SAOIRSE32

Belfast Telegraph

Cash given to help asbestos victims’ centre

By Heather Simpson
04 February 2005

A Northern Ireland charity which supports the victims of asbestos has been handed almost £10,000 to help launch a respite centre in Belfast.

Justice for Asbestos Victims was given £4,500 by the TSB bank and £5,000 by the Lottery Fund to start an information office offering help to sufferers and their families.

Chairman of Justice for Asbestos Victims, June Brown, said: “The money will go some way towards opening an office to offer advice to victims of the disease and their families. But my vision is to open a respite centre to help those affected psychologically.”

June’s husband Robbie Brown started the charity in 2002 before he died from asbestos-related lung cancer in 2003.

Since then the voluntary charity has guided its 300 members on everything from medical information to the law.

Asbestos has been widely used in the shipbuilding industry - resulting in a legacy of serious health problems.

Last week the Appeal Court in London overturned a decision to award £82,000 in damages to a woman who died from secondary exposure to asbestos last year.

The court said that Harland and Wolff were not liable for Teresa Maguire’s death after she was exposed to her husband’s work clothes.

June Brown said organisations should be held accountable.

She said: “They knew they had asbestos but they didn’t make people aware. It’s scandalous what happened.”

Belfast Telegraph

**Maybe we could get them to exorcise the peace process :p

Exorcism experts urged for Irish dioceses
Priest wants help with ’strange happenings’

By David Quinn
04 February 2005

Every Catholic diocese across the island of Ireland should have a specialist who can assess possible supernatural occurrences such as “poltergeists, hauntings and demonic infestations”, according to a priest who is an expert on spiritual issues.

Father Pat Collins made the call in the current issue of the religious periodical, The Furrow.

He also said that a special conference to discuss these issues is needed which would bring together theologians, psychologists, parapsychologists and experienced exorcists which would aim to “explore this aspect of ministry”.

Fr Collins, who has written books on spirituality, said he regularly receives calls from people around the country reporting “strange happenings” in their homes.

“They range from footsteps, sounds of crying, smells, objects moving, to electrical appliances going on and off.”

He wrote that his usual practice is to refer such people to their local priest for help, but that they would “recount how the priests they had spoken to had either dismissed their stories in a sceptical manner, said Mass or prayers in the house without any discernible effect, admitted that they were not competent to help, or referred them to someone like myself.”

Fr Collins said that as a result of this lack of response from most priests, many Catholics are instead turning to “New Age practitioners, spiritualists, psychics and other non-Christian helpers”.

He wrote that the Catholic Church needs to find a more systematic way of responding to queries about possible supernatural phenomena and to this end each diocese should appoint a specialist or expert in the area.

“Those who want to deal effectively (with reported supernatural occurrences) need to be au fait with psychology, the paranormal, the notion of the restless dead, and the possibility of infestation by evil.

“Like good doctors, they diagnose what the nature of the problem is, and then try to come up with an appropriate remedy.

“Not all priests would be expected to know about such things, any more than all doctors would be expected to know all about rare diseases.

“Good doctors refer difficult medical cases to specialists.

“Surely priests should be able to refer difficult cases, to do with such things as poltergeists, hauntings, and demonic infestation, to diocesan specialists. Otherwise those who are afflicted may have recourse to New Age practitioners, spiritualists, psychics and other non-Christian helpers,” he said.

Fr Collins called for a conference designed to pool knowledge of the area. And he said that many Christians have given up belief in the supernatural because of the influence of secular ways of thinking.

unison.ie

Garda chief rules out investigation into bombings

THE Garda Commissioner yesterday ruled out the reopening of the investigations in to bombing atrocities in the State including the Dublin and Cavan blasts which killed five people over thirty years ago.

Commissioner Noel Conroy told TDs and senators he could not see how the gardai could now advance in any way the investigations conducted in the early 1970s.

He was speaking to the Special Oireachtas Committee examining the Barron Report in to the bombings of 1972 and 1973.

Three busmen were killed in two blasts in Sackville Place and Eden Quay in the early 1970s and two teenagers lost their lives in a bomb in Belturbet, Co Cavan in 1972. There were also 10 other bombs and three murders in the state in the early 70s and these are now being examined by the special Oireachtas Committee.

“I would not want to build up hopes of the relatives of the victims. I can’t see how we could advance in any way the investigations conducted then. It would be very wrong of me to give false hopes and linger on with an investigation,” the commissioner said.

“My professional viewpoint is I don’t see how we could be in a position to develop the investigations any further. I’m sorry to say it,” he said.

But the Commissioner did say he would appoint a liaison officer to speak to the families of the bereaved and go through the garda files on their behalf. And any questions they had would be answered but it might be difficult in relation to intelligence matters. Mr Conroy said the gardai could “give indications” of what the intelligence was at the time in relation to the crimes.

He said, like the families of the victims, he would like closure in the cases. He had looked at the files and he could see where the investigating officers had run in to difficulties which could not be overcome.

Referring to the 1972 Eden Quay and Sackville Place bombings, Mr Conroy said 319 written interviews are recorded on the Garda investigation file.

When asked about an anonymous call at the time linking five people to the bombings Mr Conroy said he found nothing to support putting evidence before the DPP.

Ann O’Loughlin

Examiner

Time to listen to Republican anger

04/02/05

The IRA is sick of being blamed for everything which goes wrong in the peace process and recent developments reflect that, writes Danny Morrison.

THE statement issued yesterday afternoon by the IRA, the second in 24 hours, represents an ominous development and a major deterioration in the peace process.

Unlike Wednesday night’s lengthy exposition of the IRA’s analysis on what went wrong last December when a deal foundered, Thursday’s statement was terse and suggested that the talking had finished. Republican frustration and anger has been building for some considerable time.

Certainly, where I live, in the heart of Gerry Adams’s constituency in west Belfast, there is a feeling that each and every time republicans have made concessions the goalposts are shifted by unionists, often with the support or tolerance of the two governments.

The majority of Northern nationalists, who voted for Sinn Féin, are of the view that the governments are hypocritical and operate double standards. Elements of the two governments are hostile to Sinn Féin for different reasons. Some, on the British side, are still fighting the war by other means; are out to destroy the Adams leadership and would consider a split in the IRA and a return to conflict as a major success which would allow them to finish off the organisation.

Political parties in the Republic, particularly Fianna Fáil, never anticipated the success of Sinn Féin and its potential. Their concern is now a real factor in perversely affecting Dublin government thinking and using the current crisis to lambaste a domestic rival instead of coolly assessing what is a complex situation.

Republicans cite the list of compromises they made to help make peace: Sinn Féin changing its constitution to recognise a Northern Assembly; supporting the amendments of Articles 2 & 3 as a concession to unionist sensibilities; compromising and accepting the Patten proposals on new policing; the IRA suffering a split over the issue of engaging with the International Decommissioning body (IICD), which led to the formation of the Real IRA; the IRA putting three large tranches of weapons beyond use; and offering total decommissioning of weapons by Christmas, independently witnessed by Protestant and Catholic clerics.

But Patten was gutted during its legislative process. The old Special Branch migrated into the PSNI. There has been no Bill of Rights. Outstanding changes on criminal justice and equality have been stalled. The strictest electoral laws in Europe were introduced on the back of false allegations of mass personation by Sinn Féin only for Sinn Féin’s vote to increase.

Republicans recall David Trimble being found guilty in court of illegally excluding two Sinn Féin ministers from North-South council meetings yet he suffered no sanctions. Unionists refuse to accept the Decommissioning Commission’s word on arms even though it was set up for them. David Trimble reneged on the deal for the re-establishment of the executive in October 2003.

When at Christmas the anti-Agreement Ian Paisley blocked the peace process by demanding the total humiliation of the IRA, its wearing of sackcloth and ashes, the two governments caved in. They didn’t threaten the DUP. They didn’t look for an alternative ‘government of the willing’ of pro-Agreement parties, in the way they would now like to establish a gerrymandered coalition if they could recruit the SDLP.

The governments went along with the unionist demand for transparent evidence of IRA decommissioning. But when republicans politely asked for transparent evidence of IRA involvement in the Northern Bank raid new rules of confidentiality kicked in.

And now republicans are told by the two governments that the only obstacle in the way of peace is the IRA. That is such a blatant lie.

But it is a pretext for the British rolling back the Belfast Agreement and nationalists are angry that they are being thwarted once again from achieving their rights.

The IRA which re-emerged in 1969 because nationalists were left defenceless has not gone away and won’t go away until the security of the nationalist community in the North has been established and guaranteed and republicans are free to use established institutions to peacefully campaign towards unity.

The two governments have always calculated that the IRA cannot return to armed struggle without Sinn Féin paying a heavy price.

Undoubtedly, because there is a degree of association, Sinn Féin’s vote would suffer. However, the reason why a return to armed struggle would be foolhardy, in my opinion, is because it would be a return to a military stalemate.

However, the IRA defies conventional analysis. If it decided there was a case to be made for a return to armed struggle it would go down that road without regard to the post 9/11 perception of the world.

It has always been easier for the governments to blame the IRA than to face up to what Britain created in Ireland at the time of partition a sectarian state which refused to treat a section of its citizens as equals.

A major political vacuum looms. Hope is evaporating.

People feel desperate. All depends on whether the governments listen to what is being said.

Danny Morrison was national director of publicity for Sinn Féin from 1979 until his arrest in January 1990 in connection with the abduction of Sandy Lynch, an IRA informer, for which he was sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment.

He was a spokesman for Bobby Sands during the hunger strikes. He is credited with coining the phrase “an armalite in one hand and a ballot box in the other.”

Examiner

IRA threat triggers war fears

Harry McGee, Political Editor
04/02/05

THE IRA last night made a veiled threat to return to war with an ominous statement warning the Irish and British Governments: “Do not underestimate the seriousness of the situation.”

In what was described as a deeply sinister development for the unravelling peace process, the two-line statement accused the governments of playing down the importance of the statement issued the previous night, where the IRA said its offer to decommission all its weapons was off the table.

It also allegedly both Governments were “making a mess of the peace process”.

The statement was issued to RTÉ just before 6pm last night. Although not appended with the usual P O’Neill signature, it came through established IRA channels.

The only public response from the Government was made by Finance Minister Brian Cowen who said the Government fully understood the seriousness of the situation. “I do not know what (the statement) means. The signatories of these statements are not amenable to any form of democratic accountability.”

However, reliable Government sources last night said the statement was worrying as it was as close as the IRA have come to threatening a return to violence and could signal a dangerous change in dynamic.

The sources did not dismiss the possibility that the IRA was merely reasserting its credentials and authority to its supporters after being antagonised by the widespread downplaying of its previous statement.

Speaking earlier in the day, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said he didn’t read the statement in a negative fashion and portrayed the withdrawal of the offer to destroy weapons as a fact that followed the breakdown of negotiations. It is also believed that the Provisional movement was influenced by PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde’s comments that the IRA had the capability of returning to war but not the intent.

The sources went on to say that the second statement allied to the harshness of criticism made earlier in the day by Sinn Féin representatives sent out mixed signals that were hard to interpret but might signal Sinn Féin putting some distance between the party and the Provos. It is certain that there are divisions within the republican movement in the current climate. In the worst scenario, it could mean the political side of the movement can no longer control the situation or, worse, it may indicate a possible return to violence.

The statement followed a day of unusually hard-hitting comments from Sinn Féin, even in the context of the recriminations following the Northern Bank robbery. In several interviews, party leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness declared that Sinn Féin would no longer be willing to act as a conduit or interpreter for the IRA a departure that some interpreted as the party placing a clear gap between itself and the IRA.

“The IRA will speak for itself and Sinn Féin will speak for ourselves,” said Mr Adams and, in a stark message to both governments, he warned that confrontation was “not the way forward, otherwise the peace process could be as transient as Mr Blair’s time in Downing Street”.

Mr Adams labelled Mr Ahern’s linking of Sinn Féin politicians with criminality as a “disgrace”, while Martin McGuinness lambasted the Taoiseach as Michael McDowell’s “poodle”.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said last night that the statement was “tantamount to a threat against the Irish people and our State”.

He called for political parties to stand firm against “this attempted intimidation”.

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte condemned what he called “IRA belligerence.”

Last night, a Government spokesperson rejected one view being posited that the IRA statement was actuated by a new tone of moderation by Mr Ahern yesterday, which flew in the face of his previous stern criticisms of the Republican movement. The spokesperson said that while Mr Ahern had been critical, he had persistently argued against Sinn Féin exclusion from the process.

BBC

Searching for craic on the web

Ice cream lovers can type in “poke”

A linguistics expert has been drafted in to help with an internet search engine which recognises Northern Ireland slang.

Dr Alison Henry of the University of Ulster has provided consultation on the type of words users may type into the website.

Colloquialisms such as gutties, craic, poke and bog will be recognised on the search engine Yell.com.

It has looked at slang words used in areas across the UK.

It said people from Northern Ireland living in Ipswich would be able to find opticians by typing in ‘gleckers’, which is slang for glasses.

Dr Henry, a professor of linguistics and author of Belfast English and Standard English, said: “Language plays an important role in Northern Ireland’s culture and our local linguistic colloquialisms are much loved.

NI COLLOQUIALISMS
Bevy/scoop = Drink
Gutties = Trainers
Poke = Ice-cream
Offees = Off-Licence
Bog = Toilet
Piece = Sandwich/Slice of bread
Craic = Entertainment/Fun
Chippy = Chip shop

“People in Northern Ireland have a great sense of pride both in knowing and using these local colloquialisms in everyday conversation and it is great that in the digital age Yell.com acknowledges this.”

The search engine said it was on the hunt for other suggestions and was launching a radio competition to find local words people would like to see added.

The company’s Eddie Cheng said it was a recognition of the diversity of language in the UK.

“But we realise we’ve just scratched the surface in terms of the extent of regional dialect and that’s why we’re encouraging people to go to Yell.com with their own suggestions,” he said.

Irelandclick.com

Tributes flood in from across the country for Brendan Bradley, who died on Monday of this week

TRIBUTE BY:
Mina Wardle, Director of Shankill Stress and Trauma Centre
“If there’s one tribute we would have, is that he gave us so much support. We were both members of a group, which advised the government and the then Minister Adam Ingram from a victims’ perspective, between 1998 to 2000.
“We represented both areas, and we knew that we didn’t want a hierarchy of victims, so from when I first met Brendan I knew there was an affinity there already.
“He was the first person to have the names of the 4,000 people who had died in the conflict, from both communities on all sides. I thought he was very brave.
“He was so au fait with all the issues working-class people had. Brendan accepted everybody for what they were and he reached out to all communities. He was most definitely a one-off.
“His own troubles I think spurred him on, he knew what victimhood was at first hand.
“And he spoke with great authority of what people suffered and he knew all the issues and problems they faced.
“Survivors of Trauma is a great tribute to Brendan in that it went from a very small group to such a well-respected and listened-to body.
“We have lots of calls from people asking about Brendan from across the community. I think he’s left a lovely legacy for his own children.
“He never broke faith with his own community and yet he understood street politics and could represent all victims, all at the same time.
“Brendan is one of those special people that you don’t meet very often. In January 2004 at the Slieve Donard Hotel in Newcastle, Brendan told his own story and it was so poignant.
“We’d heard Brendan’s story before, but we’d never heard it that way before.
“He told his own family journey in such a way that everyone identified with it. He touched the hearts of an awful lot of people. I will miss him, and our group will miss him terribly.”

TRIBUTE BY: Staff at Survivors of Trauma
“Working with Brad was both enjoyable and challenging. He had so many ideas for the work he carried out in the centre and also for the wider community. Some were small things with a big impact others were huge like training up young people in construction to build homes in the community.
“We would often feel that we were working with the scarlet pimpernel – one minute you would see him, the next he was away to one of the many meetings he attended.
“In the mornings he opened the centre and put the kettle on and as soon as we came in he would say “tea or coffee love”. It was a nice way to start the day.
“This would follow with a lengthy lighthearted discussion on the recent news stories and what was going on in the community. A couple of cuppas later and the vocal chords were well lubricated we each would go about our jobs with much slagging and banter – mostly from the man himself.
“Brad greeted everyone who came into the centre with a smile and made them feel at home. No one left feeling unwanted and many returned.
“He would sit in the coffee area and tell stories about everything under the sun all with a joke and a smile. There were times when he was even a clairvoyant, but only to the unsuspecting which give people a lot of laughs.
“You rarely ever saw him without a film or TV crew, groups of students or professionals listening intently to the stories of his life and the many views he had about the society he lived in.
“He knew about everyone in North Belfast who had died as a direct result of the conflict and spoke of them all with compassion – they were more than just a name on the memorial – they were people who had a life and a family.
“We were not just people who worked together we were friends who laughed together, cried together, fought together and Brad was the glue that held us all together.”

TRIBUTE BY: Pat Convery
“Brendan Bradley was a man who was deeply concerned for his family and community as well as being a friend to all who asked for help.
“I am glad that I met Brendan and over the years we developed a good and positive friendship while working together on various projects especially the Survivors project from the beginning and through to its conclusion.
“Yes like everyone else we had our differences and disagreements but he was always prepared to talk to you the next day and everyone who required help was treated equally without favour.
“One thing that his family can be proud of was that he was prepared to be different regardless of any criticism and he was able to fit in to any situation whether it was meeting a government minister or talking to residents in the local community.
“It is regrettable that his untimely death will have left many of his ideas incomplete.
“I would like to pass on my condolences and that of my family to his wife Rosaleen and family circle and to say that it was a privilege to have known and worked with Brendan.
“I have lost a true friend.”

TRIBUTE BY:
Michael Liggett, Ardoyne Focus Group
“Where do you begin to try and write a tribute to Brad? The shock of his sudden death will only be apparent from his absence at committee meetings or when you need him to give you a lift or to be that much-needed presence when negotiating or mediating. Brad was an all rounder.
“We worked together on building sites, learned music and the Irish language together. We stood together in the pouring rain collecting for Conradh na Gaeilge.
“He was there when the Brits and peelers used to hassle young men and women on the streets of Ardoyne. He even showed us how not to be bullied by them.
“There were good times as well. I remember him enjoying himself as he shared the stage with Shebeen or even as he played the fiddle or bodhran at a session. Or even the day he got drunk at my wedding. He enjoyed people and his greatest ability was organising.
“The campaigns he was involved with are countless and his profile as a community leader is without blemish. Brad got involved with the Ardoyne Fleadh from its inception. His involvement with the Fleadh helped him realise the importance of organising the community, an activity which he continued to the best of his ability right up to his untimely death.
“He had been in bad health but numerous scares with his heart never slowed his determination to get a good deal for the community.
“The shock of his parting still hasn’t sunk in. While he will be greatly missed by us all, his imprint on the entire district will be with us for many years to come.”

President of Ireland pays tribute to “good friend”
The President of Ireland Mary McAleese has sent a message of heartfelt condolences to the family of Brendan Bradley.
Describing Brendan as her good friend, the Ardoyne born President praised his life-long commitment to cross-community work in Belfast’s interface areas.
“Work of this kind is often the toughest and the stresses and strains, unimaginable,” said an t-Uachtarán.
The President of Ireland was unable to attend the funeral at Holy Cross on Thursday morning but she sent an aide-de-camp Captain Lorraine Fahy to represent her office. President McAleese paid a visit to the Community Development Centre on the Cliftonville Road in February 2000 which Brendan was chairperson of.
During that meeting, the President along with her husband Martin met with community workers to discuss ways in which the community sector was helping society recover from the trauma of the past 30 years.
She praised people like Brendan Bradley who pioneered cross-community efforts and peace-building projects.
“People like Brendan and countless others had the vision and imagination to see that we could obliterate the win-lose ethic of the past and replace it with a new generous doctrine of trust, respect and reconciliation,” Mary McAleese said at the time.
This week, President McAleese also conveyed her sympathies to all those organisations with which Brendan Bradley was involved.

TRIBUTE BY: Holy Cross Priest Fr Gary Donegan
“Brendan was one of those people who realised how important the themes of suffering and victimhood really were. Considering the personal pain he and his family went through, Brendan threw himself into it even though some would have avoided it.
“He was very level headed about everything and many thought he was older than what he was. His wisdom will be greatly missed as will his maturity in tackling sensitive matters and the underlying trauma.
“He was involved in bringing consolation to others, even though he lost his own nephew through suicide. Determined to highlight the issue, he got involved in lots of work with young people with groups across the area.
“He was a real friend in every way, and he had a dry sense of humour which had people in stitches. When I first arrived at Holy Cross, there had been violence on Alliance Avenue and even in the midst of great diversity, and the area being riddled with gun fire, there was great humour.
“The fact that the President is sending a representative shows the esteem in which Brendan was held. People from the Shankill and his own community have been paying tribute ever since the word spread about his untimely death. Brendan transcended all of the barriers life throws at us here and instead threw his life into reconciliation. He was an example to all of us.”

TRIBUTE BY:
Reverend Bill Shaw
“I’m still trying to come to terms with Brendan’s sudden death and like so many people I’ve talked with in the last couple of days – people who knew him better and longer than me – have my own thoughts about the sort of man he was. Everything I’ve heard merely confirms my own ‘first impressions’.
“I had met Brendan not long after I started 174 Trust at a meeting – can’t remember now what it was about because he, like me, was involved in so many different and diverse initiatives.
“I continued to bump into him over the years – particularly in connection with the negotiations around the Holy Cross dispute – and came to know him as someone who refused to allow personal tragedy and hurt to embitter him but was always willing to work with anyone and everyone to improve things for those he represented – often people struggling to cope with their own pain.
“Brendan will be sorely missed by all those working to make this part of our city a better place.”

TRIBUTE BY:
Sinn Féin MLA Kathy Stanton
“Brad was a dedicated and committed person the proof of which was reflected in the work he carried out without hesitation in his community and beyond.
“Brad not only spoke the word inclusiveness but also genuinely practised what he preached. He made contacts and spoke passionately about his people at a period during the conflict when all others demonised our community.
“His courage shone through at all times to ensure all working-class people had a voice and could bring about the true meaning to the words ‘a better quality of life’.
“Personally he will be a hard person to replace and I wish to extend my sympathy to his wife and children on their great loss.
“Thankfully they will have treasured memories of their father and husband who contributed greatly not only for the betterment of their lives and for all who knew him but for the people in North Belfast, especially those who suffered the ultimate price of losing their loved ones.
“I am proud to have worked with him and will never forget the sincere and committed man he was.”

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

First Irish school funded by BELB opens

It was a celebratory day for the pupils of a North Belfast Irish primary school this week after it became the first Irish medium school to be funded by the Belfast Education and Library Board.

The great news followed a hectic year in 2003 when the students had to leave their home in St Patrick’s school in North Queen Street.

But now Bunscoil Mhic Reachtain (McCracken primary) can now call the former Fredrick Street nursery home and the kids are delighted with their new surroundings.

When the school had to vacate the premises at St Patrick’s, Presbyterian minister Bill Shaw threw open his doors and temporarily housed the youngsters while classes continued.

And principal Seamus O Donnghaile said the local naiscóil An Lóiste Úr and a new nursery in the grounds of Glengormley’s St Enda’s GAA club had bolstered numbers at the school.

BELB chief executive David Cargo and chairwoman Carmel McKinney were at the school for its official adoption into the BELB fold.

David Cargo paid tribute to the school’s inclusiveness.

“The board was looking at the concept of controlled status. We have majority protestant schools that are controlled, we also have catholic schools and we have integrated schools,” he said.

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

Agonising wait for a grieving family

No-one charged with May Street murder as family told they may have to wait until Tuesday before body is returned

The Belfast family of murdered Short Strand man Robert McCartney may have to wait up to another week before the body of the father-of-two is released for burial, it has emerged.

The latest news will only compound the grief of the McCartney family.
Mr McCartney’s parents had returned from holiday to hear the news of their son’s fatal stabbing outside a city centre pub.

Mr McCartney was drinking at Magennis’s Whiskey Café in May Street at around 11pm on Sunday night with friends when a fight broke out and spilled into the street. He was found unconscious in Cromac Street but died later in hospital.

31-year-old North Belfast man Brendan Devine was also seriously injured during the fracas.

Deputy Mayor of Belfast, Joe O’Donnell, extended his sympathy to the grieving man’s family and said the whole Short Strand community was still in shock from the murder.

“The family is obviously distraught at the moment and my deepest sympathies go out to them.

“This man went out for a drink with friends and ended up dead. I just don’t know how they are coping,” said the Sinn Fein councillor.

Last night a PSNI spokesperson said no one has yet been charged or is currently is being held in custody relation to the incident.

Seven people so far have been questioned and released without charge.
Allegations of PSNI ‘heavy handedness’ and of the ‘politicisation’ of the murder of the Belfast man have been rife, after a series of raids on homes of former republican prisoners in the Short Strand area. “I am in no way trying to take away from the grief of the McCartney family, they have my total sympathy at this time, but the fact remains some of the raids carried out by the PSNI have been politically motivated,” said Cllr O’Donnell.

He added: “The PSNI are politicising Bert McCartney’s death.”

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

SF criticise anti-collusion group ban

Sinn Féin has criticised a decision to ban the anti-collusion group An Fhírinne from a “diversity” week at the University of Ulster campus at Jordanstown.
The groups were forced out despite the presence of a stall for the PSNI and the university promoting the British army in recruitment drives in the past.
Belfast city councillor David Kennedy met with representatives of the university’s student union, public relations office and Provost Bill Clarke regarding the removal of a one-day anti-collusion display.
But the university said though it supported a request to have it removed it had not banned the exhibition.
“The display highlights those who have been victims of state collusion, which was given the go ahead before Christmas by the UUJ Students Union,” said Cllr Kennedy.
“However, when the exhibition went ahead we were told by the Union to remove it with the excuse that some people found it offensive.
“That is despite nationalist students finding stalls for the PSNI and British army offensive, but they weren’t removed.
“On the day the PSNI had a stall only a hundred yards away. This flies in the face of any form of even-handedness and exposes the university for denying a human rights organisation access to the campus.”
A university spokesman said the exhibition had “offended the neutrality protocol”.
“There were many dozens of posters. Physically the exhibition took over the foyer. The media had been invited and there were some family members there without prior permission.”
He also defended the presence of the PSNI saying they were there to “disseminate public safety information”.

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

Meehan attacks MI5 website’s loyalist

Sinn Féin has branded an MI5 website that refers to loyalists being “vigilante” groups as “a nonsense”.
The information contained on the web page of the British intelligence community says that loyalists originally came into being to protect their communities from republican attacks.
“Loyalist vigilante groups were originally formed in the 1960s and 1970s to defend their neighbourhoods in Northern Ireland against republican violence,” the website says.
It goes on to say, “but (they) swiftly developed into terrorist organisations”.
An angry Martin Meehan said, “they are trying to turn history on its head. Everyone knows what happened here in the 1960s, but this so-called British intelligence organisation seems to want it recorded another way,” he said.
“What happened to Peter Ward and the assassination of John Scullion.
“There was no republican campaign at that particular time.”
John Scullion and Peter Ward were Catholics murdered by the UVF in 1966.
UVF leader Gusty Spence and two other men were jailed for their part in the murder of Peter Ward outside a bar in Malvern Street in the Shankill area.
“Then in 1969 it was the UVF who blew up the water pipelines to blame it on republicans and how can you tell the hundreds of Catholic families burned out of Hooker Street, Herbert Street and Brookfield Street that their attackers were vigilantees.
“That side of the Crumlin Road was burned down by B Specials supported by their Orange hordes before any republican campaign.
“These are people who are trying to turn our history on its head.”

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

IOL

One in three live in poverty in North

04/02/2005 - 09:58:34

Nearly a third of the North’s population is living below the poverty line according to shock details released today.

Studies of poverty showed there was a higher proportion of families in poverty than in either the Republic or in Britain.

Academics at Queen’s University Belfast have found that 185,000 households - more than 500,000 people - were living below the poverty line.

Poverty was measured by two yardsticks: low income and deprivation – having to go without things which the public regard as necessities of life, such as enough money to pay heating, electricity and telephone bills on time and new, not second-hand, clothes.

Professors Paddy Hillyard and Eithne McLaughlin were detailing their findings at a seminar of senior social scientists and police-makers meeting in Belfast to explore how far the British government is succeeding in abolishing child poverty, reducing social exclusion and improving equal opportunities in the North.

Brought together by the Economic and Social Research Council, the UK’s biggest funder of social research, the seminar was examining the distribution of income, benefits and tax in the North.

The academics’ reports showed that children and families in the North were more deprived than their counterparts in Britain.

Professor Hillyard said the North was one of the most unequal societies in the developed world.

He added: “The challenge for Northern Ireland and local politicians is how to reduce these deep fractures of inequality and create a more just society.”

Professor McLaughlin said lone parents in the province face particular difficulties because of low levels of job opportunities for women generally, combined with low pay and lack of early years provision.

Random Ramblings from a Republican

Celebrating the Countess’ Birthday!

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Guardian

Who gains from this breakdown?
The British and Irish governments have reason to undermine Sinn Féin

Niall Stanage
Friday February 4, 2005
The Guardian

The Irish peace process, which just two months ago seemed inches away from a final settlement, is in turmoil. The current downward spiral began in late December, when a raid on a Belfast bank netted its perpetrators £26m. Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern wasted no time in declaring that the IRA was responsible for the heist. They have stuck with that position since, though they have not produced a shred of evidence to back up their claims. The two premiers this week characterised the IRA as “the sole obstacle” in the way of progress.

The IRA responded in kind on Wednesday, declaring that further decommissioning was now “off the table”. While reaffirming its desire to see the peace process succeed, it also warned, ominously, that current circumstances had “tried our patience to the limit”. That statement, in turn, provoked an outcry from Irish republicanism’s opponents. Ian Paisley, the leader of the hardline Democratic Unionist party, said that the IRA had “never had any intention of giving up their criminal empire”.

The peace process has passed through moments of peril before, of course. But now, all forward momentum seems lost. Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness spoke yesterday of a “deepening crisis”.

Two things have remained true of Northern Ireland since the worst years of the Troubles. First, things are rarely as they appear. Second, it is always vital to ask whose interests are served when unsupported allegations are flung about.

There are three possible explanations for the bank raid which precipitated the current mess. It could have been carried out by the IRA with the approval of the Sinn Féin leadership; or by freelancing current or former members of the organisation; or by someone else entirely, possibly someone who would like to see Sinn Féin ostracised and republicanism’s political progress halted.

The British and Irish governments clearly favour the first explanation. Their vehemence has fuelled the notion that they must have cast-iron evidence. Perhaps they do. But why, then, have they not produced any of it? In order to believe that the likes of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness were complicit in the bank robbery one must make a series of assumptions that make no sense.

The current republican leadership has invested two decades in the peace process. They have nothing to gain from its failure. Why, then, would they give tacit approval to a massive bank raid? Even if the perpetrators were not caught in the act, Adams and McGuinness would know that suspicion would fall upon them. And they would know that such suspicion would in itself be potent enough to wreck the project to which they have dedicated much of their lives.

It is more plausible to believe that individuals who are, or were, members of the IRA carried out the raid for personal profit. But if that is the case, why should the 300,000 Irish nationalists who vote for Sinn Féin be punished in response? One thing is not in doubt. It is Sinn Féin’s opponents who can reap most benefit from pinning blame for December’s robbery on republicans.

Attributing blame to republicans for the current impasse also gets Paisley off the hook. Many people believe that he kiboshed a possible deal on decommissioning at the end of last year: the IRA had offered to disarm fully, but Paisley demanded photographic evidence and made a provocative speech in which he demanded the IRA don sackcloth and ashes.

This would not be the first time a unionist leader has been saved from international condemnation by a flurry of allegations against republicans. Those who regard such talk as conspiratorial nonsense might recall that in late 2002, David Trimble was finally beginning to take flak for his intransigence - until sensational allegations of an IRA/Sinn Féin “spy ring” emerged. Almost all charges relating to that affair were eventually, and quietly, dropped. But Northern Ireland’s devolved government has never been resuscitated.

The Irish government has good reasons of its own to blacken Sinn Féin’s name. Adams’s party is on the rise in the Irish Republic. It has five members of the Irish parliament and its first MEP from the south, and continues to threaten the establishment parties, Bertie Ahern’s Fianna Fáil in particular. What better way to put a stop to Sinn Féin’s gallop than to paint it as deceitful and nefarious?

Many Irish republicans were always suspicious of the peace process. They believed that the British government and the unionists were interested only in their defeat, not in genuine political progress. They believed they would be drawn away from the armed struggle, only to be frozen out politically. Recent events give them ample reason to say “we told you so”.

· Niall Stanage is a correspondent for the Dublin-based Sunday Business Post

niallstan@hotmail.com

Guardian

Sinn Féin and Dublin in grudge match

After IRA withdraws decommissioning offer, Republicans are furious with Irish PM for accusing leaders of approving £26.5m bank job.

Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Friday February 4, 2005
The Guardian

On the Falls Road, someone had scribbled “IRA is the best” in marker pen on a wall. Other more light-hearted graffiti, “Gerry, Gerry give us a loan”, had turned up elsewhere.

Steven, an unemployed coalman who voted for Sinn Féin, was in a pensive mood. “The IRA were right to withdraw the offer on decommissioning.

“What else could they do? It’s the only playing card they have and they had no option but to use it,” he said.

He did not believe the IRA had carried out the £26.5m Northern Bank robbery. It was MI5 or “British dirty tricks”.

He had served time in prison for membership of the IRA and said a mood of frustration had taken hold of republicans who, a decade after their first ceasefire, saw no sign of the Stormont assembly sitting.

“The ceasefire won’t be broken - this leadership wouldn’t go back to war now - but the younger generation could run out of patience,” he said.

Others in this republican area were not so sure the IRA’s hands were clean. “It had to be a big organisation that robbed that bank, didn’t it?” sighed a woman who would not be named. “They are very silly withdrawing the decommissioning offer. The majority of people round here just want peace. We don’t want our kids going through what we did.”

The IRA’s statement that it was withdrawing its offer to decommission all weapons is a gambit that has been tried and tested before.

It broke off contacts with General de Chastelain’s decommissioning body in October 2003 after a deal with the Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble collapsed, but returned to the table when the atmosphere changed.

But the threatening tone of the new statement is of a different order. It is seen by some as a return to the old instinct of the armalite in one hand and the ballot box in the other, a reminder there is still an awkward stable of unhappy paramilitaries to be squared.

There is a more crucial difference. The enemy is not the unionists or even Downing Street, but Dublin, and this is what seems to have made republicans jittery.

Sinn Féin seem to have been taken by surprise by the vehemence with which the Irish prime minister, Bertie Ahern, has turned on them after police blamed the IRA for the bank robbery.

It is now no longer simply a struggle with British government, but a grudge match within nationalism. Mr Ahern has been scathing in the Daíl, linking the IRA to a series of multi-million pound cigarette and other robberies as well as punishment attacks.

He has effectively said Sinn Féin and the IRA are one and the same. What is more, he has got personal, claiming that both Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness knew the bank robbery was being planned while they negotiated with him to end IRA activity.

The other Dublin parties have rolled in behind him to denounce Sinn Féin, accusing it of refusing to play by the rules of democracy.

Sinn Féin’s wounded response was illustrated last night by Mr Adams lashing out at the “criminality” of what he called the republic’s culture of political backhanders and brown envelopes.

Mr McGuinness attacked Mr Ahern for playing electoral politics, saying even more forcefully than before that the robbery was the “work of criminals who have nothing to do with the IRA”. He talked of “malign forces” at work, accusing Dublin of listening to London’s intelligence rather than its own.

All this has happened against a backdrop of rising republican violence. The IRA has been blamed for an upsurge in brutal new forms of punishment beatings across Northern Ireland as it flexes its muscles against young undesirables. This week a senior republican was arrested and questioned about a bar fight murder in the staunchly nationalist Markets area of Belfast. As police moved in to do searches, they were pelted with bricks, stones and bottles by youths.

The new siege mentality within Sinn Féin was caught by the first front-page headline of Daily Ireland, the republican all-Ireland newspaper launched this week. It asked: “House raids and harassment to replace handshakes and dialogue?”

Republicans denied that a split in the IRA between hardliners and political strategists had led to withdrawal of a decommissioning offer.

One ex-republican prisoner in West Belfast said the pessimistic mood was the worst in 10 years, with republicans angry that their efforts in the peace process had not been recognised.”The IRA is getting blamed for everything. When dissident republicans throw paint over a kid in Falls Road, the IRA is blamed.”

Another source in west Belfast said there were serious differences in opinion in the movement about whether the peace process was working.

There is no palpable fear in Northern Ireland that the IRA will return to violence. The chief constable, Hugh Orde, repeated his claim that the IRA had the capacity and the capability to return to war, but not the intention.

Most believe that Sinn Féin’s international statesmen and strategists could not countenance a repeat of an act like the Canary Wharf bomb in the post-September 11 world.

Anthony McIntyre, a former republican prisoner and commentator, said the IRA’s withdrawal of its decommissioning offer was “about a process of brinkmanship, about throwing the rattle out of the pram. It creates a difficult atmosphere. Sinn Féin wants to give the impression they are victims.”