Why this is not an open and closed issue ....

By now, the question of events that actually happened between the years 1959 and 1964  concerning the birth of Radio Caroline, should be a settled matter. But that is not the case.

Instead there is a celebrity cult issue undermining it.

That cult involves the person of Ronan O'Rahilly, around whom everything swirls.

It has religious overtones that not only confuses the issue, but they cloud the issue.

The reason is that Ronan O'Rahilly had nothing to do with the creation of Radio Caroline, apart from clouding the issue and misleading everyone who wants to know what happened.

Cult theories seem to begin with prejudicial political beliefs, and not with an open academic mind willing to try the evidence as if it was being placed before a jury to decide. While miscarriages of justice do take place where a judge or member of a jury has been bribed or blackmailed, by and large the system works. But not so with cases that remain 'unsolved' due to vested interests not wanting a final verdict to be rendered.

The origin of Radio Caroline is one such case.

It could become a settled matter quite easily, and a final verdict rendered as to what happened in fact, but until everyone who is remotely connected to Ronan O'Rahilly is deceased, and their children are deceased, that probably is not going to happen: which is not to say that the information that is known should not be published.

We believe that the real story needs to be told, and that is what we are now beginning to do by putting the bigger picture in context in an outline format. You can read an overview of this outline in yesterday's Blog.