SAOIRSE32

BBC

**All these people need minders

Northern Ireland politicians have failed to reach agreement on who will chair a committee set up to help them prepare for government.

The Stormont committee has failed to elect a chairperson

They broke up on Wednesday after two and a half days of talks and the issue will now be referred to Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain.

The SDLP blamed the DUP for the impasse claiming the party had “blocked all efforts to resolve the issue”.

However, the DUP said they “had made every effort to get agreement”.

Mr Hain said it was impossible to see the assembly moving on substantive business “if there could not be agreement on such a basic procedural issue”.

“Restoring devolution is not for the benefit of the British or Irish governments, it is not for the benefit of MLAs, it is for the people of Northern Ireland,” he said.

Blame

“The very least they have a right to expect is that the MLAs they elected would do the job they elected them to do.”

The DUP has taken most of the blame from the other parties for the deadlock.

A DUP spokesman said the party had wanted Speaker Eileen Bell to take the post, but she refused.

He said they also made a number of suggestions which were rejected by the other parties.

“We made every effort to get agreement and to make the committee work,” the spokesman said.

“However, it has become clear that there were those who not only wished to control the agenda of the committee, but they also wanted to have a guaranteed chairmanship at a guaranteed time.”

Obstacles

Sean Farren of the SDLP said consensus had been reached among all parties except the DUP which had “obstinately held on to the politics of veto”.

“Yet again the DUP, instead of helping to remove obstacles to devolution, have shown themselves to be nothing but obstructive and lacking in any spirit of co-operation,” Mr Farren said.

Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness said the government should not wait until its November deadline to close the assembly if agreement could not be reached soon.

“If the DUP is not prepared to do the business or give any substantive indication in the course of June, then the British government would be as well stopping the salaries at the end of June,” he said.

Alan McFarland of the UUP accused the DUP of a “lack of vision and determination for progress to be made”.

“The prevarication and petty wriggling by the DUP is preventing the potential for progress and holding us all up to public ridicule,” he said.

Alliance Party leader David Ford said no-one on the committee had a right to demand their own way.

“The practical reality is that the two biggest parties have not shown they are prepared to move forward at all,” he said.

The committee’s role is to identify obstacles to the return of devolution.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sinn Fein said they would demand another vote on the posts of first and deputy first minister before the assembly broke up for the summer.

The vote could take place about 19 or 20 June, the week before a scheduled visit by the two prime ministers to Stormont.

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

A bid to elect a first minister and deputy first minister failed to gain the necessary cross-party support.

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.

Daily Ireland

Sinn Féin’s ex-publicity chief releases notes written by Richard O’Rawe, negating deal allegations

by Mick Hall

Sinn Féin’s former head of publicity Danny Morrison has released a number of prison “comms” written by the former blanket man Richard O’Rawe that contradict claims the republican leadership had rejected a deal that could have ended the 1981 hunger strike.
Richard O’Rawe caused controversy last year when he claimed in his book Blanketmen: An Untold Story of the H-Block Hunger Strike that republican leaders had rejected a deal from the British government that could have ended the protest shortly before the death of the fifth hunger striker, Joe McDonnell, on July 8, 1981.
Mr O’Rawe, a former senior IRA officer in the H-blocks during the protest, wrote that a subcommittee of the IRA’s army council rejected the deal.
However, writing in today’s Daily Ireland, Danny Morrison said a series of comms written in Long Kesh during the hunger strike by Mr O’Rawe paint a different picture to that described in his book.
Mr Morrison said that, because of British duplicity on negotiating the end of the 1980 hunger strike, prisoners wanted senior republicans outside the prison to test the bona fides of any offer presented by the government and that no such offer had been made.
He said: “The 1981 hunger strike came out of the 1980 hunger strike. The British sent a document to the prisoners which they claimed could be the basis for a settlement. However, the prisoners had already ended the strike before they received the document.
“The British reneged on their assurances almost immediately. That was why the second hunger strikers were to demand verification of any deal to end their hunger strike.”
Mr Morrison claimed that the British government had privately outlined two different positions offering terms for ending the protest — one to the clerical Irish Commission for Justice and Peace and another to the republican leadership.
Before Joe McDonnell’s death, republican negotiators had unsuccessfully tried to seek clarification on the offer given to republicans, he said.
“I was one of those who described to the hunger strikers, including Joe McDonnell, on July 5 what the British were saying to us.
“The prisoners told me they wanted the offer clarified and verified in person through a senior British representative. We passed this onto the British.
“However, the British would not verify to the hunger strikers their various ‘offers’. Six times they were asked by the ICJP to explain their position to the prisoners and six times they refused before Joe McDonnell died,” said Mr Morrison.
According to Mr Morrison, Mr O’Rawe had made clear there had been no deal when he sent communications from the prison in July, August and September 1981 in his capacity as IRA public relations officer.
“On July 23, two weeks after Joe McDonnell’s death, he accuses the British of deliberate ambiguity and demands clarity, yet in his book he claims that, on July 6, the republican leadership rejected ‘a deal’.
“Richard’s comms — which are contemporaneous accounts of the time — contradict the allegations he is making a quarter of a century later,” Mr Morrison said.
“Mr O’Rawe had never raised his claims with the leadership in prison or the leadership outside. After Richard’s release, he worked with me in the Republican Press Centre for a year and never mentioned the allegations he now makes.”
Mr O’Rawe was unavailable for comment last night despite attempts by Daily Ireland to contact him.

BBC

A former police officer who harrassed a mother into looking at photographs of her dead son after he hanged himself has been jailed for three years.

Martin Peter Kift, 44, is the first person to be convicted of psychological wounding in Northern Ireland.

Kift was also convicted of nine counts of indecently assaulting the woman and inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Over a two-year period he phoned and called at her home repeatedly, made lewd remarks, caressed and kissed her.

Belfast Crown Court heard his inappropriate behaviour began when he suggested the mother go to the mortuary to identify her 18-year-old son’s body after he took his own life in January 2002.

Over the next few months, he harrassed her until she agreed to look at the death scene photographs.

Kift, of Middleton Park, Islandmagee, also gave her a copy of the post-mortem examination report.

He resigned from the police before disciplinary measures could be taken against him.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she was happy with the jail term.

Indymedia

Davy has a post with lots of links on ‘The Movement, Past and Present’ on Indymedia today.

But more importantly, don’t forget to bookmark Davy’s ‘Diary’, Davy Carlin: Thoughts from the Six Counties

Irish Post

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

GARDAÍ have drawn a blank in the hunt for the killer of British spy and Sinn Féin administrator Denis Donaldson.

The admission came as a fresh appeal was issued for help in solving the murder. Officers said they wanted to speak to anybody who was near Donaldson’s home in Cloghercor in Co. Donegal last April 3 or the following day.

But senior officers admitted they were no nearer finding those responsible for the brutal shooting.

The Provisional IRA, dissident Republican groups, Loyalists and the British security services have all been variously blamed for the killing. But gardaí said inquiries carried out jointly by themselves and the Police Service of Northern Ireland had so far uncovered no evidence to substantiate any of the theories.

The new appeal is also aimed at people who might have been in the area around Cloghercor or on the road between Gweebarra Bridge and Doochary the week before the murder and who have not so far been interviewed. GardaÌ asked anybody with information about unusual movements of either people or vehicles in the area to contact them.

Detectives are satisfied Donaldson believed he would not be shot dead by the Provisionals as revenge for acting as a spy for the security services in the North over the past two decades. His family also issued a statement days after the murder saying they did not believe that the IRA was responsible.

But they have not ruled out the theory that associates of IRA members who had been betrayed by Donaldson to the security forces may have been behind the murder.

He may also have been targeted by maverick Republicans for personal reasons linked to his past, or the longheld belief among hardliners that spies should be killed.

Gardaí have already spoken to those living within several miles of the cottage which Donaldson had been using as his hideout since he was unmasked as a British agent at a Sinn Féin press conference in Dublin last December.

The reasons for his confession have never been fully explained, despite several theories. There have been suggestions that in recent years he had acted as a double agent. Donaldson was shot four times in the chest, face, arm and hand in the cottage five miles from Glenties.

BBC

Five petrol bombs and 11 bottles filled with paint have been found by police in County Derry.

They were found in bushes close to the Gortinure Road/Moneysharvin Road junction in Maghera shortly before 1000 BST on Wednesday.

Police said they were concerned that a small number of people appear intent on creating community tension in the area.

Two Orange halls and two hunger strike commemoration posters have been attacked in recent weeks, they added.

Inspector Bob Morrissey said: “We are very concerned to find five primed petrol bombs and 11 bottles filled with paint.

“The discovery of petrol bombs is an indication that some people are perhaps intent on causing loss of life, serious injury, substantial damage to property or simply want to raise tensions in advance of the marching season.”

Mr Morrissey urged public representatives and community leaders to help stop those trying to stir up tensions in the area.

Daily Ireland

Danny Morrison

In a forthcoming BBC documentary Richard O’Rawe once again will be claiming that the republican leadership rejected a deal from the British government shortly before the death of Joe McDonnell on July 8th 1981. Richard is a former blanket man and PRO in the H-Blocks. Whilst in jail Richard never raised his claims with the leadership in prison or the leadership outside. After Richard’s release he worked with me in the Republican Press Centre for a year and never mentioned the allegations he now makes.
He neither approached Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane, OC of the prisoners, nor me to ask us our recollections of this period when he was preparing for his book. Last year Richard alleged that in late July 1981 I sat at a meeting with hunger strikers’ families with a deal from the British government in my back pocket and didn’t tell them. When I pointed out that I had been in hospital in Dublin during that period Richard realised his memory was false and discreetly dropped the claim. He claims he wrote the book out of concern for the relatives, yet he never told them. Instead, he published extracts in a newspaper.
On July 4, 1981, four days before Joe McDonnell’s death, Richard, as PRO, issued a statement aimed at breaking the deadlock. It said that the British could settle the hunger strike without compromising their position by extending prison reforms to the entire prison population. At this time the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace was engaged in a mediation exercise. Behind the scenes the British government reopened a “back-channel” to the republican leadership.
The 1981 hunger strike came out of the 1980 hunger strike. The British sent a document to the prisoners which they claimed could be the basis for a settlement. However, the prisoners had already ended the strike before they received the document. The British reneged on their assurances almost immediately. That was why the second hunger strikers were to demand verification of any deal to end their hunger strike.
In July 1981 the British government had various public and private positions. Privately it outlined two different offers, one to the ICJP and another to the republican leadership. I was one of those who described to the hunger strikers, including Joe McDonnell, on July 5 what the British were saying to us. The prisoners told me they wanted the offer clarified and verified in person through a senior British representative. We passed this on to the British. However, the British would not verify to the hunger strikers their various ‘offers’. Six times they were asked by the ICJP to explain their position to the prisoners and six times they refused before Joe McDonnell died.
In his comms [communications] from July, August and September 1981 which were released as press statements, Richard makes it clear there was no deal. On July 23, two weeks after Joe McDonnell’s death, he accuses the British of deliberate ambiguity and demands clarity, yet in his book he claims that on July 6 the republican leadership rejected ‘a deal’.
Richard’s comms – which are contemporaneous accounts of the time – contradict the allegations he is making a quarter of a century later.
On July 7, the day before Joe’s death, Richard wrote: “We are very depressed at the fact that our comrade Joe McDonnell is virtually on the brink of death – especially when the solution to the issue is there for the taking. The urgency of the situation dictates that the British act on our statement of July 4 now. Finally, we advise our supporters to be cautious and vigilant and to disregard the volume of rumours that seems to be in circulation. We ask everyone to analyse and understand our July 4th statement and to be on guard for any dilution of the situation contained in that statement.”
On July 8, the day of Joe McDonnell’s death, he wrote: “The British government’s hypocrisy and their refusal to act in a responsible manner are completely to blame for the death of Joe McDonnell…The only definite response forthcoming from the British government [to the prisoners July 4th statement] is the death of Joe McDonnell… This morning [secretary of state] Mr Atkins has issued us with yet another ambiguous and self-gratifying statement… That statement, even given its most optimistic reading, is far removed from our July 4th statement. At face value it amounts to nothing.”
On July 23, nine days before Kevin Lynch died, Richard wrote: “The [ICJP’s] proposals were vague but even at that we did not believe they contained a just settlement. After Joe McDonnell’s death on July 8th the British government issued their present policy statement which in substance and even given an optimistic reading was a dilution of the diluted package attained initially by the ICJP…
“It is vital also that everyone realises that the ICJP have been victims of British perfidity [sic] and that the ambiguity which accompanies all British statements is deliberate…
“The death of our comrade Joe McDonnell on July 8th plus the Humphrey Atkins’ statement of the same day, and the evolution of bitter claim and counter-claim between the British and the ICJP left one thing clear – that intermediaries, and this is no slight on the ICJP, are dangerous and that only direct talks between the British and ourselves based on our 4th July statement can guarantee clarity and sincerity and thus save lives…
“At present the British are looking for what amounts to an absolute surrender. They are offering us nothing that amounts to an honourable solution and they have created red herrings, that is, their refusal to allow Brendan McFarlane to represent the hunger strikers, to cover their inflexibility…
Richard ‘s own words show clearly there was no deal. All surviving hunger strikers from that period are of the same view. In his book Richard alleges that the republican leadership ordered the hunger strikers not to accept a deal, yet, as his own words of the time attest, “there was no ‘elusive chain of command’… we prisoners were in complete command of the hunger strike and protest…”
I hope this closes this sorry episode and I would like to apologise to the families of the hunger strikers for the suffering and distress that this has perpetuated, but I feel that the false claims have to be answered and settled. It was the British government which withdrew political status, introduced criminalisation and was responsible for creating the conditions for a hunger strike.

Timeline – Joe McDonnell’s death

29 June
Four hunger strikers have already died - Bobby Sands on day 66, Francis Hughes on day 59, Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O’Hara on day 61 of their hunger strike.
Joe McDonnell is on day 52 without food. Secretary of State, Humphrey Atkins reaffirms that political status will not be granted and that implementing changes in the areas of work, clothing and association present ‘great difficulty’ and would only encourage the prisoners to believe that they could achieve status through “the so-called ‘five demands’”.
3 July
Irish Commission for Justice and Peace [ICJP] has eight-hour meeting with Michael Alison, prisons minister.
4 July
ICJP again meets Alison who gives its representatives permission to meet the eight hunger strikers in prison hospital. They are shocked at the condition of Joe McDonnell. Prisoners later issue statement saying British government could settle the hunger strike without any departure from ‘principle’ by extending prison reforms to the entire prison population. ICJP tells prisoners’ families that they are ‘hopeful’ but that prisoners deeply distrust the authorities.
British government representative (codenamed ‘Mountain Climber’) secretly contacts republican leadership by ‘back channel’. Insists on strict confidentiality.
5 July
After exchanges, Mountain Climber’s offer (concessions in relation to aspects of the five demands) goes further than ICJP’s understanding of government position. Sinn Fein’s Danny Morrison secretly visits hunger strikers. Separately, he meets prison OC Brendan McFarlane, explains what Mountain Climber is offering should hunger strike be terminated. McFarlane meets hunger strikers. Morrison is allowed to phone out from the doctor’s surgery. Tells Adams that prisoners will not take anything on trust, and prisoners want offers confirmed and seek to improve them. While waiting for McFarlane to return Morrison is ordered out of the prison by a governor [John Pepper]. ICJP visits hunger strikers and offers themselves as mediators. Hunger strikers say they want NIO rep to talk directly to them. Request by hunger strikers to meet McFarlane with ICJP is refused by NIO. Mountain Climber is told that prisoners want any offer verified.
6 July
Gerry Adams confides in ICJP about secret contact and the difference in the offers. Commission is stunned by disclosure. It confronts Alison and demands that a guarantor goes into the jail and confirm what is on offer. Alison checks with his superiors and states that a guarantor will go in at 9am the following morning, Tuesday, 7 July. Hunger strikers are told to expect an official from the NIO.
7 July
Republican monitors await response from Mountain Climber.
11.40am: Bishop O’Mahoney [ICJP] telephones Alison asking where the guarantor is. Alison suggests he and the ICJP have another meeting. O’Mahoney tells him he is shocked, dismayed and amazed that the government should be continuing with its game of brinkmanship. He says: “I beg you to get someone into prison and get things started.”
12.18pm: ICJP decides to hold 1pm press conference outlining what had been agreed by the government and explain how the British had failed to honour it.
12.55pm: NIO phones ICJP and says that an official would meet the hunger strikers that afternoon.
1pm: ICJP calls off its press conference.
4pm: NIO tells ICJP that an official will be going in but that the document was still being drafted.
5.55pm: ICJP phones Alison and expresses concern that no official has gone in.
7.15pm: ICJP phones Alison and again expresses concern.
8.50pm: NIO tells ICJP that the official will be going in shortly.
10pm: Alison tells ICJP that no one would be going in that night but would at 7.30 the next morning and claims that the delay would be to the benefit of the prisoners. Republican monitors still waiting confirmation from Mountain Climber that an NIO representative will meet the hunger strikers. The call does not come.
8 July
4.50am Joe McDonnell dies on the 61st day of his hunger strike.
9am: An NIO official visits each hunger striker in his cell and reads out a statement which says that nothing has changed since Humphrey Atkins’ policy statement of 29 June, thus suggesting that there was no new document being drafted as claimed by the NIO at 4pm on 7 July.
ICJP holds press conference and condemns British government and NIO for failing to honour undertaking and for “clawing back” concessions.
10 July
ICJP leaves Belfast.

Daily Ireland

**The two people arrested have been released without charge

Ex UVF boss Mark Haddock may have provided PSNI with information leading to arrest of man and woman quizzed by detectives on UVF murder of six innocent catholics in 1994

by Ciarán Barnes

The former UVF boss Mark Haddock may have provided the information that led to the arrest of two people yesterday in connection with a loyalist massacre at a Co Down pub 12 years ago.
The former Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) commander is understood to be, in the words of a security source, “drip-feeding” information to the PSNI from his hospital bed.
Mr Haddock survived after being shot six times last week by his former paramilitary colleagues.
In return for providing the PSNI with information, he wants relocated to England under a new identity.
A man and a woman were arrested in Belfast yesterday by detectives investigating the Loughinisland murders of June 1994. They are being questioned at Antrim PSNI barracks.
Eamon Byrne, Barney Green, Malcolm Jenkinson, Daniel McCreanor, Patrick O’Hare and Adrian Rogan were murdered by the UVF at the Heights Bar 12 years ago. The six were watching the Republic of Ireland play Italy in a World Cup game when the gunmen struck.
Mr Haddock’s knowledge of the massacre stems from his friendship with a paramilitary, who was a UVF informer and who provided the red Honda Acclaim getaway car. The vehicle was found abandoned on the Listooder Road near Crossgar in Co Down a short time after the murders.
Code-named Mechanic, the Catholic-born man was relocated to England in 1997 and given £10,000 by the RUC after being unmasked by the UVF as an informer.
Before leaving, he revealed to his handlers the location of a hidden UVF arms cache and admitted involvement in an attempt to blow up a Sinn Féin office in Monaghan town in 1997.
Mechanic also confessed to being the organisation’s quartermaster in the Mount Vernon area of north Belfast, where Mr Haddock was boss. Mechanic had responsibility for hiding and providing weapons.
The Loughinisland massacre is expected to feature in a Police Ombudsman report into allegations of collusion between the RUC Special Branch and the Mount Vernon UVF.
Investigators are probing whether detectives turned a blind eye to murders carried out by the gang in return for information on other UVF operations. The report is scheduled to be published in the coming weeks.
SDLP assembly member Margaret Ritchie said the Police Ombudsman’s probe had given new impetus to the Loughinisland investigation.
“It is important at this time to remember that the most important thing is the ongoing search for justice by the families of the victims,” said the South Down assembly member.
Sinn Féin assembly member Caitríona Ruane said those injured or bereaved as a result of the Heights Bar massacre were still on a “quest for the truth”.
A spokesman for Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan said that, although the ombudsman’s office was carrying out a probe specifically into the Loughinisland massacre, this did not mean the murders would not feature in the report on collusion with the Mount Vernon UVF.

Daily Ireland

Two loyalists wielding machetes chase after teenager in Celtic top

By Connla Young

A Catholic man has claimed he is unable to return to his Co Antrim home after he was chased by a pair of machete-wielding loyalists.
Ciarán Magill has said he was forced to flee Ballymena last Sunday after being chased through the town’s Dunvale estate by two loyalists carrying machetes.
The 19-year-old said he had been targeted because he was a Catholic and had been wearing a Celtic soccer jersey when the incident took place.
“I was wearing a Celtic top. They came out an entry and shouted at me to come to them and then started to chase after me.
“I believe they were both loyalists as I knew one of them.
“One of the men chasing me was hit by a lump of timber by someone standing in an entry. I don’t know who did that.
“Within minutes, there was police all over the place and I think they were looking for me.
“They raided a house owned by one of my relations looking for ceremonial swords. They just kicked the door in.
“I got out of the estate straight away. I was afraid of being lifted by the police.
“Everybody is very mindful of what happened to Michael McIlveen.
“Every Catholic, nationalist and republican is keeping their heads down in Ballymena because they are scared of what the loyalists will do next. I used to live in Ballymena but left because of attacks.
“I returned a couple of weeks ago and now this has happened.
“Now I have to leave again because of loyalists and the police. The PSNI are that sectarian and bigoted, they will try to do me and not those who chased me.
“I’m waiting for the police to come for me. I’m a Catholic. It’s me they’re going to come after, not the loyalists,” said Mr Magill.
Ballymena Sinn Féin councillor Monica Digney said: “In the wake of Michael McIlveen’s death, it is clear nothing has changed and that loyalists feel they can go into nationalist areas with machetes and baseball bats and attack young Catholics.
“Questions have to be asked why the police are nowhere to be seen when these incidents happen.”

Irelandclick

Sinn Féin North and West Belfast councillors have slammed the Council’s plans to increase its bonfire programme, which cost Belfast ratepayers a staggering £100,000 last year.

The cost included the allocation of £2,500 towards the management of eight bonfires in a controversial pilot scheme, including Pitt Park in East Belfast where a loyalist show of strength was staged. Two years ago Westland which secured cash for its bonfire last year also hosted a paramilitary show of strength.
Controversy had loomed over the pilot scheme when it was first proposed to give eight bonfires £2,500 each, £20,000 in total. That is on top of nearly £20,000 to retain the services of intermediary group Groundwork who work with loyalist communities on the ground.
And Belfast City Council has confirmed this week that across the city the cost to the ratepayer in administering and cleaning up the bonfires was “about £100,000” with £60,000 going towards the clean up bill.
The programme was fiercely opposed by Sinn Féin’s councillors but passed after the SDLP decided to abstain.
This year the programme is to be extended to include 12 sites - an additional four - across the city. But it won’t include three original sites - Westland, Pitt Park and Sunningdale - as they have withdrawn from the scheme for “no single reason”, according to the Council minutes.
Oldpark councillor Carál Ní Chuilín said the Council would find it hard to explain value for money.
“People will be thinking the council are paying, and they are paying for sectarian effigies to be burnt, shows of strength to be staged while at the same time being described as cultural events. It’s impossible to square that circle.
“If the money was around diversionary activities – if the money was spent this way or on alternative, it would be money well spent. I think the council are going to have a hard job in explaining how this value for money to the ratepayer.”
A Council spokeswoman said the number of sites this year has grown to 12 including one at Lower Falls/Divis.
This bonfire in the Falls was the first since community workers started staging festivals nearly 15 years ago.
Local councillors Tom Hartley and Fra McCann said the community was working hard to ensure there was no repeat of the bonfire, but said it was unfair for the Council to include the incident in its official tally of bonfires.
“Bonfires are sectarian coat-trailing exercises,” said Fra McCann.
“They are directed against the nationalist community where they burn effigies of religious and republican figures.
“They have been used for sectarian shows of strength, and are usually built very close to interface areas, for the ultimate effect of intimidation. Everything revolves around July, and still does. We need to get away from this whole idea where Belfast closes down in July.”
Tom Hartley said residents and politicians had worked hard to eradicate bonfires from the community and replace them with events, like festivals, which reflect a very positive image of our community.
A council spokesperson said: “This is a long-term investment which has resulted in benefits in terms of engaging with communities and reducing the environmental impact of bonfires. We have encouraged a reduced collection time and discouraged the use of tyres, and made some progress on the use of emblems and flags.”

Journalist:: Áine McEntee

Daily Ireland

**Via Newshound

PSNI threatens to withhold requested info on UVF murders

by Ciarán Barnes

The PSNI has been accused of a “cover up” after it refused to release figures about how many people it has questioned and charged in relation to 29 Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) murders since 1994.
A spokesman said it might not be in the “public interest” to make the details known, a response that has provoked an angry response from victims’ campaigners.
On April 21, Daily Ireland submitted a Freedom of Information request seeking the information. Under the terms of the act, the PSNI had 20 working days to respond to the request.
On May 22, the PSNI emailed this newspaper asking for a two-week extension. An information officer claimed “it is taking longer than first anticipated to search records, these include searches of a manual nature”. He said a new date for a response was June 5.
The PSNI emailed Daily Ireland again yesterday, only this time threatening to withhold details about the UVF murders.
An information officer said the PSNI was considering whether it was in the “public interest” to make the details known.
Last December the Public Prosecution Service used the same explanation to describe why charges against murdered Special Branch agent Denis Donaldson were mysteriously dropped.
Since declaring a ceasefire in 1994, the UVF has killed 29 people, the majority of whom were Protestants.
Special Branch informers are understood to have taken part in more than half these murders.
Raymond McCord Sr, whose son was beaten to death by UVF/Special Branch informers in 1997, accused the PSNI of a “cover up” and deliberately withholding information.
He said: “The PSNI is doing all it can to protect the UVF agents who committed these murders. They talk about public interest, but the only people who don’t want details like these getting out are the PSNI and British government.
“They are terrified of people finding out the truth. Hundreds of people have been questioned about these murders, but only two people have been charged,” added Mr McCord.
“What does that tell you? It tells me either the police cannot do their job properly or the UVF men responsible are being protected.”
Mr McCord also revealed PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde had turned down a request for a meeting to discuss the murder of his son, Raymond McCord Jnr.
The campaigning father said he would confront Mr Orde at the next public meeting of the Policing Board.
Mr McCord wants to know why no one has been charged with his son’s murder.

bELFAST tELEGRAPH

By David Gordon
07 June 2006

Speculation that senior loyalist Mark Haddock will provide evidence against former paramilitary associates was last night rubbished by a friend of the ex-UVF commander.

The friend also told the Belfast Telegraph that Haddock says he does not blame the UVF leadership for last week’s attempt on his life.

He instead believes the gun attack was ordered by the terror organisation’s local brigadier - a prominent loyalist figure who, like Haddock, has been accused of being a police Special Branch informer.

Haddock (37), was shot six times in an ambush in the Mossley area of Newtownabbey on May 30.

He was left critically ill, but his condition has continued to improve over the past week, prompting speculation about his next moves.

Haddock is awaiting a judge’s verdict from his trial on a charge of attempting to murder Ballyclare pub doorman Trevor Gowdy.

His friend, who did not want to be named, last night said the loyalist wants to leave Northern Ireland.

“He does not want any reprisals or revenge for the shooting. He wants to put everything behind him,” he said.

Rejecting speculation about Haddock coming clean to police about the UVF, the ally said: “Mark has not fingered anyone to the police and he is not going to finger anyone.”

The friend added that Haddock was certain the attempt on his life was not sanctioned by the UVF’s overall leadership, based on the Shankill Road.

He said he believes the gunmen were sent out by the UVF’s brigadier.

This individual is believed to be one of a number of police informers in the UVF in north Belfast.

bELFAST tELEGRAPH

By Deborah McAleese
07 June 2006

Unionists reacted with fury after the election of Down District Council’s first republican chairman.

The DUP failed in a bid to block Sinn Fein MLA Willie Clarke from stepping into the council’s top position at Monday’s annual meeting after a motion opposing the d’Hondt system was thrown out.

Outraged DUP councillors told Councillor Clarke that he would not be welcomed in many parts of the district.

And they called on constituents in unionist areas to snub the chairman in favour of SDLP vice-chair Peter Craig.

But Mr Clarke, a councillor for five years, said he is determined to reach out to unionists and build a relationship with them.

“Willie Clarke will not be welcome in many areas of the District, so how does he intend to do his job?” said DUP councillor William Walker. “This is a very sad day in the history of Down Council.”

But Mr Clarke said he will do all in his power to improve relations with unionist communities.

“I intend to work very closely with unionist communities to see if I can help break down barriers that have been built up over the years,” he said.

“I want the DUP to know that I intend to go into every area to try and help all those people on the ground. That is what being council chairman is about.

“I will also be acknowledging the pain that the Republican movement may have caused in some communities.

“If we want to move forward then we all need to work together. The DUP will have to stop these outbursts if they want to move forward.”

RTÉ

07 June 2006 09:44

A man and a woman arrested in connection with the six murders at Loughinisland in Co Down in June 1994 were released without charge last night.

The 45-year-old man and 38-year-old woman were detained by the PSNI yesterday morning in connection with the shooting in a pub on the night the Republic of Ireland beat Italy in the World Cup at the Giants Stadium in New York.

Six men died and five other people were injured in the attack.

Families of the victims have protested to Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan about the lack of progress in the investigation.

BN.ie

07/06/2006 - 11:02:04

Europe’s leading human rights watchdog has accused 14 European countries, including Ireland, of colluding in controversial and illegal “extraordinary rendition flights”, allegedly being run by the CIA.

The accusation is contained in a report published today by the 46-nation Council of Europe which says some countries are actively colluding in the programme and others are knowingly turning a blind eye.

Under the rendition scheme, the CIA is alleged to have abducted suspected Islamic militants and transferred them to secret interrogations centres around the world, where they have no protections under US law and where many have allegedly been tortured.

The process is illegal under international law, but in an interim report earlier this year, the Council of Europe said several European states were allowing their territory to be used as part of the scheme.

Today’s report goes further by accusing certain countries of directly colluding in the programme.

It reserves strongest criticism for Romania and Poland, saying there is evidence to suggest some of the CIA’s secret prisons are based in the two countries.

It also says victims of the rendition scheme have been abducted in Italy, Sweden, Bosnia and Macedonia.

Germany, Spain, Turkey and Cyprus are identified as “staging posts” for the transfer of these victims, while Ireland, the UK, Portugal and Greece are named as “stop-off points”.

The Irish Government has said it accepts US assurances that no prisoners have been on board the planes.