SAOIRSE32

BBC

The Parades Commission has said it will not make a ruling on a contentious Orange Order parade as both sides appear to have reached an agreement.

The Tour of the North parade will take place in north Belfast this Friday.

There has been violence at the parade in the past and the commission was due to make a ruling on this year’s march.

However, it said the North and West Belfast Parades Forum and the Ardoyne Parades Diologue Group have reached an accommodation on feeder parades.

Parades Commission chairman Roger Poole praised both groups.

“The communities on both sides deserve a huge amount of credit for the way in which they have approached this very sensitive matter,” he said.

“They have brought to the discussions a degree of respect, trust and a willingness to resolve these issues in a way which benefits the entire community.”

However, he added that it was part of what would be a long process.

“What has been agreed in advance of Friday is the beginning of a process rather than a conclusion.”

BBC

A bird lover from County Antrim has been left heartbroken after vandals cut open her aviary and allowed more than 60 birds to escape.

The aviary contained budgies, canaries, parakeets and cockatiels

Caring for her birds was a labour of love for Lynne Scott from Derriaghy and her aviary was a poignant memorial to her grandmother.

But on Saturday night vandals ripped out the aviary’s wiring allowing 68 budgies, canaries, parakeets and cockatiels to fly away.

Lynne first knew something was wrong on Sunday morning when she was awoken by a neighbour who had found one of her canaries.

She went out to her aviary at the back of her house on the Milltown Road to find it had been vandalised and all but eight of the birds had flown away.

“All the birds are going to die, the wild birds will just kill them, it just seems so pointless.”
Lynne Scott

“I have finches, canaries, budgies, cockatiels and parakeets and they all lived in there quite happily together and now they have all gone,” she said.

“Why do that? All the birds are going to die, the wild birds will just kill them, it just seems so pointless.”

Lynne has been using a large net to try to recapture some of the birds which have been spotted by neighbours flying around the area.

“One of the parakeets keeps calling for his mate and she is still in the neighbourhood,” she said.

“One of my neighbours told me it was flying around, but I wasn’t able to catch it, but hopefully if it hears its mate calling it will come back.

“My neighbours are being very, very kind. Any birds that they see, they are coming knocking at my door or catching them for me and bringing them back.”

‘Memorial’

Lynne set up the aviary last year after being left some money by her late grandmother.

She said she could have bought a new car but decided to set up the aviary as a memorial to her grandmother who loved to spend her time feeding birds.

“When my grandma died last year, I wanted to do something with the money she had left me which would be a lasting reminder of my grandma.

“I thought long and hard about it and all the money has gone into building a flight and stocking it with the birds.”

Police have appealed for anyone with information concerning the attack to contact them.

BN.ie

13/06/2006 - 15:19:31

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams today would not be drawn on Mr Haughey’s career, but extended his party’s condolences to the former Taoiseach’s family.

Mr Adams said: “Republicans, like everyone else on the island, will have mixed feelings on his contribution to Irish society but that is a debate for another day. Today is a time to allow his family to grieve and our thoughts are with them.”

Ulster Unionist leader Reg Empey, who in 1990 opened a conference of businessmen in Belfast, which Mr Haughey addressed, described the former Fianna Fáil leader as a bogeyman for many unionists.

“He was seen as a bogey for unionists because of (the controversy about) the 1970 arms scandal,” the East Belfast Assembly member said.

“Many blamed him for contributing to the start of the provisional IRA and he will be remembered for the phrase that Northern Ireland was a failed political entity.

“His death will mark the passing of the last of the old Fianna Fáil bosses.”

Mr Empey did not meet Mr Haughey when he opened the Institute of Directors conference in Belfast, which the then Taoiseach addressed during Ireland’s presidency of the European Union.

Unionist leaders protested on the roof of the former headquarters of the Ulster Unionist Party which overlooked the Europa Hotel, where the conference was taking place.

Mr Empey recalled: “As the Lord Mayor of Belfast I was invited to open the conference, which I did, but I never met him nor was it suggested that I should meet him.

“It was a matter for the Institute of Directors who they invited but I did my duty opening the conference and in my remark, I made my political position clear that the Anglo-Irish Agreement was not on.”

BN.ie

13/06/2006 - 18:13:30

A garda who was murdered in a booby-trap bomb 30 years ago and his injured colleagues were today commemorated in a moving ceremony.

The family of Garda Michael Clerkin, who was killed the instant the bomb went off, were delighted his short life was being honoured by a special sculpture depicting a dove in flight.

Gerard Lovett of the Garda Síochana Retired Members’ Association, which commissioned the sculpture and the special Liddy Medals to honour his injured colleagues, said the commemoration was a moving event.

“Five of his six surviving siblings attended and his oldest brother Peter Clerkin, from Monaghan, accepted the award. They were thrilled – Peter Clerkin started making a speech but abandoned it halfway through,” Mr Lovett said.

“There was never anyone charged or convicted with the bomb so they never got closure, although there was no doubt it was the IRA.”

Garda Clerkin was killed instantly and four other officers were seriously injured when a no-warning blast went off as they launched a raid on an isolated cottage in Garryhinch near the Laois/Offaly border.

Detectives in Portlaoise had been given a tip-off that an armed IRA gang were holed up in the house preparing for a daring raid on a nearby town.

But as the five-strong garda team began searching for the Provisionals, a 100lb bomb ripped the house apart with 24-year-old Garda Clerkin and his colleague Det. Garda Tom Peters taking its full force.

Garda Peters was blinded and has not worked since.

The association commissioned the Liddy Medals to honour retired gardai who were seriously injured in the force. The first recipients to be honoured at the ceremony in Dublin’s Gresham Hotel, included Garda Clerkin’s colleagues – Garda Peters, Det. Garda Ben Thornton, Sgt Jim Cannon and Garda Gerard Bohan.

Garda Peters donated his medal to the Garda Museum as it is the first year the medals have been awarded.

The Liddy Medals are named after Sean Liddy who fought in the War of Independence, was a founding member of An Garda Síochana rising to the rank of Chief Superintendent and also sat in the Dáil. He died in 1965.

Mr Lovett described the booby-trap as a horrific attack.

“It was an attempt really to carry out mass murder of gardaí,” he said. “There was five gardaí lured to what was a booby-trapped house.”

Twelve republican suspects were arrested in Laois and Dublin in the days following the atrocity but no-one was ever charged with the crime.

BBC - Scotland

A Fife man has been jailed for five years after pleading guilty to charges under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Steven Moffat, 45, was jailed after an automatic pistol and live ammunition were found at his home in Buckhaven, Fife, in February.

At an earlier hearing, Moffat also admitted being a member of the banned loyalist organisation, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).

The judge Lord Macphail said Moffat had “sinister” intentions.

The circumstances in which the pistol and ammunition were in your possession were sinister
Lord Macphail

The court had previously heard that Moffat had family connections in Northern Ireland.

He had originally denied membership of the banned organisation but when detectives drew attention to the UDA tattoo on his arm he admitted he had been asked to join in a Belfast pub three years earlier.

Sentencing Moffat, Lord Macphail said: “The circumstances in which the pistol and ammunition were in your possession were sinister and sinister also was your intention in possessing them - your intention clearly was to assist a person or persons concerned with terrorist purposes.

“I have in mind the fact that you are to be sentenced on the basis that you were keeping all these items for other people, and that you are a first offender.

“But those who involve themselves in the possession of articles for terrorist purposes, even if only as minders or caretakers, must expect to receive substantial sentences.”

Newshound

(Editorial, Irish News)

Many different dates have been suggested as marking the start of violent conflict in Ireland.

They go back as to 1169 and beyond , and will obviously include 1690, 1798 and 1916, but there is a strong case for confining the debate to periods within living memory.

Forty years ago yesterday (Sunday), John Patrick Scullion, a 28-year-old Catholic, was found slumped on the ground outside his home at Oranmore Street in west Belfast.

It was initially believed that he had suffered some form of collapse, while doctors later came to work on the theory that he had been stabbed.

Mr Scullion suffered several cardiac arrest in hospital, and died two weeks later from brain damage.

The IRA, to all intents and purposes, did not exist at the time, and few suspected that the UVF had started to reorganise in loyalist parts of Belfast.

There had been riots in the Divis Street area of the city two years earlier, largely inspired by confrontational speeches from a young Ian Paisley.

He believed that a single Irish tricolour in west Belfast was unacceptable, a sentiment which he would be unlikely to advance today, but in any case calm returned fairly swiftly.

The authorities either never imagined, or simply refused to consider, that Mr Scullion might have been the victim of something much more sinister than a random robbery or an unexpected personal grudge.

He was buried with little publicity, but concerns subsequently grew to a level which necessitated his body being exhumed.

A more detailed autopsy revealed that he had been shot several times, and it emerged that the UVF had indeed been responsible.

It was established beyond doubt that Mr Scullion had been murdered for no other reason than his perceived religion.

Some blamed the atrocity on passing tensions associated with the 50th anniversary of either the Dublin Easter Rising or the Battle of the Somme.

There was little or no hint that a motivated and determined group was determined to revive a nakedly sectarian agenda and force it upon an entire community.

Before long, the entirely legitimate aims of the civil rights movement were countered by increasingly reactionary elements on the loyalist side.

Suddenly, the north was gripped by equally unjustifiable murder campaigns from both loyalist and republican paramilitary groups which had devastating consequences for enormous numbers of innocent people.

The forces of the state struggled to respond, and frequently became involved in unacceptable activities which only escalated the crisis.

Mayhem followed, and the name of Mr Scullion has largely been forgotten after well over 3,000 similar and equally tragic funerals.

He deserves to be remembered today, as all parties finally agree that our differences can only be resolved by purely constitutional methods.

June 13, 2006
________________

This article appeared first in the June 12, 2006 edition of the Irish News.

Newshound

(by Suzanne Breen, Sunday Tribune)

An ex-republican prisoner who claims the IRA leadership rejected a deal which could have saved the lives of six hunger-strikers is suing for libel following remarks by former Sinn Féin publicity director, Danny Morrison.

Richard O’Rawe from west Belfast, who was the prisoners’ public relations’ officer in the H-Blocks in the summer of 1981, is suing RTE over what he alleges are defamatory comments it carried by Morrison about him.

The case against RTE is due to open in Belfast High Court in September. It is believed O’Rawe may also sue Daily Ireland over similar remarks Morrison made there. Morrison could not be contacted for comment.

O’Rawe has caused controversy with his claims. He says that on July 5 1981, after the first four prisoners had died, Danny Morrison visited the officer commanding IRA prisoners in the H-Blocks, Bik McFarlane, to brief him on a British offer of a deal.

McFarlane then passed a ‘comm’ (communication) to O’Rawe’s cell detailing the offer, O’Rawe says. He claims he told McFarlane, ‘There’s enough there’ and McFarlane said, ‘I agree with you, I will write to the outside and let them know’.

However, the IRA leadership outside the jail rejected the offer, O’Rawe says. Six more hunger-strikers died. At the time of the alleged deal, Owen Carron of Sinn Féin was contesting the Fermanagh and South Tyrone Westminster seat vacated by Bobby Sand’s death.

O’Rawe asks if the leadership sacrificed the six men to fuel electoral support for Sinn Féin. Prior to the hunger-strike, the party “barely existed”, he says.

O’Rawe’s claims were outlined in his book, An Untold Story of the H-Block Hunger Strike. They have been rejected by several republicans including Morrison and McFarlane.

McFarlane said there was “no concrete proposals whatsoever in relation to a deal”. He described O’Rawe’s account of their conversation as “totally fictitious”, adding “that conversation didn’t happen. I did not write to the Army Council and tell them we were accepting (a deal). I couldn’t have accepted something that didn’t exist.”

McFarlane said it was the prisoners who took decisions regarding their fate. However, Denis Bradley, former deputy chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, has said he believes the British government had offered a deal to the hunger-strikers after three or four of them had died.

He said the deal was similar to the one eventually accepted. O’Rawe has said he has faced ostracisation in his community since he wrote the book. Graffiti calling him a “H-Block traitor” was recently erected near his home. He said he supports the peace process but that it’s important “to tell the truth”.

June 12, 2006
________________

This article appeared in the June 11, 2006 edition of the Sunday Tribune.

Irelandclick

Andersonstown News Group daily, Lá rewards Irish language business efforts

THE Irish language daily newspaper, Lá, last Friday announced the inaugural Top 50 Business as Gaeilge Awards with Foras na Gaeilge and Viridian at a reception attended by the Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, T.D.

Over 50 business names and organisations were recognised for their use of the Irish language through their business communications at an event in the Four Seasons Hotel, Dublin.

Speaking at the event, Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, TD, commented: “The initiative by Microsoft last year to launch versions of their software products as Gaeilge is a significant milestone in the development of Irish as a business and community language.

“This initiative complements the valuable work of Foras na Gaeilge and the very many other organisations – such as Conradh na Gaeilge and Gael Linn – who are promoting the development of the Irish language in our society.”
The Minister went on: “I am glad to say that in recent years I have seen a number of significant developments in relation to the Irish language.

“These include the enactment of the Official Languages Act, the growth of gaelscoileanna at primary and secondary levels, the establishment of an all-Ireland implementation body, Foras na Gaeilge, to promote the language and the securing of official and working language status for the language at EU level.”

Special Achievement Awards were presented to six leading business names and companies at the event. Hugh McGee received the Lá award for Best Entrepreneur. He has been building a portfolio of hotels, pubs, bars and garages around the Donegal area for the past twenty years. Hugh also founded Dunree Construction which operates throughout the country. Hugh, who has a personal passion for the language, encourages the use of Irish through his business communications on a daily basis – interacting with staff and customers alike.

Microsoft received the Foras na Gaeilge award for Services through Irish, chosen by the Marketing Institute Chief Executive, Tom Trainor.

Microsoft was given the award for producing an Irish version of Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003. According to Microsoft, in comparison to other countries where packages have been converted, the Irish project experienced the most input and support from staff and the wider community.

The project was developed in conjunction with Foras na Gaeilge with significant assistance and commitment from EG Teo, eTeams, DCU and NUI Maynooth. Both Irish versions are available free from the Microsoft homepage to computer users and businesses alike.

Oideas Gael received the Foras na Gaeilge award for Marketing as Gaeilge, again chosen by the Marketing Institute Chief Executive, Tom Trainor. Oideas Gael organises a variety of Irish language and cultural courses taken as a getaway break or over several weeks during the summer.

Oideas Gael has, through its marketing, attracted people from over 30 countries worldwide to the Irish language. Oideas Gael has made a small Irish language project into a global business.

Rí na Mara received the Viridian award for innovation. In two short years Rí na Mara, which sells a wide range of seaweed-based beauty products throughout Ireland and abroad, has become the number one best selling Irish-produced face cream in the country.

Founder and Director of Rí na Mara, Deirdre Uí Chathmhaoil, was recently awarded the BPW Business Woman of the Year 2006 prize. Rí na Mara uses Irish in everyday communications and has a completely bilingual website to promote their innovative products.

Nemeton was announced winner of the RTÉ Media Award. Founded by Irial Mac Murchú in 1993, Nemeton is an extremely ambitious company, having grown to a total of 20 current employees with offices in Waterford and Dublin. Specialising in outside broadcasts, Nemeton has provided the bulk of TG4’s sport output for the past eight years.

Lá spokesperson Connla Lawlor explained: “We’re very pleased with today’s awards, this is our second cross-border award ceremony in the past six months and we’ve been delighted with the response.

“It has been an honour for us that Minister for Finance Brian Cowen T.D. was available to attend the first Top 50 Business as Gaeilge Awards.”

Eamonn Ó hArgáin of Foras na Gaeilge said, “We’re pleased with the approach taken by the awards with nomination categories not only paying tribute to the use and promotion of the Irish language in businesses across Ireland, but also to the use of the Irish language as a marketing and innovation tool. We’ve been delighted to involve Tom Trainor, Chief Executive of the Marketing Institute, to educate on our behalf.”

Other businesses receiving awards included An Cheathrú Poilí, An Spailpín Fánach, Bank of Ireland, Cois Life, Cumarsáid Creative, Goodfellas, Google, Raidió na Life and Tesco.

Belfast Telegraph

By Maureen Coleman
13 June 2006

A poignant mural of a schoolboy whose parents were killed by so-called ‘joyriders’ is to be unveiled in Belfast later today as part of an ongoing campaign against car crime.

The mural of Tyler Watson, whose parents Charmaine and Justin died in a crash which shocked Northern Ireland in July 1999, will be revealed at three locations in Belfast - in the Shankill area, the New Lodge and at the top of the Whiterock Road in the west of the city.

All three murals were painted by local artist Frank Quigley, who lost his son Rossa.

The mural in west Belfast will be slightly different to the other two, and although it depicts Tyler, it will be dedicated to Rossa.

The murals were commissioned by Families Bereaved Through Car Crime, who say that they are disappointed that, despite changes in law, not enough has been done to stamp out car crime.

The group campaigned successfully for new laws under Aggravated Vehicle Taking, but feel they are not being enforced.

Tommy Holland, a spokesman for the group, said: “The law is in place so we want to say that there is no longer any excuse.

“These people must be stopped so we can avoid more families being bereaved.

“What is the point of having these new laws if the judges won’t enforce them? We are not police or politicians. We feel that we have done as much as we can and it’s up to the people in power to do something.”

Tyler, who is now aged 11, was seriously injured in the crash which left his parents dead. The driver of the car, Dessie Savage, hit three other cars before ploughing into the Watson family’s car at 100mph.

Mr Holland said: “FBTCC once again ask the thousands of good people who supported us, the political and community representatives who listened and helped us along the way in our campaign to once again call for an end to death driving and for those involved to please stop now before they cause another death.”

Daily Ireland

Calls for CS spray to be withdrawn from PSNI after DailyIreland discovers it’s used on members of the public on average once every day in North

By Connla Young

There have been calls for CS spray to be withdrawn after it emerged that the PSNI is using the weapon on average once every day in the North.
Figures obtained by Daily Ireland, which are due to be presented to members of the Policing Board’s Community and Human Rights Committee tomorrow, show that between April 2005 and March 2006 CS spray was used by the PSNI on members of the public 412 times.
In recent weeks the Irish government has raised its concerns about the use of CS spray in the North with British authorities through the British Irish Intergovernmental Secretariat in Dublin.
The debilitating gas causes its victims to experience streaming eyes, burning sensations on the face, and blurred vision. In some cases victims complain of blistering, swelling, and skin inflammation.
The Policing Board gave its backing to the PSNI’s use of the spray in 2003.
At the time human rights groups and nationalist politicians objected.
Paul O’Connor, from the Pat Finucane Centre, says his organisation has long-standing concerns about the use of CS spray.
“There have been incidents in Derry where PSNI officers have used CS spray illegally and where it constituted a breach of criminal law. The Policing Board approved this weapon without having seen any guidelines and left the framing of the guidelines up to the PSNI themselves. We are very critical of the failure of the board to properly oversee this process.”
It is expected the Policing Board will be given details of CS spray use in each of the PSNI’s district command unit’s areas at tomorrow’s meeting.
North Belfast tops the CS gas league table with 56 incidents recorded between April 2005 and March this year, with Craigavon following up with 34 incidents and Omagh registering 29 occasions when CS spray was used.
West Tyrone MLA Barry McElduff said he is concerned at the figures.
“You can bet your bottom dollar this was used disproportionately against the nationalist, Catholic community.
“I am against the use of CS gas. I would like to see a breakdown for where this gas has been used. I would also like to know the circumstances that necessitated the use of CS gas 29 times in 12 months in a place like Omagh. The question of whether this is a weapon of last or first resort needs to be answered.”
A spokesperson for the Policing Board said: “The Board’s Community and Human Rights Committee receives these reports, as well as information on complaints to the Police Ombudsman relating to the use of CS spray. The committee carefully examines this information and raises any issues of concern with PSNI. At its next meeting the Committee will receive a report from PSNI on the use of CS spray from April 1, 2005 – March 31, 2006.
“The board’s human rights advisers also monitor PSNI compliance with the Human Rights Act, including the use of force through public order equipment such as CS spray. In the board’s first human rights annual report, published in March 2005, a section dealt with the use of public order equipment, including CS spray. The board’s second human rights annual report is due for publication in September 2006.”

Daily Ireland

By Connla Young

Nationalists in Co Derry have accused the PSNI of using “heavy-handed tactics” after a nationalist youth had bones broken in a hand during a weekend incident.
The 17-year-old was among a small group of nationalists who gathered at a mural dedicated to the hunger strikers on Sunday at Moneysharvin Road, outside Maghera. Local people were alerted after a minibus full of loyalist bandsmen stopped at the mural at around 11.30pm on Friday. It is understood they were returning from a parade held earlier in the night in nearby Magherafelt.
A number of bandsmen are understood to have fled into nearby fields after a small group of teenagers arrived at the mural.
According to Magherafelt Sinn Féin councillor Kate McEldowney, who was at the scene, four PSNI Land Rovers arrived within minutes.
“The situation was calm. I spoke to the driver of the minibus and he said they had run out of petrol, even though it was a diesel vehicle. He told someone else they had alternator trouble. A number of people stayed with the bus but there was no trouble. Then the PSNI riot squad arrived. One of them, shouted “clear the road” and the PSNI men attacked the young nationalists that had gathered. Some of them was badly beaten and one has broken knuckles.
“This type of vicious heavy-handed thuggery by the PSNI does not shock the people of this area. They have seen it many times before and it only serves to heighten tension.”
The bandsmen were later escorted from the scene by the PSNI. The incident involving the loyalists bandsmen came just days after five petrol bombs and 11 bottles of paint were discovered close to the scene by the PSNI last Wednesday. An Orange hall was also attacked in the area at the weekend.
A spokesperson for the PSNI last night said they are “investigating a possible link,” between the incidents.
In May a number of nationalists were injured after loyalists targeted a mural dedicated to the hunger strikers just a few miles away at Glenshane Road. The PSNI faced strong criticism from nationalists who claimed they looked on as loyalists went on the rampage and attacked people in their homes.
Meanwhile the SDLP has condemned an attack on an Orange hall at Killygullib, near Upperlands, at the weekend.
“At this time of year it is particularly important that everyone keeps a steady head,” said the party’s Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone.
“The flags and provocative issues around parades inevitably surfaces. Those responsible for organising parades must make every effort to maintain a law-abiding presence with no provocative behaviour or flags deliberately displayed in public areas.
“Likewise, those responsible for attacks on Orange halls, such as Killygullib, really make no contribution to our society. Their sectarianism is not representative of the Irish nationalist community and is deeply resented by the entire community in an area that thankfully enjoys good community relations. It is clear that all sectarian attacks must stop now.”

Belfast Telegraph

Rising costs, poor attendances and low interest. Crime Correspondent Jonathan McCambridge investigates the problems with our community police forums

13 June 2006

District Policing Partnerships have been hailed as one of the major success stories of Northern Ireland’s new policing structures.

The public bodies were formed to provide communities with a direct link to their local PSNI commanders through public meetings - a symbol of the transparency which is now supposed to run through policing here. The community have the opportunity to present their crime concerns in person to their DCU commanders and to help shape police policy.

The partnerships were a Patten recommendation and are made up of independent and political members who receive allowances.

All the main parties apart from Sinn Fein are represented and the independent membership is wide, stretching from an 18-year-old student in Omagh to a 78-year-old man in Craigavon.

Last week Sir Desmond Rea praised the DPPs to the Policing Board, describing them as an “integral and accepted” part of local policing. It is a commendation which has been repeated by the Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Orde.

However, an investigation by the Belfast Telegraph has revealed that while the cost of our DPPs has now risen above £10m, they remain an irrelevance for the vast majority of the public. Three years after they were formed, attendance rates remain shockingly low.

Through Freedom of Information legislation this paper has obtained statistics relating to the number of members of the public who have attended the majority of DPP meetings across Northern Ireland since the partnerships were formed in March 2003.

Figures have been obtained for the attendance at 289 public meetings. They reveal that on 11 occasions public DPP meetings have gone ahead without a single member of the public in attendance.

On 39 occasions there have been three or less members of the public at the meetings.

At 117 of the meetings there were less than 10 people in attendance and on a further 101 occasions there were less than 20 people.

Of the 289 meetings for which statistics were provided, on only 69 occasions were more than 20 people in attendance.

Even this figure is inflated. At many DPP meetings the attendance numbers are inflated by journalists or visiting guests.

Belfast District Policing Partnership, the largest in Northern Ireland, met publicly 13 times between May 2003 and November 2005, but on only one occasion did more than 20 people attend.

At one meeting of Belfast DPP, an elderly woman complained that more people turn out for her local Neighbourhood Watch meetings.

Ironically the east Belfast sub group of Belfast DPP has had the highest attendances of any partnership in the province. On three occasions between 2004 and 2005 more than 100 people attended, mostly members of the Orange Order who had turned up to criticise the local DCU commander on parading decisions.

The worst attended DPP in Northern Ireland is in Magherafelt. It held 17 public meetings between June 2003 and February this year and the highest recorded attendance so far is nine. On four occasions not a single member of the public has turned up.

Similarly in Ballymoney there were 15 public meetings between June 2003 and February of this year. On only one occasion did more than 10 people turn up and three times not a single person was there.

North Down has some of the best attendances. On the 19 times the DPP has met less than 10 people have attended only twice.

Worryingly, an examination of the figures shows no indication that, three years on, attendance rates are rising.

Many of the recorded public attendances this year are among the lowest. Rows of empty chairs have become a familiar sight.

Despite this the bodies are expensive to run. Since their formation in 2003 they have cost in excess of £12m.

DPPs receive 75% of their funding from the Policing Board and the rest from local councils.

In the years 2002-2005 allowances and travel expenses for members cost £2,742,000. Salaries for DPP managers has cost another £1,509,000.

Apart from attendance rates DPPs have been beset with other problems. Unionist members in Belfast have staged a long-running boycott following a row with police over last year’s Whiterock parade.

The formation of Dungannon and South Tyrone DPP was delayed for three years following a row over membership and nationalist members across the province have faced threats and violence. The Holy Grail of republican involvement in the policing structures also remains elusive.

Despite all of this optimism for DPPs among policing chiefs remains high. Last week the Policing Board sent out their biggest ever public survey on policing, the 2006 District Policing Partnerships Public Consultation questionnaire. The surveys will be sent to one in 10 households across Northern Ireland.

Policing Board chairman Sir Desmond Rea said: “District Policing Partnerships have become an integral and accepted part of local policing and have brought policing closer to the community and the community closer to policing in a way that has not happened before.”

Similarly, the Oversight Commissioner Al Hutchinson also recently praised the DPPs as “critical elements” of police accountability.

He said: “The groups work remarkably well and continue to attract leading citizens to represent their communities and their own perspectives, sometimes in the face of threats against their persons.”

However, privately many DPP members, chairman and managers will concede their disappointment in the lack of public enthusiasm.

While everyone has an opinion on policing, it seems that very few are prepared to share it publicly.

Belfast Telegraph

Concern over IRA fugitive’s status

13 June 2006

A landmark extradition treaty between the US and the UK is being held up by campaigners concerned about the impact on IRA fugitives, an Ulster Unionist barrister said today.

Rodney McCune was speaking amid concerns over America’s failure to ratify a mutual extradition agreement making it easier for the UK to seek the extradition of people living in the US.

Groups opposed the US legislation, which they say erodes the role of the judiciary in extradition proceedings, include NORAID and the Irish National Caucus.

Mr McCune said America was guilty of hypocrisy in its dealings with the UK on the issue.

“They are asking us to extradite people like Abu Hamza (imprisoned in Britain for inciting murder and stirring up race hate) and engaging in rendition and yet whenever we have suspects which we want extradited they are saying no to a country which has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them on terrorism and which enjoys a special relationship,” he said.

“I think this is clear foot-dragging by the US Senators and it is clear from everything which I have read that the Irish/American lobby is behind a lot of this reluctance from senators.”

An amnesty for IRA men, including Ciaran Ferry, has been a key Sinn Fein demand but legislation providing for that foundered after widespread opposition at Westminster.

Fr Sean McManus from the Irish National Caucus is objecting to provisions of the legislation.

“I would oppose the elimination of the courts in this process because it gives carte blanche to the Justice Department to make this decision. From a civil rights point of view I think it is quite repugnant,” he said.

“This legislation eliminates the judicial review of political offences and that would particularly concern Irish/Americans who know all about the controversy surrounding political offences.”

The treaty was passed by Westminster three years ago.

A State Department fact sheet on the extradition provisions said: “This criticism confuses the “political offense” and “political motivation” provisions in that Treaty.

“Under the new treaty (being debated), as under the existing treaty, U.S. courts will continue to assess whether an offense for which extradition has been requested is a political offense.”

Belfast Telegraph

Charles Haughey, the flamboyant Taoiseach whose personal chemistry with Margaret Thatcher helped bring about a thaw in Anglo-Irish relationships, died today. ALF McCREARY reflects on his turbulent life

13 June 2006

Charles Huaghey served as Taoiseach of the Republic on three separate occasions and was one of the most controversial politicians of his generation.

Despite attempts to build contacts with Unionists, he earned their undying opposition because of his strongly republican policies and particularly for his pointed observation that Northern Ireland was “a failed political entity.”

Charles James Haughey, who was born in Co Mayo in September 1925, came from a family with Swatragh connections, and his father was second-in-command of the Northern division of the old IRA.

He became a member of Fianna Fail in the late 1940s, and in 1951 joined an influential political family in the republic when he married Maureen, the daughter of Sean Lemass, who himself had a distinguished career as Taoiseach.

It was Lemass’ controversial meeting at Stormont with Captain Terence O’Neill, leader of the Ulster Unionists, which sparked off political upheaval in the late Sixties and which was one of the factors that led inexorably to the fragmentation and demise of mainstream unionism.

Charles Haughey was elected to the Dail in 1957 and quickly demonstrated his political ability as Minister for Justice and later Agriculture.

His promising career was almost destroyed, however, by developments in the early years of the Troubles, and when in 1970 he was among those at the centre of gun-running allegations in the Republic.

He was sacked by his party leader and Taoiseach Jack Lynch, and was later charged with conspiracy to import arms and ammunition illegally.

He was acquitted, with three others, and made a remarkable political comeback. He was later appointed Health Minister, and succeeded Jack Lynch as Taoiseach in 1979, but with a deeply divided parliamentary party.

He denounced the Provisional IRA and declared his support for a peaceful reunification of Ireland.

He worked with successive British administrations during his three terms as Taoiseach-from December 1979-June 1981, from March-December 1982 and from March 1987-February 1992.

Despite his tough republican stance he developed a certain rapport with the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to whom he once famously gave valuable antique silver - but this relationship cooled considerably because of, among other things, his strong opposition to the Falklands War.

Despite his hawkish stance on the North, Haughey privately attempted to build up important contacts with unionists and other Protestant leaders.

He had several private meetings with, for example, the Church of Ireland Primate Archbishop Robin Eames who conveyed to him the realities of the Northern Protestant view.

Eames found him a cultured man, who had made a significant contribution to the life of the arts in the Republic, but he concluded: “Of all the Taoiseachs I met, he was the hardest to predict. I never felt totally at ease with him, and I still don’t know why.”

That view would be echoed by most, if not all, unionists.

It would be wrong to conclude, however, that Haughey’s approach to the North was entirely negative, but it was left to other Taoiseachs to achieve more significant progress, and most notably his party opponent and successor Albert Reynolds.

Though of moderate physcial stature, Haughey had a commanding presence and his colourful lifestyle and personal intrigues provided good copy for generations of writers and political commentators.

Controversy was never far away and it emerged that he had received a huge sum in donations from a leading Dublin businessman.

His lifestyle, which included a private island off the Irish coast, seemed excessive for the income of a senior politician, even a Prime Minister, but the Byzantine details - including his considerable tax liabilities - began to unravel only in the years after his active political life ended.

Once regarded as a kind of dubious folk hero and “a bit of a

character” his popularity also waned, and only his ill-health and age prevented him from paying full retribution in the courts and elsewhere for his excesses.

History may or may not judge him kindly, but few political leaders have provided a more colourful story.

Belfast Telegraph

By Jonathan McCambridge
13 June 2006

Concerns were today raised about the viability of Northern Ireland’s District Policing Partnerships (DPPs) after an investigation by the Belfast Telegraph revealed massive public apathy towards the bodies.

More than three years after DPPs were established the numbers of people who attend their public meetings remains very low despite high profile advertising and public relations campaigns.

Figures reveal that on 11 occasions meetings went ahead without a single member of the public in attendance. On 39 further occasions there were three or less people at the meeting.

The partnerships were established in 2003 as a Patten recommendation and have been hailed a success by the Policing Board, the PSNI leadership and the Police Oversight Commissioner.

Information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Telegraph revealed the attendance rates for almost 300 DPP meetings between May 2003 and March 2006 across Northern Ireland.

As well as the 11 occasions with no-one from the public present and 39 with just three or less, the statistics show there were less than 10 people in attendance at 117 of the meetings and less than 20 on a further 101 occasions.

There were only 69 meetings which had in excess of 20 members of the public in attendance.

Belfast DPP met publicly 13 times between May 2003 and November 2005, but only once did more than 20 people attend.

Magherafelt held 17 public meetings to February this year with a highest attendance figure of nine. Four times not a single member of the public turned up.

In Ballymoney there were 15 public meetings. Three times no- one turned up and only once were there more than 10 people.

However, the cost of DPPs, which are funded by the Policing Board and local councils, has now risen beyond £12m.

In the years 2002-2005 allowances and travel expenses for members cost £2,742,000, while salaries for DPP managers has cost another £1,509,000.

Over the three year period DPPs spent £224,000 on advertising and £89,000 on PR and publications.

Jim Rodgers, the first chairman of Belfast DPP, who is no longer on the partnership, said he believed they had become nothing more than a “talking shop”.

He added: “They are clearly not working.”