SAOIRSE32

Sinn Féin

Published: 22 May, 2006

Sinn Fein Representative for Dublin South East Councillor Daithi Doolan has welcomed tonight’s unanimous vote by Dublin City Council in support of a Sinn Fein motion calling for a full independent inquiry into the murder of Cllr. Eddie Fullerton, who was murdered by unionist paramilitaries fifteen years ago this week. He called on the Irish government to come out now and support the family in their search for truth and justice.

Speaking after tonight’s Council meeting Councillor Doolan said:

“Tonight’s vote is very welcome and I hope will give great encouragement to the Fullerton family as they continue to campaign for an independent, public inquiry into their father’s murder. It is particularly important as this Thursday, 25th May, marks the 15th anniversary of the murder of Eddie Fullerton, a member of Donegal County Council. From the moment of his death, there have been allegations that the murder took place as a result of collusion between unionist paramilitaries and British Intelligence. And critically there have also been questions raised about the role played by the Garda in the weeks leading up to his death and in the investigation that followed. There was no proper examination of the scene, crucial forensic evidence was never examined and key witnesses were not interviewed. It is now known that three of the Garda discredited by the Morris Tribunal were centrally involved in the flawed investigation and one of them, Detective Garda Noel McMahon was branded corrupt and a liar.

“For the last fifteen years Eddie Fullerton s family and friends have spearheaded a campaign to discover the truth about what happened. I would like to pay particular tribute to Eddie s son, Albert, who led the campaign for many years and died in tragic circumstances in March. He was instrumental in getting public support for this family s search for justice.

In conclusion Cllr. Doolan urged the Irish government to now come out and fully support the Fullerton family in their just demand for a full, public independent enquiry into their father’s murder. ”

Full motion reads:

That this Council supports the ongoing call from the family of the late Councillor Eddie Fullerton, member of Buncrana Urban District Council and Donegal County Council, for a full independent public inquiry chaired by a person of international repute into the circumstances surrounding his murder and furthermore calls on the Irish Government to insist on full cooperation from the British authorities to assist the Fullerton family in their quest for truth and justice.

CAIN

Friday 22 May 1981

Kieran Doherty, an Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoner in the Maze Prison, joined the hunger strike.

Click photo to view CRAZYFENIAN’s mural pic of ‘Kieran Doherty, Big Doc–one tough soldier’

_________________________________

Irish Hunger Strike 1981 Website

Kieran Doherty

A dedicated republican and an outstanding soldier

WHEN the family, friends and former comrades of Belfast IRA Volunteer twenty-five-year-old Kieran Doherty learnt that he was joining the H-Block hunger strike, as a replacement for Raymond McCreesh, it came as no surprise to them.

Although Kieran had spent seven of the last ten years imprisoned, his complete selflessness and his relentless dedication to the liberation struggle left no-one in any doubt that Kieran would volunteer for this terrible and lonely confrontation with British rule inside the H-Blocks of Long Kesh. Last December he was amongst those thirty prisoners who were on hunger strike for four days prior to the ending of the original seven-strong strike.

Kieran was born on October 16th, 1955 in Andersonstown, the third son in a family of six children. His two elder brothers, Michael, aged 28, and Terence, aged 27, were interned between 1972 and 1974.

>>Read on

RTÉ

22 May 2006 18:00

The Court of Criminal Appeal has fixed 13 July for the hearing of an appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions against the undue leniency of a four-year sentence imposed on Wayne O’Donoghue for the manslaughter of Robert Holohan.

O’Donoghue was tried in the Central Criminal Court in Cork last December. He admitted the manslaughter of his 12-year-old neighbour in Middleton in Co Cork but denied murder and was acquitted by a jury of the more serious charge.

After Mr Justice Carney imposed a four-year prison sentence for manslaughter, the DPP indicated his intention to appeal the sentence on the grounds of undue leniency.

This appeal will now be heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal in under two months time.

BBC

Belfast City Airport has been renamed in honour of George Best at a ceremony attended by his family and friends.

It has been renamed the George Best Belfast City Airport

The new name and signage of George Best Belfast City Airport were unveiled on what would have been the footballer’s 60th birthday.

Among those attending were Best’s former Northern Ireland international colleagues Martin O’Neill and Pat Jennings as well as boxer Chris Eubank.

Best’s sister Barbara McNarry said the renaming was “the ultimate accolade”.

“The family are delighted with it - it was by far the family’s favourite choice, so we’re very pleased,” she said.

Permanent memorial

The Manchester United and Northern Ireland legend died in November, after suffering organ failure in hospital.

The decision to rename the airport followed meetings with Best’s father, Dickie, and close relatives.

Airport managers said they believed renaming it after Best was “a fitting and permanent tribute to his footballing brilliance”.

A permanent memorial will also be erected inside the airport, and people will be able to make charity donations to the George Best Foundation.

Professor Roger Williams, the consultant who treated Best during his final illness, said it was “a fitting tribute for someone who did great things for Northern Ireland”.

It is estimated that 2.2 million passengers use the airport each year.

Since his death, there has been a wide-ranging debate on how to commemorate Best in his home city, with proposals considered including a statue of Best outside Belfast City Hall.

Airline Flybe has named one of its aircraft in honour of Best.

George Best was born in east Belfast

The aircraft has a picture of him in his Manchester United strip and flies between Belfast and Manchester.

His sister Barbara said on Monday: “You can now fly on the George Best airplane into the George Best airport - what more could you ask for?”

At the weekend, hundreds of people took part in a celebration of the life of the football legend in the Cregagh estate in Castlereagh.

The highlight was the unveiling of a mural depicting a young Best, replacing a paramilitary image, overlooking the fields where he played as a boy.

BBC

DUP leader Ian Paisley has refused Sinn Fein’s nomination to be Northern Ireland’s first minister as efforts to restore devolution continue.

Ian Paisley rejected Sinn Fein’s nomination to be first minister

Mr Paisley had already indicated that he intended to reject the nomination.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams also put forward party colleague Martin McGuinness as deputy first minister.

Declining the nomination, Mr Paisley said his “reasons were well known and had been endorsed by the majority of the unionist voters”.

Despite Mr Paisley declining the first minister’s post, it is still possible for members to debate policy matters under the assembly’s temporary rules, although laws cannot be made.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Paisley said: “Our stand is clear, it is not going to be altered and it is simple: let’s have British democracy in British Ulster.”

Mr Paisley also said he would refuse to sit with Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey because of his association with PUP leader David Ervine, whose party has links to the loyalist paramilitary UVF.

The UUP’s move could mean they receive an extra ministerial post, at the expense of Sinn Fein, if a government is formed.

“If Mr Empey wants the support of a terrorist organisation, let him have it, but he’ll not have my support,” Mr Paisley added.

Mr Adams said his party wanted to see a power-sharing executive set up as quickly as possible.

“There is a sense of wanting to get business done as quickly as possible, that is what we are about,” he said.

“What we are looking for is a committee or a series of committees which will deal with the whole issue of forming the executive led by senior leaders of all of the parties.

“If that can’t happen, then the DUP can only say no so many times.”

The DUP have also criticised UUP leader Sir Reg Empey

The UUP’s Sir Reg Empey said he hoped the assembly would be able to debate a motion calling for the establishment of a committee for the restoration of devolution.

“What we are asking the secretary of state to do is to allow a motion on the order paper for our next business to appoint a committee on the restoration of devolution,” he said.

“The general public would at least know that we were actually engaged in serious business.”

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said Northern Ireland’s parties should face up to their responsibilities and allow other parties to do the same.

“What we have to do is to bring purpose to this whole enterprise… We have to get back to what we have been mandated to do which is to implement the Good Friday Agreement,” he said.

“We will test the positions of other parties and we will test the worth of the government’s word as well.”

‘Devolution benefits’

Earlier on Monday, Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell addressed assembly members at Stormont.

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain invited Mr McConnell to Belfast to “highlight the benefits of devolution”.

Mr McConnell said that he was not in Northern Ireland to lecture assembly members, but to offer evidence on the advantages of devolution.

“We have made great progress under devolution in Scotland. Scotland is a far better country today than it was seven years ago.”

On 15 May, Northern Ireland’s politicians took their seats in the Stormont assembly for the first time since October 2002.

While there is no immediate prospect of a power-sharing executive being formed, the government hopes recalling the politicians will help to pave the way towards a deal in the autumn, by its deadline of 24 November.

Devolved government was suspended over allegations of a republican spy ring. The court case that followed collapsed.

Direct rule from London was restored in October 2002 and has been in place since.

BBC

Soldiers shot 13 people dead in Derry on Bloody Sunday

Members of the Bloody Sunday campaign have settled out of court a number of libel claims against a newspaper.

The Daily Telegraph had printed articles in 1999 which the families said were widely perceived to be “grave slurs” on their reputations.

Relatives’ spokesman Michael McKinney said they would be paid “substantial damages and costs”.

The Daily Telegraph confirmed four claims were settled but without any admission of liability by the paper.

Libel action was taken by the families and their solicitors and the High Court in Belfast was told the case has been settled.

The legal representative for the families and solicitors told Mr Justice Higgins: “These actions have been stayed on terms which have been agreed.”

Following the brief court hearing, Mr McKinney, the spokesman for the Bloody Sunday Campaign, said the Daily Telegraph articles “whatever their intentions, were widely perceived to be a grave slur on our reputations.

“However, by bringing these actions to a successful conclusion - with substantial damages and costs being paid by the Daily Telegraph - the families have been vindicated.”

Fourteen civilians were shot by soldiers during a civil rights march in Londonderry in 1972.

Final report

An inquiry is under way into the circumstances of the deaths.

Lord Saville and his two colleagues, who opened the inquiry in April 1998, have been trawling through evidence heard from more than 900 witnesses.

The first public hearing was held in March 2000 and closed in November 2004.

Victims’ families have said they had been told by the Irish government the final report would not be released until next year.

The Bloody Sunday inquiry was established in 1998 by Prime Minister Tony Blair after a campaign by families of those killed and injured.

The inquiry has heard evidence from leading politicians, including the prime minister at the time, Sir Edward Heath, civilians, policemen, soldiers and IRA members.

Guardian

MP says it’s obscene that the former UDA man should profit from his reign of terror in Belfast

Henry McDonald, Ireland editor
Sunday May 21, 2006
The Observer

Former terrorist leader Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Adair has signed a deal to tell his life story for an advance believed to nearly £100,000 from John Blake, publisher of the autobiographies of the Page 3 models Jordan and Jodie Marsh.

Adair, the former head of the C Company faction of the Ulster Defence Association, flew to London last Wednesday to sign the contract for his book.

The deal was denounced last night by Alasdair McDonnell, the SDLP MP for South Belfast: ‘Johnny Adair’s reign of terror on the Shankill Road and in Belfast generally was one of the main terror components of our darkest days.

‘It would be obscene that someone like Adair could profit even now from boastings about his exploits. I believe the Assets Recovery Agency should look at this very carefully; there is a case for investigating this.

‘He is making money from talking about crimes past,’ added McDonnell, who was Belfast’s Deputy Lord Mayor in the early Nineties when C Company was at its strongest.

Adair confirmed he had signed the deal. ‘When I look at my bookshelf, there are at least four books about me written by journalists. If they can make money writing about my life then why can’t I do the same?’ he said from his home in Troon, Scotland.

Adair said he would take legal advice in advance of the book ’so I don’t talk myself into any trouble when I look back at my past.’

The leading loyalist, who served almost 15 years in prison for directing acts of terrorism, said the book would be published next spring. ‘There’s even someone talking about film rights.’

‘I am going to tell it as it is, warts and all. I will tell a story of a teenage skinhead who joined the paramilitaries because he was rejected by the Ulster Defence Regiment, of someone who went into republican areas by himself and took on the IRA. It’s a story of someone who soldiered from the front.’

The UDA expelled Adair in 2002 and less than six months later it attacked his C Company comrades while he was back in prison. Asked if he would write about the allies who turned enemies, Adair said: ‘I don’t intend to hold anything back and I want to expose these so-called loyalists for the gangsters, bullyboys and informers that they are.’

Confessing he cannot live a quiet life, Adair added: ‘I am in the public domain constantly so I might as well go out and tell my side of my story. There is no quiet life of retirement for Johnny Adair.’

As well as the book deal, Adair has been paid a fee - understood to be thousands of pounds - by the Five TV channel for co-operating over a documentary about him, to be broadcast in September.

His autobiography will chronicle his rise through the UDA ranks, his time as a National Front skinhead and a short career in rock music with his band, Offensive Weapon. Detectives believe his unit killed up to 40 people in Northern Ireland at the height of his power.

He is not the first infamous loyalist to write his story. Two years ago Michael Stone, the UDA assassin who launched a lone gun and grenade attack on an IRA funeral in 1988, brought out None Shall Divide Us, also published by Blake.

In his book Stone accused Adair of having gay relationships in prison. Adair dismissed this claim as revenge ‘because I had sex with one of his girlfriends’.

Newshound

(by Suzanne Breen, Sunday Tribune)

Supporters of four Belfast republicans on the run, after being convicted of abducting another republican, have accused the Provisional IRA and Sinn Féin leadership of betrayal.

They said it was “disgraceful” that Martin McGuinness had called on the men to hand themselves over to the authorities. “They did what they did on the IRA leadership’s orders. They’re facing a big stretch in Maghaberry (prison). How many years in jail has Martin McGuinness done?” a supporter of the men said.

Grafitti saying ‘F*** M McGuinness. Support the Tohill 4′ has appeared on the nationalist lower Ormeau Road in south Belfast where friends and relatives of one of the men live.

Gerard McCrory, 34, Harry Fitzsimmons, 36, Liam Rainey, 32, and Thomas Tolan, 34, were due to appear in court a fortnight ago to be sentenced for the abduction of dissident republican Bobby Tohill in 2004. Sentences of between five and ten years each were expected.

Bench warrants have been issued for their arrest. Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness have appealed to them to give themselves up. “What they should clearly do is present themselves to face the charges they pleaded guilty on,” McGuinness stated.

Another supporter of the men said: “These men didn’t take a rush of blood to the head and decide to go out and kidnap Bobby Tohill. They were on an IRA operation, sanctioned by the Army Council.

“The same people who sent them out are now sh*tting on them because they want to get into government with Paisley. It’s despicable. I don’t know how Sinn Féin has the cheek to abandon and criminalise these men at the same time they commemorate the hunger-strikers.”

Other sources told the Sunday Tribune that despite “serious tensions” with the leadership, the men are receiving financial assistance from the IRA.

“The leadership is against them being on the run but has no option but to look after them. There is contact with them and it’s hoped they’ll see sense and hand themselves in.”

The failure of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to release photographs or descriptions of the men, or carry out searches to recapture them, is unusual. A police spokesman said: “The PSNI will take whatever action is deemed necessary and appropriate. We do not intend to detail further.”

Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Orde, and later the Independent Monitoring Commission, blamed the Provisionals for Tohill’s abduction.

But IRA membership charges against the men were withdrawn because the organisation wasn’t specified as being in breach of its ceasefire under law.

Tohill had a history of clashes with the Provisional IRA and, just before his abduction, had called its director of intelligence, the man who later planned the Northern Bank robbery, a criminal.

Tohill was abducted from a Belfast bar and bundled into a van which was later stopped by police. CCTV footage showed the four men emerging from the van wearing disposable boiler suits and Tohill, naked from the waist up, covered in blood.

May 22, 2006
________________

This article appeared in the May 21, 2006 edition of the Sunday Tribune.

Sinn Féin

Published: 22 May, 2006

Sinn Féin MP for Newry and Armagh Conor Murphy has dismissed PSNI claims that they were attacked by stone throwers at a commemoration for Hunger Striker Raymond McCreesh in Camlough at the weekend as ‘false propaganda’.

Speaking today Mr Murphy said:

“Yesterday’s Hunger Strike commemoration for Camlough native Raymond McCreesh was a well stewarded and dignified affair, to celebrate the sacrifice of the H-Block martyrs of 1981, and in particular local man Raymond McCreesh.

“The PSNI have attempted to besmirch the memory of Ray, his comrades and the republican community by claiming that missiles were thrown at them from the parade. There were no stones thrown at the PSNI. There was no need for the PSNI to be anywhere near the march, yet they have engineered a story which is grounded in fiction and has no basis in fact.” ENDS

RTÉ

22 May 2006 09:14

The President, Mary McAleese, has strongly denied a report that the community outreach work carried out in Northern Ireland by herself and her husband, Dr Martin McAleese, is being scaled back.

President McAleese, speaking at the University of Notre Dame in the US, said the outreach work ‘was as strong as ever and getting stronger’.

Whilst avoiding any direct comment on an ongoing investigation into an alleged misappropriation of funds destined for a community project in Belfast, the President said she would be very concerned but would not let herself be ‘paralysed by every setback’.

On the issue of asylum seekers in Ireland, the President said that while some may feel aggrieved, ‘we operate within a legal framework and that legal framework has simply got to be applied and applied fairly’.

BN.ie

22/05/2006 - 11:04:33

Fine Gael is coming under fire from the body that promotes the Irish language over its call for Irish to be scrapped as a compulsory subject in secondary schools.

Conradh na Gaeilge is staging a protest outside Leinster House this morning to highlight its opposition to the proposal.

It says Fine Gael’s suggestions are anti-Irish, anti-academic and anti-European and says it will be calling on voters to transfer their support at the next election to parties that support the language.

Times Online

By Michael Evans, Defence Editor
May 22, 2006

MI5 HAS been ordered to double its resources in Northern Ireland to combat dissident republicans, despite being criticised for lacking the manpower to monitor Islamic extremists.

More than a fifth of MI5’s total resources is being devoted to Irish counter-terrorism as the service prepares to take over from police the prime responsibility for countering the dissident terrorist threat from next year.

Substantial funds and manpower will be tied up in the Province even though the Provisional IRA has supposedly disarmed and committed itself to the political process, and the leadership of the dissident groups has been disrupted by intelligence operations.

The service has been ordered by the Government to devote resources to the Province despite political pressure to use as much of its surveillance expertise and technical capability as possible to uncover the threat posed by home-grown terrorists inspired by or affiliated to al-Qaeda.

Patrick Mercer, the Conservative homeland security spokesman, said yesterday he was staggered that so much of MI5’s available resources were being used to deal with a terrorist threat “that seems to be largely quiescent at a time when the United Kingdom is facing such a huge threat from international terrorism”.

He added: “The Provisional IRA in full flood, when it was mounting attacks on the mainland, killed relatively small numbers of civilians, but potentially the next Islamic terrorist attack in this country could cause hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths. It’s vital that as large a proportion of MI5’s resources are devoted to this threat as possible.”

At present, just over half of MI5’s resources are spent on international counter-terrorism out of a budget estimated at £200 million. Of an additional 12 per cent, much of that is allocated towards providing security advice for government departments, national utilities, business and industry.

The political decision to give MI5 primacy over the Police Service of Northern Ireland in countering the limited threat from the Real IRA and Continuity IRA was taken before the suicide bomb attacks in London on July 7 last year.

The announcement of the change in arrangements in the Province was made in February last year by Paul Murphy, who was then Northern Ireland Secretary. It was Mr Murphy, in his new role as chairman of the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, who said that if MI5 had had more resources for countering international terrorism it might have thwarted the July 7 bombers.

However, since the bombings, MI5 has been trying to divert as much of its resources towards countering the threat from radical Islamic terrorism.

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, Director-General of MI5, announced this month that the agency had suspended all work on the prevention and detection of serious crime. She said: “We are now faced by an unprecedented level of priority casework on international terrorism. The resources freed up will help to reinforce our work on international terrorism.”

Security sources said that the extra resources now needed for Northern Ireland were necessary to take on the new responsibility. They pointed out that loyalist terrorist groups also needed to be monitored, and that there had been two recent cases in the Province that allegedly involved international terrorism.

DANGER MONEY

52% of M15’s budget goes on international counter-terrorism

21% on Irish counter-terrorism

12% on security advice

6.5% on counter-espionage

3% on countering nuclear, chemical and biological weapons proliferation

2.5% on serious crime now goes on international counter-terrorism

2% on external assistance

1% on emerging threats