SAOIRSE32

BBC

‘Past haunts the peace process’

By Kevin Connolly
BBC Ireland correspondent

The inquiry into Mrs Nelson’s death will focus on the local police

In Northern Ireland the past continues to haunt the present and shape the future.

The power-sharing government and assembly created by the Good Friday Agreement remain in the state of suspension which now appears to be their natural form. There is no immediate prospect of their being restored.

With the future uncertain, and unpromising, the past has become an increasingly important battleground for Northern Irish politicians.

Lord Saville’s inquiry into the killing of unarmed demonstrators by British soldiers in Derry on Bloody Sunday in 1972 is the largest of the inquiries.

‘The common theme was collusion - the suspicion that agents of the state had helped, advised, encouraged or even armed paramilitary killers for sinister reasons of their own’.
Kevin Connolly

It has already been sitting for more than six years and has cost more than £150 million.

Significantly Tony Blair agreed to establish Saville as a concession to nationalist opinion at what seemed at the time to be a crucial phase in the peace process negotiations.

That pattern was repeated during another intensive round of bargaining at Weston Park in Shropshire.

The bomb which killed Rosemary Nelson was planted by local loyalists

There Mr Blair agreed to refer a number of cases to a retired judge, promising inquiries wherever the judge thought it necessary.

The cases referred included the murders of two Catholic solicitors murdered by loyalists - Patrick Finucane and Rosemary Nelson.

In addition there was the killing of a young Catholic, Robert Hamill, who was kicked to death by a loyalist mob in Portadown and the murder of a loyalist killer Billy Wright who was shot dead by republican paramilitaries inside the Maze prison compound.

The common theme was collusion - the suspicion that agents of the state had helped, advised, encouraged or even armed paramilitary killers for sinister reasons of their own.

The case of Robert Hamill fell slightly outside that template - there the allegation was that a police patrol had stood idly by while he was killed.

‘Every one of those cases involves the grief and pain of bereavement for families who still do not know exactly how or why husbands, mothers or sons came to die’.
Kevin Connolly

In the interests of political balance - in other words to defuse the unionist suspicion that the inquiries were somehow targeted at them - two other cases were also referred to the retired Canadian judge Peter Cory.

They were murders where it was suspected that the IRA had been given information by sympathisers in the Irish police about the movements of their targets - a high court judge and his wife, and two senior RUC officers.

If the British government was hoping that the judge would play the establishment game and recommend inquiries in some cases but not others then it was disappointed.

Judge Cory recommended full inquiries in every case - and in doing so drew attention to the human dimension in all this.

Every one of those cases involves the grief and pain of bereavement for families who still do not know exactly how or why husbands, mothers or sons came to die.

For the family of Rosemary Nelson things move a step further towards closure with the opening of the inquiry into her 1999 murder.

The booby-trap bomb under her car which killed her was planted by local loyalists - the inquiry will focus on the role that may have been played by local police officers who she always accused of threatening her.

‘It is worth remembering too, that there are plenty of grieving families in Northern Ireland for whom there will be no inquiry’.
Kevin Connolly

But the case of Pat Finucane, another Catholic lawyer murdered 10 years before Rosemary Nelson, continues to pose much more substantial political difficulties.

We already know that British military intelligence officers, and their agents, played a substantial role in his murder by loyalist paramilitaries.

The government has legislated to create a new type of tribunal which would be very firmly under the control of government ministers and which would fall very far short of the sort of independent, public investigation which the Finucane family is demanding.

The Finucane family will not accept that sort of limitation and so the argument over the nature of the institution continues, 16 years after Pat Finucane’s murder.

It is worth remembering too, that there are plenty of grieving families in Northern Ireland for whom there will be no inquiry.

They are cases where there was no obvious political dimension beyond the fact that a murder happened to suit the sinister purpose of one paramilitary group or another at some moment in the troubles; the killings of many members of the security forces, for example, fall into that category - a source of resentment to Unionists.

The Nelson inquiry and the others like it might run on for years, as the Bloody Sunday tribunal has and at least to individual families they offer hope of closure.

But in general terms Northern Ireland’s troubled relationship with the pain of the past is very far from being resolved.

Daily Ireland

‘Come forward’ plea to abuse victims

Thousands of people who were the victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse in Irish institutions are being urged to come forward to seek compensation.
A solicitors’ firm representing Irish victims in England estimate that 12,000 people have yet to seek redress for a lifetime of trauma brought on by abuse.
Manchester-based solicitor Peter Garsden, of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, currently represents around 400 Irish-born abuse sufferers, mainly based in England.
However the group believe there could be up to 12,000 victims worldwide, who suffered abuse over a 50-year period in Ireland but who have yet to come forward.
Peter Garsden is encouraging other victims to make themselves known so they can have their case heard by the Redress Board, set up by the Irish government to compensate the victims of institutional abuse.
“We believe there are between 6,000 to 10,000 people in England, with the rest scattered across the globe,” said Mr Garsden.
“It’s hard to say how many of these people now live in Ireland but it has to be in the thousands.
“A lot of people who were abused in these facilities in Ireland throughout the decades from the ‘20s to the ‘70s left the country when they came out of them.
“Many people ended up in England and we believe there could easily be as many as 12,000 living outside Ireland.
“Most were totally unprepared for life outside their institution and Ireland was poverty-stricken at the time, so they left.
“As well as seeking redress for the abuse suffered we also raise the issue of loss of opportunity.”
According to the latest figures provided by the Redress Board, 5,071 applications have been made by people claiming they were abused while being cared for in institutions, including schools run by the Catholic Church and the state.
Of that number, 2,397 cases have been processed. 1,784 offers have been made following settlement talks, while 539 awards have been made following hearings.
Just two applicants have rejected their awards, and only one application for a settlement was rejected.
In total, 73 refusals have been issued for various reasons.
So far the average value of each settlement totals €78,0000 (£53,000). The largest pay-out possible is €300,000 (£204,000) and depends on the severity of abuse suffered.
A fund to cover the cost of compensating victims is topped up every two months by the Department of Finance.
A spokesperson for the Redress Board declined to comment.
Anyone who suffered abuse while at an Irish institution can call the Survivors Helpline on (00 44) 800 783 5969 (freephone from the North of Ireland), or call (00 44) 0161 482 8822 from the South of Ireland. There is also free advice in the ‘Irish Survivors’ Guide’, which can be found at www.irishsurvivors.org.uk.
The deadline for lodging a case with the Redress Board is December 2, 2005.

Daily Ireland

Donegal gardaí ‘informer’ is vindicated

What you are about to read is a true story. In saying that, never before has the cliché “incredible but true” seemed so inadequate or trite.
You don’t have to believe Adrienne McGlinchey’s version of events or that she is innocent.
After hearing evidence for 150 days, Mr Justice Frederick Morris completely, unequivocally and publicly vindicated her in a tribunal. It is worth remembering this when reading her story.
One other point to remember is that, although Adrienne McGlinchey was blackmailed, framed, exploited, beaten, tormented, hunted and trapped by the Donegal gardaí, she is not bitter.
“Oh God, no,” she says. “Sure, what’s the point in being bitter? I’ve put it behind me and I want to get on with my life.
“I don’t want to look at every guard I come across and think he is a bad person. I know everyone isn’t as rotten as McMahon or Lennon.”
Detective Garda Noel McMahon’s wife described him as a “Starsky and Hutch-type cop”.
In 1992, Sergeant Kevin Lennon was on traffic duty. By 1995, he had become superintendent of the Co Donegal division.
The Morris tribunal was set up in 2002 to investigate incidents of Garda corruption in the Donegal division. The subsequent Morris report, published last year, identified widespread malpractice among the force.
Adrienne McGlinchey was the main witness to one of the modules of the tribunal, dubbed a “whistle-blower” in the media.
Mr Justice Morris found her innocent of claims by the two rogue Donegal gardaí that she was an IRA informer and bomb maker.
The judge refused costs to Noel McMahon and found that Kevin Lennon had “lied to the tribunal on almost every issue”.
Adrienne McGlinchey, her mother Liz and sister Karen owned a late-night restaurant in Letterkenny, Co Donegal. The Steers restaurant was open 18 hours a day and was a favourite spot with guards.
On July 15, 1991, Adrienne McGlinchey went to see the builders who were doing work on her mother’s home. They had left scaffolding up around the front of the house and had not turned up to remove it.
The McGlincheys regularly collected or left staff home after work. That day, Adrienne McGlinchey had young staff member Yvonne Devine in the car with her.
On her way home, she noticed a Garda car behind her, flashing its lights. She pulled over and the guard who approached the car told her a lorry bomb had been discovered in the area the night before. Both women were arrested under section 31 of the Offences Against the State Act.
Unbeknown to Ms Glinchey, gardaí had the builders’ house under surveillance for some time. They suspected that the commanding officer of the Red Tyrone brigade of the IRA was staying in the house and they linked the lorry bomb with the presence of subversives in the area.
Steers staff members lived beside the house. So too did Ms McGlinchey’s best friend, whom she visited regularly.
When questioned about regular Garda sightings of her around the suspected subversives’ house, Ms McGlinchey could say nothing. One detective said: “She would talk about everything and anything except the reason she was arrested for. She knew nothing of that.”
Ms McGlinchey had a row with her mother and sister when they chastised her about getting involved, however innocently, in something so serious. She moved out of the family home, and she and Yvonne Devine found themselves a flat in Buncrana.
Gardaí kept up their surveillance of the pair and constantly reported back to the worried McGlinchey family in Letterkenny. Gardaí told Karen and Liz McGlinchey that the young women were drug addicts and were using Steers company cheques to fund the IRA. They said Adrienne McGlinchey was planning to liquidate her share of the business.
Naturally concerned, Liz and Karen signed a statement to say the chequebook had been stolen.
Too frightened and embarrassed to return home and facing suspicion from the guards, Adrienne McGlinchey felt she had nowhere to turn. Just then, when she was at her most vulnerable, Noel McMahon made his move.
Finding her alone one evening, Detective McMahon said he would help her with the charges of stolen company cheques in return for help from her.
“My life had taken a nosedive and I was a mess,” says Ms McGlinchey today. “I had spent a lot of money and felt awful about leaving mum and Karen to do all the work. Now the guards were after me and McMahon said he would help.
“McMahon said: ‘I need information about your associates in the republican movement.’ When I told him I knew nothing, he said: ‘I can’t help you with the cheques if you don’t help me.’ He told me the most valuable asset to a Border detective was finding information on the IRA,” she recalls.
Detective McMahon told her that his boss wanted her arrested and charged and that she was looking at a prison sentence.
He told her to go along with his story that she was an IRA informer. She could be seen to be passing him titbits of information, which he would provide. It would impress his boss and get her off the other charges.
Ms McGlinchey agreed to help him once. So began one of the most complex webs of Garda corruption in the history of the state.
One tip-off to Noel McMahon’s boss was not enough. When Ms McGlinchey tried to walk away, from his scheme, he reminded her that she was already in too deep.
In 1992, Kevin Lennon was promoted to inspector and he moved to Buncrana. He and Noel McMahon had been flatmates when they were training as guards. Ms McGlinchey became a slave to their egos, and the manipulation and corruption began in earnest.
Noel McMahon suggested she be seen carrying a bag with some bullets. With her fingerprints over confiscated bullets, Detective McMahon was able to bribe her into committing more absurd incriminating exercises.
He suggested she spread ground-up feriliser around the carpet in her flat. Detective McMahon would tip off uniformed guards, who would later “discover” it.
In 1993, Detective McMahon and his new colleague Kevin Lennon arranged for her to take a bomb to Strabane in Co Tyrone, causing a massive security alert. Between them, they managed to plant 1.25 tonnes of fertiliser in seven different hoax bomb finds across the county. One was planted after the 1994 IRA ceasefire.
On the orders of the two gardaí, Ms McGlinchey turned her flat into a bomb factory. The gardaí supplied her with the tools and material to make IRA-style rocket launchers. She was known on both sides of the Border as the guards’ informer. Kevin Lennon and Noel McMahon often went to the RUC in Derry with the latest information or the prototype of a new rocket.
Detective McMahon, who was a violent alcoholic, and Superintendent Lennon were not adverse to using their fists on Ms McGlinchey if she refused to comply with any more of the crazy schemes. They had taken over her life and used her to attain their own ends — promotion and recognition as the top detectives in the Garda Síochána, with the most successful record of counterterrorism in the the history of the state.
The nightmare only ended for Ms McGlinchey through a twist of fate. Noel McMahon threatened his estranged wife, also an alcoholic, that he would “take the law into his own hands” if their children were taken into care. His wife Sheenagh McMahon then went to the Garda authorities.
She threatened the guards that she would tell Martin McGuinness, Sinn Féin’s chief negotiator, of her husband’s hoax IRA bomb finds and the fake informer who had the RUC and gardaí on high alert.
In 1999, the gardaí instigated their own internal inquiry. The Carty inquiry failed to find any evidence of Garda misconduct and painted Ms McGlinchey as a liar and fanatic — the town fool.
The independent Morris tribunal and the subsequent report was more damning. In all, 17 gardaí were found to have lied in their evidence. The tribunal found that they had been grossly negligent and, in some cases, completely failed to carry out their duties.
Noel McMahon and Kevin Lennon were refused costs.
It was only through the Morris tribunal that the real nightmare endured by the McGlinchey family began to emerge.
Karen McGlinchey tells her sister Adrienne’s story in a new book, Charades, published by Gill and Macmillan and available now.

Daily Ireland

Ex-INLA man said to be held after raid on cocaine factory

A former associate of the Irish National Liberation Army kidnapper Dessie O’Hare is believed to be one of three men arrested yesterday during raids connected with a major cocaine distribution network on both sides of the Border.
The man was arrested by the PSNI after an alleged drugs factory was raided in Moy near Dungannon in Co Tyrone yesterday morning.
The PSNI described as “significant” the haul of six kilograms of cocaine, valued at £500,000 (€734,000).
Forensic experts later took away several items for examination.
On Tuesday night, gardaí in Cork uncovered €500,000 (£340,000) worth of cocaine in the Timoleague area in a connected raid.
The former INLA prisoner, originally from the Newry area, was released under the Good Friday Agreement after serving a sentence in Portlaoise prison, Co Laois.
He had been jailed for his part in a kidnapping carried out by the paramilitary group in the 1980s.
A former IRA prisoner is also among the three being questioned by the PSNI. He too was released as part of the Good Friday Agreement.
In the Cork raid, detectives from the Garda National Drugs Unit uncovered seven kilograms of cocaine and a quantity of cannabis.
It is understood the raid took place after a tip-off from the PSNI.
A Garda spokesman said: “Investigations are continuing. No arrests have been made in connection with this seizure.
“Gardaí are liaising with the Police Service of Northern Ireland in connection with this seizure.”
The cross-Border operation has prompted calls for an all-Ireland drug strategy.
Dungannon SDLP councillor Vincent Currie said the creation of a cross-Border anti-drugs strategy would send a message to dealers.
“It’s very worrying that such a haul has been found in the area,” he said.
However, Eddie McGarrigle, a spokesman for the IRSP, last night claimed that none of those arrested were connected with his party or the INLA. “None of these people could class themselves as republicans,” said Mr McGarrigle.
More than £15 million (€22 million) of drugs were seized in the North last year, official figures say.

BBC

Real IRA bomb plot appeal fails

Aiden Hulme (right) and his brother Robert were each jailed for 20 years

A man jailed for 20 years over Real IRA bombings in England has failed to have his conviction overturned on appeal.

Aiden Hulme, 27, was convicted of conspiring to cause a series explosions in 2001 in London and Birmingham.

His lawyer claimed the jury at his trial should not have been shown evidence of text messages said to link him to the attacks.

Judges rejected the appeal. They also refused Noel Maguire, convicted with Hulme, leave to appeal his sentence.

No-one was killed in the attacks, which took place on Saturday evenings between March and November 2001.

The first blast was outside the BBC Television Centre, west London, followed by bombings in Ealing Broadway, west London, and Queensway, Birmingham.

‘Threats’

The trial judge, Mr Justice Gibbs, said in sentencing that the campaign had been “designed as threats to the country as a whole” and it was a “mercy” no lives had been lost.

Two of the men’s co-accused pleaded guilty to the charges

Hulme and his brother Robert, then 23, were each jailed for 20 years while Maguire, then 34, received a 22-year sentence.

Mr Justice Gibbs said Maguire had played “a major part in the conspiracy”.

All three had denied involvement in the attacks.

On Thursday, defence QC Richard Ferguson told the Appeal Court that the first of the text messages shown to the trial jury, which read “up the Provos, up the Provos”, was both “ambivalent and ambiguous”.

The second, which showed fizzing sticks followed by the words “what were you at last night” could merely show ignorance about Hulme’s whereabouts, he said.

He added that since it was never established who sent the messages, they could not be seen as “furtherance of the conspiracy”.

‘Encouragement’

For the crown, Orlando Powell QC told the judges there was “clearly” prima facie evidence allowing the jury to conclude that the messages had been sent by a conspirator.

Several were hurt in the blasts, which used homemade explosive

He said the jury was entitled to ask itself “whether a terrorist cell already operating in this country would have need to contact others out of the jurisdiction”.

“It is in circumstances that a terrorist cell operating on the mainland requiring support, influence, encouragement and help from conspirators operating in Ireland, that the text messages have to be viewed,” he said.

After a short retirement, Lord Justice Kennedy, Mr Justice Treacy and Mr Justice Wilkie rejected the appeal.

“We have … come to the conclusion that this appeal against conviction must be dismissed for reasons which we will give in writing in due course,” Lord Justice Kennedy said.

Guardian

Judge rejects parents’ right to life plea

Press Association
Thursday April 21, 2005

The parents of critically ill baby Charlotte Wyatt today lost the latest round in their continuing battle to keep their daughter alive, following the ruling of a high court judge.

Judge Mr Justice Hedley rejected their appeal to overturn an earlier court order allowing doctors to let her die if she stops breathing.

But he said the order was not open-ended and remained subject to review.

He told the high court in London this morning: “I am quite clear that it would not be in Charlotte’s best interests to die in the course of futile aggressive treatment.”

He said that in the event of respiratory collapse, all treatment up to but not including intubation and ventilation would be in Charlotte’s best interests, “but nothing further”.

The ruling follows an earlier court case last October when doctors at St Mary’s hospital in Portsmouth won the legal right not to resuscitate Charlotte - now 18 months old - after arguing that her brain and other organs were so seriously damaged that she had “no feeling other than continuing pain”.

Her parents, Debbie and Darren Wyatt, went back to court last month to appeal against that decision arguing that since the autumn their daughter’s condition had improved.

The family’s case focused on evidence from six independent medical witnesses that their daughter was not in pain, is aware, alert, active and responsive.

Charlotte weighed 1lb and measured only five inches when she was born three months prematurely in October 2003. She has serious brain, lung and kidney damage.

Today Charlotte spends most of her time in an oxygen box, but is taken out to be cuddled by her parents when they visit

Doctors still insist that resuscitating her if she stops breathing would be “pointless and possibly inhumane” because it would only prolong her suffering.

Explaining his decision, Mr Justice Hedley said he was delighted that Charlotte had survived the winter but told her parents she was still a “terminally ill child”.

He told the court that she still required 50% oxygen and would not be able to return home unless that was reduced to 30% or lower.

Charlotte’s ability to respond to loud noise and track the movement of a colourful toy was in contrast to her condition last October when she was almost wholly unresponsive and required almost constant sedation. Her life now could no longer be described as intolerable, he said.

But her chronic respiratory disease was still expected to be fatal and her neurological condition was as bad as it could be. Her head was still the size of a newborn baby and there had been no brain growth.

Fed continuously through a tube, she was seriously undernourished. She remained “a terminally ill child”, the judge said.

The lawyers representing Charlotte’s parents announced they plan to appeal against the high court decision and go the court of appeal.

They said that Debbie and Darren Wyatt were “very unhappy” with the judge’s decision.

Earlier today Mr Justice Hedley said that he accepted that the next time Charlotte faced another medial crisis her case would have to return to court because her parents and doctors were unlikely to agree over her treatment.

He told the court that the hospital where Charlotte is being cared for did not have the necessary intensive care facilities and, if none were available at Southampton, a country-wide search would have to be conducted.

Charlotte, under sedation and being intubated and ventilated, would become “more an object to whom things are done than a child”.

“No one would ever willingly put a child through that if no purpose was to be served and it is easy to see that it is inconsistent with a peaceful death,” he said.

Ruling that he should make a decision now, the judge said it would be wholly contrary to the baby’s best interests for a crisis - which was highly likely to be brought about by respiratory infection - to be “overshadowed by a major legal conflict”.

He added that the decision, at the time of the crisis, on whether to rely on the court declaration allowing doctors to withhold ventilation must be taken by the hospital on the basis of Charlotte’s best interests and in close consultation with the parents.

The judge said relations between the parents and the hospital were very fragile. When Mr Wyatt visited, he was accompanied at all times by a member of the security staff. This “does not betoken harmonious relationships”.

Hospital staff were clearly very stressed by the enormity of Charlotte’s plight and the volatility, as they saw it, of the parents.

Explaining how he reached his decision he said everyone agreed that every reasonable step short of major invasive treatment should be employed to sustain her life. Only one doctor felt that further steps should be taken.

The judge said he was convinced by the majority medical opinion. Charlotte was unlikely to survive a major crisis and, even if she did, her condition would deteriorate to a point where her life would be intolerable. She would probably not return to her present improved condition.

The judge said he would review the case again, probably in October.

Reading out a statement on behalf of the parents outside the court, their solicitor, Richard Stein, said: “Darren and Debbie are very disappointed that the judge has confirmed that as things stand, Charlotte will not be ventilated in the event she requires it.

“He did, however, recognise that her condition has changed significantly - in fact, it continues to improve.

“For example, only five weeks ago, there was evidence before the judge that she was badly malnourished and only today we heard from the trust that she had put on significant amounts of weight over the last four weeks.

“The judge is clearly concerned about the uncertainty of her future. He has ordered that the case be kept under review and allowed Darren and Debbie to appeal to the court of appeal, which is something they greatly welcome.”

Asked if he was disappointed with today’s outcome, Mr Wyatt said he had no comment.

Charlotte’s grandmother said today she supported the doctor’s decision that it was not in her granddaughter’s interest to be resuscitated if she stopped breathing.

Julie Wyatt, from Tamworth, Staffordshire told BBC WM: “I don’t think she would ever be able to walk or maybe even eat properly on her own even though she is being spoon-fed at the moment, just tiny bits.

“I don’t think she would grow up to be a perfectly healthy child. I think she would be a lot of work for the parents.

“Myself, I’m trusting the hospital decision at the moment because I’ve seen the care they’ve given her and I know they love her, they’ve been with her 17 months of her life and I think they love her and they don’t want nothing to happen to her.

“They are not withholding any treatment at all and I do believe that if they don’t resuscitate her, it is for Charlotte’s best interests, to be quite honest.”

BreakingNews.ie

Student charged with murder of child

21/04/2005 - 13:02:48

A 20-year-old student has been charged with the murder of 11-year-old Robert Holohan at Ballyedmond, Midleton Co Cork on January 4 last.

Wayne O’Donoghue, aged 20, who has been in custody since January 16 on a charge of unlawful killing, was formally charged with murder in Midleton Garda Station today.

He appeared at the adjoining courthouse where evidence of arrest, charge and caution was given to the court by Sergeant Joe O’Connor.

Sergeant O’Connor told Judge Michael Pattwell that he had formally charged the defendant with murder contrary to common law.

When asked if he had any comment to make O’Donoghue had replied “no thanks”, said Sergeant O’Connor.

O’Donoghue was returned for trial to the sitting of the Circuit Criminal Court in Dublin on April 28. He was remanded in custody until that date.

Irelandclick.com

Overstepping the boundaries

I have been a private taxi driver in West Belfast for the past 10 years.
I fully understand the financial difficulties taxi drivers are facing. For years, the private taxi drivers have accepted and welcomed the part that black taxi drivers have played in delivering an excellent service to the people of West Belfast, often in dangerous circumstances. We have also welcomed the building of the new taxi rank in Castle Street, and maybe begrudgingly accepted that black taxis can use the bus lanes when private taxis cannot.
However, I must register my utter disgust that some black taxi drivers have decided to eat into the private taxi hire business. They do this by queuing and picking up at the most popular bars and clubs on the road, providing private hire facilities. This is evident on a Friday and Saturday night, and it is visible for all those to see as the black taxis join the rank outside the Whitefort bar.
As I said earlier, I am aware of the financial pressures on all taxi drivers, but private drivers feel this more. The last thing we need is for our business to be stolen.
Having talked to some of these black taxi drivers, they say they come out to work because private hire taxis cannot handle demand. I agree that customers may be waiting for a while after pubs close, but there are certainly enough private hire taxis to meet demand. I could use the same argument for the black taxi stand at 5pm to 6pm every night. The black taxi drivers doing private hire work are out from 10.30pm at night. There is no peak demand then. I have talked to other black taxi drivers who are appalled that some of their colleagues are eating into the private hire area and they put it down to sheer greed.
My point is that black taxi drivers should stick to their work and let us private hire drivers earn a living. Greed is no use to anyone.

Enough to Go Around

West Belfast still suffers discrimination

I read with interest Michael Doherty’s article ‘Second Class… Again’ (Andersonstown News, April 16) and would like to add a few comments on behalf of the West Belfast Economic Forum.
The current crisis in funding in the community sector is symptomatic of a wider failure of the overall policy context to deliver equality and justice to nationalists living in this state. Despite the promises made in the Good Friday Agreement in terms of equality and human rights nothing has shifted in terms of the Catholic/nationalist position as second class citizens in the north of Ireland.
A few key statistics:
• There are twice as many Catholic children living in workless households than Protestant children
• The historic unemployment differential between Catholics and Protestants has remained static with Catholic males remaining twice as likely to be unemployed than Protestant males
• For Catholic women the unemployment differential has grown from 1.4 to 1.6 times more likely to be unemployed than their Protestant counterparts. This is despite the fact that employment in the 1990s has grown faster for women than for men
• Working age economic inactivity rates show that there are 33.2 per cent of Catholics economically inactive as compared to 25.5 per cent Protestant.
• The proportion of working age, economically active people who are long-term unemployed stands at 3.4 per cent Catholic and 1.7% Protestant
As a knock-on effect of this it is no accident that there are greater levels of poverty and deprivation in nationalist areas and recent research has shown that the highest levels of poverty prevail among those who vote for Sinn Féin.
Any map of the North of Ireland will show that the high economic inactivity rates are concentrated in nationalist constituencies particularly in Belfast and west of the Bann; lower wages persist west of the Bann; increases in jobs are lowest west of the Bann and in areas like West Belfast; the highest percentages for people on sickness benefit prevail west of the Bann.
In West Belfast specifically we still have the highest levels of unemployment and economic inactivity in the city and the lowest job density, ie numbers of jobs per person of economically active age. We also have fewer government-sponsored jobs in the area than there were prior to the first IRA ceasefire.
Policies that have been introduced to specifically target areas of greatest need and deprivation such as Peace I and II and Targeting Social Need have all failed to meet the needs of these areas or to make any dent in the statistics of poverty and need.
The last eight years of the Good Friday Agreement and its commitments to equality and human rights have failed because the British government and the local civil service are opposed to the achievement of equality for nationalists.
The refusal of funding for projects in areas like West Belfast that have at their core the principles of equality and empowerment for people who have suffered disproportionately as a result of the conflict comes as no surprise. This is not a result of civil service incompetence or disinterest.
Witness British ministers and civil service willingness to find finances and support to put into Protestant areas, ignoring their statutory obligations and existing policy instruments. Political decisions are being made which actively discriminate against and disadvantage nationalist areas.
These decisions are a fundamental abuse and denial of the human rights of the people in this community. All the evidence shows that as long as the equality issue is not addressed nothing will be delivered and local people will remain disempowered.
It is time for local people and their elected representatives to demand the delivery of those rights and to expose the discrimination that is rampant within government departments.

Una Gillespie,
West Belfast Economic Forum

Could election spell the end of the SDLP?

When the British government sent in the Paratroopers to murder civil rights demonstrators in 1971 it became clear they didn’t intend to create a just, equal and democratic society in this part of our country.
It confirmed the conviction of people at the time that the six county state could not accommodate reforms which would have been modest in any other part of Europe but revolutionary in the United Kingdom.
Moreover, it made the IRA campaign not only justifiable but unavoidable. But it also created an unprecedented opportunity for the political mercenaries within nationalism.
When the SDLP were formed at that time they had everything in their favour: tradition, respectability, and even religion. At their service was an entire community that had endured decades of exclusion, deprivation and unionist pogroms.
The nationalist and republican community had two choices in their lives. They could emigrate or suffer the consequences of all the economic, cultural and political marginalisation imposed on them by generations of English conservatives, and endure indefinitely all the discrimination, exclusion and brutality inflicted on them by the unionist regime that these conservatives had created in this part of our country. For them the unionist system of gerrymander and control of political dissent by their armed police and paramilitary militia was the enduring legacy of partition.
That demoralisation was further compounded by the failure and futility of sporadic IRA military campaigns throughout the forties and fifties and by the refusal of the Southern establishment to intervene.
Some of the founder members of the SDLP had a high profile at the earlier civil rights marches and this new party could sell themselves as a new beginning, camouflaged with all the trappings of radicalism that the civil rights campaign had brought on to our streets.
And yet the seeds of their own destruction were already there. They had failed to understand that a community dragged into prolonged conflict would be collectively enlightened and politicised by that conflict. And out of all that politicisation would evolve an unstoppable dynamic for change.
Through all the dark days since 1968, when the SDLP were collecting their salaries and enjoying celebrity status throughout Europe and America, that revolutionary process was gathering momentum back home.
And this was where the SDLP made their most critical strategic mistake. Engrossed and consumed by their political self indulgence, their private careers and their self righteousness, they failed to notice that they were not part of this process.
As a political party they have never achieved or even attempted to achieve anything for the people who voted for them. Not once did they ever walk out of Westminster or raise a finger in protest at the brutality inflicted on many of the people who voted for them. They consistently moralised about republican violence yet refused to use their influence to support the many peaceful campaigns that people were waging to secure justice and peace in this country.
Today they face the final weeks of their political existence. Confused, bewildered and delirious in their political death throes, they are desperately trying to cling on to their political lives. They have become nationalists, post-nationalists, republicans and ‘civic republicans’ (whatever that means), and in no particular order. Now they want a united Ireland, even though they have never raised the issue of independence at Westminster or in Europe.
They started off being all things to all people all those years ago and now they have come full circle, although their Labour credentials seemed to have disappeared when Gerry Fitt became an English lord.
In West Tyrone they are about to implode over the hospital issue and in Belfast they will have to live with the consequences of their disgraceful exploitation of the McCartney tragedy, arguably their most infamous action since one of their leaders congratulated the RUC for the murder of an IRA volunteer.
They are soon to find out that the people they have taken for granted for so long have had enough of being ruled by English conservatives like Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher and all the other useless wasters they have sent over here in helicopters.
They have had enough of a government that contrives the robberies of its own banks and colludes in the assassination of its own citizens.
And they have had enough of people who take advantage of them to build lucrative careers. For them English rule in Ireland will never again be tolerated and neither will the SDLP. They are finished and May 5 will not come a day too soon.

Jack Duffin,
Belfast

I was there at Short Strand argument

On Wednesday, April 13 I watched in amazement as Paula McCartney recounted her version of the incident which took place in the Short Strand earlier that evening to BBC News.
She told how her family had been intimidated by up to 12 members of the republican movement who also had cameras there to take photos. What amazed me so much was the fact that it was a totally different incident to what I had seen.
Earlier that evening when the McCartneys were delivering leaflets my sister had a heated argument with them because she asked if they would be seeking justice for everyone who had been murdered.
This was also witnessed by some children from the Bytes Project who were taking photos at the time for a project they were involved in.
The following day I contacted several newspapers to offer my version of events and this was refused by all except Daily Ireland and the Irish News, who printed only a few lines of what I had said.
I contacted Talkback and was asked to speak on air. I agreed to do so, but seconds before I was due to go on I was told it wouldn’t be happening.
I also contacted the offices of Mark Durkan and Alasdair McDonnell to ask why they had made remarks about my family with regards to this incident and to date I have had no reply from either man.
Since I find Paula McCartney’s interview to be full of so many inconsistencies I now find it hard to believe anything she has said in any of her interviews to date.

Confused,
Short Strand

Concerned about how we market Irish dancing

I am writing with reference to the recent protest regarding the new Falls swimmers.
First of all I should say that I do not disagree with the protesters’ views and understand that paedophilia is a worrying aspect of our society. I also agree with the fact that the architects involved in the construction are at fault for not foreseeing such a controversy. However, every time I hear the cry ‘paedophiles!’ I can’t help but feel the pang of hypocrisy.
Before everyone gets up in arms, paedophilia is WRONG and I am NOT defending it. But I have to ask, what is the difference between our children at the swimmers and our children Irish dancing?
Yes, I said Irish dancing. The people I hear shouting about the swimming pool are some of the very same people who cover their daughters in fake tan, put wigs on them, destroy the costumes with sequins and plaster young faces with make-up that Jordan would be jealous of – and all in the name of tradition.
Does anyone else find this disturbing? My niece recently asked if she could join an Irish dancing school and when my sister enquired about the costumes, she was told that her daughter could not perform without the whole paraphernalia. I must therefore ask, do we want a long-standing tradition to die for the sake of an Americanised ‘beauty pageant’ appearance?
And to those parents who endorse such activities, can you guarantee that a paedophile cannot gain access to your daughters’ dance competitions?

Concerned

Irelandclick.com

Lord Mayor’s anger at New Welcome Booklet

A welcome pack for newcomers just published by the West Against Racism Network (WARN) received a frosty reception at the Lord Mayor’s chamber this week for its stance on policing.

Lord Mayor Tom Ekin has described the policing advice contained in the West Belfast Welcome Pack as “concerning”.

The welcome pack, recently launched by West Belfast MP Gerry Adams, contains information and advice designed to help newcomers settle in to West Belfast.

In a section headed ‘Settling In’, it advises: “The police force in the North of Ireland (the PSNI) is seen by most people as an extension of the British State and has no support. You should avoid calling them into the area. If the PSNI ask questions about your neighbours, you should not answer them and you should inform your local community centre or councillor at once. It is not advisable to go to a PSNI station alone. Most people have no confidence in the PSNI and would only contact them as a last resort.”

Under the heading ‘Personal Safety’, the booklet goes on: “Most people have no confidence in the PSNI and would only contact them as a last resort” while a section specifically dedicated to policing only gives advice on how to make complaints to the Police Ombudsman.

Cllr Ekin said he was approached by a group of people who expressed “horror” at the WARN publication.

“As a person who has worked hard to make everyone welcome to Belfast, where they can feel that they are part of a normal, progressive, peaceful and non-racist society, I believe this booklet contains some very concerning ‘advice’, such that it positively scares off visitors and possible residents, according to my informant,” said the Lord Mayor.

“I wonder how all this lies with the repeated claims that [Gerry] Adams wants a peaceful, welcoming and inclusive society. I wonder how they will sell to their constituents the idea of working normally with the PSNI, which of course in the Alice in Wonderland world which they inhabit, they already do, when it suits them.

“Also, I wonder if the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, in supporting this folder, realised what they were endorsing. Indeed, do all the public and other bodies referred to in the document know how they are being used? My contacts said that such overt views, would cause them to reject West Belfast and I agree that this document is unacceptable in a normalising society.”

A spokesperson for the Falls Community Council, who were involved in the development of the booklet, said of the Lord Mayor’s remarks:
“We wouldn’t dignify them with a response, because this is clearly an election ploy on his behalf.”

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Belfast Telegraph

Pearce now ‘a different kid’: doctor

By Nigel Gould
21 April 2005

Little Pearce Gilmore is to spend the next two months in America, where doctors will continue to monitor his progress since his life-saving brain op nearly a fortnight ago, it emerged last night.

The brave Coleraine youngster, who celebrated his 10th birthday yesterday, is to receive special radiation treatment every working day for six weeks.

Doctors hope the brain tumour, which has already been reduced through surgery, will be shrunk even further.

More importantly, it is hoped the course of radiotherapy will stop the tumour growing again.

Head nurse at the New York-based Montefiore Children’s Hospital, Tania Maher, said Pearce was “doing really well”.

“He looks great, fantastic,” she said. “He’s walking and talking much better.

“We are really happy with his progress.

“Hopefully, the radiation therapy will shrink the tumour, which has been reduced to a minimal amount, even further.

“He is now out of hospital and will be staying in the hospital apartment.

“He will begin the treatment in a week or so.”

Recently, in an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, surgeon Dr Rick Abbot revealed that the tumour, part of which he removed, was found to be benign.

“Things couldn’t be any better for him,” Dr Abbot said. “We are very happy. He is extremely well.

“We have relieved the pressure so the brain can work better.

“He had problems with control on the right-hand side of his body. Now his co-ordination has improved and his speech is better.

“He has found his humour again and is playing about with his family and joking around. He is a different kid.

“When he came here he was in a hole. Now he is in good shape.

“He was not far from becoming wheelchair-bound.

“He would have ended up severely disabled over a period of years had he not had this operation.

“But right now things couldn’t be any better.

“He is now where he was some four months ago.”

More than £40,000 was raised by readers of the Belfast Telegraph across Northern Ireland to send Pearce to the US.

As well as the cash, there were many phone calls and emails to our office from well-wishers from all over the world.

Pearce travelled to the US several weeks ago with his dad, mum Sophie and other members of his family.

BBC

DUP wants rebuff for republicans

DUP leader Ian Paisley

The government must press on with moves to form a devolved government in Northern Ireland without Sinn Fein, the Democratic Unionists have said.

The party’s election manifesto calls for a “clear message to be sent to republicans” that the political process will no longer wait for them.

It says if a voluntary coalition could not be set up, direct rule from Westminster should be more accountable.

The manifesto did not say when it would consider Sinn Fein fit to share power.

Earlier this month, UKUP leader Bob McCartney said he had been assured by the DUP leadership that it would take a generation before it would consider government with republicans.

Speaking at the manifesto launch, DUP leader Ian Paisley portrayed the election as the ultimate battle between Sinn Fein and his party.

“The only way that IRA/Sinn Fein can be defeated is if the DUP is declared by the majority of voters to be Northern Ireland’s largest party and the authentic voice of Northern Ireland,” he said.

He called for the electorate to deliver the “ultimate rebuff” to republicans saying it was “now or never”.

“This can become Ulster’s finest hour. May God define the right.”

The main points of the DUP manifesto include:
- Opposing the reduction of police numbers and moves to scrap the reserve and campaigning for the retention of smaller police stations, particularly in rural areas

- Demanding a more balanced approach by the Assets Recovery Agency to the stripping of loyalist and republican paramilitaries and criminal gangs of the proceeds of crime

- Supporting tougher sentences for those who commit crimes against the elderly, different treatment for those who perpetrate hate crimes, mandatory minimum custodial sentences for criminals who commit repeat burglaries, longer sentences for paedophiles and proper justice and support for victims of sex crimes, an imaginative approach to tackling alcohol-fuelled violence

- Opposing plans to introduce water charges. However, the party said if ministers pressed ahead, the regional and domestic rates should be reduced to reflect the cost

- Opposing plans to raise domestic rates and base them on the value of people’s homes

- Opposing plans to reform post-primary education on the grounds that it will threaten academic excellence and destroy grammar schools. It says ministers should not rule out selection based on academic ability

- Demanding greater transparency and detailed audit trails for the health service, less bureaucracy, the same standards of care as other parts of the UK

- Banning smoking in public places

- Providing free public transport for people between 60 and 65, an increased state pension, free personal care for the elderly and for those who suffer from Alzheimer’s and dementia, a deduction of 25% for senior citizens on all rates bills

- Ending the beef export ban in Europe and ensuring farmers get a fairer price for their produce and reducing the influence of major supermarket chains

- Supporting more streamlined and effective local government and a more joined up approach to waste management.

Indymedia Ireland

Independent republican candidates take a stand

by Barry
Thursday, Apr 21 2005, 12:48am
national / elections / opinion/analysis

The growth of a republican, socialist alternative within the republican base

The emergence of a number of independent republican candidates in this year’s northern council elections has highlighted a growing discontent within the traditional republican base vote which Sinn Fein could previously have taken for granted.

Although small in number, the fact that these independent candidates have emerged from within working class republican communities across the entire 6 counties, indicates that a growing number of republicans no longer feel that Sinn Fein articulate or represent their ideological beliefs, whether republican or socialist, and that this dissent exists across the entire occupied area.

It also appears that their decision to contest the elections and oppose Sinn Fein’s stranglehold within the republican base has been spontaneous and not part of any organised electoral effort by any political grouping.

A number of republicans who recently left Sinn Fein on ideological grounds are prominent among those standing for the council seats. Sitting Newry and Mourne councillor Martin Cunningham recently parted company from Sinn Fein in a bitter dispute concerning republican prisoners.

Cunningham had highlighted the cases of a number of his neighbours who had been fitted up by the RUC with the active assistance of a British intelligence agent and the planting of forensic evidence by British soldiers. As a result of his support for these men, who were acquitted after their legal team uncovered what had happened within the corrupt policing system, Cunningham found himself on extremely poor terms with the Adams’ leadership.

Martin Cunningham had also raised concerns internally about the direction the party had taken, primarily its acceptance of the GFA and Stormont. Unsurprisingly this marked him as a “dissident” within the party structure, which he then parted company with on less than friendly terms. This has led to his criticism of the Adams’ leadership as being “stalinist” in its inability to tolerate internal party debate which is virtually non-existent.

Since then he has gone on to highlight the cases of others who were stitched up as well as lending his voice to calls for the reintroduction of political status for jailed republican activists which was abolished under the GFA. He is also prominent in highlighting the hardships faced by small farmers in his rural S Down constituency.

Just recently Clr Cunningham found himself on the receiving end of a bitter and personalised smear campaign organised by Sinn Fein following his expression of personal support for the sisters of murdered Belfast man Robert McCartney.

Attending a meeting of Newry and Mourne council soon after meeting them in Belfast, he was barracked and loudly heckled by Sinn Fein clrs, his former colleagues . The Sinn Fein councillors branded him an “informer” due to his public support for the sisters. Posters also accusing him of being an informer were distrubuted throughout the council chamber, posted on walls and distributed on every seat.

In an ironic twist it has just recently emerged that the leader of the heckling councillors, Sinn Fein’s Conor Murphy was himself secretly meeting with senior PSNI/RUC figures behind closed doors during that very period. So far none of his colleagues has branded him an informer, despite the fact he was meeting the crown forces in secret.

Also standing in Antrim Town are Aine Gribbon and Tish Murray, two former Sinn Fein members and prominent activists within the Rathenraw community, which was the focus of a bitter dispute last year. Antrim Town’s local Sinn Fein cumann resigned en masse after accusing the Sinn Fein leadership of being linked to criminality and corruption as well as abandoning the republican position of rejection of British rule in Ireland.

The local Rathenraw tenants’ association, of which both women were prominent members, had transformed an area which was once a byword for drugs and anti-social behaviour which families were desperate to leave, into a community/family orientated estate which people actually wanted to move into.

The dispute which originally centred round certain leading provisionals’ support for the family of a major drug dealer who had moved into the estate, came to a head when the local Sinn Fein cumann resigned virtually en masse.

The leadership response to the mass resignation was to bus in 100s of heavies from Belfast (among them the murderers of Robert McCartney), who then patrolled the area in mobs, harassing and threatening the residents of the nationalist housing estate in a bid to silence them. It was reported at the time that among those threatened with death by the provisionals was an 8 months pregnant woman and a former political prisoner.

Both mothers and those who took a stand with them made clear they would not be intimidated or silenced. They are now standing on a republican platform of allegiance to the principles of Ireland’s Declaration of Independence and in support of their local community which is being victimised and harassed by the PSNI and the local unionist controlled council . Among the issues they are highlighting is the targetting and monitoring of nationalist homes by cctv cameras the unionist council have placed there with the PSNI.

Perhaps what is most telling about the Antrim situation is that both sitting Sinn Fein clrs, including the high profile Martin Meehan, will not be seeking re-election following the provo leadership’s failed attempt to intimidate the republicans of Antrim. Their position has simply become untenable and 2 new “weak” candidates have been put forward instead.

In N Antrim well known local activist Bertie Shaw is standing as an independent republican in the loyalist stronghold of Larne. Both he and his family have been the frequent targets of attacks by loyalist death squads as well as harassment by crown forces. In the early 90s his father was murdered by loyalists and both himself and family members have been injured and survived a number of murder bids.

Another prominent candidate standing in Armagh city is former blanketman and H Block hungerstriker John Nixon. A commited socialist and former INLA POW, Nixon is widely respected in his local area and articulates a clear left wing viewpoint which has been sadly lacking of late within Sinn Fein.

In Co Tyrone independent republican Paul Gallagher is standing in the nationalist stronghold of Strabane, while in Co Fermanagh Kevin Barry Nolan also stands on an independent republican ticket .

Finally a hard fought battle is expected in Derry city as local republican Gary Donnelly takes a stand in the cityside ward which encompasses the Creggan and Bogside. Well known locally as a republican activist with a hardline and uncompromising position towards British rule, Mr Donnelly is actively highlighting local job discrimination, pointing to the fact that funding for local community employment is virtually confined to members of Sinn Fein as “jobs for the boys”. This is contrary to everything the people of Derry fought for when they demanded their rights. Employment should not be the preserve of a political clique on Derry city council.

Donnelly is also utterly opposed to the PSNI and any participation on local DPPs, which Sinn Fein are expected to fully endorse once the elections are over. Perhaps one of the biggest obstacles facing Gary Donnelly is the fact that prior to his decision to run as a candidate, many Derry republicans who would instinctively vote for him as an alternative to Sinn Fein have previously refused to register for a vote in order to prevent it being stolen. There has since been a frantic scramble by many in the cityside ward to get themselves registered following his decision to run.

However, what is most important about these candidates standing is not whether they are successful in being elected, but the fact that they are highlighting republican and socialist issues within the republican base that Sinn Fein are either ignoring completely or simply paying lip service to. They represent the forgotten constituency , the republicans and radicals who have decided that the Sinn Fein leadership has gone down a path which is contrary to their convictions and for whatever reason no longer represents them. It now seems that this constituency is larger and more widespread than many had assumed, simply due to the fact it had been successfully kept out of sight. Whether it continues to grow and to organise itself remains to be seen, but how well these candidates perform will be an interesting diversion from the tug of war within the constitutional nationalist establishment of Sinn Fein and the SDLP.