SAOIRSE32

Daily Ireland

Peter Robinson says British must explain lack of movement over Stormont chef

16/01/2006

The British government was yesterday challenged to explain a three-and-a-half-year delay in seeking the extradition of a man caught up in the 2002 Stormontgate alleged spying scandal.
Democratic Unionist Party MP Peter Robinson pledged to confront attorney general Lord Goldsmith about Larry Zaitschek, a former chef at Special Branch headquarters in Belfast.
A police file recommending that the US citizen be taken back to the North was sent to the prosecution services within six months but no decision has yet been taken.
Legal sources close to the authorities studying the papers have said it will be months, rather than weeks, before there is any movement.
Mr Robinson said he was astonished at the apparent torpor over a case in which the code names of scores of Special Branch detectives and details on their informers were allegedly seized in March 2002 by the IRA, as well as the case’s direct link to the collapse of the power-sharing executive.
The British government has come under pressure to reveal why espionage charges were dropped against Denis Donaldson, the Sinn Féin official turned British agent.
The DUP deputy leader said the protection of informers could be at issue.
“The police obviously thought they had sufficient evidence to warrant prosecution and passed it to the prosecution service. It’s unconscionable that they should be sitting on such an important case for such a long period of time without offering the least explanation for this feet dragging.
“It’s either wrapped up with consideration of extradition issues or it’s wrapped up in some of the evidence from sources they did not want to identify.
“I will be putting questions to ask if the attorney general has been consulted on this.”
Mr Zaitschek, now 38, was publicly identified as a suspect in the St Patrick’s Day break-in at the Castlereagh security base.
He has emphatically denied any involvement in the raid, stressing that he fully co-operated with the police investigation before returning to New York.
The chef was in the gym at Castlereagh on the night of the raid.
He is an acquaintance of Mr Donaldson, unmasked last month as a paid police and MI5 mole. Mr Zaitschek has denied any substantial association with Mr Donaldson.
Mr Donaldson was one of three men accused of intelligence gathering following a police surveillance operation codenamed Torsion, launched after the Castlereagh security breach.
The three were arrested and charged by detectives who carried out high-profile searches at the Sinn Féin offices at Stormont.
The raid provoked uproar and brought down the devolved administration in Belfast, with unionists refusing to sit in a coalition cabinet alongside republicans.
The case against Mr Donaldson and his co-accused was dropped when the authorities announced in December that prosecution would not be in the public interest.
Within days, Mr Donaldson had confessed to a 20-year career as an informer.
His links to Mr Zaitschek remain under scrutiny. With the political storm over Stormontgate showing no sign of relenting, the prosecution service faces pressure to make a decision.
Kevin Winters, the New Yorker’s solicitor, has written to the Public Prosecution Service demanding to know whether it was still seeking Mr Zaitschek’s extradition.
Mr Winters also expressed concern over his client’s legal fight to gain access to his son Pearse, whom he has not seen for nearly four years.
The lawyer said his client would face arrest if he were to return to the North of Ireland.
“At its most charitable, the child is being used as a pawn in a wider political process. In terms of getting a response about what’s happening, this case is unusual,” Mr Winters said.
A senior Public Prosecution Service lawyer is still assessing the file on Mr Zaitschek before making a decision if the New Yorker should be prosecuted and his extradition sought.
Sir Alasdair Fraser, the director of public prosecutions in the North, would also have to agree.
A Public Prosecution Service spokesman yesterday declined to comment on the case.

SiberNews

SiberNews Media Team
Monday, 16 January 2006

Mr Martin McGuinness, Chief Negotiator of Sinn Fein, the Political Wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) from Northern Ireland will be visiting Sri Lanka from 17th to 19th January, a press release from Initiative for Political Transformation (INPAC) an NGO based in Colombo issued Monday said.

Mr McGuinness is expected to meet leaders of political parties to share his experiences and “communicate his understanding of the issues affecting political, conflict, peace processes within the country [Sri Lanka],” the release added.

Full text of the release follows:
Mr Martin McGuinness, Chief Negotiator of Sinn Féin is visiting Sri Lanka from the 17th to the 19th of January 2006 on an invitation extended by inpact.

During his short visit Mr McGuinness will meet with leaders and members of various political parties and groups. While sharing his own experiences as a negotiator in Northern Ireland he will also communicate his understanding of the issues affecting political/conflict/peace processes within the country.

Since been elected to the Executive of Sinn Féin, Martin McGuinness has played a major role in promoting and supporting the strategy of the current peace process in Northern Ireland. He was a leading representative in the 1972 talks with the then British Secretary of State, William Whitelaw, in London. He led the party’s delegation which, following the IRA cessation (of armed action) of 31st. August 1994, met with the British Minister, Michael Ancram, on several occasions. Prior to that he represented Sinn Féin in protracted secret contact and negotiations with representatives of the British government from 1990 until 1993.

In 1997 he was elected Member of Parliament for the Mid-Ulster constituency and reelected again in 2001. In 1998 he was elected to the Assembly for the same constituency. He became Minister for Education in the new Northern Ireland Assembly in November 1999 and was widely acclaimed for his work.

Irish Examiner

A Dublin Sinn Féin member who was jailed for four years for IRA membership and who was freed on bail last month pending an appeal went back to prison voluntarily today.

Niall Binead’s solicitor Mr Robert Purcell applied to the Court of Criminal Appeal to have Binead’s bail revoked and said that he wanted to surrender himself to Portlaoise Prison this afternoon. Mr George Birmingham SC for the DPP said he had no objection.

Last month the Court of Criminal Appeal freed Niall Binead on his own bond of €1,000 and two independent sureties of €10,000 each. It also ordered him to sign on twice a week at Crumlin garda station, to surrender his passport and not to associate with anyone convicted of a scheduled offence.

Binead (aged 36), of Faughart Road, Crumlin was jailed for four years by the non-jury Special Criminal Court last year after he was convicted of membership of an illegal organisation on October 10, 2002. His co-accused, Kenneth Donohoe (aged 27), of Sundale Ave, Mountain View, Tallaght was freed on bail by the Court of Criminal Appeal last November

During the trial of the two men, the court heard that gardaí found a list of the names of TDs - including three former Justice Ministers - at Binead’s home. Binead is a former secretary of a south Dublin Sinn Féin cumann and was a close associate of Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South Central Aengus O’Snodaigh.

The Court of Criminal Appeal adjourned an appeal by the two men against their convictions in November after hearing that a separate case to be brought to the Supreme Court will lead to a determination on legal issues which are similar to issues raised in their appeal.

The challenge before the Supreme Court in the other case is against the current practice whereby the defence is unable to challenge through cross examination the basis of a Garda Chief Superintendent’s belief that someone is a member of an illegal organisation.

The Supreme Court has allowed an appeal on whether the right to a fair trial under Article 38 of the Constitution has been infringed by not allowing the defence to challenge the basis of the Chief Superintendent’s belief. The Supreme Court is expected to hear the appeal early this year.

RTÉ

**See >>original story. I think RTÉ has the date of the theft wrong.

16 January 2006 17:05

Four donkeys which were taken from a farm in Co Armagh last November have been found in Co Limerick.

The donkeys mysteriously disappeared from a farm at Tandragee in Co Armagh on the night of 29 November.

Their owner, Jennifer Clint, issued a nationwide appeal in the media both in Ireland and the UK for their safe return.

However, there was no sign of the donkeys for seven weeks until today when gardaí located them in a field outside Rathkeale.

Local people alerted them that donkeys had been seen grazing in the area along with 30 horses.

Ms Clint, who travelled from Armagh to identify them, said they were underweight and traumatised but otherwise well.

She said it is absolutely unbelievable to have them back, adding that people had been so good during the search. She is now making arrangements to bring them home.

Gardaí say they are carrying out a number of inquiries to establish the animals’ movements and how they ended up in Rathkeale.

A file on the matter is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

BBC

Ian Paisley is to outline plans to restore devolution to Tony Blair

The DUP is to table a paper proposing a return to devolution in NI which stops short of a power-sharing executive involving Sinn Fein.

At a news conference at Stormont, Ian Paisley said the 16-page document entitled “facing reality” would lead to the return of local decision-making.

The proposals will be presented to Prime Minister Tony Blair next week.

Mr Paisley said there was “no prospect of an executive involving the IRA” in the near future.

He also said it was “up to the IRA” to clear the passage and embrace democracy.

Mr Paisley refused to give a time-frame as to when his party would be willing to share power with Sinn Fein and would not give any details of what his party’s proposals contained.

However, it is believed that one option being suggested is to give the assembly a role in passing legislation.

The DUP leader said his proposals “allowed for further building blocks once the foundations were firmly set for stable government”.

“Devolution is still the best way forward and we will be striving to see progress made in the year ahead,” Mr Paisley said.

“However in our view, reflective of the unionist community, there is no prospect of an executive including Sinn Fein/IRA for the foreseeable future.

“In keeping with our manifesto commitment the DUP will not countenance an executive in Northern Ireland that is inclusive of those who are not committed to exclusively peaceful and democratic means.”

Agreement

However, Sinn Fein’s Pat Doherty said the British and Irish governments had to make clear that the only way forward was through the Good Friday Agreement.

“They have an obligation to stand by the agreement and its power-sharing core. This includes the power-sharing executive,” Mr Doherty said.

“The DUP cannot be allowed to continue to block forward movement towards the re-establishment of the political institutions.”

Meanwhile, SDLP leader Mark Durkan has said the government should set a date for restoring devolution.

“The one way to cut through all that posture and posing and all that messing is for the governments to say there is a date in which the institutions are going to be restored come what may,” Mr Durkan said.

Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey has also called for a date to be set for the reopening of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

He said the body could be given six weeks to agree a form of devolution.

The party sees the assembly’s recall as a short-term measure while confidence and trust is built for a return to fully-fledged power-sharing.

Irelandclick

Click to view - photo from Leafpile

I had an interesting conversation with my old pal Liam the other night, who was home from New York for Christmas and the New Year.

We go back a long way, Liam and me, from endless games of football on the sloping green at Buncrana Flats to bruising night-time encounters with British army foot patrols to our first pint in the Hunting Lodge.

Liam said an interesting thing. He said he couldn’t believe how quiet Lenadoon is these days.

And when a few evenings later I drove up to his mother’s house to drop off a few photos I had to agree.

It was early evening but Glenveagh, Carrigart and Rosapenna were silent and still.

It took a guy who’s been away from the estate since he was a young man to remind me of how Lenadoon used to be.

It was a heaving, noisy place, full of wandering gangs of children, one of them with Liam and me among its number.

The streets of Glenveagh, Carrigart and Rosapenna were never silent and still when we were boys.

365 days and nights a year they echoed to the shouts and squeals of countless urchins, the high-pitched voices occasionally counterpointed by the bass protests of men seeking a little peace with their dinner.

Too often the playing of football near homes ended in a kitchen knife being stuck in the precious ball by a fed-up householder.

The only time the street outside my house was quiet was during school hours, otherwise it was a non-stop bouncy castle.

Of course, there are parts of Lenadoon where nightfall and weekend bring not silence and stillness, but chaos and crime – the river facing Woodbourne Barracks, for one; the shops near the black taxi rank for another.

And there are many who won’t walk the streets at night, even if they are silent and still, for fear of what might lie round the corner.

All of which is to say that, the relatively small number of underage drinkers, glue-sniffers and death-drivers notwithstanding, the young people of Lenadoon are spending more time in the house these days than we ever used to. Is that because parents are keeping them in out of fear for their safety, or is it because they prefer to stay in their bedrooms playing computer games and communicating with friends via MSN?

A bit of both, perhaps. I don’t let my children out after a certain time, and when they’re in the house the computer plays a central part in their home entertainment.

It’s precisely the same when I visit the homes of friends and relatives. Not for one second am I suggesting that things are better today, far from it. I do suggest, however, that there has never been a time when young people were not a major source of worry and stress for adults.

And those parents of today who lament the loss of respect and who fondly remember the times when they were growing up should remember that, yes, the children might have picked the ball up and stopped playing when a woman walked past, but the place was full of guns, burnt-out vehicles and families with fathers in jail or in the graveyard.

And yes, my mother and father were not hostile and aggressive when someone called to the door to complain about my behaviour, but polite and solicitous.

But the fact is, my pals and I did plenty to ensure that complaints would be made.

Irelandclick

Click for book cover

Thank you for your recent article about my biography of Bobby Sands, ‘Nothing but an Unfinished Song’. I would, however, like to clarify a misleading aspect of the article.

Part of the article could give the mistaken idea that the Sands family participated in the research for the book. This is not so. I met Marcella Sands when I was beginning my research and she told me that the family did not feel that they could participate because they were writing their own memoirs and it would create a conflict of interest if they also helped me. I respected their decision and on numerous occasions when people asked me, I made it clear that Bobby’s immediate family was not participating.

I did, however, ask Marcella for one small favour that would help me in my research and she consented. I thus mentioned her in a long list of about thirty people who helped me, in many cases in very small ways, in the research of the book. I did this as any author would do, as a simple matter of courtesy and proper acknowledgement. I also tried to extend a hand of friendship and respect to the Sands family, to recognise the enormity of what they endured. If I offended them in any way, I apologise.

I leave it to the readers of the biography to judge the quality of the book. The vast majority of the book takes place in prison, where Bobby Sands spent almost all of his adult life. I was blessed by the participation of nearly all of his closest friends and comrades.

Is mise,

DENIS O’HEARN

Irelandclick

Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly has strongly challenged the British government to ensure that next month’s new legislation on policing in the North is sufficient.
As Sinn Fein’s senior negotiator on policing, Mr Kelly also cautioned republicans to be prepared for “challenges” if the British government fulfils its commitments.
Mr Kelly was addressing over 200 republicans at a special all-Ireland policing and justice conference organised by Sinn Féin in West Belfast on Saturday. A range of experts also spoke at the event.
SDLP policing spokesperson Alex Attwood yesterday accused Sinn Féin of cynically using the issue of policing for “narrow tactical reasons”.
In a wide-ranging speech ahead of his party’s Ard Fheis in four weeks, Gerry Kelly firmly challenged the British government to deliver on its commitments.
Critically, Mr Kelly also said that “the poisoned atmosphere created by political policing” should not make the achievement of a new policing dispensation impossible.
“Since last summer alone, the evidence of political policing has been irrefutable,” Mr Kelly declared.
“This includes the political policing of loyalist marches; the revelations about former RUC members stealing information and thwarting murder investigations; the discovery that files on dozens of republicans including Sinn Féin elected representatives are kept in the PSNI’s Castlereagh barracks; the fact that these files had been passed onto unionist paramilitaries; politically motivated house-raids in Tyrone, Belfast and Down; trumped up charges and media misinformation orchestrated by sections of the PSNI; the high-profile arrest and false accusations against Sinn Féin MLA Francie Brolly; and the PSNI raid on the Casement Park home of the County Antrim GAA.
“Let’s be clear about their agenda. Our political enemies, in the institutions of this state, do not want a Shinner about the place. They don’t want the Good Friday Agreement.
“They don’t want change. They don’t want acceptable policing institutions and practices which would see Sinn Féin in there policing the police: all of this is anathema to our political enemies. This is the objective of political policing: the self-perpetuation of their power and their failures.”
Criticising Sinn Fein’s political opponents for having “accepted too little” and “jumped too soon” in supporting the PSNI, Mr Kelly said they must carry some of the blame.
“In four years on the Policing Board, they have failed to hold the political detectives publicly to account and failed to end collusion and political policing. Instead, SDLP MPs have gone to Westminster and voted to reintroduce 28-day detention orders, taking us back to the days of the old Special Powers Act so opposed by the Civil Rights Movement.
“In the poisoned atmosphere created by political policing which I have just listed, the question is: is it possible to achieve a new policing dispensation? The answer to that is yes.”
Mr Kelly said he was confident that Sinn Féin’s negotiators would secure a new beginning to policing.
“Republicans need to be acutely aware that if and when the Sinn Féin leadership achieves the objectives set in this area then this in turn will present further challenges for all activists. There is a public commitment if we reach that point to then put proposals to our membership and nationalism as a whole.
“While we are not at that point yet, activists need to realise that we can achieve it and with achievement there comes further responsibility,” Mr Kelly said.
Attacking Sinn Féin’s stance, SDLP Assembly member Alex Attwood said that “time is running out” for republicans to sign up to policing.
“Some will say that the comments of Gerry Kelly are more positive. The SDLP and everyone wishes it was so. However, Sinn Féin have said before that they would not be found wanting on policing, yet when the moment of decision came Sinn Féin were found wanting.
“No one says there are still not issues that need continued attention. However the change is unprecedented and unparalleled. The governments must tell Sinn Féin to act now,” Mr Attwood said.

Journalist:: Jarlath Kearney

Newshound

(Irish News)

Pressure last night (Wednesday) mounted on the UDA’s ruling ‘inner council’ to oust its north Belfast ‘brigadier’ Andre Shoukri after revelations that he spent £800,000 in a two-year period, despite having no visible income.

Senior loyalist sources say they expect that the inner council to meet within days to discuss the revelation that a police investigation into Shoukri has uncovered evidence that the 28-year-old gambled away hundreds of thousands of pounds at four bookmakers in north Belfast.

The police investigation is also understood to have evidence that Shoukri, pictured, falsely obtained a £120,000 mortgage for a house in the Ballysillan area of north Belfast and spent tens of thousands of pounds on high performance sports cars and numerous foreign holidays between 2003 and 2005.

A senior UDA source said that the inner council had not yet met to discuss Shoukri’s activities but claimed it was “highly likely” that the organisation’s leadership would be asked to investigate his expensive lifestyle.

“A lot of people are asking how he was allowed to get away with this and what the UDA are going to do about it,” the source said.

“No complaint has been made to the inner council but I would be astonished if it is not asked to launch some kind of investigation.

“The UDA said it would never allow another Jim Gray and if the case is proved against Shoukri the organisation will be forced to move against him.”

Meanwhile, the UDA was last night blamed for a bomb alert at a north Belfast bar at the centre of extortion charges against Shoukri and senior loyalist William ‘Bonzer’ Borland.

The alert was raised at the Old Strathmore Inn, formerly Bonaparte’s Bar, on the upper Cavehill Road in north Belfast shortly after 9am yesterday.

British army bomb disposal experts were called in to deal with a pipe bomb, which had been left in an entry at the side of the bar.

In November Shoukri and Borland were charged with blackmail, money laundering and attempting to extort money from a former Bonaparte’s employee.

Borland is separately charged with intimidating the employee’s partner and demanding that he hand over the keys, books and chequebooks to the bar and possession of a firearm, or imitation firearm, with intent.

January 13, 2006
________________

This article appeared first in the January 12, 2006 edition of the Irish News.

Belfast Telegraph

By Michael McHugh
16 January 2006

Work to dismantle south Armagh’s remaining five watchtowers is making good progress, Sinn Fein said today.

Newry and Armagh Assemblyman Davy Hyland claimed work on dismantling all installations in the border area was “ahead of schedule”.

The news follows reports that the work will be completed as early as May of this year, over one year in advance of the end of the normalisation programme.

The Government has pledged to demolish all non-core military sites, including those in south Armagh, by August 2007. Unionists have greeted the programme with unease but Mr Hyland said he welcomed the swift action.

“There is a rolling program of these towers coming down and I think they have made more progress than they anticipated because favourable weather conditions have helped them,” he said.

“This brings normalisation back to the area and it shows that progress can be made.”

The watchtowers remaining include those on three hilltops at Camlough and Faughill mountains and Crotlieve near Forkhill.

The towers have been in operation since the mid-1980s when Margaret Thatcher ordered their construction to guard against IRA activity in the area.

Progress has been linked to an expected positive report from the Independent Monitoring Commission, which is due to rule soon on the state of the IRA’s ceasefire but the Army has denied any firm timetable.

A spokesman said: “Normalisation will be complete when we are left in Northern Ireland with a normal peacetime garrison, which is due by August 1, 2007.

“Come August 1, 2007, we will have no more than 5,000 military personnel in Northern Ireland in no more than 14 core sites across Northern Ireland.

“These core sites do not include the remaining watchtowers in south Armagh.

“But when those watchtowers come down depends on the continuation of enabling circumstances, particularly the security situation.”

Unionists have viewed the move as compromising security and raised alarm about continued activity by dissident republicans.

Towers at Cloghogue, Creevekeeran and Drumuckvall have already been decommissioned.

Belfast Telegraph

By Chris Thornton
16 January 2006

The Secretary of State Peter Hain has been told to take a pay cut over how much - or how little - time he is spending in Northern Ireland.

New figures showed the double-jobbing Secretary of State has been in the province less than his predecessor, Paul Murphy.

DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson says Mr Hain, who has talked recently about cutting off Assembly members’ pay, should be prepared to take a dose of his own medicine.

“I’m looking for the Secretary of State to adopt the standards that he is expecting others to meet,” the East Belfast MP said.

“Part-time Ministers should get part-time salaries at best.”

But NIO officials say Mr Hain spends time working on Northern Ireland affairs outside the province - and say he wants to be judged on results.

Mr Hain, who is also Welsh Secretary, confirmed to Mr Robinson that he averages ten days a month in the province.

Between taking up his post in May and the end of December - a total of 238 days - Mr Hain spent 80 days in Northern Ireland. He has stayed overnight at Hillsborough Castle 48 times, or six nights a month.

Between May and December 2004, Mr Murphy was in Northern Ireland 96 days, or an average of 12 days a month. There is no public record of how many nights he spent here.

Mr Hain saw little of Northern Ireland in August - spending one day here and no nights. His longest stint came last month, when he spent Christmas at Hillsborough with his family. He was here for 18 days in December, including 13 nights.

Three members of Mr Hain’s Ministerial team have spent more time in Northern Ireland than he has.

Education Minister Angela Smith averages 11 days a month, Political Development Minister David Hanson 10.9, and Lord Rooker weighs in at 10.5 days.

Only Health Minister Shaun Woodward has been in Northern Ireland less often than Mr Hain, averaging 8.4 days a month.

In response to questions about combining two Cabinet jobs, Mr Hain vowed to bring “absolute energy” to his new job when he arrived in May - “even if I have to get less sleep than my predecessors”.

Last week Mr Hain indicated that he can carry out some of his duties outside Northern Ireland.

A Government spokeswoman said: “The Secretary of State and his Ministerial team are happy to be judged on the work that they do.”

Belfast Telegraph

By Michael McHugh
16 January 2006

Moves to end the censure of councillors by finance watchdogs for misconduct in England and Wales should be adopted in Ulster, embattled representatives of a border council claimed today.

Demands for a shake-up came as 17 Sinn Fein and SDLP councillors at Newry and Mourne District Council face hefty fines and being barred from holding public office after denying Protestant victims’ group FAIR the use of a community hall in Newtownhamilton.

Councillors are taking legal action against the Local Government Auditor’s decision to surcharge them over the matter and believe official moves to scrap the system in England and Wales should be replicated here.

Willie Fraser from FAIR argues that changes to the system in the rest of the UK are not suitable for Northern Ireland.

SDLP group leader on the council Michael Carr, who is not being surcharged but is leading the legal challenge, said: “Having responsibility lying with the auditor is like making him judge, jury and executioner.

“Because of this decision, councils across the north will be put in the position where out of fear of litigation they won’t make any decisions - particularly with councils adjudicating on liquor licences.

“There is legislation covering discrimination and equality already. It is different when you start talking about the role of the auditor.”

A 2003 report by the Westminster Committee on Standards in Public Life found it “particularly unsatisfactory” for the district auditor to have powers to adjudicate upon guilt or innocence and determine the penalty based on his own calculation of financial loss.

The watchdog said a new offence covering misconduct by all public officials should be created and added that the courts should be involved from the outset.

Solicitors representing some affected councillors will be using the report as a central plank of their appeal.

A total of 12 Sinn Fein and five SDLP councillors face a £10,000 fine under the disciplinary action. They were accused of wilful misconduct by the auditor.

Mr Fraser said it was dangerous to draw close comparisons between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Belfast Telegraph

By Chris Thornton
16 January 2006

The British and Irish Governments should demand action on policing from Sinn Fein, the SDLP said today after the republican party hinted it may be moving closer to accepting the PSNI.

Sinn Fein policing spokesman Gerry Kelly told a party conference on policing on Saturday that members should be prepared for a debate on a policing.

Sinn Fein says it will debate the acceptance of policing when a settlement is reached with the DUP and the Government on the devolution of justice.

“While we are not at that point yet, activists need to realise that we can achieve it and with achievement there comes further responsibility,” Mr Kelly said on Saturday.

He called on party members to “open up the debate within Sinn Fein and their communities”.

But SDLP policing spokesman Alex Attwood responded that “time is running out for the provisional movement to show backbone and genuinely participate in the policing structures”.

“Some will say that the comments of Gerry Kelly are more positive,” he said.

“The SDLP and everyone wishes it was so.

“However, Sinn Fein have said before that they would not be found wanting on policing, yet when the moment of decision came Sinn Fein were found wanting.”

Mr Attwood said policing change has been “fundamental” and added: “The Governments must tell Sinn Fein to act now not at a later time which may not come for years.”

Belfast Telegraph

By Chris Thornton
16 January 2006

Prosecutors believed the Stormont spy case would stand up in court but dropped it because sensitive material would have been disclosed to the defence, a new report indicated today.

Britain’s most senior law officer, Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, revealed in a letter to MPs that he had appointed a special counsel to help review evidence before the case was abandoned.

Westminster’s Northern Ireland Affairs Committee released Lord Goldsmith’s letter as a special report this afternoon, because they “felt the letter was of sufficient importance to be published immediately”.

In the letter, the Attorney General once again refused to specify the reasons for dropping the case but explained more about the background.

Last month, prosecutors offered no evidence against Sinn Fein official Denis Donaldson, his son-in-law Ciaran Kearney and Stormont messenger William Mackessy. The men were declared not guilty by Belfast Crown Court.

In the letter published today, Lord Goldsmith says that the Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Alasdair Fraser, was happy that “the evidential test continued to be met” - in other words, he thought the case would have stood up in court.

But he indicated that the prosecution had material which they may have been required to disclose to the defence, but which could violate “an important public interest such as national security or putting an individual’s life at risk”.

In those circumstances, a judge not involved in the case reviews the material to decide whether it is necessary to the defence, and he may be assisted by the Attorney General’s special counsel.

Lord Goldsmith said he appointed a special counsel in the case, an indication that a judge reviewed the evidence.

BreakingNews.ie

16/01/2006 - 12:41:55

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern will tomorrow hold a meeting with influential US congressmen to discuss the prospect of power-sharing in the North during 2006.

Mr Ahern said in a New Year’s statement that he planned to step up contacts on the issue with Northern political parties, the British government and with US opinion leaders and policy makers.

The Dundalk TD will meet Republican congressmen Jim Walsh of New York and Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania as well as Democrat Brian Higgins from New York.

“The plight of the undocumented Irish in the US will also be discussed,” the minister’s spokesman added.

Mr Walsh is chairman of the Friends of Ireland on Capitol Hill in Washington and the author of the 1998 Walsh visa programme in support of the peace process and aimed at applicants from Northern Ireland and the six Border counties.

Tomorrow’s meeting takes place in Carlingford on the shores of Carlingford Lough which separates Co Louth and Co Down.

Mr Ahern said on January 2 that the Irish and British governments planned to end direct rule and re-establish the Assembly in 2006.

He added: “To that end the Irish Government will be stepping up contact with all political parties, with the British government and with our friends in the US in the coming weeks.

“Local, devolved government is the clear will of the people of Northern Ireland. The parties and the governments have a duty to deliver on that will.”