SAOIRSE32

BBC ON THIS DAY

**See also Good Friday Agreement

The Agreement

10 April 1998

The Northern Ireland peace talks have ended with an historic agreement.

The accord - dubbed the Good Friday Agreement - was reached after nearly two years of talks and 30 years of conflict.

Negotiations on the final day dragged on more than 17 hours after the deadline for an agreement passed.

The agreement is a triumph for British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Republic of Ireland’s leader, Bertie Ahern, who have succeeded where all their predecessors failed.

Speaking at a news conference after the deal was announced Tony Blair said he hoped it marked a new beginning.

“Today I hope that the burden of history can at long last start to be lifted from our shoulders,” Mr Blair said.

“I see a great opportunity for us to start a healing process.”
David Trimble
Ulster Unionist leader

Bertie Ahern said he hoped a line could now be drawn under the “bloody past” .

The proposals in the agreement include plans for a Northern Ireland Assembly, new cross-border institutions involving the Irish Republic and a body linking devolved assemblies across the UK with Westminster and Dublin.

A copy of the proposals will be posted to every household in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic and then put to a referendum in May.

The chairman of the talks, former US Senator George Mitchell, paid tribute to all those who had taken part.

But Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said there was still a huge gap of distrust between nationalists and unionists.

“It must be bridged on the basis of equality. We are here reaching out the hand of friendship,” he said.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble added: “I see a great opportunity for us to start a healing process.”

The peace agreement was also welcomed by the UDP and PUP parties, which represent loyalist paramilitary groups.

In Context

A referendum held in May 1998 on both sides of the Irish border, returned a resounding “yes” vote for the Good Friday Agreement.

The first three years of the agreement’s implementation saw accusations and counter-accusation from both sides.

Unionists said the republicans had not complied with the spirit of the agreement’s requirement for the decommissioning of arms.

Disagreement over decommissioning and policing led to three suspensions of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

In October 2002 it was also suspended after allegations of IRA intelligence gathering inside the Northern Ireland Office.

In April 2006 the British and Irish Governments confirmed the Assembly would be recalled on 15 May 2006 with a view to electing a power-sharing executive.

A final deadline has been set for 24 November and if a new executive has not been agreed by then, members’ salaries will be stopped and Tony Blair said a “different way forward” would have to be found.

RTÉ

10 April 2006 20:20

RTÉ News has learned that one of the men arrested by gardaí in connection with the hijacking of a vehicle in Co Meath was released under the terms of the Good Friday agreement in 1998.

At that time he was serving a six-year sentence for possession of explosives.

A total of three men were arrested in Co Westmeath in connection with the incident and it is understood at least two of the men are former members of the IRA.

The truck, which was carrying €300,000 worth of vodka, was hijacked on the Dublin side of Dunshaughlin.

It was later discovered by gardaí near Delvin in Co Westmeath, and the driver of the truck was found to be uninjured.

The Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, said he is very concerned about the incident and is monitoring the situation.

RSF News

Click >> here

In this issue:

1. British agent found dead in Donegal cottage
2. Six men arrested in Belfast
3. McDowell questions aid for Wheelock inquiry
4. Murder report imminent
5. Conditions in Maghaberry prison unacceptable
6. Court challenge to use of prison ‘drug dog’
7. Challenge to offences against the state act
8. Shannon airport ’second most popular’ in Europe for rendition flights
9. Kurds protest in Dublin
10. US special envoy agrees to discuss Iraq contract with McBride family
11. MI5 attempt to recruit Tyrone man

Daily Ireland

By Connla Young
07/04/2006

The British army has been criticised after fires were lit at several mountain-top spy posts in recent days.
Border residents have said huge fires have raged for several days at a number of spy posts being dismantled on hilltops along the border.
Earlier this week, teams of British army engineers began taking down a number of spy posts that had scarred the border skyline for more than two decades.
Local concerns were raised after thick plumes of black smoke began to rise from a military spy post on Faughill Mountain several days ago.
Newry Sinn Féin councillor Packie McDonald said he had received several calls from members of the public concerned about the fires.
“They have been burning stuff for the last few days and it seems to be material they don’t want to cart off the mountain with them. Some people have concerns about this, and I have no idea what they are burning and there’s always the fear that some of this is toxic.
“There’s also an environmental aspect to all this. I’m not allowed to burn rubbish in my back yard but they go to the top of a mountain to do it.”
A spokesman for the British army said: “Work is ongoing to remove the last remaining hilltop sites in south Armagh. Combustible material such as wood and heather is being disposed of by burning.”

Daily Ireland

Ahern sidesteps heroes of Easter to praise modern armed forces

10/04/2006

It is important for people to come out onto the streets of Dublin to join in the march celebrating the 90th Anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said yesterday.
In a statement sure to anger republicans, Mr Ahern says the event is primarily to honour the Irish Army, and shied away from directly praising the men and women of 1916.
His contention follows the decision by the coalition government to mark the occasion with a military parade.
Mr Ahern said people should commemorate what the Irish Army has done for the country.
“It is important for people to acknowledge not only what Oglaigh na hEireann do in Ireland, and our Irish army have done that so well, but also commemorate what they have done for the United Nations and are doing for the United Nations all over the world,” he said.
“They are the descendants of 1916.
“I think people will always want to acknowledge the spirit and the achievements of our army and also it is an inclusive occasion.
“We all come from divided pasts but I think we want to work into the future together.
“It is important that we can commemorate these issues.”
At the launch of the new commemorative 1916 exhibition ‘The Easter Rising: Understanding 1916’ in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, Mr Ahern said he hoped people would visit the museum to see the materials detailing the decade of disturbance between 1913 and 1923.
In a speech to the audience gathered for the launch, he said: “This Easter, we must renew our republicanism by marrying new ideas to steadfast values.
“We must begin a great national conversation on what it means to be Irish, on the values that we hold and on the hopes that we cherish. We have a duty to honour the dead generations who have gone before us. In the coming week, Ireland will again discharge that duty.
“We also have a solemn duty to vindicate the living generations who will come after us.”
The exhibition examines the change in people’s opinion towards supporting the Rising, triggered by the execution of many of its leaders. An original copy of the Proclamation of Independence, donated only last month to the National Museum at Collins Barracks, takes a central position in the exhibit.
Other items include the illuminated manuscript, Leabhar na hAiseirghe (Book of Resurrection), created by Art O’Murnaghan to commemorate those who died on O’Connell Street and elsewhere in he struggle for independence. Mr Ahern said the State held a large body of material related to the civil war which has been unavailable to scholars and the public.
This includes the Military Pensions Archive, relating to the old IRA pensions, numbering some 17,000 successful applications. Mr Ahern said a working group was being established to report back on requirements to preserve and archive these materials.

Daily Ireland

Government refused offer to buy original draft of national anthem

by Anthony Neeson
10/04/2006

Now that Fianna Fáil has belatedly wrapped the green flag around them and claimed the heroes of 1916 as their own, hardly a day goes by that a government minister or TD doesn’t issue a statement relating to Easter Week.
Since Bertie announced at the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fhéis in October that the government was reinstating the 1916 military parade along O’Connell Street this year, as a counter to the growing electoral threat from Sinn Féin, the Soldiers of Destiny have been keen to parade their republican credentials.
I’m considering keeping a diary so I can enter the latest statement from the government regarding the Rising.
Take last week for example. There was Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at the James Adam Salerooms in Dublin examining the original draft of the Irish national anthem (Amhrán na bhFiann) ahead of this Wednesday’s auction of over 400 artefacts relating to the leaders of the 1916 Rising.
All of this is well and good, except that the government had been offered the manuscript but turned it down. They have also been offered the opportunity to purchase several other personal items relating to the men and women, who at the beginning of the last century, forged the creation of the southern state, and again they have turned down these offers.
Now it seems that the original draft of Amhrán na bhFiann and the Thomas Clarke letters will end up outside the country.
One of the organisers of the auction, Stuart Cole, a director with James Adam, says this is a perfect case of ‘cultural snobbery’ and compared it to the government spending several million euro on an original James Joyce manuscript recently.
“The Irish government would expect this sort of thing for nothing,” he told Daily Ireland, “for people to donate this to the government – but why should they? The relatives of these people got nothing out of the Irish government after their loved ones died and it is largely the relatives now who are coming forward with this material and I don’t think the public would begrudge them,” he said.
Yet Bertie’s photo shoot with the original copy of the national anthem, which the government has refused to buy, doesn’t seem to have been noticed by his own backbenchers.
Last week Martin Brady, a Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin North East, said he was escalating his campaign for recognition for the anthem with the presentation of copies of Amhrán and bhFiann and the 1916 Proclamation to students in Donaghmede in the capital.
“Since I first suggested that the teaching of the anthem and its history should be compulsory, I have received enormous public support from across the country,” he said on Friday.
“I have been particularly overwhelmed by the positive reaction from young people,” he added.
“By presenting copies of the anthem and the Proclamation to students at Grange College, Donaghmede, I hope to play a small role in efforts to increase public knowledge about both Amhrán na bhFiann and the events of 1916.”
Just a week before the commemoration events for the 1916 Rising, Mr Brady said it was an appropriate time to remind people of the sacrifices other people made for the freedoms enjoyed today.
“Amhrán na bhFiann was sung by the heroes of 1916 during their darkest hour in the GPO. We owe it to their memory to ensure the anthem and its history is taught to future generations,” he said.
It’s difficult to square the possibility of government inertia when it comes to buying Paedar Kearney’s scribbling’s, thus ensuring the original version of the anthem ends up in the States or in Britain, with Brady’s desire for the teaching of the anthem in schools throughout the country.
And then there’s Willie O’Dea.
On Friday the Defence Minister appeared in Daily Ireland after having unveiled a memorial stone to the seven signatories of the Proclamation at the Curragh army camp – a location that is as far out of public view as you could possibly get. If the government was serious about celebrating the men and women of 1916 then surely some sort of monument would have been built in the city centre.
Back at the Ard-Fhéis, Bertie Ahern told delegates that the government was establishing a 1916 Centenary Committee to begin planning for a major centenary celebration of the Rising in ten years’ time. That’s enough time to plan a fitting city centre tribute.
As the week ended Bertie was extolling the virtues of 1916 again at a business conference.
Speaking at the IMI National Management Conference in Druids Glen, the Taoiseach began his speech by saying: “Ninety years ago, the 1916 Proclamation declared the aspiration of the Irish people to full control of their destiny.
“In achieving the degree of control over our economic fortunes that we now enjoy, many obstacles were encountered and some mistakes were made.
“However, some farsighted decisions were taken, which have only come to full fruition in the last ten years…”
It seems nobody in government circles last week could say or do anything without mentioning 1916.
With six days to go before the government’s own commemoration which begins with a wreath laying ceremony at Kilmainham Gaol and concludes with a parade along O’Connell Street and past the GPO in Dublin featuring the army, navy, air corps, UN veterans and gardaí, as well as an air corps flypast, expect more Fianna Fáilers cutting ribbons and delivering speeches on the sacrifice that was made on Easter Week and how they are the true descendants of Pearse and yes, even Connolly.
All this should make for an interesting week ahead.

Belfast Telegraph

By Chris Thornton
10 April 2006

The Government was accused today of helping MI5 cover up its “abject failure over the Omagh bomb”.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said MI5’s failure to give police an agent’s warning in the months prior to the Omagh attack should have drawn some response from the Government.

The SDLP is opposed to plans to hand over primacy in intelligence matters in Northern Ireland next year.

PSNI officers told relatives of the Omagh victims earlier this year that David Rupert, an American who infiltrated dissident republican groups, told MI5 in April 1998 that the town was a target.

But MI5 did not pass the information back to the RUC. PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde told the Omagh families recently that police only received the information earlier this year - when a PSNI detective found Rupert’s tip-off in FBI files.

“Twenty-nine people were murdered in Omagh,” Mr Durkan said.

“Anywhere else, heads would roll over this. But what’s MI5’s response?

“Eliza Manningham Buller, the head of MI5 has refused even to meet the Omagh families and listen to their concerns.”

He said the handover of intelligence primacy to MI5 will undo Patten reforms.

“Just when we have succeeded in ending the force within a force that was Special Branch, the British are looking to create in MI5 a force outside a force away from the scrutiny of the Policing Board and Police Ombudsman,” he said.

“Giving MI5 an enlarged role is bad for policing and bad for intelligence gathering. The only people who will benefit will be those who threaten the rule of law and the safety of our society. The SDLP will oppose this change tooth and nail.”

Belfast Telegraph

By Noel McAdam
10 April 2006

Sinn Fein today held the first of a series of local launches of its campaign to persuade the Dublin Government to produce a Green Paper on Irish unity.

Party president Gerry Adams attended the launch in the members’ room at Belfast City Hall - just four days after a stronger British and Irish ‘partnership’ arrangement was mooted in the event of continued deadlock over devolution.

The Green Paper has been a touchstone issue for Sinn Fein for some time, designed to force an Irish government to seriously face the issue of planning for integrating Northern Ireland into the South.

“There has never ever been debate in Leinster House on how you would actually go about establishing Irish unity.

“This is about starting that debate,” a party source said.

The idea for a Green Paper, the term for a document floating government ideas, has also been linked to a plan for the appointment of a minister who would be devoted to monitoring the progress of the North-South bodies set up by the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Adams has suggested the paper could be followed by a more substantial White Paper.

BN.ie

10/04/2006 - 12:06:39

The leadership of the Ulster Defence Association is believed to be planning a meeting later today to decide whether to expel two prominent members from the organisation.

The UDA’s inner council is believed to be split over whether to kick out Ihab and Andre Shoukri, two half-Egyptian brothers from Belfast.

Andre Shoukri, who is believed to be one of the loyalist group’s so-called brigadiers, is currently facing charges of extortion, blackmail and money-laundering in relation to UDA activity.

During a bail hearing last month, a crown lawyer said the 28-year-old had spent more than £750,000 (€1,080,638) in one bookmakers’ alone.

Ihab, meanwhile, is facing trial on charges of UDA membership.

At least four of the UDA’s brigades are understood to be ready to support the brothers’ expulsion, but others remain loyal to the Shoukris, prompting fears that today’s meeting could cause a feud between the rival sides.

BN.ie

10/04/2006 - 13:13:40

Sinn Féin is refusing to give up hope that the DUP may agree to share power with republicans in a devolved government this year.

The unionist party is refusing to consider a return to power-sharing government in the North, saying it does not believe the IRA has decided to end all non-peaceful activity.

The Irish and British governments are planning to give the North’s politicians until November 24 to end the deadlock and elect a new Northern Executive.

Most observers believe the plan is doomed to failure because of the DUP’s stance, but Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said today that his party was still hopeful this could be changed.

He said Sinn Féin had requested meetings to discuss the issue with the DUP and all the other parties.

Mr Adams said all the parties were in agreement on a range of local issues such as water charges and health cuts and Sinn Féin was hoping to convince the DUP that the only way it can have control over these matters is by agreeing to share power with republicans in the Executive.

Belfast Telegraph

By Alf McCreary
10 April 2006

The widow of a man who forgave the bombers who killed their daughter in the Enniskillen bomb last night paid tribute to another forgiving father.

Joan Wilson’s daughter Marie, a student nurse aged 20, was one of 11 civilians who died in the Remembrance Day explosion in Enniskillen in November 1987. Many others were badly injured, including Marie’s father, the late Senator Gordon Wilson.

She has paid tribute to the late Michael McGoldrick whose only son - also called Michael - was murdered by the LVF. Michael Snr died this week in Moldova where he was working with his charity United Christian Aid.

Senator Wilson made international headlines when he said that he bore “no ill-will” to his daughter’s killers and, with the support of his wife Joan, he became a leading peace campaigner who confronted the IRA face to face at a secret hide-out in Donegal.

Several years later, in 1996, Michael McGoldrick Snr also forgave those who had murdered his son and also embarked, with his wife Bridie, on working for better community relations and in helping the disadvantaged in Eastern Europe.

Mrs Wilson told the Belfast Telegraph: “When Michael and Bridie McGoldrick lost their son, I contacted them to express my sympathy, because Gordon and I had known the agony of losing a child through the Troubles. Gordon had died by this time, but I know that he would have gone to see the McGoldricks if he had been alive. I felt that it was my duty to go in his place.”

Mrs Wilson and the McGoldricks became friends and, a few years ago, Michael addressed a group of Enniskillen women about his work for the poor in Eastern Europe.

This meeting had been organised by the Faith Friendship movement, which had been inspired earlier by Lady Mayhew, wife of Sir Patrick Mayhew, the then Secretary of State.

When Mr McGoldrick died last week, his widow Bridie phoned Mrs Wilson from her Craigavon home, and she came up from Enniskillen to be with her.

Mrs Wilson said: “I felt it was important to be there to help share personally in the family’s great sorrow. Bridie talked about Michael’s work and his travels, and how he had been blessed by so many people helping him.

“I remember Michael as a quiet sincere man, who bore no ill-will to anyone. He was a true Christian and I think that his example will live on. Michael and my late husband Gordon were the kind of men who used their talents and their energy to try to make the world a better place by helping others.”

Some years ago, Mrs Wilson wrote a bereavement anthology titled All Shall Be Well, and Mr and Mrs McGoldrick attended the launch in The Spires Centre at the Presbyterian Church House in Belfast. Mr McGoldrick also spoke earlier this year at a one-day ‘Prayer For Our Land’ service in St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast.

rsf.ie

THE Leadership of the Republican Movement extends fraternal greetings to members, supporters and friends throughout the world on this the historic 90th anniversary of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic. We send special greetings to our imprisoned comrades in Ireland and to prisoners throughout the world who are incarcerated because of their struggle for freedom and justice.

Since we last assembled twelve months ago we have witnessed the final act of treason by those who would have described themselves as Republicans. Irish Republicans throughout the world watched with total dismay at the declaration that their war was over for all time and at the destruction of all arms under their control which had been given to them to wage a war for the freedom of Ireland. The effect that these so-called Republicans were attempting to imply was that the struggle for national liberation was over permanently and that the IRA had been killed by its own leadership.

We have a message in response to this act of treason. The Irish Republican Army has declared that it is still very much alive in the form of the Continuity Irish Republican Army which remains active and dedicated to the achievement of Irish independence for however long this may take.

This Easter the Free Staters have attempted to hijack the Easter commemoration ceremonies, having ignored them for the past 35 years. It should be remembered that the heritage of 1916 belongs to all the people of Ireland. For their part, faithful Republicans have marked Easter each year in good times and in bad. Other elements, including some members of the media, have allied themselves completely with British Imperialism, saying that 1916 was unnecessary and condemning outright everything associated with the national struggle. Many politicians seek to besmirch the Republican Movement and rob it of its good name. The emergence of tiny groupings as rivals to the Movement only cause confusion and obscure the supreme issue facing the people, the unity and freedom of Ireland.

On the international scene we continue to see the mighty world powers, through sheer force and intimidation, take over weaker countries and terrorise their people. We send solidarity greetings to oppressed people throughout the world who are suffering from these superpowers.

We have noted with regret the public announcement that the struggle over so many decades of the Basque people for national liberation is at a permanent end. The involvement of the same forces that have been at work in Ireland, and especially of the Provisional leadership, in bringing about this outcome for a friendly people is to be deplored.

Ireland’s national struggle, particularly since the 1916 Rising, has been admired and looked up to by subject peoples throughout the world who have been and are fighting colonialism. Now they receive the news of the collapse of the active struggle in Ireland, the acceptance of British rule and the voluntary destruction of arms. But the fight goes on.

On the home front we send greetings to the Rossport Five and to their families and supporters. We salute your courage in confronting this multinational company who have little regard for the welfare of local communities.

In recent weeks we have seen on the streets of Dublin how far removed those who profess to be in power are from the communities at local level. We saw how Free State ministers were so readily available to meet leaders of a loyalist organisation while refusing to meet with representatives of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings or the relatives of the Stardust tragedy. The Free Staters got their answer when the local community showed their resentment at what only could be described as an exercise of appeasement of their British masters. We urge Republicans throughout Ireland to start now and prepare for the next act of appeasement - the visit of the foreign Queen of England who claims jurisdiction over part of our country.

Faithful Republicans throughout Ireland have continued to feel the jackboot tactics of so-called forces of law and order on both sides of the Border and we urge our members to be at all times vigilant.

Now for the fourth time the English government is seeking to resurrect Stormont which was brought crashing down in 1972 by the people’s struggle under the leadership of the Republican Movement. Of course they now have the collaboration of former Republicans who have already administered English rule here and are prepared to police it by joining the British forces.

For eight years since the 1998 Agreement sought to copper-fasten Partition and British rule, they have failed in their efforts. Whether as ’shadow, interim or transitional’, Stormont must be rejected.

The men and women of 1916, whose deed we honour today and every Easter ever since their Rising, set out clearly in the Proclamation of the Irish Republic what their objectives were. That noble document was read to you here. It required “a permanent National Government representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women”.

Such a government was indeed elected in an act of self-determination by the whole Irish people acting as a unit in 1918 and established by the All-Ireland Dáil in 1919. A combination of British brutality and force and Irish weakness and treachery overthrew that 32-County government and suppressed it by the creations of a British Act of Parliament, Stormont and Leinster House. Any new-style Stormont must be brought down and replaced by an All-Ireland parliament. A new federation of the four provinces can best implement this and provide a just solution for minorities and majorities alike.

To secure the “civil and religious liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities” guaranteed in the Proclamation and sealed by the blood of the leaders and martyrs of the 1916 Rising, a Democratic Socialist Republic must be instituted.

Ninety years to the day since that momentous event in Irish history we renew these guarantees and pledge to strive might and main for those objectives. No collaboration with Imperialism and with British rule here - but straight through to Irish freedom and Irish national independence. An Phoblacht Abú!

- Issued by the Leadership of the Republican Movement
Easter 2006

IRBB

**Posted by ‘martin mulholland’

Concern at Aiden Hulme Hunger Strike
Posted on 9/4/2006 at 22:26:08 by IRPWA

Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association
9/4/06

The IRPWA has learned from Aiden Hulme’s family that Aiden began refusing food last Friday 7th April. Aiden has embarked on this course of action in an attempt to get repatriated back to Ireland. The IRPWA has also learned that as of tomorrow (Monday 10th April) The medical staff at Full Sutton prison will refuse to dispense pain killing medication on the grounds that it is too dangerous to take without food. We in the IRPWA believe that if the British and Dublin governments were to make a commitment to repatriate Aiden in the near future then this hunger strike could be ended before any serious damage is done to Aiden’s health. It is not in the interests of anyone to allow this protest to continue and the ramifications of this incident are much too serious to play hardball or engage in acts of brinkmanship. The IRPWA will endeavour to contact the Department of Justice first thing tomorrow in the hope that some movement can be made on this issue. Our thoughts are with Aiden Hulme and his family at this time.

Irelandclick

by Damian McCarney

West Belfast Irish dancers will this week be competing against the cream of international talent as the World Irish Dancing Championships descend upon the Waterfront Hall.

More than 4,000 competitors and thousands more supporters have turned the city into the world’s Irish dancing capital.

As the Under-11 competition got the 36th Championship underway yesterday, the Andersonstown News spoke to a number of West Belfast hopefuls who were nervously awaiting their turn to impress.

Jackie Kennedy, teacher in the Kennedy School of Irish Dancing based in the Glen Community Centre, has over 40 dancers competing throughout the coming week.

“We have four céilí teams, one figure-dancing team performing a dance based on the story of the Titanic, one dance drama, and 25 solo competitors.

“We are very optimistic because we have enjoyed success in the past but the competition is very stiff so we wouldn’t want to guarantee anything.

“We have a world champion with Michael McHugh from Ballymurphy.

“He won the under-11 Championship two years ago and has also won the All-Ireland five times,” said Jackie.

Jackie believes that Irish dancing, and competing in the World Championships, provides an excellent experience for her young students.

“It is phenomenal for the children because it provides them with after-school opportunities that otherwise they wouldn’t have in West Belfast.

“It gives them a very serious commitment and teaches them about dedication, responsibility and discipline and is at the same time fantastic for their fitness,” said Jackie.

Like her classmates at the Kennedy School of Dancing, 10-year-old Lauren Bohill was waiting to find out what the judging panel thought.

“I am tired and a wee bit nervous.

“I’m looking forward to finding out the results but the dance went well,” said Lauren.

Lauren was well able to control her nerves, however, because despite her tender years, she has already enjoyed considerable dancing success.

“I have competed in loads of competitions before, and I came third in the Ulster Championships in November, and last year I came ninth in the All-Ireland Championships,” said the Blacks Road girl.

Mary McEvoy-Morgan from the Springfield Road, a former Ulster champion, was awaiting her results happy in the knowledge that she had given it her all.

“I did my best, and it went alright. I got a recall and I’m waiting for the results but I’m not nervous waiting for them – I don’t really get nervous.”

Dunmurry dancer Hannah McMahon, who qualified for the competition automatically as a former world medallist, was also happy with her performance.

“It went alright, and I danced the best I can,” she beamed.
“I enjoy dancing but sometimes it is a bit tough.
“The competition is very high as all the dancers are very good.”
Hannah also made a few new friends from other countries during the first day of competition.
“Backstage I’ll talk to anyone who is next to me.
“Today I was chatting to two Americans, and they were very nice and polite.”
Conal Dooey travels from his home in Dunloy to West Belfast to attend the Kennedy School of Irish Dancing twice a week.

Thankfully his dedication paid off as he danced very well in front of a packed Waterfront Hall.

“I got a recall but I haven’t got my results yet.

“I don’t know how it will go, but I was happy with the way that I danced.
“I am nervous waiting for the results and I was a little nervous before dancing, as that was the most people I have ever danced in front of,” said the 10-year-old.

The 36th Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne (World Irish Dancing Championship) continues in the Waterfront Hall until Sunday, April 16.

Journalist:: Damien McCarney

Irelandclick

We reveal today that 155 new starts at local engineering firm FG Wilson are to be security-vetted by the PSNI. This will disappoint those of us who had hoped that such old-style political blackballing was a thing of the past.

We have no idea why a firm that manufactures generators needs the PSNI to give its employees security clearance. For its part, FG Wilson will say only that it is part of their “standard recruitment and selection process which has been developed in line with recommended best practice.” They don’t make it clear, unfortunately, when giving confidential information to the PSNI became standard practice in the engineering industry.

There is clearly a gap in understanding here between FG Wilson and the nationalist community of Belfast. The firm obviously believes that getting the PSNI involved in its employment process is a perfectly reasonable and uncontroversial thing. It obviously has no understanding of the deep suspicion of the PSNI that exists within the nationalist community, and it has no perception of the unease – and perhaps even fear – that nationalist people feel at the prospect of the PSNI having the final say on their job prospects.

The PSNI effectively now has the last word on who can and who can’t work for FG Wilson. This is troubling because as far as this community is concerned the PSNI is engaged in political policing, the main aim of which is to frustrate the political ambitions of nationalists and republicans.

Ex-republican prisoners trying to get their lives back on track will be opposed by the PSNI in their efforts to find gainful employment; more than that, we believe that the PSNI will grasp this opportunity to oppose political activists and anybody else critical of the part they played in the conflict here.

FG Wilson is not a security base, it is a manufacturing plant. The company should jealously guard the right to hire whoever it pleases without the say-so of an outside group with a political axe to grind.

Irelandclick

by Damian McCarney

Former republican prisoners fear that security checks will prevent them from benefiting from new jobs announced recently at an engineering firm based in Springvale Park. (Photo: Caomhín Mac Giolla Mhín - Coiste)

Direct rule Minister for Trade, Angela Smith, recently announced government investment in generator manufacturers FG Wilson worth over £12 million to help provide 155 jobs in three plants across the North.

However, agency staff already employed at the Springvale plant, many of whom are from West Belfast, have been told that they must seek security clearance from the PSNI before they will be considered for full-time jobs. Applicants must send a letter along with a £10 fee, which will be reimbursed, before April 12 to PSNI headquarters requesting them to disclose details of prosecutions, convictions and cautions to FG Wilson.

Former republican prisoners working at the plant believe that convictions arising from their role in the conflict will stand against them. One employee, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Andersonstown News that, having worked for Wilson’s through an employment agency, he would like a full-time job. But this requirement provided an effective barrier.

“I don’t see myself as a criminal. Why should I send away a form to the PSNI for them to say that I am a criminal, and pay for the pleasure of it?

“What would be the use in having fought against criminalisation for all those years if the forms were then to say that we were criminals? It’s madness.”

He was also concerned that his own safety would be compromised if he were to comply with the security clearance.

“If anyone gets the form, it is going to be floating around Monkstown and Larne factories,” said the man.

Caomhín Mac Giolla Mhín, a spokesperson for former republican prisoners’ support group, Coiste na n-Iarchimí, said that this was a common problem facing former prisoners.

“Coiste is continuing to work to remove these intimidatory barriers of ex-prisoners which they face in daily life. If the good Friday Agreement recognised that these people were not criminals by releasing them into society it is essential that the rest of society treats them as equal citizens. If it was not for the conflict these people would not have spent a single day in prison.

“This vetting is a problem right across industries. There is also a problem that we have a political police force doing the political vetting, so we are caught in a vicious circle,” said Mr Mac Giolla Mhín.

When asked by the Andersonstown News if convictions arising from the conflict would stand against them in the application process, a spokesperson for FG Wilson said, “FG Wilson has a standard recruitment and selection process which has been developed in line with recommended best practice.”

Journalist:: Damien McCarney

Irish Independent

A SIGNED manuscript of the national anthem was withdrawn from auction last night.

It failed to reach its target price but attracted a top bid of €460,000.

There were audible gasps at the RDS when bidding for the lot started at €300,000.

It is expected it will be sold today after negotiations with the bidder.

Meanwhile Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday called on the public to get onto the streets of Dublin next weekend to commemorate the 1916 Rising.