SAOIRSE32

BBC

The exhibition features images of 1970s Northern Ireland streetlife

A museum in London has unveiled a collection of paintings of Northern Ireland street scenes in the early and mid-1970s.

The artist - Ralph Lifford - travelled to Northern Ireland to paint history as it unfolded.

His work depicted soldiers and civilians as they went about their daily lives.

Now, 30 years later, it has found a home - in the National Army Museum in west London’s Chelsea area.

His pictures of soldiers as they go about their daily lives on patrol behind the shocking backdrop of a city at war are to be seen by thousands in the new exhibition.

This is the first time a collection of work relating to the Troubles has been shown at the venue - the feeling was that the time was right.

There is a sense that this collection can bring a reflection of some of the most traumatic times across the board in Northern Ireland to a wider audience.

The museum’s Jenny Spencer-Smith said: “I hope people do come to see it because it does show one person’s point of view.

“It’s very much a civilian looking at what happened in the 1970s.

“We’re now in the 21st century, time has gone on, and we feel it is the right time to go with it and the public response has been brilliant.”

Those who come to see the more traditional exhibits are often drawn to the Northern Ireland collection.

“We’ve had great feedback, very, very positive,” Jessica Stewart of the museum said.

“That’s very encouraging for us because this is the first time we’ve done an exhibition on Northern Ireland, so it bodes well for the future.”

Newshound

(Sharon O’Neill, Irish News)

New digs could be mounted in a bid to locate the remains of the ‘Disappeared’.

The commission tasked with finding the bodies of those abducted, killed and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries in the 1970s and 1980s is due to deliver a report to the Irish and British governments within days.

The dossier is based on a massive review of the cases, including further detail provided by the IRA to an English forensic expert drafted in as part of a fresh bid to achieve closure for families.

The investigative sciences consultant – who worked on the Moors Murders – has met relatives on a number of occasions since he took up his new role last year.

In 1999 the IRA admitted kidnapping, killing and secretly burying nine people, vowing to do all it could to locate their remains.

Seven years on and despite a number of excavations, five bodies have not been found.

A spokesman for the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains confirmed last night (Monday) that its report containing new detail would be delivered to both governments.

“He [the forensic expert] has been in direct contact with IRA sources. This [the report] is one phase, reviewing what has gone but recommends what happens next.

“It could eventually lead to further digs. Recommendations have been made. It is up to the two governments to decide what happens next.”

The expert has met IRA sources several times since last year to “clarify matters”.

Three of the Disappeared victims were found following information passed via the IRA to the commission.

Legislation drawn up by both governments gives the killers immunity from prosecution.

The first body to be discovered was that of north Belfast republican Eamon Molloy, an alleged IRA informer who vanished in 1975. His remains were found in May 1999 in a Co Louth cemetery.

Five weeks later the bodies of west Belfast men John McClory and Brian McKinney, abducted in 1978, were found in bogland in Co Monaghan following a search.

In 2003 a 30-year search for west Belfast mother Jean McConville, who was kidnapped in 1972, finally ended when her remains were spotted by a passer-by on Templeton Beach, Co Louth.

Those on the IRA’s list who are still missing are: west Belfast men Seamus Wright and Kevin McKee, who were abducted in 1972; Co Tyrone man Columba McVeigh, who was kidnapped in 1975; Brendan Megraw, from west Belfast, who disappeared in 1978; and Danny McIlhone, also from west Belfast, who went missing in 1981.

However, further ‘Disappeared’ victims have also been attributed to the IRA.

They are Co Armagh man Charlie Armstrong, last seen alive in Crossmaglen in 1981 and Gerald Evans, last seen alive in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan in 1979.

Last Friday Mr Armstrong’s family and that of former IRSP member Seamus Ruddy, who was killed and secretly buried by the INLA in France in 1985, met US president George Bush to highlight their plight.

As Mr Ruddy’s murder happened in France, if his body is ever found, his killers will not be immune from prosecution.

The commission spokesman said the expert had been in contact with the IRSP.

“They indicated they might be in a position to review what happened,” he said.

March 22, 2006
________________

This article appeared first in the March 21, 2006 edition of the Irish News.

Daily Ireland

Eamonn Houston
22/03/2006

The Sinn Féin mayor of Kerry has used a visit to the United States to forge educational and cultural links between the county and Western Massachusetts.
Toireasa Ferris, who at the age of 26 is Kerry’s youngest ever mayor, arrives home today after visits to Elms College, Springfield City Hall and the Eastern States Exposition fairgrounds.
“There’s a whole wealth of possibilities that we’ll be following up on when we get home,” she said.
“I’d say this was very productive for all of us.”
Ms Ferris marched in the Holyoke St Patrick’s parade and met with residents who were born in Ireland and descendants of those who immigrated from Co Kerry.
She laid groundwork for an educational exchange between Elms College and the Institute of Technology in Tralee and the University of Limerick.
A student exchange programme could see knowledge shared on nursing and arts programs and there may also be a faculty exchange.
“It would be a fantastic opportunity for the people in Kerry to have the chance to study here in Springfield,” Ms Ferris said.
President James H Mullen Junior at Elms College, said his school would welcome close ties with Ireland. “There’s no more natural connection than what we have with Ireland,” he said.
Elms college is home to the Irish Cultural Center of Western Massachusetts.
Ms Ferris was joined on her American visit by John D Flynn, director of corporate services in Co Kerry, and Micheal de Mordha, manager of the Great Blasket Centre in Dunquin.

Sinn Féin

Published: 22 March, 2006

Message from Euskadi Ta Askatasuna to the Basque People.

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna has decided to declare a permanent ceasefire from March 24th 2006.

The objective of this decision is to encourage a democratic process in Euskal Herria in order to build a new framework in which the rights as a people which correspond to us can be recognised and looking to the future assuring us the possibility of the development of all political options.

At the end of this process the Basque citizens must have the word and decision on their future.

The Spanish and French states must recognise the results of such a democratic process, without any type of limitations. The decisions which the Basque citizens take on our future must be respected.

We make a call to all the agents to act with responsibility, and be conscious of the step taken by ETA.

ETA makes a call to the Spanish and French authorities to respond to this new situation in a positive manner, leaving repression to one side.

Finally, we make a call to all the men and women of the Basque country to get involved in this process, and to fight for the rights which as a patria correspond to us.

ETA expresses its wish and will that the process now started reaches its end, and in that we a real democratic situation is achieved for Euskal Herria, overcoming the conflict of many long years and constructing a peace based on justice.

We reaffirm our intention to carry on taking steps in the future in line with this wish.

The end of conflict, here and now is possible. This is the wish and the will of ETA.

Euskal Herrian, 2006 ko martxoan

Euskadi Ta Askatsasuna

E.T.A.

BN.ie

22/03/2006 - 17:52:11

The family of Patrick Finucane made a fresh appeal today to judges around the world not to sit on the public inquiry into the murder of the Belfast solicitor.

The plea came after Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Irish Parliament that the British government had begun the search for a judge to chair an inquiry into the murder 17 years ago.

The Finucane family campaigned long and hard for a public inquiry into the murder by loyalist paramilitaries and allegations of security force collusion in it.

But they are opposed to the British government’s decision to hold the inquiry under the controversial Inquiries Act which gives ministers the right to suppress full publication of the final report.

Fr Alex Reid said Eta had been influenced by the Irish process

Belfast priest Fr Alex Reid was involved in getting Basque separatist group Eta to call a permanent ceasefire, it has been confirmed.

The group will begin the ceasefire on Friday “to start a new democratic process in the Basque country”.

Fr Reid, who was a witness to IRA decommissioning in Northern Ireland, said they were influenced by the peace process in the province.

He said they had taken “courage and inspiration” from the NI peace process.

“They would say to me here ‘we had no hope’,” he said.

“The people were in a hole, were in despair, and they would look to Ireland and they see what Ireland was able to do and that lifts them and kind of tells them that ‘if they can do it, because their conflict is very old and very difficult, we can do it’.”

Eta is blamed for killing more than 800 people in its four-decade fight for independence for the Basque region of northern Spain and south-west France.

Eta said the ceasefire would start on Friday

Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the government was cautious but hopeful about the announcement.

Eta, which is classed as a terrorist group by the US and the European Union, declared an indefinite ceasefire in 1998 but peace talks broke down and the bombing campaign resumed a year later.

The group has never previously called a permanent stop to the violence.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said his party had been in contact with Basque political parties and that the opportunity should be grasped.

“There is a particular onus and responsibility on the Spanish government to respond positively and creatively,” he said.

“The Spanish government should immediately intervene to stop the political trials against Batasuna leaders.”

Fr Reid outlined what sort of concessions Eta and its political wing Batasuna may have received from the Spanish government in return for ending the armed campaign.

“One of them would be how you are going to arrange with the prisoners,” he said.

“There’s the legalisation of Batasuna - there must be some arrangement about that.

“They would have to do directly with Eta, and mostly with their prisoners.

“Obviously that has been worked out, I can’t see them stopping unless there is a satisfactory solution.”

BN.ie

22/03/2006 - 11:50:37

Dissident republicans are being blamed for planting a hoax bomb outside the home of an SDLP Assemblyman in the Bogside area of Derry last night.

Bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion on the device before declaring it to be an elaborate hoax.

The target of the attack was Pat Ramsey, a member of the local district policing partnership who has been the subject of massive intimidation from dissident republicans.

Mr Ramsey’s family home has been attacked on at least 12 occasions in recent years.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan has described those behind last night’s incident as morally bankrupt cowards and has praised the Ramsey family for refusing to give in to the intimidation.

Belfast Telegraph

I’ll never find my son’s remains

22 March 2006

The mother of a Co Tyrone Disappeared victim today said she had given up hope of ever finding her son’s remains.

Vera McVeigh’s shattering admission came after it emerged that a report by a forensics expert may order fresh excavations searching for those abducted and murdered by the IRA during the Troubles.

Her son Columba (17) was kidnapped in 1975 and is reputed to be buried in Braggan, Co Monaghan - one of five who are still missing.

The commission tasked with finding the bodies, which was appointed by the British and Irish governments, has received a report from a forensics expert who was recruited last year in a bid to bring closure to the families.

“I have no hope of ever getting Columba’s remains, that’s the way I feel. I have been through this for 30 years and what way would any mother feel going through that?” Mrs McVeigh asked.

“I never had any hopes of getting him back. Anybody with any common sense could not have any hope.

“I was given a map of where he was buried a long, long time ago and I gave it in to the Garda and I have heard nothing back about that, nothing, so I have no hope.”

Specialist teams searched the barren moor where Columba is reputed to be buried in 1999, 2000 and 2003 without success.

A source at the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains said: “The important thing to remember is that the Commission is essentially a letter-box which gathers information through intermediaries and takes appropriate action.

“There’s a possibility that they could (begin excavations), it is also possible that you may get further information from different sources.”

The first body to be discovered was that of north Belfast republican Eamon Molloy, an alleged IRA informer who vanished in 1975. His remains were found in May 1999 in a Co Louth cemetery.

Five weeks later the bodies of west Belfast men John McClory and Brian McKinney, abducted in 1978, were found in bogland in Co Monaghan.

In 2003 west Belfast mother Jean McConville’s remains were found on Templeton beach in Co Louth.

Those who are still missing include west Belfast men Seamus Wright, Kevin McKee, Brendan Megraw and Danny McIlhone.

Charlie Armstrong, from Crossmaglen in Co Armagh, is also an alleged victim of the IRA who has never been found.

BN.ie

22/03/2006 - 07:03:49

The father of a loyalist murder victim is to seek support for a public inquiry when he meets Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin today.

Raymond McCord is waging a campaign for justice over the UVF killing of his son, Raymond Jr in north Belfast in 1997.

Nuala O’Loan, the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, is due to report on her investigation into the allegations later this year.

Mr McCord has already met most of Northern Ireland‘s main political parties as part of his campaign.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams is among those who have pledged their help and insisting the McCord family have the right to the truth.

Mr McCord Jr, a 22-year-old former RAF operator, was beaten to death and dumped in a north Belfast quarry in 1997.

BN.ie

22/03/2006 - 09:09:28

Local residents in a loyalist area of south Belfast staged a protest last night against alleged anti-social behaviour by eastern European migrants.

The protest took place in the Donegall Road area, which has seen numerous racist attacks on migrant workers in the past couple of years.

However, those involved insisted that they were not racist and were simply trying to improve living standards in the derelict area.

Last night’s demonstration took place just a day after a seven-strong gang armed with baseball bats attacked three houses in the area occupied by eastern Europeans.

One of the victims, a 51-year-old Polish man, was treated in hospital after being struck with a hammer during the violence.

BN.ie

22/03/2006 - 11:09:35

**See also CAIN and
Michael Davitt Museum, Mayo

President Mary McAleese is to visit the UK next month to mark the centenary of the death of Land League founder Michael Davitt, it was confirmed today.

Mrs McAleese will unveil a plaque and attend an exhibition in honour of Davitt in Haslingden, Lancashire where he lived with his family from 1853-1867. (Click photo to view - image from CAIN)

The president’s spokeswoman said Mrs McAleese will also be guest of honour at a civic reception hosted by the Irish Democratic League Club.

Mrs McAleese will also use her two-day UK trip to visit Jesuit public school, Stoneyhurst College as well as Irish communities and voluntary groups in nearby Sheffield and Leeds.

The president’s visit on April 12-13 was approved by the British cabinet this week.

Michael Davitt was born near Foxford, Co Mayo during the Famine but moved to Lancashire in 1853 when his family was evicted from their farm.

Davitt began working in a cotton mill at the age of 10 but lost his right arm after an accident with a spinning machine.

The Land League was founded in 1879 with Charles Stewart Parnell as president and Davitt as secretary.

In 1882 Davitt was elected an MP for Co Meath and later for West Mayo.

Davitt died in Elphis Hospital, Dublin on May 30, 1906 from septic poisoning.

A museum now commemorates Davitt’s life and works in his birthplace in Straide, Co Mayo.

The bridge from Achill Island to the mainland is also named after him.

BBC

Unionists have criticised Tony Blair over a reference he made to “Protestant extremists” during a speech on global terrorism and religious intolerance.

>>Watch speech

He said Muslims who committed acts of terrorism were no more true to their faith than the “Protestant bigot” who murdered Catholics in Northern Ireland.

The DUP’s Ian Paisley Junior said this was “ill-thought out and provocative”.

Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said the prime minister’s remarks were “far-fetched” and “dangerous”.

Mr Blair’s speech in London on Tuesday was the first of three on foreign policy and terrorism.

It comes three years after bombs started dropping on Baghdad at the start of the US-led campaign that resulted in the fall and eventual capture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

“They are no more proper Muslims than the Protestant bigot who murders a Catholic in Northern Ireland is a proper Christian.”
Tony Blair

He told the audience at a Reuters event that religious extremism - including the term Islamist extremism - should be labelled as such.

Mr Blair said he realised his remarks were going to be controversial, but there was an “interesting debate” being conducted within government about how to counter extremism in British communities.

“There are those, perfectly decent-minded people, who say the extremists who commit these acts of terrorism are not true Muslims, and of course, they are right,” he said.

“They are no more proper Muslims than the Protestant bigot who murders a Catholic in Northern Ireland is a proper Christian.”

Ian Paisley Junior said it was a studied insult by Mr Blair

“But unfortunately, he’s still a Protestant bigot.

“To say his religion is irrelevant is both completely to misunderstand his motive and to refuse to face up to the strain of extremism within his religion that has given rise to it.”

Mr Blair said terrorism “will not be defeated until its ideas, the poison that warps the minds, its adherence, are confronted at their essence, at their core”.

>>Speech analysis

Unionist politicians in Northern Ireland reacted angrily to Mr Blair’s comments, with the DUP’s Ian Paisley Junior saying it was a “studied insult of the Protestant community”.

“The prime minister’s comments, singling out Protestantism as a root cause of terrorism, is so unbalanced that it not only reveals (his) true nature, but also identifies a weakness in his judgements, his character and his understanding,” he said.

Meanwhile, former Presbyterian moderator Ken Newell said bigotry could be found in all religions and needed to be challenged, but Mr Blair’s comments were not balanced.

“I think his words were unwise and unbalanced and he does point the finger at the Protestant community in particular,” he said.

“I know for a fact that everyone within their own faith traditions realises that in those communities there are people who are extreme and very bigoted.”

BBC

The device was found outside Pat Ramsey’s home

A controlled explosion has been carried out at the home of SDLP assembly member Pat Ramsey in Londonderry.

Mr Ramsey’s wife, Chris, spotted the suspicious device outside their house at Meenan Drive in the Bogside area at about 2230 GMT on Tuesday.

Army technical officers declared the device a hoax. Paint was thrown at police who attended the scene.

Mrs Ramsey was at home with the couple’s five-year-old daughter when the attack happened.

She said the family would not be leaving their home.

It is the 12th time that the Ramsey home has been the target of an attack.

Mr Ramsey said his family and the local community were also suffering because of this intimidation.

“Those responsible for these attacks are holding the whole community here to ransom - and must stop their campaign of intimidation immediately,” Mr Ramsey said.

“I have been blessed with good neighbours for over 20 years and I hope that I have another 20 years living alongside such loyal and outstanding friends.

“They should not have to deal with what they have had to put up with for the last few months. These attacks must stop, and they must stop now.”

Today, 25 years ago, Patsy O’Hara and Raymond McCreesh joined Bobby Sands and Francis Hughes on hungerstrike

Please visit >>IRISH HUNGER STRIKE 1981

Biographies:

>>Raymond McCreesh

>>Patsy O’Hara