SAOIRSE32

Sinn Féin

Published: 21 March, 2006

Commenting after the meeting today between the DUP and the IMC and the comments from Peter Robinson that he may be prepared to talk directly to unionist paramilitaries, Sinn Féin Assembly member for North Antrim Philip McGuigan said that the DUP were living in a fantasy land if they were trying to pretend that a relationship does not already exist between his party and loyalist paramilitary gangs.

Mr McGuigan said:

“Over the past number of years unionist paramilitaries have been engaged in a widespread anti-Catholic campaign much of it centred in Ian Paisley’s own constituency. Nationalists and republicans have been rightly critical of the DUP failure to address these attacks.

“This morning after meeting with the IMC in Belfast Peter Robinson indicated that he was preparing to talk directly to unionist paramilitaries. Many people will find this ironic given the fact that the DUP still refuse to talk to the largest nationalist party Sinn Féin.

“Many people will also find it strange that Peter Robinson is seriously attempting to convince nationalists and republicans that a relationship does not already exist between the DUP and unionist paramilitaries, a relationship which has endured for decades.

* The DUP currently sit on the North and West parades forum with the UVF and UDA
* Senior DUP MPs have lent their support to the ‘Love Ulster’ campaign which the UDA were involved in publicly launching
* In the 1970s Ian Paisley formed the Third Force
* In the 1980s the DUP formed Ulster Resistance which went on to import tonnes of weapons from South Africa to kill Catholics
* In the late 1990s Willie McCrea stood on a platform with LVF leader Billy Wright
* The man convicted of killing Sinn Féin member Malachy Carey, released from prison under the Good Friday Agreement, currently holds a senior position within the DUP organisation in North Antrim

“So it is time the DUP faced up to reality and stopped hiding behind rhetoric. People know and accept that they have a relationship with violent unionism. What people want to hear from the DUP is that they are going to begin to exercise their political responsibilities not just with regard to unionist paramilitaries but across the political spectrum and in particular with regard to sitting down with nationalists and republicans in the power sharing executive laid out in the Good Friday Agreement.” ENDS

RTÉ

21 March 2006 16:28

The Taoiseach has said that the British government intends going ahead with a restricted inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane despite the opposition of the Irish Government.

Bertie Ahern told the Dáil that the Northern Secretary, Peter Hain, informed him last Thursday that Britain is now seeking a judge to head the inquiry, which should get underway later this year.

However, the Taoiseach said that securing a chair would not be a straightforward matter as the international legal community has advised its members against accepting the position.

Mr Ahern said that no matter what findings the inquiry came up with, they would not be believed, as the judge chairing it would not have full independence.

Mr Ahern said he could give TDs no comfort on the prospects of the British government changing its mind on the matter.

He said he had repeatedly told the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, that the proposed inquiry would not be full, independent, or public and that if Mr Blair proceeded with it, he would be doing so in the face of opposition from the Irish Government, the parties in the Oireachtas and all the interest groups involved.

BN.ie

21/03/2006 - 16:34:30

The Democratic Unionists are ready to hold talks with loyalist paramilitaries if it would help them abandon crime, deputy leader Peter Robinson signalled today.

The East Belfast MP accepted his party has a responsibility to use whatever influence it has to shift the terrorists towards peace.

He said: “We believe, just as we believe the republican movement must completely end all of their paramilitary and criminal activity, so too must loyalist organisations.

“We recognise there’s some element with them seeking to bring that about. Equally we know some are resistant.

“If it’s felt we can influence that situation we are willing to do it. But we need to be convinced our influence is of assistance.”

Mr Robinson’s assessment came after he led a party delegation to meet the Independent Monitoring Commission ceasefire watchdog in Belfast.

He and his colleagues have already held talks with the Rev Mervyn Gibson, chairman of the Loyalist Commission, in an attempt to progress the paramilitaries away from violence and criminality.

The DUP deputy leader believed senior representatives on the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force genuinely want a new start.

“There are people on both the main organisations who are wanting to move in that direction,” he said.

“The big issue is whether they can bring their organisations with them.

“I don’t question any organisation is capable of doing it, but in many cases it’s the speed with which they want to do it.

“The longer ceasefires continue the more there will be concentration by the security forces in resolving the level of crime that exists.

“Clearly it’ in everybody’s interests to get rid of that crime.”

At today’s meeting the DUP also discussed the latest reports issued by the four-man IMC, which included an assessment that the IRA threat had gone.

But Mr Robinson insisted both the Provisionals and other terror groups are still steeped in crime.

“The IMC accepted that while, in their view, there may be no intention on behalf of republicans they retain the capacity to wage a campaign of terror and as such would be defined as a threat,” he added.

“There can be no disguising the fact that the IRA and other paramilitary groups are still fully and deeply engaged in criminal activity.

“The IMC attempted to justify the removal of sanctions from Sinn Fein on the basis that the republican leadership had been taking steps in the right direction.

“Such an attitude gives encouragement to republicans who are attempting to define the level of criminality that will be tolerated by the community. We welcome the IMC view that there can be no acceptable level of criminal activity.”

BBC

Officers from the Police Ombudsman’s office are being investigated by the PSNI in relation to allegations made by a member of the ombudsman’s staff.

In a statement, the ombudsman’s office said the allegations, which relate to a court case, concern four members of staff and a former employee.

The four staff are at both senior and junior level within the office.

The allegations do not involve the Police Ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan, personally.

A spokesman for the office said: “We welcome a thorough police investigation of this matter and will co-operate fully with their enquiries.”

Belfast Telegraph

Ex-mayor accused of vote fraud

By Lisa Smyth
21 March 2006

A former DUP mayor of Coleraine who has been accused of electoral fraud.

Councillor Dessie Stewart, a retired part-time firefighter, appeared at North Antrim Magistrates Court yesterday to face six charges relating to the local government and parliamentary elections last year.

Stewart, of Parker Avenue, Portrush, was charged with two counts of pretending to be another person in order to cast a postal vote in the Skerries district of Coleraine Borough Council in last May’s local government elections.

He was also charged with two counts of pretending to be another person in order to cast a postal vote in the East Derry constituency in last May’s parliamentary elections

He was further charged with two counts that by duress or any fraudulent device or contrivance, he is guilty of undue influence by impeding or preventing the free exercise of the franchise of an elector or proxy for an elector.

The alleged offences were all said to have occurred on a date unknown between April 24, 2005 and May 1, 2005.

Stewart (56), who appeared in court wearing a dark suit and clutching a file, was released on bail of £500. He spoke to confirm that he understood the charges before him and when asked if he had any questions he wanted to ask or witnesses he wanted to call, he replied: “Not at this time.”

A representative from the PPS told the court she believed there was a prima facie case to answer. The case was adjourned until April 27.

Stewart, whose real name is Robert Desmond Stewart, is a long-standing member of Coleraine Borough Council, having first been elected to office in 1989.

Indymedia

Public Meeting / Discussion
Posted by Mark Hewitt - South Belfast ARN

7pm Thursday 23rd March, Peter Froggatt Centre at Queens University

Speakers:

Journalist and activist Eamonn McCann, QUB Lecturer Phil Scratton, UUJ Lecturer Eilish Rooney, Jamal Iweida of the Belfast Islamic Centre and Barbara Muldoon (ARN)

Click to view poster - downloadable at Indymedia

As part of European Week Against Racism the ARN will host a discussionon what has been dubbed the “cartoon controversy”. The discussion will be kicked off by a panel of invited speakers giving their analysis of the decision to publish the cartoons and the subsequent protests they sparked all over the world. The event will then be opened up to the floor for discussion.

Indymedia

By RSF - Republican Sinn Fein
saoirse at iol dot ie
223 Parnell Street, Dublin
01 872 9747
Posted Tuesday March 21, 2006 03:07

March 17, 2006

“Those who failed to have a loyalist march forced through the centre of Dublin at the end of February claimed a near-monopoly of suffering for themselves and ignored the sacrifices of the nationalist community over the past few decades,” said Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, President of Republican Sinn Féin when he spoke at a 30th anniversary commemoration of the deaths of Fian James Francis McCaughey (13), Fian Patrick Bernard (13), Joseph Kelly (57) and Andrew Small (62) in Edendork Cemetery, Co Tyrone.

“These two young Fianna members and two civilians were among the 1,000 innocent and uninvolved nationalists who were done to death by British-backed loyalist death squads over the period. “They were killed by a UVF car-bomb outside the Hillcrest Bar, Donaghmore Road, Dungannon on St Patrick’s Day, 1976.

“In the armed struggle for Irish national independence, more than 1,000 members of the British forces and over 400 Republicans were killed.

“The Sunday Business Post (published in Dublin) of September 4, 2005 stated that of the 698 members of the unionist community killed, 340 died at the hands of loyalists. It would appear that “FAIR” and “Love Ulster” should have been marching on the UDA and UVF headquarters in Belfast.

“Republican Sinn Féin had sought to give this debate a political focus by mounting a peaceful protest picket on the route of the proposed march in Dublin. It did not seek to stop it and RSF departed the scene when the march was abandoned.

“Republican Sinn Féin asked publicly if nationalist parades, of whatever ilk, would be allowed through Belfast’s Royal Avenue or the centre of Portadown. The British forces would certainly block them.”

RSF acted in solidarity with the beleaguered nationalists of the Garvaghy Road, of Ardoyne, the lower Ormeau Road, Dunloy and other areas who have had triumphalist loyalist marches imposed on them forcefully year after year, he continued.

In contrast the 26-County Administration and others had turned their backs on these communities by collaborating with the attempted loyalist march.

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.

On that day in Dublin Republicans stood under a banner which quoted Wolfe Tone’s immortal words: “Unite Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter … to break the connection with England”.

Among the leaflets distributed was the pamphlet “An Address to the People of Ireland” which “makes special appeal to the people of the unionist persuasion”. The text asks “everybody to consider again our ÉIRE NUA programme for a four-province federal Ireland with optimum devolution of powers down to community level.”

Of course, our statements, press conferences and political appeals issued since mid-December due to our awareness of the rising tide of concern and disquiet in Dublin and beyond, were ignored by the 26-County media. Only the northern press, radio and television took notice of our concerns. When the Dublin media finally reacted it was much too late. They deplored the situation which they had deliberately ignored for months. We stated that the march was ill-advised but they would not listen.

“Similarly, Republican Sinn Féin will oppose politically the proposed official visit of the Queen of England to Dublin, the first such visit since 1911 - 95 years.

“There is nothing personal in this stance. Republicans simply contest and reject the claim of the English Establishment to style her ‘Queen of Northern Ireland’. That is all.

“When that claim to part of Ireland is relinquished, then the crowned head of England will be received just as any other head of state. But not until then …

“Meanwhile, the mountain of sacrifice suffered in recent years on all sides must not be allowed to go for nothing. We must learn from it. We must not accept or join the British forces in Ireland. To do so is to invite a repetition of what has recurred down the centuries while British rule lasts.”

Related Link: http://www.rsf.ie

BN.ie

21/03/2006 - 11:18:57

DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson is criticising the Taoiseach for saying at the weekend that he believed all IRA activity had ended.

Speaking after a meeting with the Independent Monitoring Commission in Belfast this morning, Mr Robinson claimed it was clear that the IRA was still involved in criminality.

“I just can’t dream as to how the Prime Minister of the Irish Republic could reach a conclusion that criminality is gone,” he said.

“Criminality is still going on. Everybody knows it’s still going on.

“I think the credibility of the Taoiseach is damaged by remarks such as that and it means that any judgment he makes in the future will be considered to be flawed.”

BBC

The NI Housing Executive (NIHE) could be abolished in five years under government plans to reduce bureaucracy.

The number of unelected quangos and public bodies in Northern Ireland are being drastically cut.

The final stage of the Review of Public Administration will see the number of such bodies in Northern Ireland almost halved from 154 to 75.

The NIHE is to lose some functions to seven super councils in 2009, and it could disappear altogether by 2011.

Last November, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain announced the first part of the Review of Public Administration reducing 26 district councils to seven and cutting the number of education and health boards.

This latest cull of quangos means the eventual demise of bodies such as Enterprise Ulster and the Housing Council, while other bodies will merge.

The changes announced in Belfast by Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain on Tuesday are likely to save less than £20m.

However, Mr Hain said they would “cut costs and transfer resources from bureaucracy to frontline delivery of key public services like health and education”.

Key changes will mean:

* There will be a new Land and Property Agency which will incorporate valuation and lands, rate collection, land registers and Ordnance Survey agencies;

* A Library Authority will be created with responsibility for all libraries across Northern Ireland;

* Driver and Vehicle Licensing will merge with the Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency;

* The Northern Ireland Events Company will become part of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board;

* Some of the funding currently administered by the Arts and Sports Councils will become the responsibility of local government, as will some of the functions of the NITB and Invest NI;

* The Public Records Office will transfer to central government;

* The Northern Ireland Housing Council, the Agriculture Wages Board and Enterprise Ulster will cease to exist.

In practice, Mr Hain said, the new system would mean fewer public bodies, with wider remits and the ability to deliver better co-ordination of services.

“We believe that housing is essentially a local issue and for that reason we will consider the transfer of housing to local government at a future date, once the new councils are in place, fully operational and bedded in,” he said.

“In the meantime, however, while the Northern Ireland Housing Executive will remain, some of its non-core functions will transfer to local government when the new councils are established in 2009.”

In future, appointments to public bodies will be made on merit through the public appointments procedure.

Councils

However, the seven new councils will now have 60 councillors each, rather than 50 as earlier envisaged.

BBC Northern Ireland political correspondent Gareth Gordon said this was possibly a concession to most of the political parties - apart from Sinn Fein - who wanted 15 councils to remain.

He said the future of the Housing Executive would prove “the most controversial”.

“It will lose a sixth of its annual budget of £600m and 300 of its 3,000 staff… to the new councils when they are set up in 2009,” he said.

The public service union, Nipsa, has called for protection for staff and further consultation on the government’s plans.

General secretary John Corey said the proposals affected thousands of civil and public service staff.

“Even though the number of quangos may be cut, the public services still have to be provided,” Mr Corey said.

He reiterated the union demand for a “no compulsory redundancy” pledge from the Government and called for further public consultations on many of the key announcements before any final decision.

BBC

A new facility aiming to help those who have lost loved ones to suicide is to officially open in north Belfast.

Pips House at Duncairn Gardens will offer advice and support for bereaved familes as well as those living with someone suffering through self-harm.

Complementary therapies and a range of classes will be available.

Philip McTaggart, who lost his son, Pip, to suicide, said the facility would see organisations working together to help support the bereaved.

“We want to offer a joined up approach in the new centre to tackling the issues surrounding suicide,” he said.

“It will be of great benefit to the people of Belfast and is a resource that has not been available in the past.

“We hope to create awareness and break down barriers to the issue of suicide and self harm and hopefully save lives in the process.”

Pips House was donated by the Housing Executive to the Public Initiative for the Prevention of Suicide and Self Harm (Pips) Project, which has spearheaded suicide intervention work across the island of Ireland.

Skills training

The house will also be a base for setting up a number of neighbourhood response teams in north Belfast.

Jo Murphy of the North Belfast Partnership Board’s Health and Social Well-being Forum said she was delighted with the new facility.

“Dozens of people have given up their time to help us get here,” she said.

“Three years on, our vision has become a reality. True partnership working really does pay off, as the opening of the Pips house proves.”

She said the centre was a chance to reach out to the community.

“I would be just stuck in the house basically with nowhere to go and no-one to turn to,” she said. “You can talk down here, you don’t need to hold back, you can open up,” she said.

Several families will share their personal experiences at the official opening of the project on Tuesday.

Frank Campbell, the executive director of Baton Rouge Crisis and Intervention Centre in Louisiana, USA, will also give a speech.

He was one of the team of people that trained some of the Pips volunteers to deliver Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training.

Statistics show that north Belfast has an above average suicide rate.