01 July 2005
A Mid-Ulster Sinn Fein MLA has called on the Department of Rural Development and Magherafelt Council to take action over what she describes as the ongoing problem of flags in Magherafelt town centre.
Geraldine Dougan said the town was a disgrace through the latent display of unionist sectarian flags which did nothing for the image of the town.
Published: 1 July, 2005
East Belfast Sinn Féin Representative Deborah Devenny said that nationalists in the area were deeply concerned that the latest internal loyalist feud killing would eventually lead to attacks on their community.
Ms Devenny said:
“Today’s killing in broad daylight on the Newtownards Road is obviously linked to some ongoing internal feud between different factions of the unionist paramilitary gangs. However history teaches us that at the end of such feuds unionist paramilitaries tend to unite around attacking Catholics.
“With the marching season well underway and the Orange Order heightening tensions across Belfast, this killing will add to the fears of nationalists particularly in areas like the Short Strand that unionist paramilitary threats and attacks will once again turn on them
“The timing of this killing hours before the annual UVF and Orange Order parade past the Short Strand district takes place obviously raises these fears further and I would appeal to nationalists in East Belfast and indeed elsewhere to remain vigilant this evening and in the coming days.” ENDS
By Conor McMorrow
c.mcmorrow@dailyireland.com
Two people interviewed by gardaí after the discovery of the partially-clothed body of a woman on a remote Donegal beach in 2003 refused to give statements to gardaí, Daily Ireland has learned.
The body of Derry-based academic, poet and former member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, Mary Reid, was discovered on the Isle of Doagh on the evening of January 29, 2003.
While gardaí treated Ms Reid’s death as suicide, her family have never been satisfied with the Garda investigation into her death and have now called on the force to re-open the case.
Daily Ireland has learned that the Reid family received a letter from the gardaí last week stating that two men “were interviewed by Garda Jason Lyons on June 12, 2003” and “both men declined to make statements”.
Ms Reid’s brother, Joseph Reid, said: “We are not calling for any gardaí to be sacked or anything like that. We just want them to investigate her death as we believe there were a number of inadequacies in the original investigation that did not emerge at the inquest.”
The inquest into the death of Mary Reid took place in Letterkenny Courthouse on September 5, 2003 and the Reid family believes that “the inquest left more questions unanswered than answered”.
At the inquest an open verdict of “death by drowning” was returned, in the words of the coroner “to allow further evidence to be brought forward”.
In the letter received by Ms Reid’s siblings, a Garda representative said: “I must state that after considering the evidence available at this stage there is nothing to substantiate the theory that there was foul play involved in Mary’s death.”
In response to this, Mr Reid said: “The letter states that there is no evidence of foul play in Mary’s death.
“However the point we have been making for the past few years is that a full investigation should be carried out to see if there is any evidence of foul play.”
The Reid family claim that their senior counsel, Patrick Gageby, established at Ms Reid’s inquest her body was removed from the location in which she was found without the body being preserved for forensic examination, and no forensic samples were taken at the site.
“The gardaí should have looked into Mary’s death to see if it was an accident, a homicide or a suicide. The fact that the scene was not preserved effectively closed the door to any forensic information being procured,” said Mr Reid.
By Jarlath Kearney
j.kearney@dailyireland.com
Now the psni is blaming prison service for rearrest of Seán Kelly
The Prison Service of Northern Ireland was involved in initiating the cycle of events that led to the detention of republican ex-prisoner Seán Kelly.
In a bizarre twist to the controversy over the arrest of the north Belfast man, the PSNI admitted yesterday that it had been contacted by the Prison Service of Northern Ireland in relation to the conditions of licence enjoyed by Mr Kelly, who was released in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde said previously that he had no part in the process that led to Mr Kelly’s arrest.
At yesterday’s Policing Board meeting, Detective Chief Superintendent Noel Topping told members: “Following contact from the Northern Ireland Prison Service, PSNI passed to them information in its possession relating to the conditions subject to which Seán Kelly was released from prison.
“Subsequently, the secretary of state for Northern Ireland suspended Kelly’s licence and recalled him to prison.”
Last night, Sinn Féin spokesman Gerry Kelly accused the authorities of “lurching from excuse to excuse in desperate attempts to justify the re-arrest of Seán Kelly”.
“This shows up the farce which is British attempts to explain away their decision to intern Seán Kelly,” he said.
“The fact is that there is no reason why Seán Kelly should be in jail.”
The PSNI was approached by the North’s Prison Service about the case of Seán Kelly before the Belfast republican was arrested, it has emerged.
Yesterday’s revelation heightened concerns about the role of the Prison Service in the circumstances surrounding Mr Kelly’s arrest.
Last week, just four days after his arrest, Mr Kelly was threatened and assaulted by a loyalist inmate at Maghaberry prison in Lisburn, Co Antrim, after he had been placed in a communal holding area.
Campaigners for Mr Kelly argued that this Prison Service action had endangered his life by contravening basic conditions of the Northern Ireland Office’s jail segregation policy.
The composition of the Prison Service has increasingly been criticised by nationalist politicians. Figures released in May showed that less than nine per cent of the 2,000-strong workforce is Catholic.
Republicans have consistently accused the Prison Service of failing to adhere to safety provisions.
In one high-profile incident in 2003, a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association physically attacked a republican remand prisoner. Prison records later revealed that prison warders had stood watching as a verbal assault against the republican developed into an all-out attack over the course of six minutes. Loyalist inmates at Maghaberry prison continue to far outnumber republicans.
At yesterday’s public session of the North’s Policing Board in Belfast, PSNI Detective Chief Superintendent Noel Topping disclosed the role of the Prison Service.
“Following contact from the Northern Ireland Prison Service, PSNI passed to them information in its possession relating to the conditions subject to which Seán Kelly was released from prison.
“Subsequently, the secretary of state for Northern Ireland [Peter Hain] suspended Kelly’s licence and recalled him to prison.
“In pursuance of the suspension and recall, PSNI made arrangements to detain Kelly and return him to HMP Maghaberry,” Detective Chief Superintendent Topping said.
Along with other former political prisoners released early under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Seán Kelly has been prominent in north Belfast in attempting to calm interface areas.
He was arrested and reimprisoned in Maghaberry on June 18. His reimprisonment followed a sustained campaign by senior Democratic Unionist Party politicians and sections of the tabloid media.
Mr Kelly was convicted in relation to a 1993 bomb attack on west Belfast’s Shankill Road that killed ten people. His supporters argue that his conviction has been used by unionists targeting him as a “hate figure”.
His partner Geraldine Friel told Daily Ireland on Wednesday that his continued incarceration was putting his safety and welfare at risk. She said: “Seán is in a lot of danger in jail and I worry about him all the time.”
Sinn Féin representatives have raised the treatment of Mr Kelly with the British and Irish governments. The Irish government subsequently asked the British government about the case but Ms Friel has called for greater action in defence of her partner’s rights.
It emerged in a letter to Ulster Unionist Party assembly member Michael Copeland that Mr Kelly had not been under PSNI investigation for any misconduct just five days before his arrest.
Last night, a spoksperson for the campaign to free Mr Kelly told Daily Ireland that news of the Prison Service’s involvement “raises fundamental questions about Seán Kelly’s continued safety and imprisonment at the hands of the North’s prison regime”.
A Prison Service spokesperson refused to comment on the organisation’s role in Mr Kelly’s reimprisonment.
01 July 2005 16:17
Tens of thousands of homes in north Dublin are being advised that they may be without water for 24 hours from 5am tomorrow.
The partial or total loss of water supply is being advised by both Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council, and is due to major upgrading work at the main reservoir at Ballycoolen.
The areas that may be without water extend from Howth, Kilbarrack, Artane and Darndale to Skerries, Swords, Balbriggan and Malahide.
01/07/2005 - 15:00:34
The name of the man shot dead in east Belfast this morning recently appeared in loyalist graffiti on the Shankill Road.
The man - named locally as Jameson Lockhart, from Woodburn in north Belfast - was shot at the site of a former pub once owned by a loyalist paramilitary leader in east Belfast.
Mr Lockhart’s business has been attacked a number of times in the past.
He was working in a lorry on the site of the old Avenue One bar on the Newtownards Road when he was sprayed with gunfire at around 10am.
Avenue One, which is being demolished, was once owned by Jim Gray, an ousted “brigadier” in the Ulster Defence Association who is currently in prison awaiting trial on money-laundering charges.
The motive for today’s attack is unclear, but one theory is that it may be part of a feud among loyalist drug dealers.
Loyalist sources said the Ulster Volunteer Force was behind the shooting and Mr Lockhart was believed to have links to the rival Loyalist Volunteer Force.
01/07/2005 - 15:46:52
The five Mayo men who were jailed for contempt vowed today to challenge a court injunction ordering them not to obstruct work on the Corrib Gas pipeline.
Their case will be based on the consent of the Minister, who their solicitor says only gave the go ahead for the pipeline to be marked out, not for its construction.
Supporters gathered outside court this afternoon for the so called “Rossport Five”.
Local Fine Gael TD Michael Ring said they were left with no alternative but to fight their case through the courts: “This is a small community against big business, against the State, against the Government and against local authority.”
Mr Saulters said he wanted the Twelfth of July to be peaceful
Orangemen should reject invitations to be a part of any process breaching Grand Lodge policy, the body’s grand master has said.
Robert Saulters said such talks breached “if not the letter, certainly the spirit of the Grand Lodge policy”.
His statement follows the revelation that the order’s west Belfast district master took part in talks involving one of the city’s most senior republicans.
The Order says it does not hold talks with residents’ groups or republicans.
However, Billy Mawhinney - the most senior Orangeman on the Shankill Road - and republican Sean Murray were involved in discussions leading up to last Saturday’s postponed Whiterock Parade.
In a statement on Friday, Mr Saulters said he was dismayed about the situation regarding parades in Londonderry and west Belfast.
He said he wanted to warn members that opponents would seek “to tempt them into processes which include meetings and dialogue with Sinn Fein/IRA-backed residents groups”.
“We encourage all Orange brethren to be disciplined and very cautious at this time and reject advances and invitations to be a part of any process that breaches Grand Lodge policy.”
This was “designed to undermine our cause and erode our human rights as enshrined in European legislation”, he said.
‘Intend to reapply’
Mr Saulters said he wanted the Twelfth of July celebrations to be a peaceful and enjoyable day for everyone.
“The Orange Order poses no threat to anyone; others must learn to give us the space and time to celebrate our rich heritage, in a peaceful, calm, atmosphere free from threats of violence, intimidation or attempts to deny us our civil and religious liberties,” he said.
The meetings involving Mr Mawhinney were regarded as confidential and chaired by Duncan Morrow, the chief executive of the Community Relations Council.
They discussed the plans for the Whiterock Parade - including security, music, flags and the size of the march.
While progress was made - no agreement was reached.
That led to the Parades Commission’s decision to re-route the march through the old Mackie’s factory site.
The Orange Order said that was unacceptable and postponed the march - but they intend to reapply in order to hold it some time later this summer.
The incendiary bomb was left in Belfast city centre
Two men who tried to blow up a city centre car tax office, have been jailed for a total of 17 years.
Terence McCafferty, 36, from Dill House, New Lodge, Belfast, and Paul Donnelly, 26, from Colinview Street, Belfast, admitted having explosives.
They left a device, which was later defused, outside the motor tax office at Upper Queen Street in November 2002.
Donnelly was shot by a police officer as they fled. Police blamed dissident republicans for the attempted bombing.
At Belfast Crown Court on Friday, Judge Mr Justice Weir said the device, “had the potential to cause serious injury to innocent passers-by”.
The would-be bombers were being watched by police and army as the bomb was driven to the tax office.
‘Under surveillance’
The court heard that McCafferty was driving the stolen car containing the improvised incendiary device. Donnelly followed in another car, waiting to pick him up.
However, after the pair drove off, police intercepted them at the junction of Howard Street and Great Victoria Street and Donnelly was shot.
Sending McCafferty to jail for 12 years and ordering that Donnelly complete two years’ probation after his five-year term, Mr Justice Weir said the pair were lucky not to be facing more serious charges.
“Our society has had more than sufficient experience of the misery created by terrorist activity of this type,” he said.
“At a time when efforts are being made to restore normality with considerable success, had this device exploded the damage caused to that process would have been considerable,” he said.
01/07/2005 - 12:21:30
Police are seeking to re-interview the co-accused of the man charged with murdering Robert McCartney outside a Belfast bar, it was revealed today.
They will make an application when James McCormick, 36, appears before Belfast Magistrates’ Court next Friday on remand, charged with the attempted murder of Brendan Devine who was injured on the night Mr McCartney was stabbed to death on January 30.
Belfast Magistrates’ Court was told of the application to be made to further interview McCormick, of Victoria Road, Stetchford, Birmingham, when he and murder accused Terence Davison, 49, appeared by video link from Maghaberry Prison today to be further remanded.
Davison, of Stanfield Place in the Markets area of Belfast, was remanded in custody for four weeks until July 29 during his 30-second appearance.
McCormick was remanded in custody until July 8 when he will appear in court in person.
Yesterday, both accused launched applications in the Northern Ireland High Court to be released on bail. The applications were adjourned until a date to be fixed.
By Michael McHugh
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
01 July 2005
A GROUP of Lithuanians living in Tyrone were today targeted by petrol bombers in the latest in a spate of attacks on migrant workers in the area.
A device was thrown at their home in Fairmount Park, Dungannon, shortly before 3am today and the householders, three men and a woman, were lucky to escape uninjured.
An upstairs window at the back of the house was broken and there was scorch damage to the carpet on an upstairs landing and the outside wall.
One of the men living there managed to contain the blaze, which had spread up the walls outside his bedroom, with a bucket of water and his prompt actions prevented a potentially life-threatening incident.
“I just heard the glass in the window smash and then I looked out and saw the flames,” he said.
“I ran and threw some water on it and that put it out. We have been living here for over a year with no trouble at all and I don’t know why anybody would want to do this.”
The arsonists scaled an 8ft wall at the back of the house to launch their attack and the owner of the house, who didn’t want to be named, said it was fortunate that nobody was hurt.
The incident follows a savage attack, allegedly by a group of foreign nationals, on a man in the town.
Maurice Morrow from Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council said there should be no retaliation.
01/07/2005 - 11:50:05
A man has been killed in a shooting at the site of a former pub once owned by a loyalist paramilitary leader in east Belfast.
The victim was working in a lorry on the site of the old Avenue One bar on the Newtownards Road when he was sprayed with gunfire at around 10am.
He has been named locally as James Lockhart, from Woodburn in north Belfast.
Avenue One, which is being demolished, was once owned by Jim Gray, an ousted “brigadier” in the Ulster Defence Association who is currently in prison awaiting trial on money-laundering charges.
The motive for the attack is unclear, but one theory is that it may be part of a feud among loyalist drug dealers.
Published: 30 June, 2005
Sinn Féin South Belfast MLA Alex Maskey has accused Loyalists of attempting to raise tensions in South Belfast after flags were put up in the mixed Finaghy Crossroads area and a gang of 20-25 men with pickaxe handles gathered in the Ormeau Bridge area and attempted to enter the Lower Ormeau Road area. Mr Maskey called on Unionist and community leaders to intervene to try and reduce tensions in the area.
Mr Maskey said:
“Many of theses areas throughout South Belfast are now shared spaces. Loyalist erecting flags in the area are clearly trying increase tensions.
“I am also concerned about the dangerous potential of a gang of 20-25 men gathered on the Ormeau Bridge armed with pickaxe handles who appear intent on coming into the nationalist Lower Ormeau Road area.
“This evening there are many people in the in South Belfast who are very concerned and I would urge nationalists to be extremely vigilant.
“Unionist and community leaders need to show leadership and intervene to try and reduce tensions throughout South Belfast.” ENDS
TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern finally admitted yesterday that construction faults, and not “the wind”, caused the roof of the National Aquatic Centre to come off.
Hmmm, lemme see them cracks again….
In an embarrassing climbdown, after previously claiming the wind was entirely to blame, Mr Ahern confirmed his pet project was damaged because of specific technical problems.
Amid calls for the Health and Safety Authority to investigate, he declined to comment on extensive cracks and leaks within the so-called ‘Bertie Baths’ at Abbotstown in west Dublin.
Blaming the centre’s operators, Dublin Waterworld, for leaking reports of the damage to the building, Mr Ahern said he could not get into the matter as it was a High Court case.
After previously dismissing reports in the Irish Independent on the defects in parts of the building, Mr Ahern was forced yesterday to concede that he was wrong and described his wind comments as “witty”.
The State company that owns the centre, Campus Stadium Ireland Development, now says there are specific faults and the wind should not have taken the roof off, Mr Ahern said.
“A wind of that strength, though it was strong that day, should not have taken it off,” he said in an interview on ‘The Last Word’ on Today FM.
CSID is taking legal action against Dublin Waterworld as it claims the firm failed to repair and maintain the building properly. Dublin Waterworld says the building was defective from the beginning.
“What they [CSID] tell me is that they have been advised, as late as June 21, that there were no leaks, no cracks, no subsidences reported and CSID has requested Rohcon to investigate further the media reports,” Mr Ahern said.
Fionnan Sheahan
Political Correspondent
A District Policing Partnership meeting in County Antrim has had to be abandoned following a protest by loyalists.
The SDLP chairman, Declan O’Loan, needed a police escort after the protesters disrupted proceedings in Clough village hall.
A group of about 50 loyalists jeered him as he tried to start the meeting.
It is believed the protest relates to remarks made by the SDLP councillor on the re-routing of parades in Ballymena.
The protesters were carrying Union flags and began singing God Save the Queen.
Councillor O’Loan insisted he was chairing the meeting and tried three times to speak, but each time the loyalists shouted sectarian abuse at him, jeered and stamped their feet.
He then announced he was adjourning the meeting.
Afterwards, Mr O’Loan said: “It was most regrettable that this incident took place.
“It is fundamental to the operation of the DPPs that political representatives hold the chair in rotation and each chair deserves to have the support of the whole community in carrying out their function.”
Progressive Unionist Party member Billy McCaughey said: “Declan O’Loan is not an acceptable chairman for the DPP as far as unionism is concerned.”
He added: “Our intention was to ensure he didn’t chair the meeting and we are happy with the outcome.”
'So venceremos, beidh bua againn eigin lá eigin. Sealadaigh abú.'
--Bobby Sands
Get free blog up and running in minutes with Blogsome
Theme designed by Jay of onefinejay.com