SAOIRSE32

Belfast Telegraph

By Michael McHugh
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
01 April 2006

The credibility of a key witness in the Omagh bomb probe was questioned yesterday following legal proceedings in Dublin.

Former Special Branch Garda Detective Sergeant John White is at the centre of a public row in the Republic after he was forced to change his story on the alleged intimidation of a suspect. The controversy may cast a shadow over his evidence in the Omagh case.

Det Sgt White was the handler for former Real IRA informer and car thief Paddy Dixon. He claims he passed on information to senior officers about the dangers of a bombing - information not acted on in the days before the August 1998 blast.

Det Sgt White first made his revelations about Omagh to Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan in 2001 during her probe into the police investigation of the bombing.

A team with the Justice Department found the claims to be without basis.

The awkward publicity for Det Sgt White came after he made a statement to the Morris Tribunal in Dublin admitting to verbally abusing two suspects in a murder investigation in 1996, after years of denials.

Belfast Telegraph

Move ’stalling exercise to avoid public inquiry’

By Michael McHugh
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
01 April 2006

The decision to reopen Garda files into the Troubles murder of Seamus Ludlow is a “stalling exercise” to delay a public inquiry, relatives of the victim said last night.

Jimmy Sharkey, a nephew of the Co Louth loyalist murder victim, has downplayed the chances of securing convictions after police chiefs announced a fresh investigation on Thursday.

The move follows recommendations made in a report by the Irish Parliament’s Justice Committee, which was highly critical of the way police handled the original probe.

Elected representatives found the family was treated in an “unsatisfactory manner” by police and forensic material collected at the scene had been lost.

Mr Ludlow was shot dead in May 1976 near his Dundalk home, allegedly by north Down loyalists who were interviewed by the PSNI but never faced questioning by gardai.

Mr Sharkey said: “This is a stalling exercise and I would say that they have not got a chance of securing convictions.

“In 1998, when the suspects were arrested by the RUC, senior detectives told me that there was little chance of prosecutions unless new evidence came to the fore.

“I believe that this will just hold up things and we won’t be able to have a public inquiry for a number of years.”

This week’s sub-committee report to the Justice Department, ordered after an earlier probe by retired Supreme Court Justice Henry Barron, recommended a Commission of Inquiry be set up to look at issues including collusion between loyalists and the Northern Ireland authorities, as well as the police investigation.

Family members reacted with anger to the development and continue to campaign for a full public inquiry.

In inviting Garda detectives to re-examine the case, the committee report stated: “The sub-committee notes that developments in statutory mutual assistance have occurred with significant legislative changes.

“It is also noted that there are now formal structures in place to ensure the speedy and secure communication of sensitive intelligence and that dedicated liaison officers have been appointed between An Garda Siochana and the PSNI.

“It should be possible for the Garda to receive assistance from the PSNI.”

A Garda spokesman declined to comment. The senior officer appointed to head the review will look at investigation files and work closely with the PSNI.

Calls have come for a team like the PSNI’s Historic Enquiries Team to be set up in the Republic to probe Troubles murders.

Belfast Telegraph

01 April 2006

The murder trial of alleged UDA commander William ‘Mo’ Courtney was yesterday adjourned until September.

Both prosecution and defence QCs told Belfast Crown Court they agreed the “best course of conduct” would be to adjourn the trial and begin again in the first week of the new term.

Courtney (42), from Fernhill Heights in Belfast, denies murdering Alan ‘Bucky’ McCullough, a former associate of deposed terror boss Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Adair, on May 28 2003 and of being a member of the UDA and UFF.

Irish Abroad

**Via Newshound

By Brendan Anderson

OPERATION Banner, the code name for the British Army’s support role for the police in the North, is to come to an end next year. Lasting 35 years, the operation is the longest in British military history.

The end of Operation Banner, on August 1, 2007, marks another step in the painfully slow process of British demilitarization, or “normalization” as politicians prefer to call it. After that date, the British military presence in the North will have been returned to “peace-time” garrison levels.

News of the end of Operation Banner came as the British published the final timetable for the withdrawal of troops and the decommissioning of army bases and watch towers across the six northern counties. The move follows the destruction by the IRA of its arms dumps and the standing-down of its activists.

Following previous acts of normalization, there are now 9,000 British soldiers in the North, down from around 30,000 at the height of the Irish Troubles. That figure will be further reduced throughout the coming year after which 5,000 troops will be retained for garrison duties.

Among the bases still to be closed is the army barracks at Bessbrook, Co. Armagh, once believed to be the busiest heliport in Europe.

During the IRA campaign, soldiers were virtually prisoners in the base and could only venture out in large patrols. The roads were believed to have been too dangerous for military vehicles and all supplies were air-lifted into the base by helicopter.

Unionist politicians complained that the IRA was so active in the area that even the base’s garbage was taken out by chopper.

Residents of the strongly Republican village of Crossmaglen in south Armagh were heartened by the news Tuesday that soldiers are to be withdrawn from the local police station where they have been based for the duration of the troubles.

Tensions in the village were permanently high partly due to the take-over of a section of the Crossmaglen Rangers GAA pitch by the British Army. Media photographers often had a field day during matches which produced bizarre shots of a huge helicopter rising just yards from footballers who completely ignored the intrusion.

The five remaining watch towers in south Armagh, another source of irritation to residents, are due to be demolished within the next 16 months.

Mahon Road Barracks in Portadown, the base used by soldiers and police during the Drumcree Orange march stand-offs, is due to be closed by next January. Overall, the number of bases in the North will be reduced by August 2007 from around 40 to 14.

Conor Murphy, Sinn Fein MP for Newry and Armagh, welcomed Tuesday’s time-table and said demilitarization had been a key element of his party’s discussions with the British government.

“We have consistently called for the British government to produce a comprehensive strategy to achieve the demilitarization of our society. I welcomed the start that the British government made last year to the demilitarization process and I hope that today’s moves advance that process further. I now want to see the job completed as quickly as possible,” he said.

RTÉ

01 April 2006 14:02

Ballymena, Co Antrim: railings repainted in community gesture

A ground breaking cross-community initiative is taking place this morning in Ballymena.

A UDA mural close to the Catholic Church at Harryville is being replaced with an Ulster Scots mural and loyalist markings around the chapel are being removed.

A group of local Presbyterian young people painted out red, white and blue paint on railings in the area of the church.

The move was another ecumenical gesture helping to transform the area where loyalists protests were staged nine years ago as people went to Mass.

Rosie Cowan, crime correspondent
Saturday April 1, 2006
The Guardian

Up to 140 British crime fighters will be based abroad working for Britain’s new equivalent of the FBI - the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) - which officially opens it doors on Monday morning.

The unprecedented scale of international collaboration is part of a drive to globalise the fight against organised crime, intercepting people traffickers and drug smugglers in the countries they pass through to reach Britain, the new chief of Soca, Sir Stephen Lander told the Guardian.

Some of Soca’s staff overseas will be carrying out intelligence duties, others will work with local authorities in places like Afghanistan and Colombia, where heroin and cocaine production are rife. Others will be embedded in foreign law enforcement agencies, which will reciprocate with officers in the UK.

“We think we will have the second largest law enforcement overseas network in the world, second only to the US DEA [Drug Enforcement Agency],” the former M15 chief explained.

Many of the 140 being sent overseas will go to the US, where some are already with the DEA, others to eastern Europe, from where traffickers procure thousands of women each year to work in the sex trade around the world.

“We’re doing a lot of work with the Balkans and eastern Europe as regards trafficked women and labourers and we want to work with the transit countries to see what we can do to stop them being moved through,” said Bill Hughes, Soca’s director, who previously headed the National Crime Squad. “Globalisation, the internet and cheap travel have made it so much easier to conduct the business of crime at one remove. We can’t operate in isolation, we have to build up alliances in other countries.”

The international strategy epitomises the new holistic approach to crime fighting by Soca, which will merge the National Crime Squad, National Criminal Intelligence Service, parts of Customs and Immigration, civilian computer and financial experts, and police officers seconded from forces throughout the UK. Crime cartels cost the UK £40bn a year. Soca will be able to use a range of methods, including asset stripping and other regulatory tools, as well as targeting crooked officers and lawyers.

“You can slice this any number of ways,” said Sir Stephen. “Who are the kingpins and main profiteers? How do they do business? Do they rely on corrupt police officers or solicitors? We’ve constructed an organisation that allows us to cross-target a range of things and we’ve been doing a lot to ensure Soca is more than a sum of its parts.”

Organised crime, he said, was all about making profit and combating it required a cool, corporate-minded approach. “It’s about making the UK as unattractive a business proposition as possible for criminals, disrupting their activities, putting them out of business and reducing market opportunities.”

“In the past, we tended to think the case ended when the cell door slammed shut,” said Mr Hughes. “Of course it doesn’t, it’s about bringing down the whole structure. There will be people who will go to prison for a long time, but for others out there there may be a quicker way to put them out of business. In some cases, a stroke of the regulatory pen could avoid a criminal taskforce chasing its tail forever.”

While Soca’s work will be boosted by some new criminal justice measures, such as US-type informer plea bargains, Sir Stephen insisted: “We haven’t got a load of new powers, we’re simply an extra layer pulling together existing resources and levering others.

“We will consult as to how leads will be pursued, who is best placed to pursue them and in what type of operation, and if appropriate, hand cases over to other agencies.” Mr Hughes quoted US president Harry Truman: “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”

BBC

Geoffrey Calderwood (right) and Andy Conner at the UDA mural

A loyalist paramilitary mural close to a Catholic church in County Antrim which was the scene of weekly protests in the 1990s has been removed.

The UDA mural near the Church of Our Lady at Harryville in Ballymena was taken down after cross-community talks.

It has replaced by an Ulster Scots mural featuring symbols such as a shamrock and Red Hand of Ulster.

Tricolours were removed from the north end of Ballymena in a deal brokered by Harryville Ulster Scots Society.

Youth workers also painted out red, white and blue paint from railings around Harryville church.

Harryville priest Fr Paul Symonds was present for the official Ulster-Scots mural unveiling on Saturday.

He has been working closely with the Ulster-Scots group and he has welcomed the replacement of the UDA image for a “non-militaristic mural”.

“This is very positive for the area and it is a great gesture,” he said.

Geoff Calderwood, chairman of Harryville Ulster Scots Society, welcomed the Harryville scheme saying: “We think it is great for the area.”

March objections

The church was the scene of loyalist protests and sporadic trouble over the past few years.

There was a series of loyalist attacks on the church last year, including paint attacks and grafitti.

Loyalist protesters mounted a weekly picket outside the Harryville church during Saturday evening Mass between September 1996 and May 1998.

The protests were called off shortly after the Good Friday Agreement received 71% support in a referendum.

The picket was mounted because of loyalist anger over nationalist objections to a march by the Protestant Orange Order through nearby Dunloy.

BBC

DUP say there has been inequality in loyalist areas

A £30m cash injection expected to be announced for deprived loyalist areas is not good enough, a leading Progressive Unionist figure has said.

An official government announcement on the issue is expected next week.

Dawn Purvis said she believed more funds were needed to tackle deprivation in loyalist inner-city areas.

She said: “£30m over three years, I regard it as not enough. It’s for vulnerable communities that have been neglected over the last 35 years.”

Ms Purvis was recently appointed as an independent member of the new Policing Board, which comes into effect on Saturday.

Sources have told the BBC that the package of economic assistance for deprived loyalist areas should be between £25-35m.

Some sources within unionism have expressed disappointment at the sum, given the recent cuts in areas such as education in Belfast.

However, other loyalist sources said they saw the initiative as a challenge and would work with whatever money was provided for areas such as skills and training, housing and urban regeneration.

In January this year, NIO Minister David Hanson said the plan would focus on how government could empower working class Protestant communities to tackle deprivation.

It was drawn up following concerns that policies were not making the intended impact in loyalist districts.

On Friday, DUP assembly member Nelson McCausland said the announcement was significant as it was recognition of disadvantage in loyalist areas.

“Republicans and nationalists often attempt to deny that there is a problem and even some people in the voluntary sector attempt to deny that there is a problem,” he told BBC News.

‘Deprivation’

“For decades, unionist communities have suffered inequality and disadvantage… there will have to be institutional and structural changes.”

However, Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said he was not happy with the package.

“I think the minister is trying his best to put a package together to deal with deprivation in a number of areas - primarily loyalist areas - but not exclusively,” he said.

“But the problem is that this is a cross-government issue. A couple of days ago, the Belfast Education and Library Board cut £6.5m out of its budget - a very high percentage of that cut will apply in loyalist areas.

“Given that educational under-achievement in the worst 15 wards in Northern Ireland - 13 are in loyalist wards - how can you fix a situation in a loyalist area when one government department is taking money out while another is putting it in?”

BN.ie

01/04/2006 - 08:29:08

A DUP delegation is travelling to the United States today to meet a number of leading politicians.

The group, which is being led by Peter Robinson, is hoping to broaden the understanding of unionism in the US and convince key figures that the DUP wants to become a party of government.

In Washington the delegation will meet Ted Kennedy, Hilary Clinton, Chris Dodd and highly influential Republican Jim Walsh.

When it travels to New York on Wednesday, Peter Robinson will speak at a function hosted by Bill Flynn, a US businessman who has played a significant role in the peace process.

BN.ie

01/04/2006 - 09:02:55

Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy has declared that the Garda Reserve will go ahead, despite strong opposition from Garda representative bodies.

Commissioner Conroy, in his first public comment on the issue, said he was in favour of any measures that would enhance policing, and he believed the reserve force to be one such measure.

“The legislators have legislated. We must comply with the legislation. The elected politicians have made a decision that the reserve will be recruited and that’s what is going to happen. Anything that improves the service to the community, I’m all for it, and I feel this will improve the service.”

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said gardaí risked “self-destruction” in the eyes of the public if permanent members embarked on a policy of non-cooperation with reservists.

Ten days ago the general secretary of the Garda Representative Association (GRA), PJ Stone, made an unprecedented attack on Commissioner Conroy, accusing him of lacking leadership on the reserve force issue.

He said he would expect reservists to play a full part in policing, such as intervening in armed robberies.

However, the primary role of the reservists would be in community policing.