SAOIRSE32

BN.ie

05/06/2006 - 18:16:11

The loyal marching orders today held a groundbreaking first ever joint meeting with the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

Senior Orangemen and members of the Royal Black Institution repeated demands for the abolition of the body which rules on disputed parades during talks with Archbishop Sean Brady.

A statement for the joint working group described the meeting in Armagh as cordial.

It said: “It was a useful exchange of views held in an atmosphere of concern for the coming months which all sides wish to see pass in an entirely peaceful manner.

“The Loyal Orders made clear that they believe the Parades Commission has failed and should be replaced by a better system of regulation of all events on the public highway.”

Orange Order Grand Master Robert Saulters and secretary Drew Nelson, William Logan and the Rev Tom Greer of the Royal Black Institution, and MLAs George Dawson and Mervyn Storey from the Independent Orange Institution all took part in the talks.

It was the latest in a series of meetings organised by the Joint Loyal Orders Working Group on the marching issue .

They have already put their concerns to Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain, the Republic’s Department of Foreign Affairs, members of the House of Lords, Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde, political leaders and Protestant clergymen.

Marchers have boycotted the Parades Commission because they claim it is biased against them.

“We recognise that there has to be regulation, but presently this is focused on parades organised by the Loyal Orders – and that, we believe, is biased and unfair,” the statement added.

“The Parades Commission has, furthermore, shown itself to be a failed and increasingly farcical body that must be replaced with a more equitable arrangement that will seek to develop the widest possible consensus from within the community.”

BN.ie

05/06/2006 - 16:43:25

SDLP leader Mark Durkan has strongly criticised both the UK Northern Secretary Peter Hain and DUP leader Ian Paisley after politics at Stormont today descended into farce today.

Durkan lambasted the minister after the inaugural meeting of Stormont’s Preparation for Government Committee meeting broke up without any agreement on who should chair it.

Mr Durkan emerged from today’s meeting, accusing the DUP of refusing to engage with other parties and acting as if they had a veto.

“At times during the meeting the DUP talked about their understandings from the Secretary of State and with the Secretary of State,” the Foyle MP said.

“But the Secretary of State came to this process with the silly belief that we could all have confidence in the DUP.

“While he has been writing positive references for the DUP saying they were willing and ready to engage, they are content that they can stop this committee even though some of their members originally canvassed the idea.

“It is frustrating that they couldn’t even let the committee do its primary work. The Secretary of State needs to now finally realise that he came to this mistakenly believing the DUP were serious, even though we warned against this long ago.”

Unionists and nationalists clashed today on the committee about who its chair should be.

The Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists proposed Assembly Speaker Eileen Bell, but she is believed to have turned their suggestion down.

Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness suggested the chairmanship should either be jointly chaired by his party and the DUP or rotated between the parties.

Afterwards an exasperated David Ford, the leader of the cross community Alliance Party who at one stage was mooted as the committee chairman, said the Irish and British governments needed to reassess their approach to efforts to revive power sharing.

“We in Alliance had reservations about the value of the committee but we attended to do a job for the people we represent,” the South Antrim MLA said.

“But we will not take on other people’s jobs for them. There are many issues to be covered, there are genuine difficulties to recognise and all parties have a duty to take their share of responsibility.

“The government strategy of trying to arrange a quick fix between the DUP and Sinn Féin has been blown out of the water.

“If they cannot even agree on how to chair a meeting, what hope is there that they will agree to form an executive within the next six months?”

With Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British prime minister Tony Blair due to travel to Belfast at the end of the month to spearhead two days of talks with the parties, Mr Hain set up the Preparation for Government Committee to identify issues which will need to be addressed if power sharing is to return.

Mr Durkan reacted angrily to reports that the DUP told the Government it wants a two-week extension of the November 24 deadline set by London and Dublin for achieving power sharing at Stormont because no business had been scheduled for the Assembly over the past fortnight.

The SDLP leader also criticised Mr Hain’s approach towards the Assembly.

“We come to the Assembly debates to test the Government and to test other parties,” the former Stormont deputy first minister said.

“But even when it comes to deciding the issues for debates the Secretary of State is dictated to by the DUP one week and Sinn Féin the next.

“The only people the Secretary of State should be dictated by is the general public and the electorate who want the institutions restored.

“It’s about time the Secretary of State stopped letting parties pull his strings.”

Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness, who led a delegation which included fellow MPs Michelle Gildernew and Conor Murphy, accused the DUP of not being serious about re-establishing the political institutions and sending a low-level delegation to the meeting.

“This is ridiculous,” the Mid Ulster MP said.

“The DUP won’t make a serious effort to engage in the Preparation for Government Committee.

“Peter Hain needs to make it clear that if the DUP are unwilling to engage then he is prepared to call time on the Assembly.

“The DUP appear content to have debates in the Hain Assembly that will have no impact on policy.

“Instead of getting on with the business of the Assembly and setting up the executive, the DUP appear happy to let British direct rule ministers remain in charge and continue with policies on rates increases, water charges, industrial de-rating and rural planning that are hugely damaging.

“While the DUP run away from responsibility they have no credibility in complaining about direct rule. Participation in these sham debates merely provides a fig leaf for DUP attempt to create a Shadow Assembly.”

Daily Ireland

Hidden tales of life inside the North’s infamous jails are to be filmed to protect their legacy for future generations.

Ex-prisoners and wardens will contribute to the archive of memories and stories as part of a new University of Ulster research project.
Both Long Kesh and Crumlin Road jail in Belfast – where hunger strikes, killings and breakouts added to the drama of conflict – have been shut for years and are currently run down.
Cahal McLaughlin, a senior lecturer in media studies at the university, insisted protecting their memories was crucial.

He said: “The proposed redevelopment of most of Northern Ireland’s notorious prisons signals the removal of some of the most significant buildings from the Troubles, taking with it much of the hidden and contested heritage associated with them.
“Thousands of people, including staff, prisoners and visitors, were touched by the prisons and their stories are a vital part of the peace process and Northern Ireland’s history.
“It’s these stories and memories that we want to tap into before they are lost forever and I would encourage as many people as possible to come forward and share their experiences.”
The project, which begins next month with Armagh Gaol, will film ex-prisoners, wardens, doctors, teachers and visitors, in a bid to create the archive examining all sides of the North’s contested past.
Stories will also be collected in future from Long Kesh, Crumlin Road and Magilligan in Co Derry.
Grant aid has been provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
A permanent home for the archive, which will be open to the public and used for educational purposes, has yet to be decided.
Mr McLaughlin stressed the value of the project.
“It is very important to the process of understanding our contested past.”
“Thousands of people experienced the prisons, but their stories and memories have often remained hidden.”

Daily Ireland

Nationalists say there were paramilitary chants and flags outside church

Nationalists have reacted angrily after claims that loyalist bandsmen broke a deal struck last week surrounding a contentious parade in Ballymena on Saturday.
Both Sinn Féin and the SDLP say they will meet with the Parades Commission this week after a number of loyalist bands, including the South Down DUP Flute Band, stopped outside the town’s All Saints Catholic church and played loyalists tunes during a parade in the Co Antrim town on Saturday night.
A number of bands carried Ulster Volunteer Force flags while bystanders shouted chants of support for the UDA.
A large number of loyalists also gathered in an area outside the Catholic church.
A small number of nationalist observers and Parades Commission officials gathered outside All Saints church to monitor the parade as it got under way.
Nationalists acted with surprise last week when Parades Commission chiefs declined to issue a determination in respect of Saturday’s parade.
Instead, a deal was struck with parade organisers, Pride of the Maine Flute Band, who gave an undertaking that the parade would be “respectful and dignified”.
Ballymena SDLP councillor Declan O’Loan last night branded the behaviour of some of the participating bands and their supporters as “grossly inappropriate and unacceptable”.
“Some of the bands played loudly and their drumming was loud and it was clearly deliberate as they passed around the area of the chapel. At certain times there was substantial chanting from them and two or three times they turned to face the observers.
“We will be seeking further discussions with the Parades Commission.”
Ballymena Sinn Féin councillor Monica Digney had harsh words for the DUP.
“We again saw the presence of many loyalist paramilitary bands, including the Freeman Memorial Band, named after a UVF man who blew himself up in Coleraine in the 1970s – so the words from the DUP that these flags somehow represent the UVF of 1912 have clearly been shown up as being a complete lie.
“The DUP’s official band from south Down was another one of the worst offenders on the night and actually stopped next to where we were standing to put on a triumphalist display.
“Nationalists have gathered a catalogue of visual and written evidence which we will be forwarding onto both the Parades Commission and Police Ombudsman.
“The PSNI deliberately allowed loyalists to stand within feet of Catholics to both shout abuse and intimidate them.”
Ballymena DUP councillor Robin Stirling said his party “will be putting out a statement at an appropriate time”.
Tensions in the Co Antrim town have been running high since Catholic teenager Michael McIlveen was murdered last month.
The teenager was making his way home after a night out when he was attacked by a loyalist gang and later died from his injuries.
A spokesperson for the Parades Commission said: “We will get our own reports in due course and assess them and take into consideration what they contain.
“There were assurances given before the parade and if they were broken we would be disappointed.”

Daily Ireland

Shock 1974 national archive files beg questions about collusion and British parliament being misled - Covert unit was operating in North two years before official acknowledgement by British government

By Tom Griffin

SAS troops were operating in the North two years before their presence was acknowledged by the British government, according to a document uncovered by Justice for the Forgotten and the Pat Finucane Centre.
The 1974 file from the prime minister’s office – found at the National Archives in London in January – sheds new light on the early history of British covert operations during the Troubles.
The role of the SAS emerged as a live issue in March that year, when Robert Fisk, then The Times correspondent in the North, reported that the regiment’s presence “had been authorised at the highest ministerial level in London”.
In his book Who Framed Colin Wallace?, the late Paul Foot stated that Fisk’s report was based on a leak by Wallace, then an army information officer at Lisburn.
Foot suggested that the leak was part of an MI5 plot to destabilise Harold Wilson’s government, which had not been told that the SAS had been sent in by the previous Tory administration.
The newly-discovered files show that the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and the Ministry of Defence were tasked to produce a briefing on the SAS ahead of Wilson’s meeting with Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave on April 5, 1974.
They produced a document entitled Army Plain Clothes Patrols in Northern Ireland, together with a copy of a statement that had been delivered to the Irish government.
The statement to the Irish said: “The facts are as follows. No SAS unit has been or is stationed in Northern Ireland.”
It added that the policy had been not to use former SAS personnel on plain-clothes duties until two or three years after their service with the regiment had ended, but that in the past three months “use has been made of a number of volunteers, whose experience has been acquired only just beforehand.”
The full extent of the SAS role is only revealed in the briefing itself which states: “Men who have served with the SAS are serving in the SRU [Special Reconnaissance Unit] but no SAS units are operating in Northern Ireland.
“One officer and 30 soldiers serving with the SRU since early January are due to resume service with 22 SAS by April 7. Their presence with the SRU went undetected until the Robert Fisk article in The Times on 19 March.”
Justice for the Forgotten secretary, Margaret Urwin, said: “If you compare that document with the press release and what was given to the Irish government, it’s very different.”
The SRU is almost certainly the unit generally known by the cover name 14 Intelligence Company, and the precursor of the new Special Reconnaissance Regiment, which was involved in the London shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes, as well as a controversial incident in Basra, only months after becoming operational last year.
The SRU replaced Brigadier Frank Kitson’s MRF, an acronym which stood for Military Reaction Forces, according to the briefing.
It states: “Plain-clothes teams, initially joint RUC/army patrols, have operated in Northern Ireland since the IRA bombing campaign in Easter 1971.
“Later in 1971 the teams were reformed and expanded as Military Reaction Forces (MRFs) without RUC participation.
“In 1972 the operations of the MRF were brought under more centralised control and a higher standard of training achieved by establishing a Special Reconnaissance Unit (SRU) of 130 with all ranks under direct command of HQNI.
“The term ‘Special Reconnaissance Unit’ and the details of its organisation and mode of operations have been kept secret.
“The SRU operates in Northern Ireland at present under the cover name “Northern Ireland Training and Advisory Teams (Northern Ireland)” – NITAT(NI) – ostensibly the equivalent of genuine NITAT teams in UKLF [United Kingdom Land Forces] and BAOR [British Army of the Rhine].”
“The prime task of the SRU is to conduct covert surveillance of terrorists as a preliminary to an arrest carried out by security forces in uniform.
“The SRU may also be used to contact and handle agents or informers and for the surveillance and protection of persons or property under terrorist threat.
“The SRU works to a great extent on Special Branch information and the Special Branch have a high regard for it.”
Although the briefing survives in the files from the British prime minister’s office, a copy was also originally held by the NIO.
According to a note left by officials this was destroyed “on the need to know principle” in 1976, some months after the official deployment of the SAS to the North.
The picture revealed by the briefing closely parallels allegations made in the 1980s by former British army major, Fred Holroyd, who has accused the army of murder, kidnapping, collusion with loyalist paramilitaries, and infiltration of the Republic’s security forces during the mid-1970s.
In his report on the Dublin-Monaghan bombings Mr Justice Barron said that, while not all Holroyd’s claims were true, they had contributed to his inquiry’s view on the possibility of collusion between loyalists and the security forces.
Holroyd claimed that an SAS troop led by Captain Julian Ball and Captain Robert Nairac was operating at Castledillon in Co Armagh under two cover names, 4 Field Survey Troop, Royal Engineers and NITAT.
In response to a question from Ken Livingstone in 1988, ministers denied that the NITAT unit existed, and claimed that records relating to 4 Field Survey Troop were no longer available.
The emergence, two decades later, of records confirming the existence of a unit corresponding closely to the one described by Holroyd raises two questions: was the British Parliament misled? And if Holroyd was right about this unit’s existence, was he also right about its involvement in collusion?

IAIS

06/05/06 09:01 EST

The first meeting in Northern Ireland of the Preparation for Government Committee has ended in stalemate. The representatives of all the main parties failed to agree who would be appointed as chairperson of the body.

A variety of proposals were discussed but no agreement was reached at the meeting held at Stormont today.

Sinn Fein`s Martin McGuiness suggested that the committee be either jointly chaired by representatives of this own party and the DUP or rotated between the parties.

This was rejected by the DUP.

In turn, the DUP proposed the Assembly Speaker, Eileen Bell, as a possible chairperson, but she rejected the role herself and left the meeting.

The DUP also suggested their own South Antrim MP William McCrea and the Alliance Party leader Daivd Forde for the role.

However, Mr Ford said he would only consider the role as part of a wider rotation system between all the parties.

DUP leader Ian Paisley denied his party was not taking the committee seriously by sending unimportant party figures to represent it.

Mr McGuinness has asked for another meeting of the committee on Tuesday, however, it is unclear at present if that will happen.

Some of the parties are writing to British Secretary of State Peter Hain to clarify whether the need for “consensus” means the committee can only move forward on the basis of unanimity.

Earlier, Mr Paisley said he would ask the British government for a two week extension to the November 24 deadline to devolution in Northern Ireland.

He called for what he described as “injury time” at Stormont.

The DUP is annoyed about the British government not scheduling any debates for the Assembly, so it wants two week’s extension to the 24 November devolution deadline.

If the government accedes to Paisley’s latest demand, that would push the deadline to 8 December. However the November 24 date is written into the law which set up the current assembly, so any change would require fresh legislation, which seems unlikely.

The DUP has insisted that the committee should not be a negotiating body, while the SDLP wants it to do precisely that.

Alliance Party leader David Ford said he had reservations about the committee, but would join.

On Sunday, Ulster Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey said he had appointed Alan McFarland, Danny Kennedy and Michael McGimpsey to represent the party on the committee.

“Although we still remain concerned at the manner in which the remit for the committee has been arrived at, we will approach it in a positive manner and seek to identify the obstacles that are standing in the way of devolution and deal with them,” he said.

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 British government hopes recalling the politicians will help to pave the way towards a deal in the fall, by its deadline of 24 November.

Devolved government was suspended over allegations of a republican spy ring. The court case that followed collapsed when it emerged that a British Intelligence agent was at the center of the alleged spy ring.

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

cryptome.org

5 June 2006

Liam Clarke is co-author with Kathryn Johnston of Martin McGuinness - From Guns to Government.

Liam Clarke, Sunday Times, writes:

You are performing a good service covering this McGuinness debate.

However I notice you are carrying a link (click >>here) to Martin Ingram’s reply to my article. His reply is tendentious on some points and it is more likely to be accessed through Cryptome than independently. I’d be grateful if you could somehow include the following from me:

It s a regrettable blow to Martin Ingram’s credibility that he attempts to refute my examination of his document by saying he lied to me about it. Of course he would have had no need to do so, all he needed to say was he couldn’t comment. However I think that it is likely that he did tell me the truth as there was some corroboration from other journalists for his account. Whatever has happened he has now lied, either to me or in his claim to have lied to me, on his blog. That makes it very hard to take his word on any material that cannot be fully corroborated.

This is unfortunate because he is basically an honest man, he has been a good source of reliable information in the past and I considered him a good friend.

Other points on his blog are misleading and untrue. I do not have friendly relations with the PSNI my wife and I are currently involved in a legal action against them for raids on our home and our arrest under the Official Secrets Act. We brought a complaint through the police Ombudsman which resulted in several of them being disciplined and the whole force censured as Cryptome has recorded elsewhere.

He accuses me of sitting on the story that Francisco Notarantonio was allegedly killed to protect Stakeknife. I did not publish this because I did not believe it to be true, and, contrary to what he says, nothing has ever emerged to substantiate it. The Stevens inquiry never stood it up and the UDA, who carried out the murder, denied that they had been targeting Scappaticci as was claimed. Repeated repetition does not make something true.

There are other points I could make, but perhaps that is enough.

You may wish to post another article which I wrote and which I think adds to the McGuinness debate. Here is the link: >>article

Irelandclick

Sean O’Hare is a taxi-driver in West Belfast. But if his past record is anything to go by he may be gearing up for a move

By Francesca Ryan

Many people go through different careers in a lifetime but none more so than local cab driver, Sean O’Hare.

The former New Barnsley man has dabbled in a staggering range of careers since he left school at the tender age of just nine and was keen to share his colourful life with the Andersonstown News.

“My first job was collecting rags with my uncle. We used to go around with a horse and cart and collect rags and other stuff to sell at St George’s Market on a Friday.

“I loved that job and did it for a few years until I became a roof tiler when I was about thirteen.”

Sean’s tiling job brought him to many destinations across the North throughout the dark days of the Troubles but when he landed a job as a labourer with a local contractor, he never looked back.

“We did a lot of work in North and West Belfast, building houses and extensions and I can honestly say they were the best days of my life. It was great craic and I loved the sense of having achieved something, building a house up from nothing.”

Running into an old New Barnsley neighbour in the early 1980s led Sean to love. Patricia, who he’d grown up beside, became his wife in 1985 and he laughs as he explains the way fate works, “I knew her all my life up in New Barnsley but we’d never gone out and then I ended up marrying her,” he smiles.

Living together in New Barnsley, Sean and Patricia had three children which meant the breadwinner had to take on a few more jobs.

“I started taxiing about that time and that got me involved in all sorts of jobs. I was driving wedding cars and limousines, driving a van for the Springfield Charitable Association and I used to run local kids to a horse-riding school.”

Having always harboured an interest in horses, stemming from his rag days with his uncle, Sean’s love of all things equestrian was renewed by running the bus to the local riding school. “My uncle always had horses so it has always been in my blood. I just wanted to do some kind of work that involved horses somehow.”

Following a stint as a window cleaner and two less than enjoyable years at Montupet, Sean threw in the towel and started his own business.

“It was called Sawdust and Shavings,” he explained. “I just used to go around work sites and joinery shops collecting sawdust and shavings and I would bag it and sell it on to people who had horses, namely farmers and the likes.”

With the money he earned, Sean was able to save for his dream business, “I worked really hard and I used all my contacts to build my own riding school, Westgate Riding Stables, in Dunmurry.

“I did the business course with LEDU and ran the riding school for about five years in the 1990s but had to leave it through illness.”

Although he gave up the riding school, Sean has recovered and things are much more calmer and steady these days.

As a taxi-man for Ace Taxis, Sean loves nothing more than a yarn with the punters and a nice lunch. “I just take it easy now. I’ve been with Ace for at least five years and I love it. I have a wee routine going and I go to CJ’s on the Glen Road for my lunch every day.

“I just love meeting people and having a good laugh and driving a taxi is the best way to do it, you end up in about 20 conversations every day.

“I love knowing everyone’s business so this trade suits me down to the ground.”

And having tried and tested almost every other trade going, Sean is most definitely speaking from experience.

QUICKFIRE ROUND

EARLIEST MEMORY? Getting up on a Friday to go to St George’s Market with my uncle
Happiest memory? Getting married to Patricia
Favourite film? The Quiet Man
Favourite book? I’m not a big reader
Favourite singer/song? Diana Ross, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
Favourite food? Egg and chips
Favourite holiday spot? Bettystown on the other side of Dundalk
Person you most admire? My wife
Pet hate? Customers that don’t tip
Future Ambition? To get a karaoke bus that doubles as a taxi

RTÉ

05 June 2006 12:25

A court in Baghdad has sentenced an Iraqi man to life in connection with the abduction and murder two years ago of the Irish-born aid worker Margaret Hassan.

A court official said Mustafa Salman had been charged with aiding and abetting the kidnappers.

Another man was cleared and a third was freed due to lack of evidence.

Mrs Hassan, who was 59, had British, Iraqi and Irish citizenship; she was kidnapped in October 2004 and shot a month later.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, had appointed a lawyer in Baghdad to represent the Irish government at the trial.

Irelandclick

British Irish Rights Watch ask US Special Envoy to Ireland to help with Ballymurphy feud

By Ciarán Barnes

President Bush’s Special Envoy to Ireland has been asked to broker an end to a West Belfast feud that has claimed one life and left more than a dozen people injured.

The respected human rights group, British Irish Rights Watch (BIRW), has written to US government official Mitchell Reiss calling on him to use his influence to bring calm to the area.

The feud, centring on the Ballymurphy estate, involves two local families.
There had been a history of trouble involving both groups following an attack on Gerard Devlin two years ago.

In September 2005 Mr Devlin contacted Daily Ireland after being attacked with a pitchfork. He claimed a £10,000 bounty had been put on his head.
In February of this year the father-of-six was stabbed to death. Four men have been charged with his murder.

Following Mr Devlin’s death around a dozen homes belonging to members of another family in Ballymurphy were targeted in arson attacks.

A friend of the Devlins, 17-year-old Wayne McComb, was hit in the leg in a drive-by shooting.

A short time later another friend of the family, Jim Reynolds, was beaten with hammers as he lay in bed.

The Devlin family have claimed the investigation into Gerard’s murder has been hampered by PSNI Special Branch agents and their handlers. The Police Ombudsman is currently probing these allegations.

Some members of the other family involved in the feud recently moved to Spain in order to escape the violence.

In its latest monthly report, British Irish Rights Watch confirms it has written to Bush advisor Mitchell Reiss about the situation in Ballymurphy.

Director Jane Winter said, “BIRW’s prime concern is the apparent lack of any effective policing in Ballymurphy to bring the situation under control and prevent any further violence.

“Ballymurphy is a republican heartland in West Belfast,” she continued. “The PSNI’s ability to deliver effective policing there will be a test of the extent to which its attempts at reform have been successful.”

In an interview with Daily Ireland in March the West Belfast PSNI District Commander, David Boultwood, said there had been 150 incidents linked to the feud in the five weeks after Mr Devlin’s murder.

He said the feud had cost thousands of pounds to police and praised the work of Community Restorative Justice in trying to bring peace to the area.

Journalist:: Ciaran Barnes

Irelandclick

BY Aine McEntee

Hundreds of republicans gathered in Beechmount yesterday (Sunday) to pay tribute to deceased IRA volunteers and Sinn Féin activists from the area.

In bright sunshine plaques in their honour were unveiled at a specially designed garden in Beechmount Avenue while two trumpeters played a lament.

The garden was designed and built by the Mid-Falls Commemoration Committee and was given a solemn blessing by Fr Des Wilson.

The local priest told the family and friends of those who had gathered for the event that the commemorative garden will serve as a reminder of the tremendous sacrifice people from the area had offered up during the struggle for freedom.

“It’s wonderfully fitting that their memory will be alive for years to come,” Fr Des said.

“We bless this holy place and may God bless this place and keep it safe.”
Former republican prisoner Danny Morrison, who also addressed the crowd, paid tribute to the Mid-Falls Commemoration Committee for all their hard work over the past three years.

He told the crowd they were right to be proud of the people who gave so much to the republican struggle.

“This area didn’t ask for loyalists to come in and murder our people, this area didn’t want the British Army, and so we slowly turned towards the IRA and Sinn Féin for leadership.

“The struggle was long and it was brutal. People of the nationalist community were killed because of their religion or where they came from.

“I am so proud of what this area produced. In the end the conflict produced a risen people, who know what they want and it’s only right we honour our dead.”

The wife of Stan Carberry said she thought the garden was a fitting tribute to those who had died. Gemma Carberry’s husband was shot in the back by the British Army in November 1972 on the Falls Road.

“I think this is a really nice tribute. I think it’s fitting that those who died are remembered in this way, and they’re all mentioned together.”

During the special service, children of the mid-Falls held aloft pictures of all those who are honoured in the garden. Families also laid wreaths.

Well-known republican and hunger striker, Pat McGeown, who died in October 1996, was given a special mention by guest speaker, ex-blanketman Pat Sheehan.

Pat McGeown joined the 1981 hunger strike on July 9 but was taken off the strike by his family after 42 days without food. He died having never fully recovered from his ordeal.

Pat’s son Sean said he felt honoured to witness the unveiling of the garden.
“I think this is a welcome recognition of those who have given so much, and others who have given their lives to the republican struggle. I’m delighted with the tribute and I think it’s very appropriate given it’s the 25th anniversary of the hunger strikes.”

Local Sinn Féin councillors Tom Hartley, Fra McCann and Chrissie Mhic Giolla Mhin were among those who attended the event on Sunday. Also there was Dublin councillor Larry O’Toole, whose area of the capital is twinned with the Falls.

Journalist:: Áine McEntee

Belfast Telegraph

By Chris Thornton
05 June 2006

The Orange parade that sparked widespread loyalist rioting last autumn has been scheduled for the last Saturday in this month - with the Parades Commission due to rule on it in the aftermath of its membership crisis.

Last year’s Whiterock parade was initially postponed and eventually led to serious disorder - including a gun attack on police - when it was rescheduled for September.

More than 80 officers were injured and Orangemen have privately acknowledged that the episode caused significant damage to the organisation.

Talks between marchers and the representatives of residents who oppose the June 24 parade have reportedly taken place under Community Relations Council chief Duncan Morrow, but there have been no indications yet that a resolution will be reached.

The Commission is due to discuss the parade next Wednesday, by which time the Court of Appeal should have decided whether it is lawful for Orangemen to serve on the parades body.

Last month, the High Court removed David Burrows from the Commission, ruling the NIO had failed to follow proper procedures in appointing him and another Orangeman.

The ruling left the way open for Mr Burrows to be reappointed, but Portadown’s Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition argued in the Court of Appeal last week that no Orangeman should be on the Commission because of a conflict of interest.

The appeal court’s decision is expected this week. Regardless of who rules on the parade, Whiterock is now recognised as one of the most contentious in the marching calendar.

This year the Orange Order has cut the size of the march by more than 10% - although it is still expected to involve 750 people and 16 bands.

For years, nationalist residents have sought to have the parade rerouted away from the Springfield Road, which is on the nationalist side of the peaceline.

West Belfast Orangemen want to march onto the road through Workman Avenue.

Last year, there were suggestions a deal might be close, but reports of contact between the Orange Order and residents were denounced by senior members of the Order.

The Commission then rerouted the marchers through an old industrial site, former home of the Mackies plant.

Furious Orangemen called off the parade and tried to restage it in September.

When the Commission stuck to their original determination, rioting broke out during the parades.

Loyalist paramilitaries appeared to have orchestrated the attacks - including the appearance of a gunman who shot at police from the Highfield estate -but police filmed Orangemen taking part in the violence.

The unrest spread to other parts of Belfast, with commuter routes being blocked intermittently over several days.

Newshound

(by Suzanne Breen, Sunday Tribune)

To say it’s the tale of two Martins is an under-statement. It’s a full-blown war. Hated by many outside his own community, adored by IRA grassroots, Martin McGuinness has been causing controversy for decades.

But never before have his republican credentials been questioned. Now, former British intelligence officer, Martin Ingram, is claiming that the man once dubbed ‘Britain’s number one terrorist’ was working for the other side all along. He has produced a transcript of a conversation between agent ‘J118′, allegedly McGuinness, and his handler.

McGuinness dismisses it as “a load of hooey” and is “a million percent confident” no evidence will emerge to support the claim. Ingram isn’t backing down: “I’m telling the truth and Martin McGuinness knows it. I’m confident the full story will come out, however long it takes.”

McGuinness’s favourite film is A Man for All Seasons. He says he loves the scene where Sir Thomas More faces his accusers in Westminster’s Great Hall. It was in Stormont’s Great Hall that McGuinness, his voice quivering with emotion, addressed the informer allegations last week.

More than reputations are at stake for both Martins. Denis Donaldson’s murder shows the fate that can still await informers from old comrades; to lie about an ex-IRA chief-of-staff could have serious consequences for Ingram, ceasefire or not.

In republican circles, there are rumours of an internal IRA investigation into McGuinness. It’s claimed he has been questioned by the IRA’s director of intelligence and two other senior members whose names are known to the Sunday Tribune. The republican community seems divided and confused. “I can’t accept it, no way could this be true. It’s British dirty tricks,” says one west Belfast activist. Another disagrees: “The ‘J’ in his codename stands for Judas.”

Many Sinn Féin members believe McGuinness; IRA personnel are more sceptical. ‘F*** Martin McGuinness,’ said old graffiti on Belfast’s Lower Ormeau, denouncing the Sinn Féin MP for demanding that four on-the-run republicans hand themselves in. ‘F*** Martin McGuinness (tout)’, it read after the claims. The leadership ordered its removal.

“Even if McGuinness stays in position, he’s ruined,” predicts a west Belfast republican. “People are two-faced. They might shake his hand and say they don’t believe a word of it but, behind his back, they’ll say ‘touting b***ard!’ ”

‘Martin Ingram’, 44, is a pseudonym. The government knows his true identity - he has an Irish passport. For eight years, he served with the controversial Force Research Unit (FRU), including in Derry.

The two Martins have much in common. McGuinness would “talk to a stray dog”, friends say. Ingram admits he “never shuts the f*** up”. They both love Donegal. McGuinness’s mother was born there and he recalls childhood summers in the county. Ingram’s wife is also a native. He adores “the people, the landscape, the turf fires – though I don’t think, in present circumstances, I’ll be enjoying them for quite a while!”

Both men like traditional music and football. McGuinness is a Derry City supporter; Ingram, a Leeds’ United man. They share an easy charm and sense of mischief. Ingram once phoned into a live radio interview with McGuinness, and addressed him in Irish. In a Stormont debate, McGuinness said of the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, (a newspaper published nude photographs of Wilson), “it’s great to see him today with his clothes on”.

There are differences. “Martin has more time for guns than girls,” declared a 1972 newspaper headline about “the boy who rules Free Derry”. Ingram was jack-the-lad when he served in the North: “In Enniskillen, you could have scored as often as you wanted, even with Catholic girls.” McGuinness’s greatest extravagance is a West Coast Cooler at Christmas dinner. Ingram loves his drink.

It’s difficult to cast him as a securocrat. He’s previously helped republicans on collusion issues. Solicitors for Danny Morrison and the Finucanes asked for meetings. The Andersonstown News published an article by him.

But his case against McGuinness is far from overwhelming. The document is very flimsy. It contains no security classification or other details which could be used to check its authenticity. Ingram claims he removed these to protect his source, a serving Special Branch officer. The document contains nothing to identify J118 as McGuinness. There’s only Ingram’s claim he learned this from other intelligence sources. Neither does Ingram know McGuinness’s alleged handler.

Ingram says: “The document forms a small part of my case against McGuinness. My evidence is based on my personal experience of dealing with many aspects of his life and with other agents.” Writer and ex-IRA prisoner Anthony McIntyre, no friend of the Sinn Féin leadership, says: “I remain unconvinced by this document or anything that has been said. This is Diplock court evidence.”

Ingram’s personal credentials are his strongest point. He outed Freddie Scappaticci as Stakeknife and disclosed that Francisco Notorantonio was murdered to protect him. The republican’s movement record on these matters is abysmal. Although it’s now universally accepted Scap was an informer, Sinn Féin initially defended him staunchly.

Gerry Adams denounced the media as “the real losers” for having “bought a line from faceless people”. A senior IRA source told the Sunday Business Post that Stakeknife didn’t exist. “It would be laughable were it not so serious,” he said. “Ha!Ha!Ha!” declared the Sinn Féin spokesman when asked to comment on the McGuinness claim.

Ingram admits it’s personal for him. He blames McGuinness for the 1986 murder of Frank Hegarty, a Derry informer he liked. He promised Hegarty’s son Ryan, he’d bring his father’s killers to justice. Ingram uses the case to support his argument McGuinness is a British spy. McGuinness, he says, promoted Hegarty inside the IRA, against the advice of other republicans who presented him with evidence Hegarty had previously informed on republicans. The handlers of senior informers often have them promote lower level informers through the ranks.

Hegarty’s informing led to the discovery of an arms’ cache. Hegarty fled to England but missed home and regularly rang his mother. One day, McGuinness allegedly came on the phone and told Hegarty he’d be safe if he returned home. McGuinness denies this. Ingram claims he was in the room with Hegarty at the time and FRU taped the conversation.

Hegarty returned to Derry. McGuinness told his mother Hegarty had to attend a meeting in Donegal to clear things up with the IRA, Ingram says. Days later, Hegarty was found with a bullet in the head. Ingram claims McGuinness had to get Hegarty home, and have him killed, to restore his reputation within the IRA. He also alleges Freddie Scappaticci gave FRU advance warning of the murder, but the security forces let it happen because McGuinness’s survival as a spy was deemed more valuable than Hegarty’s life.

In 1993, following disclosures on Central Television’s Cook Report, the RUC launched ‘Operation Taurus’, an investigation into McGuinness’s IRA links. Later, its detectives questioned the decision not to prosecute him, despite three witnesses willing to give evidence.

It’s entirely possible the British, involved in pre-ceasefire negotiations with Sinn Féin, decided that would have jeopardised the peace process. Ingram argues the failure to prosecute McGuinness goes deeper. He claims the supergrass, Raymond Gilmour, offered to testify against him in 1982 but was refused.

McGuinness served 14 months in prison in the Republic on two separate IRA membership charges in 1973 and 74. Membership charges in the North were dropped against him in 1976. Ingram says it’s remarkable, that in 35 years at the top of the republican movement, McGuinness has never been convicted of paramilitary activity in the North: “This man has been so lucky, he should be buying lottery tickets.” Again, it’s a purely theoretical argument, not hard evidence McGuinness is an informer.

Ingram alleges the British deliberately built a myth around McGuinness, even praising him as “excellent officer material”. While the Derry Brigade was very active in the early 1970s, from the 80s it was riddled with informers and other brigades ridiculed its inactivity. When asked why McGuinness would possibly become an informer, Ingram says: “What makes a woman buy so many f***ing shoes? I’ve no idea.”

Jane Winter, director of the respected British-Irish Rights’ Watch group, has met Ingram. “I don’t know whether or not these allegations about Martin McGuinness are true,” she says. “In my experience, Ingram has proved reliable in the past. He has helped families from both sides of the divide in Northern Ireland on collusion cases. So far, everything he has told me has turned out to be true. But he’s stronger on cases where he has first-hand information than on those where he relies on other sources.”

Ingram suggests one way of settling the war between the two Martins: “I’ve never shown my face in front of the cameras but I’ll do it now because of the seriousness of the subject. I’m challenging McGuinness to a live TV debate – anytime any place, anywhere. There are no preconditions. The ball’s in your court, Martin.”

June 5, 2006
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This article appeared in the June 4, 2006 edition of the Sunday Tribune.

BN.ie

05/06/2006 - 08:39:54

Martin McGuinness has accused his enemies of “trying to have him killed” by claiming he was a British spy.

The Sinn Féin chief negotiator has also revealed his fury that allegations he once worked for MI6 had been published, but admitted he was powerless to stop them.

The claims against him were printed in a Sunday tabloid newspaper.

Mr McGuinness rubbished the rumours and blamed factions within the DUP, who, he maintained want to wreck the Northern Irish peace process.

http://martiningram.blogspot.com/

‘Martin Ingram is a Freelance Journalist, & former British Army Intelligence Officer, he is the co author of the best seller Book Stakeknife. (contact) ingrammartin@yahoo.co.uk’

‘Welcome to the Dark Side’ is a blog which is purportedly written by Martin Ingram. At present, Martin is intent on ‘outing’ Martin McGuinness.