SAOIRSE32

BBC

The Orange Order has had its parades restricted

The Parades Commission cannot solve the issue of contentious marches in Northern Ireland, the DUP has said.

A party delegation discussed the issue with Security Minister Shaun Woodward on Monday.

There was serious rioting following the restricted Whiterock Orange Order parade in Belfast in September.

The DUP deputy leader, Peter Robinson, said the body set up to rule on contentious parades will never have the support of unionists.

“This unelected and unaccountable quango has made inconsistent determinations, punished those who obey the law by banning their parades and thus rewarded those who engage in violence and has encouraged dialogue and then thrown it back in people’s faces.”

North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds, who was also part of the delegation, said solving the parades issue was “key to establishing stability in our society and making political progress”.

“This issue must be comprehensively resolved in a satisfactory fashion immediately. It is no good tinkering around the edges,” he said.

“Fundamental root and branch reform is what is required.”

Police came under sustained attack during the disturbances

Northern Ireland’s marching season is one of the fixed elements of Northern Ireland life, and in recent years it has become one of the most disputed.

Members of “loyal orders” - of which the Orange Order is the largest - parade in ceremonial garb.

In places where the Order tries to march through Catholic areas, residents see the parades as intimidatory and designed to raise tensions.

The Parades Commission is an independent, quasi-judicial body set up in 1997 to rule on parades.

Up to the end of 2003, about 6% of parades were deemed contentious and many disputes resulted in re-routing or other measures which the Commission regarded as necessary to prevent tension.

The cost of policing the Whiterock parade and subsequent rioting was estimated at £3m by the PSNI.

Officers were attacked with petrol bombs and blast bombs, as well as live rounds during the trouble.

The violence started after the march was barred from going through security gates on west Belfast’s Springfield Road, and had to use a former factory site.

BBC

A seventh man has been arrested by police investigating last December’s £26.5m Northern Bank robbery.

The 39-year-old was arrested in Belfast on Monday. Three men are now being questioned about the robbery, while two have been released without charge.

This latest arrest came as a second man appeared in court charged in connection with the raid.

Martin McAliskey, 42, of Ballybeg Road, Coalisland, denied giving false police statements. He was granted bail.

The charge concerns the purchase, possession and sale of a Ford Transit van believed to have been used in the raid.

Earlier on Monday, a 22-year-old man was arrested in Kilcoo in County Down in connection with the robbery.

On Friday, a 23-year-old County Down man denied involvement in the robbery. He was remanded in custody.

The robbery happened at the bank’s Northern Ireland headquarters at Donegall Square West just before Christmas last year.

Some money seized in County Cork last February was linked to the robbery, but virtually all of the missing millions remain unrecovered.

IAIS

11/07/05 12:16 EST

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams tonight denounced as amateurish restrictions placed on him by the US State Department on a visa to travel to New York this week.

The West Belfast MP dropped plans to fly to New York tomorrow to take part in a fund raising dinner for his party because he said the US government was imposing restrictions on him in a bid to force Sinn Fein to endorse current policing structures in Northern Ireland.

However, he will fulfil a visit to Toronto on Saturday which had been planned at the end of a brief North American tour.

“I have been told that I do not have permission to fund raise in the United States,” the Sinn Fein president said.

“I have to say that this is a rather amateurish effort by elements within the US administration to get Sinn Fein to change our position on policing. Our position on policing is very clear. The British government has agreed to honor certain commitments. I am committed if and when they do that to go to the Sinn Fein ard chomhairle (Governing Executive) to deal with the issue of policing. These positions are matters of public record.”

Sinn Fein is the only party among the four biggest parties in Northern Ireland to refuse to take its seat on policing accountability structures like the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

It has also refused to encourage its supporters to co-operate with and consider joining the Police Service of Northern Ireland because reforms have not gone far enough as envisioned under the Patten Report’s recommendations.

The party has also been pressing the British government to commit itself to the transfer of policing and justice powers to a future power-sharing administration in Northern Ireland.

Mr Adams was due to take part in the Friends of Sinn Fein annual fundraising dinner in New York this week and had also planned meetings with US politicians in Washington before heading to Canada.

He was also due to receive an award in New York from the National Committee on American Foreign Policy headed by leading Irish-American businessman Bill Flynn.

Sinn Fein sources said tonight that the visa would have allowed Mr Adams to attend the prize-giving ceremony which was a fundraising event for that organisation but would have been banned from attending the Friends of Sinn Fein event.

“The visa position, as I understand it, is absurd,” Mr Adams said. “It appears they expect me to go to New York and not go to any fundraising event. I am a busy man and have no wish to be just sitting around in New York. What they are doing is robbing me of the opportunity to convey to thousands of supporters in the United States the progress that has been made in recent times and the progress that can be made in the months ahead.”

“I am personally disappointed in the position that Mitchell Reiss (President Bush’s special envoy to Northern Ireland) has adopted on this,” Adams said.

BBC

Tony Blair defended plans for ‘on-the-runs’ legislation

Prime Minister Tony Blair has defended government plans for dealing with so-called ‘on-the-runs’.

He said those suspected of offences before 1998 had to be dealt with in the same way as those prisoners released under the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Blair said it was not a matter of political expediency, but would not be drawn on details of the judicial process on-the-runs might face.

The government is due to bring forward legislation on the issue shortly.

It will deal with people suspected of terrorism who have not been brought to court or who have fled from prison.

“Under the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, people who were convicted and in prison for terrorist offences pre-1998 got released,” Mr Blair said.

“How can you possibly say they (on-the-runs) should be put in prison if the people already convicted have been let out.

“That is why there is a symmetry if you like about dealing with prisoners and on-the-runs.”

Belfast Telegraph

By David Gordon
07 November 2005

A prominent north Belfast loyalist was today linked in court to the scene of an attempted murder by blood stains.

Mark Haddock (36), from Mount Vernon Park, is accused of the attempted murder of a pub doorman in Newtownabbey in late 2002.

He went on trial today, along with co-defendant Darren Moore (36), also of Mount Vernon Park, at Belfast Crown Court.

Crown counsel Charles Adair QC said the doorman, Trevor Gowdy from Ballyclare, was attacked with a hatchet, knife and baton outside Monkstown Social Club on December 20, 2002.

His injuries included a fractured skull, multiple scalp lacerations and a broken leg.

He was unrecognisable when discovered at the scene due to the blood and the injuries, the prosecuting QC said.

The Crown counsel stated that forensic tests carried out at the scene found a trail of blood that belonged to Haddock.

When questioned by police, Haddock claimed that he had been a “good Samaritan” and had intervened to protect Mr Gowdy from assault after coming across the attack in Monkstown, the court was told.

Moore also denied any involvement in the attempted murder, the prosecutor said.

Haddock and Moore are further denying charges of falsely imprisoning Mr Gowdy and setting fire to his car.

Belfast Crown Court was today told that the pair had been identified by the victim as being involved in the assault.

The prosecution case is that Mr Gowdy was attacked after defending himself against men outside the Ballyboe Inn in Ballyclare on the previous night. Three Newtownabbey men allegedly involved in this incident, Jason Loughlin (29) from Bryson Court, William Loughlin (30), from Ballyvesey Green, and Alexander Thomas Wood (29), from Milewater Way, are also on trial for conspiracy to assault Mr Gowdy, causing him actual bodily harm.

The court today heard that William Loughlin was unable to attend the opening day of the trial due to a drugs overdose yesterday. His defence lawyer said he was in hospital and awaiting a psychiatric assessment.

Haddock was accused in the Dail last month of being a police Special Branch informer.

The hearing continues.

BBC

The fire broke out on the top floor of the building

Firefighters have brought under control a blaze at the Royal Victoria Hospital complex in west Belfast.

Twelve fire appliances attended the incident in Bostock House, which provides nurses accommodation.

A hospital spokeswoman said the fire was quickly brought under control and no-one was injured.

Gordon Latimer, from the Fire and Rescue Service, said the blaze on the top floor of the seven-storey block was accidental but “quite considerable”.

“The premises had been fully evacuated before our arrival,” he added.

He said “horrendous” weather conditions made the task more difficult for firefighters.

The Royal has a staff of some 6,000, including a quarter of all hospital doctors in the province, and every year it treats about 500,000 people.

RTÉ

07 November 2005 15:32

A man was charged today with making false statements to police investigating the £26.5m Northern Bank robbery in Belfast.

The charge relates to the purchase, possession and sale of a white Ford Transit van believed to have been used in the robbery last December.

42-year-old Martin McAliskey, of Ballybeg Road, Coalisland, Co Tyrone, was granted bail at Belfast Magistrates’ Court.

The PSNI earlier arrested another man in connection with the robbery.

The 22-year-old was detained in Kilcoo, near Castlewellan in south Down.

This brings to six the number of men detained - three of them in Kilcoo.

One man has already been charged with the raid, which police have blamed on the IRA.

Two of those detained have been released without charge.

Belfast Telegraph

By Eric Silver
07 November 2005

The family of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy who was killed by Israeli soldiers have donated one of his kidneys to an Israeli boy. “It doesn’t matter whether the recipient was a Jew or an Arab,” they said.

Ahmed Khatib was shot on Thursday in the West Bank city of Jenin. He was rushed to the emergency room at Rambam hospital in Haifa, but died without recovering consciousness. The army said he had a toy gun, which soldiers mistook for a rifle. The family said he was with a group of boys waving toy guns to celebrate a festival.

Jamil Khatib, his uncle, said the boy’s father, Ismail, agreed to the donation after he saw the young Israeli kidney patient. “He had a brother, Shawkat, who died several years ago from kidney failure. He understood what it was like. Shawkat needed a kidney, but he never got one.”

The extended Khatib family was divided over the donation. Palestinian prisoners phoned and said they should not give the kidney to the enemy.

Irelandclick.com

Beechmount Community Project played host to a visiting group of Romanians recently.

A Romanian Youth Project has been ongoing for the past year with Beechmount Community Project and community projects in East Belfast.

As part of the exchange programme youths from Beechmount and East Belfast visited Romania in September to help out in an orphanage.

Last Thursday a group of Romanian people visited Beechmount and were given a short historical talk by local Sinn Féin councillor Tom Hartley.

“Once again we would like to thank all who participated in the project, the local businesses, GAA clubs and young people who helped to raise the money needed for this programme to exist,” said Stacey Meenan, Youth Support Worker with Beechmount Community Project.

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

Cross-border links to be built on as Taoiseach hears first-hand of cross-community work

by Roisin McManus

Local people were out en masse in West Belfast last week, despite the pouring rain, to welcome An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to the area.

Mr Ahern included Poleglass in his trip to the city on Thursday, stopping off to visit teenagers at cross community project Creative Crosslinks based at Cloona House.

The project is funded under the Peace II programme and is a partnership between Youth Initiatives in West Belfast and Oasis Caring in Action at East Belfast. The initiative gives young people in disadvantaged areas an opportunity to engage in cross-cultural contact.

The young people performed a song and dance routine for the Taoiseach during the visit and discussed the work carried out by Creative Crosslinks.
Mr Ahern also took time to greet local people, Parish Priest Fr Austin McGirr and local Sinn Féin MLA Michael Ferguson.

Speaking during the visit, Mr Ahern said that he was pleased to be in West Belfast.

“I would like to say thank you to everyone for the tremendous effort put in.
“I know that the group has been tremendously successful and I would just like to say congratulations to you and all I can say about your song is that I will be in touch with Westlife,” he added to rapturous applause.

Mags Tierney, a project worker with Creative Crosslinks, welcomed the Taoiseach’s visit.

“We welcome this visit. There aren’t very many West-East community relations programmes going just as long as we are and that do this sort of continuous work,” said Mags.

“The reason why it is exciting is because it brings people together through the creative arts and they get used to each other and forget that he’s a Protestant or he is a Catholic, and then they get to do a lot of the hard hitting community relations work. It’s a big deal to get young people, who would not normally see each other or who would not normally sit in the same room, to talk about the things that they are most fearful of and that are most likely to create the most tension. The visit today is recognition of our work and gives the teenagers a boost,” she added.

Twinbrook teenager Liz Smith (17), who is a member of Creative Crosslinks, met the Taoiseach during his visit.

“He told me well done, and said to keep up the good work,” said the St Colm’s pupil.

“I think it is brilliant that he came to see us and it makes our work worthwhile. I would never have imagined that he would visit us,” she added.
Parish priest at the Church of the Nativity in Poleglass, Fr Austin McGirr, said the Taoiseach said that the visit was a great day for the area.

“I think that it is always encouraging that people from the higher echelons of government would visit groups like these and I welcome it very much and find it refreshing,” said Fr McGirr.

Local man Mark Magennis greeted Mr Ahern as he entered Cloona House.
“I am a volunteer here and presented Mr Ahern with a wooden man that we made here at the house. He thanked me very much for the gift,” said Mark.
Sinn Féin MLA Michael Ferguson greeted the Taoiseach at the entrance to Cloona House and set up a meeting. The local MLA asked the Taoiseach to use his Office to arrange a cross-border exchange visit.

“The Taoiseach’s visit to the Colin neighbourhood was most welcome and we have something very positive to build upon together,” said Councillor Ferguson.

“The Taoiseach agreed to support an exchange of visits between the Colin Neighbourhood Regeneration Partnership Board and the Ballymun Regeneration Board and our respective offices are to work out the details over the next couple of weeks.

“The Taoiseach’s government, in conjunction with the Dublin City Council, private and community sector, have delivered an integrated package of investment to physically regenerate Ballymun, one of the most deprived areas in the South, and it is my hope that we can share good practice to do the same in the areas of Poleglass and Twinbrook,” he added.

Journalist:: Roisin McManus

Irelandclick.com/

Hate attacks less likely here than in any part of the city

by Victoria McMahon

West Belfast is the most welcoming area of the city for ethnic minorities, according to the latest racism statistics released by the PSNI.

West Belfast’s good race relations record is in stark contrast to the rest of the North with an all-time high of 813 racist incidents being recorded marking a massive 79.5 per cent hike on last year’s PSNI figures.

With 13 racist incidents recorded for 2004/05, West Belfast once again had the lowest number of racist incidents and attacks in the city. In comparison, South Belfast once again achieves the unenviable position of topping the poll with 159 racist incidents being recorded – 39 of them falling into the most serious category of woundings and assaults.

Spokesperson for West Against Racism Network (WARN), Flair Campbell, credited the grassroots community work for the West’s low record of racist
incidents and attacks.

He said, “There has been a great community effort on the ground to stamp out racism and raise awareness. There is obviously a direct co-relation in the community activity in the West and these statistics,” said Mr Campbell.

“We got other community groups and community leaders like Gerry Adams on board and we have been getting the message out there through getting great support from yourselves [the Andersonstown News] and Daily Ireland has been behind us in raising awareness.

“We want West to be an anti-racism corridor and West is a beacon against racism for the whole of Ireland,” he said.

However the anti-racism man warned the recent statistics are likely to be the “tip of the iceberg.

“I would question these figures because people from minority communities are afraid to go to the police. They have little confidence in the PSNI and their poor rates of apprehending offenders shows this,” said Mr Campbell.

Lower Falls Sinn Féin councillor Paul Maskey also praised the efforts of the local community in sending out the clear message that acts of racism will not be tolerated in West Belfast.

Cllr Maskey said, “There have been attacks against ethnic minorities in here but the community has come out and rallied together. The community has pulled together and challenged people on these attacks, sending out a clear message such acts will not be tolerated in our areas.

“The world is a small place and people should be free to walk the streets free from attack and intimidation,” he said.

SDLP Equality spokesperson Patricia Lewsley MLA said the latest figures were extremely worrying.

She said, “It is vital that this growing problem is addressed across all the sectors of our society. We must deal not only with the threat of racist attacks but the existence of racist attitudes in Northern Ireland.”

Journalist:: Victoria McMahon

Irelandclick.com

By Damian McCarney

The Electoral Office is being urged to relocate a polling station from a loyalist area to a neutral section of the Springfield Road.

At present, voters living in the area between Mackie’s factory and the roundabout at the junction of the Springfield Road and the North Circular Road have to enter the loyalist Ballygomartin Road in order to cast their votes.

Forthriver Primary School on the Ballygomartin Road serves as the polling station for the area for both Westminster and local elections.

Lower Falls councillor Tom Hartley is concerned that this effectively prevents many nationalists from making use of their votes, and suggests that other buildings could present a neutral environment for people of any persuasion to vote.

“Given recent events in the area, including homes being attacked, which has resulted in a major upheaval in the area, nationalists are afraid to go into very strong loyalist areas. This is disenfranchising a substantial number of the nationalist community.

“Sinn Féin workers would also need to be very careful of standing outside a polling station in such an area. The Methodist Hall on the Springfield Road, I believe, would present a neutral venue for voters of all political persuasion. Unionists from the other side of the peace-line would be able to access it via Workman Avenue,” said Cllr Hartley.

The Chief Electoral Officer, Denis Stanley, said that they keep the polling station scheme under constant review but were having problems in deciding the appropriate venue for the Springfield Road.

“The problem with the Springfield Road is that there is not a great number of locations to choose from. We looked at the Methodist Hall at Workman Avenue but there are strong sectarian concerns about it because of its proximity to the gate. This is a flashpoint area which has had trouble in the past and we don’t want on polling day to have incidents right outside.”

The Electoral Office say that they welcome suggestions for a suitable location. Forward your suggestions to Mr Denis Stanley, Electoral Office, St Anne’s House, 15 Church Street, Belfast BT1 1ER.

Journalist:: Damien McCarney

Irelandclick.com

New PlayStation GAA game launched this week

by Damian McCarney

Antrim’s premier GAA venue is to feature in the latest Gaelic Football PlayStation®2 game.

And Saffrons fans will be delighted to see that players of the new game will be able to select Casement Park as one of the stadia in which to play their virtual matches. The ground which regularly hosts important club and inter-county Gaelic and hurling matches has been recreated with incredible accuracy by the game’s creators, IR Gurus. The finest details of the latest apartments overlooking the 30,000 capacity stadium have been included in the reproduction.

It has taken over two years of development work to bring the sport of Gaelic football to the PlayStation®2 and getting to this stage has been a lengthy and elaborate process. Game developers, the Australian IR Gurus, had 20 designated personnel responsible for bringing Gaelic Games: Football™ to life. These included programmers, artists, producers and QA testers who worked on re-creating Casement Park and the 10 other stadia featured in the game, as well as all the county teams and kits and all the moves specific to Gaelic football.

IR Gurus had to take between 40 and 50 photographs of every stadium to accurately recreate each venue featured in Gaelic Games: Football. Video footage was also used to capture all stands, backgrounds and anything else unique to that particular stadium. Croke Park and Fitzgerald Stadium, two of the most complex stadia to feature in the game, each took over 200 hours to re-create.

The attention to detail in this game was not just limited to the stadia. IR Gurus also worked closely with the GAA and all jersey manufacturers, O’Neills, Gaelic Gear and Azzurri, to get the latest designs for each county’s 2005 jersey. The jersey was then re-created for a 3D model using all the county crests and logos. Each jersey took approximately 30 hours to re-create. The game also features all goalkeepers and away jerseys.

As the solo and hand pass are unique to Gaelic football, IR Gurus had to use motion capture to re-create all of the moves in the game. They sourced local Gaelic football players, based in Australia, to capture the movements, kicks, catches and hand passes. The solo was one of the most difficult moves to re-create as it can happen at such high speeds. The motion capture shoot only took a day but it takes months to actually get the animations ready for use in the game.

Commenting on the development process of the game, Mike Fegan, CEO of IR Gurus said: “From the beginning we wanted to emulate the excitement of Gaelic football. We started at the very beginning, photographing Gaelic football stadiums in Ireland, attending a multitude of games and then surrounding ourselves with football fans to help us capture the spirit of the game. The development of Gaelic Games: Football™ was a great experience for our whole team.”

Gaelic Games: Football™ goes on sale nationwide on Friday.

This year’s All Ireland Football Championship may be over, the International Rules series may be coming to an end soon but the inter-county GAA football season is far from over, in fact it’s just gone into extra time. With the launch of Gaelic Games: Football™, exclusively on PlayStation®2, you can play the entire football season again from start to finish in the comfort of your own living room.

Journalist:: Damien McCarney

BBC

Lord Rooker said he did not know how many MLAs would turn up

All 108 assembly members have been invited to Stormont for a briefing on the draft budget by the Northern Ireland Office minister Lord Rooker.

It is the first time such a meeting has taken place.

Lord Rooker said direct rule ministers wanted to be as open and inclusive as possible.

However, he said he did not know how many MLAs would turn up for Monday’s briefing and that they were not obliged to do so.

Last December, a multi-billion pound spending plan to address Northern Ireland’s infrastructure deficit was announced.

It said a 10-year framework for regeneration could see the delivery of £16bn in areas such as roads, schools and hospitals.

Delivering a revised budget, the then Finance Minister Ian Pearson also confirmed plans to cut the Civil Service by 2,300 within three years.

Lord Rooker told BBC News on Monday that the secretary of state and his ministerial team were “grappling with some big issues at the present time”.

“We thought it would be quite useful, as opposed to offering announcements at press conferences - which of course we did do with the draft budget - to offer a specific briefing face-to-face from ourselves to members of the Northern Ireland Assembly.”

However, Alliance Party leader David Ford said he believed the meeting had been called so the government could avoid true consultation with the parties.

“Today’s meeting was an opportunity for the minister to talk at us rather than talk with us.

“As such, it was a cynical window dressing exercise,” Mr Ford said.

Lord Rooker said he did not know how many MLAs would turn up for the briefing.

“They may have constituency issues that prevent them from doing so, but we hope that as many as possible seek to turn up - but it is entirely up to them,” he said.

The Northern Ireland Office wanted to be “as open and inclusive as possible”, said the minister.

“I appreciate that we are over in Northern Ireland as what are politely termed as ‘part-time commuting direct rule ministers’.

“We have responsibility to Northern Ireland, we have responsibility to the Westminster Parliament, and of course my other four colleagues have constituency responsibilities.

“It is a question of doing it the best way we think we can.”

He denied it was a one-way street and that the NIO would simply be telling assembly members what was going to take place.

BreakingNews.ie

07/11/2005 - 09:29:06

Police in the North have arrested a sixth man in connection with last year’s £26.5m (€39m) heist at Northern Bank headquarters in Belfast.

The 22-year-old man was arrested this morning in the Co Down village of Kilcoo.

A 23-year-old man from the same village was brought to court last week charged with carrying out last December’s robbery. He was also charged with possession of a gun or imitation firearm and with falsely imprisoning a bank worker and his wife.

Meanwhile, a 43-year-old man who was also among the five arrested last week, is due in court later today.