SAOIRSE32

BreakingNews.ie

SF agrees meeting with Omagh victims

06/05/2005 - 15:47:23

Sinn Féin has agreed to a meeting with relatives of the Omagh bomb victims.

Before his runaway victory in West Belfast was confirmed, the party president Gerry Adams was challenged by Victor Barker and Michael Gallagher whose sons were killed in the August 1998 bombing outrage.

Mr Adams is being urged to call on republicans to make statements to investigating police officers and a party spokesman later confirmed that chief negotiator Martin McGuinness was ready to meet with victims’ relatives.

There was some jostling when Mr Adams arrived at City Hall for the declaration with Mr Gallagher claiming he was manhandled by Sinn Féin supporters.

His son, Aiden, 21, and Mr Barker’s son, James, 12, were among the 29 killed in the atrocity. The two men had been supporting the human rights candidate Professor Liam Kennedy who polled just 147 votes compared to Mr Adams’ 24,348.

The Sinn Féin leader pledged to support all sides in his overwhelmingly nationalist constituency.

He said: “I represent all those people who voted for us, those who voted against us and those who did not vote at all. Even though we were the subject of a campaign of vilification and invective this vote shows the savvy and sophistication of our voters in West Belfast.”

The SDLP candidate Alex Attwood admitted Mr Adams had been returned with a powerful mandate but claimed that within the last four to five months the hopes of many people behind the Good Friday Agreement were being dashed.

He said: “Let us no longer have the politics of baby steps. We need to take big leaps and have imagination.”

Mr Adams who was in contact with Downing Street earlier today to congratulate Tony Blair on his general election victory insisted: “It is only a question of when we meet the DUP and if they don’t then it’s a challenge for Mr Blair.”

Sinn Féin

Government asks people to sign blank cheque

Published: 6 May, 2005

Sinn Féin European Affairs spokesperson in the Dáil, Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD, has said the Government’s draft constitutional amendments go further than ratifying the EU Constitution and would rule out almost any future referral of fundamental matters of Irish sovereignty to the people. He slammed the Government for providing private advance briefings to Fine Gael and Labour
and releasing the proposals to the media before they were placed before the Oireachtas. He said:

“The Fianna Fáil/PD Government will be asking the people to sign a blank cheque to by making these amendments to the Constitution. Not only would this ratify the fundamentally flawed EU Draft Constitution it would also allow the Government to dispense with the need for any future referendum on EU matters.

“The Government wants to over-turn the historic judgement in the case taken by a private citizen, the late Ray Crotty, in 1987 which established the right of the electorate in this State to be consulted about matters of Irish sovereignty as they are effected by the EU.

“The Government has insulted the Oireachtas by providing private briefings to two parties - Fine Gael and Labour who are complicit in the sell-out of Irish sovereignty - and ignoring the other members of the Oireachtas.

“Sinn Féin will oppose these amendments and will defend Irish sovereignty and neutrality.”

BBC

Sinn Fein win Newry and Armagh

Conor Murphy wins Newry and Armagh for Sinn Fein

Sinn Fein has taken the Newry and Armagh seat from the SDLP. Conor Murphy defeated its candidate, Dominic Bradley, by 20,965 votes to 12,770.

The seat had been held by former SDLP deputy leader Seamus Mallon who stepped down this time.

The defeat is softened by an SDLP gain in South Belfast for Alasdair McDonnell and the success of party leader Mark Durkan in Foyle.

Sinn Fein has finished in the election with a total of five seats.

RESULTS IN KEY BATTLES
Trimble ousted in Upper Bann
Durkan defends Foyle for SDLP
SF gains Newry and Armagh
SDLP takes South Belfast
East Antrim landslide for DUP
McCrea captures South Antrim
Hermon holds North Down
All results in Northern Ireland (click on link at top)

The SDLP’s candidate Dominic Bradley is a former teacher with strong GAA connections.
But there were clues about how he might do from his performance in the Assembly election of 2003 when his first preference vote was about half the size of Conor Murphy’s.

The gap between the two parties had begun to narrow in 2001 when Sinn Fein trailed the SDLP by only 6%.

This was a rise of 10% on the 1997 result.

The DUP’s Paul Berry was in third place in Friday’s poll with 9,311 votes.

BreakingNews.ie

Concerns expressed about loyalist parade in Belfast tonight

06/05/2005 - 11:19:58

Nationalist politicians in the North have expressed concern that a loyalist parade is due to pass Belfast City Hall tonight while the Westminster election count is continuing inside.

Around 4,000 loyalists are due to stage a First World War commemoration parade in the city centre while Sinn Féin and SDLP supporters are still at the count centre.

The SDLP has described the decision to go ahead with the parade as madness, while unionists have appealed for calm.

Irelandclick.com

1079 and growing - That’s the number of applicants on the housing waiting list, up 22 per cent since the start of the Executive’s £52m strategy

An urgent public inquiry has been called for into the Housing Executive’s record on housing in the north of the city as we reveal that numbers of people on the housing waiting list rose yet again in North Belfast.
Since the launch of the Executive’s seven-year strategy in 2000, the waiting list has steadily grown from 880 applicants in March 2000 to 1,079 in December last year.
The £52 million strategy since it’s launch shows no improvements in the housing misery, but rather a worsening situation.
This morning the Housing Executive said the figures for the first four months of 2005 were not yet available.
But as of last December 883 applications for urgent housing were from nationalists classed as homeless or “in housing distress” and 196 from the unionist community.
That has risen from 793 from last August and means over 90 applications have been received by the HE in the last four months of 2004.
Of that number 368 are single people and 98 applications state “elderly”. However, the figures do not suggest how many people would be living in a house in the elderly category. But most striking is that over 400 applications for urgent housing are from families.
This morning we asked the Housing Executive for a head count of the entire number of people waiting on urgent housing including the number of people in each family behind each application.
However, the Housing Executive said it needed more time to find a total.
“As of December 2004 there were 1,079 households in housing stress in North Belfast of which 883 are perceived to be Catholic. It has to be noted that of the 883 households 368 are single people and 98 are elderly,” said a spokeswoman.
Gerard Brophy of St Patrick’s and St Joseph’s Housing Committee said an independent inquiry was needed into “these appalling figures”.
Despite rising figures the Housing Executive says its strategy is working.
“These figures speak for themselves and we need an inquiry into how this obviously sectarian strategy came about,” said Gerard Brophy.

Housing campaign gets support from groups

North Belfast’s housing campaigners have been supported by community and housing groups from South and West Belfast in their demand for “houses, not hostels”.
Tommy Holland of West Belfast’s Upper Springfield Federation of Residents Associations said at the Garmoyle Street protest yesterday that he was dismayed at the wet hostel that includes an outside “wet garden”.
“We were very impressed when St Patrick’s and St Joseph’s came to Upper Springfield and gave our residents a presentation of their urban village development that would create 1,100 homes, open space and play areas,” he said.
The people of the old Sailortown moved to many areas of North and West Belfast in new developments that were springing up in the 1960s. But former residents say they were duped into moving with promises of new homes would be built in the ancient quarter of the dock.
Residents were moved out to allow the construction then of the M2 motorway.
“So it was with dismay that we were made aware that a wet hostel would be built within an area of North Belfast that has over 4,500 (people) on the waiting list, over 40 hostels and hundreds of hostel be spaces,” said Tommy Holland.
He expressed how he was shocked at a courtroom revelation by solicitors acting for the Housing Executive that it had no legal duty to seek out consultation with the community.
“We feel that there has been great inroads with community groups with regards to consultation in the west of the city. But we feel that residents groups and those involved in housing community networks cannot stand back and ask the same questions about housing need in North Belfast.”

Kelly blasts Housing Executive “arrogance”

Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly has accused the Housing Executive of “arrogance” in its continued stance on putting a wet hostel into a proposed urban village in the docks.
More than half way into the controversial seven-year North Belfast strategy, Gerry Kelly said the housing homeless figures had gone up instead of down.
But the Housing Executive insists the strategy is working.
“We have the worst homeless situation that the strategy has ever produced. At the same time the Housing Executive is making decisions against the wishes of local residents. That has all happened before the strategy has been completed,” said Gerry Kelly.
He paid tribute to the work of the St Patrick’s Housing committee saying they had highlighted the Housing Executive’s arrogance towards the issue.
“People come from all over Europe to see the Carrickhill. They are now chasing an urban village and those plans are well advanced. The Housing Executive instead of supporting this process is trying to shift the wet hostel currently in Brunswick Street. That is hindering any attempts to bring in any development and shows the arrogant thinking of the Housing Executive.”

Rain fails to dampen the fighting spirit

TEXT Your support FOR the St Patrick’s/St
Joseph’s housing campaign by texting the
word NBN to 0788799558 with your comment

The rain lashing onto of a few cardboard shelters did nothing to dampen the spirits of North Belfast’s most ardent campaigners this week.
The members of St Patrick’s and St Joseph’s Housing committee slept out all night to protest at the lack of housing provision in North Belfast and to demand the scrapping of a “wet hostel”.
Kids from the Tar Isteach youth group helped make some of the structures and constructed a window and even a window box with paper flowers.
Sleeping bags, torches, flasks of tea and coffee and buns were in abundance as was plenty of banter.
But the more serious issue of housing and how the campaigners say the hostel will block their plans for an urban village in Sailortown was never forgotten in the driving rain.
That vision of social and private homes with services would alleviate the huge numbers of nationalists on the housing waiting list in North Belfast.
Car horns beeped as the small group camped up against the gable wall of Stella Maris. It sits beside a huge motorway interchange as well as a number of bars.
Concerns have been raised as to how drinkers would negotiate traffic at the crossroads that forms part of an arterial route for Belfast’s main ferry port.
The campaigners got ready for their overnight stint in Sailortown as workmen continued renovations on the proposed hostel that was the result of a landmark court case forcing the Housing Executive to reveal it did not have a legal obligation to consult with people about any proposed development..

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

Asbestos fears

The discovery of asbestos at Breda House high-rise flats has shocked and angered long-term residents of the Belvoir estate who were unaware of its existence and say they have been “ left in the dark” by the Housing Executive.

People living in the area woke up to men in white suits removing asbestos from the top-floor flats last week, despite having never been informed of the material’s very existence in their homes or its removal under the instruction of the local Housing Executive office.

It is understood that though residents of the top-floor flats have been rehoused, over half of Breda House residents still remain living in the lower floors.

Harry Steeson, a retired pensioner and a resident of Breda House said, “There are men here walking about in white suits just like they are from space but we weren’t even informed about it. People here are very concerned. There wasn’t even any meeting called about the dangers of the asbestos removal. Our fears haven’t been alleviated, no meeting has been called to tell us what is going on.”

Mr Steeson said people in Belvoir were growing more concerned by the day about being kept in the dark over the removal of the substance notorious for its potentially deadly health implications. A spokesman for Castlereagh Housing Executive confirmed that people who had been living in the flats had not been told of the material’s existence or kept up to speed on its removal.

The spokesperson said, “Unfortunately, consultation on this scheme, involving major improvements, had been completed before the asbestos survey was carried out. As a result of an asbestos survey, which is now standard practice, trace elements of asbestos have been found in Breda House.”

After the South Belfast News contacted Castlereagh Housing Executive they agreed to “contact all residents to advise them of the nature of the additional work being carried out.” The spokesman added: “The asbestos removal will be undertaken under strict Health and Safety Regulations.”

Gordon Rutledge of the Belvoir Housing Forum said, “We haven’t heard anything about this, it has come as a complete shock. I will be confronting the Executive over this. We will certainly be bringing it up with the relevant authorities. At some level it should have been discussed and people should have been informed.”

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Random Ramblings from a Republican

**continued from yesterday

My Brother Bobby

by: Bernadette Sands
An Phoblacht/Republican News
May 9th, 1981

>>>MISCHIEF

—————-

Belfast Telegraph

School patrol talks in chaos

By Claire Regan
06 May 2005

Confusion was today hanging over a meeting of education bosses in Belfast after it was claimed that a controversial decision on the future of lollipop services is not due to be discussed as planned.

Members of the Belfast Education and Library Board (BELB) are to meet this morning to conclude a meeting on proposals to axe dozens of patrols across the city after it was abandoned last Thursday when four councillors walked out.

It was expected that the minutes of the general purposes and finance committee, which were being discussed at the time of the walk-out, would be either rubber-stamped or rejected at today’s meeting.

The proposals, which have caused public outrage, include cuts to 54 lunchtime patrols along with 14 at post-primary schools and 38 on roads where there is also a pelican crossing or traffic lights.

But according to BELB vice chairman Jim Rodgers, notification of the agenda received by members does not include any mention of the matter.

The Ulster Unionist, one of the councillors who walked out leaving the meeting with too few members to continue, has sought legal advice on where the matter stands.

“The discussion on the proposed cuts to the school crossing patrol service was not completed when the meeting was stopped,” he said.

“I have taken legal advice and my understanding is that when the meeting resumes, it has to take up where it left off. We’re not finished - this issue is not just dead and buried.

“A proposal I had on the floor to reject the cuts, that was never voted on, still stands. Clearly a problem has arisen.”

The Belfast Telegraph is planning to hand over the remaining petitions signed by readers in response to the Save Our Lollipop Service at this morning’s meeting. We presented members with 2,630 signatures at last week’s meeting. That total has now grown to over 3,600.

The campaign was launched by this paper in response to public disquiet over plans which were drawn up in a bid to save almost £300,000 as part of a package of cuts of almost £7m reluctantly passed by BELB to cope with a budget shortfall imposed by the Department of Education. The total stripped from services across the five education boards hit £30m.

Politicians, road safety experts, leading trade unions, school leaders, lollipop people and parents’ groups have joined our calls for members to abandon the proposals.

BreakingNews.ie

FF politicians to hold talks with Irish emigrant groups in US

06/05/2005 - 08:09:50

Three Fianna Fáil politicians are due to travel to the United States today to discuss the situation facing illegal Irish immigrants in the country.

Junior Minister Tony Killeen, Limerick TD John Cregan and Senator Paschal Mooney are due to meet the Irish Apostolate Conference in Washington DC and Irish emigrant groups in New York during the trip.

An estimated 50,000 Irish people are living illegally in the United States without proper documentation.

These people are usually unable to travel home to Ireland for family events or holidays as they would not be allowed back into the United States.

The US government is considering proposals that would allow immigrants to become legal US residents if they register with the authorities and pay a fine.