A repetitious little troll has posted on a Forum which seems to log everything that happens here. The troll wrote that: "I still agree with some of [this Blog], but not with [the] persistent crusade to slag off other authors, mainly because of 'technical' details and use of English language. This debunking of Ronan O'Rahilly and Radio Caroline in recent years is one step too far. ROR was the public figurehead behind the original station, but he was not the brains behind it."

The reason why we repeatedly debunk Ronan O'Rahilly is because he was a fraud and a con man who set-up several people in criminal activities, for which they paid the price while he walked away. Ronan O'Rahilly was not a 'hero', he was a rogue; a confidence trickster and neo-religious quack who gained a following because he was the founder and leader of a cult that lingers on today. Others have capitalized on that cult, while admitting that Ronan O'Rahilly was a huckster.

So every chance we get, we say that Ronan O'Rahilly was a fraud because he was not the originator of Radio Caroline. We say so because no one else has the guts to do so, and then prove that this is a true statement of fact.

Now another story has popped-up regarding Ronan's father and grandfather in a newspaper article that appeared online today at:
https://www.independent.ie/life/home-garden/homes/home-truths-can-the-wounded-orahilly-house-be-resuscitated-39540427.html

That story points out that Ronan's father ".... Aodogán became a communist for a time .....", to which we say, yes he did, at school. But then Aodogán became a capitalist and wrapped his personal and business life around the American way of doing things. We have already reported this in detail using our media-microscope methodology.

But the story involving Aodogán's father, who was Ronan's grandfather, was not the folk hero that he has been turned into. This newspaper article in the 'Independent' [Ireland] today [see link above], also points out what we have already pointed out. However, the article says nothing about Aodogán's brother who also called himself 'The O'Rahilly' and longed for Hitler's Nazi's to win World War II and thereby occupy the British Isles.

We did, several times.

This brings us back to the first point.

We have to keep stating the obvious: Ronan O'Rahilly was a fake, a fraud and someone who could harm you personally with a confidence trick, if you got too close to him.

Now as to the business side of Radio Caroline and who created and why, well that is the story that we are meticulously unfolding here step-by-step on this Blog, but it was not Ronan O'Rahilly!

Do we care whether the trolls agree or disagree with what we are doing?

Of course not.

​But we do get annoyed when people like Brian Lister and Paul Rusling wade in and help themselves to our paid-for research [in time and money], and then use it to promote more lies and deceit.

Continuing with details about the purchases of property at Greenore by Weatherwell Ltd., as we reported in part 4: "The aim was to begin work on the site early in the Summer of 1955. That did not happen." Even that date was one year later than previously announced in the Irish press. Here is a reminder as recalled by 'The Argus' in 2014 ....

If Weatherwell Ltd at Clodalkin near Dublin, with its link to a quarry at Kingscourt were all set to go ahead with their plans for a new factory at Greenore, what went wrong? Why didn't this happen? The answer is tied to what did happen almost ten years later in 1964, and later highlighted by the arrival of the mv Fredericia and mv Mi Amigo at Greenore.

Clearly the plans of Weatherwell Ltd under the management of Aodogán O'Rahilly were not going according to plan, but in 1957 Aodogán O'Rahilly did not want to specify what had gone wrong. Whatever it was, Weatherwell Ltd was now approximately three years behind schedule in its announced Business Plan.

Nothing was happening at Greenore, and so during the following year of 1958, the question of the government loan guarantee which had been given to Weatherwell Ltd to make all of these purchases towards creating a new factory that would employ local Irish taxpayers, became an issue for the Dáil Éireann to address.

This government-backed loan not only helped to make possible the purchase of various properties at Greenore, but the one at Kingscourt as well. But on top of that, Weatherwell Ltd also needed working capital to put this Business Plan into operation.

Weatherwall Ltd was cash-starved!

This issue is key to understanding the foundation of what we will reveal tomorrow in part 6 when we come to the year 1959, and the beginning of change at Greenore ....

Yesterday we reported on the auction process at Greenore, and today we revisit that same issue. It is only by microscopically taking apart all of the reported events while totally ignoring the mythology that has been repeatedly reported in order to blot out and obscure the real story, that we can PROVE beyond reasonable doubt, that the storyline built around Ronan O'Rahilly is 100% fake! That is why we are revisiting a news item that we focussed upon yesterday in its entirety.

Therefore please remember, we are not following the biographical story of Ronan O'Rahilly, we are following the biographical account of his father, Aodogán O'Rahilly. While his son Ronan set out to deceive and obscure, his father did not!

The only problem with following the published reports about his father are the somewhat contradictory and poor reporting standards employed by journalists who interchange names as if they are one and the same, when in law, they are not. In other words none of these purchases were made in the name of Aodogán O'Rahilly, they were made in the name of Weatherwell Limited. The same is true of the Seller which was not British Railways. But these names are interchanged by journalists as if they are.

Now please notice why Weatherwell Limited was buying up various properties at Greenore. Previously Weatherwell Limited had entered into a contract with a supplier to produce raw materials for the manufacture of "plastic board". Other reports refer to plaster board and plaster. These products were to be made with new machinery in a new factory to be built on the site of the old railway station and hotel at Greenore.

The aim was to begin work on the site early in the Summer of 1955.

This did not happen.

If you follow the previous Blog entries, you will note that the source of financing for these developments was tied up in various government guaranteed loans, and due to the failure of Weatherwell Limited to perform as specified in the loan contracts, this matter became a controversial political issue. However, because Aodogán O'Rahilly wore more than one 'hat', he was able to steer clear of impending disaster and have the loan guarantees transferred to a purpose other than the original purpose that had been authorized.

​What this means is that by late 1955, Aodogán O'Rahilly was treading water, or playing for time to see if the business climate would improve in favor of the company he managed. Weatherwell Ltd did not stop working on its business plan, but it had to slow down on its time line due to circumstantial financial pressures.

Now we are ready to see what happened next in 1956, with Weatherwell Ltd still operating from its factory base near Dublin, while sitting on land and improved property all resting idle at Greenore, which was some considerable distance from its factory.

Part 5 in this series will follow tomorrow.

​We will continue with part 4 in this sequence, tomorrow.

So here comes 'Scottg' as Troll in Chief who claims to know it all, and yet knows nothing, and he posts (on the GS Forum), a tribute link to Ronan O'Rahilly at the Irish Broadcasting Hall of Fame. We have seen this site before and we have previously ignored it at:
https://ibhof.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-irish-legacy-of-ronan-orahilly-and.html

That site is similar to the Offshore Radio Museum, in that it is promoting more rubbish about Ronan O'Rahilly and Radio Caroline. Both are unreliable sources of information.

However, this is what the Irish Broadcasting Hall of Fame has to say with corrections to errors highlighted in red:

"With the passing of Ronan O’Rahilly in April 2020, a colossus of radio broadcasting has left a legacy that will stand the test of time and has made a massive impression on radio broadcasting in Ireland." Ronan O'Rahilly left a legacy of deceit, and that is all. 

"While his beloved Radio Caroline was a familiar sight off the South East of England, its influence on both radio and music in 1960’s Britain cannot be underestimated." Ronan O'Rahilly did not start Radio Caroline and it took Radio London and then Radio 390 to influence radio and music in the 1960s. Radio Caroline South was basically a flop when compared to Radio London.

"It forced the British Government to enact new legislation outlawing the almost a dozen pirate radio ships that blasted pop music into Britain and it forced the BBC to reorganise and compete with the opening of a dedicated pop channel in 1967, BBC Radio One." Radio London and then Radio 390 forced that change on BBC Radio One and BBC Radio Two; not Radio Caroline, north or south.

"In the month when Ronan passed onto the afterlife, both BBC Radio One and Radio Caroline still broadcast today." BBC Radio One and BBC Radio Two still broadcast today. The station that calls itself Radio Caroline today, has no connection whatsoever to either Ronan O'Rahilly or Radio Caroline of the 1960s. Even the current so-called 'Radio Caroline' accredits Malcolm Smith who calls himself 'Peter Moore' with being the creator and owner of this station that calls itself 'Radio Caroline' in 2020.

"But while Caroline’s history focusses [sic] mainly on its influence on Britain, Ireland has played a key role in that colourful history and this is that story." This is true thanks to Charles Orr Stanley of Cork, Ireland and NOT to Ronan O'Rahilly. Charles Orr Stanley built the Pye Group of Companies.

"At the helm of Radio Caroline was Ronan O’Rahilly." As one MP noted, Ronan O'Rahilly was a 'decoy duck', but he was not at the helm of anything.

"He was born in Clondalkin, Dublin in 1940, his father Aodogan was a well-known and wealthy businessman, regarded as an influential ally of Eamon DeValera, while his grandfather Michael O’Rahilly was better known as The O’Rahilly, sacrificed his life during the 1916 Easter Rising having been shot dead while leading a charge on a British position at the end of Moore Street. Now this is where anorak radio fantasy feeds off of revisionist Irish history. 'The O'Rahilly' referred to was the second such person to go by that name. Ronan's uncle who was a neo-Nazi hoping that Adolph Hitler would defeat the United Kingdom, also used that term. He was the third person to do so. But as to the reference regarding the 1916 'Rising', well, the facts reveal that Michael tried his best to stop it from taking place, and then, like a curious cat, got shot when he went along to see what happened next!

"While still a teenager Ronan left Dublin and made his way to the centre of the new music industry, London’s club scene." Ronan O'Rahilly was born in 1940 and arrived in London during 1961, or so everyone claims. That would make Ronan O'Rahilly a young man of 21, and not a teen.

"In Soho, the young Ronan began to manage a music club and saw some of the up and coming artists including the Kinks and the Animals make their first steps into the limelight.  Despite managing several pop acts one of his favourite was Georgie Fame. He recorded a Georgie Fame record on his own independent label, unheard of at the time." However, Georgie Fame was getting gigs; a club owner recorded him and EMI released an LP featuring him, long before Radio Caroline came on the air! Ronan O'Rahilly's introduction to the club world was as a stand-in and decoy for people like Peter Rachman, the slum landlord. 

"He took the record to the BBC to try to get it played. He discovered that the record industry was dominated by EMI and Decca. He then tried to get it played on Radio Luxembourg, the Great 208, who were the commercial pop station most listened to in England at the time and O’Rahilly discovered closed doors and that the shows were 'owned' by labels like EMI, Pye and Decca. They were essentially 'payola' shows and featured only music from the paying label. He said, 'I have recorded the guy, so I can't get it played, so we have to start a radio station.' This is part of the totally fake propaganda mouthed by Ronan O'Rahilly which is totally untrue.

"The ship was originally a Baltic ferry the MV Frederica [sic] built in 1929 and purchased by Ronan O’Rahilly for the reported £20,000." This is nonsense which even the propaganda denies because the buyer was a shipping company and not a person, and a shipping company is not a person.

"It was taken to the port of Greenore in early 1964 to be converted into a radio station including a 180-foot aerial and renamed the MV Caroline. He chose the port of Greenore as it was at the time privately owned by his father Aodogan O'Rahilly who died in 2000. This is more nonsense of the same kind. Aodogan O'Rahilly did not own the Port of Greenore! Not only that, but evidence points to the ship's original destination being East Cowes on the Isle of Wight!

"A parent company was registered in Ireland to operate Radio Caroline in 1964. The company Planet Production Limited [sic] was dissolved in 1981. A second company was registered to sell advertising for the ship with Planet Sales Limited also registered companies in Ireland." Nothing could be further from the truth! Planet Productions Limited was registered in Ireland on February 27, 1964. It was not the parent of anything. It was a sales company. No such company as Planet Sales Limited was registered, and this fact got Ronan O'Rahilly into trouble with the British Board of Trade during its February 1965 investigation into who or what was behind Radio Caroline. It was NOT Ronan O'Rahilly!

This level of nonsense reporting which is championed by a know-nothing troll who calls himself 'Scottg', is one reason why we are microscopically taking apart all of the lies, rumors and total and utter rubbish that has been published and republished about Radio Caroline for decades.

To set the record straight:

Radio Caroline officially died on August 14, 1967 and it whimpered to its end, on March 3, 1968, when Radio Caroline was silenced for good, and its original ship was then taken to the scrapyard where it was broken up.

INTRODUCTION: Today we are going to start from the day after the last train left Greenore and reveal various attempts to sell off the entire village, which for auction purposes included houses; hotel; golf course; railway station and dockside facilities which once served a deep water port. After this series we will then continue with events at Greenore from 1960 to 1964, because it is only by the documented and meticulous coverage of events, that we can we also expose as fraudulent the many claims by umpteen writers, concerning a past at Greenore that never happened.

Due to the fact that one part of Greenore faces Carlingford Lough with a territorial border that runs down the middle of this body of water, and because the railway station at Newry is in Northern Ireland, and had been part of a service originating in Greenore in the Republic of Ireland; an international problem had been created out of territory that was at one time all ruled by London.

In the years prior to that two-part phase following the Rising, which is when most of Ireland became independent, the integrated ferry and railway services arriving at Greenore, had all been a part of one British commercial and social service. This included the village and its houses; a golf course; hotel; port facility where the ferry docked, and the railway lines to Dundalk to the west, and Newry to the north.

Part of the line to Newry followed the embankment of Carlingford Lough which became divided between two national boundaries. Even the maintenance of the railway embankment which had originally been the responsibility of one commercial entity, became split between the administrations of two countries.

Initially a cross-border international operation had come into existence to take care of the management problems that then arose. However, after 1951 when operations ceased and the property at Greenore was broken up into several units for sale by auction, even maintenance of the embankment became a fractured liability. 

The idea that Ronan O'Rahilly kissed-off working in his father's business and then headed for London is a lie.

That is a fact proven by official Irish records.

But what is now surfacing for the very first time that we are aware of, is the sheer "coincidence" that one of the most important and powerful Irish politicians suddenly quit government and joined the Post Office in London during the same year that Ronan O'Rahilly also showed up in London.

Not only that, but Irish politician George Coburn had represented the area in which Weatherwell Limited (which was managed by Ronan O'Rahilly's father), had sunk money from a government-backed loan, to acquire property at Greenore which had then turned into a liability, and not an asset.

The fact that George Coburn went to London to work for "the Post Office" seems to be in itself a very, very strange decision, and what he then did in London at the Post Office, we don't know right now. But keep in mind that "the Post Office" is the General Post Office; the GPO; the institution managed by the Postmaster General who had control over broadcasting licences.

In 1961 the Tories were in control of the British government in London when George Coburn arrived, and the Postmaster General at that time was Reginald Bevins. This is the same person who had to work with Sir Harry Pilkington whose Committee delivered its now infamous Report a few months later on June 27, 1962.

On March 12, 2009, 'The Argus' reported the following redacted obituary about George Coburn which can be read in its entirety at:
https://www.independent.ie/regionals/argus/news/the-reluctant-deputy-quit-public-life-having-never-lost-an-election-26931470.html

"George Coburn 1920 - 2009 'The reluctant Deputy' would possibly be the best description of George Coburn who died in the Louth County Hospital on Wednesday last, February 25th for he had one of the most remarkable political careers in Dail Eireann, winning three elections, two within months, yet walked away from public life for personal reasons without ever losing an election.

.... George was thrust into politics on the death of his father, James in 1954, and while he won the by-election and held his seat in the general election in the same year, was re-elected in 1957, he stood down before the 1961 election, left politics behind, and headed for a new life in London where he worked until his retirement in 1985.

As a boy growing up on St. Mary's Road, George's life would have been dominated by politics. His father James .... was first elected to Dail Eireann as a National League Party candidate for Louth in June, 1927 and re-elected in the subsequent general election in September of the same year. .... and was re-elected at each general election until 1951. He died during the 14th Dail on March 3rd, 1954. His funeral is still remembered by historians and others as the biggest ever seen in Dundalk either before or since.

.... The baton fell to George the oldest son, then a fitter working on the GNR, and aged just 33. His selection to stand in the by-election to be held in May, 1954 .... Perhaps inevitably George Coburn was swept to victory on a tide of emotional support for the family .... The scenes that greeted George Coburn's election were talked about years afterwards for a crowd of thousands assembled outside of the AOH hall in Jocelyn Street before a number of bands led a torchlight parade round the town that took the route past Geooge's Castle Road home and ended at the Market Square where thousands had gathered. The celebrations didn't end there for they moved to Drogheda where again hundreds gathered and back through Ardee and Dunleer.

It was a remarkable achievement for Fine Gael, perhaps their greatest ever victory in Louth, and again led to thousands pouring onto the streets to celebrate, witb bonfires, marching bands and a massive Market Square meeting addressed by the two young TD's from Louth.

Mr. Coburn held his seat in the next election ..... in 1961 to the surprise of some, but not those close to George, he decided to leave public life, stating that he would not be a candidate. In September, two months before that election, a dinner was held in George's honour and at which he revealed that he was leaving public life for 'personal reasons'.

It was a difficult time economically to be representing Louth and Dundalk in particular in the Dail for during Mr. Coburn's tenure the GNR (Great Northern Railway) which was then employing almost 1,000 men closed to be replaced by a number of smaller industries. 

Shortly afterwards George left for London with his wife, Kathleen where he worked in the post office."

This account make it very clear that George Coburn was very familiar with the situation at Greenore, but what we don't know at the moment, is how close he was to the O'Rahilly family.

There does seem to have been a shift in the political views of Ronan's father Aodogán, who, (unlike his brother, Ronan's uncle), was opposed to Hitler's Germany during World War II. Ronan's father's growing interest in free enterprise and American wife, led him to expand a business relationship with British port authorities. He had of course been born at Hove in England.

The impression created by many anorak writers and some scholars who merely repeat myths handed-down from author-to-author, is that Radio Caroline was in some way connected to celebrating the Irish Rising of 1916, when nothing could be further from the truth. Radio Caroline was draped in the colors of the British Crown, which like most organizations was not, and is not, as monolithic as it might appear at first glance to the hoi polloi.

Therefore what George Coburn and Ronan O'Rahilly were both really doing during 1961 in London, is of great interest to this investigation.

In Part 10 we cited Mr George Coburn and his question concerning a Weatherwell Ltd loan and property at Greenore. Now we will throw the spotlight on who this person was and raise some intriguing questions.

For this, we turn to the abridged version of a story that appeared in the Drogheda Independent on March 4, 2009, and which can be read Online at:
https://www.independent.ie/regionals/droghedaindependent/news/a-remarkable-political-life-27131780.html

The story is an obituary that was printed in the Drogheda Independent and titled:

A remarkable political life.

"The reluctant Deputy would possibly be the best description of George Coburn who died in the Louth County Hospital on Wednesday last, February 25th .... Sadly George who was aged 88  ....was predeceased by his beloved wife, Kathleen ....

George was thrust into politics on the death of his father, James in 1954, and while he won the by-election and held his seat in the general election in the same year, was re-elected in 1957, he stood down before the 1961 election, left politics behind, and headed for a new life in London where he worked until his retirement in 1985."

Now that brief summation does not begin to tell the story about George which was: "....dominated by politics.

His father James .... was first elected to Dáil Eireann for Louth in June, 1927 and re-elected in the subsequent general election in September of the same year. .... Coming from such a politician dynasty with its roots deeply embedded in the foundation of the State and the political upheaval of the time it was inevitably that a member of the Coburn family would be asked to succeed their father."

" .... in 1961 to the surprise of some, but not those close to George, he decided to leave public life, stating that he would not be a candidate. .... he revealed that he was leaving public life for personal reasons.

Shortly afterwards George left for London with his wife, Kathleen where he worked in the post office."

Now that is interesting!

Here is a career politician, who was the son of a career politician father, who in 1937 was a devout follower of Benito Mussolini and his concept of fascism as a means of controlling government. But in 1961, his son George packed it all in and trotted off to London in order to work "for the post office."

To make sure that you see what we see about George going off to London in 1961 to work "for the post office", please remember that George, who represented Greenore in which Weatherwell Ltd., had made a financial investment, departed in the same year that young Ronan O'Rahilly also departed for London. 

Supposedly young Ronan O'Rahilly told his dad to keep his job because he was also off to find fame and fortune in London; which is at the core of the British Crown.

Coincidence?

Well we do know one thing:

Ronan O'Rahilly did not turn his back on his father's property at Greenore, because on June 5, 1964 both his father, one of his sisters and Ronan would all have a part of this:

In part 9 of this current series, we referred to the news item that appeared on April 16, 1954 (see the Blog for 9/10/2020), where we highlighted this excerpt:

"The Weatherwell Ltd plan is to demolish the former train station and all other facilities and turn the site into a modern factory with machinery for manufacturing plaster board and plaster."

As we noted, that plan was not carried out, even though a loan had been obtained by Weatherwell Ltd for that stated purpose. Due to the security guarantees for that loan the issue did not die there, because it became the subject of a question raised in a Dáil Éireann Ceisteanna - Questions debate requiring oral answers that were heard on Wednesday, April 23, 1958. The subject of the debate was the Greenore Industry Loan, as reprinted here:

"Mr [George] Coburn asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state the purpose of the recent guaranteed loan granted to a firm which intends to set up an industry in Greenore; and how many will be employed in the industry.

Mr S. Lemass [replied] The purpose of the loan as set out in the statement presented to the Oireachtas in January, 1957, was:— 'To assist in the carrying out by Plaster and Gypsum, Limited, Kingscourt, County Cavan, of the following:--

'The purchase of Greenore port and railway station, the transfer of machinery and equipment from the factory of Weatherwell, Limited, at Clondalkin to Greenore, the manufacture of plaster board at Greenore, the development of a gypsum mine at Kingscourt and the provision of working capital.'

As it was not feasible to arrange immediately for the transfer of the plaster board manufacture to Greenore, approval was subsequently given for an alteration in the purposes of the guaranteed loan, the effect of which was to delete from the purposes already approved:--

'the transfer of machinery and equipment from the factory of Weatherwell, Limited, at Clondalkin to Greenore and the manufacture of plaster board at Greenore'.

I understand that it is the intention to undertake plaster board manufacture in due course at Greenore, but the Deputy will appreciate that to go into any further detail would involve a disclosure of the affairs of a private commercial concern. For this reason also I am unable to give any indication of the number who would be employed in the industry."

Notice that at no time is the name of Aodogán O'Rahilly introduced into this parliamentary question and answer session. That is because, as previously explained in this Blog, it was not Aodogán O'Rahilly who purchased the property at Greenore, and neither was that property purchased from 'British Railways'. Yet that is exactly what the crude and slapdash writers about the creation of Radio Caroline have always claimed.

This is not a matter of "splitting hairs", this is a matter of factual reporting of a legal matter. Detail does matter!

Also notice again (in the previous Blog in this series), that there was more than one director of Weatherwell Ltd., which means that Weatherwell Ltd and Aodogán O'Rahilly were not interchangeable names for the same commercial operation. Even if there had been only one director, the legal theory concerning the veil of separation between a limited company and its administrator, has to be maintained in order to prevent allegations of co-mingling of assets in the event that the company runs into financial difficulty. When co-mingling of assets can be proven, then the human being who has been shown to have had their hands in the company till, can then be held personally liable for the debts of the company.