Dublin. As soon as I get out I’m taking my family back to Armagh,” he said.
Art Hostage comments:
If John O'Donaghue was given a Four year suspended prison sentence as he had resigned from the INLA, it is only fitting Mr Declan Duffy is afforded a suspension to any prison sentence handed down by the Judge.
FORMER INLA leader Declan 'Whacker' Duffy has said he will be moving back to Northern Ireland as soon as he completes a prison sentence for membership of the organisation. Duffy pleaded guilty last week at Dublin Special Criminal court to membership of an illegal organisation.
MEMBERSHIP: Declan Duffy is pleading guilty to charges of membership of the INLA but says he is no longer a member and plans to return to Armagh when his sentence is served.
However, the court was told the INLA veteran had since turned his back on the organisation and was no longer a member.
Speaking to The Irish News yesterday Duffy said he plans to move his family back to his former home in Armagh city as soon as he serves his pending jail term.
Now on bail, he is due to be sentenced on May 29 in Dublin. When jailed he says he will not be returning to Portlaoise prison’s INLA wing but will be placed in the prison’s non-aligned republican wing.
“I’m finished with violence and just want to have a normal life. I’m moving back to Armagh, it’s what my family wants,” he said.
In March the leadership of the INLA released a statement saying it had stood down members of its Dublin unit while an investigation into allegations of criminality was carried out.
The statement, while not naming him, referred to Duffy, who has been accused of involvement in a turf war with a well known Dublin drug cartel.
With a long history of violent activity, Duffy was jailed in 2001 for six years for his part in a bloody incident in Ballymount industrial estate in Walkinstown on the outskirts of Dublin.
Patrick Campbell (22), formerly of Ballymurphy in west Belfast, died after being beaten and hacked with a machete during the violent clash.
Duffy, a senior member of the INLA for almost two decades, claimed yesterday he had now turned his back on violent republicanism.
“I have been on bail for 10 days now and no-one has approached me to question me about any allegations or investigation,” he said.
“You would imagine if there was a thorough investigation being carried out by the INLA they would have at least came and spoke to me.
“I’m going back to prison and, you know, apart from the upset to my family I don’t really care.
“You think about things a lot when you’re inside and get your priorities straight.
“I can’t deny that I’m disappointed with the way the INLA has handled things but at the same time I’m not going to get into a sniping match with them.
“What’s happened has happened. That’s me finished with the INLA and done with Dublin. As soon as I get out I’m taking my family back to Armagh,” he said.
Art Hostage comments:
If John O'Donaghue was given a Four year suspended prison sentence as he had resigned from the INLA, it is only fitting Mr Declan Duffy is afforded a suspension to any prison sentence handed down by the Judge.
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A decision to leave any Republican organisation is a very difficult thing to do and I am sure Declan Duffy has done much soul searching.
Now Declan Duffy is about to leave the Irish Republican stage he should be allowed to retire and get on with the rest of his life with his family.
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Willie Gallagher what do you think ????
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Agree or disagree ???
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Declan Duffy, Art Hostage would like your side of the story
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Art Hostage can be contacted at arthostage@hotmail.co.uk for private comments.
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