SAOIRSE32

Daily Ireland

Ciarán Barnes

Leading loyalist Mark Haddock was last night reported to have confessed to family and friends that he has been a Special Branch informer for 16 years.
The ex-Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) leader, who was shot six times by his former paramilitary friends on Tuesday, made the admission as he recovers from his injuries under armed PSNI guard in Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital.
Detectives are planning to question the 37-year-old about the bid on his life over the weekend. It is understood he is demanding the PSNI resettle both him and his family in England under a new identity.
On Wednesday night a friend of Haddock’s, who had supported him during a recent court appearance, was forced to leave his home in north Belfast’s Mount Vernon estate. The UVF has also ordered relatives of Haddock out of the area.
A spokesman for the PSNI have confirmed that threats have been made.
During the mid-1990s, Haddock was UVF boss in Mount Vernon.
On Thursday Daily Ireland revealed a close friend of Haddock’s, who is also a Special Branch agent, organised the attempt on his life. He did so in return for the UVF not killing him.
Loyalist sources yesterday named the two men who shot the informer, known as Agent Helen, six times.
The paramilitaries are close friends of dead UVF man Colin Caldwell. The 23-year-old was killed in an IRA bomb attack at Belfast’s Crumlin Road prison in November 1991.
Caldwell was on remand for possession of firearms and UVF membership after being caught in a car containing weapons in Newtownabbey, north Belfast. Information Haddock gave to his RUC handlers led to Caldwell’s arrest.
Friends of Caldwell attempted to avenge his death on Tuesday by trying to kill Haddock.

Daily Ireland

British secretary of state Peter Hain has been forced into a U-turn on next week’s sitting of the Stormont assembly, the Democratic Unionist Party claimed last night.
Ian Paisley’s party said Mr Hain had been forced to back down on a plan to hold no debates for the second week running at Stormont after the DUP threatened not to take part in a special committee to prepare for devolved government.
There was outrage from unionists, the SDLP and Alliance Party politicians after Mr Hain informed assembly members there would be no debates next week.
Assembly members had suggested debates on the imposition of rates on manufacturers in the North and on the British government’s plans for the reorganisation of local government and public bodies.
A source said: “Dr Paisley made it clear that there would be no Preparation for Government Committee unless there was an assembly debate next week. We have now been informed a debate will take place.”

Daily Ireland

by Ciarán Barnes

An Irish government agency has been accused of supporting partition after it failed to include the six northern counties in a series of 150-year-old maps of Ireland.
At the beginning of the week, Ordnance Survey Ireland launched a new website at www.historicmaps.ie.
This contains a series of old maps of Ireland.
The maps were drawn years before partition, meaning they would have covered all 32 counties.
However, Ordnance Survey Ireland has not included the North among the maps on its website.
A notice on the website reads: “Please note that currently maps covering Northern Ireland are not contained within this archive.”
Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh accused the Ordnance Survey of effectively supporting partition.
He described its omission of the Six Counties from the maps as “unfortunate”.
The Dublin South-Central TD said: “These maps were drawn up many years before the partition of this nation and so Ordnance Survey Ireland would have access to the maps of all 32 counties.
“It is most unfortunate that they have developed such a partitionist mindset. They are effectively supporting partition. “I would call on them to make all the maps of Ireland that they have in their possession available to all interested parties on this island and beyond.”
An Ordnance Survey spokesman said there were plans for the North to be included among maps that had yet to be put on the website.
He said: “We have to get the first phase finished before we can look at putting the North on the website.
“That includes getting maps from the Republic between 1842 to 1913 online.
“Unfortunately, we don’t hold much of the maps detailing the North.
“They were taken off us after partition but we do intend gaining access to and putting them on the website some time in the future,” said the spokesman.

Daily Ireland

Exclusive – City’s new SDLP lord mayor was interned in Long Kesh

by Ciarán Barnes

Belfast’s new SDLP lord mayor is a former political prisoner, Daily Ireland can reveal.
Pat McCarthy was locked up in 1971 for being an alleged member of the Official IRA.
He was interned without trial for 11 months in the Crumlin Road jail in Belfast and in Long Kesh prison.
The 53-year-old father of three last night became Belfast’s 114th lord mayor and only the fourth nationalist to wear the chain of office.
He saw off the challenge of Sinn Féin’s Carál Ní Chuilín to be elected by 37 votes to 14.
The Democratic Unionist Party’s Ruth Patterson was elected to serve as his deputy.
Mr McCarthy told Daily Ireland he wanted to see Belfast grow during his time in office.
“I want the people of this great city to overcome their divisions,” said the SDLP councillor.
“I want to city grow and become a leading European capital.”
Mr McCarthy said he had no problem going to meet people in loyalist areas of Belfast. “My father was a merchant seaman who fought the Nazis.
“I still wear his medals proudly and I attend the Belfast cenotaph every year to remember those who died in the wars. “I have no problem bringing my message of peace to unionist areas. The people of this city have had a shared past and we can have a shared future,” said the new mayor, who is from the Markets area of south Belfast.
After leaving school at 15, Mr McCarthy went to work in the Belfast abattoir on Stewart Street. His weekly income was £5.
Following his release from prison in 1972, he threw himself into community work. He helped set up the Lower Ormeau Community Residents’ Association.
He got a job as a roofer before starting up his own construction business, which he still owns today.
Mr McCarthy has been married to his wife Angela since 1982.
They have three children — 22-year-old Christopher, 18-year-old Nuala and 16-year-old Declan.
Away from politics, Mr McCarthy enjoys breeding and raising greyhounds.

BN.ie

02/06/2006 - 19:14:16

The 41-year-old paedophile who had been released from jail after his detention for raping a 12-year old girl was deemed unlawful was rearrested today, less than two hours after the Supreme Court ordered he be returned to prison.

After three days of freedom, the man was arrested by gardaí.

Officers would not say where he was being held.

A garda spokesman said: “Following the decision of the Supreme Court today, June 2, 2006, gardaí have arrested the man identified as Mr A and he is being returned to prison in Dublin.”

It is believed he will be returned to Dublin’s Arbour Hill prison where he was serving his jail term before his release on Tuesday.

Mr A has already served 18-months of his three year sentence for unlawful carnal knowledge of the girl.

Minister fo Justice Michael McDowell said he believed today’s Supreme Court decision would mean that most convicted sex offenders would now remain in prison.

“I’m confident that the great majority of the people who stood to benefit will not be released and will serve their full sentences,” he said.

The minister earlier announced the Supreme Court verdict to Senators during the Seanad debate on the Bill to close the legal loophole which led to the sex offenders release and the chamber applauded.

Larkspirit

A loyal, determined republican with a great love of life

‘THE EIGHTH republican to join the hunger-strike for political status, on May 23rd, following the death of Patsy O’Hara, was twenty-five-year-old fellow INLA Volunteer Kevin Lynch from the small, North Derry town of Dungiven who had been imprisoned since his arrest in 1976.

Click to view CAIN poster

A well-known and well liked young man in the closely-knit community of his home town, Kevin was remembered chiefly for his outstanding ability as a sportsman, and for qualities of loyalty, determination and a will to win which distinguished him on the sports field and which, in heavier times and circumstances, were his hallmarks as an H-Block blanket man on hunger strike to the death.’

Read biography >>here

This is a detail of the new Kevin Lynch mural. Click on the photo to view the whole mural - Source: >>IRBB

Sinn Féin

Published: 2 June, 2006

Sinn Féin Justice, Equality and Human Rights spokesperson Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD has welcomed the news that the Supreme Court has ruled that the sex offender known as Mr. A should be re-arrested and imprisoned.

Deputy Ó Snodaigh said, “At last a little bit of good news in this whole debacle. I welcome the fact that the beast known as Mr. A will soon be back where he belongs — behind bars.

“It is imperative that the Government keep in touch with the families of all of the victims of the other offenders who are appealing their cases. They must be assured of the consequences this Supreme Court ruling will have on the rest of the cases.” ENDS

BN.ie

02/06/2006 - 15:23:01

The trial of the suspected master bomber accused of murdering 29 people in the Omagh bombing will start in September, it was announced today.

Mr Justice Weir set September 6 as the start date of the trial of electrician Sean Hoey, 36, the only man charged in connection with the Real IRA bombing in August 1998.

During a brief hearing at Belfast Crown Court the judge made clear to prosecution and defence lawyers that he wanted nothing to interfere with the start of the trial.

“I cannot overestimate that we should stick to the agreed timetable,” he told them.

It is expected the trial will last for around six weeks.

Hoey, from Molly Road, Jonesborough, on the South Armagh border, was not present in court for the hearing.

He faces a total of 58 charges relating to the Omagh bombing and a string of other bomb attacks carried out by the Real IRA.

Hoey will have been in custody for three years by the time his case comes to trial.

BBC

Now a second is being held also

The victim was shot in Newtownabbey

A man has been arrested by detectives investigating the attempted murder of leading loyalist Mark Haddock, police have said.

The 36-year-old, who remains seriously ill, was shot six times in a gun attack in County Antrim on Tuesday.

Mr Haddock was shot at Mossley Orange Hall on the Doagh Road in Newtownabbey after he got out of his car.

He is on bail on a charge of attempting to murder doorman Trevor Gowdy at a social club in Monkstown.

He was named in that court case as a leading member of the Ulster Volunteer Force. Judgement in the trial has been reserved.

Belfast Telegraph

As UVF sources admit the attack on Mark Haddock, security expert Brian Rowan assesses the political fall-out

02 June 2006

The Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey will be feeling the heat of the political kitchen right now.

Even before the UVF fired six shots into Mark Haddock on Tuesday, there was some serious questioning of Sir Reg’s judgement in inviting David Ervine to join the Ulster Unionist Group at Stormont - not just a questioning from outside the party but from inside it as well.

That questioning will be all the more intense as the full truth of Tuesday’s shooting emerges.

Haddock was a Special Branch informer - de-activated we are told when the Police Ombudsman started to probe the 1997 murder of Raymond McCord junior and when the chief constable ordered a purge of the informer world.

The names of some agents have spilled out from that world.

Scappaticci was spared, Donaldson is dead, Barrett will forever have to hide, and six bullets will spell out to Haddock that the UVF want him dead.

Yes, the UVF, not mavericks within that organisation, not individuals acting without authority.

There will be no loyalist court martial after the Haddock shooting - those involved knew what they were doing and knew there would be no comeback from those who sit at the top of the UVF, inside its Brigade or Command Staff.

The only question still to be answered is whether the loyalist group will formally admit to its involvement in Tuesday’s shooting.

There are some who think it should whatever the political implications.

But why was Haddock targeted and shot now?

His agent role has been an open secret for some time. The UVF have long had their suspicions.

He was dismissed from the loyalist wing at Maghaberry jail and, inside and outside prison, he was ostracised by the loyalist organisation.

The background commentary on this shooting is that Tuesday’s attempt to kill Haddock resulted from the most recent revelations about his informer activities, but one imagines guns were being pointed at him long before then.

Haddock will know who he met on Tuesday, and therefore will know the man who came to kill him.

The gunman did not intend the informer to live. Six bullets is proof of that.

David Ervine meets and speaks to the UVF leadership every week. They will be talking today, and those in the room will know that they have put Sir Reg Empey in a very difficult place.

So far there has been no knee-jerk response from the Ulster Unionist leader, but he will want to keep a certain degree of wriggle room as the story of Tuesday’s shooting continues to emerge.

Up to this point, Ervine has survived within the Ulster Unionist Group at Stormont.

Sir Reg Empey knows the real world of the peace process and knows what can happen, and so too does the chief constable.

We do not hear Hugh Orde calling for Dawn Purvis of the PUP to be removed from the Policing Board.

David Ervine and Dawn Purvis had nothing to do with the shooting of Mark Haddock, and those who know them well will know what they want the UVF to do.

That organisation needs to get on with it. It has had its consultation on its future, but has delayed an announcement on its decision until after the November deadline for a political deal at Stormont.

The longer it stays on the stage - the longer it allows actions such as Tuesday’s shooting - the more vulnerable and fragile the Empey-Ervine arrangement at Stormont will become.

John Hume has been here before. In the same period as SDLP and Sinn Fein delegations met in 1988, the IRA murdered soldiers - 14 of them - in Lisburn and at Ballygawley.

The Hume-Adams process survived the Shankill bomb and Warrington and it went on to help deliver the ceasefires of 1994 and 1997.

Making peace is about taking risks.

But Northern Ireland is a political glasshouse, and those who live in it keep throwing stones.

We should reserve judgment on the Empey-Ervine arrangement and the reaction to it, until we know the full story of all of the talking and all of the meetings that have taken place at many different times during our long Troubles.

There have been contacts and there has been talking that we have not yet been told about.

If Reg Empey is being asked to show David Ervine the political door, should unionist politicians - all kinds of unionist politicians - also stay out of the meeting halls when marching is being discussed in the company of the leaders of the UVF, the UDA and Red Hand Commando?

Reg Empey has taken a risk and he has been embarrassed by the actions of the UVF, but if the Ulster Unionist leader can help deliver on the loyalist side what Hume achieved with the IRA, then it will have been a risk worth taking.

It is what peace making is all about.

Belfast Telegraph

By Jonathan McCambridge
02 June 2006

The presence of the PUP chairperson on the Policing Board has ignited fresh controversy with the UVF the main suspects in the attempted murder of Mark Haddock.

A political representative has said she felt constrained from raising the shooting with the Chief Constable because the PUP’s Dawn Purvis sits on the board.

Haddock remains in hospital after he was shot six times in the body at an ambush in Newtownabbey on Tuesday afternoon.

The Chief Constable briefed the Policing Board in private yesterday about progress in the investigation into the shooting of the former leader of the UVF in Mount Vernon and alleged Special Branch informer.

However, during the public session of the board, Arlene Foster said: “In the private session I asked you if you felt constrained because of the presence of a certain member.

“I certainly felt constrained probing you on it because of the presence of a member of the PUP with links to the UVF. I did not want to probe you further.”

But the Chief Constable responded: “I am not constrained at all and I said what was appropriate. The more representative the board is the better it is likely to be.”

Speaking afterwards, Dawn Purvis dismissed Mrs Foster’s criticism. She said: “If people want to play silly games that is up to them.

“The Chief Constable has said there is absolutely no indication as to who carried out this attack. I am absolutely committed to the rule of law.”

The DUP now plan to take their protest to Ulster Secretary Peter Hain, who appointed Ms Purvis as an independent member of the Policing Board.

It said it was seeking an urgent meeting with Security Minister Paul Goggins.

Although Sir Hugh Orde would not publicly say who he believed shot Mr Haddock, he was encouraged by board members not to shirk making an attribution when he receives adequate intelligence.

Sir Hugh said: “I am not into second guessing my senior investigating officer.

“When it is appropriate to say things publicly, we will do so.

“It is only 48 hours after the event, it is early in the investigation - let’s see where it takes us.”

Belfast Telegraph

‘Why no arrests over my son’s murder?’

By Michael McHugh
02 June 2006

The mother of a republican victim linked to British agent Kevin Fulton has spoken of her 16-year battle for justice after fresh details emerged of the killing.

Ailish Morley (64) said she was disappointed that nobody had been arrested for the 1990 killing by the IRA despite Fulton reportedly admitting his involvement in a book to be published later this month.

Newry dissident republican Eoin Morley was shot dead after leaving the mainstream movement and in the book Fulton said he was one of two gunmen involved but didn’t say who pulled the trigger.

The incident has been the subject of a Police Ombudsman investigation.

Ms Morley said that Fulton, a former neighbour in the border town turned IRA informer, had to live with his conscience for the rest of his days.

“I don’t hate Kevin Fulton, he must hate himself every day he looks in the mirror. He comes from a lovely family, his parents are lovely people, in fact all his family are lovely people but he has to live with himself and he must hate himself,” she said.

“He should come before the courts. I am disappointed that it’s been so slow in coming to the fore. I have always believed that the police knew who was involved at the time and I am still waiting on arrests.

“It has been 16 years but it is still very raw. All I can do is hope that it will come sooner rather than later.”

Mr Fulton didn’t respond to efforts to contact him but a spokeswoman for the publisher of his book Unsung Hero, Michelle Signore, said she was ‘aware’ of the controversy.

He has been repeatedly linked to the Morley murder by press reports, although he has not been charged with any offence.

The killing is one of the cases being probed by the Historic Enquiries Team. Last year Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan found that there had never been a proper investigation into Morley’s murder, that the police had failed to arrest a suspect and that high-grade intelligence had not been acted on.

The Ombudsman also found that during a meeting with police, the suspect had given the impression that he had carried out the murder. His fingerprint was also found on the murder weapon.

Mrs Morley said Fulton should be arrested and quizzed about the murder.

She added: “I don’t care what money he gets from the book. No matter how much money he gets it will always be blood money. It might bring to the fore how evil the informer system is.

“He says that he has saved lives but if that was the case then why didn’t he save my son?”

Eoin’s father, David, was an IRA officer in the Maze prison in the early 1970s after defeating Gerry Adams in an election among IRA inmates.

Shortly before his death, Eoin Morley had left the IRA and joined the Irish People’s Liberation Organisation.

He was shot twice on the night of Easter Sunday, April 15 1990 at a house in Derrybeg in Newry.

He was taken to the local Daisy Hill Hospital but died a few hours later from his injuries. The IRA said they had carried out the attack.

Belfast Telegraph

By Michael McHugh
02 June 2006

Garda detectives probing the murder of Seamus Ludlow are to complete a report by the end of June, the Belfast Telegraph has learned.

A specialist team under the command of Assistant Commissioner Martin Callaghan is reviewing the Dundalk forestry worker’s 1976 murder by loyalists in an effort to bring the killers to justice.

The investigation was ordered by Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy, following a recommendation in an Irish parliamentary committee report into the killing.

Mr Ludlow (47) was picked up in Dundalk, then shot dead and dumped near his home outside the town. Nobody has ever faced trial for the murder, despite two suspects making admissions on the matter.

The case is particularly controversial because two UDR men were suspects and collusion with the security forces was mentioned during the sub-committee hearings. Mr Ludlow’s nephew, Jimmy Sharkey, said he felt the killers would never be brought to justice.

“According to Assistant Commissioner Callaghan, the investigation has begun and the investigators are due to report back to him by the end of June,” he said.

“We put the point to him that these boys will never be charged unless fresh evidence comes to light. They are coming back in six weeks to let us know whether it bears any fruit. If they did charge somebody they would walk in one door of the court and out the other. You just have to look at the release of [Pat Finucane killer] Ken Barrett to see that.”

UDA man Barrett was released from prison early this week.

A hearing of a sub-committee of the justice committee in Dublin heard the killing was connected to members of the Red Hand Commando.

One of the suspects, Paul Hosking, lives in Newtownards. He has confirmed he was in the car with Mr Ludlow on the night he died, but denies killing him.

Senior gardai conducting the original investigation were unable to interview four suspects identified to them by RUC Special Branch in 1979.

Four men from north Down were interviewed by the RUC in 1997 but, for undisclosed reasons, the Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to take a case.

Mr Sharkey said he believed Garda involved in the new probe had been in contact with the PSNI, but claimed there was little chance of securing convictions.

The commitment to launch a fresh investigation was first given by Commissioner Conroy during evidence which he gave to the sub-committee earlier this year.

The committee report was published in March and it fell short of recommending the full public inquiry demanded by relatives of Mr Ludlow.

Belfast Telegraph

By Brian Rowan
02 June 2006

The UVF was behind the attempted murder of the informer Mark Haddock, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal today.

The disclosure comes from a senior and credible source, who spoke to this newspaper within the past 24 hours.

Another source has revealed that Haddock will know the gunman who fired the shots that critically wounded him.

The only unanswered question is whether the UVF will now formally admit to its involvement in the shooting.

It was not a maverick attack and nor was it carried out by individuals acting without authority.

The background commentary on this shooting is that Tuesday’s attempt to kill Haddock resulted from the most recent revelations about his informer activities.

But, according to reliable sources, he was de-activated - a move that coincided with the opening of the Police Ombudsman investigation four years ago into events surrounding the 1997 murder of Raymond McCord Jnr and a purge of the informer world ordered by the Chief Constable.

The police have not yet publicly linked the UVF to Tuesday’s shooting, but the confirmation obtained by this newspaper that that group was involved will increase pressure on the Ulster Unionists over their Stormont arrangement with David Ervine.

The PUP leader, whose party has political links to the UVF, has been saying in interviews that he believes there was no authorisation for the shooting.

A lengthy consultation involving meetings in Northern Ireland, Scotland and England has now been completed.

But the loyalist group is delaying making a declaration on its future intentions until after the November 24 deadline for a political deal at Stormont.

Next week, the Ulster Unionists will meet the Independent Monitoring Commission - the body that reports to the British and Irish Governments on continuing paramilitary activity and the state of ceasefires.

The Haddock shooting - and who was responsible - will be part of the agenda for that meeting.

A senior Ulster Unionist source said his party’s objective is to try to bring paramilitarism to an end, to get the arms issue dealt with and to stop young people joining loyalist organisations.

Meanwhile, Haddock is recovering from his injuries and has been able to talk to family members from his hospital.

Anti-UVF campaigner Raymond McCord today challenged Chief Constable Hugh Orde to order the arrest of Haddock over the mounting allegations about his paramilitary past.

“The PSNI should not wait for the Ombudsman’s report. Nuala O’Loan is not investigating Mark Haddock, she has been looking into the police investigation of my son’s murder.”

An Phoblacht

Four more join Hunger Strike

Photo: Joe McDonnell, Kieran Doherty, Kevin Lynch and Martin Hurson

During the month of May 1981 four more republican prisoners joined the historic H-Block Hunger Strike as replacements for Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O’Hara. During the course of the strike, each of the four men were to stand as anti H-Block candidates in the 26 County General Election of June 1981. Joe McDonnell in the constituency of Sligo/Leitrim, Kieran Doherty in Cavan/Monaghan, Kevin Lynch in Waterford and Martin Hurson in Longford/ Westmeath.

Joe McDonnell

The fourth man to join the 1981 Hunger Strike was Joe McDonnell, a 30-year-old married man with two children, from Lenadoon in West Belfast. A close friend of Bobby Sands, he was captured with him and replaced him on the Hunger Strike.

Joe and his wife Gorretti, whilst living with Goretti’s sister, were forced out of their Lenadoon home in 1970 by loyalists as the British army looked on. In 1972 McDonnell was badly beaten by the British army and subsequently interned, first on the Maidstone prison ship and later in Long kesh.

On his release several months later McDonnell immediately joined the IRA and was active in the Andersonstown area. His spell of freedom was short though and he was again interned in 1973.

In October 1976 he was sentenced to 14 years in jail for IRA activities. He refused to put on the prison uniform.

Kieran Doherty

Belfast IRA Volunteer, 25-year-old Kieran Doherty joined the Hunger Strike on 22 May, as a replacement for Raymond McCreesh. He had spent seven of the previous ten years imprisoned. In 1980 he was amongst those 30 prisoners who went on hunger strike for four days prior to the ending of the original strike.

Kieran was born on 16 October, 1955 in Andersonstown. His father Alfie had an uncle, Ned Maguire, who took part in the famous IRA roof-top escape from Belfast’s Crumlin Road jail in 1943. His son also Ned, was an internee in Cage Five of Long Kesh in 1974, when he took part in the mass escape from the camp during which Hugh Coney was shot dead by the British army. Ned’s sisters (and Kieran’s second cousins), Dorothy Maguire, aged 19, and Maura Meehan, aged 30, were shot dead by the British army on 23 October, 1971.

Another relative of Doherty’s, his uncle Gerry Fox, was part of the famous Crumlin Road jail ‘football team’, who escaped from the jail by climbing over the wall in 1972.

Kieran himself had never displayed much of an interest in politics until internment. He joined Fianna Eireann in the autumn of 1971. On 6 October, 1972, the British army came to arrest Kieran, despite his father’s objection that Kieran was under 17. His father eventually got him released after waking up the sexton of St. Agnes’ chapel and obtaining Kieran’s birth certificate.

When tried again Doherty managed to escape across the border, only to make his way back to Belfast at the beginning of 1973. A week or so later, he was arrested and interned in Long Kesh. He was among the last internees released in 1975. He immediately reported back to the IRA. He had many narrow escapes before his capture in August 1976. He was charged with possession of firearms and explosives and commandeering the car and received 18 years.

Kieran joined the blanket protest immediately. He was constantly in conflict with the warders.

Kevin Lynch

Kevin Lynch who replaced Patsy O’Hara, was born on 25 May, 1956 and lived in the small village of Park just outside Dungiven. A keen GAA enthusiast. He witnessed at first hand, crown forces brutality and joined the local stcky controlled Fianna Eireann. Later became involved with an independent active service unit until he emigrated to England in 1973. Upon his return in he joined the INLA around August 1976. Arrested in November of that year he was jailed for ten years. He suffered much brutality at the hands of the warders but was steadfast in his opposition to criminalisation.

No one was surprised by his decision to go on Hunger Strike which he did on 23 May.

Martin Hurson

Martin Hurson was born on 12 September 1956, in the townland of Aughnaskea, Cappagh, near Dungannon. He was part of a very close and good humoured family. Described as a quiet, religious, and easy-going young man, he nevertheless, before his arrest, enjoyed social pursuits such as dancing and going to the cinema. He enjoyed the company of other people, among whom he had a well earned reputation for being a practical joker and a bit of a comedian.

Martin was arrested an dtaken to Omagh RUC barracks on 11 November 1976, He was badly, and professionally tortured in Omagh for two days. He was beaten about the head, back and testicles, spread-eagled against a wall and across a table, slapped, punched and kicked. He was eventually forced to give an incriminating statement.

In November 1977, aided by perjured RUC evidence and totally ignoring clear evidence of torture, a Diplock court sentenced him to 20 years. He went straight on the blanket and joined the Hunger Strike on 29 May replacing Brendan McLoughlin who had to come off the strike due to a perforated ulcer.

……………………..

Hurson honoured in Longford

Republicans from all over Ireland travelled to Lanesboro, County Longford on Sunday last to commemorate the unveiling of a monument to 1981 Longford Westmeath candidate and Hunger Strike martyr Martin Hurson. A crowd of several hundred people watched on as cumainn from the four provinces joined the march through the town.

Speakers on the day included Kerry North TD Martin Ferris, Paul Hogan, Sinn Féin candidate for Longford/Westmeath in the coming election and Francie Molloy, Sinn Féin MLA for Mid Ulster.

Brendan Hurson brother of the late Hunger Striker, unveiled the monument. Also attending were Martin Hurson’s girlfriend at the time of his death, Geraldine Donnelly as well as Dermott Boyle and Kevin O’Brien who were arrested under Section 10 of the emergency Provision Act at the same time as Martin Hurson.

An Phoblacht

Murder bid aimed to silence British agent

Following the shooting of leading loyalist and suspected British agent Mark Haddock, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Justice issues Gerry Kelly said that many would be suspicious of the motivation behind the shooting given the fact that the Six County Ombudsman’s inquiry into Haddock, the Mount Vernon UVF and their collusion with the Special Branch was due to be published next month.

“Mark Haddock was for many years a leading figure in the UVF in Mount Vernon, a grouping associated with many sectarian killings. It is also widely accepted that Haddock and others within the UVF in Mount Vernon were also working for the Special Branch for many years throughout this entire period”, Kelly said on Tuesday evening.

“An inquiry into collusion between the Mount Vernon UVF and the Special Branch is currently being conducted by the Police Ombudsman and is due to be published next month. Mark Haddock is at the centre of this inquiry. Given this, many people will be rightly suspicious of both the timing and the motivation behind this shooting”, he said.

“There is a clear pattern of former British Agents being killed in circumstances like this just as allegations of collusion or other activities are about to be exposed, as was the case of those involved in the murder of Pat Finucane”, said Kelly.

Gerry Kelly later said Tuesday’s murder bid again raised serious questions about who actually controlled the loyalist death squads. He said it was widely accepted that Haddock was controlled and directed by the Special Branch throughout the period in which he was engaged in killings with the full knowledge of his handlers.

“The attempt to kill Haddock follows a long standing pattern. Billy Stobie, another Special Branch agent and a man involved in the murder of Pat Finucane died in similar circumstances”, he said.

“Many will believe that last night’s attempt to murder Mark Haddock was an attempt to silence him and help prevent further allegations of widespread and systematic collusion between the Special Branch and the loyalist death squads emerging. Those members of the Special Branch who handled Mark Haddock would have much to gain from his death. This reality raises serious questions about who controls these gangs and who controlled the loyalist gang involved in yesterday evening’s murder bid”, Kelly said.

Last week in a BBC Spotlight television documentary, a former RUC officer revealed how RUC agents within the UVF in Belfast’s Mount Vernon area had carried out sectarian murders and were being protected by Special Branch.

The BBC revelations by former RUC member Trevor McIlwrath, coupled with the release and relocation of loyalist Ken Barett, the killer of Belfast soliocitor Pat Finucane, drew further attention to made a clear agenda not just to protect unionist paramilitaries working for the British State but more significantly those handling them in the ranks of the Special Branch and MI5.

Human rights report

In April, An Phoblacht reported that a former north Belfast UVF leader, now widely reported as being Mark Haddock, was involved in more than a dozen murders while he was an agent for RUC Special Branch and that a report due to be completed by Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan was set to expose the role of Special Branch in these murders.

The probe followed a detailed report, Getting Away With Murder, by human rights group British Irish Rights Watch (BIRW). Information contained in the report has been described as “compelling”.

The serious nature of the evidence collated by BIRW alarmed human rights groups so much that as well as sending a report to the Ombudsman, the group also sent copies to the so-called Independent Monitoring Commission, British Secretary of State Peter Hain, US Special Envoy Mitchell Reiss and the US Congress.

Former RUC detective Johnston Brown, who ran the UVF agent prior to being ordered to hand him over to Special Branch told the media, “of course there were elements within Special Branch who knew what he was doing but they chose to ignore it.”

Victims

The UVF victims include 27-year-old Sharon McKenna a Catholic taxi driver who was shot dead by the UVF while visiting a Protestant pensioner in North Belfast in 1993; two Catholic workmen from County Armagh, Gary Convie and Eamon Fox, shot dead while working on a building site in Tigers Bay in 1994; Thomas Sheppard, shot dead in 1996; Rev David Templeton who died following a severe beating in March 1997; Billy Harbinson beaten to death in May 1997; Raymond McCord jnr beaten to death in November 1997; and David Greer and Tommy English both shot dead in October 2000.

Last December, after it emerged that the UVF killer of Sean McParland in Skegoniel 1994 was a longstanding Special Branch agent, Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly called on the Six County Police Ombudsman’s office to investigate allegations of collusion between PSNI Special Branch and unionist paramilitaries in Mount Vernon.

Two week’s later it emerged that the man who drove away the UVF killers of Sharon McKenna was protected from arrest by his Special Branch handlers.

McKenna’s murderer was also a Special Branch informant, involved in over a dozen killings. His Special Branch handlers repeatedly blocked RUC attempts to arrest him in the weeks following the murder.

A source with intimate knowledge of the case said if the RUC had questioned him, the killing would already be solved. “The Special Branch protected him from arrest because they knew he would crack under questioning.”

The Branchman running the informer retired two years ago.

The McKenna family have campaigned to have the killers brought to trial.

In February, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams held talks with Raymond McCord senior. Adams pledged to raise the case with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. “I think the McCord family have the right to the truth and that is essentially what Raymond McCord is looking for - the truth about the murder of his son. I think there is huge evidence to suggest that British agents were involved in that killing”, he said.

Irish Independent

THE controversial €1bn Corrib gas project has been dealt a major planning blow.

Bord Pleanala has ruled that a private road from the Atlantic was built illegally.

Shell now faces having to tear up the road it built though a special conservation area in Co Mayo without planning permission.

Yesterday’s landmark Bord Pleanala ruling could delay the project for at least a year.

In a clear win for objectors, the board ruled that a private road already built from the foreshore at Sruwaddacon Bay, where the gas pipeline comes ashore to the existing county road, needs planning permission.

An Bord Pleanala said that the road was built through a priority habitat protected under an EU directive on special areas of conservation known as SACs.

This means that Shell will either have to remove the 1km road built for the project or apply to Mayo Co Council for retention permission.

If it applies and loses, the road will have to be taken up.

The ruling also means that the company must stop work in a number of other areas linked to the project until permission has been secured.

A number of works already carried out also need permission and are not exempt, it also ruled.

This means that work on these projects will have to be halted.

Planning applications to sort out the controversy could take up to a year.

In a clear victory for opponents of the massive project, the board ruled in favour of An Taisce, which had questioned the issue of planning permission.

An Taisce had submitted a list of projects involved in the development and asked if they constituted development, which would need planning permission.

The board ruled that Shell requires planning permission for three aspects of work it is already conducting in relation to the Corrib gas field.

An Bord Pleanala has already given the go-ahead for the overall project.

Approval was also needed a for valve station already installed on the gas pipeline, the board ruled.

An Taisce said the decision raised serious concerns.

“It means that a major element of the Corrib Gas development in Co Mayo is unauthorised and is proceeding without planning permission,” a spokesperson said.

“It also raises the question as to why the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, which has the legal function for implementing the Habitats Directive in Ireland, failed to take action with regard to the unauthorised development on the designated shoreline site,” An Taisce said.

Treacy Hogan

BBC

Pat McCarthy said he wanted to develop a vision for Belfast

The SDLP’s Pat McCarthy has been elected as the fourth ever nationalist lord mayor of Belfast City Council.

Mr McCarthy, who was first elected in 2001 and represents the Laganbank ward, will replace the DUP’s Wallace Browne.

DUP councillor Ruth Patterson has been elected as his deputy for what will be Belfast City Hall’s centenary year.

Mr McCarthy said he aimed to develop “a vision for Belfast”. He added: “We have come through 30 years of turmoil and now must set our sights to the future”.

He received the backing of all parties in the city council except Sinn Fein to become the third ever SDLP councillor to hold the post.

Alban Maginness was the first SDLP mayor in 1997, followed by Martin Morgan in 2003.

Ruth Patterson said she felt “deeply honoured” to be elected deputy lord mayor, which she said was a “great privilege”.

On Wednesday, the Alliance Party said it would not back the Ulster Unionists for any top council posts because of its link with the PUP.

Alliance holds the balance of power on the council and had said it would back Mr McCarthy’s candidacy.

The UUP has come under pressure over its assembly arrangement with the PUP, which has links with the UVF.