SAOIRSE32

Sunday Life

Little hope of end to taxi wars

30 January 2005

Feuding loyalists predicted last night that lives would be lost in the bitter in-fighting between the LVF and UVF.

Dubbed ‘Taxi Wars’ - because of the destruction of cab drivers’ livelihoods - few with knowledge of the hatred between the terrorist groups predict a peaceful outcome.

The UVF is outraged that teenage LVF members, particularly in the Ballysillan area of north Belfast, are “torturing” their members, while the LVF is incensed at UVF gun-attacks on their relatives.

And, while some discussions aimed at arranging mediation between the factions have taken place, those involved agree that the city could witness a bloodbath in coming days.

If that happens and UVF members or supporters are killed, the organisation has vowed to launch province-wide retaliation against the LVF.

One senior north Belfast loyalist told Sunday Life yesterday: “The UVF has been planning a massive series of hits against the LVF across the province, if one of their members in north Belfast is killed.

“It wouldn’t just be north or west Belfast - it would spread to east Belfast and Holywood, Bangor and right into mid-Ulster, which the LVF regards as its heartland.”

While police saturate north Belfast, those attempting to mediate have an opportunity to try to bring both sides to the negotiating table.

But those involved in previous mediation attempts between the two paramilitary elements last year say the prospects of a peaceful resolution are “remote”.

Said another loyalist: “The UVF won’t recognise the LVF, and has geared up for a war with them.

“Meanwhile, the LVF has these teenagers - virtually youngsters - in north Belfast who the UVF fears are capable of anything.

“They say these kids are high on drugs and absolutely oblivious to the consequences of their actions, and will do crazy things.”

None of the senior PUP figures in north Belfast was prepared to comment on the record about this latest bout of feuding.

But one prominent figure said: “If I said what I think publicly, it would only fuel more trouble.

“We are angry at these wee thugs beating people on the streets, running drugs and operating brothels.

“The LVF is out of control - people won’t take any more of this behaviour.”

Jackie Mahood - a former leading member of the PUP - was forced to close his Call-A-Cab firm, because of repeated attacks on his drivers.

Said Mr Mahood: “I run a legitimate company, which complies with the law, and I am asking the forces of law and order to provide the protection, so I can run my business.

“Twelve of my drivers have had their vehicles destroyed or shot up since before Christmas.

“This isn’t a dispute between the UVF and the LVF - it’s about people trying legitimately to earn a living and having their livelihoods taken from them, and they associate this action with the UVF.”

The latest attacks - on the Standard taxi company’s drivers - has increased the misery and danger for cabbies working in north and west Belfast.

Added Mr Mahood: “I have had temporarily to close my business until my drivers get assurances that they can return to operate, without the dangers they have faced over the last month.

“I have been running a legitimate business for 20 years, including when I was in the PUP.

“The business was never attacked then by the UVF, but it is now. Why is that?”

Said another loyalist source: “Jackie’s taxi business is getting it at the minute from the UVF, and now other taxi firms are being dragged into it and it looks like ‘Taxi Wars’.

“But, at the heart of this, are the two UVF shootings before Christmas at what they saw as LVF targets, and the serious concern the UVF has about that young LVF element in Ballysillan.

“The UVF is very worried about what these young people would do in the future, and they have arrived at the position where they have to make a stand against this element, or they will be wiped out in north Belfast and their supporters, whether they are taxi drivers or tradesman, will be hounded out of the area and won’t be able to work there.”

The Loyalist Commission is understood to have had tentative discussions with both sides in the dispute, but no solid foundation for a truce formula has yet been devised.

No one from the commission was available for comment this weekend.

The UVF is a member of the Commission, but the LVF, created out of a split within the UVF in mid-Ulster, is not.

Tensions simmering since May

Since the UVF’s murder of LVF chief, Brian Stewart, last May, tension has been rising between the two loyalist terror groups.

Although a fragile truce was declared shortly after Stewart’s killing, violence has recently flared again in north and west Belfast.

The latest attack happened on Thursday morning, when the LVF was blamed for torching a taxi driver’s car, in the Silverstream area.

Although the UVF has been blamed for the most recent violence, the LVF has also been responsible for attacks since October.

At the time, loyalist sources claimed the son of a leading ex-UVF men was attacked by LVF men, after they accused him of breaking into pensioners’ homes in Ballysillan.

LVF bosses braced themselves for revenge attacks - and warned they would respond with deadly attacks on top UVF men, but there were no gun attacks.

It was the biggest crisis between the two groups since the UVF killed Stewart.

Just two months later, tension flared between the two paramilitary groups, after the first shooting incident since Stewart’s killing.

Local LVF units were furious after two UVF men reportedly fired shots at a car carrying young people - including the daughter of a senior LVF figure - in north Belfast.

The LVF demanded that the UVF dealt with the two gunmen - one of whom, they claimed, was the son of a former senior figure in the UVF.

But a UVF source said the incident related to the LVF pistol-whipping of a UVF supporter, and no action was later taken by the LVF.

In another incident, in December, a taxi-driver was lucky to escape with his life when gunmen hit his car, as Christmas shoppers stared in horror.

North and west Belfast had since remained relatively calm until the latest outbreak of violence last weekend.

Concerns that a bitter feud would erupt again emerged, when the UVF was blamed for throwing tar over a young mother in the Shankill.

Since the attack, the paramilitary organisation was blamed for a spate of petrol-bomb attacks - particularly on cab drivers.

A gun-attack on a north Belfast taxi depot yesterday was also being linked to the feud.

Staff were in the depot - at Ballysillan Road - when shots were fired at the front of the building, around 4.50am. No one was injured. A short time later, a car was found burning at Brae Hill Park, in the Oldpark area.

Police have appealed for anyone with information to contact them, on (028) 9065 0222, or Crimestoppers (0800) 555111.

BBC

Incendiary attacks ‘costing jobs’

Remains of firebomb was found in shop

Those responsible for planting incendiary devices in shops in Strabane are putting people out of work, an SDLP assembly member has said.

Eugene McMenamin’s comments follow the latest attack in which a viable device was found in a supermarket in the town.

Army bomb experts defused the device which was found in the premises on the Branch Road shortly before 0300 GMT on Sunday.

A number of items have been removed for examination.

Last Saturday, an agricultural supplies store in the town was destroyed by an incendiary device.

Mr McMenamin says the attacks are hurting the community.

“At a time when many people are doing their utmost in promoting our town there are those who are hell bent trying to destroy it,” he said.

Dissident warning

“Last weekend we saw 20 jobs lost in an incendiary attack on a major store in Strabane. This weekend we could have seen up to 70 jobs lost with this latest incendiary attack.

“Thankfully the devices were discovered. But what on earth are those responsible trying to achieve? The only thing they will do is put many people out of work in an area were every job is very important.”

Police have urged shop owners in the area to check their premises thoroughly both during trading hours and before they close for the day.

The latest attack follows a police warning that dissident republicans may be planning fire bomb attacks across the north west.

The police say businesses in Londonderry, Coleraine, Strabane and Ballymena should review their security.

They have also appealed to the public to be extra vigilant and to immediately report anything suspicious to the police.

Dissident republicans were linked to a spate of fire bombings which destroyed several stores across the province last month.

At least 16 devices were discovered in Lisburn, Newry, Antrim, Londonderry, Newtownabbey and Ballymena in the run-up to and throughout the Christmas period.

Sunday Life

Compo claim shipyard man in Lords move

By Joe Oliver
30 January 2005

A former shipyard worker is to petition the House of Lords after Appeal Court judges stripped him of a compensation pay-out in a landmark asbestos case.

Lawyers representing James Maguire are already preparing papers to seek an appeal hearing, which could have widespread implications in Northern Ireland.

Mr Maguire, who worked at Harland and Wolff’s Liverpool base during the 1960s, didn’t suffer any ill-effects himself from asbestos exposure.

But his wife, Teresa, was diagnosed with mesothelioma - an incurable cancer of the lining of the lungs - after being exposed to asbestos dust while washing her husband’s work clothes.

Teresa died, aged 67, last May, shortly after a High Court hearing in Manchester ruled she was entitled to £82,000 in damages.

But, by a majority of two-to-one, the Appeal Court ruled last week that it was “not reasonably foreseeable between 1960 and 1965″ that a wife would be at risk of personal injury.

Mr Maguire’s solicitor, Paul Glenville, of Oldham-based firm John Pickering and Partners, said the reversal of the damages award against Harland and Wolff was “devastating”.

He added: “We were refused leave to appeal to the House of Lords, so our next step is to petition for a hearing.

“The paperwork will be complete within the next few weeks and I believe we will succeed because the Appeal Court was split.

“As it stands at the moment, all secondary exposure cases before 1965 are unlikely to succeed.”

Belfast solicitor Martin Hanna, who specialises in asbestos cases, said the Appeal Court decision was “potentially catastrophic”.

He said: “In the course of the next 20 years, the vast majority diagnosed with this condition [mesothelioma] will be secondary exposure.

“I’ve had three cases this week, two of them from secondary exposure, so it is going to affect a lot of people.

“Civil actions are the only route for these people and the most unjust aspect of the asbestos scandal is that there was no Government scheme to compensate them because they were not actually employed by anybody.”

slnews@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Sunday Life

Judge who probed Bloody Sunday may have had Alzheimer’s

By John Hunter
30 January 2005

Lord Widgery - the senior judge who chaired the controversial first Bloody Sunday Inquiry - may have been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease at the time.

Medical evidence now suggests that the former Lord Chief Justice was suffering from early-onset dementia, when he led the probe into the 1972 killings in Londonderry.

Widgery died of advanced Alzheimer’s, in 1981.

Medical experts say that, nine years earlier, he would probably have lacked the intellectual ability to conduct the inquiry effectively.

Widgery’s performance as sole chairman of the inquiry has been relentlessly criticised, and nationalists have branded his report a whitewash.

Much has been made of the fact that when appointed by Edward Heath, the then Prime Minister advised him to remember that “we were in Northern Ireland fighting not only a military war, but a propaganda war”.

During the inquiry, Lord Widgery himself examined only 15 of 500 eye-witness statements submitted.

Forensic evidence on weapon-handling was inadequately tested and the discrepancy between soldiers’ original statements on January 30, 1972 and their testimony at the hearings never surfaced.

Widgery exonerated paratroopers of everything apart from being “reckless”, but found there would have been no deaths if there had not been “the illegal march”.

In the 1960s, Widgery had been distinguished by his mental clarity and ability on the Bench.

But in the 1970s, until he was finally persuaded to resign in 1980, his handling of cases became increasingly controversial, and it was well known in legal circles that he was suffering from dementia.

Following his death, one year after his retirement, one newspaper obituary bluntly noted that “dementia had rendered him incapable of performing the job” (as LCJ) for some years.

His successor, Lord Chief Justice Lane, was later said to have done “a decent job of clearing up the mess left by Lord Widgery”.

Sunday Life

Bid to KO Shoukri fight

30 January 2005

The organisers of a charity boxing night involving north Belfast UDA ‘brigadier’ Andre Shoukri still hope to stage the event despite a campaign to scupper it.

Following controversy over the event last week, both the Elim Pentecostal Church and the Hospice for Sick Children withdrew their support for the fight-night, planned for the Ballysillan Leisure Centre next month.

One of the fiercest critics of the project, Belfast Alliance councillor, Naomi Long, was unrepentant yesterday.

“I think this is a distasteful event and has no merit,” she said.

Ms Long said she didn’t question the integrity of the church, or the Hospice, but added: “I would encourage people to give money to the Hospice, but the money being offered comes with a price and that price is too high.

“The issue is whether or not this is being used to sanitize the image of someone associated with loyalist paramilitaries.

“How would the families of victims feel?”

Pastor Brian Madden of the Elim Church, in Alexandra Park Avenue, accused some elements of the media of misrepresenting the church’s role in what was to be a fundraiser for the Children’s Hospice.

“The event was planned in good faith by a local businessman,” he said.

“It is our view that the giving up of something to help the needy is for all, and not just a selective few, and this has always been the case in Northern Ireland charitable events and elsewhere.

“Unfortunately, on this occasion the good intentions of many have also been misrepresented,” he said.

Sunday Life

Hunger vigil spy backs spooks

By Chris Anderson
30 January 2005

An ex-KGB double agent - who is staging a hunger strike opposite 10 Downing Street - is backing a campaign by disgruntled former Ulster spies.

Viktor Makarov, 50, whose has gone without food for 46 days, is demanding defector status, the right to work, and a pension for his services spying for Britain.

The Russian says his case is similar to that of a group of ex-Army spies, in Northern Ireland - including the double-agent ‘Kevin Fulton’ - who claim they have been abandoned by the military.

“Like me, they risked their lives for the British,” said Mr Makarov.

“Now, instead of receiving our promised financial packages and new identities, we have all been thrown to the wolves by the Intelligence Services.

“I am totally behind the soldiers who worked undercover in Northern Ireland,” he added.

Makarov huddles each night in a small tent on the pavement opposite Tony Blair’s London home.

He sips nothing but tea, which he heats in a small kettle on a camping stove.

The ex-KGB officer spent five years in an old Soviet labour camp between 1987 and 1992, after being convicted of being a traitor.

He had worked in the KGB’s 16th Directorate, decoding intercepted diplomatic cables from NATO, before becoming disillusioned and agreeing to spy for the British.

He moved to England following his release, but claims the British reneged on promises to give him an MI6 pension and defector status.

Four years ago, he was given a one-off payment of £65,000 and a house in Bournemouth, where he lives on state benefits.

But Makarov says he needs a better standard of living and specialist medical treatment.

“Russia will never forgive me, and I will not give in until the British authorities honour their promises to me’, he said.

Sunday Life

300 ’spies’ in Ulster lose jobs

By Sunday Life Reporter
30 January 2005

Police and M15 commanders have axed up to 300 undercover agents across Ulster, since last summer, Sunday Life can reveal.

Security sources have revealed the full extent of the cutbacks, which have saved around £1.25m per year.

The agents, who were supplying information on terror groups, were receiving an average retainer of around £350 per month, plus bonuses for key information.

Critics say the cuts have seriously weakened the ability of the security forces to gather information on paramilitary gangs, including the IRA, which has been officially blamed for the Northern Bank heist.

Sunday Life understands that senior PSNI and MI5 commanders took the decision to ‘deactivate’, or stand down the agents, late last summer. The move followed a reduction in terrorist activity, and last year’s relatively peaceful ‘marching season’.

But, sources claim that a lack of available finance was the major factor for the cuts.

Undercover agents are commonly known in intelligence circles as Covert Human Intelligence Sources or CHIS’s.

It is understood the majority of axed agents were operating within paramilitary organisations, in the Greater Belfast area.

Others are understood to have infiltrated groups in the Derry, Ballymena, Craigavon and Omagh areas, where they provided information on a range of terrorist activities, including drug smuggling and fuel laundering.

The decision to dump the agents has angered a number of Special Branch officers.

One retired police officer described the move as “premature and ill-judged”.

“The CHIS’s is an essential tool of Special Branch and MI5,” said the ex-officer.

“The axing of some 300 sources, and the loss of the intelligence they provide, is a massive blow. Some of these people have been working for years.”

A spokesperson for the PSNI said:

“While we do not comment on details of intelligence, the PSNI, like all police services, continually reviews its sources of intelligence to ensure they are fit for purpose.”

slnews@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Sunday Life

Suffer the children -
15-year-old girl has been placed on a UVF hit-list

by Stephen Breen
sbreen@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
30 January 2005

A 15-year-old girl has been placed on a UVF hit-list

Cops have given terrified schoolgirl Kerrie Cromie, from Ballysillan in north Belfast, her own bulletproof vest after warning her loyalist terrorists are planning to kill her.

They are determined to silence the teenager, after she survived a previous shooting - and vowed to give evidence against the gunmen.

Last night, traumatised Kerrie told Sunday Life: “My family’s life is in turmoil at the minute, but I am determined to see the men who tried to kill me in court.

“I know their names and have passed them on to the police. They are now walking the streets, while I am in hiding, because I have been warned these people will kill me.”

Sunday Life met Kerrie and her mum Margaret after they decided to go public about their nightmare.

Speaking to us from a secret location, the teenager said the threat against her has nothing to do with the latest feud in north and west Belfast, between the UVF and LVF.

The teenager’s ordeal began when a two-man UVF gang fired a shot at a car she was travelling in, on December 2.

Two men were questioned about the shooting, but were later released by cops.

The intended target of the shooting was north Belfast community worker Jim McClean, who is a close friend of her family.

Two weeks later, the UVF was blamed for firing shots at a house, in the Flush Road area.

It is understood the gang had intended to target a property Kerrie regularly visited, but targeted the wrong address.

And the family claims the UVF have also fired shots at Kerrie’s older brother.

One of the UVF gun gang members is now believed to be in hiding in England.

Since then, Margaret, Kerrie and her three brothers have been in hiding.

The brave schoolgirl also told how she has:

-Been kept out of school.

-Received a panic alarm from cops.

-Had graffiti daubed, labelling her an informer.

-Been forced to stay in safe-houses.

-Become hooked on anti-depressants.

Said Kerrie: “I am no PSNI tout or LVF tout, but I am determined to stand in front of an identity parade and identify the two men who tried to kill me.

“Even though I am living in fear, and my family’s life has been turned upside down, I have spoken to my mother, and we are determined to go ahead with this.

“I know who tried to kill me and I told the police who it was, but I can’t believe they are still walking the streets.

“My mum was disgusted with the police response to my case.

“I’m just praying for the day when I can see them in court, but until then, my family will have to be on its guard.

“We have no life now, and if it wasn’t for our family and friends, I don’t know where we would be. I won’t rest until these people are behind bars.”

David Ervine, leader of the UVF-linked PUP, said he would be happy to meet with the family to discuss their concerns.

DIFFICULTY

Said Mr Ervine: “I have no difficulty in talking to this girl’s mother, but I know absolutely nothing about this case.

“I can’t imagine this girl being on a UVF hit-list.”

A police spokesman said: “We can confirm that two men were questioned about a shooting in Ballysillan on December 2. They were released, pending a report.

“We are not in a position to comment on the individual security of citizens, and would appeal for information about this attack.

“If anyone has a complaint to make regarding a police investigation, they should contact the Police Ombudsman.”

The threat against the 15-year-old comes in a week when the UVF was blamed for a series of petrol-bomb attacks in north Belfast, and the intimidation of six families in Ards.

The revelation that a young girl is under a death threat will place even more pressure on the PUP.

Why I’m so proud of my courageous daughter

Brave Kerrie Cromie’s mum last night hit out at the UVF thugs who have placed her on a hit-list.

Margaret Cromie (40) has vowed to stand by her daughter’s decision to testify against the two men she claims tried to kill her.

Said the mum-of-four: “There’s no doubt about it - our backs are against the wall because of this whole thing.

“Why would anyone want to kill a teenager? My daughter is no paramilitary, and my family have never had any paramilitary links.

“The only thing she did was tell the police who tried to kill her, and I am very proud of her for doing this. I will stand by her 100 per cent.

“We have been forced to live in different homes, but that’s all we can do at the minute, because we are worried that these thugs could attack us.

“My daughter remains determined to stand in front of an ID parade and tell the police who tried to kill us. It’s her decision, and I respect that.”

The north Belfast woman also hit out at the police response to her daughter’s case.

She said: “I am disgusted with the police investigation into this. I can’t understand how two men who tried to kill an innocent girl are still walking the streets - it’s scandalous.

“I have lost four stone over this whole thing. People have been put in custody for lesser offences. I know the police questioned these boys, but they should be behind bars, instead of running around without a care in the world.”

RTE News

Gardaí investigate garages in bank probe

30 January 2005 09:21

Gardaí are investigating 50 garages countrywide to try to find clues about the getaway van used in the Northern Bank robbery.

The Sunday Business Post has reported that special branch officers are co-ordinating the investigation with all 26 divisions in the Garda Síochána.

The newspaper also reports that detectives revealed that surveillance on suspected IRA members has been stepped up significantly since the raid on 20 December in Belfast.

The getaway van is seen as the best source of providing clues.

Sunday Independent

**At last, something true in the Irish Not-So-Independent

McAleese spoke for me - and I’m not sorry

I REMEMBER

receiving a flying-kick to the stomach on my way home from school. I still remember the grey-black mitts on the hands of a guy who was wearing them as he punched me repeatedly. I remember the spittle that I would regularly locate by running my fingers through my hair, the suspicion that I had attracted a bit of “incoming” being proven correct once again.

I don’t remember getting knocked unconscious, being hospitalised for five days and losing a day out of my life. But that happened too.

Generally though, I like to think that I carry my wounds rather lightly - a brief mention to show that I have suffered, a lingering little gaze into the middle distance, followed by a breezy apology to my companion for going-on so about the bloody North while her gin and tonic is finished, and she hasn’t had the chance to tell me anything about herself.

I was surprised then to find myself so pleased by Mary McAleese’s comments on Morning Ireland. I knew that she would be forced to apologise, but I was still glad that she had said them.

Frankly, it’s nice to have the fact that you had the shit kicked out of you simply because you were a Catholic acknowledged now and again. Inevitably, Protestants were not quite so pleased with the President’s remarks and equally inevitably she had to apologise because of the offence that they took.

However, that doesn’t mean that she was wrong; which again is not the same thing as saying that sectarianism doesn’t flourish among both religions in the North.

The thing that made Protestant sectarianism so dangerous was that it combined a state-based system of discrimination with an irrational fear of the perceived enemy within.

‘I always got the feeling that Protestants hated us a lot more than we hated them’

People who hold massive power but still fear those over whom they wield that power tend to be very dangerous indeed.

One should of course be dubious about a Catholic who tells you that Protestant sectarianism was much worse than Catholic sectarianism, but leaving aside the fact that one was, by its very nature, more potentially dangerous, I always got the feeling at school that Protestants hated us a lot more than we hated them. I remember when I was about 16, a group of about 10 of us were returning from a school sports day - apologies for the incongruity - when we were ambushed by a group from a Protestant school firing an impressive barrage of rocks, stones, and broken-up fencing with nails in it.

A tactical retreat was necessitated and we made our way towards our school by a different direction. Within a minute or so, however, we came upon a single pupil from another Protestant school. Somebody jostled him but was immediately told by the group to leave him alone, as he had had nothing to do with the attack. It’s no big deal of course, but looking back on the incident it does seem an immensely restrained response from a group of teenagers who had been in pretty serious danger moments before.

I am certain that many Protestants could tell their own stories of sectarianism - and the Troubles was no cake-walk for anybody - but equally I didn’t get my beatings because of my attackers dislike for the Smith nose - which my brother once had re-arranged because of his own affinity to the Pope.

So while I am not exactly voiceless, I was glad to hear Mary McAleese speak out for me, even if middle class Northern journalists now living in Dublin must rank somewhere lower in her list of priorities than being an advocate for the homeless. And I don’t really care if the Orange Order were offended.

BreakingNews.ie

IMC to back Orde’s bank heist verdict

30/01/2005 - 15:03:00

There will be more trouble ahead for Sinn Fein with a report from the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) expected to blame the IRA for the pre-Christmas robbery of the Northern Bank in Belfast.

The independent watchdog set up to oversee decommissioning and paramilitary activity is expected to back up claims from the PSNI and the Taoiseach that the IRA was behind the massive raid.

The IMC will issue its report within the next fortnight.

Meanwhile, it is being reported that the gardaí are searching 50 garages around the country in the hunt for clues about the getaway van used in the robbery.

The Sunday Business Post claims that all 26 divisions of the gardaí are involved in the investigation.

Irelandclick.com

New Lodge tower blocks: Time for action, not words

This week Children’s Commissioner Nigel Williams voiced his disbelief at the conditions that children and their families are living in after he visited the tower blocks in the New Lodge.
Like the many other politicians and political representatives who have went before him, he has witnessed first hand what many families go through on a daily basis.
Nearly 140 children live amongst the seven tower blocks in conditions more akin to Victorian times than the 21st century.
Mothers told the Children’s Commissioner of how their children suffered from low self esteem, lack of confidence and personal skills, asthma, speech difficulties and about the high number of children with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD).
We fully welcome the fact that Nigel Williams will take his findings to the Housing Executive.
But how many politicians, political representatives and others need to keep telling the Housing Executive what it must already know – that these children and their families deserve much better.
No one expects the HE to swoop into the flats in an early morning raid and move the children and their families to new homes overnight.
Everyone involved in this from the parents and politicians to those in the Seven Towers Committee fully understand that this is not the case, but when will the Housing Executive start to do something about it?
The Executive’s own rules state that families with children should not be housed in flats above the fourth floor yet there seems to be an abundance of them in the New Lodge towers.
Again this brings into question the Executive’s North Belfast strategy and why after so many years of being promised the sun, the moon and the stars it is still only a dream to those people stuck on the housing waiting list in North Belfast.
This newspaper and housing campaigners in the north of the city have long been campaigning for things to change.
Every person who backs that campaign is a plus, and we thank Nigel Williams for taking the time to come to this part of the city to see the conditions which he himself admitted shocked him deeply… even after working as a councillor for inner city London.
But the time for people backing the cause is long gone and the time for some positive and immediate action to kick into place is now.
It’s time for Paddy McIntyre to come out and explain on the pages of this paper to the people of North Belfast in detail what the Housing Executive’s plans are for those children, families and pensioners who live in housing that’s completely unacceptable.
Today we offer the Executive’s chief executive a platform in next week’s paper to do just that.
The only question left is – does the Housing Executive actually have a plan? The people of North Belfast not only expect but also deserve much better and it’s high time that someone, somewhere got their finger out and put a plan into action that will help the dire housing situation on this side of the town.
The time for talking is over… it’s now time that some visible action takes place to combat what has been the scourge of nationalist North Belfast for a long, long time.

Irelandclick.com

Editorial: No going back to the policies of a failed past

Enemies of this community – and there are many – are fond of describing straightforward statements as threats. But it is no threat, simply a bald statement of fact, when we say that if the British and Irish governments think that going back to the bad old days of discrimination and exclusion is a viable option then they are very badly mistaken.

Read our lips: it is not going to happen.

There is no doubt that we find ourselves at a pretty pass: painstakingly constructed political edifices stand or fall on the word of unelected members of the PSNI and the Independent Monitoring Commission and crucial political decisions are taken on the basis of information that we are told absolutely nothing about.
Sinn Féin has to hold its hands up and say that it’s much-vaunted negotiating and political skills have failed to save us from a kind of Orwellian nightmare wherein the fundamental basics of natural justice and fair play have been disappeared and in their place we have government by an anti-republican consensus. This should never have been allowed to happen. There’s not much that republicans can do when their sworn enemies inside the British and Irish governments use the unproven word of their sworn enemies inside the PSNI to act against them. But when the IMC issues its next report – early, no doubt – and another round of unacceptable and inflammatory sanctions are put in place, then we’re entitled to ask, how the hell did that come about? If Sinn Féin didn’t sleepwalk into it, then there’s a case for arguing that the full implications of this extra-Agreement bolt-on weren’t appreciated at the time. It seems clear that we are going to have to act decisively and robustly to ensure that our mandate is recognised and that all our elected representatives are able to represent us without let or hindrance. Imaginative thinking on how best to do that will have to begin now, not months down the line when the forced post-Northern Bank consensus has moved to set up whatever rickety regime the NIO advises them they can get away with. It seems clear, for instance, that the local and Westminster elections will be held on the same day in May. Bertie Ahern has already said that he is not in favour of sanctions in the wake of the £26m robbery – we should at the very least be requiring that anyone who knocks on our doors looking a vote has said the same thing, and put it in writing. Because when Bertie says that he’s against sanctions, he’s saying it in the full knowledge that it’s got damn all to do with him. If the British want to move against Sinn Féin using the fig leaf of another nonsensical IMC report, then they’ll do it. But only if there are nationalists willing to fill the empty seats, which, depressingly, doesn’t appear out of the question at the moment. There seems to be a heave within the SDLP against the Durkan/Hume wing – suggestions that some elements within the party would be happy to represent nationalists and republicans on some kind of cut-and-paste Executive from which Sinn Féin is excluded. That this monumental folly is even being spoken of within the party is evidence of how little some people have learned from our recent history.

Irelandclick.com

SF say no thanks to Sheriff invite

Belfast’s new High Sheriff will be sworn in at 2pm on Friday at the City Hall – but Sinn Féin have decided to avoid the event.
UUP councillor for the Castle area, David Browne, will relish his new duties as protector of the monarch’s interests, a largely ceremonial role which Sinn Féin have dismissed.
Sinn Féin Councillor Michael Browne told the Andersonstown News of Sinn Féin’s position in relation to the role: “The position of High Sheriff is not one that we support. It essentially involves protocol and ceremony and there really is no practical work involved unless you count escorting members of the British royal family when they visit.
“Naturally this really isn’t a position that Irish republicans would be interested in.”
Michael Browne said that the party did receive an invite to the event which made a change from previous years. “Last year, for example, it was DUP councillor Ruth Patterson who held the position and we weren’t invited to the swearing-in ceremony.
“Davy Browne, however, is one of the more approachable members of the UUP and Sinn Féin have always had a civil relationship with him even if there wasn’t always a perfect working relationship.” He added that the party wish Councillor David Browne well.
“Although we don’t support the position on a political level, we wish Councillor Browne well and wish him success because we know that he will cherish the office.”
The office of High Sheriff ranks third in the Council hierarchy after Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor. The Local Government (Ireland) Act of 1898 provided for the position which runs for one calendar year.
It is largely accepted that the role now confers virtually no power and is merely a tradition.

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

Parishioners ‘dismayed’ at ticket allocation as 40 are invited to reopening of St Peter’s

Parishioners of St Peter’s have spoken of their dismay this week after an announcement that only 40 tickets have been allocated to the lower Falls parish for the Solemn Re-Opening of St Peter’s Cathedral and Dedication of the New Altar.
Closed to the public since July 2003 for refurbishments, St Peter’s Cathedral is set to open its doors again on Sunday, February, 6 with a Mass at 3pm for 750 invited guests who will include religious representatives and parishioners from the other 83 parishes which make up the Diocese of Down and Connor.
An evening Mass will also be held on Sunday, February 6 at 8pm and, says Monsignor Toner of St Peter’s Cathedral, all are welcome to attend the service.
But speaking to the Andersonstown News, a resident of the parish, who did not wish to be named, claimed that he and many others felt that this exclusion from the special dedication Mass was unfair, and added that the church’s failure to invite those who have provided on-going support to the Cathedral, not least in its recent refurbishment, is an insult to all who have spent their lives in service of the church.
“This is reminiscent of a similar situation 40 years ago. The altar was replaced and the parishioners weren’t invited to the re-opening and as a result the church lost half of its congregation,” said the parishioner.
“It should be the young people from schools and youth clubs who fill out the seats for the opening Mass, because they are the future of the church.
“Many of the people who will attend the dedication will never be back to St Peter’s and it is ridiculous that the people who are part of the parish are to be excluded in favour of them,” added the angry parishioner.
Monsignor Tom Toner confirmed that only 40 tickets would be allocated to St Peter’s parishioners, something he described as “regrettable”. He added that the church now faces the unenviable task of trying to distribute these in a fair and even-handed way.
“We’ve had many queries on the matter in the past two or three weeks and parishioners need to be sympathetic and understand that St Peter’s isn’t just a parish church, it is the Cathedral Church of the Down and Connor Diocese.
“There are 84 parishes in the Down and Connor Diocese,” added Monsignor Toner, “and every parish contributed, some handsomely, and yet we have been allocated far more tickets than anyone else. I can very much understand the disappointment of parishioners,” said Monsignor Toner, “but there will be an evening Mass at 8pm so that all who want to join in the celebrations can do so.
“We are now faced with the task of distributing the tickets and are unsure of the best way to do this. We don’t want to choose, because in choosing we are rejecting those not chosen. We want to do this as equitably as we can,” concluded Monsignor Toner.

Journalist:: Ciara McGuigan