SAOIRSE32

The Irish News Online

The Thursday Column
By Jim Gibney

Just over a week from the orgy of unionist violence across Belfast what can be said about it all?

The first thing is no-one should be surprised, shocked or influenced by what happened.

This is all shades of unionism doing what it does best when faced with a crisis which is proving too big for them to crack.

The crisis which brought all shades of unionism violently onto the streets is their inability to cope with the onward march of change – the cutting edge of the peace process.

The peace process is carving up the institutions of unionist power like a hot knife through butter and unionists are flailing about desperately trying to halt its forward movement.

We have been at this juncture many times since the IRA’s first ceasefire in 1994. There is no need to panic nor to be deflected from the course set by the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement.

The British and Irish governments in particular need to ensure their jittery systems do not bounce them off course. We are not dealing with a showdown, a line in the sand or any of Paisley’s biblical warnings of Armageddon. Last week’s violence was a carefully staged piece of violent street theatre.

The unionist riots tell us a lot about unionist leaders.

They do nothing to end the pogrom against Catholics in north Antrim or the deadly loyalist feud but get very excitable over a rerouted Orange march. All shades of unionism have their fingerprints on the unrest because, for different reasons, they need the violence.

The party most in need is the DUP. Elected as the saviours of unionism; to stop in its words ‘a concession a day to the IRA’ they are seriously embarrassed by the British government’s response to the IRA’s decision to call off its armed struggle, in particular disbanding the last unionist militia, the RIR.

The DUP is the masters of the veiled threat, so a bit of loyalist muscle would not go amiss in advance of the negotiations.

Next in line for a whiff of the heady mixture of loyalist pipe and petrol bombs is the UUP.

Its electoral base is shrinking as fast as the DUP’s is expanding.

A flirtation even with a weakened Paisley will not harm its electoral ambitions. The Orange Order’s political compass is as wonky as its Belfast county leader’s grasp of the English language.

Dawson Bailie’s combustible friends might encourage him to spend a bit more time with a dictionary working out the difference between ‘condone’ and ‘condemn’ and less time on the streets marching.

Last but by no means least the UDA and the UVF.

Beset as they are with feuding, drug dealing and criminality, a spell in the arms of the DUP, the UUP and the Orange Order will rekindle old associations and give them a much-needed comfort blanket.

Am I being too flippant?

Are we really facing a serious threat, witnessing the beginning of another pan-unionist front similar to 1913 when Carson, Craig and the UVF landed guns at Larne and lined up with some very powerful forces in the British military and political establishment?

I do not think so. Few in the British establishment care about the unionists.

And the home-grown ‘powerful’ forces – the ‘B’ Specials, the RUC, the UDR are gone and soon the RIR will follow.

The Orange Order is still here but only as an insipid reflection from its heyday.

So can a pan-unionist front made up of the DUP, the UUP, the Orange Order, the UVF and UDA save unionism from the engine of change hurtling down the tracks at them?

What would their demands be?

A new RUC, Specials, UDR?

Perhaps a new two-county state?

Who would pay for it all? Who really wants such a scenario?

The British, Irish and US governments do not. Nationalists across Ireland do not. And for that matter neither do unionists.

When the DUP comes down from its self-inflated exalted position as leaders of unionism the rest of us will still be here waiting on it to deal.

Of course by then political conditions may well be even less favourable towards unionists than they are now.

The DUP had best get talking soon – it’s later than they think.

BreakingNews.ie

23/09/2005 - 15:39:51

The DUP reacted furiously this afternoon to a Monaghan judge who refused to acknowledge the name ‘Londonderry’.

The party’s Fermanagh and South Tyrone assembly member, Arlene Foster, criticised the comments, made by Judge Sean McBride during a motoring case.

The judge said that ‘Londonderry’ didn’t exist, but Ms Foster said he was ill-informed and completely inaccurate.

It showed, she said, the contempt felt for anything British by the southern judicial authorities.

The Irish News Online

**Shhhhhh!! For some reason today, the Irish News is letting you read everything w/o having subscribed. I was recently looking at their Scappaticci archives, and now I am on to murals and Bobby Sands. I thought I would reprint this old article and photo and whatever else interesting I find.

25/08/2003
By Jenny Lee

Click to view - note the photo is before the mural was restored

Jenny Lee speaks to sociologist Bill Rolston, whose long-awaited third volume of photographs of political wall murals looks at the period 1996 to 2003…

While murals are seen by some as a backdrop to the Troubles or a tourist attraction, murals still very much continue to play a dynamic part in Northern Ireland’s on-going political process.

This is a fact that University of Ulster Professor, Bill Rolston is very much aware off. His third book on this topical subject, Drawing Support 3, reflects the period leading up to the Good Friday – Agreement and what he calls “the frustrating politics of transition”.

Every mural has a story to tell about a particular moment in history, or an important shift in power between the two sides, or about developing tensions within the divided communities of Northern Ireland.

In his photographs, Rolston keeps a comprehensive archive of this changes. Drawing Support 3 covers both loyalist and republican murals – 114 in all, reproduced in full colour, including a number of unique photographs of murals from inside the H-Blocks taken shortly before the closure of the prison.

The tradition of mural painting in the north of Ireland is almost a century old.

It began around 1908 with loyalist artisans who began to paint large outdoor murals each July, part of the annual celebrations of the Battle of the Boyne.

The republican mural tradition was born as a result of reaction to the hunger strike of 1981. After the ten of the striking prisoners died, nationalists and republicans took to the streets in support of the them and young nationalists began “drawing support” for the hunger strikers on the walls – hence the name of Rolston’s books.

With the end of the hunger strike, republican mural artists had a new-found confidence in this form of expression and found other themes such as the electoral strategy of Sinn Fein, international comparisons and media censorship. This variation in republican murals continued post-ceasefire to include themes such as sectarian harassment, memorials around the 20th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strikes, the RUC/PSNI and British Army, plastic bullets and international solidarity.

The variation of murals in loyalist areas were much more narrow and the primary reason why Rolston delayed publishing this third book.

“I kept putting the book off until the loyalists done something different. I kept lying in hope that their murals would change a bit,” he said.

Unlike republican murals, loyalist murals after their ceasefire of October 1994 made few references to topical political events and developments.

“Before the ceasefire, 90 per cent of their murals were paramilitary. With the increase in trouble, the quantity and graphic and brutal nature of them actually increased. Up until two years ago it was rare to find a mural without a hooded man and guns and even then you could count them on one hand,” said Rolston.

In short, loyalists murals were militaristic and overwhelmingly about territory, with many directly commissioned by paramilitary groups and some showing live loyalist heroes, such as UDA man Michael Stone or Johnny Adair.

Surprisingly, given the conflict over Orange marches, few murals referred to the subject – there were also no murals demanding decommissioning by the IRA or criticising David Trimble for doing too much or too little.

A significant factor in the decline of loyalist mural activity was the feuding between rival loyalist paramilitary groups. Rolston notes that in one area of Belfast, the Lower Shankill, there were, until recently, 14 murals, mostly containing paramilitary images. Seven of those have now been painted over, partly as a result of changes following the recent loyalist feud in the area and partly in response to pressure on loyalists to clean up their act.

Beyond the explicit and often threatening representations of armed men and mythological warriors recruited to the loyalist cause, there were memorials to dead colleagues and royalty.

However, the official recognition – and funding – of the Ulster-Scots movement in the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement has provided a new source of commissioning, and hence a boost to the emergence of murals on historical themes.

“There is greater colour and vibrancy in republican murals who rose imaginatively to the post-agreement task,” said an enthusiastic Rolston, who doesn’t claim to be an artist. “I’m just an enthusiast who wanted to keep an archive of these murals which are so historic and could easily have been lost forever.”

In contrast to the loyalist murals, after 1996, the only guns or references to armed struggle contained in republican murals were now mainly confined to memorial murals commemorating dead comrades and celebrations of the role played by women in the struggle of the previous three decades.

In the same spirit of commemoration, murals appeared periodically referring to the 1981 hunger strike. This reached a climax in 2001 when for the 20th anniversary a large number of murals appeared reprising the themes and images of two decades earlier, with support for the hunger strike and Bobby Sands, as depicted on the cover of Drawing Support 3.

As before the ceasefire, mythology and history, including Cuchulainee, proved rich seams for republican muralists to mime, while reference was made to contemporary events such as the Holy Cross stand-off in Ardoyne. One mural, copied form a cartoon in the Irish News, depicted the plight of the nationalist Short Strand in east Belfast.

As for Rolston views on the future and whether the changing political environment will lead to the demand for a Drawing Support 4 being published, Rolston diplomatically says “the jury is out”.

The Irish News Online

By Barry McCaffrey

Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern met with nationalists in Belfast and Antrim yesterday to assure them that the Irish government is committed to tackling sectarianism.

Mr Ahern visited a number of community groups in Belfast and Antrim who were most directly affected by sectarian attacks and street violence.

During his visit, he met with residents on the Springfield Road in west Belfast and the Parkside estate in north Belfast.

He also met some of the families affected by sectarian attacks in north Antrim.

“This was an important opportunity to hear directly from the communities and individuals who have been directly affected by recent events,” he said.

“It is vital for those of us involved in the ongoing political process to hear at first hand the concerns and experiences of the people and communities who suffer fear and intimidation.

“The government is determined to be proactive in challenging sectarianism at every opportunity.

“Today was an important occasion for me to speak to the people working hard at the coal face, to see how best we can achieve this.

“I assured all those I met of the government’s commitment to work for the peaceful and stable future that the people of Northern Ireland deserve.”

Later, Mr Ahern visited the Corrymeela Reconciliation Centre where he paid tribute to its ongoing work in combating sectarianism.

The Irish News Online

By Seamus McKinney

Policing Board vice-chairman Denis Bradley was released yesterday from Derry’s Altnagelvin Hospital, two days after being attacked in a bar in the town.

Mr Bradley suffered serious injuries to his head and face when he was beaten with a wooden bat while watching Derry City’s League Cup win at Mailey’s Bar in the city’s Brandywell area.

Police believe dissident republicans were responsible for the attack.

Witnesses said a man, whose face was covered with a scarf, walked into the bar and struck Mr Bradley twice on the head with the bat while he watched the game with his 17-year-old son.

The attack provoked outrage, with politicians from across the political divide joining Church figures in condemning those responsible.

On a visit to Derry yesterday, PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde said he would take a personal interest in the search for Mr Bradley’s attacker.

“Denis has made a huge contribution to policing and the police agenda and getting a very effective police service for the whole communities across Northern Ireland through his work on the Policing Board,” he said.

“The sad bit is these people still exist who are determined to wreck everything that Denis has achieved, communities have achieved, police have achieved. They’re going to get nowhere.

“They run in – they’re brave people wearing hoods, covered up – armed with a large bat, hit a 61-year-old man and run away and hide. That sums up exactly what I think of them. I think they are beneath contempt.”

Sir Huge said people were now engaging with police and the world had left those responsible for the attack behind.

While in Derry, Sir Hugh also toured interface areas and met residents of the city’s Protestant Fountain estate, as well as a delegation from the SDLP.

A spokeswoman for the Policing Board said Mr Bradley was released from Altnagelvin Hospital yesterday afternoon.

She said his family had requested privacy to allow him to recover from his injuries.

The Irish News Online

EXCLUSIVE
By Sharon O’Neill Chief Reporter

THE number of sectarian crimes has more than doubled in the last year. Latest police statistics point to a deteriorating situation, synonymous with the Troubles, is getting worse.

Earlier this year The Irish News revealed that sectarian attacks were continuing to take place on a shockingly high level in the first official record of incidents compiled by police.

New statistics now show that the situation is getting worse.

From April 1 to August 31 this year, 726 sectarian incidents were reported – almost five a day.

The disturbing figure is more than double that for the previous six months, which stood at 339 – an average of two per day.

Police classification of ‘sectarian incidents’ ranges from verbal abuse to bomb attacks and attempted murders.

A sectarian motive is a “significant line of inquiry” in the killing in August of north Belfast Catholic teenager Thomas Devlin.

The summer, which was marred by serious violence during the marching season, saw an intense increase in sectarianism which has spilled outside Belfast to Co Antrim and Co Derry.

Out of 42 incidents in the Ballymena district more than half were against the Catholic community.

A number of families were forced to flee their homes following attacks in Ahoghill.

Although the figures for across the north are not broken down

by community, it is generally accepted the majority of attacks were carried out by loyalists.

However, the Protestant community has not escaped sectarianism with some attacks coming from the Catholic community in north Belfast, the greater Ballymena area and Derry.

A clearer picture of paramilitary involvement will be revealed by the Independent Monitoring Commission next month.

Its report yesterday, which detailed violence linked to the UVF/LVF feud, noted that it had not dealt with the “dreadful sectarian attacks over this time nor with the wider loyalist picture”.

Already this month there have been a number of sectarian attacks. Loyalists were yesterday blamed for a petrol-bomb attack on the home of a Catholic mother on the outskirts of north Belfast.

Police are also treating as sectarian two separate attacks in the north west on Wednesday night when a care worker had paint poured over her car while tending to a Co Tyrone pensioner and an assault on three Catholic boys.

The extent of the problem was highlighted by a judge while sentencing a Co Antrim loyalist for the attempted murder of a Catholic.

Accusing politicians of “cynically exploiting” sectarianism Mr Justice Coghlin said: “As the tide of terrorism abates, sectarianism re-emerged, oozing forth again to corrupt another generation.”

The Irish News Online

By Keith Bourke

Some of Belfast’s oldest thoroughfares – the narrow entries that criss-cross the city centre – are enjoying a well-deserved facelift.

NIO minister with responsibility for social development David Hanson announced the end of the first phase yesterday of the revamp scheme.

Winecellar Entry, Pottinger’s Entry and Castle Arcade have been rejuvenated at a cost of £400,000, with £500,000 of work on Crown, Wilson’s and Joy’s Entry due to begin in April.

During the 18th century the High Street area and its laneways were at the centre of the city’s life.

Political historian Dr Eamon Phoenix said Belfast was then a place of cultural renaissance and radical politics.

“In the 1700s Belfast was known as the ‘Athens of the North’,” he said.

“This was an exciting time in Belfast’s past. Peggy Barclay’s Tavern in the Crown Entry was the venue for the foundation of the United Irishmen by Wolfe Tone in October 1771. The taverns of Belfast’s laneways were hotbeds of political radicalism.

“Radicals who wanted Parlia-mentary reform would meet here and when that failed, a radical revolution like that which had occurred in France was planned.”

Joy’s entry is directly associated with one of Belfast’s most famous historical figures, Henry Joy McCracken.

Born on High Street in August 1767, of a prominent Presbyterian family, he commanded the United Irishmen forces in Antrim in 1798.

They were defeated by government troops, and after a month on the run McCracken was captured and hanged for treason in Cornmarket, near his birthplace

Henry’s favourite sister, Mary Ann McCracken, was also famous in her own right as a philanthropist. Like Henry, she was heavily involved in reviving the ancient poetry and music of Ireland.

Pottinger’s Entry is named after a prominent landed estate family of the time. During the 18th century it was also home to a debtors’ prison.

Going back to the 1600s, the High Street area was the impressive grounds of Lord Donegall’s castle, and the entries home to its orchards and gardens.

Castle Arcade itself is named after Donegall Castle, which famously burned down in a fire in 1780 in which two of Lord Donegall’s sisters perished.

Dr Phoenix also said Crown’s Entry has links with The Irish News: “It was down this lane that the Read brothers from Co Antrim set up the printing press which launched the Belfast Morning News, which was later to become The Irish News.”

In the 1860s the focus of city life shifted away from High Street to-wards City Hall, a transformation completed in the 20th century.

Now, in 2005, some of Belfast’s famous heritage is being brought back to life.

The Irish News Online

By Marie Louise McCrory

A Catholic mother-of-four last night told how she used a garden hose to extinguish flames caused by a petrol bomb attack on her Newtownabbey home.

Anna Delaney has appealed to those behind the attack to leave her and her family alone.

Ms Delaney was in the kitchen of her Longlands Road home at around 6.30pm on Wednesday when she saw flames at the back of her home.

Three of her children – a 17-year-old girl, who is four months pregnant, and two boys aged 13 and eight – were at home at the time of the attack.

“I ran out and had a look to see if there was anyone about,” she said.

“I used the hose to put the fire out. I was shaking like a leaf. I was worried for all the kids.”

Ms Delaney said her daughter was “a bit shaken” by the attack.

“I tried to keep them [the children] calm. The police came out,” she said.

“I am just relieved that everyone is ok.”

Ms Delaney said she believed loyalists were responsible for the attack.

“I am scared of them doing it again,” she said.

“I just want them to leave us alone. I have never done anybody any harm.”

Councillor Billy Webb, of the Newtownabbey Ratepayers Association, and chair of the Newtownabbey District Policing Partnership, condemned the attack.

“I call on those carrying out such attacks to cease before someone is killed,” he said.

Sinn Fein councillor Briege Meehan described the attack as “completely unacceptable”.

SDLP councillor Noreen McClelland described the attack as “attempted murder”.

“It needs to be said loudly and clearly that a petrol bomb can kill, especially where children are involved,” she said.

“I appeal to anyone who saw this incident or can throw any light on it to contact the police before there is another attack with a more serious outcome.”

DUP MP Nigel Dodds branded such attacks “deplorable”.

The Irish News Online

23/09/2005
16:11:55

The Sinn Féin President today invited relatives of murder victim Joseph Rafferty to meet him.

The 29-year-old was shot dead outside his home in Ongar, northwest Dublin earlier this year.

His family believe the IRA carried out the killing, but Gerry Adams said he was satisfied no Republican had anything to do with it.

The Taoiseach is due to meet with the Rafferty family next week.

BBC

Gerry Adams has urged republican unity

Sinn Fein has made it clear to the Irish government that decommissioning will happen soon, Irish foreign minister Dermot Ahern has said.

He was speaking after Taoiseach Bertie Ahern held his first formal meeting with Sinn Fein since the Northern Bank robbery last December.

Gerry Adams said everyone must work together to restore devolution.

“We believe we are all on the cusp of a future… to see democratic and peaceful structures in place,” he said.

“Those of us who want to see equality right across the island and those of us who want to see an accommodation between unionists and the rest of us, we are on the cusp of that happening in the wake of the IRA putting its arms beyond use.”

As speculation mounts that the IRA is preparing to disarm, Mr Adams said it was time to look at the next step.

“And I think we all have to wait for that of course, and our focus at the meeting was to look beyond that even though we all have to wait until that happens,” he said.

Mr Adams said his party had raised a number of issues during the discussions with the Irish government in Dublin.

He said these included the murder of Donegal Sinn Fein councillor Eddie Fullerton in 1991, northern representation on southern institutions and the peace process.

Speaking after the meeting, Irish foreign minister Dermot Ahern said a verifiable act of decommissioning would put it up to unionism that they must work in partnership with nationalists.

“I think the Sinn Fein delegation made it very clear that they expect it to happen in the near future, and that they expected that it would be extremely significant and they wanted to emphasise to us that they saw it as significant,” Mr Ahern said.

Foundation

Irish justice minister Michael McDowell said that an end to all criminality was the foundation on which to build a new future.

“I’m confident that the Provisional movement in its entirety knows that as far as the government is concerned that we regard it as absolutely a cornerstone of any further progress in Northern Ireland that there should be no further criminality,” he said.

“In that context I think that is clearly understood and the consequences of any breaches of it will be categorical.”

Mr McDowell said he had seen nothing which showed the IRA was not living up to its 28 July statement that the military campaign was over.

On Thursday, DUP leader Ian Paisley claimed the government had made a secret deal with the IRA to exclude the need for an arms witness acceptable to unionists.

Mr Paisley said the decommissioning process was a mess, that the IRA made the rules, appointed the referee and was doing as it wanted.

Mr Adams said if the DUP wanted to nominate a witness it should have talked to his party.

BBC

An attack on a 15-year-old boy in Derry is being treated as sectarian, police have said.

He was with two friends at Prehen Park in the Waterside area of the city on Wednesday night when they were confronted by a gang.

Up to eight youths wearing Rangers shirts attacked the teenager. He was knocked down and kicked.

His attackers then ran off in the direction of Victoria Road.

Daily Ireland

Zoe Tunney

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has criticised remarks made by the British Secretary of State Peter Hain about the economic and social future of the North.
In a keynote address in Belfast yesterday, Mr Hain said: “Violence and rioting must be left behind if we are to create a strong and prosperous Northern Ireland”.
Referring to claims by unionists that most of the recent loyalist violence was due to social and economic deprivation in loyalist areas, Mr Hain said he accepted unionist frustrations.
He also said loyalists and nationalists in deprived areas of Belfast had the right to ask the question, “where is our Laganside development?”
Afterwards, Gerry Adams spoke at a conference given by the Employment Services Board in west Belfast.
“I listened to Mr Hain’s comments very closely today and not once did I hear the words regeneration, or development,” he said. He pointed out that 16 projects in west Belfast and the greater Shankill are “still waiting on funds promised to them by the British government”.
“These are very difficult times for the people in west Belfast and the greater Shankill,” he said. “I think it is crucial that we are not mealy-mouthed. We must fight for funding for our projects.
“This is our Laganside right here. It is in this project and yet we have only secured funding until 2006. The British and Irish governments must realise that there has to be funding and investment in the future. They must implement policies of investment.”
Based in the greater Shankill and west Belfast, the Employment Services Board aims to improve access to jobs for people in the area.
“Mr Hain talks about the links between conflict, social deprivation and violence… You cannot combat deprivation by comparing with the other community, by trying to prove who is more deprived. What you have to do is build partnerships and establish equality. Not equality for nationalists or equality for the greater Shankill but, equality for everybody,” Mr Adams said.
“We need joined-up thinking. We must get people to work together.”

Daily Ireland

Jarlath Kearney

Daily Ireland can reveal that, in June 2005, the International Fund for Ireland approved a major grant of £250,000 for an organisation closely associated with the Orange Order.
Crucially, the money will be confined to funding various organisations which use Orange halls across the North – including loyalist bands. The IFI claimed last night that the grant is “designed to foster community reconciliation”.
The organisation which received grant approval is called the Orange Community Network. OCN is a not-for-profit limited company that includes loyal order members acting in personal capacities. OCN claims to have no formal linkage with the Orange Order.
Democratic Unionist Party councillor William Humphrey is vice-chairperson of OCN. Contacted by Daily Ireland last night, the North Belfast representative confirmed that he is also chairperson of the West Belfast Orange Hall. Councillor Humphrey has served as a member of the DUP’s ruling executive and as chairperson of the party in north Belfast.
Councillor Humphrey said that OCN has still not “worked out” criteria for the dispersal of the grant funding which has been approved. Councillor Humphrey added: “It will be used to promote community organisation, empowerment and capacity building… about groups that work from or are connected to Orange halls, and will include bands connected with Orange halls but also other organisations.”
A spokesperson for the IFI told Daily Ireland: “I can confirm that at it’s meeting in June 2005, the Board of the International Fund for Ireland approved financial assistance of up to a maximum of £250,000 to the Orange Community Network towards a three year community capacity building project, the objectives of which include promoting and developing embryonic community groups, the engagement of young people in constructive activities, the fostering of co-operation and interaction with the wider community, and support for the creation of a number of new community groups over the next three years.”
News of the IFI’s major grant funding emerged as secretary of state Peter Hain announced measures to specifically address the “particular needs of loyalist communities”. Mr Hain’s intervention yesterday following sustained sectarian violence by sections of the unionist community in recent weeks.
“I am conscious of the criticism that our own efforts as a government could be better co-ordinated, 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,” Mr Hain said.
However despite Mr Hain’s announcement yesterday, Daily Ireland can reveal that an organisation called the Loyalism Working Group – including senior civil servants – has already been meeting regularly since at least April 2005.
All of the North’s senior civil servants and departmental permanent secretaries have been formally appraised of the Loyalism Working Group’s activities.
Yesterday Daily Ireland revealed that the Department of Finance and Personnel played a central role in recent moves to ensure the Orange Order receives special European Peace II funding.
DFP approved a memo by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) that consideration of funding applications by the Orange Order, should not take into account “who has made the application”.
The Orange Order formally excludes Catholics and bars women from full membership of the organisation.
Following sustained political pressure by the DUP, the memo was issued to various funding implementation bodies on September 7 – just days ahead of the vicious sectarian onslaught by sections of the unionist community in tandem with the Orange Order’s re-routed Whiterock march on September 10.
Sinn Fein yesterday announced that the party shall be writing to the DFP and the SEUPB to voice concern about the development.
In a joint statement Councillors Billy Leonard and Angela Nelson said: “The implications of this intervention by civil servants are immense. This has compromised the integrity of the SEUPB.
“Transparency, openness and the basic principles behind the partnership model have been compromised.
“We will seek explanations from both organisations and demand they clarify their position publicly.

Irelandclick.com

Report is joke says McCord

BBC photo

The father of a man murdered by the UVF has branded today’s Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) report “a joke” after it failed to mention UVF drug dealing.
Referring to the “LVF’s involvement in drugs” in detail, the IMC had no mention of any UVF drug dealing, although later in the report it cited PSNI “successes” against both groups, including drug running.
Raymond McCord, whose son Raymond was murdered by the UVF in 1997, said he was astonished that there was no mention of UVF drug dealing by the IMC.
“The UVF is heavily involved in drug dealing, extortion and racketeering. They have murdered four innocent men in their feud. I don’t know why there is no mention of UVF drug dealing (along) with the LVF when everyone knows there was £1m worth of drugs delivered to the UVF in Mount Vernon a couple of years ago. The UVF moved in on the LVF in Garnerville to take over their drugs in East Belfast in July.
“If they were saying they were moving in on the LVF for drug dealing then why didn’t they move in on the UDA in East Belfast before that? Why is there any need for the UVF other than drugs.”
David Ervine of the UVF-linked PUP today said he had “nothing to say” about the report. The IMC also said it believed the murder of Somerton schoolboy Thomas Devlin was not carried out on behalf of a paramilitary organisation.
In its sixth report exclusively on the recent loyalist feud the IMC admitted it was only dealing with the UVF/LVF bloodletting and not ongoing sectarian attacks.
It said it would produce a report on these in October when it would also report on the aftermath of the IRA statement on July 28 that told all units to stand down.
It said the UVF had carried out five murders, four since July 1. There had also been 17 attempted murders by the UVF and two committed by the LVF. There were six incidents of shooting both at people and buildings, 18 bombings, and three other incidents.
It said there had been 45 arrests by the PSNI and 13 charges, although it failed to say if any were in connection with feud murders.
“The PSNI continue to have successes against organised crime involving both the UVF and LVF, for example in relation to drugs, robber and extortion,” the report said.
“This feud has erupted in bloodthirsty thuggery between paramilitary groups, the history of rivalry and hatred, personal animosity, the LVF’s involvement in drugs. Allegations and counter allegations about treachery, criminal competition, greed and power.”
On the widely publicised scenes of “the forced departure of families in Garnerville in July 2005,” (while the PSNI looked on) the report said it was just one of a number of incidents including attacks on North Belfast taxi companies.

Journalist:: Andrea McKernon

Belfast Telegraph

By Noel McAdam
23 September 2005

Questions over the timing of the Government decision to pull the plug on the UVF ceasefire were being asked last night after the latest Independent Monitoring Commission report.

And the Commission was accused of ignoring the relationship between unionist politicians and loyalist paramilitaries on bodies such as the North and West Belfast Parades Forum.

After withdrawing formal recognition of its ceasefire - ’specification’ - and stopping financial grants to the UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party, Stormont Minister David Hanson signalled that further action could be taken.

As he began intensive talks with loyalist leaders following the recent wave of violence and confrontation, Mr Hanson said the Government would be listening to representations.

But SDLP Assembly member Alban McGuinness said the main question raised by the report was why Secretary of State Peter Hain had to be dragged “inch by inch” towards specification.

“Why did he delay the decision to specify for so long, while the UVF was flexing its muscles, parading its strength in Garnerville and carrying out no less than five street executions? ”

The criticism was echoed by Alliance Party leader David Ford who said:

“Questions remain as to why the Government did not specify the UVF ceasefire on the basis of the feud alone.”

Sinn Fein Assembly member Alex Maskey said the IMC had “predictably” ignored the relationships between the various unionist paramilitary gangs and the UUP and DUP through the North and West Parades Forum and the Loyalist Commission.

The IMC said while the recent feud may have escalated because of “local animosities” it believed the UVF had decided the time was right to “finish off” the LVF.

LVF violence, while fuelled by rivalry, had been “more by way of response” - the main aim being survival.

Others owed their lives to prompt, pre-emptive action by the Police Service of Northern Ireland - although the “spur of the moment” nature of the attacks had meant often police had missed out on any advance warning.

The report also said the PUP had failed to exert its opposition to the UVF and warned that while the Commission was aware the PUP is not strong enough to influence the UVF, the party could not “have it both ways.”

PUP boss David Ervine had said no-one in a leadership position in the party was in the leadership of the UVF and it was contrary to natural justice to punish people who had not broken the law.

But the IMC said the PUP had to decide whether to disassociate itself from the paramilitary organisation or accept the consequences of the link. East Belfast Assembly member Mr Ervine had no further comment last night.

The report said the feud lead to the murders in July and August of Jameson Lockhart, Craig McCausland, Stephen Paul and Michael Green among a total of 49 incidents including:

seven attempted murders,

shootings and the use of petrol bombs or explosives,

forced departure of families from Garnerville and arson and other attacks on taxi in Crumlin Road, and

criminal damage including the ramming of a vehicle

But it said neither the UVF or the LVF could be named in relation to the killings of 25-year-old Lisa Dorrian.

Belfast Telegraph

By Claire Regan
23 September 2005

A bitter row erupted between the DUP and Sinn Fein last night after Ian Paisley accused the Government of making a secret deal with the IRA to exclude the need for an arms witness acceptable to unionists.

Speaking after a meeting with Political Development minister David Hanson, the DUP leader claimed that the IRA made the rules, appointed the referee and was doing as it wanted.

“I believe that they (the Government) have entered into a secret deal with the IRA,” he said.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams hit back saying that if the DUP wanted to nominate a witness it should have talked to his party.

“It’s a bit rich when unionist paramilitaries are using heavy calibre shoulder weapons to shoot at British troops and PSNI officers, and profess to be loyalists, that the DUP would be concerned about IRA weapons which are silenced and, which we all hope and pray, are going to be put beyond use in the period ahead,” he said.

Mr Paisley said the DUP had sought the meeting with Mr Hanson now so they could not be accused of raising their concerns too late.

The DUP meeting with Mr Hanson came as the minister said that the IRA was beginning to make moves related to decommissioning.

BreakingNews.ie

23/09/2005 - 11:26:07

The British government has announced plans to sell off almost all of its civil service buildings in the North and then lease them back from their new owners.

The move is an effort by the British to avoid paying the estimated £200m cost of refurbishing the buildings, many of which need extensive modernisation.

Stormont Castle, Stormont House and Parliament Buildings will not be sold off as part of the move, but Castle Buildings, where the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998, is earmarked for inclusion.

BreakingNews.ie

23/09/2005 - 07:24:07

Gerry Adams will today renew his bid to have the killers of det. Garda Jerry McCabe freed from jail.

Amid a growing belief that the IRA is on the brink of finally completing its weapons destruction, the Sinn Féin President is holding talks with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin.

The meeting comes ahead of a major rally in the city centre tomorrow which has fuelled speculation that the IRA could be just days away from honouring their July 28 pledge to dump all arms after declaring their campaign was over.

During the talks Mr Adams is expected to raise the controversial case surrounding Garda McCabe’s killers. He was killed during a botched IRA robbery in Co Limerick in 1996.

Four men – Kevin Walsh, Pearse McAuley, Jeremiah Sheehy and Michael O’Neill - were later convicted of his manslaughter.

Their claim to qualify for freedom under the Good Friday Agreement early-release scheme has been one of the most sensitive issues in the peace negotiations.

Although senior members of Mr Ahern’s administration warned Sinn Féin any new request for the prisoners’ early release would fail, Mr Adams has pledged to continue the fight.

He said: “I’m mindful of the trauma for the McCabe family but the Supreme Court upheld the fact they were qualifying prisoners (under the Good Friday Agreement) and we will continue to campaign for their release.”

Today’s talks in Dublin come after Mr Adams urged republicans to stay united in the aftermath of imminent IRA disarmament.

He accepted some at grass roots level may still oppose the decommissioning strategy.

But as a row over witnesses to the process intensified, Mr Adams called for supporters to stand firm.

He said: “I would simply appeal for unity and for people to continue to show the type of discipline and commitment they have shown thus far.

“We believe, and I think its part of what we have been able to achieve as a leadership, in validating dissent.

“Republicanism has to be tolerant. Some people have fundamental disagreement with the way we are pursuing this strategy, and I think that’s ok.

“We are not leading sheep, we are leading proud activists who have been through an awful lot over the last 30 years or so.”

Irish Examiner

23 September 2005
By Jimmy Woulfe, Mid-West Correspondent

POLITICS will be a taboo topic when Defence Minister Willie O’Dea officially opens a building in Limerick today.
The Freemasons, regarded as the most secret organisation in the country, will open the doors of their new €750,000 centre in Castle Street.

The minister has been asked to do the honours but politics and religion are not allowed in discussion when freemasons meet.

The North Munster Masonic Centre caters for 250 freemasons in Limerick, Clare, Tipperary and North Kerry. The five lodges in Limerick city have 130 members and one of the lodges, Antient Union, dates back to 1732.

Paul Deegan, spokesman for the North Munster masons, said that while they are changing from being ultra-secret to being more open, certain symbolism remains secret. These include their secret handshake and the elaborate induction ceremonies for new members.

Mr Deegan denied that freemasons try and help each other to get jobs or job promotion.

“This kind of thing is very much prohibited, to use membership for personal gain or profit,” he said.

Mr Deegan said the new Masonic centre was open to local groups for meetings.

“And we do not put down conditions or look for anything in return.”

BBC

An Orange Order hall in County Armagh has been extensively damaged in an arson attack, police have said.

The damage to Mullintur Orange Hall on the Maydown Road occurred between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

The attackers are believed to have entered a loft area of the hall near Armagh city through the roof where they smashed a number of old and new drums.

The lodge’s banner was taken outside where it was set alight. Police have appealed for witnesses.