SAOIRSE32

BBC

The union representing striking Belfast postal workers has denied it has rejected a proposal by Royal Mail to end the unofficial dispute.

The Communication Workers Union has been in talks with the Labour Relations Agency for four days.

Royal Mail claimed in a statement the union had rejected an offer to look at employee grievances only once they came back to work at the Tomb Street depot.

Union spokesman Peter Donaghy said Royal Mail had no firm proposals.

“Any firm proposals were put forward by us,” he added.

“I’m not sure what the Royal Mail are saying: if they are saying they have put forward firm proposals, that’s not true.”

‘Position unchanged’

Royal Mail commercial manager David Peden said the company’s position remained unchanged.

“We know that the people don’t want to be out there: they are losing hundreds of pounds (and) their customers are in grave difficulty in many circumstances now,” he said.

“They don’t want that and neither do we.

“When they come back, we can talk about any legitimate concerns they have, but this action just cannot be carried on any longer.”

Deliveries have been disrupted since more than 200 postal workers at the Tomb Street depot in Belfast began the unofficial strike on 31 January.

It followed difficulties between staff and management over disciplinary procedures and other issues in the north Belfast section.

It is understood the dispute relates to allegations of widespread bullying and harassment in the company.

However, Royal Mail rejected the claims, saying the company was only dealing with a small number of cases.

Post has been disrupted in north, south and west Belfast but an attempt to widen the strike to Derry failed because of a lack of support for the Belfast workers.

Royal Mail said customers needing more information and advice could contact its helpline number on 08457 740740.

Sinn Féin

Published: 11 February, 2006

Sinn Féin Dáil Group Leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD speaking at the AGM of Sinn Féin in the Six Counties this morning said:

“With our increased mandate comes increased responsibility and we take our responsibilities very seriously. We have an obligation to advance the peace process and in talks which commenced on Monday last we made clear our determination to see the Good Friday Agreement restored in full. We are not in the business of renegotiating the Agreement. The DUP must face reality and share power with Sinn Féin. The British government must face down the securocrats and rejectionists and fulfil its obligations to the Irish peace process. Both governments must set a deadline for the conclusion of talks and there can be only one acceptable outcome to those talks – the full restoration of the Agreement in all its aspects.

“The Irish Government must face up to its responsibility. It is not good enough, for example, for Bertie Ahern simply to state, as he did during the week, that he does not expect that the British Government will change its mind on the Pat Finucane inquiry. The Taoiseach should be going to Downing Street specifically to demand an end to the securocrat veto on the truth about collusion. He should demand a special summit with Tony Blair devoted exclusively to this subject. It is not just another item on the agenda. These are the same securocrats who have thwarted efforts to find the truth about the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974 which claimed 33 lives, or any of the instances of collusion or direct British attacks in the 26 Counties which claimed 47 lives in all. If the securocrats are not faced down on collusion how can they be faced down over their obstruction of the peace process in general?”

During his address Deputy Ó Caoláin said:

“We are presenting the only real alternative to the policies of the Fianna Fáil-PD government which has been in power since 1997. This is a government which has been in office during the most prosperous period economically in the history of the 26-County state but which presides over one of the most unequal societies in Europe. A report issued this week confirms that the top 20% of wage-earners in the 26 Counties earn 12 times more than the lowest 20%. One in seven children live in poverty. Our two-tier public-private health service is grossly inequitable and limps from crisis to crisis. On this small island lavish wealth lives side by side with avoidable poverty.

“We are out to change all that, North and South. Change will not be delivered by the other so-called Opposition parties in Leinster House - Fine Gael and Labour. They cannot even agree on basic issues such as the privatisation of State assets, Irish neutrality and the EU services directive which threatens jobs, wages and conditions in Ireland. For that reason we have christened them the Coalition of the Confused.

“There has been much discussion about whether Sinn Féin would enter a Coalition in the 26 Counties. If we believe that such an arrangement would advance our agenda including Irish reunification and our social and economic policy platform then we should take the option seriously. But it will be decided by the party membership at a special Ard Fheis if and when the need arises. But we will have no options to consider if we do not first of all increase our political strength and that means at least doubling the number of Sinn Féin TDs in Leinster House in the General Election which could come at any time in the next 17 months.”ENDS

Full Text

Is mór an áthas atá orm chun labhairt anseo ag cruinniú cinn bliana Chúige na Sé Chontae. Tagaimíd le chéile mar eagras láidir aontaithe atá ag forbairt agus ag fás ar fud na tíre. Táimíd anseo chun pleanáil don bhliain seo romhainn agus do na céimeanna eile i dtreo ár gcuspóir – Poblacht na hÉireann.

I am honoured to be asked to deliver this address to the Annual General Meeting of Cúige na Sé Chontae Shinn Féin. The year since your last AGM has been a momentous one for Irish republicans, a year in which, unquestionably, our struggle has advanced.

It is easy to lose sight of it now, but the 5th of May 2005 will, in time to come, be remembered as one of the most significant dates in the history of Sinn Féin. On that date Sinn Féin achieved its largest ever vote in a Westminster election in the Six Counties and elected five Republican Teachtaí Dála – Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Michelle Gildernew, Conor Murphy and Pat Doherty. Our position as the foremost nationalist party in the Six Counties and the largest pro-Agreement party was consolidated and advanced.

Victories in five parliamentary constituencies in the Six-County area came less than a year after an All-Ireland vote in the EU elections that saw us win the support of 342,256 voters across the 32 Counties.

If you want a quick explanation for the waves of reaction from the usual suspects that we have also seen in the past year, then you only have to look at those electoral successes. It has nothing to do with criminality or weapons or agents or any of the 101 diversions our opponents have tried to create. It has everything to do with the fact that well over a third of a million people on this small island look to Sinn Féin for political leadership. Irish republicanism is growing as an electoral and political force and our opponents will do anything to stop that growth. But I believe they understand neither the depth of our support nor the strength of our resolve.

For the same reason many of our opponents do not understand the meaning of the other huge event of the past year – the decision of the IRA to formally end its armed campaign and to put its weapons beyond use. Like the cessation of 1994 this decision was, I believe, taken from a position of strength. It was a vote of confidence in the ability of Irish republicans to take our struggle forward. It was done in the knowledge that republicans are changing the political landscape in Ireland and have the potential to bring about much more fundamental change. Above all it was based on the firm conviction that the republican analysis is correct and that we go forward undiminished in our determination to reach our goal of Irish unity and freedom.

The peace strategy has seen the republican electoral mandate greatly increased, as I have described. With our increased mandate comes increased responsibility and we take our responsibilities very seriously. We have an obligation to advance the peace process and in talks which commenced on Monday last we made clear our determination to see the Good Friday Agreement restored in full. We are not in the business of renegotiating the Agreement. The DUP must face reality and share power with Sinn Féin. The British government must face down the securocrats and rejectionists and fulfil its obligations to the Irish peace process. Both governments must set a deadline for the conclusion of talks and there can be only one acceptable outcome to those talks – the full restoration of the Agreement in all its aspects.

The pivotal role of the Irish Government in all of this cannot be under-estimated. Yet that Government’s performance, again and again, has fallen far short of what is required. Our negotiators have observed it at first hand. As the sole Sinn Féin TD from 1997 to 2002, and as leader of our TDs in the Dáil since 2002, I have also seen this at first hand in Leinster House.

When the Peace Process and the Six Counties are debated in Leinster House the so-called opposition parties of Fine Gael and Labour see it primarily as an opportunity to pursue their anti-republican agenda. For its part the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats government vacillates between the political imperative of the peace process and its own party political interests. Fianna Fáil has been content to allow the Minister for Injustice and Inequality Michael McDowell to make the running. They hope to benefit from his attacks on Sinn Féin while skulking in the background to avoid the political flak.

McDowell’s 21st century McCarthyism extends to anyone he sees fit to target and his witch-hunt against the Centre for Public Inquiry and Frank Connolly is a case in point. Let it not be forgotten that he was fully backed by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and by his other Cabinet colleagues in that affair, despite his gross abuse of his position as minister. Not a single Fianna Fáil member of the Oireachtas had the courage to speak out.

At the start of the peace process when Sinn Féin’s electoral support in the 26 Counties was less significant than it is now our political advance was seen as a purely Six-County affair. There was a brief thaw in our relations with Fianna Fáil. But as soon as it became a matter of votes and seats being contested - and, God help us, actually won by Sinn Féin in the 26 Counties - the mood changed. Now we were showing that we really were capable of changing the political landscape North and South and challenging the old failed politics, not only on the national question but on social and economic issues as well.

From around the time of the first Nice Treaty referendum in 2001 the anti-Sinn Féin bandwagon began to roll again. And this went beyond the normal cut and thrust of party politics. We are used to that and expect it. The political establishment in the 26 Counties began to mirror unionism in its refusal to respect the Sinn Féin mandate and in putting up obstacles to progress in the peace process. Sinn Féin played a key role in defeating the first Nice Treaty referendum, a victory for democracy that was a severe embarrassment to Bertie Ahern. Then in the run up to the 2002 General Election McDowell devoted his entire speech at his own selection convention to an all-out attack on Sinn Féin and Irish republicanism. The renewed effort to criminalise Irish republicans in general, and Sinn Féin in particular, had begun. And don’t forget, McDowell’s is just the loudest voice. Others are just as culpable. This has been like manna from heaven to the DUP who could always point to the guff emanating from political and media sources in Dublin to justify their intransigence.

All this must change. The Irish Government must face up to its responsibility. It is not good enough, for example, for Bertie Ahern simply to state, as he did during the week, that he does not expect that the British Government will change its mind on the Pat Finucane inquiry. As you know the Finucane family is refusing to co-operate with any inquiry held under the terms of the Inquiries Bill which gives British ministers and British intelligence agencies the controlling hand and would effectively gag an inquiry. The Taoiseach should be going to Downing Street specifically to demand an end to the securocrat veto on the truth about collusion. He should demand a special summit with Tony Blair devoted exclusively to this subject. It is not just another item on the agenda. These are the same securocrats who have thwarted efforts to find the truth about the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974 which claimed 33 lives, or any of the instances of collusion or direct British attacks in the 26 Counties which claimed 47 lives in all. If the securocrats are not faced down on collusion how can they be faced down over their obstruction of the peace process in general? The Dáil has actually voted in support of a full inquiry into the Pat Finucane murder, yet the British government, at the behest of military and intelligence forces, is still stonewalling on the issue.

The Irish Government has weakened its own authority to challenge Britain on these issues because elements in its own State also sought to close down investigations of collusion. The Irish government further undermined the national position when it co-operated in the establishment of the now totally discredited so-called Independent Monitoring Commission. That legislation was opposed all the way by Sinn Féin – but only two other TDs supported us in voting against it in the Dáil. Since that vote in December 2003 the taxpayer in the 26 Counties has been footing the bill for this mouthpiece of British intelligence to the tune of €1.5 million per year.

The pressure of public opinion must be brought to bear on the Irish government, especially from within the 26 Counties. This is why it is vital that the political strength of Sinn Féin is increased on a national basis.

We made a significant breakthrough and secured five Dáil seats in 2002. We are five among 166 TDs but I have no hesitation in saying that on all fronts we punch above our weight and I am very proud of the representation and the leadership given by the Sinn Féin team in Leinster House. That includes not only the five TDs but also the other full-time activists who work in that site of struggle. Each of our TDs has several policy portfolios which entails speaking for the party on those issues in the media and in the Dáil, as well as helping to develop party policy, linking up with NGOs and spearheading party campaigns.

We are presenting the only real alternative to the policies of the Fianna Fáil-PD government which has been in power since 1997. This is a government which has been in office during the most prosperous period economically in the history of the 26-County state but which presides over one of the most unequal societies in Europe. A report issued this week confirms that the top 20% of wage-earners in the 26 Counties earn 12 times more than the lowest 20%. One in seven children live in poverty. Our two-tier public-private health service is grossly inequitable and limps from crisis to crisis. On this small island lavish wealth lives side by side with avoidable poverty.

We are out to change all that, North and South. Change will not be delivered by the other so-called Opposition parties in Leinster House - Fine Gael and Labour. They cannot even agree on basic issues such as the privatisation of State assets, Irish neutrality and the EU services directive which threatens jobs, wages and conditions in Ireland. For that reason we have christened them the Coalition of the Confused.

There has been much discussion about whether Sinn Féin would enter a Coalition in the 26 Counties. If we believe that such an arrangement would advance our agenda including Irish reunification and our social and economic policy platform then we should take the option seriously. But it will be decided by the party membership at a special Ard Fheis if and when the need arises. But we will have no options to consider if we do not first of all increase our political strength and that means at least doubling the number of Sinn Féin TDs in Leinster House in the General Election which could come at any time in the next 17 months. Like all the elections we have fought in recent years that will be an All-Ireland election for Sinn Féin. I look forward to comrades from all parts of the Six Counties participating across the constituencies as we prepare to send a greatly strengthened Sinn Féin team back to Leinster House. And in so doing we will also advance the demand for people in the Six Counties to have their MPs, their Teachtai Dála, participating in Leinster House.

That said, we do not rely and cannot rely solely on elected forums to bring about change. Real change, the type of national, economic, social and cultural change we want will only come about through empowerment, through people the length and breadth of this country claiming their rights. In the past three years we have seen people power in action in the massive anti-war movement in 2003 and in the campaigns in support of the Rossport Five and the Irish Ferries workers last year. The media and political establishment would like to think that such campaigns are a thing of the past, that people are depoliticised and demotivated and will not take to the streets. But they were proven wrong and in all of these campaigns Sinn Féin has been to the fore.

Why we need to campaign, why we need people power is best summed up in the words of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic which “declares the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland to be sovereign and indefeasible”. That means Ireland owned by its people – not by the British government, Shell Oil, Tony O’Reilly or any golden circle of wealth and power. This year we mark the 90th anniversary of that Proclamation and the 1916 Rising. We welcome the fact that the Irish government has ended its embarrassed silence on the Rising. For our part, in marking this 90th anniversary, we will focus on the unfinished business of the men and women of 1916 – the need to end partition and to create a society that truly cherishes all the children of the nation equally.

30 years ago tomorrow in Wakefield Prison in England Prionsias Stagg died on hunger strike. The Fine Gael-Labour government hijacked his body and buried him under concrete in his native County Mayo. They hoped to bury the sprit of Irish republicanism with him. A few weeks later the British government opened a new prison at Long Kesh and for five years they tried to bury Irish republicanism in the concrete tomb of the H-Blocks. That too failed. The ten hunger strikers of 1981 smashed the criminalisation strategy and began a new phase of struggle. Like the men and women of 1916 they inspired freedom-loving people all over the world. The 25th anniversary of the hunger strikes is an opportunity for us to educate, debate, organize, recruit and plan ahead. Advancing closer to our ultimate goal in 2006 is the best way to commemorate the hunger strikers.

1916 leader James Connolly once addressed the British government in these words:

“If you strike at, imprison, or kill us, out of our prisons or graves, we will evoke a spirit that will thwart you, and perhaps, raise a force that will destroy you! We defy you! Do your worst!”

They have done all of those things to republicans in the past 90 years.

They did their worst.

We defied them.

Here we are, stronger than ever.

We have not been defeated. But that is not enough. We want to win.

Let us plan and work for success and let us succeed.

Ar aghaidh linn le chéile.

Sinn Féin

Published: 11 February, 2006

Sinn Féin Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness MP speaking to party activists from across Dublin this afternoon said the best way for the Irish government to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Rising is to begin preparations for Irish re-unification.

Mr. McGuinness said:

“The Irish government’s decision to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Rising is welcome. The 1916 Rising was for all the people of Ireland and we would like to see events take place not just in the capital city but in every county in Ireland. For our part, in marking this 90th anniversary, Sinn Féin will focus on the unfinished business of the men and women of 1916 – the need to end partition and to create a society that truly cherishes all the children of the nation equally. We will be leading the campaign to get the Irish government to mark the year by beginning preparations for Irish re-unification.”

Commenting on the beginning of talks to restore the political institutions Mr. McGuinness said:

“The next few months will be the most challenging and crucial since the Good Friday Agreement was signed. Political talks have finally begun and will continue this week and it is crucial that there is speedy progress. The DUP cannot be allowed to stall things any longer. The Irish and British governments need to make it clear to the DUP that they intend to get the institutions back up and running before the loyalist marching season begins in April. They need to make it clear that it is they who are in charge and not Ian Paisley.”ENDS

Belfast Telegraph

Club is firm on tackling sectarianism

By Peter Winter
11 February 2006

A group that represents IRA victims is set to travel to Glasgow to tackle Celtic Football Club over alleged sectarianism.

The famous soccer team has invited Willie Frazer to visit them, after the Families Acting for Innocent Relatives boss launched a blistering attack on Celtic.

He lashed out at the club following an incident in which two of its stars were filmed amid a republican sing-song in Donegal last April.

Mr Frazer said he was planning to accept the Celtic offer - although no date has yet been fixed for his visit.

News of the meeting has emerged ahead of tomorrow’s Old Firm clash between Rangers and Celtic.

Celtic has emphasised that it “stands firm against bigotry in all its forms and will continue to be a club for all”.

The club issued the invitation to Mr Frazer in response to his letter of complaint about the Donegal sing-song, at which John Hartson and Stephen Pearson were present.

The pair admitted singing The Fields of Athenry but insisted that they did not participate in any pro-IRA chanting.

The club has proposed demonstrating at first hand that it is “tackling sectarianism, racism and religious intolerance”.

Speaking today following the invitation, Mr Frazer said: “We hope they genuinely want to rid football of this intolerance.”

He added: “Rangers seem to have knocked this sort of behaviour on the head.”

Mr Frazer referred to an incident in 1999 when Rangers vice-chairman Donald Findlay quit the club after he was filmed singing a loyalist song in a club.

But the FAIR chief has himself been the target of strong criticism. A Belfast Telegraph reader has complained that his website contains fierce references to Celtic and republicans.

“Why should he bring the club into it?”, the reader asked.

Mr Frazer responded that he represented those who had suffered at the hands of the IRA, and he would always challenge both the terror group and any apparent support for it.

“For too long people have thought it is OK to attend a function where others chant IRA slogans,” he said. “Anyone who finds themselves in that situation should at the very least get up and leave.”

In a statement, Celtic denied the two players had shouted anything promoting political or paramilitary organisations and stressed the event at Clanree hotel in Letterkenny was not organised by the club.

The statement continued: “People who indulge in sectarian behaviour or in the promotion of paramilitary organisations, have no place within the Celtic family.”

Mr Frazer, however, said he was frustrated by the way many perceive republican songs: “We want to change the whole idea that the IRA were fighting some romantic, colonial war and it’s therefore OK to sing these songs.”

Belfast Telegraph

By Brian Hutton
11 February 2006

A prominent SDLP figure has paid tribute to a former RUC and UVF killer who died this week.

Ballymena councillor Declan O’Loan said that Billy McCaughey deserved recognition for positive developments within loyalism.

“There is no doubt that Billy McCaughey was responsible for some terrible things in the past,” said Mr O’Loan.

“Some of his local contributions were disruptive and unhelpful, even up to quite recent times.

“But I have talked to him at length and I have no doubt that much of his thinking was forward looking and progressive.”

McCaughey was jailed for the murder of a Catholic shopkeeper in Ahoghill in 1977.

He also admitted shooting a customer at the Rock Bar near Keady, Co Armagh, in 1976 during a botched bomb attack carried out along with two other serving RUC officers.

McCaughey was also jailed for kidnapping Ahoghill parish priest Fr Hugh Murphy in June 1978 with another police officer.

Later he became North Antrim representative for the PUP and a member of the party’s executive.

BBC

A Sinn Fein assembly member has appealed for calm in a troubled area of west Belfast following a petrol bomb attack on a woman’s home.

It happened at about midnight in the Divismore area of Ballymurphy.

The living room and the kitchen were scorch damaged in the attack. The woman escaped injury.

Sinn Fein MLA Michael Ferguson said tensions had been running high in the area since the killing of father-of-six Gerard Devlin on 3 February.

“Under no circumstances is it acceptable to attack anyone in their home in this way,” he said.

“The Devlin family, like myself, for a full week now have been calling for people not to be taking this sort of action or getting involved, but to allow them to bury their loved one with peace and dignity.”

Trouble has been continuing in the Ballymurphy area since the death of Mr Devlin, including a number of petrol bomb attacks.

Four men appeared in court earlier this week charged over the killing.

Irish Examiner

11 February 2006
By Catherine Shanahan

UP TO 500 patients may have been treated with a faulty anti-clotting drug which can cause serious bleeding.
Sanofi-aventis, the manufacturers of Clexane Syringes, yesterday announced a product recall after it emerged that some syringes may contain an over-concentration of the active medicinal substance, enoxaparin, which is injected to thin the blood.

A statement from the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) warned that over-concentration of enoxaparin “has the potential to cause significant adverse reactions including an increased risk of serious bleeding”.

Since the affected product entered the Irish distribution chain on November 22 last, the IMB has been notified of one adverse reaction. In this case, the patient suffered irregular but non-fatal bleeding.

The IMB yesterday confirmed it had notified all 46 hospitals as well as the six pharmacies which received Clexane Syringe packs from the affected batch. There were 30 batches produced with this potential problem of over-concentration of up to 50% of enoxaparin, distributed to 58 countries worldwide. Britain received five batches and Ireland received one.

The IMB said the specific Clexane Syringes, 80mg/0.8ml, distributed in Ireland, were part of batch number 28043 with an expiry date of 09/07.

The IMB confirmed the batch in question included 454 packs, each containing 10 vials of the product.

The IMB has requested all patients who have been dispensed Clexane Syringes since November 22, 2005 to do the following:

* Check if your pack is the 80mg/0.8ml strength.

* If your pack is the 80mg/0.8ml strength, check the batch number. This is a lot number printed on one side of the outer carton and on the vial label.

* If the batch (lot) number is 28043, then this pack is one of the potentially affected packs and should not be used under any circumstances.

* You should, as soon as possible, go to your local doctor for further advice and treatment.

* Any affected batches should be returned to your local pharmacy as soon as possible.

The IMB said additional batches of Clexane are available in the marketplace.

A statement from Sanofi-aventis said the recall had been voluntary as a precautionary measure.

It said the decision was taken following quality control testing and a subsequent investigation which identified the potential for over-concentration of the active ingredient in a limited number of syringes.

Enoxaparin is an anticoagulant used to prevent clot formation in veins and arteries and to treat deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in the lung) and patients with unstable angina.

Sanofi-aventis, the world’s third-largest pharmaceutical company, has a base in Waterford where it manufacturers over-the-counter products but not Clexane syringes.

Clexane is a prescription-only medicine licensed in Ireland for the management of thromboembolic disorders (blood clotting). It is sold as Lovenox in the US and France, and has been used to treat more than 118 million patients in 96 countries since 1987.

BBC

Government plans to give MI5 a bigger say over police intelligence in Northern Ireland are cause for concern, SDLP leader Mark Durkan has said.

Mr Durkan said he was worried this would lead to a lack of scrutiny.

He said if this happened police intelligence would be unaccountable to the Policing Board or any future devolved administration.

The government is to publish a bill dealing with the proposed devolution of policing and justice powers next week.

“We worked a long time to ensure we ended the force within a force, which was the old special branch, and get intelligence policing on a completely new basis,” he told BBC Radio Ulster’s Inside Politics show.

“That would be bypassed and undermined if we had an ulterior intelligence policing operation continuing in a completely unaccountable way.”

The Northern Ireland Bill, due to be published on 16 February, is understood to cover policing and some other matters, such as electricity deregulation.

The bill could also be amended in April to make other rule changes.

These changes concern voting procedures at Stormont and the accountability of ministers.

Devolved government at Stormont was suspended in 2003 following allegations of a republican spy ring at the Northern Ireland Office.

Newshound

**Please see also >>PSNI seize papers in police killing case

(Barry McCaffrey, Irish News)

Potential evidence in the controversial killing of a Co Armagh man was removed from Special Branch offices, a Police Ombudsman report is expected to conclude.

Neil McConville (21) from Bleary died in hospital after police shot him when his car allegedly crashed through a checkpoint near Lisburn in April 2003.

He was the first person in the north to be shot dead by police since the 1992 killing of Pearse Jordan (23) in west Belfast.

It remains the only such case involving the PSNI.

However, a report due to be published by Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan is expected to state that evidence relating to the case had been removed from Special Branch offices before her investigators could view it.

Some officers were reported to have been “non-cooperative, obstructive and difficult” when questioned by Mrs O’Loan’s detectives.

On the day Mr McConville was killed undercover officers and a helicopter had monitored the movements of his car in Belfast, where it was alleged that a gun was being picked up.

As the red Vauxhall Cavalier carrying Mr McConville and a passenger left the city, seven cars carrying 21 undercover police officers followed.

At 6.55pm police claimed that they ordered his car to stop.

It is alleged the Cavalier then swerved into a police vehicle, spun and ended sideways on the road.

Police then smashed the driver and passenger windows and it was claimed the 21-year-old reversed his car, hitting an officer.

He was hit by three shots fired by a second officer, while the second man in the vehicle was also hit. The passenger was later charged with possession of a sawn-off shotgun.

Mrs O’Loan is expected to conclude that police withheld evidence after all material relating to the killing, including a computer hard drive, was removed from Special Branch offices before investigators had arrived.

It is understood that police claimed the removal of evidence was the result of “human error”.

Mrs O’Loan’s report is expected to state that officers overseeing the security operation were “non-cooperative, obstructive and difficult” when questioned.

Criticisms are expected to include a failure to issue clear commands to special support units involved in the incident.

A senior officer in charge of the operation, identified as Superintendent ‘B’, has been accused of failing to keep any verifiable records of the operation in the control room. There are also concerns over his accounts of events.

The Ombudsman is understood to have prepared files to be delivered to the Public Prosecution Service.

February 11, 2006
________________

This article appeared first in the February 10, 2006 edition of the Irish News.

Irelandclick

Relatives of the New Lodge Six have demanded that the British government come clean about the 1973 killings following a rally that was held to mark the 33rd anniversary of the killings.
On the night of Saturday February 3, 1973, six men from the New Lodge area were shot dead and one wounded by the British army. But the circumstances were never investigated. The British army claimed that six gunmen had been killed in a gun battle with its troops, but the local community and the families involved have always rejected this. An investigation into the killings was carried out by the community in 2003 during which evidence was gathered that discredited the claims of the MoD.
John Loughran, whose uncle John was one of those killed, said the families deserved to hear the truth about what happened that night.
“We have presented our version of what happened and the British government is yet to acknowledge even receiving this. What message does that send to the families?
“We stand here in the knowledge that we are right and that we are joined in solidarity by people across this island who also yearn for truth and justice.
“To date no British soldier or British politician has been brought to book for the murders of Jim McCann, Jim Sloan, Tony ‘TC’ Campbell, Brendan Maguire, John Loughran or Ambrose Hardy.
“If they are serious about the future then they must deal with the impunity afforded to their state forces. Legislation designed to close down avenues for families to pursue truth and justice cannot succeed,” he said.
Speaking at the commemoration, held on Friday last, Sinn Féin MLA Cathy Stanton said the killings were a mirror image of the events of Bloody Sunday.
“This was a planned operation to murder and maim and was in keeping with British policy at that time. In the period 1969 to 1973 the British state had killed 188 people and what happened here in the New Lodge was part of that pattern.
“What compounded the grief was that they tried to place the guilt on those who were without guilt. That is, the men they murdered and the families, they ruined. All we have to do to understand this pattern is understand Bloody Sunday in Derry when the world was told these men were nail bombers.”
Cathy Stanton said the families deserved justice.
“The families must be supported in their campaign if we are to realise the type of change that is needed to build a new society.
If the British government is genuinely interested in conflict resolution then they must deliver on the family’s demands for truth and justice.”

Journalist:: Evan Short

Belfast Telegraph

Health chief steps in after Belfast Telegraph story

By Nigel Gould
11 February 2006

A specialist nurse for a heart condition that is the biggest medical cause of death in young people will take up a post at Ulster’s biggest hospital after all - after the Belfast Telegraph revealed the post had been turned down because of funding.

The Cardiomyopathy Association, a leading UK charity that supports families affected by the killer condition, had offered to make available £40,000 for the two-year appointment of a specialist nurse at the Royal.

But the hospital told the Telegraph that, while it supported the introduction of such a service, it could not guarantee “recurrent” funding for the nursing post at this time.

After our story yesterday, Department of Health chiefs stepped in.

And in a statement last night, Health Minister, Shaun Woodward, said funding would be made available after all.

He said: “Undoubtedly a very strong case has been made for a specialist nurse. I am grateful to the Cardiomyopathy Association which has offered to pay for this post for the next two years. My Department will take on this long-term commitment to fund this nurse thereafter. We can do this because of my commitment to take money out of bureaucracy and put it into front-line services.

“This is an important post and it is absolutely right that we should make this response.”

The Association’s chief executive, Robert Hall, who was visiting Belfast, last night, praised the Belfast Telegraph, for highlighting the issue.

“We are grateful to the Belfast Telegraph for the story,” he said. “This is just fantastic news. We are very pleased that recurrent funding will be made available by the Department and we look forward to working with the Royal.

“We already fund a nurse specialist post at the Heart Hospital in London and one shared between the Western Infirmary in Glasgow and the Royal Alexandra in Paisley.

“Both our nurses do invaluable work helping families with cardiomyopathy.”

Ulster families affected by the condition, a disease of the heart muscle that is often inherited, had urged the Royal to appoint the nurse. One Newtownards couple, Sam and Amanda Graham, who lost their daughter, 14-year, Rebecca, last July to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy - the biggest medical cause of sudden death in the under 35s - said a nurse specialist was vital.

Rebecca, a pupil at Sullivan Upper School in Holywood, experienced dizziness and fainting, symptoms of the condition, from the age of 12 but was not diagnosed for two months.

Sam (41) last night thanked the Telegraph and said the appointment would help many families affected by the condition.

“The article in the Belfast Telegraph was terrific and it got results,” he said.

“We just can’t believe it. Words can’t tell you how delighted we are.”

Sam’s wife Amanda (39) and Rebecca’s 12-year-old brother, Matthew, have been screened for the condition and are clear. But Sam has been found to have the condition.

Belfast Telegraph

By Michael McHugh
11 February 2006

A landmark legal bid to force the Parades Commission to give more information about its decisions is due to go before the House of Lords later this year.

The dispute between Dunloy Orangeman Davy Tweed and the commission over the banning of his local parade is set to feature in a hearing before the UK’s highest court. The issue centres on whether the commission should disclose what submissions were made to commissioners.

The matter has been pursued through the Northern Ireland courts for some time and could set a precedent for future decisions.

Orangemen argue that there needs to be more transparency, but there are fears that releasing too much information could dissuade people from giving evidence.

A spokeswoman for the Orange Order said: “The commission has to say where it receives information from because some of the reasoning may be based on emotion. Somebody can go into the commission and say whatever they want and we can’t challenge it.”

Mr Tweed, who is a former Irish rugby international star, is worshipful master of Dunloy LOL 469.

The parade, banned by the commission, was from the local Orange Hall to the Presbyterian Church on Sunday October 29, 2000.

BBC ON THIS DAY

11 February 1990

Leading anti-apartheid campaigner Nelson Mandela has been freed from prison in South Africa after 27 years.

His release follows the relaxation of apartheid laws - including lifting the ban on leading black rights party the African National Congress (ANC) - by South African President FW de Klerk.

Mr Mandela appeared at the gates of Victor-Verster Prison in Paarl at 1614 local time - an hour late - with his wife Winnie.

Holding her hand and dressed in a light brown suit and tie he smiled at the ecstatic crowds and punched the air in a victory salute before taking a silver BMW sedan to Cape Town, 40 miles away.

People danced in the streets across the country and thousands clamoured to see him at a rally in Cape Town.

“Our march to freedom is irreversible”.
Nelson Mandela

Doctors treated over a hundred people as police clashed with youths looting shops in various cities and townships and several people were reported shot dead.

Mr Mandela, the deputy-president of the ANC, appeared on the balcony of Cape Town’s City Hall to speak to the 50,000 people assembled outside at 2000 local time.

He acknowledged Mr de Klerk was a man of integrity, but said: “Our struggle has reached a decisive moment. Our march to freedom is irreversible.”

“Now is the time to intensify the struggle on all fronts. To relax now would be a mistake which future generations would not forgive,” he continued.

As he addressed the crowd South African state television broadcast a profile of Mr Mandela - including a BBC interview from 1961 - which was the first time he had been shown speaking on TV.

Now 71, the lawyer from the Transkei homeland was convicted of treason and sabotage in June 1964 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

He spent most of his sentence on Robben Island, off Cape Town, doing hard labour.

Since the 1980s he has refused numerous offers for early release from the government in Pretoria because of the conditions attached.

In Context

Nelson Mandela succeeded Oliver Tambo as president of the ANC later in 1991.

He divorced Winnie the next year following her convictions for kidnapping and being accessory to an assault.

Mr Mandela and FW de Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for their efforts to transform South African society.

In the first multi-racial elections in the country’s history he was elected president and the ANC gained 252 of the 400 seats in the national assembly.

He was succeeded as ANC president by Thabo Mbeki in 1997 and stepped down in favour of Mr Mbeki as national president after the 1999 elections.

Mr Mandela re-married in 1998 and was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2001, aged 83.