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IOL

IRA patriots, not gangsters: McLaughlin

04/03/2005 - 11:15:39

Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin has rejected a suggestion put to him in a radio interview that the IRA are “a bunch of gangsters”.

He was being interviewed today on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

When asked whether he would accept that the IRA are “a bunch of gangsters”, he said: “No, of course not. I think that they are people who are patriots. That is not to ignore the fact that they make mistakes and sometimes very very horrific and tragic mistakes.

“But in the main I think that the people of Ireland recognise in the long history of the IRA that we are dealing with patriots.

“But my view is that we have come to a juncture in politics in Ireland, and indeed in the relationships between Britain and Ireland, where this issue can now be resolved by entirely peaceful and democratic means, and that is the role and the lead role that my party Sinn Féin is playing.”

Mr McLaughlin was asked whether anyone with information about the McCartney murder or the Northern Bank raid should contact the police.

He said: “Sinn Féin have a view that the British government have not yet delivered … on police reform. And a majority of people in the north of Ireland within the nationalist and Republican community support Sinn Féin’s view.

“Nonetheless, Sinn Féin fully supports, unambiguously supports people making available any evidence or any information that would lead to the judicial process that will give the McCartney family the justice they deserve.

“So, if you can go to the PSNI, do so. If you have difficulty with going to the police service, then go to other reputable, authoritative bodies, including the Police Ombudsman.”

Belfast Telegraph

Brave Oksana steps towards brighter future
Frostbite victim makes remarkable future

By Nigel Gould
04 March 2005

They were only a few steps . . .

But that short descent down a flight of stairs at Musgrave Park Hospital proves brave Oksana Sukhanova has already climbed a mountain on her long, long road to recovery.

Looking extremely fit and well, she has no difficulties in walking.

Indeed, her progress has been nothing short of miraculous.

Within days of receiving her new legs at Musgrave’s renowned limb-fitting centre, she was walking short distances with the aid of crutches.

Inside two weeks, she had thrown away the crutches.

Now, she is walking up and down stairs - with ease.

And in an interview with the Belfast Telegraph today she speaks of how she is looking forward to getting on with life.

At the beginning of the year, Oksana had to have her legs amputated after suffering frostbite while sleeping rough on Ulster’s streets.

The incident sent shockwaves across the community - and offers of help flooded in.

But today in the Telegraph, Oksana says: “I have always been determined and I am still very determined.”

Oksana revealed how she is taking daily English lessons and adds: “I want to stay in Northern Ireland.

“I hope to stay here and get a job.”

Belfast Telegraph

McCartney suspects put up wall of silence

By Jonathan McCambridge
04 March 2005

Ten people arrested over the murder of Robert McCartney have exercised their right to silence, police today revealed.

Detective superintendent George Hamilton today made a fresh appeal for information about the fatal stabbing of the father-of-two in January.

He said that some people who witnessed the killing are not coming forward with information because of fears about what might happen to them in their community.

The murder outside a Belfast bar has been blamed on the IRA, which has expelled three members after an internal investigation.

Mr Hamilton said the suspension of seven Sinn Fein members last night over the murder was not his concern.

He said: “For some people the murder of Robert McCartney has become a political issue but for the PSNI it is about much more than that - it is about the murder of the father of two young boys.

“The expulsion or suspension of people from political parties is insufficient for the police, what we need is for people to feel comfortable enough to provide evidence to the PSNI.

“Of the 10 people that have been arrested, they have exercised their legal right to remain silent and not to engage with us during the interview process.

“That means us as Serious Crime Branch in the Police Service of Northern Ireland relying heavily upon people who are witnesses to this murder to come forward and provide evidence to us.

“That is what we need. We need people to provide statements to the police in the first instance and then follow that through and be prepared to give that evidence to a judge in open court.

“Those people also need to feel comfortable that having made those statements, that they can return to their own communities and live in their own homes in safety, without fear and without intimidation.”

The senior officer also said that protocols had been set up with the Police Ombudsman whereby people could approach her with information.

Police today released a new appeal poster calling for anyone who was in Magennis’s Bar on January 30 to come forward.

They are also looking for the owners of a light coloured four-door saloon, possibly a Mercedes, and a beige and white jumper which were found in the area.

Sinn Féin

Opening address to 2005 Ard Fheis -Martin McGuinness MP

Published: 4 March, 2005

I would like to begin by welcoming delegates, visitors and guests to the 2005 Ard Fheis - on this the 100th anniversary of our party.

The last few weeks have been very difficult. Difficult for republicans and difficult for those we represent - the republican communities who have supported and sustained the republican struggle over the years. These communities know, from first hand experience why the struggle was necessary, and they know at first hand, the sacrifices that have been necessary to get us to where we are today.

I want to directly address those communities this evening.

For them, what is important is not the endless debate about whether Gerry Adams and I were in the IRA. Or whether people believe us or Hugh Orde about the Northern Bank robbery.

No. What is important to them is whether they can believe in us — believe in us when we say we are committed to true equality; believe in us when we say that we are against criminality of all kinds; believe in us when we say that our commitment to the peace process is total and absolute

What pains me the most about the last few weeks is not the criticism from the two governments, our political opponents, the media and those unionists who are so clearly delighted to have an excuse for their intransigence. We are used to that and we can take it

What pains me the most is any suggestion, suspicion or indication that the IRA could be turned into a criminal gang or a tool of individual interest, or otherwise engaged in criminality. And in that context I am both outraged and saddened at the involvement of a small numbger of IRA volunteers, in the brutal killing of Robert McCartney in Belfast 4 weeks ago.

So let me be clear. The murder of Robert McCartney was wrong - and let me be absolutely clear this was a grievous crime. It is wrong, it should never have happened and it is wrong that those who witnessed the murder should be intimidated in any way. And the McCartney family are absolutely right when they say that those responsible should be held accountable for their actions and should make themselves accountable for their actions. I again urge all of those involved in any way to admit their role and to make themselves accountable in court.

We cannot allow republicanism to be diminished in this way. To do so would be a betrayal of our struggle, of our own personal commitment, of the hunger strikers and of those brave republicans who selflessly gave their lives and liberty for a noble and worthy cause.

The speedy response of the IRA to the involvement of its members in the killing of Robert McCartney is in stark contrast to years and decades of cover up by the British government around collusion, shoot-to-kill, torture, Bloody Sunday, the Dublin Monaghan bombings. I could go on and on.

But the lessons of the last few weeks go wider than that — and painful as it is, we as republicans have to face the reality that there is a crisis of confidence that could destroy the Good Friday Agreement.

In December we got close to a historic agreement that would have put violence behind all of us forever. We were cheated only by the insistence of the unionists on the humiliation of the IRA.

I am not prepared to let our struggle be demonized, or to be caught in a downward spiral that leads inexorably to a return to violence.

Instead, republicans are determined to find a way, however difficult and challenging, to put all conflict and violence behind us all for good; to see all weapons put beyond use; to prevent criminality; to participate in policing on the right terms; and to pursue a purely political, peaceful and democratic path to the Irish unification that every one of us wants to see.

We have had made momentous progress in building towards Irish unity in the 12 months since we last met at an Ard Fheis. One of our most successful moments of the last twelve months was of course the election of two MEPs Mary Lou Mc Donald in Dublin and Barber de Brún in the 6-counties. And of course with Pearse Doherty coming close to taking a third, combined with the massive increase in our representation on local councils across the South positioning our party to make great gains in the next General election in this state sent shockwaves through the political establishment. The radical alternative to the politics of partition and conservatism, north and south that Sinn Fein represents was endorsed by a growing number of people across the island.

Sinn Féin - Céad Bliain d’aois - A century of struggle

November 2005 marks the 100th anniversary of Sinn Féin and the Party is planning a year of events to celebrate.

The themes of celebration will be extensive and highlight aspects of struggle that have not previously been sufficiently recognised, such as the contribution of women in the republican struggle over the last 100 years. We will be recognising and incorporating into our celebrations the growing ethnic diversity of our nation and the contribution these new communities have made and will make in the future to Irish society.

This year will be about delivering the republican message to every part of the island and the purpose will be to encourage more and more people to take possession of their own destiny in order to bring to a conclusion the journey mapped out by those visionaries who founded Sinn Féin in 1905.

Green Paper - Irish Unity

Sinn Féin launched a discussion paper recently calling on the Irish government to produce a Green Paper on Irish Unity. We are calling on the Office of an Taoiseach to take the lead in this discussion and to include as far as practicable all parties on the island.

We have an historic opportunity for broad civic and political society across this island to address the core issue that has sustained conflict and division, discrimination and second-class citizenship since partition.

Key to Sinn Féin’s strategy is developing discussion with the unionist community on the impact of Irish unity. It is imperative that we engage in this discussion, particularly with unionism. Unionists are locked into a historical context in the sense that they have seen change as somehow threatening and not being in their interests.

We want unionists to engage in the debate from their own unique perspective.

A Green Paper commissioned by the Office of an Taoiseach would set the scene for a non-threatening discussion ahead of periodic border polls, which are provided for by the Good Friday Agreement.

This is an issue that the Irish government should take forward. We are not the only party on this island with a stake in this project. But it is, uniquely, our political priority. Other parties, particularly those who define themselves as post-nationalist regarded the 1998 Agreement as a settlement. Sinn Féin sees the Agreement as a transitional arrangement.

Sinn Féin’s strategy for reunification will be both persuasive and proactive - persuasive in terms of convincing unionists to embrace the social and economic benefits of a united Ireland and proactive in terms of urging the maximum North-South co-operation in the period before formal unity

Challenges ahead

We have many challenges ahead of us in the short and medium term. We have four elections pending. Immediately after this Ard Fheis we are into the Meath by-election next Friday. Joe Reilly is our Candidate and we could not have a better or more able representative of republicanism. I have no doubt that Joe will do us proud and set the pattern for strong results in the Udaras na Gaeltachta elections in the South and the Local Government and Westminster elections in the North

All of the Southern parties are already fighting the next General election. They are setting out their agenda and creating the most negative context possible. Remember all of the Parties here have been in government during the period of unprecedented wealth and yet the main legacy that they have created is an ever-widening gap between the haves and have-nots. There is crisis in the Health system, the education system, planning is in disarray, environmental policy is practicably non-existent and we have a growing racism problem as a direct result of Michael Mc Dowell’s right wing politics. And what do they do? In the hopes that they will deflect the peoples’ attention away from the injustice, inequality and failures of bad government they spread innuendo, smear and false allegations against Sinn Féin. Why? Because they know that more and more people the length and breadth of this island are seeing Sinn Féin as the only alternative to partition and to the corrupt, brown envelop culture that passes for politics in this state. But this is nothing new and in the Northern elections Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the PD’s, and Labour will, as they always have, campaign vigorously for our opponents knowing that we, unlike them are an all-Ireland party and our success, north and south is the success of the all-Ireland agenda

We face the mammoth and immediate task of re-building the peace process. We are absolutely determined that the peace process will not fail. The way in which to ensure its success is through increased political strength so each and every republican activist has a mighty task ahead in the coming months. I know that you are up to it and I know that you will all give it 100%. We are willing to face up to the difficult choices but this is not down to republicans alone but we will not be found wanting, in facing up to our responsibilities and in facing down our opponents.

Over the weekend thousands of republicans will gather here to debate and strategise where we go from here. I wish all a very enjoyable but productive weekend.

Go raibth mile maith agaibh

BBC

Knife killer denies IRA role

Forensic officers at the scene of the stabbing in October 2003

The Londonderry man jailed last week for the manslaughter of a man in the city has denied being in the IRA.

Bartholomew Fisher, 43, was sentenced to three years in prison last week for the manslaughter of James McGinley.

Mr McGinley, 23, was stabbed through the heart during a fight at Sackville Court in Derry in October, 2003.

The victim’s family claim Fisher is in the IRA, and that members of the organisation intimidated them throughout his trial.

However, in a statement issued through his family, Fisher said he wanted to state in clear and precise terms that he was not in the IRA, although he was an Irish republican.

He said he wholly regretted James McGinley’s tragic death, and had accepted full responsibility for his actions.

He said he had submitted himself to the legal process, and at no time during his trial had it been suggested that there had been any attempt to pervert due process.

Mr McGinley’s relatives held a vigil for him at the place where he died in Derry’s Bogside on Thursday night.

They called on the IRA to admit that the man responsible was one of its members.

Daily Ireland

Right stage – wrong man

If anyone had told Danny Morrison that he would be a bestselling author and scriptwriter just ten years after being released from jail, the ex-IRA prisoner would probably have laughed out loud.
Yet that is exactly what has happened to the former Sinn Féin director of publicity, whose book The Wrong Man has been adapted into a stage show and begins a three-week run in London’s Pleasance Theatre later this month.
The novel, which follows the hunt for a suspected informer within the IRA, was partly written while Morrison was still behind bars and received huge praise when it was published in 1997, with one critic describing it “as one of the most important books of the Troubles.”
“The Wrong Man takes place two years after the hunger strikes, at a time when there was great paranoia over the role of supergrasses within the IRA,” explains Morrison.
“Audiences are a lot more broadminded now as a result of the ceasefires and more increasingly keen to find out more about the North’s situation”
Danny Morrison

“In the book, rumours surface that there is an informer within the organisation but as the story unfolds, it begins to ask why an IRA member would betray his comrades and risk execution?”
Opting to rewrite his novel for the stage was a natural progression for Morrison whose other works include West Belfast and On The Back Of A Swallow.
“I decided three or four years ago to adapt The Wrong Man for the theatre,” says Morrison.
“Several people had told me that The Wrong Man’s dialogue was its strongest point so what better way to showcase that than through a play? I had already written some scenes for the Dubbeljoint Theatre Company in Belfast so the process of converting the novel into a script was already well underway.”
While the adaptation remains faithful to the original book, there are some scenes which had to be rewritten due to space and time constraints.
“There are several big incidents that happen in The Wrong Man - car crashes, explosions and the like - that simply aren’t possible to do on stage,” says Morrison.
“I had to change those events so that they happen off-stage.
“I also added some extra characters, including two RUC officers, to provide some comic relief and to emphasise the feeling of claustrophobia that the main player, Todd Malone, experiences.”
Morrison says that while he has had to give some control over his creations to the play’s director Sarah Tipple, the production remains faithful to the book’s lead characters.
“Obviously, there was a certain amount of interpretation when the actors – Chris Simpson and Tony Devlin – got the script,” he says. “Between them, they play eight or ten different roles so it’s a tough job for them to take on.”
“Chris in particular, who plays Todd Malone, has been integral to the show’s success and pushed for The Wrong Man to be staged because he believed in it so passionately.”
By comparison, theatre companies here in Ireland weren’t so keen and it is ironic, given Morrison’s own controversial political background, that his theatre debut should receive its premiere in London.
“I couldn’t get the show on stage anywhere in Ireland but in England, the press and public have been talking about it non-stop,” he says.
“But apart from one reading in the Peacock Theatre in Dublin, everywhere I went here, from the Lyric Theatre in Belfast to the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, I was met with closed doors, making me feel like I was banging my head against a brick wall.”
Luckily for Morrison, The Wrong Man looks set to be a hit in London, where strong ticket sales have already secured an extra week’s run until April 3.
Once the curtain goes up, it will officially join other Northern-based plays, such as Geraldine Hughes’ Belfast Blues, which are packing in theatre audiences around the world.
Morrison has his own explanation for the success of shows such as his.
“Audiences are a lot more broadminded now as a result of the ceasefires and more increasingly keen to find out more about the North’s situation,” he says.
“That in itself has created some powerful subject matter for writers, giving them plenty of material to get their teeth into.”

The Wrong Man runs at the Pleasance Theatre in London from March 12 to April 3. For tickets,
call 020 7609 1800.

Derry Journal

Provos ‘Bullied’ Us Through Trial

Friday 4th March 2005

Family of a Derry man stabbed to death in the city centre a year-and-a-half ago last night accused the Provisional IRA of ‘intimidating and bullying” them throughout the trial of the man recently convicted of causing his death.

Last week, Bartholomew (Bart) Fisher (43) , of Sackville Court, was sentenced to three years imprisonment for the manslaughter of James McGinley (23), in the early hours of October 11, 2003.

The family - outraged at the “leniency” of the sentence - say they will continue their campaign to “get justice.”

Last night, at a “vigil” close to the spot in the Bogside where the 23-yearold was killed, his family officially launched ‘The Justice for Jimmy Campaign.”

In a separate development, DUP MP Gregory Campbell says he plans to raise the issue of alleged IRA involvement in Mr. McGinley’s death with the North’s Secretary of State.

The East Derry MP has tabled a Parliamentary Question on the subject at Westminster.

The McGinley family, meanwhile, last night claimed the IRA intimidated and bullied them throughout Fisher’s trial.

Kathleen Coyle, Mr. McGinley’s aunt, said: “From the outset, the PIRA dictated to the family who could and could not attend the hearing in court.

“Prior to each hearing, family members were summoned to secret meetings where they were told that only immediate family members were allowed to attend court.

“At one such meeting, names of individuals were read to the family and an explanation was demanded as to why they were at the court. The men named were cousins and an uncle of the dead man.”

She further claimed that, prior to Fisher’s sentencing, the IRA “summoned” family members to a meeting at which they were “threatened”.

She added: “They can’t get away with this and they won’t. This family has taken enough and we intend to see the terrible injustices meted out against us righted.”

The “Justice for Jimmy Campaign”, insist the family, “is only just beginning and no-one should underestimate our ability to take it as far as we need to go, and then further.”

The DUP’s Gregory Campbell is also backing the family’s campaign for “justice”.

He said last night: “Mrs. McGinley deserves the truth about the killing of her son in the same way that the McCartney sisters [in Belfast] deserve the truth about the murder of their brother.”

The ‘Journal’ has learned that members of the McGinley and McCartney families held talks in Belfast yesterday.

Gregory Campbell says he hopes Secretary of State Paul Murphy can “shed some light on this situation that can assist Mrs. McGinley in her search for answers.”

Irelandclick.com

McFARLANE DENIES HUNGER STRIKE ‘DEAL’ WAS STRUCK

Brendan McFarlane, the leader of the H-Block prisoners during the hunger strikes of 1981, has rejected any suggestion that a deal was rejected before the death of Joe McDonnell.
The North Belfast man said the claims in Richard O’Rawe’s book entitled Blanketmen: The Untold Story of the H-Block Hunger Strike had caused distress among the families of the hunger strikers.
In his book O’Rawe claims the final six men to die were sacrificed for political reasons and to help the election of Owen Carron to Bobby Sands’ Westminster seat.
“All of us, particularly the families of the men who died, carry the tragedy and trauma of the hunger strikes with us every day of our lives.
“It was an emotional and deeply distressing time for those of us who were in the H-Blocks and close to the hunger strikers,” said Brendan McFarlane.
“However, as the Officer Commanding in the prison at the time, I can say categorically that there was no outside intervention to prevent a deal.
“The only outside intervention was to try to prevent the hunger strike.
“Once the strike was underway, the only people in a position to agree a deal or call off the hunger strike were the prisoners – particularly the hunger strikers themselves.
“The political responsibility for the hunger strike, and the deaths that resulted from it, both inside and outside the prison, lies with Margaret Thatcher, who reneged on the deal which ended the first hunger strike.
“This bad faith and duplicity lead directly to the deaths of our friends and comrades in 1981″.
Raymond McCartney, a former hunger striker and now Sinn Féin MLA for Foyle, also said O’Rawe’s claims lacked credibility.
“Richard’s recollection of events is not accurate or credible.
“The hunger strike was a response to Thatcher’s criminalisation campaign.
“The move to hunger strike resulted from the prisoners’ decision to escalate the protest after five years of beatings, starvation and deprivation.
“The leadership of the IRA and of Sinn Féin tried to persuade us not to embark on this course of action.
“At all times we, the prisoners, took the decisions.”

info@irelandclick.com

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

STAB VICTIM CHARGED WITH ARMED ROBBERY

A man who was with Robert McCartney when he was murdered in a city centre pub and who himself sustained stab wounds in the incident is due to be sentenced for armed robbery along with two other men later this month.

Liam Gerard Brendan Devine pleaded guilty on January 6 this year to the armed robbery of a post office in West Belfast on February 24, 2004.

The 30-year-old from Mayfield Village in Glengormley is due to be sentenced on March 18.

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

SF blame PSNI on march breach

Sinn Féin’s David Kennedy has said that he was appalled by the blatant breach of Parade Commission rules at last weekend’s march by a loyalist flute band.
“This parade was a complete farce. What we had here was a filing for a loyalist march couched under the term of a tsunami fundraiser, which was quite clearly trying to set a precedent for marching in the area,” said David Kennedy.
“However, what we had, as on similar occasions, was the PSNI showing complete disregard for anything the Commission states.
“It was the PSNI who bear responsibility for diverting this march and pushing loyalist bandsmen through a nationalist community and up the Whitewell Road – a road that wasn’t in the original application.
“The PSNI’s weak excuse that they didn’t have resources is completely exposed when the same amount of PSNI officers were then able to stop the band returning back down.
“Nationalist residents are angry that this was allowed to take place and Sinn Féin will be meeting with the Parades Commission at the earliest possible date to raise this very serious issue.”
The Whitewell Defenders parade was prohibited by the Parades Commission from walking between Graymount Park and Gray’s Lane and the junction of Thorburn Road and Serpentine Road.
The PSNI confirmed the whole event was video taped and would be reporting the actions of those involved in the ‘suspected breach of the Commission’s determination’ to the DPP with a view to prosecution. The PSNI also denied allegations it had forced the band to deviate from the approved route.
The Police Ombudsman has since received a complaint about last Saturday’s parade, which was organised by the loyalist band in order to raise money for the tsunami appeal.
John Montgomery said he had registered a complaint to the Ombudsman, claiming that the PSNI changed the route and forced the band down the Whitewell Road to get to the White City estate.
“We had met with the police last week and had been told by the Parades Commission that once the band had broken up at Graymount, the bandsmen and the followers would be allowed to return to White City via Gray’s Lane.
“Everything was going fine until we were told we were not allowed to walk down Gray’s Lane. A stand-off then ensued before we finally had to walk along the Whitewell Road. We had no choice, we had to go home that way.”
And John Montgomery of the UPRG said that the money the bandsmen managed to raise for the tsunami appeal has yet to be counted.

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

Families hold meeting to find common ground

by Joe Nawaz

The family of a Derry man stabbed to death in the Bogside had a private meeting in the Short Strand yesterday with the family of tragic knifing victim Robert McCartney.

23-year-old James ‘Dee Dee’ McGinley was stabbed by Bartholomew Fisher in October 2003 outside Mr Fisher’s Bogside home.

Mr Fisher was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to three years imprisonment at Belfast Crown court last Friday.

The McGinley family, like the McCartneys, maintain that there has been a cover-up over the stabbing and are keen to draw parallels between the two incidents.

Mr McGinley’s mother, Eileen, echoed the sentiments of the McCartney family, saying, "We were basically told that nobody will touch him. They are a law unto themselves. They need to take a look around and see what they're doing to us.”

The meeting comes in the wake of a senior republican’s denials in Daily Ireland that there had been any cover-up or intimidation in the local community following Mr McCartney’s murder.

Gerard Davidson, who was at Magennis’s Bar on the night of Mr McCartney’s murder, denied that he was in anyway involved in the stabbing, adding that he would be happy to meet with the McCartney family so that he could tell them his version of events.

Speaking yesterday to the South Belfast News, Jim Arnold, husband of Paula McCartney, said, “I hope that our two families can learn from our shared experiences.”

The meeting between the two families was held in the McCartney family home in the Short Strand.

Journalist:: Joe Nawaz

BBC

Murder list move ‘is not enough’

Relatives of Mr McCartney give their reaction to Sinn Fein action

The family of a Belfast man murdered after a row in a bar have criticised passing on information about his killing through solicitors.

Robert McCartney, 33, was murdered on 30 January and his family have claimed some republicans were involved.

On Thursday Sinn Fein said it had suspended seven party members the family said were involved.

Another SF move instructing a solicitor to pass names to the police ombudsman was “inadequate”, the family said.

However, the McCartney family said they welcomed the suspensions as “a belated step forward”.

In a statement released on Friday, they added: “The basic action taken by Sinn Fein in relation to their members involved in Robert’s murder is nothing more than what would have been expected from any democratically elected party.

“Although we would have liked this to have happened earlier as those names have been known to Sinn Fein officials from the outset.

“The handing over of the names to the police ombudsman through a solicitor is of symbolic significance.

“Providing a solicitor with a statement to be passed on to the ombudsman is an inadequate method of gathering evidence.”

‘Suspended without prejudice’

The McCartney family said they intended to travel to Washington for St Patrick’s week.

The suspensions come a week after the IRA said it had expelled three of its members over the Belfast man’s killing.

Robert McCartney, 33, was killed near Belfast city centre

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the family handed him a list of people they alleged were involved in the murder at a meeting last month.

He said seven of those on the list were Sinn Fein members and they had been suspended without prejudice and told “to provide full and frank statements”.

“All of those involved in this horrific incident must make themselves fully accountable for their actions. Nothing short of this is acceptable,” Mr Adams said.

On Friday, Detective Superintendent George Hamilton from the Serious Crime Branch said “suspensions and expulsions from political parties are insufficient” for the PSNI.

“What we need is for people to feel free, to feel comfortable to provide evidence to the Police Service so that we can bring those responsible for this brutal murder to justice so that due process can take place and people can be brought before the courts.”

He added: “Of the 10 people that have been arrested, they have exercised their legal right to remain silent and not to engage with us during the interview process.

“We need people to provide statements to the police in the first instance and then follow that through and be prepared to give that evidence to a judge in open court.”

He said anyone with information could approach the Police Ombudsman if they did not wish to speak with the PSNI.

Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan said eye-witness statements to her investigators could be used in the trial of anyone charged with the murder.

“We can offer something which priests and solicitors, who are the other people who have been suggested to take this evidence, can’t offer,” she said.

“That is that our investigators are trained to take statements which will be evidentially admissible.”

BBC Northern Ireland security editor Brian Rowan said he understood that there “is no overlap between the three IRA members who were expelled and now the seven Sinn Fein members who have been suspended from the party”.

He added: “It is my understanding that it is one of the three IRA members expelled a week ago who is the main suspect in the McCartney murder.”

BBC

Loyalist jailed over UDA attacks

A loyalist who confessed to police that he had taken part in a series of attacks for the UDA has been jailed for five years.

Belfast Crown Court heard that Gary Martin Smyth walked into Coleraine police station in January 2003 and admitted the offences.

They included a pipe bomb attack on a blind pensioner’s house as well as gun attacks on other homes.

In all Smyth, from Glenvara Drive in Coleraine, admitted 15 offences.

Mr Justice McLaughlin said he had no doubt that his “full and frank account” had given the police a “deeper understanding” of the UDA’s structure and manpower in the Coleraine area.

He said that “by doing so you have saved lives and prevented injuries”.

Cruel

The judge described the pipe bomb attack as “particularly mean and cruel”.

“What happened that night tells us all we need to know about the UDA as an organisation,” he added.

Smyth also confessed to conspiring with others to commit attempted murder and a number of woundings and six counts of possessing pistols, shotguns and ammunition.

All the offences happened between August 2000 and January 2003.

BreakingNews.ie

Shell-shocked Sinn Féin faces political crisis

04/03/2005 - 07:46:17

Sinn Féin’s annual party conference opens tonight in Dublin with the shell-shocked party facing its biggest political crisis.

The party should be in the middle of its centenary celebrations and toasting cross-border electoral gains.

But instead a torrid chain of events has ostracised republicans and dragged relations with the Government to an all-time low.

Last night’s dramatic suspension of seven members in connection with the brutal murder of Robert McCartney is the latest twist in a vicious downward spiral since December’s aborted power-sharing deal.

The continuing political fallout from December’s Northern Bank robbery and last month’s IRA-linked cash-laundering racket will cast a dark shadow over the party’s three-day Ard Fheis at the RDS.

Bertie Ahern conceded yesterday that it had been a “difficult number of weeks” for Mr Adams and he didn’t wish to add to his difficulties ahead of the party conference.

The party has also seen itself frozen out of mainstream politics after it failed to endorse two unanimous Dáil motions calling for an end to all criminality and for witnesses to the McCartney murder to go forward to the PSNI.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell has been that party’s most caustic critic within the Government. He gets a mention on one of this weekend’s Ard Fheis motions.

It attacks political parties and the media for trying to criminalise the republican movement, and adds: “Margaret Thatcher’s efforts failed, as will the efforts of her heir apparent, Michael McDowell.”

Another motion from the Ard Chomhairle “reaffirms Sinn Féin’s commitment to the complete disarmament of all groups who have been involved in the conflict in Ireland”.

Among the proposals up for discussion among delegates will be the party’s campaign to get the Cabinet to publish a Green Paper on Irish unity.

In the foreword to the Ard Fheis programme, Mr Adams hails Sinn Féin as the “fastest growing political movement in Ireland, with the youngest and most active membership”.

But many observers believe the party will have to go a lot further down the road of mainstream democracy before it wins the trust and credibility of the establishment.

Details of Sinn Féin’s next moves in the North’s political process will be gleaned from Mr Adams’ televised presidential address on Saturday.

BBC

Troubles holding centre bulldozed

Bulldozers are moving onto the holding centre

Demolition work on Castlereagh holding centre in east Belfast has begun.

Thousands of republican and loyalist paramilitaries were questioned at the site during the Troubles, which closed in December 1999.

Superintendent Gordon Reid said policing had changed dramatically since it was built.

“When the demolition work is completed, the site will be converted into a car park area to service the Castlereagh police complex,” he said.

A state-of-the-art custody suite in Antrim is now the designated facility for questioning paramilitary suspects.

The centre had been at the centre of controversy over claims of police ill-treatment, and its closure was one of the recommendations of the Patten Commission into policing in Northern Ireland.

Allegations which led to Castlereagh’s reputation for ill-treatment first surfaced in the 1970s at a time when republican violence was at its peak.

In one three-year period around this time, more than 3,000 people were charged with terrorist offences based largely on confessions obtained at Castlereagh.

Reports by Amnesty International accused the Royal Ulster Constabulary, precursor of the PSNI, of ill-treatment of prisoners at the site.

Sinn Fein MLA Michael Ferguson said the demolition was “symbolic and welcome”, but “not a substitute for an acceptable and accountable policing service”.

“The Special Branch who operated the centre still exist. The cells and the interrogation rooms have moved to another site,” he said.