SAOIRSE32

BBC

Eamonn Magee won his comeback fight after the attack

A 54-year-old Dunmurry man has been given a three-year suspended sentence for causing grievous bodily harm to world champion boxer Eamonn Magee.

Joseph Clarke, of Lagmore Dale, admitted attacking him with a bat and breaking his leg in February 2004.

The court heard the two men had fought after an argument over their children.

Judge Patrick Markey told Clarke that although Mr Magee had behaved in a disgraceful manner, it was a vicious assault of which he should be ashamed.

Mr Magee, 33, successfully defended his World Boxing Union welterweight title a year after the attack.

Doctors had told the Belfast man he would never fight again “because his injuries were so severe”.

However, he went back into training and won his comeback fight against Danish boxer Allan Vester.

Times Online

By David Sharrock, Ireland Correspondent
February 22, 2006

A LOYALIST responsible for one of Northern Ireland’s most notorious sectarian murders was a police agent working for Special Branch, it was claimed yesterday.

John White, who served two life sentences for the murders in 1973 of Paddy Wilson, a Catholic politician, and his Protestant girlfriend Irene Andrews, became a police informer upon his release in prison in 1991, according to the Belfast Telegraph. The allegation follows a deluge of prominent names from within the republican and loyalist paramilitary camps after the outing as a British agent of Denis Donaldson, a confidant of Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader. (BBC Photo: White, left, Shoukri and Adair)

Paranoia is rampant in republican circles over the informer allegations, and police have visited a number of senior figures to warn them that their lives may be in danger.

White, who fled Northern Ireland in February 2003 at the height of a feud within the Ulster Defence Association, was a key figure in the Combined Loyalist Military Command when it announced a ceasefire in October 1994. He also pressed the Ulster Freedom Fighters, the UDA’s military wing, to decommission weapons to pressurise the Provisional IRA to follow suit.

White was the right-hand man to Johnny Adair, the “C Company” commander on the Shankill Road who also fled after the murder of a rival loyalist chief.

White came to prominence in the early 1990s as a prisoners’ spokesman for the Ulster Democratic Party, the UDA’s political mouthpiece. He was first contact point for most journalists seeking a comment or interview with Adair.

His wealth attracted much attention. He owned a big house in Co Antrim where his hobbies included keeping Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs. White attributed his good fortune to having sold hand-embroidered handkerchiefs from inside prison and having invested the profits on the stock exchange.

He was often accused of being a drug dealer. He once even admitted that he saw no contradiction in being a drug dealer and a British patriot. The Belfast Telegraph said that White’s details as an informer were among files stolen from a police station in East Belfast on St Patrick’s Day in 2002.

White’s credentials during the 1990s meant that he sat in on meetings of the UDA’s six-man leadership. Other loyalists have blamed him for the collapse of the umbrella organisation that achieved the 1994 ceasefire.

He admitted that his role in the murders of Paddy Wilson and Irene Andrews was “barbaric”. Mr Wilson was stabbed 30 times and had his throat slit, and Ms Andrews had her breasts cut off.

Belfast Telegraph

Court forced Secretary of State to release documents

By Chris Thornton
21 February 2006

Peter Hain refused to release private letters he exchanged with the chairman of the Billy Wright Inquiry before court rules forced him to, the Belfast Telegraph has learned.

The Secretary of State turned down a Freedom of Information request for the letters made by David Wright, the murdered LVF leader’s father, last year.

Last week, a judge decided that Mr Hain may have been wrong to keep the letters from Mr Wright, even before the Freedom of Information request - a point that will be decided at a full hearing in April.

The inquiry, which is examining collusion around Billy Wright’s 1997 murder inside the Maze Prison, is on hold until the judicial review is decided.

The case is likely to have an impact on the legal basis for an inquiry into Pat Finucane’s murder as well.

The High Court in Belfast heard last week that inquiry chairman Lord MacLean and Mr Hain had exchanged letters about the legal background to the inquiry - described in court as “private correspondence” - before Lord MacLean asked for controversial legislation to be applied to the case.

David Wright’s lawyers claim there was a link between the private letters and the decision to change the terms for the inquiry - a decision that gave Mr Hain greater secrecy powers.

Mr Wright is challenging Mr Hain’s decision to hold hearings under the Inquiries Act.

Mr Wright’s lawyers say that gives “the Government extensive powers to interfere with the inquiry”.

A number of judges from around the world have objected to the legislation, which is also scheduled to be used in the Finucane case.

Last week, Mr Wright’s lawyers argued in the High Court that the private letters had a bearing on the decision to change the Wright Inquiry’s terms.

Before filing for a judicial review of Mr Hain’s decision, Mr Wright asked for details of all contact between the Secretary of State and Lord MacLean.

The Northern Ireland Office refused, saying the release of the papers could inhibit the conduct of the inquiry. “There is a convention of confidentiality when inquiry chairmen are writing to ministers,” an NIO spokesman said.

However, the Government’s legal team was forced to disclose the letters when Lord MacLean referred to them in an affidavit. The exchange of letters began days after Mr Hain was appointed to the NIO last May.

The court heard last week that his predecessor as Secretary of State, Paul Murphy, had told David Wright that the Inquiries Act would not applied to his son’s case.

But Mr Hain reversed that at Lord MacLean’s request.

The judge asked for the controversial legislation to be used in the Wright case because he said it would give the tribunal better access to material from the NIO and MI5.

An NIO spokesman said Mr Hain is “perfectly happy” that the letters were eventually released, stating: “We are happy to have the content disclosed. This is essentially a procedural point.”

The Billy Wright Inquiry was originally set up under the Prisons Act, but Mr Hain made the switch to the Inquiries Act late last year.

Belfast Telegraph

By Clare Weir
22 February 2006

A Limavady teenager today told how he had shards of glass removed from his eye after a sectarian stoning attack on a bus in Belfast.

Aaron Shannon, who will turn 18 next week, was on an Ulsterbus carrying members of Ballynarrig Flute Band - including women and children - which was attacked as it passed the nationalist Markets area on Saturday.

Bricks were hurled, with one window shattering and showering Aaron with glass.

Shards were removed from his eye by specialists at Coleraine Hospital and he has been told he must wear a patch for several weeks.

But luckily his vision has not been affected in the long term.

Today he spoke of his ordeal - while his father revealed that his own car was hit with a brick during a shopping trip to Londonderry at the weekend.

Aaron, an apprentice electrician, who turned up for work as usual on Monday morning despite his ordeal, said: “I was just sitting on the bus chatting when something came through the window.

“The glass came in on top of me and bits went into my eye.

“Hopefully I’ll be all right for my birthday. I was born on February 29 so I’ll be celebrating on the 28th this year.”

He said he went to hospital in Coleraine after the attack and suffered agony for several hours.

Aaron’s father Arnold also revealed that the weekend had been a nightmare for his whole family after he and his grandson narrowly escaped a similar ordeal.

“We were up in Derry doing some shopping and I had parked outside William Jackson’s house in the Fountain,” he said.

“Me and my daughter’s wee boy were out getting some fresh air and a crowd of thugs came in from the Bishop Street end and started to throw stones at the houses.

“When I shouted at them to stop, a brick came flying over and hit the wheel arch of the car and put a big dent in it.

The Belfast attack was condemned by DUP MLA for East Derry George Robinson.

“I have been informed that it is nothing short of a miracle that this incident did not result in total carnage,” he said.

Belfast Telegraph

By Deborah McAleese
22 February 2006

Postal workers today threatened to go out on official strike - potentially shutting down postal services across Northern Ireland.

Union officials confirmed to the Belfast Telegraph that postal staff are planning to ballot for an official strike amid claims that Royal Mail has gone back on a deal struck with workers last week.

A report on the current situation is being forwarded to Communication Workers Union headquarters in London for authorisation to ballot for an official strike.

There are fears that if the CWU does not give the authorisation workers may stage another wildcat strike.

And it was warned that the action could completely cripple mail services across the province.

“This is the last thing postal staff want but they are incensed by their treatment and it looks like this is their only option,” a CWU spokesman said.

“I am confident that authorisation will be given for an official strike as the way strikers who returned to work at the weekend are being treated by managers is disgraceful. They are being very badly victimised.”

The spokesman added: “It has the potential of closing Northern Ireland down.”

Royal Mail today said it was unaware that workers were talking about staging a ballot.

A spokeswoman said: “Royal Mail is asking people from across its operations to assist in getting the service back to normal.”

Belfast Telegraph

Killer Stone says: He was always pumping me for information

By Jonathan McCambridge and Deborah McAleese
22 February 2006

John White’s former UDA associates last night backed the Belfast Telegraph’s revelation that the sectarian killer was a Special Branch informer.

Milltown murderer Michael Stone said that White tried to “pump” him for information about other loyalists while they were prisoners at the Maze while UDA sources said his love of the flash lifestyle led to his recruitment by security forces.

Yesterday the Belfast Telegraph reported that senior intelligence sources had revealed that White, a former associate of Johnny Adair, had become a police informer after he was released from prison.

He had been serving a life sentence for the 1973 murders of nationalist politician Paddy Wilson and Irene Andrews, both of whom suffered multiple stab wounds.

Michael Stone, convicted of six murders, said: “I was always told not to say anything in front of him. He was always pumping me for information about all sorts of things.”

A senior UDA source said: “He was driven by money and there was always speculation over his wealth. The ranks were warned not to talk in front of him.”

Stone not surprised at Telegraph revelation

By Jonathan McCambridge

Milltown murderer Michael Stone has revealed how John White - exposed in the Belfast Telegraph as a tout - tried to gather intelligence on fellow loyalists while they were prisoners in the Maze.

Stone, convicted of six murders, said that sectarian killer White tried to “pump him” for information and claimed the UDA leadership suspected he was being “controlled” by the security forces.

Yesterday this paper reported that senior intelligence sources had revealed that White, once a close associate of Johnny Adair, had worked for Special Branch as an informer.

White was jailed for life for the 1973 murders of nationalist politician Paddy Wilson and Irene Andrews, both of whom suffered multiple stab wounds. It is believed he became an informer after his release from prison.

But Stone said he believed that White may have already been a grass during his time in the Maze.

He said he was “not surprised at all” by the Belfast Telegraph revelations.

“White was always really dodgy and for years had a terrible relationship with the leadership of the UDA. He had no credibility at all with them.

“We all knew what he was inside for and we all thought he was sick because he had mutilated a body.

“I was always told not to say anything in front of ‘Coco’, which was the name he was known as. He was not trusted.”

Stone added: “He was always pumping me for information about all sorts of things.

“He asked me what I knew about Brian Nelson, he asked me what I knew about the Mid-Ulster UVF and Ulster Resistance. He was the only person inside who would talk openly about these things and I always told him it was information he did not need to know.

“We all thought he was being controlled because he was always trying to push the UDA in directions it did not want to go.

“Later on he turned into this big money man. He had a big house and an affluent lifestyle with the fancy clothes and car but he had no visible means of support.

“The security forces knew how much he liked the money and the flash lifestyle and that was how they were able to turn him. The last I heard he was pleading poverty in different parts of England.

“Geographically he is safe because he is out of the way, but I would not think he will be in any rush to come back to Northern Ireland because he has so many enemies.”

White has been living in exile since February 2003 when he was forced out of Northern Ireland during a feud inside the UDA in which White had sided with Johnny Adair’s so-called ‘C’ Company.

He was nicknamed ‘Coco’ because of his alleged involvement in drug dealing.

Special Branch saw ‘easy target’

By Deborah McAleese

John White’s drug dealing and greed made him an easy target for Special Branch recruitment, senior UDA sources said last night.

However, it was not until he was forced from the province with Johnny Adair following a feud inside the UDA in 2003, that they became convinced of his involvement.

One senior UDA source said: “He was driven by money and there was always speculation over his wealth. A lot of eyebrows were raised at his lifestyle and the ranks were warned not to talk in front of him. As far as we know he was recruited about two years after he got out of jail. He was turned by security forces who knew about his drug dealing and started playing a dangerous game,” said a senior UDA source.

Former detective Johnston Brown, who put Adair in jail, last night said recruiting someone so close to Adair would have been a “feather in the bonnet” for Special Branch.

Stressing that he was not the senior intelligence source who leaked the information to the Belfast Telegraph, Mr Brown told the BBC White may have helped prevent further violence in the summer of 2000 when Adair was released under the Good Friday Agreement.

Brown - who recently met Adair in Manchester for a documentary - added that he will always be grateful to White for warning him of a plot by Adair to attack his home and family.

“In July 2000 he (White) did come forward to tell me about Adair’s plan to attack my home and family.”

He added: “He was very close to Adair, who wanted to take them back to war and could not accept peace, so to have someone so close to Adair and monitor his thinking would have been a feather in anyone’s bonnet, never mind Special Branch’s.”

John white’s dark deed

By Linda McKee

Senator Paddy Wilson (right) had been out for a drink with friends in the Old Vic Lounge of McGlade’s public house on the evening of June 24, 1973.

Among the company was Irene Andrews, a Protestant from the Crumlin Road who was a former Belfast Telegraph employee.

The 29-year-old was regarded as one of the top ballroom dancers in Ulster and was a former member of the Northern Ireland ‘Come Dancing’ team.

When Mr Wilson gave Miss Andrews a lift home, it was the last time either of them was seen alive.

Early the next morning, their bodies were found lying on the Hightown Road near Glengormley, following a phone call to a Belfast paper by a man purporting to be Captain Black of the Ulster Freedom Fighters.

Senator Wilson had been stabbed 32 times and his throat cut. Miss Andrews had been stabbed 19 times. The pathologist’s report said the wounds indicated both had died in a deliberate and frenzied attack.

More than five years later, John White pleaded guilty to the double murder and was jailed for life. Recommending that White should serve at least 20 years, the judge described it as the most horrific murder he had ever seen.

“That incident to me was a frenzied attack, a psychotic outburst. It was far removed from any shooting,” he said.

After his release in the 1990s, White became a prominent member of the UDA-linked Ulster Democratic Party. As part of the UDP’s negotiating team at Stormont, he was one of four loyalists who met the then Prime Minister John Major in Downing Street on July 22, 1996.

BBC

Bus services in an area of Belfast where a driver was attacked are returning to normal.

However, Translink warned it was considering withdrawing buses in Poleglass following Tuesday’s attack.

The bus driver was treated for cuts and bruising after his vehicle was attacked along Pantridge Road at about 1750 GMT.

A brick was thrown through the windscreen of the vehicle. Passengers were onboard at the time, but the driver managed to regain control.

Billy Gilpin from Translink said it withdrew services to the area after the attack.

“The driver obviously depends on his eyesight to do his job, if he is deprived of his eyesight he is deprived of his job,” he said.

“There would have been a very real risk to himself, the people on the bus and pedestrians if he had lost control.

“It was an absolutely deplorable act, we would ask those with any influence in the community to take steps to stop this.”

The police have appealed for witnesses to the attack to come forward.

Union representative John Coffey said he hoped those responsible were caught.

He said he understood there was CCTV footage of the incident.

Sinn Fein assembly member Michael Ferguson said it was an “absolutely outrageous” incident.

“There is no excuse for such attacks and the community should unite in challenging those responsible,” he said.

BN.ie

22/02/2006 - 12:43:52

Prosecutors in Germany today said they had charged a suspected member of the IRA with attempted murder in a 1989 attack on a British military base in Germany.

Leonard Joseph Hardy, 45, from Antrim, Northern Ireland, is also charged with deliberately causing an explosion, federal prosecutors said. He could face a sentence of life imprisonment.

Four others implicated in the attack were convicted of attempted murder in Germany in 1995 and were jailed for between nine and 12 years.

Hardy, who was arrested in August in a hotel in the Spanish resort city of Torremolinos and extradited to Germany last month, is accused of being a member of an IRA “Active Service Unit” that attacked the British army’s Quebec barracks in Osnabruck on June 19, 1989.

Prosecutors say the five wanted to explode several bombs at the barracks but were disturbed by a workman as they tried to lay the charges.

Only one of the bombs exploded, causing damage but hurting no one.

No date has been announced for Hardy’s trial.

BBC

The head of the decommissioning body and the government have engaged in a “cover-up” over claims the IRA has kept some weapons, the DUP has alleged.

Party leader Ian Paisley made the claims after meeting General John de Chastelain on Wednesday.

He called on the security forces to provide more information on claims that some IRA members kept arms.

Mr Paisley demanded the publication of what the IRA decommissioned and estimates of what remains.

“They should tell the people what they know,” he said.

“They should tell the people what they know so that the people can be forearmed to meet what is going to happen; because those arms are going to be used against the Protestant population of Northern Ireland.”

The meeting followed fresh concerns about the extent of IRA decommissioning after simultaneous reports last month by the Independent Monitoring Commission and arms body.

Both cited intelligence reports from unspecified NI security sources that some IRA members had retained arms.

There have been claims that some IRA members kept guns

Also on Wednesday Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said the DUP “search for excuses” to not share power had to end.

“This meeting has little to do with IRA weapons,” he said.

“The IRA have dealt decisively with that issue and the DUP know this. What this meeting is about is part of the DUP search for excuses not to engage.”

January’s IMC report said the IRA was still gathering intelligence, primarily for its political strategy.

The body’s 8th report said the activity had been authorised by the IRA leadership. It also claimed some IRA members were still involved in organised crime.

However, General de Chastelain said Irish police had no intelligence to support the weapons retention claim and the IRA assured him it was not.

However, Lord John Alderdice of the IMC said he could not share the general’s assessment.

The IRA denied the intelligence assessment that it held on to some weapons.

BBC

Lisa Dorrian went missing in February last year

The body of a murdered County Down woman may have been dumped at sea, police have said.

Lisa Dorrian, 25, was last seen at a party on a caravan site in Ballyhalbert on 28 February 2005. Despite extensive searches her body has never been found.

Detectives said they thought the Bangor shop assistant’s body may have been moved months after the murder from a hiding place on land.

Police also renewed their appeal for information over the murder.

Ms Dorrian’s family attended Wednesday’s launch of the renewed appeal which came a week before the anniversary of her killing.

Detectives are asking anyone who owns outhouses or sheds on the Ards peninsula and may have been aware of suspicious activity there to contact them.

They are also appealing for members of fishing and boating communities for help in tracing the movement of a red or orange day cruiser type boat which they believe may have been used to move Lisa’s body in July or August of 2005.

Her family have offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Lisa’s body.

Sinn Féin

Published: 21 February, 2006

Sinn Féin Assembly member Alex Maskey today said that the rewarding of Catholic killers like Torrens Knight and John White by the PSNI has been happening under the noses of the SDLP on the Policing Board.

Mr Maskey said:

“The exposure today of prominent loyalist drug dealer and Catholic killer John White as a paid PSNI agent follows on from a similar revelation around Torrens Knight the man responsible for the mass sectarian killings at Greysteel and Castlerock.

“Nationalists and republicans throughout Ireland are rightly outraged that the PSNI have been filling the pockets of such notorious Catholic killers. Members of the SDLP have publicly claimed outrage yet these payments have been taking place by the PSNI under the noses of the SDLP on the Policing Board.

“But we should not be surprised at this. The SDLP told everyone that they were going onto the Board to ensure democratic accountability even when the power to achieve this wasn‚t there. They told us that they were going onto the Board to end the use of Plastic Bullets, yet ended up purchasing an even more lethal device.

“Now they have presided over a system which has been paying thousands of pounds to those responsible for masterminding and carrying out sectarian massacres against the nationalist and republican community. These most recent exposures show once again how hollow SDLP protestations to be holding this force to account actually are.” ENDS

Indymedia.ie

by Séan Ó Murchú
February 21, 2006 20:15
Republican Sinn Féin - Clonmult Martyrs Commemoration Committee

The 85th Annual Clonmult Martyrs Commemoration was held in Midleton, Co Cork on Sunday February 19th.

The Commemoration Assembled outside the Courthouse at 3.30pm and lead by a colour party proceeded to Saint John the Baptist Churchyard where the proceedings were chaired by Donal Varian of the MacCurtain/McSwiney Cumann, Republican Sinn Fein. After welcoming everyone Donal asked Tony Horgan to lay a wreath on behalf of Republican Sinn Fein and the Republican Movement on the grave of Voltuneer Deasy. A lone piper played a lament and a decade of the rosary was given.

The Commemoration then continued to the Republican Plot, Holy Rosary Churchyard. Donal Dennehy on behalf of the families of the Clonmult Martyrs laid a wreath. The Chairman then asked Des Dalton RSF, vice-President to lay a wreath on the gave of Commandant Diarmuid O’Hurley O.C. who was killed by Crown Forces three months after his comrades.

Donal then spoke about the sacrifice the Clonmult Boys, the men and women of 1916 and the generations since have made. That until British Forces cease their illegal occupation of part of this country the fight for freedom will continue. “We will not be bought by the Queens shilling.”

He then introduced Des Dalton vice-President of Republican Sinn Fein to give the Oration. Des said, “If Munster can be described as the wheel of the Irish Revolution during the period of the Tan war then truly Cork was its hub. The war fought by the various Cork Brigades of the IRA was textbook guerrilla warfare fought against what was then the army of a world super power, the British Empire.”

“Under Commandant Diarmuid O’Hurley the East Cork flying column attached to the First Cork Brigade set up headquarters in a farmhouse close to the village of Clonmult.” ”However on February 20, 1921 as the column prepared to move out in order to attack a British military train at Cobh junction, the column’s position was betrayed by an informer.”

“Eighty-five years later the ideals, which inspired and motivated the young men at Clonmult to take on the might of the British army remain to be realised. The Republic, which they defended with their young lives, has yet to be re-established. As we face into the 21st Century the cause of a free Ireland has never been more under threat, with the signing of the Stormont Agreement in 1998, both the British and 26-County governments, with the support of the US government as well as the EU have attempted bed down British rule in Ireland. Former comrades have been incorporated into the apparatus of the British state in Ireland; they have administered that same rule, taking up the role of ministers of the British Crown. They are already preparing to take the next step, policing British rule on the ground.”

“This process has also involved the criminalisation of the fight for Irish freedom with the signing away of the right to political status, a right upheld and defended by Irish Republicans, and for which 22 volunteers died on hunger strike. 25 years after the deaths of Bobby Sands and his comrades in the H Blocks of Long Kesh, Republican prisoners are once more engaged in a struggle in Maghaberry prison with the British state to vindicate their right to political status.”

“Normalisation of British rule in Ireland is central to the agenda, which drives the Stormont Agreement, Bertie Ahern has already declared that the “constitutional question” is resolved, as an attempt is made to draw a line under Irish history. The myth that the Six Counties are now a part of the so-called “United Kingdom” whilst Ireland comprises of the 26 Counties is propagated by both the British and 26-County governments and the mainstream media. The GAA have been incorporated with pressure brought to bear on them to drop Rule 21, allowing members of the British Crown forces in Ireland to play our national games.”

“On Saturday, February 25, loyalists plan to march in Dublin, with it appears the compliance of the 26-County administration. In allowing the representatives of groups who have murdered innocent uninvolved nationalists over the past 40 years as a matter of policy, not for the first time the 26-County political establishment have turned their backs on the beleaguered nationalist people of the Six-Counties. RSF have from the beginning led the campaign against this march taking place.

“On the front page of SAOIRSE this month we spell out clearly our reasons for doing so. Firstly one of the groups sponsoring the march FAIR claims for Loyalists a near monopoly on suffering. British-backed loyalist death squads have murdered more than 1000 innocent uninvolved nationalists. Of the 698 members of the protestant community to be killed during the present conflict, 340, or 49 % died at the hands of loyalist death squads, it appears FAIR should be marching on the UDA and UVF in Belfast.

“Secondly Republican Sinn Féin are opposing this march to express our solidarity with the nationalist people of the Six-Counties, be it in Dunloy, the Garvaghy Road, the Ardoyne or other such areas, who have had such marches imposed on them year after year. Homes, schools and churches have been burned and attacked, by those who would preach to us about tolerance. Even a-political symbols of identity, such as GAA club and county colours cannot be displayed in some areas of the Six Counties for fear of attack.

“The question must be asked would nationalist parades of whatever kind would be allowed through Portadown or East Belfast? I think we all know the answer; British forces would certainly block them. As the editorial in SAOIRSE declares. Thirdly the reason for this loyalist march is clear, it is part of a softening up process for an official visit to Dublin by the Queen of England, who claims ownership of part of Ireland, a claim enforced by military force.

“The duty of Irish Republicans is clear, RSF are calling on all who oppose this march to join with us, under a banner declaring ‘Unite Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter’… ‘To break the connection with England’, next Saturday from 10.00am at the Parnell monument, at the top of O’Connell St, and make your protest known. When the British government finally leaves Ireland and Loyalist marches will no longer be a question of supremacy of Unionists over Nationalists, then all interests will be welcome and free to parade wherever they choose.”

Donal Varian then concluded with words of thanks to all who had attended and a reminder that the fight for freedom is yet to be concluded regardless of what former comrades may think.

Related Link: rsfcork.com

Times Online

From Tom Baldwin in Washington
February 22, 2006

THE White House is ready to put Sinn Fein leaders back on its St Patrick’s Day party list next month.

But the US Administration is adamant that Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness will not be granted a personal meeting with President Bush, nor allowed to use the trip for fund-raising.

The Times has learnt that Mitchell Reiss, the President’s special envoy to Northern Ireland, is reluctantly recommending that Sinn Fein be invited to the annual Shamrock ceremony at the White House on March 17.

Last year, amid bitter controversy over the IRA’s role in the £27.5 million Northern Bank robbery and continued paramilitary violence, Mr Bush snubbed Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness. Instead, he met the relatives of Robert McCartney, who was murdered by alleged members of the IRA after a pub brawl in Belfast.

Relations have since improved slightly following the IRA’s declaration that it had abandoned its armed struggle. There has also been concerted lobbying from Republican congressmen, with large numbers of Irish-American voters, for the ban to be lifted ahead of November’s mid-term elections.

But Mr Bush remains deeply suspicious of Sinn Fein leaders, who he compared last year with Yassir Arafat, the late Palestinian leader. Nor does he want to be seen consorting with anyone associated with terrorism.

The State Department yesterday insisted that no final decision about the St Patrick’s Day invitation list had been taken. But other sources said that Sinn Fein and other Northern Ireland parties will be asked to the White House.

Mr Reiss and the National Security Council are also determined to stop Mr Adams using his US visit for fundraising.

British officials are delighted by the robust White House stance towards Sinn Fein.

Mr Reiss has recently had stern words for Sinn Fein over its continued refusal to accept new Northern Ireland policing structures. He said: “Sinn Fein is the only political party in Europe that does not support policing. By denying republicans and nationalists proper policing and justice, Sinn Fein has condemned them to a ghettoised existence.

“The Sinn Fein leadership admit that they go to the police if they have car accidents. So now we know: they put their no claims bonuses ahead of a child’s right to justice and protection. So much for their Ireland of equals.”

Mr Reiss also met the Rafferty family who were in Washington this month to draw attention to the murder of their father, Joseph, by alleged members of the IRA in a similar episode to Mr McCartney.

The US pressure group Friends of Sinn Fein had hoped that Mr Adams would be the star attraction at a dinner with some of the businesses, trade unions and individuals who donate around $1 million a year to the cause.

Although American donations to Sinn Fein have diminished over the years, they still account for most of Sinn Fein’s legitimate income. Unlike other British parties, those from Northern Ireland are allowed to raise money outside the EU and do not have to register donors’ names.

The Northern Ireland Office recently announced plans to phase out this exemption by 2010. From October 2007 the parties will also have to tell the Electoral Commission who has given them more than £5,000.

Mr Adams was reported in November as describing the ban on his fundraising as “absurd” and “amateurish”.

But Sinn Fein is said to be concerned that if Mr Adams or Mr McGuinness breach the terms of their visas, it would create a precedent that could halt the frequent trips that they have made to the US over the past ten years.

GOING GREEN

# Since the 1990s, Irish Governments have presented the US President with a bowl of shamrock in an annual St Patrick’s Day ceremony

# Representatives from all Ireland’s political parties usually attend

# In 2001 President Bush angered Roman Catholics by inviting the Rev Ian Paisley

# In 2000 Seamus Heaney read his poetry. President Clinton, a fan, was seen mouthing along to the words

# In 1995 President Clinton was criticised when he invited Gerry Adams to visit the celebrations for the first time

BN.ie

21/02/2006 - 15:41:15

The family of a murdered Dundalk forestry worker have given up hope of his killers ever being brought to justice, it emerged today.

Seamus Ludlow, 47, was abducted by loyalist paramilitaries in Co Louth and shot dead on May 2, 1976, but gardaí never interviewed the suspects identified by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) 18 months later. (Click photo to view)

The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice heard that the family now accepted that a loyalist gang had carried the random sectarian murder but would never be held responsible.

“We reluctantly must accept that the prospects of even bringing a prosecution, let alone a successful one, are extremely remote,” said barrister Eamon Coffey.

The four suspects named in Judge Henry Barron’s report into the killing were arrested in the North in 1998, but the DPP there decided not to prosecute them because of insufficient evidence.

But Mr Coffey said the family wanted a full public inquiry to discover why the gardaí had never been given permission to travel across the border to interview the suspects.

“Otherwise the Ludlow family and the wider public are left with the grounds of believing that this state was an accessory after the fact in the murder of Seamus Ludlow and being complicit in his murder,” he said.

The Justice committee, which was holding the final of its seven hearings into Judge Henry Barron’s report on the murder, must consider whether to recommend a full public inquiry in its report next month.

Mr Coffey said the Ludlow family had been steadfast in their pursuit of the truth for 30 years, which has seen them endure two inquests into their brother’s death, two Garda internal investigation and Judge Barron’s report.

He said they were entitled to consistency from the Irish Government, which supported campaigns for public inquiries into Bloody Sunday and the killing of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

The family want a speedy public inquiry to answer four key questions.

:: Was the initial Garda investigation in 1976 adequate?

:: Why was the information from the RUC on the four suspects not followed up?

:: Why was evidence at the scene not preserved?

:: Was the decision taken not to pursue the murder of Seamus Ludlow and if so, who took it?

In his report, Judge Barron said it was most probable the decision not to carry out the interviews with the Northern Ireland-based suspects was made by former Garda Commissioner Laurence Wren, then head of the Garda C3 security section.

The family are opposed to a Commission of Inquiry on the grounds that it would carry out its investigation in private, would not make a determination of facts and would not allow them to cross-examine witnesses.

“The family have a right to cross-examine those who consistently misled them to the identity of the killers and in fact branded Seamus Ludlow an (IRA) informer,” said their senior counsel Deirdre Murphy.

BBC ON THIS DAY

22 February 1972

A huge car bomb exploded at the car park outside the officers’ mess at lunchtime

Five women and an army priest have been killed in an IRA bomb attack on the 16th Parachute Brigade headquarters at Aldershot, Hampshire.

The Official IRA says the attack is in revenge for the events in Derry on 30 January when 13 civilians were shot dead by the Parachute Regiment.

Its spokesman in Dublin said the attack was the first in a series of operations aimed at British headquarters of regiments serving in Northern Ireland.

A massive car bomb exploded at lunchtime in a car park outside the officers’ mess killing five female kitchen staff and Padre Weston, and injured 19 others.

The force of the blast was felt a mile away in Aldershot town centre.

Fragments of the car were found and police say they are looking for the owner of a 1971 light-blue Ford Cortina, probably stolen.

‘Tremendous priest’

Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Howlett, commanding officer of the 2nd battalion, the Parachute Regiment, paid tribute to Captain Gerry Weston, 37, who died in the explosion.

“Padre Weston was an absolutely tremendous Roman Catholic priest,” he said.

“He did a tremendous amount to try and bridge the gap between the Catholic community and the Catholic Church and our soldiers.

“And he was continually going around into Catholic estates to try and achieve this, very often by himself and obviously completely unarmed and dressed as a priest.”

The Home Secretary, Reginald Maudling, broke the news to stunned MPs at the House of Commons and said police were doing all in their power to track down the bombers.

Brigadier Rowley Manns, acting head of the South-East District, condemned the “senseless killing” of civilians and said Aldershot was an open-plan garrison and difficult to defend.

In Context

The events of 30 January 1972 came to be known as Bloody Sunday.

The Aldershot bombing, which killed a total of seven people, was the first of a wave of revenge IRA bombings against army targets on the mainland throughout the 1970s.

Noel Jenkinson was jailed for life for the bombings in November 1972 and died in prison of a heart attack four years later.

An inquiry into Bloody Sunday headed by Lord Widgery in 1972 exonerated the Army.

It said their firing had “bordered on the reckless” but said the troops had been fired upon first and some of their victims had been armed.

The results of the inquiry were rejected by the Catholic community who began a long campaign for a fresh investigation.

In 1998, Tony Blair’s government announced a new inquiry into Bloody Sunday.

The inquiry headed by Lord Saville will publish its report in summer 2005.