SAOIRSE32

BreakingNews.ie

21/09/2005 - 18:44:27

The British government tonight faced demands to agree a £200m (€296m) redundancy package for Royal Irish Regiment soldiers.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Reg Empey urged Defence Secretary John Reid to come up with hefty pay-offs when the RIR’s three home service battalions are disbanded in under two years.

More than 3,000 jobs look set to go under the security scaledown, announced in response to the IRA’s pledge to end all violence for good.

But amid unionist outrage at the plan, Sir Reg held talks with Dr Reid in London in a bid to retain some Royal Irish troops to serve with the reduced garrison of 5,000 soldiers from August 2007.

No guarantees were given during the meeting, but the UUP chief also pressed for generous redundancy terms.

His proposals included an extra £60,000 (€89,000) for all full time members and £1,500 (€2,222) for part-timers for every year of their service.

“You could be talking about up to £200m (€296m) in total,” Sir Reg confirmed.

“But the Government has already spent the guts of that on the Saville Inquiry (into the Bloody Sunday shootings) and they continue to find money for ex-prisoners groups.

“So they can jolly well acknowledge the circumstances these people find themselves in.”

During the hour-long meeting Dr Reid was warned that the military will be stretched because of troop commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Rather than have to prepare units for service in the North, Sir Reg argued that some Royal Irish soldiers should be kept.

Specialist retraining programmes similar to those provided for police who retired early under reforms in the North should also be made available for the RIR, the UUP claimed.

Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram is expected to assess the proposals alongside Dr Reid before coming back to Sir Reg.

The UUP leader added: “Retaining a locally-recruited capability would be a much more cost effective aid to civil power if required than relying on regular Army providing the back-up when they are stretched across the world and would need training.”

BBC

Garda Jerry McCabe was killed in 1996

Sinn Fein will hit a “brick wall” if they again request the early release of the killers of Jerry McCabe, Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern has said.

Earlier this week Gerry Adams briefed IRA prisoners in the Republic of Ireland and told them his party was still looking for their release.

Garda McCabe died in a 1996 robbery in Adare carried out by IRA members.

Mr Ahern also said images of loyalist rioting made potential investors scrap plans to travel to Northern Ireland.

“In some instances I was made aware of the fact that future investment, particularly in the north, had been put on hold or postponed as a direct result of the scenes of violence which were broadcast on American networks,” he said.

Mr Ahern was speaking after meeting Secretary of State Peter Hain on Wednesday.

Four men were convicted of Mr McCabe’s manslaughter and jailed for 11 to 14 years.

The four men - Kevin Walsh, Pearse McAuley, Jeremiah Sheehy and Michael O’Neill - said they qualified for release under the Good Friday Agreement and the Irish government had an “obligation” to release them.

Irish American Information Service

09/21/05 14:18 EST

The British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain has said he had received positive intelligence about IRA decommissioning.

Speaking after talks at Stormont Castle with Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern, the Secretary of State said he was optimistic progress was being made.

Mr Hain identified the Independent Monitoring Commission report in January as a critical moment as it would indicate whether the organisation’s historic statement was being transformed into reality.

Speaking in Belfast tonight, Mr Hain said: “So far, in the first six or seven weeks (since the IRA statement), the signs are quite good and the reports and information I have had would seem to suggest that it is being delivered on the ground.”

Mr Hain’s comments come as Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams prepares to address supporters in south Armagh and at a rally in Dublin city center on Saturday - heightening the growing belief that the IRA are close on delivering on the pledge of nearly two months ago to dump all arms after declaring an end to its campaign.

Mr Adams, with Kerry TD Martin Ferris, briefed IRA inmates in Castlerea Prison yesterday on “peace process developments”.

In the coming days he will engage in a series of events which the British and Irish governments see as preparing the ground for IRA disarmament.

Asked if he was confident the IRA will move soon on decommissioning, Mr Hain said: “What is important is that they move not just sooner rather than later but that they move with credibility. That everybody, even those most sceptical and suspicious, can be convinced that the promises to dump arms on July 28 are genuinely being implemented and that decommissioning is a major and momentous event. And let’s hope that it is.”

On the timescale for the potential return of power-sharing the minister said: “Well, I have said all along is that I don’t think this will happen in weeks but it cannot happen in years. Northern Ireland cannot be caught paralysed politically in so many other ways for a long period of time.”

BBC

Thomas Devlin was murdered in a knife attack

Two men have been arrested by detectives investigating the murder of Belfast schoolboy Thomas Devlin.

A police spokeswoman said both men were arrested in north Belfast - one on Tuesday night and the other on Wednesday.

Thomas, 15, was stabbed five times as he and two friends walked along Somerton Road on 10 August.

The police have confirmed the prime suspects in the investigation are two young men with a black and white dog.

Sinn Féin

Published: 21 September, 2005

Responding to remarks made today by the British Secretary of State Peter Hain regarding unionist disadvantage and alienation, Sinn Féin Assembly member for South Belfast Alex Maskey said:

” Of course there is deep disadvantage across the north of Ireland, including in some loyalist communities Sinn Fein has consistently argued that discrimination and deprivation needs to be energetically tackled wherever it occurs.

” But I cannot see how deprivation can be tackled by forcing a sectarian parade along the nationalist Springfield Road. Last weeks violence was not about deprivation it was about a failure to force a sectarian Orange march through a Catholic area.

” The reality is that there is a failure of leadership within unionism. The DUP and the UUP ignore the real needs of their constituents and instead focus on out-dated expressions of sectarian triumphalism. If unionist communities are voiceless then they really need to look at the quality and performance of those they have elected to represent them.

” Sinn Fein will continue to demand action to tackle inequality and disadvantage whether it occurs on the Shankill, the Falls or elsewhere.” ENDS

The Irish News Online

21/09/2005
12:30:42

Loyalists are carrying out almost three times as many “punishment attacks” as republicans, according to figures published today by the PSNI.

The figures showed loyalists carried out 40 punishment shootings in the first seven months of this year, compared to nine blamed on republican organisations.

Loyalists were also responsible for 44 beatings in the same period, while republicans were blamed for 25.

The most recent victims were three men in their late teens and early 20s who were all shot in the lower leg in a loyalist area of Newtownards, Co Down, last night.

Belfast Telegraph

By Marie Foy
21 September 2005

A 28-year-old man who allegedly struck a pregnant motorist at a loyalist blockade in Dunmurry has been granted High Court bail.

John Ravenhill from Finch Grove in Belfast is accused of assaulting the woman, intimidating her and causing an obstruction at the protest last Wednesday.

A Crown lawyer said yesterday that the five-month pregnant woman, who was with her 13-year-old child, was driving towards Seymour Hill around 4pm when she saw a crowd of people blocking the road at Kingsway.

She was approached by a man who asked her to turn the car around but this wasn’t possible because of a lack of space.

A second man, who the Crown say was Ravenhill, approached, swore and aggressively told the mother to “move now” or he would get her out of the car and take it.

The lawyer said it was then alleged that Ravenhill reached through the driver’s window and struck the woman on the side of her head just above the eye.

The woman managed to turn her car, left the scene and reported to police.

About an hour later she returned with police and identified the defendant.

Ravenhill was arrested two days later at another protest at Kingsway.

The defendant admitted he had spoken to the woman but during interviews with police denied the charges of assault and intimidation.

A defence lawyer said that the protest had been organised by women and had run for about two hours a day from last Monday to Friday.

The alleged incident, he said, “seemed to have been an isolated incident in the course of the protest”.

Mr Justice Morgan granted Ravenhill bail of £500 with two sureties of £500 each.

The judge said the defendant must stay out of Dunmurry village, must not meet in the street with more than three other people and must have no contact with the alleged injured party.

Ravenhill is due to appear at Lisburn Magistrates Court on September 27.

Belfast Telegraph

By Paddy McGuffin
20 September 2005

SDLP leader Mark Durkan today condemned the UDA after police linked the paramilitary group to a recent blast bomb attack on a Catholic house.

It damaged the home of two pensioners in the nationalist Upper Bennett Street area.

While UPRG spokesman David Nicholl today claimed dissident republicans had thrown the device but it bounced back off a peace wall, police were linking loyalists to the incident.

Mr Nicholl said he arrived at the interface of Upper Bennett Street and the Fountain five minutes after the bomb attack.

“The UDA this morning denied any involvement in this,” he said.

“I believe them 100%. A large group of nationalist youths were throwing stones into the Fountain and then a device was thrown which rebounded, struck a car and then exploded, damaging a house in Bennett Street.

“Why would loyalism endanger this community further?”

He added that the loyalist “weapon of choice” is the pipe bomb, whereas the device thrown at the weekend was a blast bomb.

But Chief Superintendent Richard Russell today said: “At this stage it is believed that the device was thrown from the Fountain.

“However, the exact circumstances are under investigation. It is still early in the investigation but loyalist paramilitary involvement, possibly by the UDA, is one line of inquiry we are pursuing.”

Mr Durkan said: “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 in various parts of the North.

“This was not just an attack on people living near the Fountain but also an affront to people living in the Fountain.”

Belfast Telegraph

Councils, education and health targeted

By Noel McAdam
21 September 2005

The shake-up of Northern Ireland councils, health and education boards and other bodies will disrupt power bases and vested interests, the Government warned today.

With an announcement on the review of public administration due in the next few weeks, Secretary of State Peter Hain said the province was over-administered “by any standards” - with 26 councils, four health boards, 19 health trusts, five education and library boards and about 100 other public bodies.

In a major speech in Belfast, Mr Hain vowed he would not shrink from tough decisions in the continued absence of devolved government.

These would include delivery of 2.5% a year ‘efficiency savings’ across government - amounting to some £589m n a year by 2007-08 - and a programme of Government asset sales.

Mr Hain also warned the current imbalance in the economy, with public spending almost a third higher per head of population than the UK average, was “unsustainable”.

On the looming administrative upheaval, he said: “These reforms will be ambitious. They will challenge the status quo. They will disrupt power bases and vested interests. They will lead to a radical shift of resources from the back room to the frontline”.

But with a deadline of 2009 for the completion of the public reform package, Mr Hain said they were all essential to enabling the province to be world class and compete on the world stage and people must complete this programme of reform by 2009.

The reforms, he said, offered not just an historic opportunity for better public services, but a shift of power and resources closer to people with the devolution of responsibilities to new, strengthened, larger locally-elected councils.

And the new councils would be working “we all hope” within the context of an effective local Assembly and power-sharing Executive, the Secretary of State made clear.

The Direct Rule team will also shortly be publishing its detailed Investment Strategy which will involve the province’s borrowing power as well as Public Private Partnerships.

On education, he said Minister Angela Smith would be working with the education and library boards and other education bodies on plans to release resources from duplication and tackle the issue of falling school rolls to help free up money for “front line” services.

“In some towns and villages here we have three or four primary schools, where in other parts of the UK there might only be one,” he told an invited audience at the city’s Science Park.

Belfast Telegraph

Hain: take the political path and I will tackle your concerns

By Noel McAdam
21 September 2005

The Government today promised an “intensive engagement” with Protestant leaders in an attempt to tackle the needs of loyalist areas.

But Secretary of State Peter Hain also told loyalist paramilitaries they must take the political path - or face the full force of the law.

In the Government’s first formal response to the growing crisis with loyalist and unionist communities, Mr Hain warned the paramilitaries were in danger of degeneration into mafia organisations.

After a week of violence and confrontation in the aftermath of the Orange Order Whiterock parade, he told them: “You will not be allowed to terrorise your own communities.”

In a major speech in Belfast also covering public service reforms, Mr Hain accepted there is a sense of frustration and anger within unionism with many deeply suspicious about the outworking of the Good Friday Agreement.

He said Political and Social Development Minister, David Hanson, has been asked to head up an “intensive engagement” with elected representatives and civil leaders from the Protestant community - to try to reach a “mature and informed understanding” of the complexity of concerns and formulate appropriate responses.

Mr Hain said, however, there was a “loud and clear perception that public money was being channelled into community projects under the influence of paramilitaries who speak the words of community work while undermining those very areas with racketeering and organised violence. Their perception is their reality.”

The focus of Government support and funding must be through elected representatives, civic and church leaders as well as proven community workers - alongside a commitment to cross-community partnership.

Mr Hain said: “The choice for loyalist paramilitaries is clear: play the political role that you claim as your motivation or face the rigour of the law as the mafia organisations into which you seem to have degenerated.

“You will not be allowed to terrorise your own communities.”

Apart from the waste of public money, the recent riots had shaken an international confidence which had been viewing Northern Ireland with increasing optimism, he warned.

Mr Hain also said he accepted that the very real problems of social disadvantage, poverty and exclusion affected republican and nationalist as well as loyalist areas and also argued unionists have achieved their main two demands through the 30 years of the Troubles - an end to the terrorist campaign and the securing of the Union.

Belfast Telegraph

An edited version of Secretary of State Peter Hain’s address to an invited audience at the Science Park in Belfast today

21 September 2005

When I first envisaged speaking to you today, I planned to focus on the challenges facing Northern Ireland in the next two decades and how we can become a world class society with a world-competing economy.

I still plan to do that, because it is in no-one’s interest for the Government to be deflected from preparing for that future, however great the present political difficulties may be. Whilst there are disputes about marches at home, globalisation is marching relentlessly on and quite simply we cannot postpone difficult policy and structural reforms in Northern Ireland.

Today’s five-year-olds, who will be completing their education after 2020, deserve to enter a thriving job market and need to be equipped with the skills that will be demanded in that dynamic economy. It will be no consolation to say to them in 15 years’ time that Government was too preoccupied with past or present political disputes to plan ahead for their economic security and social future.

Nonetheless I need to address the very serious recent events in Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland, partly because they are uppermost in all our minds at the moment, but also because I think there is a link between them and Northern Ireland’s ability to face the global challenges of the future.

Indeed, unless we can address these problems we will not be in a position to face that future with the purpose and drive required. Be under no illusions: the recent riots and violence, as well as wasting public money, have shaken an international confidence that was viewing Northern Ireland with increasing optimism.

For most people across Northern Ireland, the events in Belfast over the past two weeks have been a deeply unwelcome throwback to the past. The horrific violence and vicious attacks on the police were doubly shocking precisely because we have grown used to the normality that has returned to almost every part of Northern Ireland in recent years. We have grown used to hard-won peace.

I have listened to the many grievances put to me in recent days. I do accept that there is a sense of frustration and anger within unionism, which has been expressed very forcibly to me by Dr Paisley and Sir Reg Empey, leaders for whom I have the greatest respect.

I want to address the other issues that have been put to me, in the terms in which they have been put to me.

What has unionism got from the Agreement? I don’t regard that as a rhetorical question: there is an answer. For the first time in the history of Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic has dropped its constitutional claim over the territory of Northern Ireland.

For the first time in the history of Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein has accepted that Northern Ireland will remain part of the United Kingdom until and unless the people of Northern Ireland decide otherwise.

For the first time in the history of Northern Ireland, the IRA have accepted that Northern Ireland will remain part of the United Kingdom until and unless the people of Northern Ireland decide otherwise.

For the first time in the history of Northern Ireland, the principle of consent is enshrined in an international agreement. Now anyone who knows the history of Northern Ireland and of unionism must appreciate the great significance of this.

To those who say that the principle of consent should always have been there, we always have to deal with what is and not what should be: you can’t rewrite history but you can make it.

In short, it seems to me that the two fundamental demands of unionism throughout 30 years of the troubles have been met: peace - the end of the terrorist campaign - and the securing of the union.

I think many unionists do see that the Northern Ireland of today is a much better place than it was.

But I accept that there are unionists who are deeply suspicious of the outworking of the Agreement and part of that is because movement on IRA decommissioning and the ending of paramilitary activity has been so slow. Even after a statement from the IRA that is unusually clear, they wonder whether it will be carried through in action or whether hopes will be dashed once again.

I also want to see the IRA deliver on its promises. I understand the scepticism of unionists given recent history and I know that the Northern Bank robbery in particular reinforced the suspicion that promises made to them were not for real. It is precisely to ensure that decommissioning is for real that we have General de Chastelain’s Decommissioning Commission and to ensure that there is no overt or covert paramilitary activity that we have the IMC. These are two independent bodies which will call it as it is. They will tell us what is for real.

To the many people who have said to me that the riots, while wrong, are an expression by loyalists of their belief that violence pays, I would simply say that the lesson of the last 30 years is unequivocal: violence does not pay. Republicanism made no significant political headway whatsoever until the IRA called a ceasefire; it will make political progress in the future only in proportion to its adherence to peaceful and democratic means.

That is why the IRA has set aside the armed struggle and that is why the British government, unionist leaders, the Irish and American governments and the overwhelming majority of people from all communities in Northern Ireland attach so much importance to the verification of the promises which the IRA made in July.

Violence is wrong - from wherever it comes: it does not pay and the recent violence has imposed a heavy cost on the communities in which it was carried out. The choice for loyalist paramilitaries is clear: play the political role that you claim as your motivation or face the rigour of the law as the mafia organisations into which you seem to have degenerated. You will not be allowed to terrorise your own communities.

I have a message to those former paramilitaries who want to move forward to build a better Northern Ireland: leave violence and criminality behind and join the rest of us who want to create a new prosperous Northern Ireland.

But I do accept that in many working class unionist and loyalist areas - as well, of course, as republican and nationalist areas - there are very real problems of social disadvantage, poverty and exclusion.

But let’s be clear, poverty knows no boundaries. In a few minutes I want to mention some of the successes of the past eight years, one of the most visible of which is the Laganside project. I recognise that people in disadvantaged communities, whether loyalist or nationalist, have a right to ask when their own Laganside will come?

I do not pretend that there are easy answers to the complex problems of these areas, many of which experienced the very worst of the Troubles and yet - despite considerable investment - have felt themselves to be the last to benefit from the increasing normality.

But significant progress has been made, not least by elected representatives, community leaders, churchmen and other faith leaders, and heroic individuals, many of whom I have been privileged to meet.

But despite what has been achieved, I am conscious of the criticism that our own efforts as a government could be better coordinated, and services more closely connected to disadvantaged communities, and I do acknowledge the particular needs of loyalist communities. To tackle this I want to embark upon a process of intensive engagement with elected representatives and civil leaders from the Protestant community.

I want to ensure that we reach a mature and informed understanding of the complexity of concerns and to formulate appropriate responses on the basis of partnership and within the broader context of a shared future for all in Northern Ireland. I have asked David Hanson to take the lead in this.

But I want to make one thing absolutely clear. I have asked for this work to be taken forward on two clear principles. First, that the focus of Government support and funding must be guided by and through elected representatives, civic and church leaders, and established and proven community workers, of whom there are many.

I have heard, loud and clear, the disgust of the good people of these communities who perceive public money being channelled into community projects under the influence of paramilitaries who speak the words of community work while undermining those very areas with racketeering and organised violence. Their perception is their reality: and I can understand that concern.

The second underlying principle of this work must be a commitment to cross community partnership. A “Shared Future” will be at the heart of Government policy and spending priorities.

I say this not because I want to implement a nice sounding or neatly bureaucratic strategy but because I believe very simply that a shared future for Northern Ireland is the only viable future, the only one worth having for the next generation, and the only way we will be able to compete in the face of the fierce winds of global competition.

Based on these two principles, we will draw together the existing work by Government and consult with elected and community representatives to accelerate and expand it. It is clear to me that the vision of a new Northern Ireland - prosperous, dynamic and at ease with itself - cannot be completed until the weakest areas have begun to enjoy the benefits of peace.

Irish Independent

21 September 2005

THE killers of Garda Jerry McCabe were at the centre of a new row last night after Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams visited them in prison and promised to press for their release.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell was adamant that the Government position had not changed.

“There is no question of them being released without serving the full sentences imposed upon them by the courts,” he said. “They will serve every last day of the sentences imposed on them.”

Mr Adams and Kerry deputy Martin Ferris visited eight IRA prisoners at Castlerea Prison, including Kevin Walsh, Pearse McCauley, Jeremiah Sheehy and Michael O’Neill, serving sentences for the killing. Mr Adams said the visit was aimed at updating the prisoners on the peace process since the IRA statement last July calling on members to “dump arms”. He said: “We told them that we were confident that the IRA was going to keep to all of its commitments in the July statement.”

He said while the end of the IRA armed campaign gave opportunities to advance the peace process, issues including detention of a small number of IRA prisoners were outstanding. Sinn Fein was committed to gaining their release.

The Government, meanwhile, confirmed the first full meeting since last January between ministers and a Sinn Fein delegation will occur on Friday.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern and Mr McDowell will meet Sinn Fein amid indications that the completion of IRA decommissioning will be confirmed within a week or so.

Government sources said no permission is required for Mr Adams or anyone to visit IRA prisoners in Castlerea. After the breakdown in peace process talks, the Taoiseach gave a commitment to the Dail the release of the killers was taken off the table and would never return. The Government was widely criticised when it emerged it was ready to release the four men as part of an overall deal, having previously written to the McCabe family promising they would not be released.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said the visit must not mark the first step in an attempt to reopen the issue of the release of the killers. A spokesman for Labour Party boss Pat Rabbitte said the Taoiseach assured the Dail and the country the issue was closed. Last March, when the Government toughened its stance on not releasing the men, no matter what, the four issued a statement of regret at the killing. Insisting they were “qualifying IRA prisoners” under the Good Friday Agreement, the men claimed they were entitled to be released.

But they said as this was being presented as an obstacle to an overall deal, they did not want it to be part of further talks with the Government.

Brian Dowling
Political Correspondent

BreakingNews.ie

21/09/2005 - 07:12:39

The family of a Co Donegal teenager shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in the North 32 years ago have slammed the attitude of the Gardaí and the Government towards their plight.

Sixteen-year-old Henry Cunningham died in August 1973 when the van he was travelling home from work in was targeted by UVF gunmen on the M2 near Templepatrick.

His family have claimed the Irish and British governments, as well as the Gardaí and RUC, never made any real attempt to investigate the killing.

Four months ago, they met an official from the Department of Foreign Affairs and were promised that a search would be made for any relevant documents.

However, they have since been told that neither the Gardaí nor the department has responded to the request.

BBC

Denis Bradley is in a stable condition in hospital

The vice chairman of the Policing Board, Dennis Bradley, has been taken to hospital with a head injury after being attacked in a bar in Derry.

It is believed Mr Bradley was attacked by a hooded man, who was carrying some sort of a club. He is not thought to be seriously injured.

The incident happened at about 2200 BST on Tuesday in the Brandywell area.

Police investigating the incident said they came under attack by a crowd. One person has been arrested.

A spokesman for Altnagelvin Hospital said Mr Bradley was in a stable condition and was being assessed.

One man who was in the bar at the time of the incident said people were shocked by what had happened.

“We were watching the match, we didn’t see what happened, but it is awful,” he said.

Police said they were attacked by groups of youths throwing petrol bombs and other missiles.

Mr Bradley, a former priest, was involved in community and mediation work in Derry for many years.

He has been the target of threats and attacks by dissident republicans since taking his position on the Policing Board, which holds the PSNI to account.

BBC

Here is the BBC’s ‘in-depth’ (..ahem) analysis of the Provisionals in an interactive mode. You can click on certain years for a synopsis of happenings. The most interesting parts, however, are the links to the historical video bits. For instance, you can use your Real Player to view Martin McGuinnes when he was very, very young - or footage of Bobby Sands’ funeral.

>>Give it a go