SAOIRSE32

Sinn Féin

Published: 19 December, 2005

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams today led a party delegation which met with the British Secretary of State Peter Hain. The Sinn Féin delegation included Martin McGuinness MP, Bairbre deBrún MEP, Gerry Kelly MLA and Michelle Gildernew MP. Speaking after the meeting Mr Adams said that it was time for the British government to commit itself to peaceful and democratic activity and to end political policing once and for all.

Mr Adams said:

„ Today’s meeting was at our request and follows on from phone calls today between Martin McGuinness and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern and ongoing contacts over the weekend with both governments. I also intend to speak with both the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister in the coming period.

“This entire issue is about the need for the British government to accept responsibility for what has happened and what is happening and to end the sort of political policing we have experienced over many years. At the core of all of this is the British government‚s responsibility for how its agencies behave.

“People need to remember what happened here. A unique power sharing government was overthrown by British state agencies. That is a massive issue. There is a job of work for Tony Blair as British Prime Minister to rein in the system responsible for this. The British government needs to commit itself to peaceful and democratic activity and to end political policing once and for all.”

Sinn Féin Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness said that it was imperative that those responsible for collapsing the political institutions were not allowed to succeed.

Mr McGuinness said:

“We are told that the two governments intend to make a big push in the new year to see the political institutions restored. We are prepared to play our part in such an effort, we are not prepared to let those responsible for collapsing the political institutions and subverting the political and democratic process to be allowed to succeed.

“Sinn Féin and republicans have answered all of the big questions regarding future intentions. It is now time for the British government to answer the questions about their intentions. They need to declare that their war against republicans is at an end and that the days of political policing are over.” ENDS

::: u.tv :::

MONDAY 19/12/2005 16:15:29

Sinn Fein challenged the British Government today to state that its “war” against republicans was over.

Following a meeting between his party and Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain to discuss the Stormont spy scandal, Sinn Fein MP Martin McGuinness said the initiative following the affair rested with the British Government.

The Mid-Ulster MP said: “Over the course of the last number of years, huge attempts have been made to twist Sinn Fein`s arm up its back to accept less than what is required in terms of policing.

“We haven`t made the mistakes that the SDLP have made. We have remained very surefooted on the issue.

“We have dealt with important questions over the last number of months - the IRA statement of July 28, the putting of weapons beyond use.

“We have answered all the big questions and all the big difficulties that surrounded the republican approach to the process.

“It is now time for the British to answer questions about their agents, about their agencies, and about their approach to the process.

“In fact, what we are calling on them to do is declare that their war against republicans and the peace process is finally over.”

Republicans have been coming to terms since Friday with the dramatic revelation that Sinn Fein`s former head of administration Denis Donaldson had spied on colleagues for the police and British Army Intelligence for 20 years.

In October 2002 Mr Donaldson, his son-in-law Ciaran Kearney and civil servant William Mackessy were arrested and accused of operating a republican spy ring at Stormont.

Sinn Fein`s offices at Stormont were also raided by the police, in scenes which led to the suspension of devolution and power sharing.

The Northern Ireland Assembly, power-sharing executive and other devolved institutions have not been restored since the incident.

After a three-year legal battle, the Public Prosecution Service announced that the charges against the three men at Belfast Crown Court were being withdrawn because it was no longer in the public interest to pursue a case.

But in another sensational twist last Friday, Sinn Fein unmasked Mr Donaldson as a British spy and expelled him from the party.

He appeared on Irish television admitting he had gathered intelligence for the British after being compromised at what he said was a vulnerable time in his life.

The 55-year-old also backed Sinn Fein`s argument that there had never been a republican spy ring at Stormont, claiming it was a scam and a fiction by Special Branch and British Intelligence.

Mr Donaldson and Sinn Fein`s version of events was challenged today by Mr Hain, who said they and others had to face facts.

“The fact is that there was a paramilitary intelligence gathering operation at Stormont,” he said.

“The fact is that a huge number of stolen documents were recovered from a house in West Belfast.

“The fact is that these documents - many of them classified as secret and confidential - related not only to the work of the Northern Ireland Office but to contacts between the British and Irish Governments and with the American administration.

“The fact is that as a result, over 1,000 people had to be warned and it cost £35 million to ensure their safety.”

Mr Hain also denied that the police operation at Stormont in October 2002 was politically motivated.

He noted that Northern Ireland`s Police Ombudsman, Nuala O`Loan, had investigated the events and found no evidence to substantiate allegations that the policing operation was political. The Minister also ruled out holding a public inquiry into the affair.

He said: “If it was not possible to proceed with this trial (against Mr Donaldson, Mr Kearney and Mr Mackessy) because, as the Director of Public Prosecutions decided, it was not in the public interest to do so, what purpose would an inquiry serve?

“Frankly, we have had inquiries galore in Northern Ireland. They cost hundreds of millions of pounds.

“I am not going down that road where it is quite clear that it is not in the public interest to do so.”

Mr Hain headed to Hillsborough Castle for a meeting with Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern to discuss the Stormontgate spy affair and also review the political process.

After a meeting with the Northern Ireland Secretary, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said his party was committed to bringing the process to completion.

The West Belfast MP added: “We are not going to be deflected by anything from that historic task.

“But it is not good enough for a British Secretary of State to simply dismiss the fact that his state agencies behave in the way they behave.

“In essence, what happened here was a very unique, power-sharing administration was toppled after centuries of conflict, centuries of discord.

“After 30 years of a very, very dirty war, a process was being coaxed into a new dispensation and one of the main legs of that was the very unique power-sharing arrangements and it was working but it was overthrown.

“It was suspended and the truth of the matter is that British agencies were at the heart of that coup d`etat.”

Mr McGuinness said he had also raised the recent arrest and release of Sinn Fein Assembly member Francie Brolly during an investigation into a triple IRA car bomb attack in Claudy, County Derry.

The former Stormont education minister said: “There are people within the present PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) and within British intelligence who are hostile to our participation in the peace process, who are hostile to the peace process, who are hostile to the Good Friday Agreement, who are effectively running rings around the British prime minister and Peter Hain.

“So it is their responsibility to bring all of that to an end.”

Mr McGuinness said his party was determined not to allow hostile elements to succeed in derailing the peace process.

“Our message to them is that they are not going to succeed because we are not going to allow them to succeed,” the Sinn Fein MP said.

“Time will pass. People will see all of this in a proper context.

“Where we need to be focused in the coming period is on what the two prime ministers (Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern) have indicated in the course of the last number of weeks that a big push is to be made.

“They say, and we will believe it when we see it, to get the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement up and running and that push is to begin in January.

“We`ll play our part in trying to make that happen.”

BBC

The Tyrone County Hospital treated victims of the Omagh bombing

The Tyrone County Hospital in Omagh is to lose its emergency and major elective surgery services, the government has confirmed.

The decision follows six weeks of public consultation on the issue.

Health Minister Shaun Woodward has also recommended consolidating A&E services at the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen.

A 24-hour doctor-led urgent care unit will be set up at Tyrone County, which will continue to receive patients brought in by ambulance.

Mr Woodward said the plans offered “the best way ahead for the immediate period and viable transition towards the long term”.

“The hospital will continue to meet most of the in-patient medical care needs of the local population, including coronary care,” he said.

“Only very seriously ill medical cases, in particular those likely to require intensive care services, would not come to Omagh.”

Ambulance

Mr Woodward said the Omagh area would be getting an extra 24-hour ambulance to boost the existing service, along with another intermediate care ambulance.

The transfer from Omagh to Enniskillen of emergency and major elective surgery services will take place early next year.

Accident and emergency services will also be consolidated at the Erne over the coming year.

The government’s plans for Tyrone County have faced sustained opposition from politicians and campaigners in the area.

A petition against downgrading the Omagh facility was brought to Downing Street by politicians from the main NI parties.

Single issue

Campaigners to retain full services at Omagh hospital included Dr Kieran Deeny, who was elected to the assembly as an independent on the single issue of the hospital’s future and Donna Marie McGillion, who was seriously injured in the 1998 Omagh bombing.

Mr Woodward had already announced two new hospitals would be built in the Sperrin and Lakeland Trust area, costing £270m.

He has said £95m would be spent in Omagh and building work would begin in 2007.

In Enniskillen, £175m would be spent on the new hospital which will be part of the network of wider acute services with Altnagelvin and Craigavon, a range of inpatient, critical care and A&E services.

In September, a report by the Royal College of Surgeons said hospital services in the south west were “unsafe and unsustainable”.

The report said patients’ lives were being put at risk at Tyrone County Hospital in Omagh.

RTE

19 December 2005 15:21

EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has praised the legacy of Margaret Thatcher, claiming that many member states in Europe today need leaders like the former British premier.

Mr McCreevy, EU Commissioner responsible for Internal Market & Services, also said Europe had spent too much time navel gazing and had allowed its economy to falter as a result.

In a wide ranging address this afternoon, Mr McCreevy notes that the numbers sceptical about or hostile to the EU have grown in the last year, citing a Eurobarometer poll published today which shows that only 44% surveyed had a positive view of Europe.

The commissioner said one of the lessons of the poll was that people resent what he called unwarranted intrusions by Brussels into their national sovereignty. He quoted the example of Austria where five years ago the EU tried to freeze diplomatic relations with the country because of the rise of Jorg Haider. Now he says Austria has a bigger majority hostile to Europe than any other country in the community.

Mr McCreevy claimed that the EU had allowed its economy to suffer. He said that needed to be remedied, and he held out the example of Margaret Thatcher who had turned around a sick economy. He said many member states in Europe today needed leaders like her. The Commissioner said he hoped they got them before long.

Times Online

By David Sharrock
19 December 2005

Why was a ‘British asset’ in Republican ranks unmasked – and are more revelations imminent?
PRESSURE was growing on Tony Blair last night to make a public statement on the confession by a senior Irish republican that he had spied on the IRA and Sinn Fein for the past 20 years.

Denis Donaldson, who is believed to be in hiding in the Irish Republic with his family, has lifted a corner of a lid that until now has been kept tightly in place on the shadowy underworld of Northern Ireland’s intelligence wars. While the Provisional movement, led by Gerry Adams, has the most to lose from the affair, the Government will regret the unmasking of one of its best placed “assets” deep within the republican leadership.

So far the Stormontgate affair has thrown up more questions than answers. How did Donaldson manage to stay so high in the republican leadership for so long without being discovered? How and why was he unmasked now? And who has the most to gain from his exposure? Just over a week ago Donaldson was basking in the republican limelight after the case against him and two others collapsed, with Sinn Fein insisting this was proof that the IRA spy ring at Stormont never existed and the Government claiming the opposite. Yesterday all of Northern Ireland’s political parties — with the notable exception of Sinn Fein — were calling for Mr Blair to give an explanation for the highly unusual events of the past ten days.

Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader, will meet Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, today to urge him to curb what he claimed yesterday were “dissident elements within the British system” undermining the peace process.

Mr Hain denied the charge but admitted that the affair had been “a turbulent event”. He said: “Something like 1,000 documents were stolen from the Northern Ireland Office. They disappeared. They were stolen.”

Alex Attwood, of the nationalist SDLP, said: “Elements in the British system and Provisional movement are partners in a dirty peace. They spy on each other and they cover up for each other.”

Nigel Dodds, the Democratic Unionist MP, said that Mr Blair had to state what he knew. The North Belfast MP said: “The DUP will be pursuing this matter in the Commons this week.”

Stories circulated feverishly over the weekend that another top Provisional was about to be revealed as a British agent.

But it would be a far greater surprise if it was discovered that the intelligence services had not managed to infiltrate any more agents.

The IRA is riddled with informers and agents because intelligence was king in the battle against the “Long War” conceived by Mr Adams and his “kitchen Cabinet” — which included Donaldson — back in the 1970s. But the most intriguing question of all arises out of the nature of the work of agents within an organisation like the IRA. They are there not just to pass information to their MI5 or Special Branch handlers, but also to influence strategy and direction at the highest level.

In 1994 Mr Donaldson told me at his West Belfast home about what appeared to be the key to the emerging “peace strategy” of the Provisionals.

“For too many people the IRA has become the end in itself and no longer the vehicle to achieve the end for which it fights,” he said.

He meant that the “armed struggle” had become an obstacle to reuniting Ireland and ending British sovereignty.

Little wonder, then, that Unionists are so paranoid or that Irish republicans of a greener, more traditional nature see traitors everywhere — up to and including “the Brit agents Adams and McGuinness” themselves.

Newshound

(by Suzanne Breen, Sunday Tribune)

Former Noraid publicity director, Martin Galvin, warned the Sinn Féin ard comhairle about Denis Donaldson’s behaviour around 15 years ago.

Galvin told the Sinn Féin leadership he had “serious doubts” about Donaldson’s judgement and strategy but his concerns were instantly dismissed.

“I was told that Donaldson’s credentials were impeccable, that he was beyond reproach, and that he had the full confidence of the Sinn Féin leadership in Ireland,” Galvin told the Sunday Tribune.

“Donaldson had taken an interest in Irish-America from the late 1980s and was sent over to run the Noraid office in New York. Almost from the moment he got there, he was a negative influence.

“He created trouble, he made bad recommendations about genuine people, he attempted to undermine supporters with traditional republican credentials and he pushed those with reformist politics on the North.”

Galvin said Donaldson had been sent with the “full endorsement” of a senior Sinn Féin leader whom he refused to name. “Given the importance of Irish-America to the British at that time, it was a great posting for Donaldson. He had access to all our strategy documents, to our political contacts, and to details on all the money we raised.

“I began to notice how he tried to push out people who had hardcore politics and would be more likely to ask questions about strategy and even challenge Sinn Féin policy changes.

“He would say these people were no good, and he would push forward those who were far more malleable politically. He tried to undermine a very senior Belfast republican living in New York and also the sister of a dead INLA hunger-striker.”

Unionists have called for a public inquiry into the Donaldson/’Stormontgate’ affair. However, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness yesterday (Saturday) questioned the point of an investigation.

The DUP’s Ian Paisley jnr said there were many questions to answer: “There was outrage when Brian Nelson’s activities as a British agent in the UDA were uncovered.

“It was claimed by nationalists that through him, the security services decided that certain people lived and others died. We need to be told what information Denis Donaldson provided about IRA activities and what decisions were made on the basis of that information.

“We have had too much secrecy, it’s time for transparency.” Ex-Republican Sinn Féin vice-president, Des Long, who is also a former Sinn Féin ard comhairle member, said he wasn’t surprised by the disclosure about Denis Donaldson.

He claimed the Belfast IRA leadership was told Sean O’Callaghan was an informer four years before it was publicly disclosed, but O’Callaghan remained in place. “Denis Donaldson is only the tip of the iceberg,” Long claimed.

It is widely believed in security and unionist political circles that Donaldson was sacrificed by his British handlers to protect a more important mole who is both a senior Sinn Féin and IRA figure.

December 19, 2005
________________

This article appeared in the December 18, 2005 edition of the Sunday Tribune.

Irelandclick.com

Sister calls for closure on murder

By Evan Short

The sister of a man who was beaten to death six years ago has slammed the PSNI for their handling of the case on the anniversary of the brutal attack.

Michael McParland was found dead on his bed on December 18, 1999, after having been hit with a blunt object on the back of his head.

The killer or killers had also set fire to the house to try and cover their tracks but a family friend broke the door down and retrieved the body.

Michael’s sister Eileen Ainslie, who has campaigned tirelessly to bring the killers of Michael to justice, said that after some initial interest in her brother’s case, both the RUC and PSNI stopped contacting her.

She believes that because Michael had had problems with alcohol, the PSNI do not see his death as a priority.

“Michael wasn’t a nice person with drink in him but he didn’t deserve to be murdered.

“I know he wasn’t Mr Perfect but I still don’t think that just because of that it should be swept under the carpet.”

From the beginning of the investigation Eileen says she received very little support.

“The police were investigating the murder and there was one particular policeman that did keep in contact with me but then he retired, and after that the investigation died a death.

“Coming up to Michael’s first anniversary I was very frustrated because it felt like any time I contacted the police or heard something, or gave them any information it wasn’t acted on.

“The Andersonstown News then ran a story and within a few days the police were in touch with me saying they were going to do a house-to-house enquiry and a leaflet drop. I felt they only did this because I had gone to the Andersonstown News. The publicity spurred them into doing something but if I hadn’t have approached the paper they wouldn’t have done anything.”

Just when it seemed like Eileen was making progress things once again ground to a halt.

“I thought something would have come of this but every time I would ring them the attitude seemed to be that because Michael was an alcoholic, the case wasn’t as important.

“Whenever I ring up they say the people who have information are alcoholics and they can’t get anything out of them, but I told them that just because someone has a drink problem, it does not mean they are stupid.

“The other thing is sometimes these guys go into detox and that is maybe the time to question them.

“I knew that a particular fella who knows something was in the hospital and when I found out he had been in three weeks and was sober I rang the police and I told them where he was and it would be a good time to ask questions.

“They waited for a fortnight before the went to interview him and by that time he was back home.”

Disheartened by the lack of interest, Eileen stopped phoning the PSNI on a regular basis but coming up to the sixth anniversary she again decided to see if they had progressed any further with their investigations. The response she got she says is typical of the PSNI handling of the case.

“I rang the police a few weeks back to be told the police investigator who was dealing with my case had left the job.

“I was shocked and asked them if that meant my brother’s murder case was closed and the policeman on the phone said he was not saying that, but asked me to give him the details and he would be back in the next week.

“That was six weeks ago and I have heard nothing and, to be honest, I haven’t phoned back because I am just disgusted.”

A PSNI spokesperson declined to comment.

Irelandclick.com

Sinn Féin Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness says that his party will not lie down in the face of continuing attempts by the enemies of republicanism to undermine the peace process.

In a wide-ranging response to the revelation that a veteran party member, Aitnamona man Denis Donaldson, had been working for the British as a spy for 20 years, the senior Sinn Féin figure said his party would learn the lessons, face the disappointment and work on.

“This isn’t the first time a Brit agent has been uncovered and just like in the other situations we have had to deal with over the years, we pick ourselves up and we obviously learn the lessons and face the disappointment of what has happened over the last while.

“We have huge responsibilities and we have to go on and we intend to go on. The Sinn Féin leadership is not going to lie down.”

SF come out fighting
Policing spotlight is now on the British: McGuinness

Sinn Féin Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness has come out fighting after the party was rocked by the revelation that its head of administration, West Belfast man Denis Donaldson, has been working for the British for 20 years.

Mr McGuinness said that while republicans were disappointed, it was always the case that their enemies have been working diligently to undermine them.

“Republicans are obviously very disappointed that someone like Denis Donaldson would effectively betray his community and betray republicanism in the way that he did,” Mr McGuinness said last night. “I am around the struggle long enough to know that you always have to work on the basis that opponents of the process will continue to beaver away to undermine those who are spearheading the struggle to bring about fundamental change in our society.

“I am also around long enough to know that the vast majority of republicans are good and decent people who under no circumstances would choose to go down the road that Denis Donaldson chose.

“So I am conscious that opponents of the process – and of course there are journalists also who are opponents of the process and we can see some of their contribution over the course of the last couple of days – will continuously try to undermine those of us who work for change within our society.

“This isn’t the first time a Brit agent has been uncovered and just like in the other situations we have had to deal with over the years, we pick ourselves up and we obviously learn the lessons and face the disappointment of what has happened over the last while. We have huge responsibilities and we have to go on and we intend to go on. The Sinn Féin leadership is not going to lie down.”

Mr McGuinness said that the party faces a battle to ensure that those who are working to bring the peace process to a halt are defeated.

“It’s whether or not we are going to let those people succeed and whether or not we are going to continue with a process that is designed to defeat them and defeat their opposition to change and I am convinced we are going to defeat them. I think that flowing from all of this are a number of situations.

“The British establishment and British Prime Minister in particular have huge questions to answer about the activities of these people and whether or not they are going to bring the activities of these people to a halt. And that’s a big challenge, particularly at a time we have seen all of the different pressures being applied to Sinn Féin in terms of the issue of policing in recent times. Thank God we didn’t kneejerk like the SDLP did and jump on to the Policing Board. I think they are in a particularly difficult situation, a situation of their own making now.

“But I certainly think that it is quite clear that many questions have to be answered and I am clearly of a view that the British government have to answer many serious questions about this process and the activities of elements within their intelligence services that are hostile to the process and how they are going to be countered.

“Others too are going to have to answer questions about the fact that these intelligence services are effectively trying to run rings around the entire peace process and all of the key players within that process. For example, I listen to Alex Attwood in the aftermath of people in the Short Strand being told that their names were on a list stolen out of Castlereagh by a member of the RIR and handed to loyalist paramilitaries. And I hear Alex Atwood saying he is going to get to the bottom of that. I would very interested to hear the outcome of Alex’s deliberations and as a key member of the Policing Board, I will be very interested to see how he intends to deal with that and get answers to these types of questions. That’s quite apart from the Stormont affair which many people are now asking very serious questions about – what are these intelligence services, so-called, and Special Branch actually doing vis-à-vis the peace process?”

Turning to widespread weekend reports that other high-placed Sinn Féin agents may be uncovered soon, Mr McGuinness said that it was strange that Sinn Féin had fared so well politically and electorally if it was, as is being claimed, riddled with informers at the highest level.

“You would be very foolish to ignore the possibility that the Brits have got other agents working right through the entire process. I have always worked on the basis that they are trying to recruit people all the time but I do know that within republicanism, for every informer or agent that turned up over the years, there are thousands and thousands of people who aren’t and thousands and thousands of people who would never contemplate putting themselves into the type of situation that Denis Donaldson got himself into.

“So from our perspective, what is important to say is that if the British had infiltrated the leadership of republicanism then republicanism wouldn’t be as strong as it is today. Republicanism would have been defeated an awful long time ago and I think that clearly shows that these people haven’t got the level of infiltration that they would like to have within the leadership of Sinn Féin and generally throughout the organisation.

“The simple message for everyone is very clear. There are hostile forces within the PSNI and others who were probably members of the PSNI and the RUC who are still very close to the PSNI. The sort of people who make speeches at the type of dinner organised by Ian Paisley Jnr in Ballymena who are absolutely dedicated to the destruction of the peace process and the GFA because they believe that if they can destroy that they can set back the day when citizens have equality, rights, justice, freedom and peace.”
Mr McGuinness said that events of recent days have turned the spotlight back on to the British in relation to the question of policing.

“It’s a very simple scenario, which the British have to deliver on. They have to face the type of challenges that we have had to face and give answers to them in the same fashion we have had to in recent times.

The entire debate around policing in recent times has centred on the efforts that have been made by the British government supported by others to put pressure on Sinn Féin in terms of Sinn Féin delivering on policing. It will be quite clear to most people, it’s certainly very clear to us in Sinn Féin as a result of the debates and discussion that we have had with the British government and the need for example of the transfer of power, particularly as a result of the events of recent days – the people who now have to deliver on policing are the British government.”

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irish Examiner

19 December 2005
By Harry McGee, Political Editor

TÁNAISTE Mary Harney yesterday accepted that Justice Minister Michael McDowell would be in a difficult position if his allegations about Frank Connolly were unfounded.
And Ms Harney also accepted that her Progressive Democrats colleague did not confide in her before leaking documentation about a false passport application to the Irish Independent.

However, in a strong defence of Mr McDowell on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics, Ms Harney said he had been fully justified in the manner he released the information, given the “exceptional circumstances” of the allegations and of Mr Connolly’s position as the head of the Centre for Public Inquiry.

And the Tánaiste went further than Mr McDowell by making more serious allegations against the former journalist.

“Mr Connolly was involved as CEO of an organisation that was going to inquire into matters (of public interest) and at the same time that individual was in Colombia training FARC in technology know-how that had been acquired by the IRA,” she alleged.

Presenter Sean O’Rourke challenged this allegation saying there was no evidence to back it up.

In response, Ms Harney said that Mr Connolly had had an opportunity since 2002 to say where he was in April 2001, the period where it is claimed by Mr McDowell he travelled to Colombia using a false passport. Mr Connolly has refused to state publicly where he was during that month.

Pressed by O’Rourke on whether or not she would sack Mr McDowell if his allegations turned out to be groundless, Ms Harney accepted that if that were the case, it would pose difficulties for the Minister.

Irish Independent

Four of the five young Irish pianists selected to take part in one of the world’s most prestigious music events hail from the North with only one coming from the Republic.

The AXA Dublin International Piano Competition is ranked as one of the top five competitions in the world for talented emerging musicians.

Peter Tuite from Malahide in Dublin, a former student at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and now studying at Johns Hopkins University in the US, was the only entrant from the south selected at the Irish qualifying round at the weekend.

Derry natives Cathal Breslin (27) and Ruth McGinley (29) and Belfast musicians David McNulty (26) and Michael McHale (22) were also chosen to compete.

They will be joined by 40 other pianists from around the world ar the competition in Dublin next May.

TOM BURKE

Irish Independent

Brian Dowling
19 December 2005

PRESSURE is growing on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to make a public statement about the senior republican who says was an MI5 spy for 20 years.

Denis Donaldson is believed to be in hiding with his family in the Republic.

His former party leader, Gerry Adams, will meet Northern Secretary Peter Hain today and will urge him to curb “dissident elements within the British system” undermining the peace process. Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern will also meet Mr Hain today.

With intense speculation in the North that a second British spy, occupying an even more sensitive role in Sinn Fein, may be unmasked, Mr Ahern will be anxious to get an assessment from the Northern Secretary.

The Foreign Minister initially had hoped the meeting would be focused on advancing the political process next year.

There are growing demands in the North for a public inquiry into the Stormontgate affair that started in 2002 with claims of an IRA spy ring and sensationally resulted in the exposure of Mr Donaldson as a spy.

Mr Donaldson was the head of administration for Sinn Fein at Stormont and was one of three charged on spying related offences only to see the case dropped by the North’s DPP two weeks ago.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has described the latest turn of events as “bizarre” and said he finds it hard to understand what exactly is going on.

The Taoiseach said he wants to listen to what both the British government and Sinn Fein have to say about the sensational statement made by Mr Donaldson.

It is unclear what impact the dramatic events will have on the efforts to restore a power-sharing executive involving Sinn Fein and the DUP.

Mr Hain said the DUP was accusing him of a state cover-up to protect Sinn Fein while that party was accusing the state of engaging some kind of conspiracy.

“Neither event is true, both can’t be right, both are actually wrong,” he told a television interviewer yesterday.