SAOIRSE32

Sinn Féin

Published: 28 November, 2005

In a statement marking the 100th anniversary of the day on which Sinn Féin was founded in Dublin on 28 November 1905, Sinn Fein Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin has said that Irish sovereignty and independence is still the core issue in Irish politics. He said:

“One hundred years ago the founders of Sinn Féin began an epic journey towards Irish independence and the sovereignty of the Irish people. Many sacrificed their lives, their liberty and their livelihoods to achieve Irish freedom. We continue to be inspired by their example of selflessness.

“Sovereignty and independence are still core issues in Irish politics today. The continuation of Partition denies Irish independence. It thwarts the potential for political, social and economic progress on this island. The Good Friday Agreement is a compromise which caused great difficulty for Irish republicans but which we see as the way forward and which has the endorsement of the Irish people. Yet the Agreement remains unimplemented. The Irish Government has a key responsibility to ensure the implementation of the Agreement and the Sinn Féin TDs will continue to hold the Government fully to account in Leinster House and in the constituencies on this matter.

“Irish sovereignty must also mean the sovereignty of the people. Such sovereignty does not exist where multinational corporations like Shell have been given control of our natural resources and can ride roughshod over local communities. Equality does not exist where we have a two-tier health system where wealth buys the best care in the private system while our public health service struggles from crisis to crisis. And there is no real independence where an Irish government has subordinated foreign policy to the needs of NATO and an increasingly militarised EU.

“Sinn Féin’s Dáil team will continue to highlight these realities and to present our radical and relevant alternatives. In the months and years ahead we are determined to build and develop our party as a campaigning organisation in every city, town and townland throughout the 32 Counties. On this the 100th anniversary of Sinn Féin we re-commit ourselves to building a United Ireland of Equals.”

BreakingNews.ie

28/11/2005 - 19:01:43

Northern Secretary Peter Hain has hinted that the Independent Monitoring Commission will confirm that all IRA activity has effectively ceased.

The IMC will issue a report in January which will detail the current level of paramilitary activity.

Mr Hain, who was speaking at the British Irish Interparliamentary Body meeting in Edinburgh, said the indications from the IRA are very positive.

Belfast Telegraph

By supporting the Hospice Christmas lights appeal, you can help shine a light on the many families here who are living in the shadow of terminal illness. One mother, Hilary McKernan, tells Jane Bell why her family will never forget what the charity did for them

**Please see the Hospice website

28 November 2005

Hilary McKernan stood at the entrance to the Children’s Hospice, with her sick baby in her arms, and hesitated. Just at that moment she might have turned to husband, Tony, and asked him to drive the family the 85 miles back to their home near Omagh.

But the couple’s three older children had other ideas. “Come on, Mum,” said the eldest, Damien, then nine. “We didn’t come all this way just to go home again.” His younger sisters had already raced indoors and Hilary had little choice but to follow them: “They just sort of swept me inside.”

Within minutes her unspoken fears had melted away. There she found warmth and welcome, skill and support.

Over the next few years Horizon House - as the purpose-built Children’s Hospice at Glengormley is called - became a home from home for the McKernans. A place where little Kevin, with severe cerebral palsy, could be cared for in safety, where his parents could relax and catch up on some much-needed sleep and where his brother and sisters could have fun and make friends.

The Hospice is also where Kevin died, just over a year ago at the tender age of three years and seven months.

It is in his memory that the family made a return visit to place a stone - carved with the child’s name and, significantly, the date of his birth, not death - in the pond in the Quiet Garden of remembrance in the Hospice grounds. Tony, a stonemason, engraved it.

It was a private moment. But the McKernans are willing to forego their privacy, to talk about their loss, for a simple reason. They want all of us, who trust that our children will never have need to be there, to value and support the work of the Children’s Hospice too.

The family is also sponsoring a light on the Hospice Christmas tree in memory of Kevin this Christmas.

Kevin was born at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry on March 18, 2001, eleven weeks premature. Hilary refused drugs in the labour until the very end to avoid analgesics entering the tiny baby’s system. He was born healthy but, weighing in at just over 3lbs, he was vulnerable.

With three other children to care for - Damien is now 12, Ciara, nine, and Claire, seven - Hilary had eventually to go home. With family support she and Tony settled into a routine of constant hospital visits and long vigils beside the incubator.

But before long there were growing concerns over Kevin’s health and the baby was transferred to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Belfast. An eventual diagnosis of meningitis septicaemia which had led to cerebral palsy left them devastated.

Back at Altnagelvin, and still a long way from home in the village of Seskinore near Omagh, Hilary could barely tear herself away from her baby’s incubator: “I stayed by his side through thick and thin. Visitors came and went and I just stayed there.” A special mother and baby room was a welcome facility.

“I remember one nurse always saying to me ‘One day at a time’,” says Hilary. “To be honest I sometimes found it irritating. But when I got him home it was then I realised what she meant. We didn’t know whether that day or the next day was going to be his last. There was nothing else for it but to take one day at a time.”

The McKernans took Kevin home on June 3 - what had been his due birth date. His older siblings all have birthdays within a week of one another around Christmas and Hilary had been looking forward to a summer birth. Instead her dreams were shattered.

The nurse had also frequently said ‘Enjoy your baby’. And that was what she vowed to do. “It struck me that I was at home with a special care baby and who was going to help me?” she says. “But we knew that, whatever happened, we were going to do our very best for Kevin. We took him everywhere with us. We made sure people saw him. We made a conscious decision there was to be no hiding away. The children just accepted him the way he was and were very protective. To them he was special in more ways than one.”

For the parents, it was exhausting. The routines of family life and the demands of Tony’s business continued. Blind, with very little hearing and no speech, Kevin needed virtually round the clock care and they were getting very little uninterrupted sleep. Night after night Hilary dosed fitfully while Kevin, now growing into a toddler, slept across her chest:”It was the only way to settle him, he loved cuddles and touch and warmth.”

Beyond family and friends there was little outside support. Tony recalls: “We’d asked ‘what help’s out there?’ but it seemed there was nothing around our area. I believe the authorities do what they can with the funds available but often it’s just not enough.”

Hilary adds: “Help was so thin on the ground we felt like beggars, exploring different alleys to no avail.”

It was local health visitor Bridget O’Neill who first brought the Children’s Hospice to the family’s notice. “She left some leaflets on the table so we could give it some thought and maybe come round to the idea,” says Hilary.

“The very word ‘hospice’ bothered us. We didn’t think of Kevin as life-limited. I suppose we knew in our hearts but we didn’t want to admit it.”

Once contact was made, Karen Bleakley, a children’s palliative care nurse specialist attached to the Hospice, began visiting the family at their home.

“One of the first things she said was ‘You need help’,” says Hilary, her relief still tangible.

By the time Kevin was about nine months old, the McKernans made that first anxious visit to Horizon House.

Hilary says:”He was the youngest child there and everybody doted on him. The staff couldn’t do enough for you. We felt understood and that we weren’t just on our own with Kevin. It was like an extension of the family.”

Every six to eight weeks they would receive a letter inviting them to spend a couple of days and nights at Horizon House. “It caused great excitement, the children looked forward to the letter coming through the door with our dates,” recalls Hilary.

Facilities include an art room, a music room, a multi-sensory room and a pool and the family enjoyed them together, while Tony and Hilary appreciated the break from chores and a couple of good nights’ rest in private quarters, safe in the knowledge Kevin was being well cared for. They enjoyed simple pleasures like shopping and taking the children to the zoo nearby.

“We had some great times. Driving home again we felt set up for the weeks ahead,” says Tony. And his wife adds: “When we got home we knew Hospice Care at Home was coming in.”

The couple believe their older children matured beyond their years through their closeness to Kevin and through encountering other life-limited children at the Hospice.

When Kevin died it was sudden and unexpected. Close to Halloween last year, the older children were staying at their aunt’s home while Tony and Hilary took Kevin to Horizon House for a break.

The child had a chest infection beginning and had been started on antibiotics but later took a sudden turn for the worse. The doctor was called and the parents alerted. “We got a knock on the door and just flew down the stairs,” recalls Hilary. “We looked down on Kevin in his wee buggy, where he had been placed so he could be close to the staff in the night. He was pale and unresponsive. The end came quickly. Kevin died at 10 to three in the morning, the same time he had been born.” A priest was called and prayers were said as the parents cradled Kevin’s body. “He died in the place he loved,” says Tony.

They travelled home to break the sad news to his siblings face to face.

“We’d always kept the children involved from the very beginning,” says Hilary, “There was nothing hidden from them.

“It helped, too, that the Hospice doesn’t just leave you whenever it’s over. We were offered bereavement counselling but felt we were progressing.”

Instead, the family want to give something back. One of young Damien’s first acts was to set off round the village on his bike selling a bundle of fundraising wrist bands. “There will be other children like Kevin and other families who will need the support we had,” his mother says.

The carved stone in the remembrance pool and their light shining on the Christmas tree say it all. That Kevin was born, lived his short life, was loved and will be remembered.

BBC

An ex-prisoner is taking the prison service to court

A former inmate at Magilligan jail in County Londonderry is taking the Northern Ireland Prison Service to court over “slopping out”.

Justin John Martin alleged not having toilets in cells was “disgusting, humiliating and degrading” treatment.

The claimant, who served nine months at Maghaberry, claimed this breached the European Human Rights Convention.

Northern Ireland’s High Court heard the prisoners were locked up with no access “to effective hygienic toilets”.

Mr Martin’s lawyer, John Larkin QC, said night-time coverage by prison staff to take inmates to the toilet was “patchy and inefficient”.

“This results in the prisoners having to use a chamber pot and not being able to wash their hands… conditions that are distressing and humiliating,” he said.

“The Prison Service has never looked at this issue through human rights. The attitude to prisoners at Magilligan is contemptuous and indifferent.”

Plastic bag

Mr Larkin said during the course of the case, which is expected to last a week, the court would hear from other serving and former prisoners at Magilligan.

Mr Martin told the court that he had served nine months of an 18-month prison sentence at Magilligan.

He had at first been detained at Magheraberry, where he had a toilet and wash-basin in his cell along with a television, single bed, wardrobe, table and cabinet.

Mr Martin said when he was moved to Magilligan, his cell did not have a toilet or basin.

He said he was told the prison used a “slopping out” system where prisoners used a chamber-pot during lock-up times, which included a 12-hour period between 2030 and 0830 GMT.

Mr Martin told the court that if prisoners wanted to go to the toilet at night they had to ring a bell and wait for a prison officer to come and let them out.

The plaintiff said there was normally a long queue waiting to use the facilities so prisoners had to use their chamber-pots or a plastic bag.

Irelandclick.com

Sinn Féin Housing Spokesperson, West Belfast MLA Fra McCann has said that the latest homelessness figures for Belfast show that there are significant increases in the numbers of people presenting as homeless.
Councillor Mc Cann said that year on year there is an increase in the number of people presenting themselves to the Housing Executive.
“The figure is up over 20 per cent on the same period last year. In the six months, April to September, this represents an increase in nearly 500 hundred people,” said Councillor Mc Cann.
“Last year there were 4665 people in total presenting as homeless while only 50 per cent of these were accepted as homeless.
“Not only is there an increasing number of people presenting as homeless, the facts show that this number includes a significant number of families (30 per cent) and older people (11 per cent),” he added.
Councillor McCann said that there has been a significant increase in Housing Executive provision from 627 hostel places in 2002/3 to 1139 in 2004/5.
“However, despite the year on year increase in homelessness, the overall level of provision has remained static because of a big drop in the number of voluntary places,” said Councillor McCann.
“It is essential that the issue of homelessness is given a greater priority because potentially anyone is at risk.
“There are a huge number of reasons for the increase and a large number of associated needs.
“But the bottom line is that we need a clearer picture of both accommodation and support needs and to increase the number of accommodation places available,” he added.
A spokeswoman for the Housing Executive said: “The Housing Executive has recorded that homeless presentations in Northern Ireland have increased by 17.5 per cent compared to this time last year,” said the spokeswoman.
“The number of these applicants found to be homeless have also increased by 12.5 per cent.”
The spokeswoman said that the rise comes after homelessness figures had remained generally static in recent years.
“The Housing Executive is currently carrying out a detailed analysis into the reasons for this increase and is looking closely at homelessness trends and causes,” she added.

Journalist:: Roisin McManus

Irelandclick.com

A new Ballymurphy memorial garden unveiled yesterday was at the centre of controversy as the family of an INLA man who died during a feud hit out because he was not included.
Former republican prisoners from the Upper Springfield area raised funds and designed the garden and the opening came after many months of considerable preparations.
In addition to IRA volunteers, a number of people who were killed by loyalists or British forces during the conflict were included in the memorial. Hence representatives from other organisations including the Official Republican Movement and the IRSP are engraved on the impressive marble plaque in the garden.
Gerard Barkley was killed during an INLA feud in 1983 by his former comrades within the organisation, but his name will not grace the garden in Divismore Way.
Jeanie Morton, a sister of Gerard, is angered that his contribution to the republican cause is not being recognised. In the week before the garden was opened she approached representatives of the former prisoners who constructed the garden, but was unable to convince them that he should be remembered in the garden.
“It is for the people killed as a result of the Troubles. I’m not against the Provisional IRA, and they have every right to the memorial, but so does my brother. He was born and raised in Ballymurphy and he served his time too. There was a volley of shots above his coffin.
“All that matters to me is that they died. He was from Ballymurphy and died during the conflict and his name deserves to be on it, as does everybody else who died in the conflict – not just Gerard.”
A spokesman for the Commemoration Committee said, “Gerard Barkley died at the hands of the organisation he was a part of. That organisation has not commemorated him in any way throughout the city.
“This project was organised by ex-prisoners to honour their comrades and it is up to the organisation he was a part of to honour him. We do not want to cause any hurt, but it is up to the organisation to include him,” he added.

Journalist:: Damien McCarney

Irelandclick.com

Around 600 local people turned out in West Belfast yesterday for the opening of a new commemoration garden in the Upper Springfield Road.
The opening marked years of fundraising and planning by ex-prisoners in the Upper Springfield to honour those who died during the conflict. A marble plaque bears the names of over 100 local people who lost their lives.
The Commemoration Committee hope that the garden will provide a place of reflection where local people can remember those who lost their lives.
The unveiling of the garden was preceded by a special Mass at Corpus Christi Church and a commemoration procession.
Sean Osborne from the Ballymurphy ex-prisoners’ group said that the opening was widely supported by local people.
“The garden is now for the community to come and pay their respects and maybe try and get some closure.
“A number of local people were murdered as a result of the Springhill Massacare and they are remembered at the garden and it is time that their relatives had answers to their questions.
“The idea for the garden came from a number of ex-prisoners who were inspired by the Falls Commemoration Garden.
“They had a meeting and came up with a number of madcap ideas for fundraising for the garden. Once a degree of funding had been reached the community rallied to the cause, rolled up their sleeves and got stuck into the work to make the garden a reality,” he added.

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

Lisburn City Councillor Paul Butler says he is to lodge a complaint with the Equality Commission over the way Lisburn Council has run its campaign to fight water charges.
“This campaign was agreed by Council, yet in reality it is seen by many as a campaign on behalf of the DUP and UUP,” explained the Sinn Féin councillor.
“Lisburn Council’s campaign to fight water charges is deliberately excluding Sinn Féin and nationalist councillors.
“The campaign is being exclusively run by the DUP and UUP. Ratepayers’ money is being used to finance this campaign to further the political aims of unionists and that is totally unacceptable,” he added.
Claiming that the DUP and the UUP are using the campaign against water charges to benefit their own political parties, at ratepayers’ expense, Cllr Butler added, “Sinn Féin, the largest nationalist party on the Council, is being excluded while the SDLP have been given a token role in the campaign.
“It was agreed by Lisburn Council to have this campaign to fight water charges.
“In effect it is the policy of the Council to oppose water charges and this can only be done with the participation of all of the political parties on the Council.
“Yet the reality is that the DUP and UUP have run the campaign as their own.”
Councillor Butler continued: “We intend to raise this issue with the Equality Commission given that ratepayers’ money is being used.
“I will also raise this matter with the Chief Executive of the Council and will be asking why the DUP and UUP have been allowed to abuse their positions and ratepayers’ money in this way.”

Journalist:: Ciara McGuigan

BBC

The city hall was evacuated during the alert

A controlled explosion has been carried out on a “crude but viable” device found at Belfast City Hall.

The building was evacuated because of the alert and an event being held there was interrupted. The area has since been reopened.

Police said that a number of items were removed from the scene for examination.

The Army has also carried out a controlled explosion on an object at Boating Club Lane in Londonderry. It was declared an elaborate hoax.

During the Derry alert police cordoned off part of Queen’s Quay and Strand Road and part of the North West Institute was also evacuated.

Police said they believed the hoax device was left by the same people who placed a device outside the home of SDLP assembly member Pat Ramsey over the weekend.

Superintendent Johnny McCarroll said the devices were similar.

Daily Ireland

Connla Young

The father of a murdered Co Armagh teenager has called on the Ulster Volunteer Force to take no action against a suspected PSNI informer who may have been involved in his son’s death.
David McIlwaine and Andrew Robb, both from Portadown, were stabbed to death in a frenzied attack near Tandragee in 2000.
The two men Steven Brown, from Castle Place in Castlecaufield, Co Tyrone, and Mark Robert Burcombe, from Ballynahinch Road in Lisburn, Co Antrim, are currently on trial for the men’s murder.
However, a principal suspect remains at large but Daily Ireland cannot name him for legal reasons. He is a high-ranking member of the UVF in Co Armagh and has recently been the focus of an investigation by that organisation.
David McIlwaine and Andrew Robb were butchered with boning knives during a feud between the UVF and the Loyalist Volunteer Force. The feud was sparked when Portadown UVF commander Richard Jameson was gunned down in January 2000.
David McIlwaine’s father Paul last night urged the UVF to let justice take its natural course.
“We would call on the UVF not to act in any way that would endanger the life of this individual. We have always asked for justice to take its natural course without interference either from the paramilitaries and in particular the state.
“If current reports and rumours are fact, then this person needs to be held publicly accountable before the courts in an open and transparent manner.
“We simply want the truth. To do otherwise would be to deny us that truth. This is also a matter of public interest. One only has to think of the case of William Stobie in the Finucane case, and Stephen McCullough, a witness suspect to the killing of Daniel McColgan, who only hours after coming forward mysteriously ‘jogged’ off the cliff of Cavehill to his death,” said Mr McIlwaine.
Despite being seen in the company of key suspects before and after the double murder, the senior loyalist has never been questioned by investigating detectives.
It is known that the UVF man received a phone call from a serving PSNI officer the morning that the two teenagers’ mutilated bodies were discovered dumped in a Co Armagh lane.
The PSNI man has since retired from the force, and the line of inquiry has never been followed up.
The McIlwaine family have been critical of the PSNI in the past after it emerged the force may have been tipped off in advance of the murders by the Special Branch informer.
Legal representatives for PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde have already indicated that his force may seek a public-interest immunity certificate to prevent important information going into the public domain.
There have been consistent reports that not only did the UVF double agent inform the PSNI that an attack was imminent but he may have taken part in double murder.
Mr McIlwaine said the PSNI’s role required close scrutiny.
“The failure of the PSNI to act on information by their agent must also be fully examined. That failure led to the murder of my son, and culpability also rests with those running agents,” he said.

BBC

The Civil Partnership Act creates a new legal relationship

The chairman of the Alliance Party has resigned claiming he has been the victim of a campaign by party members over his opposition to gay unions.

Lisburn councillor Trevor Lunn opposed the use of the council’s wedding room for civil partnerships.

Alliance backs civil partnerships, but its three Lisburn councillors disagree.

Alliance assembly member Seamus Close proposed a motion preventing the council’s wedding room being used for same-sex unions.

However, last week the council overturned its policy regarding gay and lesbian unions.

The council had banned the use of its wedding room for same-sex civil partnership registrations, prompting gay activists to threaten legal action.

“The campaign against Lisburn from within the party has continued to the point where I thought it would be better if I wasn’t chairing the organisation”.
Trevor Lunn
Alliance Party

However, after consulting lawyers, a council committee decided the ban should be lifted.

Mr Lunn said he could no longer chair the party because of “a campaign of abuse” by some members.

He said: “The campaign against Lisburn from within the party has continued to the point where I thought it would be better if I wasn’t chairing the organisation.

“I always thought the Alliance Party was a broad enough church that we could support some difference of opinion.

“But it appears that in terms of equality issues, that we just can’t.”

Another Alliance Party Lisburn councillor, Betty Campbell, has resigned from the party executive but both remain as Alliance members.

The party has refused to comment.

The Civil Partnership Act creates a new legal relationship, which two people of the same-sex can form by signing a document.

It provides same sex couples with parity of treatment in a wide range of legal matters with those opposite-sex couples who enter into a civil marriage.

BBC

A second hoax device has been found at the home of SDLP assembly member Pat Ramsey in Derry.

Mr Ramsey discovered the first suspect object on Saturday and found the second hoax bomb on Sunday night - just hours after the first alert ended.

The devices were found at Mr Ramsey’s home in Meenan Drive in the Bogside area of the city.

The Army declared the first device a hoax. Mr Ramsey has been targeted several times in the past.

Mr Ramsey said the incident caused disruption to the community.

“It is clear that the people responsible for this latest act of intimidation are the same faceless thugs who have attacked my home on countless occasions in the last few years,” he said.

“They should know by now that they will not deter me from my political beliefs or pursuing them democratically for the good of all the people of Derry.”

Irish Independent

Lorna Reid
28 November 2005
Edinburgh

IRISH politicians have slammed the “hypocrisy” of the British government in refusing to pardon 26 Irish soldiers who were shot for desertion in World War I.

And they have asked Northern Secretary Peter Hain to press his government to grant full pardons to the men who were “shot at dawn” for either deserting their posts or failing to follow orders.

The call came last night at the opening of the British-Irish Inter Parliamentary Body meeting in Edinburgh from both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.

FG senator Brian Hayes said the 26 Irishmen who had volunteered for service in the British Army were shot for offences which had since been scrapped.

“The British government is currently giving an amnesty for IRA members but they won’t provide pardons for these soldiers and this is absolute hypocrisy,” said Mr Hayes.

“These soldiers came from North and South and this is a campaign of reconciliation.”

Mr Hayes said the Irish Government had a dossier on the 26 soldiers and immediate action should be taken to grant them this pardon “for the sake of their families and relatives”.

FF senator Pascal Mooney agreed that Mr Hain should make it his policy to grant these pardons in the ongoing spirit of reconciliation.

Mr Hain will address the conference today and will also be questioned on a proposed smoking ban for the North.

He will also be asked to outline his timetable for lifting the suspension of the devolved institutions in the North.

Sunday Life

By Ciaran McGuigan
27 November 2005

A BELFAST biker club is set to become the first Irish chapter of the Hells Angels.

>>Chosen Few - Ireland (no connection to Belfast)

The local group of the Chosen Few Motorcycle Club has become the latest international club to be granted “prospect” status by the world’s most notorious biker gang.

>>MC - BELFAST (site under construction)

It’s expected that they will officially become the first Irish members of the Hell’s Angels late next year, after their probationary period.

Although the Hell’s Angels have been in Britain since the late 1960s, they have never had a presence in either Northern Ireland or the Republic.

Sunday Life tried to contact members of the Chosen Few last week, but was unable to do so.

However, their new “prospect” status was confirmed on both the Chosen Few and the Hell’s Angels websites.

The Hell’s Angels started as a series of loosely-affiliated motorcycle clubs in California in the late 1940s.

During the late 1950s, the clubs’ conventions were laid down into a formal set of rules now followed by hundreds of Hell’s Angels clubs or “chapters” around the world.

Hell’s Angels clubs in the US, Canada and other countries have been slated by their respective legal authorities for being involved in international organised crime and protection rackets.

Just last month, Dutch police raided 65 locations and arrested 45 members of the Hell’s Angels on charges ranging from blackmail and intimidation to trafficking in drugs and weapons.

Among items seized in the Dutch raids were a grenade-launcher, a flame-thrower, hand grenades, 20 handguns, a machine pistol and almost £50,000 in cash.

However, one bike enthusiast laughed off the international bike club’s criminal image when he learned they were coming to Belfast.

“The city’s rackets are already sewn up by some of the most vicious, well-organised and well-armed criminals in Europe.

“A gang looking for new territory would choose an easier patch,” he said.

cmcguigan@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Sunday Life

By Alan Murray
27 November 2005

GENERAL John de Chastelain has been given the cold shoulder by the Loyalist Commission.

The retired Canadian army officer was hoping to meet the group during a six day visit to Belfast and Dublin. But loyalist sources say they see no reason to meet at the moment because neither the UDA or the UVF is planning to decommission soon.

General John de Chastelain, who is in Belfast until Wednesday, has made approaches to meet representatives from the Commission which includes church, community and political figures as well as representatives of the UDA, UVF and Red Hand Commando terror groups.

But a loyalist source said: “There wouldn’t be much point in the meeting.

“The UDA is meeting with the General and the UVF is not and isn’t likely to do so in the near future.

“It’s not really the Commission’s role to speak on matters like that for all three organisations.

The three groups have different strategies and are all working to different timetables.”

The General is being accompanied on his trip by his fellow commissioners of the independent arms decommissioning group - the Finnish Brigadier Tauno Nieminen and the former diplomat Andrew Sens from the United States.

Loyalist sources say that while they respect the General they suspect he was seeking to probe how decommissioning of their organisations could come about and what they would be seeking in return.

Said a senior loyalist source: “We suspect that the General was wanting to get an overview of where the main organisations are on the issue of decommissioning and was trying to work out what would move things along.

“That’s something we will tell the Government in due course when they begin to take us seriously.

“At the moment many loyalists feel that the Government is making noises but isn’t coming up with the goods. The IRA squeezed more and more concessions from Tony Blair in return for decommissioning including the ‘on the runs’ legislation.

“Loyalists will be looking at many things that we want changed and we’ll see in the new year how the Government will respond.”

Sunday Life

Toy soldier buffs are now re-enacting battles of the Troubles, complete with plastic mobs

By Bill Smyth
27 November 2005

THE battles on the Bogside, Shankill and Falls are being fought all over again - on dining room tables!

For just like Culloden and Waterloo, Ulster’s riots are being recreated using models.

A Ballymena store is doing a roaring trade in miniature RUC officers, soldiers and rioters.

Army ‘pigs’ and Saracens, police Land Rovers and water cannon trucks are also flying out the door.

Kevin Irwin, owner of the recently opened Country Comes to Town store, says he’s taking orders from across the world on his website.

“For years model buffs have re-fought famous battles in history using toy soldiers. This is the modern equivalent - with an obvious Ulster setting,” said Kevin.

“The players sit for hours moving the models around just like chess players.

“And, of course, they can determine the outcome of the riot according to their views. That’s their business and at least nobody suffers.”

Added Kevin: “I am picking up orders all the time through our website from America, Canada and Australia. The French and Germans have started going for them too.

“I think it’s part of the fascination with The Troubles, when images of our darkest moments were regularly flashed across the world’s TV screens.”

Kevin admits there is occasionally animosity shown to his merchandise by passers-by, when they spot the models in the window.

“Maybe some of them don’t like to be reminded of the bad old days. Some may even have been involved in some way. To me the models are just reminders of what we all witnessed.”

There is constant demand for new additions which are made in great detail by a company in England from photographs and drawings.

“The UDR recently joined us,” said Kevin.

“And the Army bomb disposal unit turned up last week.”

Sunday Life

By Stephen Breen
27 November 2005

THE mother of a UVF murder victim last night spoke for the first time about her despair after learning one of the men accused of her son’s killing was once his best pal.

Ann Robb, whose son Andrew (19) and pal David McIlwaine (18) were butchered in February, 2000, can’t believe that a close family friend has been charged with the killings.

Mark Robert Burcombe, who appeared in court earlier this month, was in the same class as Andrew at Portadown College and they socialised together.

Burcombe also went to school and played football with David McIlwaine

Until now, Mrs Robb had been too upset to talk about the close links between her son and the man accused of his grisly murder.

She told Sunday Life how her son and the accused were “inseparable” when they studied home economics at college.

Mrs Robb also said that Andrew spent every weekend at his friend’s house before they stopped speaking to each other.

The pair are believed to have fallen out over their views on tensions between the UVF and LVF in Portadown.

Said the Co Armagh woman: “I was completely shocked when I was told Mark Burcombe was being charged with Andrew’s murder.

“I could hardly bring myself to talk about it, but realised that I had to say something. I still can’t quite believe it.

“The pair of them were very good friends and were well-known for playing pranks on their fellow classmates at Portadown College.

“If I ever needed to know where Andrew was, I would just ring Mark’s house because they were always together.

“I know they fell out, but they did speak to each other in the street shortly before Andrew and David were murdered.

“The whole thing is very hard to take in because I also know Mark’s mother well.”

Burcombe was the second man charged with the killings in the wake of a nation-wide TV appeal about the stabbings.

Steven Leslie Brown, (25), from Castle Place, Castlecaufield, Co Tyrone, has been charged with the murder for a second time.

He had previously been accused in 2000, but the charges were dropped.

Both the accused have been remanded in custody.

sbreen@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Sunday Life

United in despair

By Stephen Breen
27 November 2005

THIS is the heart-rending moment when two devastated campaigning families came together for the first time.

The Dorrian family, who have been searching for her body since February, met relatives of Arlene Arkinson, whose body has never been found since her disappearance in 1994.

It is part of a process the Dorrians have embarked on to share their experiences with families whose loved-ones were abducted, murdered and buried.

Although the families have previously spoken on the phone, our exclusive pics were taken as the families met for talks in Dungannon yesterday to discuss a wide range of issues.

They included the probes into the murders, the searches for the bodies, and the anguish they have suffered since their loved-ones disappeared.

Lisa (25), was murdered after vanishing from a caravan park in Ballyhalbert, in February, and 15-year-old Arlene vanished after attending a disco in Co Donegal.

Child-killer Robert Howard was later acquitted of killing the teenager. The meeting was arranged by Joanne Dorrian, after Secretary of State Peter Hain confirmed that a top forensic expert would be used to help find Lisa’s body.

A forensic expert was also used to search for Arlene’s body.

North Down MP Lady Sylvia Hermon, who wants a public inquiry into the police investigation into the Arkinson case, had urged Security Minister Shaun Woodward to permit the scientist to search for her body.

The plea was made after it emerged police were set to conduct more searches for Lisa and Arlene over the coming weeks.

Joanne hopes her family will not have to endure the 11-year torment suffered by the Arkinson’s. The two families’ discussion comes after the Dorrians held a meeting last month with Margaret McKinney, whose son Brian was ‘disappeared’ by the IRA in the 70s.

Speaking to us last night, Joanne described the meeting with the Arkinson family as “extremely helpful”.

Said Joanne: “We decided to contact the Arkinsons because we wanted to give them our full support in their campaign to find Arlene’s body.

“We thought it would be a very positive exercise for two families who have lost loved ones to share their experiences.

“The Arkinson family have been searching for 11 years and it must be terrible for them. We would hate to be still searching for Lisa’s body in 11 years time - it must be horrendous. We also thought that we could get Kathleen to put pressure on the Government to allow the new forensic expert who is searching for Lisa to help find Arlene.”

Kathleen told of her delight at meeting the Dorrian family.

She added: “They are a lovely family and I’m just glad I met them. We shared our experiences and I think we helped each other.

“I wanted to tell them how it hard it will be getting over their first Christmas without Lisa and just to tell them not to give up hope.

“We will do what we can to help them. We are sorry we couldn’t attend the recent service for Lisa, but the family is always in our thoughts.

“We need to help each other and we both need to keep the pressure on the relevant authorities not to forget about our loved ones.”

sbreen@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Sunday Life

27 November 2005

THE heartbroken family of murdered Bangor woman Lisa Dorrian last night urged cops to use more divers during their searches for her body.

Pat Dorrian, whose daughter has been missing since February, would like to see experienced divers from Britain and the Republic helping the searches.

The distraught mum, who has been backed by North Down Ulster Unionist MP, Lady Sylvia Hermon, issued the plea after a number of searches were conducted for the 25-year-old, in the Ards peninsular area last week.

At present, local cops are only believed to have a small number of divers with the experience to conduct searches for human remains.

And the diving team are often told to leave search sites in the event of an emergency, or if they are required for other police investigations.

Mrs Dorrian has also urged Security Minister Shaun Woodward to honour his promise not to reduce resources in the murder probe.

Said the Co Down woman: “We had a meeting with Shaun Woodward and he told us he would get back to us after he has a meeting with Sir Hugh Orde, but we haven’t heard from him.

“We think it would be a great if we had more divers searching for Lisa because the local police don’t have that many divers.

“If the police are going to continue to use all their resources in their investigation, then surely they can stretch this to pay for divers from the Irish Republic and the UK.

“The divers we have had searching for Lisa are doing a tremendous job, but I get the feeling they are a bit frustrated because they could be called off the search at any time.

“We just want assurances that Lisa will not be forgotten and the police will do everything they can to end our nightmare.”

Lisa’s mum’s plea comes after a trailer, which includes a picture of Lisa and the slogan ‘is it fair to leave her there’, had to be removed by the family from the Rathcoole Estate, last Wednesday.

The trailer was erected close to the home of a man the family believe may have vital information about Lisa’s disappearance.

But within an hour of the trailer being placed, it was turned upside down and dumped in a nearby park.

Lisa’s sister, Joanne, was also subjected to verbal abuse, when parking the trailer

It is understood members of the Red Hand Commando ordered local youths to return the trailer, but the family returned and brought it back to Bangor.

sbreen@belfast telegraph.co.uk

RTE

27 November 2005 23:08

The Dublin Port Authority has permitted the Irish Ferries vessel, the MV Normandy, to dock in Dublin Port.

SIPTU says it allowed the docking to take place.

It is understood that a European crewmember, who is not a member of SIPTU, was injured on the ship and was in need of medical attention.

The MV Normandy was diverted from Rosslare in Co Wexford, where it was scheduled to arrive from Cherbourg.

Port workers in Rosslare had earlier reiterated their intention not to handle the ship as it berthed.

Iarnrod Éireann, which operates the port, told Irish Ferries that because of health and safety concerns, the docking of the Normandy would not be facilitated.

The company will be going with its SIPTU staff members to the Labour Relations Commission on Tuesday.

The dispute has escalated in recent days, with Irish crewmembers demanding the removal of security personnel and foreign agency workers from the company’s ships.

Deck officers get control of Isle of Inishmore

Deck officers on board the Isle of Inishmore, which is stuck in Pembroke Dock, have managed to take control of the bridge on the ship.

SIPTU say that three of the deck officers, who are members of SIPTU, managed to make their way past security guards onto the bridge.

Four other SIPTU members on the ship remain barricaded in the engine room.

Meanwhile, another Irish Ferries ship, the Ulysses, remains stranded in Holyhead port.

This is the fourth day of the stand-off.

Partnership process could be affected, says Ahern

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has said he is concerned about the effect the Irish Ferries dispute will have on the partnership process.

Speaking in Cork, Mr Ahern said the dispute was bad for the industrial relations climate of the country and he again urged the company to accept the Labour Court’s ruling on the dispute.