SAOIRSE32

BBC

Police to build six new stations

The aim is to make police stations less forbidding

The police service in Northern Ireland has announced that it is planning to build six new police stations.

They will be located in Ballymoney, Cookstown, Craigavon, Downpatrick and Omagh, as well as Musgrave Street in Belfast city centre.

The stations form part of the police service’s estate strategy for the next five years.

Police said the extensive station improvement and maintenance programme would cost about £200m.

No final decisions

The aim is to deliver on the requirement of the Patten report that police buildings should be less forbidding, more user-friendly for the general public and more congenial for officers and support staff to work in.

Deputy Chief Constable Paul Leighton said that the strategy would involve a review of the number and viability of police stations.

This would lead inevitably to recommendations on station closures, he said.

However, he stressed that no final decisions had been taken on the 61 stations on the strategy’s review list.

He gave the assurance that where closure recommendations were made, local commanders would embark on a process of consultation with their communities on proposals and on the best way to deliver services locally.

Fit for purpose

There are 135 police stations and 56 other police establishments, including headquarters locations and training units.

Thirteen stations are more than 100 years old and 54 are more than 50 years old.

Meanwhile, police in west Belfast have announced that Andersonstown police station will be demolished in mid-February.

The station will close permanently on Sunday.

Police said Andersonstown police station, established in 1887, was no longer fit for purpose.

Grosvenor Road, Woodbourne and New Barnsley police stations will continue to provide a full policing service to the people of west Belfast, police said.

Irelandclick.com

Watery grave
Roads Service in no hurry to repair gaping hole in barrier that leaves motorists at risk

By Joe Nawaz

Local people say motorists using Annadale Embankment are dicing with death as damaged protective railing surrounding the river remains unrepaired and a line of red tape is all that is keeping drivers from the icy water.

Residents living in and around Annadale Embankment say they fear for the safety of motorists after the Roads Service’s delay in replacing a large section of the embankments railing.

A series of car crashes at the accident hotspot have exposed a gap of up to twenty feet in the embankment barrier, leaving future accident victims in real danger.

The damage has been flagged up with flimsy red tape and witches’ hats. According to locals, the spot has been in a state of disrepair for well over a week.

And with recent unpredictable weather conditions that have seen Belfast experience its heaviest snowfall for years, concern is running high amongst motorists and residents in the area.

One local commented: “It’s only a matter of time before someone else has an accident.

“I’ve seen some horrible crashes round here in the past, but with the railing missing, there’s nothing to stop a driver losing control and going over.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Regional Development said that the Roads Service was aware of the problem but there could be a delay of up to three weeks before anything could be done.

“The railings have been the subject of car crashes, causing them to be damaged, we are looking at the situation now and will have it repaired by February 15.”

IOL

**There is NO excuse for this. When a priest is involved in sex abuse, he needs put in prison along with those who would shelter him.

Priest allowed to continue working after sex case settlement

21/01/2005 - 12:02:19

The Bishop of Derry has confirmed that he allowed a priest to continue working in his diocese despite the fact that the man made an out-of-court settlement to an alleged sex abuse victim.

The priest was accused of making sexual advances towards an 18-year-old man after he visited a parochial house for counselling on sex abuse.

In a statement today, Dr Seamus Hegarty confirmed he was aware of the allegations against the priest and had allowed him to continue working in the Derry diocese.

The priest agreed to pay a five-figure sum to the alleged victim in an out-of-court settlement last October, with no admission of liability.

BBC

Omagh bomb conviction overturned

The only man jailed over the 1998 Omagh bombing faces a retrial after winning his appeal against the conviction.

Colm Murphy, 51, from Dundalk, County Louth, jailed for 14 years in 2002, said his conviction for conspiring to cause the explosion was unsafe.

At Dublin’s Court of Criminal Appeal, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns granted a retrial on two grounds relating to the evidence of detectives at his trial.

The Real IRA blast in the County Tyrone town killed 29 people and unborn twins.

Presumption of innocence

During the original trial, two gardai detectives were accused by a trial judge of consistent perjury in relation to interview notes.

On Friday, the judge said Mr Murphy’s appeal against the garda approach to interview notes used at his trial, and evidence given by two detectives in relation to them, was to be allowed.

Mr Justice Kearns added that Mr Murphy’s appeal against reference to his previous convictions at his original trial was also being allowed.

He said this represented an invasion of his presumption of innocence.

Mr Murphy had appealed against his conviction on 45 grounds, only two of which were accepted.

He was remanded in custody until he can meet bail conditions.

Mr Justice Kearns imposed a requirement of a 50,000 euro (about £35,000) cash deposit and two independent sureties of 35,000 euro (about £21,000).

He also ordered that Murphy surrender his passport, report daily to Dundalk Garda station and to provide the address at which he will be residing.

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden died in the explosion, expressed “total shock” at the news.

“All the promises made at than time from the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and the prime minister, nothing seems to have come of that,” he said.

He added that the relatives of the dead would keep on working to hold those responsible for the bomb to account.

“It seems to me now that’s the number of deaths the people in this country are willing to accept - 31 innocent people including two unborn children, and not one person being held to account for that.”

In separate court proceedings, two detective gardai, Liam Donnelly and John Fahy, who are accused of perjury relating to their evidence during Mr Murphy’s trial, were served with books of evidence at Dublin District Court on Friday morning.

They are both based in Carrickmacross in Co Monaghan.

It is understood a trial date will be set within the next eight weeks.

Belfast Telegraph

Where are the Colombia 3?
Supporters plan appeal to US-based body

By Ben Lowry
20 January 2005

The whereabouts of the three republicans convicted of training terrorists in South America remained a mystery today, as their supporters “actively” consider an appeal to a pan-American body.

Jim Monaghan, Martin McCauley and Niall Connolly have been on the run since last month, when they were sentenced to 17 years in prison in Colombia.

When asked today about the three fugitives, a spokesperson for Interpol, which operates in 182 member states, said the policing group does not comment on specific cases or individuals except in special circumstances and with approval of the member country concerned.

In December, an appeal court judged that the three Irishmen had given advice to the Farc rebel group, who have been implicated in killing hundreds of civilians in car bombings.

The trio, who were arrested in 2001, had earlier been acquitted of the main charges against them.

The head of the Bring Them Home campaign, Sinn Fein’s Caitriona Ruane, has insisted that she has no idea as to the whereabouts of the three fugitives.

She said today that there was no new information on Connolly, Monaghan or McCauley.

“We are currently exploring what court to take the case of the men to,” she said.

The main appeal option is the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, based in Washington DC.

The commission, which seeks to “promote and protect human rights in the inter-American system”, is an autonomous organ of the Organisation of American States.

The South Down MLA added: “We are actively considering the commission at present.”

Any legal efforts to overturn the Colombian court decision to jail the men are expected to last several years.

Belfast Telegraph

US will allow St Pat’s visit from Adams

By Sean O’Driscoll in New York
20 January 2005

The US government will not block Gerry Adams from attending the St Patrick’s Day festivities in Washington, a senior government official familiar with Irish issues has said.

His comments follow an article in the New York Sun newspaper which suggested that the Bush administration may try to block Adams from entering the US because of the Northern Bank cash heist.

US envoy Mitchell Reiss is looking forward to St Patrick’s week as the next possible chance for the US government to discuss the political situation with the political parties.

The official said that Adams and other Sinn Fein leaders will not be blocked from entering the US unless it can be shown that they were aware of the Northern Bank heist.

As he outlined in his inaugural speech yesterday, Bush is keen to be shown as a uniter in his second term and is very keen for any kind of foreign political settlement that can improve the US government’s standing as a peacemaker.

The US is, therefore, unlikely to block Sinn Fein leaders from travelling, and suffer the anger of Irish Americans, without clear evidence of wrongdoing supplied by the British government.

The official said the removal of rights to enter the US is not determined by membership of any specific organisation but is usually based on past criminal record.

Mr Adams would most likely not be banned from the country because of his known links to the IRA and would only be stopped if it can shown that he was still involved in criminal activity, he said.

US envoy Mitchell Reiss was unavailable for comment on the Adams visa issue.

BBC

Ruling due in Omagh bomb appeal

Colm Murphy was sentenced to 14 years in jail

An Irish court is due to rule in an appeal by the only person convicted in connection with the Omagh bombing.

Colm Murphy, 51, from Dundalk, County Louth, is claiming his 14-year prison sentence is unsafe and unsound.

He was convicted in January 2002 of conspiring to cause an explosion. The blast in the County Tyrone town killed 29 people in August 1998.

Two gardai involved in Murphy’s case have been charged with perjury and are due at Dublin District Court.

The Omagh bombing, which was later admitted by the dissident republican Real IRA, was the worst single atrocity in 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland.

Twenty-nine people died in Omagh bombing in August 1998

The Court of Criminal Appeal in Dublin reserved its judgement in Murphy’s case last month, but is due to rule on Friday.

During the hearing, a legal team for the Irish state said admissions by Murphy to gardai were “powerfully supported and corroborated by telephone evidence”.

The prosecution argued that there was no legal basis for claiming that alleged wrongdoing by one member of an investigation team invalidated an entire inquiry.

The Court of Criminal Appeal now has a number of options which include approving the verdict, ordering a re-trial or an acquittal.