SAOIRSE32

Sinn Féin

Caitríona Ruane selected as Sinn Féin South Down Westminster candidate

Published: 12 January, 2005

Sinn Féin South Down MLA Caitríona Ruane has been selected as Sinn Féin South Down candidate for the for the coming Westminster election. At the party’s Westminster selection convention in Downpatrick Caitríona Ruane was selected unopposed to stand as Sinn Féin’s candidate in the Westminster election.

Speaking at the convention Cllr Willie Clarke MLA congratulated Caitriona on her nomination believing it marks another historic landmark for Sinn Féin in County Down. Cllr Clarke said:

“We have put forward a candidate who I believe will give us a genuine opportunity to win this seat. South Down is clearly a key area of growth for Sinn Féin and we are fighting an election in what was once considered an SDLP stronghold. This is no longer the case and we are steadily building upon the foundation laid by people like Cllr Mick Murphy and Cllr Frank McDowell who have helped paved the way for our current success. Make no mistake, with hard work and dedication this seat is within our grasp ? a seat that until quite recently would have been considered untouchable.

Ms Ruane said:

“It is a privilege and with a sense of humility that I accept this nomination. This is a county with a proud Republican tradition dating back to the 1798 rebellion when men and women fought and died for Irish freedom. It is a history that links County Down with my home county of Mayo where the vision and beliefs of Wolfe Tone have influenced successive generations.

“Here in South Down we have achieved a number of significant breakthroughs with the election last November of myself and my party colleague Willie Clarke to the Assembly. We have put together a committed team of Council candidates in the hope of at least doubling are representation on Down District and Newry and Mourne Councils and we are also attempting to make an unprecedented electoral breakthrough in Banbridge. Our candidates are a blend of youth and experience with a gender balance which shows Sinn Fein is the one political party in Ireland trying to actively increase the representation of women in politics.

“My work as an MLA has taken me to many towns, villages and country hamlets where I have met students and first-time voters; pensioners terrified in their own homes; workers and the unemployed; small shopkeepers; farmers worried about the implications of a national park; people working in the fishing industry who are unsure about their future in the face of more EU reforms and restrictions and business people anxious to develop South Down, particularly the areas tourist potential.

“South Down has many social and economic problems. Not surprisingly, like anywhere else in the North, there are political divisions and competing aspirations but none that cannot be mutually accommodated within the Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Féin has fought long and hard to reverse the injustices of partition. We were able to do so because the electorate has empowered us to do so. It is only now that the British and the unionists have started to take our community seriously.

“The events of the past three months prove the DUP have still some way to go before they are prepared to share power with Republicans. Yet massive progress has been made and Ian Paisley now leads a party that has accepted the fundamentals of the Good Friday Agreement and its all-Ireland architecture.

“For the past 17 years Eddie McGrady has held this seat in what has often been described as the SDLP’s ‘jewel in the crown’. That jewel has lost much of its sparkle and with the continued dedication, hard work and commitment we can, in the centenary year of Sinn Féin’s formation, win next year’s Westminster election and significantly increase our representation at Council level.

Notes for editors

Caitriona was born and raised in Mayo and lives in County Louth. She is married to Brian and has two daughters. A keen athlete, she played professional tennis from age 17-21, was in the Junior Competition at Wimbledon and represented Ireland at many international events. She has played a wide range of sports including basketball, volleyball table tennis and GAA.

A fluent Spanish speaker, she worked for a US-based aid foundation from 1983-87 in Central America, living in dangerous war zones with indigenous people, documenting human rights abuses. Upon her return to Ireland she worked full-time for Trocaire before co-founding the Centre for Research and Documentation.

She was a member of the Committee on the Administration of Justice and organised the Belfast Forum on Policing conference in 1994 after the ceasefires. She has lobbied the UN and the EU on human rights in the North and was involved in organising inquiries and compiling reports into the deaths of Fergal Caraher (shot dead by a British soldier) and Patrick Shanaghan (a victim of collusion between loyalists and state forces).

From 1997-2001 Caitríona was the Director of Féile an Phobail and a founder of the St Patrick’s Day Parade, during which time she took unionists in the city hall to court on grounds of funding discrimination. In 2000 President Mary McAleese presented Caitríona with the Aisling Person of the Year Award.

More recently, Caitríona has been chairperson of the ‘Bring Them Home’ campaign.

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin calls for inquiry into migrant amputee case

Published: 12 January, 2005

Sinn Féin South Belfast MLA Alex Maskey has called for a wide-ranging investigation of the circumstances surrounding the case of a Ukrainian migrant worker who had both legs amputated after being forced to sleep on the streets.

Mr Maskey said:

“I think there needs to be a thorough and wide ranging investigation into how a healthy young migrant worker could find herself out of a job, out of a home and on the streets and subsequently so ill that both her legs had to be amputated.

“Not only has this woman fallen through the safety net there must also be serious questions asked about the operation and protection afforded through the work permit scheme and in particularly how employers are safeguarding the rights of workers employed through this scheme.

“Clearly we need to ask questions of the Department of Employment and Learning that operates the work permit scheme and also about what services are in place to support migrant workers who find themselves thrown out of their employment.” ENDS

Sinn Féin

Doherty slams political harassment as Omagh Council Chair detained by PSNI/British army

Published: 12 January, 2005

West Tyrone Sinn Féin MP Pat Doherty has accused the PSNI/ British Army of “blatant political harassment” following the detention of Omagh Council Chair Seán Clarke, Patrick O Hagan, (the son of Kathleen O Hagan who was murdered by the UVF through RUC collusion) and another man at a joint roadblock on the Carrickmore/ Creggan Road on Monday night.

He said,

“The three were stopped and harassed for around fifteen minutes as they were returning from our Party’s Westminster Selection Convention in Carrickmore.

“While young Patrick O Hagan and the other man were subjected to a litany of petty questions and the car was thoroughly searched, the fact that they ignored Seán Clarke altogether shows that this was little more than a blatant exercise in political harassment.

“This latest incident follows on from extremely suspicious activity by crown forces around Seán Clarke’s home on Christmas day.

“This present upsurge in crown force harassment of republicans coincides with a clearly defined strategy by securocrats and our political opponents to demonise Sinn Féin.

“Given the experience of past periods when such political climates were carefully fostered, I would urge all Sinn Féin members and republicans to be extremely vigilant in the days and weeks ahead.” ENDS

Irish Independent

Neo-Nazis are Mad Dog Adair’s only friends in his lonely exile

THEY look like a cross between the Hitler Youth and the Village People on steroids, but a group of German neo-Nazis may offer the only hope of salvaging the fiercesome reputation of Johnny Adair, the notorious loyalist terrorist.

It is not so long ago that Adair (41), who was released from prison on Monday and is now living in a suburb of Bolton, northern England, was worshipped by thousands of extremists across Northern Ireland and honoured with the nickname “Mad Dog”.

But is is a measure of how far Adair has fallen that the only people now brave enough to voice their support for him are a group of around 20 skinheads in Dresden, the former heartland of Hitler’s Third Reich.

As Adair was recovering from a late-night party with some of his former cohorts to celebrate his release, his terrorist rivals yesterday poked fun at his fascist friends in Germany and promised that they would not be deterred from trying to murder Adair if he ever returned to Belfast.

One said he remained the “No 1 target” for the Ulster Defence Association, the North’s largest loyalist paramilitary group, which drove Adair’s family and former followers from Belfast in a feud two years ago.

The warning came as the blinds at the drab terraced house rented by Adair’s family in Horwich, Bolton, remained down and the reinforced door firmly closed.

Inside, Adair was taking no callers. Several plain-clothes police officers were the only people to gain admittance, entering the house to remind Adair they will be watching his every move.

Within half an hour of Adair arriving, a “To Let” sign went up on a neighbour’s property, prompting speculation that some residents are already fleeing their homes.

Neighbours expressed fears about becoming caught up in a feud between Adair and his rivals in Belfast.

Extreme loyalists in Northern Ireland have long enjoyed links with far-right organisations in Germany, but the Dresden group has pushed this to new limits by setting up its own special unit in homage to Adair, showering him with letters and even tattooing his terrorist slogans across their bodies.

At least one was arrested by police in Germany last week as he sought to cross the border into France en route to England, where he had hoped to be at Adair’s side to welcome him out of jail. The man had the Adair slogan “Simply the Best” tattooed across his back above the insignia of the terrorist leader’s “C Company”.

David Lister
and Russell Jenkins

Irish Independent

Alarm bells ring for the mobile phone generation

NO PARENT should give a mobile phone to a child under eight and mobile phone masts should be sited away from schools, the chairman of an official inquiry into the safety of the devices said yesterday.

The authoritative British report linked heavy use to ear tumours and concluded that risks had been underestimated by most scientists.

Professor Sir William Stewart, chairman of Britain’s National Radiological Protection Board, said evidence of potentially harmful effects had become more persuasive over the past five years. They would have more effect on the young, he warned.

The news prompted calls for phones to carry health warnings and panic in parts of the industry. A British manufacturer suspended a model aimed at children aged four to eight.

Government sources here, however, were unmoved by the report.

A spokeswoman for Communications Minister Noel Dempsey said there was nothing in it to cause enough concern to issue specific government instructions.

She said the advice of officials here was that there is no scientific basis for a precautionary approach to mobiles. However, she added that parents should monitor the usage of phones by small children.

Sir William said mobile phone masts should be sited away from schools. This has been a cause of controversy here, as has their siting at Garda stations. The Office of Public Works recently agreed to masts being sited on many public buildings.

Sir William called for an independent review of the planning process for masts in Britain. He said there should be increased monitoring.

Despite evidence suggesting emissions from distant masts were a only small percentage of those from mobile phones held to the head, public concerns had not abated, said the report.

Asked about the presence of masts near schools, Sir William said : “On a precautionary basis I would prefer them not to be there, even though the evidence suggests the emissions are low. The planning process ought to take the views of parents into account.”

In his report, Mobile Phones and Health, Sir William said that four studies have caused concern. One ten-year study in Sweden suggests that heavy mobile users are more prone to non-malignant tumours in the ear while a Dutch study had suggested changes in cognitive function. A German study has hinted at an increase in cancer near masts, while a project supported by the EU had shown evidence of cell damage from fields typical of those of mobile phones.

“All of these studies have yet to be replicated and are of varying quality but we can’t dismiss them out of hand,” Sir William said. He said that if there was a health risk - which remained unproven - it would have a greater effect on the young than on older people.

For children aged between 8 and 14, parents had to make their own judgments about the possible risks and benefits. “I can’t believe that for three to eight year-olds they can be readily justified,” he said.

Sam Coates and Eilish O’Regan

Irish Independent

Robert was abducted, says heartbroken mum

A young actor reconstructs the last known journey of Robert Holohan

THE heartbroken mother of missing boy Robert Holohan said last night that she believed her son was abducted - and that she fears the kidnapper is being aided by others to evade the huge garda manhunt.

Majella Holohan made another emotional appeal for the abductor or abductors not to harm Robert and to release him safely to his family yesterday.

Majella had admitted that the family now fear whoever took Robert may be receiving aid from others.

“I am thinking he has been moved from the Midleton area. I am just thinking at this stage he must have been bundled into a van and taken from the area,” she said.

Critically, the mother-of-three admitted that no-one could have abducted Robert without help, and certainly could not have evaded the huge garda hunt without assistance.

“Whoever did this is not on his own, by himself. Maybe this was a prank that got out of hand. Maybe because of the media speculation and the helicopter and the searches, they could not let him go,” she said.

The fresh appeal by Majella came as Midleton gardai, under Supt Liam Hayes, staged a reconstruction of Robert’s last movements, exactly one week after he disappeared.

A 12-year-old Cork city boy agreed to take Robert’s part in a reconstruction of the missing boy’s movements at 2.30pm on January 4.

The boy cycled along the route by the family home on a BMX bike identical to that belonging to Robert, which was found dumped in a ditch at 5.30pm last Tuesday. The boy wore the same T-shirt and Nike sports jacket as Robert.

Meanwhile, gardai last night specifically appealed for three different groups of people to contact them including, three golfers at East Cork Golf Club, a jogger spotted on the Ballyedmond road, and a red van seen on the Fermoy road out of Midleton.

Ralph Riegel

One Ireland

This Date in Irish History

January 12th -

1885 - Thomas Ashe, the great Irish patriot and
revolutionary, was born in Lispole, Co. Kerry.
Forgotten Strikes

1947 - Matt Molloy of the Chieftains was born.
Chieftains

1973 - Elizabeth McGregor, a 76-year-old Catholic
woman, was shot dead by a British army sniper. She was
shot at 11 in the morning as she returned from buying
bread and a newspaper. The British army sniper shot
her in the head as she spoke to a friend, and then as
she reeled round, shot her again in the body.
Untold Truth

1976 - The trial of members of the Maguire family,
known as the ‘Maguire Seven’, began at the Old Bailey
in London. They had been arrested on December 3rd,
1974. They were accused of possession of explosives,
and were portrayed as those responsible for making the
bombs used in the explosions in Guildford on October
5th, 1974. The ‘Maguire Seven’ were convicted on March
3rd, 1976 of possession of explosives (although none
were found) and some served 10 years in prison before
the convictions were overturned.
Innocent.org
My Song Book

1993 - The Times (a British newspaper) reported that
the UDA was planning to target those considered to be
part of the ‘pan-Nationalist front’. This was taken to
include all members of the SDLP, Provisional Sinn
Féin, the Irish government, the Gaelic Athletic
Association, and the PIRA. - A number of attacks did
occur in the following months.

2002 - Daniel McColgan (20), a Catholic civilian, was
shot and killed by Loyalists as he arrived for work at
a postal sorting depot in County Antrim. The UDA
admitted that it was responsible for the murder. The
police arrested four men for the killing, but all were
also released without charge.
Republican-News
The UDA issued a statement (using the covername RHD)
saying that all Catholic postal workers were now
considered “legitimate targets”. This was in addition
to the death threats against all Catholic teachers and
all other staff working in Catholics schools in north
Belfast issued by the UDA the previous day.

Belfast Telegraph

Belfast growing as a Euro-friendly zone

By Paul Dykes, Business Correspondent
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
11 January 2005

Belfast is quickly becoming a euro-friendly zone, as more than 80% of retailers will now accept the euro through their tills.

In a new scheme launched this week by Belfast City Centre Management and Belfast Chamber of Trade and Commerce, retailers have formalised what for many was a fact of life - trade in euro to attract the tourists.

Speaking at the launch of the Euro Friendly campaign, city centre manager Joanne Jennings said her organisation had been overwhelmed by the response of traders to the scheme.

“Since the introduction of the euro currency, a number of traders have been accepting the euro on an ad-hoc basis.

“The Belfast Euro Friendly initiative puts the process on a more formal footing,” she said.

As part of the campaign, stores ready to trade in the euro are clearly branded and shoppers from the Republic of Ireland and other euro countries will be able to discern exactly where they can spend their euro currency.

She said more than 80% of Belfast stores had signed up to the scheme, and more were joining daily to ensure their shops were as accessible as possible to the potential customer pool.

Irish Examiner

Thatcher in coup plot plea bargain

12/01/2005 - 6:45:22 PM

Mark Thatcher, accused of bankrolling a coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, is expected in a South African court tomorrow amid reports of a plea bargain deal.

Sipho Ngwema, spokesman for the national prosecuting authority, refused to disclose the reason for the appearance.

The son of former British Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher was not previously expected back in the Cape Town court until February 18.

Thatcher, who has lived in South Africa since 1995, was arrested at his Cape Town home last August and charged with violating this country’s anti-mercenary laws.

He also faces charges in Equatorial Guinea, where 19 other defendants are already on trial in connection with an alleged plot last year to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled Africa’s third-largest oil producer for the past 25 years.

Officials there have said they will seek Thatcher’s extradition from South Africa.

Equatorial Guinea alleges Thatcher and other mainly British financiers worked with the tiny country’s opposition figures, scores of African mercenaries and six Armenian pilots in a takeover attempt foiled in March. Thatcher maintains he played no part in the alleged conspiracy.

A high court in South Africa ordered Thatcher to answer questions submitted by Equatorial Guinea under oath in November, but that appearance was postponed until February 18 to give his lawyers a chance to appeal the ruling.

Thatcher’s trial on charges of helping to finance the alleged plot was postponed until April 8 for further investigation.

Irish Democrat : Features

Michael Barrett: a Fenian remembered

Kevin Haddick Flynn on the Irishman who suffered the last public hanging in Britain

The Ballad of Michael Barrett

Throughout the Kingdom, among high and low,
A great excitement has long been caused,
Of a dreadful crime - horrible to tell
The fatal explosion at Clerkenwell.
… …
Out of the seven they for the crime did try,
One Michael Barrett was condemned to die.
… …
Patrick Mullany was a witness made,
A military tailor, he was by trade;
To save himself, he evidence gave,
Which he his neck has saved.
… …
The informers swore, and others beside,
When the prisoners, all at the bar was tried,
That by Michael Barrett the deed was done,
And from the spot did to Scotland run.
… …
He was taken in Glasgow and to London brought,
He says of the crime he never thought,
He would not be guilty of such a deed,
But he was convicted, as we may read.
… …
Though Michael Barrett is condemned to die,
The dreadful deed he strongly does deny,
There is one above who all secrets know,
He can tell whether Barrett is guilty or no.
… …
We hope all men will a warning take,
And long remember poor Barrett’s fate;
We find it difficult throughout the land,
For man to even trust his fellow man.
… …
A dreadful tale we’ll have long to tell,
The fatal explosion at Clerkenwell.
… …

THE FENIAN movement was one of the most important revolutionary movements to challenge the British Empire in the 19th century. It dominated Irish popular politics in the 1860’s and defied the anathemas of the Catholic Church and the condemnations of middle–class nationalists who advocated milder approaches.

Thousands of young Irishmen in both Ireland and Britain were recruited into its ranks; one of these was a young man from Co. Fermanagh who paid the highest price. This was 27–year old Michael Barrett, the last man to be publicly hanged in Britain. A commemoration was recently held in the City of London Cemetery, Manor Park, to mark his burial there over a 100 years ago.

Barrett was executed outside the walls of Newgate Prison on 26 May 1868 before a crowd of two thousand who booed, jeered and sang Rule Britannia and Champagne Charlie as the body dropped.

Months earlier, he had been arrested in Glasgow for illegally discharging a firearm and false evidence was used to implicate him in the Clerkenwell prison explosion which occurred the previous December. At the time it was widely believed that he was innocent and had been arrested to mollify a demand for vengeance against the Irish community.

In court, he produced witnesses who testified that he had been in Scotland on the date of the incident. The main case against him rested on the evidence of Patrick Mullany (a Dubliner who had given false testimony before and whose price was a free passage to Australia) who told the court that Barrett had informed him that he had carried out the explosion with an accomplice by the name of Murphy. The jury was out for two hours and in spite of the lack of corroboration pronounced Barrett guilty.

One of the trial lawyers, Montague Williams, wrote:

“On looking at the dock, one’s attention was attracted by the appearance of Barrett, for whom I must confess I felt great commiseration. He was a square–built fellow, scarcely five feet eight in height and dressed like a well–to–do farmer. This resemblence was increased by the frank, open, expression on his face. A less murderous countenance than Barrett’s I have not seen. Good humour was latent in his every feature and he took the greatest interest in the proceedings.”

The Clerkenwell bombing was the most serious action carried out by the Fenians in Britain and sparked hostility against the Irish community which took years to abate. It arose from the arrest in November 1867 of Richard O’Sullivan–Burke, a senior Fenian arms agent and the mastermind behind the sensational ‘prison–van rescue’ at Manchester a few months earlier. He was incarcerated in Clerkenwell Prison and on December 13th an attempt to rescue him was made by blowing a hole in the prison wall. The explosion was seriously misjudged; it demolished not only a large section of the wall, but also a row of tenament houses opposite. Twelve people were killed and over fifty injured.

The disaster had a traumatic effect on British working–class opinion. Karl Marx, then living in London, observed:

“The London masses, who have shown great sympathy towards Ireland, will be made wild and driven into the arms of a reactionary government. One cannot expect the London proletarians to allow themselves to be blown up in honour of Fenian emissaries.”

The Radical, Clarles Bradlaugh, condemned the incident in his newspaper The National Reformer as an act “calculated to destroy all sympathy, and to evoke the opposition of all classes”. Certainly it rallied public opinion behind a Tory government that was increasingly concerned by the revolutionary threat that the Fenians posed in Britain, let alone in Ireland.

The day before the explosion, the prime minister, Disraeli, banned all political demonstrations in London in an attempt to put a stop to the weekly meetings and marches that were being held in support of the Fenians. He had feared that the ban might be challenged, but the explosion turned public opinion very much in his favour.

After the explosion he advocated the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in Britain, as was already the case in Ireland. Greater security measures were quickly introduced. Thousands of special constables were enrolled to aid the police and at Scotland Yard a special secret service department was established to meet the Fenian threat. Although a number of people were arrested and brought to trial, Michael Barrett was the only one to receive the death sentence.

Queen Victoria was outraged that only one man went to the gallows. She urged that in future, instead of being brought to trial, Irish suspects should be ‘lynch–lawed’on the spot. Before he was sentenced Barrett spoke from the dock. The next day the Daily Telegraph reported that he

“…delivered a most remarkable speech, criticising with great acuteness the evidence against him, protesting that he had been condemned on insufficient grounds, and eloquently asserting his innocence”.

Following the sentence, many people, including a number of Radical MPs, pressed for clemency. In Fermanagh, Barrett’s aged mother trudged several miles in the snow to appeal to the local Unionist MP, Captain Archdale, a staunch Orangeman, who, predictably, rejected her.

On May 27th, following the execution, Reynold’s News commented:

“Millions will continue to doubt that a guilty man has been hanged at all; and the future historian of the Fenian panic may declare that Michael Barrett was sacrificed to the exigencies of the police, and the vindication of the good Tory principle, that there is nothing like blood”.

It should be mentioned that the disaster at Clerkenwell had one positive result; it concentrated British minds on the seriousness and urgency of the ‘Irish question’. Within days of the explosion, the Liberal leader, William E. Gladstone, then in Opposition, announced his concern about Irish grievances and said that it was the duty of the British people to remove them. Later, he said that it was the Fenian action at Clerkenwell that turned his mind towards Home Rule.

Prior to its transfer to the City of London Cemetery, Michael Barrett’s remains lay for thirty–five years in a lime grave inside the walls of Newgate Prison. When the prison was demolished in 1903 it was taken to its present resting place. Today the grave is a place of Irish pilgrimage and is marked by a small plaque.

Belfast Telegraph

Go ahead without Sinn Féin, Murphy urges

By Senan Molony
12 January 2005

The British and Irish Governments have been urged to press ahead with the peace process without Sinn Fein after Northern Secretary Paul Murphy said yesterday that PSNI links of the Provos to the Northern Bank robbery were “well founded”.

Mr Murphy confirmed Irish Government opinion that progress is impossible before the British general election, and probably until after the marching season in midsummer. But he went further, saying it was “entirely reasonable” for Unionists to now refuse to work with Sinn Fein.

The British Government would not promote a settlement “in which a party inextricably linked to an organisation which has carried out major criminal acts can assume responsibilities again in a devolved administration”.

Irish officials said that while the Minister for Foreign Affairs had yet to meet Mr Murphy, the Taoiseach and Prime Minister had agreed that the governments would stand firm on a common approach.

Rev Ian Paisley said after meeting Mr Blair in Downing Street: “I think the people deserve better, and perhaps they will get it. This may bring it to a head.”

He said he would return to London next week with a detailed blueprint for the return of devolution and sanctions to be taken against Sinn Fein for as long as they remain associated with the IRA.

Mr Murphy emphasised in the Commons that decisions were now needed from Sinn Fein and the Provisional IRA before political talks could be reinvigorated.

Mr Murphy said that if pledges from Sinn Fein and the IRA were not forthcoming, the two Governments would need to consider how best to bring pressure on the Republican movement to complete the transition to exclusively peaceful and democratic means.

He said he had seen the evidence behind PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde’s decision to point the finger at the IRA and had no doubt the opinion was well founded. “He did not rush to judgment.”

Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin warned that his party would oppose any move to set aside its mandate.

DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson asked if democracy in Northern Ireland was to be held back because of gunmen and gangsters.

Source: Irish Independent

Belfast Telegraph

DUP calls to freeze Sinn Féin assets

By Chris Thornton
cthornton@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
12 January 2005

A senior DUP member called today for Sinn Fein’s assets to be frozen as part of a raft of sanctions he wants imposed in the wake of the Northern Bank robbery.

Because the IRA has been blamed for the robbery, Ian Paisley junior said Sinn Fein’s funding should be locked down on both sides of the border, followed by “a thorough forensic examination” of their accounts.

Sinn Fein has repeatedly denied IRA involvement in the robbery, but Chief Constable Hugh Orde said the PSNI investigation has pointed to the Provos.

Mr Paisley said the Government should apply “immediate and specific measures” that would be seen to punish Sinn Fein for the crime.”

He also wants parliamentary and local government perks halted for all Sinn Fein members, a complete ban on official contact with the party and the Sinn Fein barred from Stormont.

“Measures that indicate the severity of public sanction against those criminals and those associated with them deserve urgent consideration,” he said.

Mr Paisley, a Policing Board member, said his package should be applied “until they return the stolen cash”.

Belfast Telegraph

Atlantic waves sweep Republic coastline

By Kim Kelly
12 January 2005

Ferocious 100 mile per hour winds whipped the north west coast as last night’s powerful storm battered the Republic.

Around 5,000 homes were left without power as ESB technicians worked throughout the night.

In Tralee, structural damage was caused to buildings and winds ripped off the roof of a Dunnes Stores while widespread flooding caused chaos.

But it was the west and north west that bore the brunt of the storm with a 100mph gust reported at Donegal Airport.

The seaside towns of Killybegs, Donegal Town and Bundoran were affected as the highest tide of the year backed by high winds caused flooding.

Emergency crews in Galway said that the prior warning of the Atlantic storm minimised damage.

Most of the damage last night was confined to farm outbuildings as high winds struck and fifteen foot waves crashed ashore.

Motorists heeded warnings to avoid coastal roads with some roads becoming impassable.

Several factories in Galway city and Co Donegal closed early to allow workers get home before the storm hit.

Aer Arann cancelled all 20 of its flights in and out of Galway Airport.

And the Aran Islands were cut off as ferry and air services were cancelled to the three main islands.

The storm force winds meant a return to candlelight for Co Mayo’s offshore islanders last night.

By lunchtime yesterday the tiny island of Inishbiggle, which has a mainly elderly population, was without electricity.

The roadway leading to the island’s heli-pad had also subsided.

The islanders, who rely on a weekly ’sailing shop’ from nearby Achill tied down their boats with heavy ropes weighed down by large rocks.

Meanwhile, Mayo’s most isolated island, Inishturk, still had electricity.

IrishExaminer.com

SF Accused of ‘lying about European Constitution’

12 January 2005

Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent, Strasbourg
SINN FÉIN has been attacked in the European Parliament and accused of lying about the new European Constitution.
The parliament is expected to vote today to support the constitution and spend E340,000 on an information campaign ahead of referenda in nine states.

The party, with two MEPs, says the constitution is militarising the EU and trying to turn it into a superpower. It also objects to the parliament taking sides and says it will interfere with a free debate.

Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell said the party’s objections were: “The ultimate joke. They need lessons in democracy in practice and theory.”

The leader of the Green group in the Parliament, Danny Cohn-Bendit, said Sinn Féin was using arguments that have nothing to do with the constitution.

“It’s a lie what they say about the constitution,” the German MEP added.

Their arguments about militarisation did not hold up, he said.

“You can row to south east Asia and in 10 years time you can get there… in a global world Europe must have the ability to help in a humanitarian way”, he said, referring to the fact that the EU did not have the transport to deliver aid.

As was seen in Bosnia and more in Darfur the EU needed to be able to intervene militarily if necessary.

“You cannot complain that the US is dominating the world and not take your responsibilities seriously. If you do not take your responsibilities, then the US will dominate,” he said.

He urged the Greens in Ireland to support the constitution and said he believed their objections were to do with their fear of losing voters to Sinn Féin.

Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald said her party had serious concerns. “These concerns are shared by many people across Ireland. Is Mr Cohn-Bendit seriously suggesting that Sinn Féin does not have the right to hold opinions? Is he suggesting that we do not have the right to raise and debate these legitimate concerns in the public arena?”

A date has not been set for Ireland’s referendum, which must be held before October 2006. All EU members must agree the constitution before it can be adopted.

Guardian

Sinn Féin told of possible penalty

Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Wednesday January 12, 2005
The Guardian

The government called on Sinn Féin yesterday to respond to last month’s £26.5m bank robbery by the IRA, or risk sanctions.

Paul Murphy, the Northern Ireland secretary, told the Commons that the robbery and the “appalling” kidnapping of Northern Bank staff families had “deeply damaged” efforts to restore the power-sharing executive.

But he vowed not to abandon the “ultimate goal” of an inclusive government featuring Sinn Féin. This required its commitment to end all the IRA’s illegal activity.

Asked if Sinn Féin would be punished for the robbery which Northern Ireland’s chief constable linked to the IRA, he said: “I have not ruled anything in or out.”

But he would consider whether to change the law which exempts Northern Ireland political parties from the rules on publishing accounts and receiving foreign donations.

In a separate move, he will consider suspending the salaries of those appointed to the Stormont assembly in November 2003, which have continued to be paid despite the political impasse.

David Lidington, the Conservative spokesman on Northern Ireland, suggested suspending the privileges and political allowances which Sinn Féin’s four MPs get despite their refusal to take their seats in the Commons.

After meeting Tony Blair in Downing street, Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist party, said he would present a paper to the government next week recommending sanctions against Sinn Féin. He said: “I think there has to be penalties.”

The Sinn Féin chairman, Mitchel McLaughlin, said yesterday that the robbery was “absolutely wrong” and repeated his party’s assertion that the IRA had played no part in it.

“It is disappointing that people are prepared to accept the word of [the chief constable] Hugh Orde, informed only by the same British intelligence services that advised Tony Blair on the presence of WMD in Iraq,” he said.

The police said yesterday that the white Ford Transit van used in the robbery had crossed the border from the republic two hours before the raid.

They appealed to a young couple with a baby in a buggy in central Belfast, who had alerted a traffic warden to two men wearing wigs and carrying baseball bats acting suspiciously behind the bank, to come forward.