SAOIRSE32

csmonitor.com

WATCHING OVER: The fortified Crossmaglen police station looms above the border village known for its staunch support of the IRA. (CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES)

In a role reversal, Protestants in Belfast clashed with police as the center for Catholic resistance remained calm.

By James Brandon | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

CROSSMAGLEN, NORTHERN IRELAND – As the farmer starts to speak, the sudden roar of an aircraft engine cuts him off. A British Army helicopter bursts through the clouds and skims the rooftops of this Catholic town in County Armagh six miles from the border with Ireland.

“The army is still here but people have got jobs now; the peace process has given them a bit of hope,” the man shouts over the fading roar of the engines, referring to the 1998 Good Friday peace accord. “Now we can just go about our lives just like anybody else in the country.”

Across Northern Ireland, the balance of power is slowly shifting. While Protestant gangs clashed with security services for several days last week after a traditional Protestant march was rerouted from Catholic areas, among many Catholics there is a small but growing sense of victory.

“The perception among Unionists is that the peace process has worked against them; that they’ve been the losers,” says Adrian Guelke, professor of comparative politics at Queen’s University, Belfast. “The Catholics don’t see themselves as the winners, but the way the Loyalists are reacting to the peace process is starting to make them believe that they may actually have won.”

In few places is this slow shift in attitudes and in the traditional balance of power more visible than in Crossmaglen. For 30 years this farming town was the epicenter of armed Catholic resistance to British rule. Republican guerrillas here killed more than 100 soldiers and 60 policemen since 1969.

Today the Irish Republican Army’s orange and green banners still flutter around the square. The British army airlifts supplies and men into its bases, but the guns are silent as Republicans seem to accept that violence will only jeopardize their political gains.

“There’s a real air of optimism at the moment,” says Gerry Murray, editor of The Cross Examiner, Crossmaglen’s newspaper. “The observation towers are coming down and it’ll be nice to feel that you’re not being watched the whole time.”

But even as Britain withdraws it troops and gradually demolishes its web of camouflaged watchtowers, armored police stations, and swarms of security cameras, many locals are coming to terms with the changes, and in particular, the televised scenes of a new multifaith police force battling Protestants rioters in Belfast.

“It’s very strange. For a long, long time we saw the police as controlling and restraining the Catholic people,” says Mr. Murray. “The police were always seen as a Protestant police so we see it as the Protestants attacking their own police force.”

With an identity rooted in oppression and struggle, many Catholics are reluctant to recognize the success of Republicanism, still driven by bitter memories of the British “occupation.”

“The soldiers never used to knock first,” recalls one local woman as she drives through the area’s green-flanked, winding roads, her car dashboard decorated with assorted Jesus and Mary figurines. “My father was always being lifted [arrested] by the British.”

But the slow pace of the peace process, the uneven economic spoils of peace, and lingering questions over the IRA’s secretive destruction of its formidable arsenal still make the return of widespread violence an ever-present possibility.

But while the Loyalist militancy is fueled by Protestant politicians who denounce the peace process as rewarding terrorism, Republican legislators can easily restrain their followers by remaining loyal to the IRA’s goal of a united Ireland.

“The IRA have said they believe that the struggle should be continued but only though peaceful means,” says Davy Hyland, Sinn Fein assembly member for Newry Armagh, which includes Crossmaglen. “We need to take their mantle up to move the process forward.”

And while working-class Protestants still suffer from the collapse of Northern Ireland’s manufacturing and ship-building industries, analysts say Republican politicians are keen for their voters to embrace new technologies and tourism and mimic Ireland’s transformation into a dynamic “Celtic Tiger” economy.

“These are the things that we need to keep young people away from violence,” says Mr. Hyland. “And there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

BreakingNews.ie

20/09/2005 - 16:33:36

The Sinn Féin leadership visited IRA prisoners in Castlerea jail today.

Speaking after the meeting, party president Gerry Adams and TD Martin Ferris said they had updated eight inmates on the Provisionals’ renouncement of violence.

Republicans are still campaigning for the release of the killers of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

BreakingNews.ie

20/09/2005 - 16:44:19

An Oireachtas committee member called for the closure of the Sellafield nuclear plant today after TDs were informed of a new leak while on a visit to the controversial facility.

Green Party TD, Ciaran Cuffe, who met with British Nuclear Fuels Limited, said TDs were informed of a new minor leak in the main discharge pipe running from Sellafield into the Irish Sea.

“This leak was identified by British Nuclear Fuels Limited in the last few days and as yet there are no specific details available. We have received assurances from BNFL that this is a minor leak,” he said on the visit as part of the Joint Committee on the Environment and Local Government fact-finding mission.

Mr Cuffe called for the facility to be safely shut down, adding that BNFL had lost all credibility in reassuring the public of its safety.

The cross-party group of TDs decided to view the controversial Sellafield nuclear plant over concerns about its safety.

The Oireachtas Committee met with UK nuclear regulators – the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and British Environment Agency – as well as BNFL today as part of a two-day trip to the facility.

The TD said the new minor leak had to be viewed in light of the major leak of radioactive acid at the reprocessing unit at the Thorpe Plant in April, which went undetected for up to nine months.

Mr Cuffe said: “The report into the leak last April justified what we have been saying about Sellafield for a long time; that incompetent operational management at the site is a threat to human and environmental safety. This latest leak confirms that Sellafield is still a safety threat.”

The TD claimed over the last few years the Government had become complacent about the facility.

“But the view that the Sellafield problem has gone away is mistaken. That view misunderstands the nuclear industry. Even if all reprocessing contracts were completed by 2012 – which they will not be as a result of persistent technical problems with converting dangerous liquid waste into sold form – the site clean up will last 150 years after that date,” Mr Cuffe said.

“During this long clean-up period there will be discharges from Sellafield that will be different in quantity and composition from the current discharges created by reprocessing. The Irish Government need to ensure that these discharges are minimised.”

However, Environment Minister Dick Roche has stated he would be meeting UK Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Alan Johnson MP, in October and that he had already raised the matter of the leak with him.

Work at the Thorpe complex was halted when the major leak, which could have occurred as long ago as August 2004, was discovered in April.

A report published last month showed radiation from the Sellafield plant was contaminating fish off the Isle of Man, but it said the levels were not harmful.

BreakingNews.ie

20/09/2005 - 16:53:28

Donegal publican, Frank McBrearty Junior has settled all his claims with the State.

His lawyers met with state solicitors last week.

The claims, amounting to €1.5m, relate to malicious prosecution as well as wrongful and false arrest.

Some 47 High Court actions by members of the extended McBrearty family had been due to commence on October 18.

State lawyers conceded liability for damages to Mr McBrearty Junior in June last.

The Morris Tribunal found that members of the Gardaí attempted to frame 36-year-old Mr McBrearty and his cousin Mark McConnell for the murder of Richie Barron in October 1996.

Five pathologists have subsequently stated that Mr Barron died as a result of a hit-and-run accident.

Derry Journal

Friday 16th September 2005

Click to view the CAIN photo by Martin Melaugh of the Ferry Quay Gate in Derry

A 300-year-old street, which could date back to the time of the Siege of Derry, has been unearthed during excavation work in the city centre, the ‘Journal’ can reveal.

Archaeologists working on the site of the former Rialto Entertainments Centre made their exciting find in recent weeks.

As well as uncovering a thoroughfare dating back to the late 17th/early 18th century, the “time detectives” also discovered a number of old stable buildings, an antiquated drainage system and assorted artefacts including bottles and pipes.

The experts are expected to remain on site for the next number of weeks.

Only when their investigations are complete can construction work on the retail development planned for the city centre site begin.

Kerry Giffin, of Hughes McMichael, project managers at the former Rialto site, told the ‘Journal’ that the archaeologists have been liaising with the Environment & Heritage Service throughout the excavation process.

He explained that, any new development planned within Derry’s walled city, was now subject to an archaeological study.

“One of the conditions of the planning process is that developers must allow an archaeological examination of the site prior to the start of work on any new development,” he said.

“In this particular case, once the old Rialto building was demolished, archaeologists were given access to the site to conduct what have proved to be fairly extensive excavations.

“It was during this process that the discoveries were made. The finds include an old road or street which dates from the late 17th century/early 18th century period.

“In addition, the remnants of three old stable buildings and a foul drainage system have also been discovered. These date from the same period.

“Assorted other artefacts, including bottles, pipes etc., were also unearthed during the dig.”

According to Mr. Giffin, “nothing of any real historical significance” has, so far, been discovered.

He says that, as part of the excavation process, the old road/street will be mapped, logged and drawings made of it.

He revealed that “60-70 per cent” of the site has so far been examined by the team of experts.

“Potentially, they could be there for another two weeks - all depending on what else, if anything, they find on the site,” he said.

Mr. Giffin says that, when the archaeologists have completed their on-site investigations, the planning process for a new retail development proposed for the site will continue.

The old Rialto building at Market Street was demolished earlier this year. The former cinema closed to the public in 2002.

Derry Journal

Tuesday 20th September 2005

PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde will come to Derry’s Rosemount Barracks on Thursday to meet local residents to discuss the future of the base.

Cecil Hutcheon from Rosemount, who has been campaigning for 12 years to have the Barracks removed said he hopes all the local residents come along to make their views known.

Mr Hutcheon said: “This is the first time a Chief Constable has actually come to Rosemount Barracks to talk with local residents.

“I stood up at the last District Policing Partnership meeting here in Derry and asked for such a meeting and finally it’s going to happen this Thursday at 2pm.

“The first thing I will be telling him is that people in Rosemount have had enough of this intrusion into their lives and we want to know an exact time frame for when this installation will be removed - we have heard in the past that it will be another two years before it is demolished and if that is the case then we want to know why it will take so long.”

Mr Hutcheon added that many people in Rosemount feel the Barracks are not only an eyesore but an infringement of their privacy.

He added: “Rosemount is a fairly small area so why does it need so much security - there are 14 cameras on the perimeter of the barracks and nine on the mast. This is a terrible intrusion on the lives of local people and it is really nothing better than a spy post.

“There are so many incidents in Rosemount, with cars being damaged etc, and yet these cameras don’t seem to catch any of that - so what exactly are they watching, they are not protecting people in the area at all, so why are they there?

“The people of Rosemount respect the need for policing and know it’s important for our area, but this is not policing, no-one wants this on their doorstep.

“And of course, never mind anything else, the Barracks are a real eyesore, and they are on a plot of land which could be of much better use to the community.

“I would like to see that area being used for a fold or sheltered housing of some kind for the elderly, many of whom had to move out of this area.”

Mr Hutcheon concluded: “When Hugh Orde comes to Rosemount on Thursday I hope plenty of people from the area come and make their views known to him. I also hope he gives the people of the area a great Christmas present by telling them that Rosemount Barracks will be gone by December.”

Derry Journal

Tuesday 20th September 2005

Derry MP Mark Durkan has accused loyalist paramilitary “low lifes” in the city of being “up to their necks” in orchestrated sectarian violence.

Mr. Durkan issued his scathing broadside following a weekend blast bomb attack which damaged the home of a Catholic family living at the Upper Bennett Street-Fountain Estate interface.

The explosive device shattered windows in the property which is occupied by two pensioners.

Derry PSNI commander, Chief Superintendent Richard Russell, yesterday confirmed that loyalist paramilitaries were behind the attack.

Mark Durkan branded the incident “very sinister” and an attack “on completely innocent people.”

He told the ‘Journal’ last night: “Local residents in this area are living in constant fear.

“While we should all be relieved that this blast bomb did not result in fatalities, we need to remember that the people in this community are being denied even a basic quality of life by loyalist paramilitary low lifes.

“The fact is that loyalist paramilitaries are up to their necks in orchestrated sectarian violence here in various parts of the North.”

He says the weekend incident was not just an attack on people living near the Fountain but was also “an affront” to people living in the Fountain.

“The communities in and around the Fountain know the fear and danger of attacks on themselves and do not want these for their neighbours either,” he said.

“The community at large needs to send the clearest united signal to those whose mission is fear and intimidation that people have the right to sleep in their beds at night and raise their families in peace. “The police need to ensure that vulnerable communities, whether nationalist or unionist, are protected from such violence and they need to fully pursue those responsible.”

Sinn FÈin MLA Mitchel McLaughlin is also in no doubt that “sinister elements” intent on inflaming sectarian tensions in the area were behind the blast attack.

He said: “Coming on the back of positive steps taken by the republican and nationalist community to address the problems of concern to the residents of the Fountain/Bishop Street interface, this is obviously an attempt by sinister elements within the Fountain to up the ante and derail the efforts that are being made to resolve this problem.

“They are intent on scuppering any moves towards reconciliation and community harmony between the residents of the Fountain and their neighbours in the surrounding areas of Bishop Street and the Bogside. These people must not be allowed to succeed.”

He added: “It is incumbent on unionist elected representatives and those with influence within the Fountain to do everything in their power to ensure that these sinister elements are not allowed to come into the ascendancy in the estate.”

Daily Ireland

Jarlath Kearney

A conference focusing on preparations for Irish unity will take place later this year, Daily Ireland has learned.
The all-Ireland conference on November 26, which has been organised by Sinn Féin, will be addressed by prominent grass-roots activists from across the island, including leading trade unionists, anti-poverty activists and community workers.
Representatives of non-governmental organisations engaged in social, economic and human-rights issues will be joined by hundreds of Sinn Féin elected representatives and members from across the country. Party president Gerry Adams will address the event.
Entitled “Preparing for an Ireland of Equals”, the event will take place at the Corcaghan Centre in Co Monaghan.
Billed as a key staging post in promoting Sinn Féin’s all-Ireland agenda, the conference aims to build on the Green Paper for Irish Unity proposal that the party has been promoting this year.
Daily Ireland has learned that, within the past month, intensive meetings of Sinn Féin elected representatives — including TDs, MPs, MEPs, assembly members and councillors — have focused on building the momentum for Irish unity across the island.
Sinn Féin representatives have been brainstorming about how Ireland can be presented as an all-island entity to the European Union.
Following a day-long meeting of assembly members in south Armagh this Thursday, tens of thousands of republicans are expected to converge on Dublin for a historic rally on Saturday.
The Make Partition History rally will form the centrepiece of Sinn Féin’s Céad Bliain centenary celebrations.
Martina Anderson, the party’s all-Ireland co-ordinator, told Daily Ireland last night that the November conference represented “a key development in promoting the all-Ireland agenda, alongside a range of other activism such as the Green Paper on Irish Unity campaign”.
“Sinn Féin’s vision of a new Ireland of equals is not just about the achievement of Irish unity in the future. There are those in society who simply examine the future of partition in terms of their own selfish interests.
“However, Sinn Féin’s objective is to make a real difference to the lives of citizens in the here and now.
“There is a compelling need to see the integration of the island economy and the full co-ordination of public services, such as health, education and transport — maximising the benefits for everyone who shares this island. There is also a need for a conversation with unionists.
“This conference is an opportunity for activists from a variety of backgrounds to thrash out the practical vision of the new Ireland which republicans are creating and to concentrate on building a national and international process of planning for Irish unity,” she said.
This morning, the SDLP is to launch a cross-Border plan that involves meeting Southern political parties to talk about North-South co-operation.
The SDLP intiative will be launched with a photocall at the Belfast-Dublin Enterprise train at Belfast Central railway station.
Party leader Mark Durkan and his deputy Dr Alasdair McDonnell are expected to attend.
Over the coming weeks, SDLP members will join members of Southern parties in publicising “proposals for North-South development and planning”, a spokesperson said.
Next month, Dermot Ahern, the Irish foreign affairs minister and a Fianna Fáil TD for Louth, will publicly back the SDLP in Derry.
For the second time this year, he will address an SDLP meeting about cross-Border issues.

Daily Ireland

Ciarán Barnes

Secretary of state Peter Hain has been accused of snubbing nationalists during a trip yesterday to Lisburn.
The direct-rule minister was in the Co Antrim city yesterday to learn about the problems facing deprived communities and to visit the loyalist Old Warren estate.
His itinerary did not include visits to the nationalist Poleglass and Twinbrook areas, which are the most deprived districts in Lisburn and among the poorest in the North.
Local Sinn Féin councillor Paul Butler questioned the minister’s priorities.
“Mr Hain’s most recent statements concerning the need for investment in impoverished loyalist areas of the North have caused great concern.
“According to official statistics, the four most deprived wards in the Lisburn council area are to be found in Poleglass and Twinbrook.
“The British government must take on board the need to tackle deprivation evenly throughout the Lisburn council area.
“It is vitally important that the British government does not adopt a discriminatory policy, skewing resources away from nationalist areas at the behest of unionists and loyalists who demand this policy is adopted.”
During his Lisburn visit, Mr Hain was confronted by loyalist women from west Belfast’s Shankill Road area.
They unfurled a banner reading “British citizens demand equal rights” before questioning the secretary of state on the release of republican Seán Kelly.
Challenged about their grievances, Mr Hain said: “There’s clearly a perception among unionists that the government has not been listening.
“What I am down here to do is show that I am and we are listening and we will continue to work together with a forward agenda for Northern Ireland.”
The claims made by the women who confronted Mr Hain were repeated by Ulster Defence Association leaders, who released a statement yesterday on “loyalist supression”.
The UDA was involved in much of the rioting that occurred in the wake of the September 10 Orange Order parade on west Belfast’s Springfield Road. The paramilitary group has been pressing the British government for more funding for loyalist areas.
The organisation’s statement said: “We too cannot stand idly by and allow injustice and inequality to run rife through our community.
“We demand a clear and unequivocal announcement from the British government that the Protestant community deserves the right to live in peace without the fear of suppression and containment.
“We will, to the utmost of our power, provide leadership and direction during the days ahead but governments, politicians, officials and all pragmatists within Northern Ireland must do likewise.”
The UDA statement also blamed the violence on the “alienation” of the unionist community.

RTE

20 September 2005 13:54

The death has been announced of veteran Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal.

The announcement was made on the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s website. He was 96 and passed away in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

In a campaign aimed at ensuring the world did not forget the terrors of the Third Reich, Mr Wiesenthal brought 1,100 Nazi war criminals to trial.

Among them was Adolf Eichmann, the man entrusted by Adolf Hitler with carrying out the Nazi genocide programme against Jews.

Altogether the Nazis are estimated to have murdered 11 million civilians, including six million Jews.

Mr Wiesenthal, born in 1908 in what is now Ukraine, travelled the world into his old age, lecturing on the Holocaust. He was also director of the Jewish Documentation Centre and collected data on the whereabouts of the last unpunished criminals of Nazi Germany.

Himself a Jew and former concentration camp inmate, Mr Wiesenthal founded the Jewish Documentation Centre in his post-war home in Austria. There he built up an information network which he used to uncover and pin evidence on those responsible for World War Two atrocities.

**Visit the >>Simon Wiesenthal Center

BBC

The SDLP has excluded Sinn Fein from a conference to discuss its new campaign to promote all-Ireland cooperation.

The party is holding the conference on its North South Makes Sense campaign at Stormont on Thursday.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan invited what he described as “democratic parties from the south” to the event to discuss “the need for all-Ireland cooperation”.

He said Sinn Fein was not invited because it was a rival party which did not involve them in its events.

Mr Durkan said the campaign was aimed at delivering benefits for everyone on the island.

“Our economies, north and south, face common challenges, so it makes sense to find common solutions,” he said.

He also called on the DUP and other unionists to resume talks with his party and said unionist arguments against north-south cooperation were “nonsense”.

Belfast Telegraph

By Brian Dowling
20 September 2005

Irish government ministers, led by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern are likely to have their first detailed discussions since last January with a Sinn Fein delegation later this week.

The move is seen as a clear sign that major initiatives on the completion of IRA arms decommissioning are imminent.

Last January, after the Northern Bank robbery and the murder of Robert McCartney, the Government told the Sinn Fein leadership it would hold no further meetings until republicans had decided on the future of the IRA.

Mr Adams is due to deliver what is being described as a keynote speech in south Armagh on Thursday and this, coupled with the expected meeting in Government Buildings, is regarded as a strong indication the IRA is in the final stages of completing the decommissioning of its weapons arsenal or has already done so.

Meanwhile, loyalist paramilitaries involved in the violence on the streets of Belfast urged the British government yesterday to end its alleged suppression of Protestants. After a week of rioting that brought mayhem to the city and surrounding towns, the Ulster Defence Association and its military wing the Ulster Freedom Fighters issued a statement that also backed a campaign of peaceful roadblocks by women angered at how the authorities have dealt with their community.

It said: “We deplore the political use of the police and army against the majority population in Northern Ireland.

“We demand a clear and unequivocal announcement from the British government that the Protestant community deserves the right to live in peace without the fear of suppression.”

Irish Independent

SUICIDAL children are still ending up in adult psychiatric wards while others with life-threatening eating disorders are forced to go abroad for help because of lack of treatment facilities here, psychiatrists warned yesterday.

Psychiatrist Dr Brendan Doody, who compiled a report for the Irish College of Psychiatrists, said some children with severe mental illness are still having to be sent to adult psychiatric wards.

His report, ‘A Better Future Now’, warned there are only 20 in-patient hospital beds in Dublin and Galway for the 100,000 children and adolescents under the age of 16 with psychiatric disorders.

In other cases, the children have to go to an ordinary paediatric ward which is not suitable for the care of their condition.

The Government is only spending €53 on mental health services per head of the entire population under the age of 16 in the country.

The poor level of services comes against a background of a government report in 2001 which recommended that 144 in-patient beds be in place to cater for under 16-year-olds. The report says that number should now be increased to 156 in-patient beds.

Dr Doody said out-patient psychiatric services for the youngsters are also under-resourced and so waiting lists have to be imposed.

The report also highlighted the lack of a forensic service for children who come before the courts.

It added: “Children and adolescents who present with criminal behaviour are sometimes referred to the generic child and adolescent psychiatrists or adult psychiatrists, neither of whom have sufficient expertise in this area.”

There are also just two psychiatrists specialising in alcohol and substance misuse services for adolescents, although over 1,900 children under the age of 18 years sought addiction treatment in Dublin during the 1990s.

Although children with eating disorders have the highest death rate due to medical complications and suicide, there is no specialist service available here.

The report said: “The current level of service provision struggles to provide an adequate response to the needs of this group who are often admitted to medical wards due to medical complications arising from malnourishment.”

It pointed out that funding shortfalls are very much at the heart of the crisis and child and adolescent psychiatry account for only 5pc to 10pc of spending on mental health services, even though it provides services to 22pc of the population.

The cut-off point for access to child services is currently 16 years, but the psychiatrists said this should be extended to 18-year-olds. It estimated this would cost €80m and involve a capital investment of another €150m.

Eilish O’Regan
Health Correspondent

BreakingNews.ie

20/09/2005 - 06:58:03

Click to view

An Oireachtas committee is meeting UK nuclear regulators today as part of a two-day trip to the controversial Sellafield plant.

Following a major leak of radioactive acid at the reprocessing unit last April, a cross-party group of TDs decided they wanted to see the ageing complex first hand.

Members of the Joint Committee on the Environment and Local Government are touring the site and meeting British Nuclear Fuels Limited, the company which manages the site.

The TDs are also due to discuss Sellafield with the UK Regulators – the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and British Environment Agency.

Green Party TD Ciaran Cuffe, who travelled to the plant over concerns about its safety, attacked Minister for the Environment Dick Roche for not joining the trip.

But Mr Roche insisted he never received an invite to go on the visit.

After a leak at the plant last spring, two senior managers were suspended but news of it did not emerge for some months. Work at the Thorpe complex was halted when the leak, which could have occurred as long ago as August 2004, was discovered in April.

BBC

The area around the school has been cordoned off

Army technical officers are examining a suspect package found at Saint Brigid’s High School in Armagh.

School principal Enda Cullen discovered the package, which consists of two lengths of pipe with protruding wires, taped to his office window.

He contacted police who cordoned off the Windmill Hill area and called in the Army.

The school’s 300 pupils have been told to stay at home for the day. Motorists have been advised to avoid the area.

Mr Cullen said the security alert came at a time when the school was celebrating its best ever examination results.

“It’s sad, it’s tragic,” he said.

“Our children want to learn. There are over 300 children and their parents who have been discommoded by today.

“It’s their learning that suffers, it’s the innocent, it’s young children that are suffering from this.”