SAOIRSE32

BBC

The power-sharing executive has been suspended since 2002

The NI secretary has been criticised for saying MLAs’ payments may be stopped if no progress is made towards restoring devolution by the summer.

Peter Hain said he may halt salaries and allowances if there is no movement.

Alliance leader David Ford said it was a “cheap shot” whilst SDLP leader Mark Durkan called it a “flaky threat”.

Ian Paisley Jnr, DUP, said unionists had “no appetite” to share power with republicans. Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams said the suspension was “not tenable”.

Last month, Mr Hain said real movement was needed if assembly elections due in 2007 “are to have any meaning”.

However, in an interview for BBC Radio Ulster’s Inside Politics programme on Saturday, he said he may go even further.

Mr Hain said assembly members were getting “£32,000 salaries… to do a job which they won’t take responsibility for doing”.

“I’m not giving a particular month, but I am saying that if we haven’t seen progress by the summer, the first decision I’m going to have to make is over continued payment of salaries and also allowances,” he said.

Mr Hain said assembly members must take responsibility

David Ford refuted the criticism saying: “For the secretary of state to talk about MLAs ‘refusing’ to do the job for which they were elected is blatantly untrue.

“Alliance MLAs work to represent their constituents. We have attended every meeting to which ministers have invited us - and many more have been requested.

“We have put forward constructive and positive suggestions for getting the assembly up and running.”

Mr Durkan said: “The SDLP don’t need threats, lectures or hectoring from Peter Hain or anybody else.

“A clear sense of purpose and direction from the two governments would go a lot further than flaky threats from the secretary of state.

“The two governments should be putting it up to all the parties that the institutions will be restored, and parties will than have the opportunity and responsibility to show what they are up for.”

Ian Paisley, jnr, said his party had put a number of proposals to the government to advance political development.

‘Mothballs’

“There is no appetite within the unionist community for a power-sharing executive with Sinn Fein and the DUP,” he said.

“Lets face the reality, Sinn Fein are not ready for democracy because they have proved themselves to eschew every democratic principle in the book.”

Gerry Adams said his party had worked with both governments to try to get the political institutions revived.

“You can’t have political institutions voted for by people on both states in this island being kept indefinitely in mothballs,” he said.

“It is just not tenable that you have three years of suspension of what almost amounts to a farce. Either we have working institutions or we don’t.”

Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive collapsed in October 2002 following the arrests of three men over “Stormontgate”.

In December 2003, the House of Lords agreed that assembly members would continue to receive a reduced salary of £31,817 a year as they had “representative” duties and constituency offices to run.

Daily Ireland

A decision by an Ulster Defence Association unit to stop demanding protection money from building contractors has led to renewed fears of a split within the organisation.
After meeting with local churchmen, UDA members in the loyalist Tigers Bay area of north Belfast have agreed to stop extorting money from construction firms.
The move came after builders refused to work in the deprived area, which is in the midst of a housing crisis.
Although welcomed by locals, the decision has infuriated the leadership of the north Belfast UDA, which is based in the Westland and Ballysillan areas.
Units from these estates are refusing to sign up to the non-extortion pact, prompting fears of a split with their Tiger’s Bay colleagues.
A senior loyalist source told Daily Ireland that the Westland and Ballysillan UDA were angry at the actions of the Tigers Bay unit.
The paramilitary said: “There is a lot of ill-feeling, the UDA in Ballysillan and the Westland feels Tigers Bay has gone out on a limb.
“But the Tigers Bay crowd has the support of the local community and because of this they are being allowed to go ahead, although the rivalry and anger remains.”
A spokesman for the Loyalist Commission said the non-extortion pact agreed by the Tigers Bay UDA was being mirrored in other parts of Belfast.
“There are other loyalist estates around the city where this is being copied,” he said.
“The UDA realises extortion just isn’t on any longer. Hopefully this will lead to the regeneration of Tigers Bay, one of the most socially and economically deprived areas in Northern Ireland.”
The UDA’s current north Belfast boss, Andre Shoukri, and his second-in-command, William John Boreland, are both currently behind bars facing extortion charges. Shoukri, from the Westland, and Boreland, who is from Ballysillan, have previous convictions for extortion.

Daily Ireland

By Connla Young

The PSNI has refused to support an application for compensation made by a victim of loyalist intimidation, it has emerged.
Co Antrim man Tommy O’Hara says that he has received no compensation for damage caused to his vehicle after he was stopped at an illegal loyalist road block in 2003. Controversy erupted last year after three men involved in the incident received a slap on the wrist from the courts for their part in the incident.
John McDonald (28) his brother Gary McDonald (22) and Stephen Maternaghan (23) all from Innishrush Road, Portglenone, Co Antrim, each received a suspended sentence in October 2005 after they admitted using a deactivated AK47 at a roadblock on the Twelfth of July 2003.
During the incident Mr O’Hara was stopped at the illegal check point and had a gun pointed at his head. The Co Antrim man says his vehicle was damaged during the incident which has left him traumatised. A car belonging to Mr O’Hara’s son, Tommy Junior, was also damaged at the road block when he drove through it minutes before his father.
The loyalist trio later claimed they were protecting an Orange arch in the Innishrush which had previously been damaged in an arson attack. Earlier this week it emerged that the Court of Appeal will reconsider the lenient sentences handed down to the three loyalists next week.
In a letter sent by the PSNI to Mr O’Hara’s legal representatives the PSNI said: “The Chief Constable is not of the opinion that the act to which you refer was committed maliciously by a person acting on behalf of, or in conjunction with an unlawful association, within the meaning of the Criminal Injuries (Northern Ireland) Order, 1988.”
The victim of the attack says he is disappointed that the PSNI do not view the incident as malicious.
“I haven’t been compensated for the damage caused to my van nor the damage caused to my son’s car. They are discussing this issue of a tougher sentence but that is not what concerns me in all this. I expected nothing more from British justice. I have lived here for 40 years and know how things work. I didn’t ask for these people to be given a tougher sentence. As far as I’m concerned the men were found guilty, sentenced and the matter was closed. Sean Farren raised it again by demanding tougher sentencing, but he never called me, the victim of the attack, to see what I thought.
“Two and a half years later I am still waiting on compensation but the PSNI won’t issue a certificate.”

Daily Ireland

**Via Newshound

Connla Young
6 December 2006

The death of former British secretary of state Merlyn Rees in London yesterday draws yet another line under one of the most turbulent periods in the North’s recent history.
Appointed as secretary of state in 1974 Rees’ hardline approach in dealing with the conflict led to great hardship in nationalist and republican areas as the British employed a three-pronged strategy of criminalisation, normalisation and Ulsterisation.
The attempt to criminalise republicans eventually led to two republican hunger strikes and the deaths of ten men in 1981.
Mr Rees oversaw affairs at Stormont in 1974 when loyalists were allowed to wreck the Sunningdale powersharing deal through the use and threat of mass violence during the Ulster Workers Strike. Rees’ capitulation led the SDLP in particular to hold a long-standing grudge against the former British soldier.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the former direct-rule minister would be remembered in Ireland for his poor handling of the political crisis faced at the time.
“While all who dealt with Merlyn Rees record him as being genial and nice, he is not generally remembered as a strong secretary of state. His lack of purpose let the Sunningdale Agreement go. He subsequently failed to assert the basic principles of power-sharing and North-South co-operation. His decisions in the security field sowed the seeds of later problems.
“Neither was his record as home secretary a distinguished one when it came to miscarriages of justice cases – such as the Guildford Four, Guiseppe Conlon and the Birmingham Six – and was even neglectful in political relations with the Irish government. I recognise that he was well regarded in the Labour party and British politics for his other political contributions and his gracious manner.”
Unionists in the North have fonder memories of the Welsh-born politician. Former UUP MP John Taylor described Rees as “balanced”.
“Merlyn Rees saw the right on both sides of the debate in Northern Ireland. Above all he had a tremendous love for Northern Ireland which he continued right through the years of his retirement in the House of Lords.
The DUP’s Peter Robinson offered his condolences to the dead politician’s family.
“Our thoughts are very much with his family circle at this time. Even after Merlyn Rees left his post in Northern Ireland he continued to keep an interest in the affairs of the province and would frequently while in the Lords come to the gallery to listen to Northern Ireland debates.”
Current direct-rule secretary of state Peter Hain said his predecessor worked “tirelessly” on behalf of people in the North.
“He was a proud Welshman and a hugely respected parliamentarian for over 40 years both in the House of Commons and the Lords. As secretary of state for Northern Ireland, he worked tirelessly to try to take Northern Ireland forward at a particularly difficult time in its history.”
After leaving the North in 1976, Rees returned to London to become home secretary. In 1992 he was made a life peer and changed his name by deed poll so he could be known as Lord Merlyn-Rees.
The 85-year-old died at St Thomas’ Hospital in Lambeth yesterday.

Belfast Telegraph

Senior broadcasters are Provo moles: Ulster peer

By Ashleigh Wallace
awallace@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
07 January 2006

RTE last night hit back at claims by an Ulster politician that the Republic’s broadcaster was full of IRA sympathisers.

Lord Laird used parliamentary privilege in the House of Lords to make the allegations that two senior officials at the national broadcaster had what he described as “extreme republican” backgrounds.

The UUP peer claimed that “very senior officials” in RTE were IRA moles yet failed to make an official complaint against the station despite his public allegations.

But RTE said last night: “We cannot think who he could be referring to.”

Alleging infiltration of the southern media by IRA and Sinn Fein, Lord Laird singled out the station for criticism.

“That much of the media is now infiltrated and influenced by Sinn Fein/IRA can be seen in the highly negative reaction in sections of the southern media, in particular the State broadcaster RTE, against the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, when he outed and denounced Frank Connolly…,” Lord Laird said during a debate on the new anti-terrorism law for Northern Ireland.

“It is not a coincidence that instead of being lauded for his actions, the Minister for Justice of the Irish Republic found himself the subject of a campaign of vilification in the Irish media. The worst example of biased coverage has been that of RTE.

“In view of the past two weeks, perhaps it is time that two very senior RTE officials explained their extreme republican backgrounds,” he added.

Last night, the Ulster Unionist peer remained unrepentant about the comments.

And he vowed to name the men “at the earliest opportunity.”

He said: “Questions have to be asked about why RTE consistently takes a Sinn Fein/IRA attitude in their views and in particular about Michael McDowell.

“I’ve got to wait for an opportunity but I will name them in the House of Lords and I will talk about their backgrounds the first chance I get.”

When asked about RTE’s denials about the allegations, Lord Laird replied: “Well they would say that, wouldn’t they?”

BreakingNews.ie

07/01/2006 - 12:02:46

Salaries paid to MLAs may be cut off unless progress is made towards restoring devolution by the summer, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said today.

Peter Hain said he may take the move to stop salaries and allowances if no real movement is made towards returning the Stormont Assembly.

The Northern Ireland Secretary said MLAs were getting £32,000 (€46,700) salaries for a job which they will not take responsibility for doing.

“I’m not giving a particular month, but I am saying that if we haven’t seen progress by the summer, the first decision I’m going to have to take is over continued payment of salaries and also allowances,” Mr Hain told BBC Radio Ulster’s Inside Politics programme.

“You have got more being paid in costs, in legitimate costs for staff, for the services they provide, for travel and subsistence and all the rest of it, as well £32,000 (€46,700) salaries for assembly members elected to a job which they won’t take responsibility for doing.”

In his New Year’s message, Mr Hain had warned there would be little point in having elections to an Assembly in 2007 if there was no meaningful devolution. He said unionists needed to know republicans were serious about their commitments to totally lawful means.

But he also acknowledged that nationalists wanted to know unionists were serious about sharing power on a genuinely equitable basis.

The Irish and British governments’ bid to revive devolution has been complicated in recent weeks by the dramatic collapse of a spying case against three men accused of intelligence gathering for republicans at Stormont in 2002 and the revelation that one of them, Sinn Féin official Denis Donaldson, was working as an agent for the British intelligence services within the party.

After the power-sharing executive collapsed in October 2002, the House of Lords agreed Assembly members would continue to receive a reduced salary of almost £32,000 (€46,700) as they held representative duties.

BBC

An alleged loyalist paramilitary has appeared in court on charges linked to money laundering.

Lawrence Kincaid, 33, from Cogry Hill in Doagh, is charged with 34 offences between August 2003 and August 2005.

He denies 24 charges of entering into an arrangement to acquire criminal property and seven of obtaining services by deception.

He faces two counts of perverting the course of justice and one of obtaining money by deception. Bail was granted.

It is alleged that the accused used laundered criminal proceeds to buy a property at Cogry Hill, a diamond ring, motorbikes and cars, laptop computers and a holiday in the Maldives.

A detective told Belfast Magistrates Court he believed he could connect Mr Kincaid to the charges.

False accounting

He said he was objecting to bail because he believed Kincaid was “a member of a loyalist paramilitary organisation” and there was the potential for witness interference.

However, under cross-examination from the accused’s solicitor, the detective conceded that Mr Kincaid had “given explanations” for having the money and the transactions and had also given an affidavit regarding items seized from him.

Resident Magistrate Ken Nixon released Mr Kincaid on his own bail of £5,000, with one surety of £5,000 and ordered him to surrender his passport and to sign at Ballyclare Police Station three times per week.

The accused is due to appear in court again on 3 February.

The charges are understood to follow a probe by the PSNI’s Financial Investigation Unit.

Six other men are to appear at the same court on Tuesday charged with money laundering and false accounting.