SAOIRSE32

Belfast Telegraph

By Noel McAdam
27 February 2006

A taskforce is being appointed to drive forward the reduction of Northern Ireland’s 26 councils to seven - in the face of widespread political opposition, it emerged today.

Despite anger from the DUP, SDLP, Ulster Unionists and Alliance parties, the Government has reiterated the decisions are not up for reconsideration.

In a blunt letter to council chiefs, Lord Rooker said: “I want to emphasise that the Review of Public Administration decisions are final and not open to renegotiation.”

But he argued it is essential local government works with the taskforce to ensure the new councils framework is in place for the next local authority elections in 2009.

The three-pronged initiative will draw up the details of how cutting the councils - and modernising - local government will be carried out over the next three years.

It involves a political panel which will be chaired by Direct Rule Minister Lord Rooker and a working group headed up by Department of Environment Permanent Secretary, Stephen Peover.

The overall task force may also involve the appointment of a number of independent experts.

And the third element of the radical initiative is areas which have been identified as essential.

They include the relationship with central government, shared services and community planning.

Lord Rooker said all the evidence over the three-year consultation and research period before last November’s announcement pointed to seven councils as the optimum model “particularly for service delivery and targeting inequality and social need”.

“This model was supported by 62% of respondents, who expressed a preference for one of the options for local government in the Review consultation document published in March (last year),” he added.

The Minister said he wanted to consult closely with the various political parties in Northern Ireland on the details of the changes required.

“I am conscious of the scale of the challenge that lies ahead within a limited timeframe and it is important that we work together, particularly through the local government taskforce, to effect the new arrangements in time for the new councils to come into operation by 2009,” Lord Rooker said.

Belfast Telegraph

By David Gordon
27 February 2006

A Belfast Protestant campaigning to expose security force collusion with his son’s UVF killers will today hold face-to-face talks with Gerry Adams.

Raymond McCord’s meeting with the Sinn Fein chief will be the latest in a series of discussions with senior political figures.

Mr McCord last night said he is expecting criticism from some quarters.

“I am a genuine loyalist as opposed to a gangster or a drug dealer,” he said.

“I have no problems with what I am doing. Lots of people sat in the Assembly with Sinn Fein and got paid to do it. I’m doing this for justice.

“I will be challenging Sinn Fein about issues involving Protestant victims. The UVF have killed around 30 Protestants since their so-called ceasefire. I have never heard a word from Sinn Fein about this.”

Mr McCord’s son, Raymond Jnr, was beaten to death by a UVF gang in November, 1997. His body was dumped on the outskirts of north Belfast. His father believes that the killing was ordered by a UVF terrorist who worked for the police as an informer.

Belfast Telegraph

By Chris Thornton
27 February 2006

Important DNA evidence has emerged in the case of two Ulster teenagers butchered by loyalists six years ago - prompting the father of one of the victims to call for an inquiry into why police did not act upon it before.

Paul McIlwaine, whose son David was murdered alongside Andrew Robb in February 2000, called for a new Police Ombudsman investigation last night after he was contacted by the detective currently in charge of the manhunt.

Mr McIlwaine said the PSNI detective revealed that a forensic review had turned up a DNA link between his son’s body and a suspect in the case.

He called on the Police Ombudsman - who reviewed the case last year - to conduct a new inquiry to determine why the evidence had not been available for six years.

Mr McIlwaine said last year’s Ombudsman review concluded that police have carried out “a thorough and professional investigation” but called on the Ombudsman “to reinvestigate this case in light of this information”.

The PSNI refused to comment on Mr McIlwaine’s allegations, saying the case is subjudice because two men are currently awaiting trial.

David McIlwaine (18), and 19-year-old Andrew Robb were murdered in the early hours of February 19, 2000 by loyalists believed to belong to the UVF.

The boys’ bodies were found near Tandragee.

They had been stabbed repeatedly and their throats had been slashed.

Two years ago Paul McIlwaine raised queries about the available evidence in the Belfast Telegraph, citing police papers he had won access to after a long court battle.

He said those papers indicated that substantial forensic evidence, including DNA evidence, was available.

Mr McIlwaine has previously alleged that an informer for the security forces was among the killers.

A suspect was charged a short time after the murders but he was released months later because prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to secure a conviction.

Two years ago police told Mr McIlwaine that DNA material was being resubmitted for review, and new files were prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. But the DPP concluded again that there was not enough evidence to secure a conviction.

“We never accepted that this was the case,” he said. “On the limited evidence available to us we had a number of human rights experts independently examine the evidence. All felt that on the body of evidence that prosecutions should have been taken.”

Last September the case featured in the BBC’s Crimewatch programme and within weeks two men had been charged with the murders. They are currently in custody awaiting trial.

Mr McIlwaine said the developments came after a “a senior public figure” raised the family’s case with Tony Blair.

“We recognise that this is progress but are equally conscious that justice and truth remain largely outstanding,” he said.

“Today we are vindicated in our stand to date for justice for David and we will not rest until all those responsible are brought to justice.

“We are owed an explanation from the Chief Constable as to how this occurred and exactly what action is being taken.”

Belfast Telegraph

By Noel McAdam
27 February 2006

The Government has spurned council demands for a full investigation into the Denis Donaldson ‘Stormontgate’ spying scandal.

Secretary of State Peter Hain said the Government did not see the need for a “costly” public inquiry.

The rebuff came after several local councils requested an official inquiry and clarification over the role of former Sinn Fein administrator Donaldson, who was exposed as a British agent.

With the fallout from the Stormont spy-ring allegations continuing to mar the political landscape, Mr Hain also reiterated it is not Government policy to comment on such claims.

In a letter, however, the Secretary of State said: “There was, without any doubt, paramilitary intelligence-gathering which the police acted to prevent.

“As a result of their operation, hundreds of stolen documents were recovered, over a thousand people had to be warned and over £30m had to be spent on protective measures.”

The letter, written on his behalf by Mr Hain’s private secretary, said Attorney General Lord Goldsmith stated unequivocally there was no political interference in the decision to drop the subsequent prosecutions.

“Political considerations did not form any part, or in any way affect, the decision. That, quite properly, was a matter solely for the independent prosecuting authorities.

“It is not Government policy to confirm or deny such claims as those made by Denis Donaldson, one of three persons charged with intelligence gathering offences. The Government does not see the need for a costly public inquiry.”

The three men were arrested after a police raid on Sinn Fein’s offices in Parliament Buildings in October 2002, which led to the collapse of the power-sharing Executive and Assembly.

In a surprise move last December the Public Prosecution Service dropped spy-ring charges against 55-year-old Donaldson and two other men on the grounds it would not be in the “public interest” to proceed.

Two weeks later, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams announced in Dublin that Donaldson had been a paid spy for British intelligence, and had been expelled from the party.

Later that day, the revelation was confirmed by Donaldson himself who said he had been recruited after compromising himself during a vulnerable time in his life.

Belfast Telegraph

Anger over alerts not passed to RUC

By Chris Thornton
27 February 2006

Omagh relatives have demanded a meeting with the director general of MI5 in response to revelations that the intelligence agency had a warning about the massacre that was never passed on to police.

Some families of the 29 dead have called for “straight answers” from Eliza Manningham-Buller, the head of the secret agency.

And the SDLP has said the findings of a PSNI review should halt plans to make MI5 the lead intelligence agency in Northern Ireland.

Last week it emerged that FBI agent David Rupert, who had penetrated dissident republican ranks, told MI5 in early 1998 - five months before the bombing - that a bomb would be planted in Londonderry or Omagh in a Vauxhall Cavalier car.

That model of car is believed to have been favoured by bombmakers because its suspension could be modified so that it would not appear it was carrying a heavy load.

MI5 tipped off the Garda about the plot and arrests were made.

But the RUC was not told - and on August 15, 1998, the Real IRA exploded the huge bomb that killed 29 and two unborn children.

Omagh relatives were told about the information last week. They were told that the Garda also had key information that was not passed north - an informant told them that a Cavalier had been stolen to order for the Real IRA.

Stanley McComb, whose wife Ann was killed by the bomb, said the families want to meet Ms Manningham-Buller and the Republic’s Justice Minister Michael McDowell. “We want straight answers,” he told the Sunday Times.

The dissemination of intelligence like the Omagh warning is a crucial issue around Government plans to give MI5 primacy over police in Northern Ireland.

SDLP Policing Board member Alex Attwood said those plans should now be scrapped.

“Given that MI5 failed to account for what they did in the past means they should have no role in the future,” he said.

“MI5 have failed to answer enormous questions around the single biggest atrocity of the conflict. How can this type of organisation have any future role in the North with any degree of public confidence?”

Belfast Telegraph

By Noel McAdam
27 February 2006

Organisers of Saturday’s Love Ulster rally today said they were considering another protest in Dublin despite the weekend riots.

Unionists have demanded a full inquiry into the disturbances over the march which left central Dublin looking like a battlefield.

But the Republic’s Justice Minister, Michael McDowell, who was today due to receive a Garda report on the violence, said there was no need for a public inquiry.

His rebuff came as victims groups who organised the Saturday parade, supported by the Love Ulster organisation, were due to meet to consider their next move.

And it emerged they have not ruled out a return visit, possibly within the next month.

Organiser Willie Frazer said: “We don’t want to see Dublin wrecked again but at the same time we cannot let these people win.

“It seems the Dublin City Council and some of their politicians would want us to go back and, if we did, it should be in about a month or so. But there were some people there who had never been over the border before and say they will never go back.”

With the Dublin Cabinet tomorrow due to discuss the disturbances - estimated to have cost £7m - Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey today called for a full inquiry.

“In particular to identify those involved in the disturbances,” he said, “because our information points to the involvement of mainstream republicans.

“Republican Sinn Fein (RSF) would not have had the capability to mount such a demonstration on its own. There was clear evidence of widespread preparation for violence and the denials of republicans ring hollow,” he said.

Ruairi O Bradaigh of RSF, however, denied his party had orchestrated the mayhem which failed to prevent the 600-strong parade taking place past Leinster House after marchers were bussed across the city.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams condemned the mayhem as “reprehensible” and insisted his party members were urged not to protest.

As the remainder of the 43 arrested were today due to begin appearances in Dublin Criminal Court, it emerged further arrests are expected after gardai study closed circuit television footage from various points of the city.

Gardai said they had no advance knowledge of the level of protests planned. Assistant Commissioner Al McHugh said intelligence did not indicate there would be violence on such a scale.

Mr McDowell said there would not be a public inquiry, but said the force needed to learn from what had happened.

Retailers in Dublin city centre estimate the riots will result in them losing millions of euro. A number of shops and offices were damaged and looted during the violent protests.

Irelandclick

by Damian McCarney

A new drive to tackle the many problems of Poleglass will see up to a dozen new residents’ associations formed over the coming months. In recent years residents’ associations have become increasingly popular in estates throughout West Belfast, with the exception of Poleglass. The absence of the associations is even more surprising given the significant level of anti-social behaviour in the area.

At a public meeting held in Sally Gardens last month, the idea of setting up residents’ associations for each area was endorsed as the best approach to dealing with the problems in the estate. It was also agreed that delegates from each of the new groups would represent residents on the Colin Neighbourhood Partnership Board, who organise community initiatives in the area.

Rosa McLaughlin from Colinmill was elected to organise the setting up of the associations.

“The new residents’ associations will empower people on the ground by ensuring that every street and house in Poleglass has a voice.

“We have identified 13 distinct areas in Poleglass and yet there is only one residents’ group in existence at present, and that is Glenbawn. It should be noted that there has been amazing work done in the area by the Glenbawn Residents’ Association, and it has resulted in massive changes on the ground in the estate,” said Rosa.

Rosa believes that there is great need for community participation in tackling problems that affect the lives of Poleglass residents.

“We intend to tackle anti-social issues, and encourage facilities for young people at night. We will also address the fear of vulnerable people living under threat of burglary and attacks. There have been a number of local schools and community groups vandalised and burgled which cannot continue. We can also make inroads into getting the bins collected, rubbish cleared up and graffiti removed,” said Rosa.The residents’ associations will come together to form the Poleglass Community Forum, and it is planned that they will link with similar community forums from Kilwee, Twinbrook and Lagmore to form the Colin Community Council. In order to establish the 13 residents’ groups there will be two public meetings – on Tuesday, February 28 at the Footprints Women’s Centre at 7.30pm and on Thursday, March 2 at the Sally Gardens at 7.30pm.

Journalist:: Damien McCarney

Irelandclick

Residents are planning to stage the first of a series of pickets this morning in Twinbrook in opposition to drug dealers who are trying to sell ecstasy and cocaine to schoolchildren. The protest which will be supported by local representatives will be held in a towpath near the Summerhill Road across the road from St Colm’s High School.

The path is frequently used by dealers to pressurise children and young people into buying drugs on their way to schools and local shops.
West Belfast Sinn Féin MLA Michael Ferguson said that the targeting of young people by local drug dealers was unacceptable.

“We cannot allow drug dealers to peddle their poison and death to our children and young people.

“We cannot simply sit back and watch while these dealers skulk in bushes, laneways and alleyways exploiting the vulnerable as they make their way to our youth clubs, schools and shopping areas.”

Concerned residents have videoed alleged drug dealers confronting youths and have distributed pamphlets warning of the threat posed to children.
Cllr Ferguson encouraged the community to help remove drug dealers from the Twinbrook area by showing their support for the picket that is taking place at 8.30am.

“It is incumbent upon my colleagues and I as elected representatives to protect our community and the most vulnerable against these predators and we expect their families and anyone who knows them to join with us in this protest in defence of our community and to make them leave.

“I am also calling upon the British Direct Rule Ministers for Education and Health to invest in our schools, youth clubs and community sector to help us with strategies of prevention and intervention,” said Cllr Ferguson.

Journalist:: Staff Journalist

Irelandclick

BY Francesca Ryan

West Belfast MP Gerry Adams is set to join sacked employees at a protest demanding government intervention to secure the future of the faltering TriVirix company.

The call comes after last Wednesday’s shock announcement by the court-appointed administrator, Deloitte & Touche, that 76 people were to lose their jobs whilst only 37 employees were being retained at the Springfield Road plant.

Invest Northern Ireland, the government body responsible for encouraging companies to set up in the North, is now being urged to come up with the funds required to keep the struggling ompany in operation.

Sinn Féin’s Education and Employment spokesperson, Michael Ferguson, will, along with redundant TriVirix workers, stage a protest outside Invest NI’s Bedford Street offices tomorrow (Tuesday) demanding the small amount of investment required to keep the company afloat.

Councillor Ferguson said the US company is close to abandoning a flexible workforce whose skills could be applied to a range of other operations.

“This redundant workforce along with the existing technology at the site offers tremendous assets to any potential purchaser so it is crucial that the factory remains functioning. This workforce can lend itself to any amount of electronic manufacturing tasks.

“TriVirix in West Belfast is only one of a couple of sites in the world that has the high technological specification equipment and skilled workforce that meet the Food and Drugs Administration standards required.

“Invest NI has the funding available and rather than throw it away on another foreign company that will take it and run, we are now demanding that it be invested in the future of the local skilled workforce.

“I am calling for all-party support at the protest to pressurise Invest NI to release the funds needed to keep the factory afloat.

“The court-appointed administrator has also asked for this investment and I have written to Angela Smith seeking its release now.”

Meanwhile, West Belfast MP Gerry Adams, along with Councillor Ferguson, met with Communication Workers Union General Secretary Billy Hayes at the weekend to discuss the crisis over the 76 jobs axed in his constituency.
The protest will take place outside Invest NI’s Bedford Street offices on Tuesday, February 28 at 11am.

Journalist:: Francesca Ryan

BN.ie

27/02/2006 - 07:43:58

Sinn Féin has blamed loyalists returning from the abandoned Love Ulster march in Dublin for riots in Portadown, Co Armagh, early yesterday morning.

Six PSNI officers were injured during the trouble involving more than 100 people in the High Street and Edward Street areas.

Local Sinn Féin councillor Brian McKeown said a loyalist crowd had attacked customers leaving two Catholic-owned bars in the town.

He claimed the attackers included several loyalist bandsmen who had been in Dublin earlier in the day for the Love Ulster march.

BN.ie

27/02/2006 - 09:52:20

Republican Sinn Féin is refusing to condemn the riots that accompanied Saturday’s abandoned loyalist march in Dublin city centre.

The party, which organised a protest against the parade, said none of its members were involved in the violence on O’Connell Street and elsewhere.

At least 14 people were arrested when gangs of youths attacked gardaí and built makeshift barricades across the street in an effort to prevent the march from going ahead.

Des Dalton, the vice president of Republican Sinn Féin, today refused to condemn the rioting, which is being blamed on dissident republicans.

He said the ultimate responsibility for the trouble lay with the authorities for thinking a loyalist march could go ahead in Dublin without attracting widespread opposition.

“It showed a complete lack of any basic political understanding of what opinion is on the ground among ordinary people,” he said

“It shows the gulf that is there between the political establishment in the 26 counties and the views of ordinary people.”

Irish Times

Mark Brennock & Patsy McGarry
27 February 2006

The Government is to work to identify and expose any dissident republican or Sinn Féin elements involved in orchestrating Saturday’s riots in Dublin which injured 14 people and caused major damage to business premises and property.

The Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice blamed dissident republicans for organising the violence which caused the abandonment of the planned “Love Ulster” march down O’Connell Street. However, the violence failed to prevent a brief loyalist parade from going past Leinster House.

Mr McDowell and Mr Ahern said hooligan elements had joined the riots, but that many had gone to the scene with what the Taoiseach described as “serious intent”.

Gardaí arrested 42 people, 13 of whom were charged at a special sitting of Dublin District Court at the Bridewell on Saturday night. They were charged variously with arson, criminal damage, public order offences and looting. More are expected to be charged today.

Tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting will receive an initial operational Garda report on the riots, which is produced as a matter of routine after such an event. Mr McDowell said yesterday he was seeking a fuller report on the “real perpetrators” of the violence, signalling Government determination to expose any republican elements involved in orchestrating the violence.

Assistant Garda Commissioner Al McHugh said that some people had arrived with “snooker balls, petrol bombs and lump hammers”. A few hundred people had come out of pubs and side streets to join in. All those hurt received relatively minor injuries and were released from hospital on Saturday.

Dublin Chamber of Commerce estimates that as much as €10 million may have been lost by businesses through closures and damage as a result of Saturday’s riots. Several shopfronts were smashed using paving slabs set aside for O’Connell Street’s reconstruction. Shops which sustained the most damage were forced to remain closed yesterday.

While some rioters came prepared on Saturday, many were teenagers and some were as young as 12. Eyewitnesses said many of them appeared to have joined in an unexpected eruption of mayhem.

Ruairí Óg Ó Brádaigh of Republican Sinn Féin last night rejected claims that his organisation was involved in orchestrating the violence. The party had held a peaceful protest at a different part of the street, he said.

“As far as we are concerned, none of our members were involved. I have seen no evidence to the contrary and I haven’t seen any of our members being charged. When it was clear the [ unionist] march was not proceeding we packed up our banners and went home.”

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams condemned the violence as “entirely wrong and reprehensible” and said his party had urged people not to protest. There was no evidence yesterday to back claims that some Sinn Féin activists were involved, although witnesses reported seeing protesters from Republican Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Socialist Party in the same location as the rioting mob.

The Taoiseach dismissed reports that rioters had been “bused in” to the city, saying they were predominantly local people.

DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson, who was in Dublin for the march, was among those claiming that Sinn Féin activists were involved in the rioting.

“The police confirmed to us that a number of Sinn Féin activists were involved. Clearly the Sinn Féin leadership is not in control of these people,” he said.

The chairman of the committee organising the 1916 commemoration parade on Easter Sunday, Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea, said he was determined that “similar elements will not be able to hijack the event”.

The parade would go ahead, but the Government was now “alive to the possibility of an attempt to hijack the commemoration” and there could be extra policing.

Opposition politicians questioned the level of Garda preparedness for Saturday’s riots and asked why piles of bricks being used in construction work on O’Connell Street were easily accessed by rioters.

Mr McDowell said the Garda had had no prior warning that such violence would take place. Blame should be laid where it belonged: on “a thuggish fascist fringe” who denied others the right to march.

BBC ON THIS DAY

27 February 1975

Bomb-making equipment and weapons were found at this Victorian house in West London

Scotland Yard has said the man who shot dead a police officer in London yesterday had been staying in a flat used as a “bomb factory” by the Provisional IRA.

PC Stephen Tibble, aged 22, had been in the force for just six months.

He was shot three times at point blank range by a gunman on the run from detectives in Baron’s Court, West London.

Within two hours of the killing, a large Victorian house was searched after routine enquiries.

The basement was found to contain enough bomb-making equipment to make half a dozen high explosive bombs as well as a box of ammunition and an automatic pistol.

It is the first IRA bomb factory to be found in London.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ernest Bond said: “Evidence shows that the equipment can be definitely connected with other bomb incidents and outrages recently in London and the provinces.”

Four men are registered as tenants.

Shot in the chest

No-one has been arrested at the flat but police have rounded up 18 Irish men and have applied to detain further at least six of those under the provisions of the anti-terrorism act passed last year.

Yesterday, a plain-clothes detective patrolling Charleville Rd and Fairholme Rd, where the “bomb factory” was later found, saw a man acting suspiciously and questioned him.

He ran off and the detective and two other officers gave chase.

PC Tibble was passing by on his motorbike and although he was off duty he rode after the suspect and overtook him.

He then got off his bike and stood in front of the fugitive with arms stretched out, at which point the man shot him three times in the chest.

The Royal Ulster Constabulary is helping Scotland Yard in the hunt for the killer.

There has been an overwhelming response from the public and donations offered for PC Tibble’s widow.

In Context

Liam Quinn, Stephen Tibble’s killer, escaped to San Francisco.

He lost a 13-year battle against extradition from the United States and returned to Britain to face trial.

He was jailed for life in 1988 with a recommended minimum sentence of 30 years.

As part of a deal with Sinn Fein under the Good Friday Agreement, he was freed from the high-security Portaloise Prison 11 years later in April 1999, much to the horror of police officers in England and Northern Ireland.

The four men with whom he was associated - known as the Balcombe Street Gang - were released at the same time.

They had carried out a series of bombings on the mainland and murdered co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records Ross McWhirter and Gordon Hamilton-Fairley, one of the world’s leading cancer specialists.