SAOIRSE32

BBC

A primary seven classroom was destroyed in the fire

A 13-year-old boy has been arrested and charged over an arson attack on a primary school in County Antrim.

A 15-year-old boy is being questioned about the fire, which destroyed one classroom and damaged 10 others at St Louis’ Primary School in Ballymena.

Extra police are to be deployed in the town following a series of attacks.

School principal Liam Corey said the fire was in a classroom used by primary seven pupils about to return to school for 11-plus transfer test preparations.

“As everyone knows, primary sevens are immediately into a stressful period preparing for the transfer test, so that is quite unfortunate from their point of view,” he said.

“The caretaker had spent all summer making sure the school was in great condition for the start of the new year.

“The teachers had been in, not just this week but last week, preparing.”

The attack came just one day after nearby St Mary’s Primary in the Harryville area was petrol bombed.

Sinn Féin

Published: 31 August, 2005

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Policing Gerry Kelly has said that the PSNI have abjectly failed to tackle the ongoing unionist paramilitary campaign against Catholics and nationalists.

Mr Kelly said:

“Over the past number of weeks the sectarian campaign being waged against Catholics and nationalists in areas like North Antrim has intensified. It has not met with a robust response from the PSNI. In fact the contrary would appear to be the position.

“Instead of confronting those organisations responsible too often the PSNI have publicly failed to even acknowledge that the motivation behind this campaign is sectarian. In doing so they are providing cover for those behind the nightly attacks. It sends out a message that there is a toleration of loyalist violence and an acceptance that these attacks will continue without hindrance.

“People feel that unionist paramilitaries are being allowed to set the agenda. Vulnerable and isolated nationalist communities are being exposed to a completely unacceptable level of violence and intimidation.

“It is a widely accepted fact that the PSNI control agents at every level within these loyalist gangs. There is a suspicion that it is this relationship which is dictating the softly softly approach being adopted by the PSNI on the ground to these attacks.

“In recent weeks we have had 5 murders directly linked to the UVF. We have had scores of attacks on nationalists, these attacks continued again last night, yet people are not appearing before the courts. It is simply not believable to suggest that the PSNI are doing their level best to address this situation.” ENDS

IrishExaminer.com

31 August 2005
By Jim Morahan and Tom Gillespie

LABOUR leader Pat Rabbitte has urged the Government to appoint a mediator to resolve the Corrib gas pipeline impasse.

Oil company Shell Ireland last night said it was still exploring all possible avenues that would allow five Mayo farmers purge their contempt of a High Court order.

The so-called Rossport Five have spent the past 63 days in a Dublin prison arising from their opposition to the controversial project.

Mr Rabbitte said: “The ongoing incarceration of five law-abiding citizens because of their convictions that the Shell operation at Rossport, Co Mayo, may pose a risk to health and life is now bordering on becoming a national disgrace.”

He suggested Shell waive its interests under the High Court injunction that led to the men’s imprisonment - and that the five simultaneously apologise to the court.

He said the Government should appoint an agreed mediator who would report on all issues of concern to the men.

Mr Rabbitte said since the oil companies concerned were the principal beneficiaries of the find off the Mayo coast, it was entirely reasonable they be required to spell out “what benefits will accrue to this underdeveloped region arising from this significant gas find in Irish waters.”

A delegation of Independent TDs will travel to Cloverhill Prison to meet the men today.

Yesterday, the Shell to Sea group, supporting the Rossport Five, held a peaceful lunchtime protest outside the Norwegian Embassy in Dublin.

Statoil, the Norwegian state oil company holds 36.5% equity in the consortium behind the Mayo gas project.

A spokesperson for the group said as majority shareholders in Statoil, the Norwegian government must instruct the oil company to cease participation in “an unsafe pipeline” that does not have the consent of the Rossport residents.

“We trust that the Norwegian government will now act honourably by ending Statoil’s shameful participation and abuse of the Rossport Five, their families and community immediately,” the spokesperson added.

The group plans a blockade of the Statoil premises in Dublin docks on September 10, followed by a protest outside the Dáil on October 1.

IOL

**A little Colombian holiday for the gardaí…

31/08/2005 - 19:30:53

Gardaí are expected to travel to Colombia as part of their investigation into three Irishmen convicted of training rebels there, it emerged tonight.

The alleged IRA members, known as the Colombia Three, unexpectedly appeared in Ireland earlier this month after being on the run since the December convictions.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell today told a Cabinet meeting that no extradition warrant for the men has yet been issued by the South American country.

A Government spokesman said: “The Cabinet heard that gardaí have been in touch with police authorities in Colombia through Interpol.

“Mr McDowell also indicated that it was probable that there will be a trip by gardaí to Colombia to make further inquiries.”

The Garda Press Office would not comment tonight on the specific purpose of this proposed journey.

James Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley presented themselves at Dublin garda stations two weeks ago for voluntary garda questioning about how they arrived in Ireland.

Mr Connolly was later arrested on a charge of obtaining a false Irish passport and detectives sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions on the matter.

Gardaí have been investigating how the three men got back to Ireland.

There have been Opposition calls for the men either to be returned to Colombia, or to serve their jail sentences in Ireland.

Authorities in Colombia have yet to make an extradition request for the men.

The whereabouts of the three men, who were convicted in their absence of training rebels in Colombia, has been unknown since one of them appeared on RTE on August 5.

They were first arrested four years ago and were initially acquitted of charges of training FARC rebels.

They were sentenced to 17 years in jail last December following an appeal by Colombia’s state prosecutor.

Their re-appearance came a week after the IRA’s July 28 pledge to end its 36-year armed campaign and pursue its aims through peaceful means.

The three men were arrested at Bogota’s El Dorado Airport in August 2001 as they boarded an international flight.

BreakingNews.ie

31/08/2005 - 15:23:44

A group of TDs including Socialist Party deputy Joe Higgins has vowed to pressure the Government to renegotiate the contract governing the Corrib gas project in Co Mayo.

Mr Higgins and six independent TDs made the pledge after a prison visit to the five local men jailed for obstructing work on a pipeline being built as part of the scheme.

The men, who have been in prison for nine weeks, believe the structure poses an unacceptable risk to the health of the local community.

They have also criticised the contract the Government signed with the global oil giant Shell, which is developing the scheme.

Under the contract, the Government receives no royalties from the gas in the Corrib field.

Speaking after today’s meeting, Mr Higgins accused the Government of giving away Ireland’s natural resources and said he and his colleagues would be demanding a renegotiation of the deal when the Dail resumes in the coming weeks.

Belfast Telegraph

By Chris Thornton
30 August 2005

The involvement of loyalist terrorists in a new unionist campaign to oppose a united Ireland was attacked by the SDLP today.

Members of a number of Protestant and loyalist organisations, including the UDA and UVF, were present yesterday when the campaign was launched in Larne.

Featuring 200,000 newspapers and a website opposed to “unremitting concessions to republicanism”, the campaign was launched by a former DUP election candidate, a representative of the Shankill Mirror newspaper, the relatives of an IRA victim and Orange Order Grand Master Robert Saulters.

UDA leader Jackie McDonald took part in a symbolic launch of a Shankill mirror edition featuring the headline “Ulster at Crisis Point”. Other members of his organisation and the UVF also reportedly took part in the launch.

SDLP deputy leader Alasdair McDonnell said the campaign was “deeply irresponsible” and singled out the Orange Order for particular criticism.

“It is utterly disgraceful at a time when loyalist paramilitaries are killing each other and terrorising the nationalist community that the Orange Order should have come together with them on a campaign against a united Ireland,” he said.

Belfast Telegraph

By Ashleigh Wallace
31 August 2005

A north Belfast pastor is planning on taking to the streets this weekend for a ‘prayer walk’ aimed at halting the loyalist feud.

For the last two nights, Pastor Jack McKee from the New Life City Church and members of his congregation spent hours delivering leaflets to houses in the Ballysillan and Silverstream areas where several murders and shootings have occurred in recent weeks.

The leaflets are being used to inform local residents of a series of prayer walks which will be taking place each Sunday for the next four weeks.

Following a set rota, a total of 50 ‘New Lifers’ will be turning out in teams to pray both for an end to the feud and for those families who have suffered as a result of recent paramilitary violence.

Speaking yesterday, before the last of the leaflets were delivered, Pastor McKee said: “All too often, the church is seen as the silent voice in the community. We at New Life want to try and reverse that and give the church a voice.

“When people are killed or seriously injured, it’s usually the minister who goes to the hospital or who goes to see the bereaved families.

“So, rather than just being there for people, our church wants to try and prevent the bereavements and hospital visits from happening.”

Pastor McKee spent Monday evening and last night delivering leaflets in north Belfast.

When asked about the mood in Ballysillan, Pastor McKee said: “There is still quite a lot of tension.

“Local people appreciate things are quiet at the minute but many feel this is a lull and there are concerns plans are afoot for more lives to be taken in the coming weeks.”

The Belfast pastor also revealed that during the prayer walks, leaflets will also be handed out to “the leadership of the organisations involved in the feud” as well as members of the security forces to ensure their presence is known.

The first prayer walk is due to take place between 9pm and midnight on Sunday.

Each person taking part in the walks will be wearing a white armband with a red cross.

Residents have also been invited to speak with team members or pass on a note with prayer needs when they are out on the street.

RTE

31 August 2005 12:15

Special police patrols have been deployed in north Antrim following a series of sectarian attacks on Catholic Churches and schools in Ballymena.

Overnight, St Louis’ Primary School on Cullybackey Road was badly damaged after it was set alight.

A PSNI spokesman said the window of a classroom was forced and an accelerant poured in and set alight.
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The fire caused damage to the classroom floor and smoke damage to the room and surrounding area of the school.

It was the second school to be attacked within 24 hours.

BreakingNews.ie

31/08/2005 - 11:01:35

Six independent TDs and Socialist Party deputy Joe Higgins are due to visit the so-called Rossport Five in prison today to show their support for the jailed protestors.

The five Co Mayo men have been in jail for around nine weeks for refusing to obey an injunction ordering them not to obstruct work on the Corrib gas pipeline.

The men believe the high-pressure structure poses an unacceptable risk to the safety of the local community.

They and their supporters want gas from the Corrib field to be pumped to an offshore terminal rather than directly onshore via the controversial pipeline.

Today’s meeting is part of ongoing efforts to secure the men’s release from prison.

They want the global oil firm Shell to lift the injunction it has taken out against them, but the company is refusing to do so and has pointed out that they can secure their own freedom by agreeing not to breach the court order.

BBC

An arson attack on a Catholic primary school in County Antrim is being treated as sectarian by police.

Fire crews were called to Saint Louis Primary School on the Cullybackey Road in Ballymena at about 2300 BST on Tuesday.

A window had been broken and liquid poured in and set alight. One classroom was destroyed and ten others sustained smoke damaged.

On Monday, nearby Saint Mary’s Primary School was attacked with petrol bombs.

Windows were smashed and damage estimated at £1,000 was caused to the school in the Harryville area of the town.

Superintendent Terry Shevlin said police had allocated extra resources to the area following the spate of recent attacks.

“Over the past few weeks we have received additional resources following other incidents and the latest new resources will enable me to mount static police operations at vulnerable targets, such as Catholic schools,” he said.

Police have employed more resources in the area

“This is in addition to patrols in places like Dunclug, Ahoghill and Harryville, where there have been recent disturbances, and patrols aimed at disrupting the activities of those involved in the loyalist feud.”

Sinn Fein assembly member Philip McGuigan has condemned those responsible.

“This is another disgraceful attack on a primary school in Ballymena,” he said.

“People are absolutely sickened and disgusted at this continuing campaign.”

SDLP councillor Declan O’Loan said such attacks could not be blamed on a tiny section of the community and indicated a deep communal problem in the area.

“It is absolutely essential that the elected representatives go far beyond condemnation and start examining the primary causes of this very determined sectarian campaign against Catholic buildings,” he said.

Meanwhile, separate attack in County Antrim is also being treated as sectarian by police.

Paint was thrown at a house in Bleach Green Avenue in Newtownabbey on Tuesday night, damaging windows and walls.

DUP MP for East Antrim Sammy Wilson said he strongly condemned the attack.

“I don’t suppose there is any point in me making appeals because I suspect the people who carry out these acts are well beyond the persuasion of politicians,” he said.

“I think the community needs to be vigilant, anything that is seen suspicious needs to be reported to the police, the police must be active.”

ISN

By Simon Roughneen in Derry

ISN SECURITY WATCH (30/08/05) - A new grassroots campaign dubbed “Love Ulster”, on Monday began disseminating newsletters across Northern Ireland aimed at denouncing nationalist dominance over the political process.

The Love Ulster campaign will disseminate 200,000 free newsletters across Northern Ireland, highlighting unionist concerns at political concessions granted to Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) since the latter’s statement that it was ending its nearly four-decade campaign of violence against British rule.

In the days after the statement, the British government announced radical plans for demilitarization in Northern Ireland - a move unionists view as premature at best and a betrayal at worst. They see the disbandment of the British army’s Royal Irish Regiment as a move that will harm unionist culture.

William Wilkinson, a spokesman for the Love Ulster campaign, told ISN Security Watch that unionists were “shocked at the speed of the [British] concessions [after the IRA statement]”.

Wilkinson, who works for a support group for victims of IRA violence, said he believed there was a reason for unionists to distrust the British government, which he accused of “negotiating aspects of the current process behind our backs and over our heads”.

The head of the exclusively Protestant Orange Order has backed the campaign, which says Northern Ireland is at a crisis point, with a clear need for a movement to oppose the creation of a unified all-Ireland state.

Wilkinson feels that the Irish government is being given an increasing role in Northern Ireland, and notes that the British government, as far back as 1991, had said it had no “strategic or economic interest” in remaining in Ireland.

Now unionist activists are taking matters into their own hands, without confronting or criticizing mainstream unionist politicians. “We are not pointing the finger at our politicians, but seek to complement them,” Wilkinson said, adding that “both parties [the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party] have voiced their opposition to the current process of appeasement”.

The Love Ulster pamphlets were landed at the port town of Larne in a symbolic re-enactment of the 1914 landing of guns at the port, intended for use by the old Ulster Volunteer Force to resist pre-World War I plans for devolved government or “Home Rule” for Ireland.

Wilkinson insists the re-enactment is merely symbolic. However, the reported participation of loyalist paramilitaries in distributing the pamphlets may cause nationalists to see differently.

Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) vice-president Alasdair McDonnell said the involvement of loyalist paramilitaries in a “phony campaign against a united Ireland” was “utterly disgraceful”.

The SDLP said the campaign was a disgraceful attempt to spread fear and a sense of crisis.

BBC ON THIS DAY

31 August 1994

The IRA has announced a ceasefire after a quarter of a century of what it called its “armed struggle” to get the British out of Northern Ireland.

The statement came just after 1100 BST and said there would be a “complete cessation of military operations” from midnight tonight and that the terrorist organisation was willing to enter into inclusive talks on the political future of the Province.

The statement has raised hopes for peace.

There is scepticism from the loyalist community and celebration in the Catholic areas of Belfast and Derry.

The Irish Foreign Minister, Dick Spring, said the statement was historic and met his government’s demand for an unconditional end to IRA violence.

The Irish Prime Minister, Albert Reynolds, called on loyalist paramilitaries to follow suit.

But loyalists are suspicious of the declaration and fear it may lead to a sell-out in which Northern Ireland’s position within the United Kingdom is under threat.

The Ulster Unionist MP James Molyneaux said no moves towards talks should begin until the IRA had added the word “permanent” to the ceasefire declaration.

The announcement comes 18 months after secret talks began between the British Government and republicans.

It led to the Anglo-Irish Downing Street Declaration in December 1993 which stated that any change in the partition of Ireland could only come with the consent of those living north of the border. It also challenged republicans to renounce violence.

SDLP leader John Hume MP, who has been negotiating with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, was “very pleased”.

But the British Prime Minister John Major was cautious in his reaction to the IRA announcement. “We are beyond the beginning,” he said, “but we are not yet in sight of the end.”

Ian Paisley, leader of the hard-line Democratic Unionists, rejected the wording of the declaration and said it was an “insult to the people [the IRA] has slaughtered because there was no expression of regret”.

In Context

Seven weeks later, on 13 October the loyalist terrorist groups announced their own ceasefire. On 9 December, British officials met Sinn Fein representatives for their first formal talks in 22 years.

But the IRA ceasefire ended on 9 February, 1996 when it planted a huge bomb in London’s Docklands. It killed two, injured more than 100 and caused more than £85m of damage.

A new ceasefire was finally announced in July 1997.

The future of the IRA’s weaponry was been one of the dominant and unresolved issues of the peace process.

Republicans have argued that the arms can only be dealt with as part of a solution that leads to “all the guns being removed from Irish politics” - giving equal weight to IRA weapons and the presence of the British military.

In May 2000, as part of a comprehensive deal to kick-start the stalled Northern Ireland Assembly, the IRA issued a statement offering to take part in a process in which its arms would be placed “completely and verifiably beyond use”, providing that the Good Friday Agreement is implemented in full.

Since that date, the IRA has opened up some of its arms dumps to international inspectors who, on each occasion, confirmed that the weaponry inspected was beyond use at that time.

But the issue of decommissioning has been put forth by unionists as the major stumbling block in talks between all parties seeking to restore devolution since the Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended in October 2002.

BBC

General John de Chastelain is to return to Ireland on Wednesday

The Canadian General John de Chastelain is expected to arrive back in Ireland on Wednesday to recommence his work on the issue of paramilitary disarmament.

The British and Irish governments have strengthened his decommissioning body by re-appointing Finnish brigadier Tauno Nieminen who resigned in 2001.

The third member of the commission, Andrew Sens, is also understood to be ready to return to work.

The moves will increase expectations the IRA will start disarming soon.

It has not decommissioned any of its weapons since saying it was ending its armed campaign at the end of July.

The statement also said independent witnesses from Catholic and Protestant churches had been invited to witness the decommissioning process and ordered members to “dump arms”.

General de Chastelain has been chairman of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning since the late 1990s.

BBC

A woman has said an attack on her family’s home in north Belfast was sectarian.

A brick was thrown through the front door of the Catholic woman’s house in Deerpark Road and a window was smashed.

The attack took place at about 2230 BST on Monday. The woman’s four children were also in the house. However, no-one was injured.

The woman, who is in her 30s, said that she planned to move out of the house because of the attack.

BBC

By Noreen Erskine
BBC News

Once St George’s Market in Belfast was used as an emergency mortuary.

Like the produce, a diverse range of customers come to St George’s

When German bombs blitzed Belfast in 1941 during WWII, some 700 people died in the air raids.

As the city morgue spilled over, more than 250 bodies were brought to the market in the city centre for identification. Distraught relatives went there to search the coffins for their loved ones.

Today the restored Victorian redbrick building beside the city’s courts of justice is filled with bustle and activity during the Friday market there every week.

On Saturdays it hosts a gourmet City Food and Garden market.

Amid stalls piled high with fresh fruit and vegetables, delicatessen and bakery foods, clothing, antiques and shark meat, it’s a meeting point for the city’s diverse communities.

Attacks increase

The market is situated near the predominantly Catholic Markets area, barely half a mile from the mainly Protestant Donegall Pass district.

Founded in 1890 and run by Belfast City Council, the market attracts stall holders and customers from across all of Northern Ireland’s communities.

Under its glass roof, there’s little evidence of the tensions which continue to bedevil parts of the city and beyond.

Despite an increase in racial attacks in Northern Ireland - the Police Service of Northern Ireland says recorded racial incidents and hate crimes have risen by about 300% in the past three years - St George’s Market seems to have escaped being caught up in the scourge of racism.

Market traders say they’ve noticed an increasing number of immigrants coming to it.

Wendy Chen, 29, has been regularly shopping there since she came to Belfast from China three years ago.

“I come here every week. There’s a lot of choice, and the people here in the market are very friendly,” she said.

Lilian Muiruri moved to Belfast two years ago to study nursing. She too has found the market to be a haven.

“I’ve not encountered any incident in the market, although there have been some problems for me elsewhere while I’ve been living in Northern Ireland.”

Divisions fade

Members of the city’s Chinese community are particularly keen on organic ducks, according to stallholder Anne-Marie Mullan.

The market has become a beacon of multiculturalism in Belfast

She sells organic chicken, eggs, ducks and spring lamb produced at her family’s organic hill farm near Limavady in County Londonderry.

“We sell to people from all communities, but lots of Chinese people come looking for the ducks, while immigrants from east Europe want the lamb for meatballs and mousakka etc.”

The traditional divisions between green and orange areas on the map of Northern Ireland also seem to fade away inside the market.

Prints of old street scenes of Belfast painted by stallholder Robert Young, from Carrickfergus, County Antrim, are proving a best seller.

Among them is a picture of the recently demolished police station at Andersonstown in the heart of nationalist west Belfast.

“It has been very popular with people from all areas, including tourists,” he said .

Ann Houston, from Hillsborough, County Down, sells household goods such as vacuum cleaner bags, cooker hoods and washing machine parts.

Her father set up the stall about 20 years ago. Some of her regular customers come from the Irish Republic.

She said: “They come because they have problems in Dublin getting hold of vacuum cleaner bags and spare parts these days. Most of my customers come because of the friendly atmosphere - and because they’re looking for a bargain!”