SAOIRSE32

Guardian

Ewen MacAskill and Angelique Chrisafis
Friday October 21, 2005
The Guardian

Rory Carroll, the Guardian journalist kidnapped in Baghdad on Wednesday, was freed last night. Carroll phoned the Guardian to confirm that he had been released from an underground cell.

The end came when one of his captors received a mobile phone call and unbolted the door to the cell, telling him he was free to go. “He put me in the boot of his car and drove me alone and dropped me in the middle of Baghdad,” Carroll said.

Last night he was under the protection of the Iraqi government in the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Carroll, 33, who has been in Iraq for nine months, had been in Sadr City, a Shia-dominated district of Baghdad on Wednesday, interviewing a victim of Saddam Hussein. He was snatched by gunmen as he was leaving the home of the interviewee.

“They took me in a car and after 20 minutes switched me to the boot of another one. They stripped me of all my own clothes and dressed me in old clothes.”

He said he had been handcuffed and held in a darkened room beneath a family home in Baghdad for 36 hours. He did not know who was responsible, but suspected it had been an opportunistic, criminal gang. “It was a darkened room, a concrete passageway beneath the ground floor. I only had a rug and pillow. They allowed me out twice for food.”

Speaking about his release last night, he said: “I heard a captor in the corridor answer his mobile. He laughed and sounded relieved and opened the bolted door and said, ‘I am going to let you go’.”

Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian, said: “We’re overjoyed that Rory has been released safe and sound. We’d like to thank all those in London, Dublin and Iraq who played a role in freeing him. Both the British and Irish governments have been extremely helpful - as have many journalistic colleagues around the world and sympathetic groups and individuals in Baghdad.”

Lara Marlowe, the Irish Times correspondent in Baghdad, told the Irish state broadcaster RTE that a few of Rory’s friends had gathered in his office in his hotel, waiting for a phone call from him. She said he was at the office of a senior government minister having a beer. “It is a huge relief, everyone here is happy and celebrating his freedom.”

The news brought enormous relief to the Carroll family in Dublin 24 hours after the sickening realisation of their son’s kidnapping.

“Last night we were in the depths of despondency, we can’t believe 24 hours later we’re getting news Rory is being released,” said Joe Carroll, Rory’s father.

Mr Carroll said the family, who live in Blackrock, south Dublin, had been helped by tremendous support from friends and the Irish people. He added that it was his wife Kathy’s birthday today. “It’s the most wonderful birthday she’s ever had,” he said.

Mrs Carroll said she hoped her son would come home soon. “We were very, very impressed by the government initiative that they were going to send a team out, it was incredible. We’re very grateful,” she said.

Carroll’s release came after intense diplomatic pressure and he attributed his freedom to the intervention of the Iraqi government.

A campaign had been building up in support of Carroll, an Irish citizen. Muslims, Catholic and Protestant clerics, as well as the Irish and British governments had called for and worked for his freedom.

Last night, Irish foreign minister Dermot Ahern, said: “I am utterly delighted for Rory Carroll and his family.” Ireland had been planning to send a five-person delegation to Iraq to try to locate him.

The Iranian government had also issued a rare plea on his behalf, calling for his immediate release. The government, whose relations with the US and Britain have been more strained than usual during the past few months, had offered its prayers for his safe release.

But the press section of the Iranian embassy in London had issued a statement deploring the abduction. “Iran has always condemned such acts of violence, which is detrimental to the stability of neighbouring

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a prominent cleric based in Qatar, said the Union of Islamic Scholars, which he presides over, “has always denounced these kidnappings, especially those carried out against journalists”. He said he had “always maintained that such acts are rejected in Islam” and that “they inflict enormous harm on Iraq’s just cause”.

He added: “The Guardian newspaper is well-known for its professional reporting and its fair coverage of the rights of oppressed peoples and just causes around the world.”

Inayat Bunglawala, a representative of the Muslim Council of Britain, had joined the calls. “All leading Islamic authorities have made it clear that kidnapping journalists is unhelpful and harmful to the Iraqi people,” he said.

“The Guardian is deeply respected within the British Muslim community for its balanced coverage of the Middle East and for providing a platform for a range of voices.”

Dr Azzam Tamimi, a representative of the Muslim Association of Britain, had called for Carroll’s release on al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite network based in Qatar.

“The Guardian is specifically known for its fair and professional coverage of war and just causes around the world and its deep and serious criticism of invasion of Iraq,” he said.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, Iraqi journalists held an impromptu memorial service yesterday for Muhammad Haroon, 37, the editor of al-Hakeka newspaper, who was killed by unknown gunmen on Monday.

Haroon’s paper had been critical of the Iraqi government and the US-led coalition’s presence in Iraq.

BreakingNews.ie

20/10/2005 - 17:05:55

A Garda ballistics expert has told the Special Criminal Court that he found no evidence of any explosive substances in a car that had been stopped at gunpoint on the N4 near Mullingar.

Detective Garda John Higgins also said that eight timing devices found in the boot of the red Peugeot estate car could not, in his opinion, be classified under law as an explosive substance.

He was giving evidence in the trial of three alleged Real IRA members, arrested after a major garda surveillance operation against the dissident terrorist organisation.

Adrian Kirwan (aged 25), a native of Ballymun in Dublin, with an address at Ardilaun Green, Ballymahon Road, Mullingar, Co Westmeath and Colum Wiggins (aged 24), of Annagry, Letterkenny, Co Donegal each pleaded not guilty to membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA on December 5 last year.

Sean Connolly (aged 26), of Bernard Curtis House, Bluebell, Dublin denied membership of an illegal organisation on December 14.

Det Gda Higgins told Ms Una Ni Raifeartaigh BL (with Mr Tom O’Connell SC) prosecuting that he did not believe the timers had previously been used to make an explosive device but that they had the capacity to be used in such a device.

He agreed with Mr Diarmaid McGuinness SC, for Colum Wiggins that there was no evidence that the timers had been modified in “any shape or form”.

Earlier Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding at the three-judge court, dismissed an application by counsel for Mr Kirwan and Mr Wiggans, claiming that their clients’ constitutional rights had been breached during their arrest on December 5, 2004.

The case is due to continue tomorrow.

BBC

Guardian reporter Rory Carroll has been in Iraq for nine months

An Irish reporter kidnapped in Baghdad on Wednesday has been freed unharmed, the Guardian newspaper has said.

Rory Carroll, 33, was “safe and well” and was in the Iraqi capital’s Green Zone, the Guardian’s foreign desk said.

It said Mr Carroll was in good spirits and had spoken to his family and told the paper his captors had treated him well. Their identity is unclear.

Mr Carroll’s father Joe said: “He sounded in terrific form, and he told me that he had a beer in his hand.”

“And he assured me that he had all his limbs, and that he was, you know, really well. And he sounded great,” he said.

Mr Carroll said his son’s captors had come to “his cell” on Thursday and told him he could go.

The Dublin-born journalist was then driven off in the boot of a car.

Saddam victim

The Guardian said Mr Carroll had been in Baghdad with two drivers and an interpreter to interview a victim of Saddam Hussein’s regime when he was kidnapped.

As he left the house where the interview had taken place, he was confronted by gunmen and he and one of the drivers were bundled into a car. The driver was released about 20 minutes later.

It is unclear whether three men arrested at the Baghdad house where Mr Carroll was snatched were involved in his release.

Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, said: “We’re overjoyed that Rory has been released safe and sound. We’d like to thank all those in London, Dublin and Iraq who played a role in freeing him.

“Both British and Irish governments have been extremely helpful - as have many journalistic colleagues around the world and sympathetic groups and individuals in Baghdad.”

A relative of the interviewee earlier told BBC News they had had nothing to do with the kidnapping.

Mr Carroll has been based in Iraq for the last nine months.

A graduate of Dublin’s Trinity College, he started his career as a reporter for the Irish News in Belfast.

An Phoblacht

BY LAURA FRIEL

Click to view - Photo: Eric Anderson

A former RUC Special Branch detective has dramatically revealed that material central to a murder inquiry is still in his possession.

The scandal emerged after retired Special Branch officer Eric Anderson told a TV documentary team that he had documented evidence relating to a murder investigation in a bid to secure payment for his co-operation with the film-makers. And he has further admitted to personally keeping Special Branch files to thwart any adverse investigation by Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan.

The files in question relate the Arlene Arkinson murder case. Arkinson, then aged 15, disappeared in 1994. In what many believe was a travesty of justice, a known, violent sex offender was acquitted of her murder earlier this year.

In the wake of the revelations, Sinn Féin’s Pat Doherty has called on the Ombudsman to investigate more RUC and PSNI cases where evidence has been unavailable or missing. The West Tyrone MP led a Sinn Féin delegation in a meeting with Nuala O’Loan and called for an audit to ascertain how many Special Branch files were missing and an inquiry into the conduct of the investigating officers involved in the Arkinson case.

Doherty said the meeting with O’Loan had been a “serious engagement”. Sinn Féin raised three broad issues. First, the question of the files Anderson has admitted taking, in his own words because ‘O’Loan was mad keen to discredit us’. “We asked did Anderson’s comment refer to other Special Branch officers. Did they all keep files?” Doherty said.

The delegation called for an audit of Special Branch files as a means to determine how many might be missing. “We also asked about other cases in which Anderson had been involved and, in relation to the Arkinson murder inquiry, whether the case had been pursued properly or had the family been abandoned and abused because investigating officers were pursuing another political agenda.

“Investigation into this may well go far beyond the remit of the Police Ombudsman’s office. This has ramifications for the wider justice system. We will be seeking a meeting with British Security Minister Shaun Woodward to discuss the wider implications.”

Irish Independent

THE Provisional IRA was warned yesterday it must allow those it had ‘exiled’ from the North to go back home if it wanted to pass the criminality exam set by the two governments.

The International Monitoring Commissioning (IMC) said exiling was one of the tests to determine if a group had given up illegality.

And it underlined its failure so far to find evidence that any paramilitary group was generally allowing the return of those it had exiled or was considering doing so.

In its seventh report, published yesterday by the two governments, the IMC noted that the IRA statement last July had made no specific reference to exiling.

Although there was evidence of continued exiling, it [PIRA], had also decided to allow some it had previously exiled to return to the Short Strand in Belfast, possibly because of reaction to the murder of Robert McCartney.

The IMC said that as the IRA statement ending its terror campaign came after five months of the six under review, it was too early to draw firm conclusions about possible overall changes in behaviour, although there were some moves in IRA structures.

“Clearly, we are looking for cumulative indications of changes in behaviour over a more sustained period, building on the IRA statement of July 28 and the decommissioning of weapons reported on September 26,” the IMC said.

But it gave a more positive assessment for August and said the IRA had been responsible for only one attack that month when the victim was a Provisional. There had been incidents of people suspected of anti-social behaviour in nationalist communities being intimidated, extortion of businesses, and intimidation designed to limit the activities of dissident republicans.

“It is not possible at this stage to say whether these activities were authorised by the leadership,” the IMC said.

The report blamed the Real IRA for the violent attack on the deputy chairman of the Policing Board, Denis Bradley.

Meanwhile, the two governments are withholding final judgment on whether the IRA has ended all its activities until the next IMC report is issued in January.

The latest report was considered encouraging enough for Mr Hain to lift the financial penalties that had been imposed on Sinn Fein.

These were withdrawn after the Northern Bank raid in December.

Tom Brady and
Gene McKenna

Irish Examiner

By Caroline O’Doherty
20 October 2005

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell has dismissed claims by the family of a schoolboy who died after a night in garda custody that they will not have a barrister of their choice at the inquiry into his death.
Mr McDowell denied that limiting the fees available to barristers working on the inquiry would restrict the family’s choice of legal expert to represent them in the proceedings.

The family of 14-year-old Brian Rossiter who died in unclear circumstances after a night in Clonmel Garda Station in 2002, have claimed they cannot get an experienced senior counsel to work for the State-paid daily rate of €1,008 laid down by new legislation governing statutory inquiries. Brian’s father, Pat Rossiter, said the family would not be able to co-operate with the inquiry if the ceiling on fees was not lifted as they could not afford to fund a legal team themselves.

Mr McDowell said there was no need for the family to boycott the hearings. “I don’t believe there are no senior counsel that will work for €1,008,” he told RTÉ Radio. “This is the rate the Government has set for all inquiries. There is not a system whereby everybody can retain any lawyer they like at whatever rate the lawyer wants. I am not going to be pressurised into breaking a firm Government decision on this matter by somebody saying that they cannot get a senior counsel to represent them.”

The minister added that the family would get their personal expenses if they participated in the inquiry. He acknowledged that the Garda Representative Association was in a position to provide funds to gardaí appearing at the inquiry to boost their budget for barristers, but he said he understood this would not happen in this case.

Mr McDowell said the family should contact the barristers’ professional body, the Bar Council, who would find a senior counsel to work at the set rate. A Bar Council spokeswoman said they would try to help if approached but could not oblige a barrister to work for a rate they felt insufficient.

RTE

20 October 2005 17:03

The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources held a meeting this morning with senior executives of Shell Ireland in relation to the dismantling of a section of the controversial Corrib gas pipeline in Co Mayo.

Noel Dempsey ordered Shell to dismantle the 1.8km section of high pressure carbon steel pipeline because it had been welded together without the necessary consent during June and July.

A team of Irish and Italian engineers began cutting up the pipe on Monday morning. The work is expected to take between four and five weeks.
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A local development group, known as the Pro Erris Gas Group, asked that the work be halted pending the completion of a new safety review of the pipeline which is due to be finalised in December.

It described the cutting up of the pipeline in advance of this review as a potential waste of money and suggested that Shell contribute €250,000 to community projects in the area as an alternative.

It asked the minister to agree to a temporary suspension of the work.

Irelandclick.com

Firefighters from New York clash with their Belfast colleagues at famous Antrim venue

Click to view - photo from ANTRIM GAA

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service played the New York Fire Department in an historic Gaelic football match at Casement Park on Sunday. It was the first official sporting event between the two emergency services and a major fundraiser for the local charity, Children After Burns, which is attached to the Burns Unit at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

Forty New York firefighters arrived in West Belfast to play in the landmark football match and also to join up their fundraising efforts with the firefighters from the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service for the charity.

Divisional Officer Aidan Magennis, Chairman of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service’s Gaelic team, said, “We are delighted to welcome our friends and colleagues from the New York Fire Department to Northern Ireland. There has always been great camaraderie and friendship between our two emergency services and it is a relationship that has been further strengthened by this match – which is the first official sporting event between the two services.

“We recently launched our new Gaelic football kit, to reflect our name change from Fire Brigade to Fire and Rescue Service and this is the first sporting event where the new kit has been worn.

“A fundraising evening reception for the Burns Unit at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children took place after the match where the joint amount raised for the charity was presented. The Fire and Rescue Service’s newly formed concert band also performed their musical debut at this fundraising event.”

Eddie Boles, New York Fire Department, added: “This is a terrific opportunity to solidify the solidarity and friendship that exists among fire services the world over. Our Gaelic football team also particularly relishes the opportunity to raise funds for the Burns Unit at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Belfast. This is an extremely worthy cause and it’s a winning combination – playing football and raising money for children.

“We are delighted to be part of this contribution to the Northern Ireland community.”

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

BreakingNews.ie

20/10/2005 - 12:02:47

© Greenpeace

Minister for the Environment Dick Roche has announced that the Thorp nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield is to close.

Mr Roche said he was assured by his British counterpart Alan Johnson at a meeting yesterday that the controversial facility will be shut down in 2010.

The safety of the facility, which opened in 1994, has been called into question following a series of leaks there.

BreakingNews.ie

20/10/2005 - 14:20:05

The Government is to carry out the first major study of Irish prisoners overseas, it was confirmed today.

Junior foreign affairs minister Noel Treacy said former Fianna Fáil TD Chris Flood will lead the survey.

There are believed to be up to 1,200 prisoners in foreign jails, including 900 in the UK.

Mr Treacy said the study will establish the number of prisoners abroad, the countries where they are held, what offences they committed and the duration of sentences.

It will also identify the special health and social needs of particular inmates, including members of the Traveller community, in the UK.

Mr Treacy today told the Oireachtas Sub-Committee on Human Rights that such a research project had been promised in the current programme for government.

The study will also review the services provided by the Irish Government and other social agencies and recommend how they can be improved.

“It represents a significant step in advancing the needs of prisoners abroad,” he said. “The needs of the families of overseas prisoners will also be considered.”

The Foreign Affairs Department had increased funding for the Irish diaspora by 63% this year compared with 2004.

Mr Flood previously has been the Government’s special envoy in tsunami-hit regions during this year.

Mr Treacy said the study will also focus on the conditions of prisons and how their human rights of Irish prisoners are being respected.

Welcoming the survey, Labour Party TD Michael D Higgins said: “I have always been outraged at the manner in which prisoners have been neglected.”

He added that Mr Flood must also investigate the social supports in the communities into which prisoners are released.

Irelandclick.com

**Photos from Your Place & Mine: The Belfast Blitz

The Blitz had disastrous effects for Belfast city, but for thousands of children who were evacuated to the countryside, it provided an opportunity to sample a new way of life. Jim Delaney from the Grosvenor Road was one of many city evacuees during the 1940s and his memories from this era will be shown this weekend in a film at the Queen’s Arts Festival.

Jim took the Andersonstown News for a walk around his father’s homestead in Derryash, about seven miles from Crumlin, where he resided in safety over 60 years ago until the war’s end. Only an eight-year-old child in 1939, it was decided that Jim would be evacuated from Gibson Street (now Gibson Terrace), separating him from his parents and eight siblings. His mother, who had already endured the First World War, explained to him that “they’re going to start dropping bombs from the sky.”

At first he was unwilling to go but his mother explained that he could stay with his grandparents which eased his mind. It has bewildered Jim why he was the only one of his family nominated by his parents to participate in the government evacuation scheme.

“It was only afterwards that I got to thinking that they [his grandparents] got something in return for taking me in. Maybe the government was giving them money. I know that they got free milk as I recall seeing the man who came to deliver it. I was old enough to do messages for them and to collect the hens’ eggs, and bring the two cows in,” said Jim.

The evacuee children from the district met in Raglan Street school, where they were given gas masks and then they marched down to the G&R Railway station. This was many of the children’s first experience on a train, as it was for the excited Jim.

Space had been limited in the Delaney Belfast family home as Jim shared a bed with three of his brothers, while his sisters slept in another bed in the same room. His mum, dad and youngest brother shared a bed in the next room. It was a different way of life that greeted Jim when he arrived in Derryash, with space not an issue in the countryside, however that didn’t prevent him longing for home.

“I remember crying a couple of nights so I must have been homesick. I missed my mother very much. But generally there was too much excitement about, helping the farmers with their work so I didn’t think too much about Belfast.”
He took to the country way of life, helping out on the family’s 14 acre farm, milking the cows and joining in, cutting and stacking turf. Country life was profitable as he was awarded the princely sum of half a crown per week for helping to milk a local farmer’s 70 strong Friesian herd.

The 15 April 1941 was unparalleled bloodshed for the people of Belfast when 180 German bombers ravaged the city for a number of hours leaving approximately 1,000 people dead. They returned again in May causing further carnage, but by that time many had fled the city, so casualties were not as high. Blitz is a German word for lightning, and that must have been how the terrifying night attacks appeared to the people looking on from the safety of the surrounding villages and townlands.

“On the night of the big blitz, around Easter time at 2.00am a woman from the upper lane took us up to a stone wall and we saw the flashes over the Belfast hills. We could see the sparks from the bombings and the searchlights, but couldn’t hear the explosions.

“My smaller sisters and brothers arrived that night with my uncle, saying, ‘Belfast is flattened’. How they got out to us I don’t know.”

His sisters, Annie and Mary, aged only six and seven remained with him and his grandparents for the remainder of the war.

“This was my bedroom,” smiled Jim as he pointed to a room to the right of the front door that seems to account for almost half the house. “I had it all to myself until that big night, and then I was overwhelmed by people. It was a powerful big room but it was divided in two for my sisters and myself.”

After the first Blitz night, his sisters were not the only ones to arrive in the locality as there was an influx of refugees to the area and numbers swelled in the school he attended in nearby Brankinstown. Too small to cope with the additional numbers, the school worked on a rota basis, with locals attending class in the morning and the evacuees attending the evening sessions.

Jim had been in the country for so long by this stage that he stayed with the locals and even called the new evacuees ‘blow-ins’. He joined with the country kids in taunting them with ‘Belfast men, brave and true, flew like hell when the sirens blew’.

“I thought it was great to be a country man,” enthused Jim.

As such, returning back to Belfast in 1945 to search for work was a difficult transition for the now teenage Jim. “I wasn’t interested in what other teenagers were doing, playing marbles or handball in the street. I couldn’t adapt. I just wanted to go up to the mountains and go hunting and fishing. My friend Patsy O’Neill had been evacuated too so he was in the same frame of mind as me.

“Coming back to Belfast broke my heart. I have the country still in me yet. I even married a country girl, Mary McAloon from Fermanagh,” said Jim.

Jim along with other evacuees will share their experiences, a side of the war which hitherto had remained relatively undocumented, in the film ‘The Evacuees’ on Saturday at 7.00pm at the QFT in University Street, and will then participate in a Q&A session at the same venue.
To book tickets call the box office on 9097 1197.

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

Up in smoke

by Francesca Ryan

Monday’s government announcement that a smoking ban in all public places and workplaces will be implemented in the North by April 2007, has been welcomed by leading cancer charities and those who work in the health promotion field.

Almost all of the statements released in the wake of the announcement welcomed the move with open arms, but notably absent from the influx of press releases were any comments from local businesses – included in the ‘enclosed public places’ that the ban refers to in its wording.

With time ticking away and still no word from our local bars, restaurants and shopping centres on the matter, we thought we would go to a select few of these fine establishments that will be affected by the ban to see what the staff and customers had to say.

David Gittens is the manager of the Seán Mac Díarmada CLG on the Falls Road, and doesn’t see the smoking ban affecting the bar’s trade.
“Generally people are pleased with the news,” said David, himself a non-smoker. “Many of our customers are GAA fans and are often travelling to the South for matches so they are well used to the non-smoking atmosphere. There haven’t been any complaints about the ban so far, I think people are just accepting the inevitable.”

David said the club had no plans to introduce the ban any earlier than expected but added that they are bound by a higher authority. “We take our direction from the GAA so if they suggest an early introduction, we have to comply with that. I don’t think the ban will affect us too much because we don’t serve food, if we did serve food we would probably look into making provisions for smokers but at this stage we have no plans to do so.”

Speaking for the Westwood Centre was centre manager Clodagh Grimes. For her, the decision is straightforward.

“Well, once it’s the law, there is no choice on the matter,” she said. “The majority of our workers would be smokers so there was some concern about the news, they will no longer be able to use the canteen and will have to go outside as will our customers or else we would face a hefty penalty.”
Clodagh said the centre had considered a smoking ban in the past, but with two smoking shopping centres nearby, the policy needed to be uniform in all three centres.

“Myself and representatives from two other local shopping centres have held meetings in the past in relation to implementing a smoking ban together. At this stage and with Monday’s announcement, we will probably wait until April 2007 before we make any moves towards implementation.”

Seán Conlon of the Whitefort Inns bar and restaurant chain is a step ahead of the government.

“Well, we implemented a smoking ban in the restaurant six months ago because we knew the ban was inevitable so we wanted to roll out our policy rather than have the ashtrays disappear overnight.

“From the diner’s point of view, this was a positive move and it hasn’t affected trade at the restaurant but the same cannot be said for the bar,” said Seán. “Again we will be making gradual changes next year. For example, the whole of the top floor will be non-smoking by the end of next year and there will be no smoking around the actual bar itself downstairs, this will break the customers in slowly for April 2007.

“We are also working on plans to provide some sort of area that will offer both heat and protection from the elements to our smoking customers.
“At the end of the day, we will possibly lose some trade but it’s not the end of the world. We are managing these current changes and will work with the full ban. In time people will see the long-term benefits and business will resume as normal.”

The Westway Bingo Hall, according to the manager, has around a 90 per cent rate of smokers but he is not apprehensive about losing any of his loyal customers.

“Initially this may do some harm but the way I see it, it will attract a different crowd. A bingo hall is traditionally a very smoky place so that maybe deterred a lot of people from coming here in the first place. The ban could be good for business,” he said optimistically. “We do have a few non-smoking benches but they aren’t completely smoke-free as we’re all under the one roof.

“With the ban the air will be cleaner,” he added before saying that his smoking customers will be catered for with some kind of legal facility provided for them come April 2007.

Journalist:: Francesca Ryan

Belfast Telegraph

By Brian Hutton
20 October 2005

Margaret Hassan

The disappearance of Rory Carroll in Baghdad comes exactly a year after Irish-born aid worker Margaret Hassan was taken hostage in the city.

The 59-year-old director of Care International in Iraq was kidnapped by gunmen on her way to work on October 19 last year.

Despite having spent half her life delivering food and medicine to the Iraqi people she was murdered by her abductors.

The same month the disappeared British engineer Ken Bigley was killed by the One God and Holy War group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The group released a chilling video showing the 62-year-old Liverpudlian being beheaded.

However, family and friends of the missing Irish reporter will take hope from the cases of a number of journalists who were captured by insurgents and later released.

In August last year, British journalist James Brandon was abducted but later released following the apparent intervention of Moqtada al-Sadr.

Rory is reported to have been abducted from Sadr City, which is controlled by the radical Shi’ite cleric.

In April last year, Briton Gary Teeley was released following six days of captivity after being snatched in the southern city of Nasiriyah.

In June, Florence Aubenas, a French journalist, and Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi, her Iraqi assistant, were both freed after 157 days of captivity in Iraq.

In December last year, two other French journalists, Christian Chesnot, of Radio France Internationale, and Georges Malbrunot, of French daily Le Figaro, were freed after four months in captivity in Iraq.

An Italian agent secured the release in Baghdad of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who had been held hostage for a month.

The Italian military intelligence chief in Baghdad was shot by friendly fire from US troops during the release.

Belfast Telegraph

By Jonathan McCambridge
20 October 2005

Secretary of State Peter Hain has been asked to urgently meet with the family of UVF murder victim Craig McCausland.

Alliance leader David Ford led a delegation to meet the McCausland family, who are striving to bring Craig’s killers to justice.

Craig (20) was gunned down in July at the height of the UVF/LVF feud. But police have stated that he had no connection with any paramilitary group.

Craig’s mother Lorraine McCausland was also beaten to death by a UDA gang 18 years ago.

Mr Ford pointed out: “It is truly perverse that a law-abiding family is having such difficulties getting justice for Craig McCausland, an innocent murder victim.

“A generation on from the callous murder of his mother, have we learned nothing?”

The Alliance leader added: “I have written to the Secretary of State demanding that he meet the family immediately.”

Belfast Telegraph

By Ben Lowry
20 October 2005

The murdered loyalist informer William Stobie ignored police warnings about the threat to his life and told the Belfast Telegraph that he was happy in north Belfast - days before he was shot dead outside his flat.

Stobie, whose inquest yesterday heard that on December 2, 2001, police offered to help him move home, phoned the paper on November 29. On December 12 he was killed.

Stobie, who had just been acquitted of murdering solicitor Pat Finucane, wanted a copy of a Belfast Telegraph photograph of him and his partner, Lorraine Graham, smiling as they left court following the trial’s collapse.

During the phone call, Stobie had talked about his isolated life and said: “I collect Lorraine from work but it’s not often I’m out.”

The inquest heard that Stobie was shot at 6am outside his Forthriver Road flat as he prepared to drive Lorraine to work.

But the call to the Telegraph, which was made three days before the final police warning, showed that Stobie fatally miscalculated the threat.

“I was warned by Special Branch in 2000 that I was in danger,” Stobie mentioned.

And Stobie recounted that three weeks earlier a senior loyalist had seen him coming out of a video shop and said, “Alright, Stobie?”, before asking him about the case.

“I was terrified,” laughed Stobie.

The inquest heard that Stobie believed he was safe from the UDA, unaware that they had decided to kill him because he had backed calls for an inquiry into the Finucane murder.

A detective told Belfast Coroner’s Court that police wanted to question loyalist Johnny Adair over the killing.

He was in jail in the 18 months before Stobie was shot, but the police had insufficient intelligence to arrest him.

Asked during the phone call he would feel more secure living somewhere quieter, such as Bangor, Stobie replied: “Aye, a wee cul de sac where everyone lives together?”

But Stobie implied that moving would be complicated. “We’ve got the flat done up really nice,” he said.

“It’s picking the place and getting out.”

This inertia would cost him his life.