SAOIRSE32

Irish Republican News

A call to support the family of a UVF murder victim from County Donegal has won unanimous support from councillors.

Henry Cunningham, a Presbyterian, was just 16 when he was murdered while travelling home on the M2 motorway outside Belfast in 1973.

The teenager had been working on building sites in Belfast and was returning to Carndonagh with his brothers when a gunman opened fire on their vehicle.

It is believed it was singled out because of its 26-County registration.

Unusually, the Donegal teenager’s inquest was held within weeks of his death. No-one has ever been brought to justice.

Last year the Cunningham family approached the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry for help in uncovering the full facts behind the murder.

At this week’s meeting of Donegal County Council, Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty proposed that it convey its support to the Cunningham family.

He also said the council should call on the Irish and British governments to help the family find the truth about the murder.

Mr Doherty said the Cunningham family had been let down by the governments, pointing out that they only discovered the UVF was responsible when someone showed them a copy of the Lost Lives book detailing conflict-related deaths.

Daily Ireland

**Via Newshound

By Connla Young

United States security chiefs are coming under fresh pressure to allow an Irish family facing deportation to stay in the country.
In April this year, Malachy McAllister and two of his four children – Nicola (20) and Sean (19) – were told they will be deported from America within months after an appeals court sitting in Philadelphia upheld an earlier decision to force them to leave the country.
A former republican prisoner, Mr McAllister fled his Belfast home in 1988 after it was attacked by loyalists.
In an unprecedented move, one of the three appeals court judges pleaded with the US Homeland Security chiefs to allow the family to stay despite the court’s ruling.
The McAllister family received a further boost this week when a powerful Irish-American lobby group wrote a letter to Homeland Security deputy secretary, Michael Jackson, in support of their campaign to remain in the country.
The Irish-American Unity in Action Committee is made up of prominent Irish-American human-rights campaigners and lawyers.
Mr Jackson said: “We are making this request for two reasons.
“Not only has Mr McAllister lived peaceably in this country for more than ten years and has proven himself to be absolutely no threat whatsoever to this country.
“He has also actively supported the Good Friday Agreement and has been a strong proponent of the Irish peace process which reflects the current policy of the administration.
“Clearly, the McAllisters deserve to remain in this country where they have lived peacefully and have contributed so much for so many years.”
Mr McAllister was sentenced to seven years in prison in 1981 for his part in an INLA attack on an RUC man in Belfast. Mr McAllister and his family fled their Lower Ormeau home after it was raked by gunfire in a loyalist attack.
After being denied asylum in Canada in 1996 the family moved to the US where they have been fighting a battle to remain ever since.

Irish Independent

A MAN arrested wearing an ‘Oglaigh na hEireann’ T-shirt has been convicted of IRA membership.

The Special Criminal Court heard from Det Chief Supt Philip Kelly yesterday that Vincent Kelly (21) was around 15-years-old when he joined the organisation.

Kelly, from Empress Place, Ballybough, was arrested when gardai found a handgun hidden inside a van in north Dublin on June 7 last year.

Kelly had pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA. However, Mr Justice Richard Johnson, presiding, at the court three-judge Special Criminal Court, said the court had found him guilty as charged.

The judge said he accepted evidence from Det Chief Supt Kelly who said his belief that Vincent Kelly was a member of the IRA had been held for five or six years and was based on confidential information.

The judge said the court also found that Kelly had failed to answer material questions relating to the offence.

A fingerprint belonging to him had also been found in the back of the van.

Diarmaid McGuinness defending, sought bail for his client, however, prosecution counsel Tom O’Connell said Kelly had a previous conviction at the Special Criminal Court on November 6 2000 when he received a three-year suspended sentence for the offence of unlawful military drilling.

The application for bail was turned down.

Kelly was remanded in custody until June 28 for sentencing.

Tommy ‘the Spy’ Doheny

An Phoblacht

BY SHANE Mac THOMÁIS

On the 10 June 1981, eight republican prisoners on remand in Belfast’s Crumlin Road jail shot their way to freedom from one of the most heavily guarded prisons in Europe, in one of the most daring IRA escapes ever. The men came out the way they went in - through the front gate.

The regime inside Crumlin Road Jail on that day was just like any other. The prison had been the scene of several protests regarding strip-searching shortly beforehand, but the rules had been somewhat relaxed. On A and C Wings the remand prisoners were outside in the yard for exercise. Several men from each wing, as normal, were called for visits. Some of these visits were from solicitors and an area of the prison was set aside to allow legal teams and the accused a place to discuss their business in private.

When warders came to bring back one set of prisoners to their wing, the operation began.

One of the Volunteers produced a gun, forced the warders to release the other prisoners and then locked about ten warders in the cell. They then made their way to B wing’s visiting area and arrested all the warders, visitors and solicitors who were there, before locking about thirty up in a room. One warder, named as Killen, went for his baton, was disarmed and hit over the head.

Two warders and a solicitor were ordered to strip and three of the IRA Volunteers, dressed in two uniforms and a suit respectively, calmly walked to the main gate which was opened for them. They then pulled guns on the real warders in this key security area, and made them lie on the ground until their five comrades ran across a small courtyard to join them.

Once outside however, the alarm was set off and British army sentries poured a hail of automatic fire at the prisoners from a watch tower before they could reach the front gate. Undeterred, the prisoners dashed through the bullets, weaving from side to side to throw off their attackers.

Outside the prison, cars had been parked by the IRA’s Belfast Brigade in the car park of the health clinic beside the courthouse, their ignition keys hidden under the floor mats. The prisoners ran across the road towards the health centre, dodging bullets as they went. The escapees headed towards the loyalist Shankill area where they commandeered cars to help their getaway.

Stunned by the daring escapees, the crown forces erected checkpoints across Belfast and along all border routes.

As the men made their escape, clearly visible to republican prisoners in cells on the top landing of A wing, loud cheers went up and makeshift flags were flown from the windows.

Seven of the escapees, known as the ‘M60 gang’, were brothers Tony and Gerry Sloan, Gerard McKee, Joe Doherty, Angelo Fusco, Patrick ‘Dingus’ Magee and Tony Campbell. All were from Belfast and charged in connection either with an M60 machine gun attack in 1980 on an RUC patrol in Andersonstown, or with the siege on the Antrim Road in May 1980, when an SAS Captain was killed.

The eighth escapee was Pete Ryan from Ardboe, County Tyrone who had been charged with killing an RUC Reservist and a UDR soldier.

All eight men reached safe houses within the hour and after a lying low for a short while were spirited over the border to begin new lives ‘on the run.’

One week later, at the annual pilgrimage to the graveside of Wolfe Tone, the father of republicanism, which is always a source of renewed strength for its participants, the crowd was given an added morale boost when at the closing ceremony, one of the escapees Patrick ‘Dingus’ Magee, made a dramatic appearance on the platform.

There were many more attempts to break free from Crumlin Road Jail before it finally closed its doors in April 1995, having being used as a weapon in the attempted suppression of the Irish freedom struggle for 151 years.

Thomas McElwee

The tenth republican to join the Hunger Strike was 23-year-old IRA Volunteer Thomas McElwee, from Bellaghy, South Derry. He had been imprisoned since December 1976, following a premature explosion in which he lost an eye. He was a first cousin of Francis Hughes, who died after 59 days on Hunger Strike. They were close friends and lived less than a half mile apart in the staunchly nationalist village of Bellaghy.

Click photo to view - Thomas McElwee (L) and Paddy Quinn

McElwee, the fifth of 12 children, was born in 1957. He joined Fianna Eireann when he was only 14, and subsequently joined the independent unit led by his cousin, Francis Hughes, which concentrated on defence of the local area and ambushes of British forces, before it was recruited in its entirety, into the IRA.

The years before Thomas’ capture in October ‘76, were active ones in the South Derry area with a high level of IRA activity against British forces who became reluctant to wander into the country lanes surrounding Bellaghy.

During this time he went to Ballymena training centre to begin an apprenticeship as a motor mechanic. However harassment from loyalists forced him to leave and he then went to work with a local mechanic. Like many young men, whenever Thomas went out he was liable to be stopped for lengthy periods of time along empty country roads, searched, threatened, and abused. There were also house raids. The McElwees’ home was first raided in 1974, and Thomas was arrested under Section 10, for three days.

Following his conviction McElwee returned to the blanket protest he had joined immediately after his trial. Speaking of his decision to join the Hunger Strike his mother said: ‘I know Thomas and Benedict would be determined to stand up for their rights. In the Blocks one will stand for another. If this Hunger Strike isn’t settled one way or another they’ll all go the same way.”

Thomas McElwee embarked on the Hunger Strike on 8 June 1981.

Paddy Quinn

Paddy Quinn from Belleeks, South Armagh was the eleventh man to join the 1981 Hunger Strike. He was the third oldest in the family with four sisters and three brothers. After leaving school, where he was a classmate of IRA Volunteer Peter Cleary murdered by the SAS in 1976, he worked as a draftsman with a consulting engineer in Newry.

The Quinn family was continually harassed by the British army and during an early morning raid in 1979 Paddy and his brothers were dragged from the house and beaten up outside the door. Their mother was so traumatised from witnessing this that she collapsed. In an act of callousness her sons were prevented from calling the doctor for over a half an hour.

Again in 1979 another British army raid caused so much damage to the Quinn home that they were forced to sell all the livestock on their small holding and move to a council house in Newry.

On 2 March 1977 Paddy Quinn was sentenced to 14 years for attempting to kill British soldiers, 14 years for possession of an armalite rifle and five years for membership of the IRA. He was captured 25 June 1976 on the same operation as fellow hunger striker Raymond McCreesh. In the years prior to their capture they had prevented the UDR gaining a foothold in South Armagh.

Immediately on his arrival in the H-Blocks he went ‘on the blanket’. He described the Blocks as like been buried alive and two years before he went on Hunger Strike he had said the only reason the blanket men did not commence a hunger strike was the pressure this would place on the families. As his brother said at the time. “He must have done a brave bit of thinking before he went on it.”

Paddy Quinn went on hunger strike on 15 June 1981.

Daily Ireland

No forensic tests carried out on 177 items - Families of six Catholics murdered in Down pub by Ulster Volunteer Force 12 years ago say it’s clear the RUC colluded with gang responsible for the slaughter

Ciarán Barnes

The families of six Catholics murdered in a Co Down pub by loyalists 12-years ago have accused police of protecting those involved in the killings.
At a press conference in Belfast yesterday, relatives of those who died in the Loughinisland massacre said it was clear the RUC had colluded with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang responsible for the slaughter.
Their statement came on the back of a series of Daily Ireland stories that revealed the car used in the murders, which was provided by an RUC informant, was later crushed by police preventing the recovery of crucial forensic evidence.
Eamon Byrne, Barney Green, Malcolm Jenkinson, Daniel McCreanor, Patrick O’Hare and Adrian Rogan died in the attack on the Heights bar in June 1994. The six were watching Ireland play Italy in a World Cup game when the gunmen struck.
Niall Murphy, a solicitor for the Loughinisland families, told the packed press conference that a Czech-made rifle used in the killings was part of a South African weapons consignment brought into the North by British army agent Brian Nelson.
The security services knew of the arms importation but failed to prevent it reaching these shores.
It was revealed that the police refused to carry out DNA tests on 177 items connected with the investigation until 2005, and that the PSNI continue to deny the families access to the ballistic history of the weapons used.
It also emerged the PSNI is still refusing to reveal whether any of the suspects or the eight people questioned about the attack have been used for intelligence purposes.
Mr Murphy said the launch of the families’ campaign for a proper police investigation was born out of frustration at the stagnation in the murder investigation. He also expressed astonishment that the getaway car used in the attack was destroyed.
“I can think of no reasonable reason why any police officer would destroy such an exhibit, which must have contained a wealth of evidential product,” he said.
“Certainly I have my suspicions as to why it was destroyed. That the car was destroyed in itself creates inherent suspicion.”
Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan is currently investigating the families concerns about the RUC/PSNI investigation.
The killings will also feature in a soon to be published Police Ombudsman report into allegations of collusion between Special Branch detectives and a UVF gang based in the loyalist Mount Vernon estate in north Belfast.
Emma Rogan, who was eight when her 34-year-old father Adrian was shot dead in the attack, said: “We want to know how high does this collusion go.
“Six innocent men who did not do anybody wrong in their lives were wiped off the face of the earth because somebody said go and do it. We want to know why.”
Moira Casement, whose 89-year-old uncle Barney Green was the oldest victim, said the families were shocked and disgusted by revelations a police informer code-named ‘Mechanic’ was involved in preparations for the attack.

Daily Ireland

JIM DEE - Daily Ireland USA correspondent
16/06/2006

Kevin Weeks leaned forward to answer a question about the role notorious Boston fugitive James “Whitey” Bulger played in the failed effort to smuggle tons of arms to the IRA aboard the fishing trawler Valhalla in 1984.
“It’s kind of fashionable today to blame him for everything that’s happened around Boston,” said Weeks (50) who spent decades as Bulger’s right-hand man until Whitey skipped town on December 23, 1994.
“One of the biggest misconceptions is that Jim Bulger gave up the Valhalla. He didn’t. He never gave it up,” Weeks told Daily Ireland, during an interview at the South Boston variety store that he and Bulger once owned.
This spring, Weeks published Brutal: The untold story of my life inside Whitey Bulger’s Irish mob.
The book offers a gripping insider’s account of how Bulger – a fugitive who’s spent 12 years on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list – remained atop Boston’s criminal underworld for decades with a combination of cunning and brutality.
Weeks estimates that Bulger committed about 40 killings during his 35-year crime spree, although officially he’s wanted for 19. In 2000, as part of a plea bargain deal, Weeks admitted to his role in six killings.
He also agreed to show authorities where the bodies were secretly buried, which led to the high-profile exhumation of victims’ remains in January and October of that year. In March 2004, Weeks got 72 months in jail, including time spent since his November 1997 arrest. He was released on February 4, 2005.
Weeks is scheduled to testify in the current $50 million wrongful death suit brought by the family of John McIntyre against Stevie “The Rifleman” Flemmi. McIntyre was the Valhalla crewmember who tipped off the FBI about the arms shipment. FBI agent John Connolly fingered McIntyre to Bulger and Flemmi, who then killed him. Weeks helped bury the body.
Weeks told Daily Ireland that he knows that many in Ireland and in Boston will never believe that Bulger didn’t betray the Valhalla – particularly since it later emerged that Whitey was an FBI informer who regularly ratted out other Boston criminals during his decades-long crime spree.
According to Weeks, he and Bulger had no connection with the IRA and only provided “security” for the loading of weapons cache onto the ship in Gloucester, Massachusetts in September, 1984. The Irish navy later seized the arms from the Marita Ann off the coast of Kerry, in an operation that saw prominent republican Martin Ferris arrested.
Weeks said that, after McIntyre was identified as the informer, he was tricked into going to 799 East Third Street in Southie. Once McIntyre entered the house, Weeks and Flemmi threw him to the floor.
“Then Jim Bulger stepped out with the machine-gun and [McIntyre] was chained up and handcuffed. And within two minutes, I mean literally, within two minutes, he was admitting everything.”
Bulger grilled McIntyre for hours before the fisherman was brought “down the cellar”.
In the basement, McIntyre was tied to a chair and they “tried to strangle him, but the rope was too thick. So Jim Bulger says to him ‘Do you want one in the head?’ And he says ‘Yes, please.’ He knew he was going to die. And he was brave about it,” said Weeks.
After McIntyre was shot in the head, Flemmi noticed that he was still breathing, “so then Jim shot him about four or five more times. And then we dug the hole and buried him,” said Weeks.
However, Whitey didn’t do any digging. As happened after all three killings he committed at the house, he went upstairs – to take a nap.
“His part was over,” said Weeks.
“He’d fall asleep on the couch, with a machine-gun right across his chest or his lap. Just right out. And we’d take care of the clean-up. Then we’d go upstairs. We’d wait until it was dark out, so people wouldn’t see us leave. Then we’d all leave.”
A macabre footnote to the killing occurred a year later, on Halloween weekend in 1985. The killing house had been sold and Weeks and Flemmi were ordered dig up the three bodies from the basement, and rebury them elsewhere in Boston.
“It was gruesome. There was a bad odour there,” said Weeks.
“One person was only in the ground for six months [still decomposing]. One person was mummified. He was so stiff that his head actually snapped off,” he said.
The gang continued operating until 1994, when the Feds increased the pressure. Finally, on December 23, 1994, Bulger was tipped off that he was about to be scooped.
Weeks met Bulger to discuss the impending arrest that afternoon “and within 30 minutes he was packed up and gone. He just dropped me off and said ‘I’ll be in touch’.”
Bulger kept in touch for two years – usually by phone, but Weeks also met Whitey five times at various locations during that period.
The last time he saw him was in November 1996. Six months later, he was stunned to see a TV news report on the trial of long-time Bulger associate Stevie Flemmi, which recounted how “the Rifleman” had revealed that he and Whitey had been FBI informers for decades.
“My stomach just sank. I had to stay up to two in the morning to watch the re-run of the news to make sure that I heard it right,” said Weeks
In November 1999, Weeks was arrested. Despite revelations that Bulger and Flemmi had been FBI touts, at first he refused to co-operate with the police. He realised he had a choice: “Would I give up the two people who were giving everybody up, or would I go to jail for life of them? And I don’t think it was much of a choice,” said Weeks.
Weeks turned state’s evidence, gave up the hidden graves of six victims, and forked over “200 weapons – hand grenades, machine-guns with silencers, pistols with silencers, and assault rifles”.
He knows that he is “very lucky” to have received a 72-month sentence, and he insists he’ll never again commit a crime. Some of the proceeds of his book will go to victims’ families, but he hasn’t issued a public apology.
“They wouldn’t accept it anyway,” Weeks told Daily Ireland.
“And I wouldn’t expect them to. And I wouldn’t insult them by saying ‘I’m sorry.’ Because if someone did that to me, I wouldn’t forgive them, and I don’t expect them to forgive me.”
Weeks says that Whitey Bulger has between $30 – $50 million stashed away and he’ll never be caught.
“He’s 76 years-old and if he’s walking down the street with a little hat on and a cane, he just looks like somebody’s grandfather. No one would pay attention to him,” said Weeks.
Does he ever worry about running into Whitey?
“No. What could he say to me? What could I say to him?” said Weeks.
“You live your life a certain way, you believe in certain things – even if they’re the wrong things - you still live by them.
“Then you find out that even the things that were wrong – and you knew were wrong, but you believed in them – that that was a lie.
“So, I tried that part, might as well try something different.”

BN.ie

16/06/2006 - 17:33:24

Former Taoiseach Charles Haughey was today hailed a legend, statesman and political leader of peerless acumen by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

“He was a legend and a man,” Mr Ahern told mourners in an oration at the controversial politician’s graveside following a state funeral.

Maureen Haughey widow of the late Taoiseach Charlie Haughey receiving a folded Tricolour from the coffin at the graveside in St. Finan’s Cemetary. The former Taoiseach was today hailed a legend, statesman and political leader of peerless acumen by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Dignitaries and political leaders from both sides of the Irish border joined high-ranking members of the judiciary and Defence Forces for Funeral Mass in the church of at Our Lady of Consolation in Donnycarney.

President Mary McAleese, billionaire financier Dermot Desmond and Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams were among the congregation, while hundreds of mourners lined the streets of north Dublin for the occasion.

The 80-year-old died on Tuesday at home in Kinsealy after a long battle with cancer. His wife, Maureen, daughter, Eimear and sons, Conor, Ciaran and Fianna Fail TD Sean were at his bedside.

The Requiem Mass, which lasted just over two hours, was broadcast live on national television and two large screens outside relayed the event to those who could not be accommodated in the 2,000-seat church.

It was celebrated by Mr Haughey’s brother, Eoghan, assisted by the Archbishop of Dublin, Reverend Diarmuid Martin, and Monsignor Joe Quinn, the parish priest of Knock.

“We know him as a human being with all that implies. We, each of us, also live every day, with all that he achieved for Ireland,” Mr Ahern said at the graveside.

“His life was an extraordinary journey.”

The Taoiseach admitted Mr Haughey’s 35-year political career had at times been controversial but he insisted he was privileged to have been asked to pay tribute to him.

“For myself, I speak of Charles Haughey as a friend, a colleague, a political leader of peerless acumen and commanding talent,” he said.

Mr Ahern said history would judge Mr Haughey well.

“Charles Haughey brought to the office of Taoiseach a wide array of talents and skills, perhaps unmatched in the modern era.”

When Mr Haughey first became Taoiseach in 1979 he had three overarching objectives, said Mr Ahern: lasting peace on the island, to make the country a respected and integral member of the European Union, and to end the economic instability and mass unemployment which had beset the country for centuries.

“As one of Mr Haughey’s successors as Taoiseach I want to acknowledge that he left a huge legacy of lasting achievement which this generation has based its own progress upon,” he added.

Naval Service marksmen fired three volleys of shots over the grave after Mr Ahern completed his graveside oration. The Last Post was then played by three buglers and drummers.

As Mr Haughey’s coffin was lowered into the grave, the skies opened up and rain began to fall on the mourners gathered at graveside.

The funeral cortege had earlier slowly wound its way through the streets of north Dublin from the Church of Our Lady of Consolation in Donnycarney to St Fintan’s Cemetery in Sutton.

There will not be his like again, Mr Haughey’s brother had told mourners at the state funeral.

Delivering his homily, Fr Eoghan Haughey, likened the one-time Fianna Fáil leader to a huge wooden sculpture of Irish hero, Cuchulain, on the front lawn of the former Taoiseach’s home, Abbeville.

“And running the full length of the statue, there’s what looks like a deep wound. It’s a crack in the wood, like an old battle scar,” he said.

“CJ had come through many battles but there were no scars – the wounds had healed. There was no bitterness, thank God, no self-pity.”

Mr Haughey’s son, Sean, told mourners that historians will cast Charles Haughey in a much more positive light than his media critics.

Sean Haughey, himself a TD in his father’s former constituency, used his reflection at the Funeral Mass to restore the reputation of the ex-Fianna Fail leader’s controversial public life.

The speech was greeted with warm applause throughout by mourners.

“In recent years his critics in the media have dominated the debate about my father. I’ve absolutely no doubt that historians will be a lot more positive about my father’s legacy,” he said.

“It is clear to me too, that the people as a whole always had a much more balanced view of his political life.”

A photograph of Mr Haughey and his wife on their wedding day hung in the foyer of the church as the service took place.

Fr Haughey told mourners the former Taoiseach had directed that his funeral be held in the heart of his old constituency, near where he grew up, as he battled the cancer that would eventually claim his life.

Members of Mr Haughey’s family, including his son, Ciaran, and old friends such as his former political adviser, PJ Mara, read prayers during the ceremony.

The Seamus Heaney poem The Given Note was read by Aine Ui Laoithe, while renowned musicians Liam O’Flynn and Finbar Furey played traditional Irish laments.

Mr Haughey’s coffin was then carried from the church by members of the Defence Forces and placed in a hearse, flanked by representatives of the Naval Service signifying Mr Haughey’s love of the sea.

The funeral cortege then made its last slow journey to St Fintan’s Cemetery accompanied by the applause of onlookers.

Mr Haughey, who served as Taoiseach for three separate periods between 1979 and 1992, was the most controversial politician in the history of the Irish Republic.

In recent years his political legacy has been overshadowed by revelations at state tribunals that he received millions in donations from wealthy businessmen during his 35-year political career. It also emerged he had conducted a long extra-marital affair.

He was sacked as a government minister but cleared of criminal charges of plotting to smuggle guns into the North when violence first flared on the streets of Belfast and Derry more than 35 years ago in a controversy which almost ended his early career.

BBC

A former friend of Mark Haddock who is accused of trying to murder the north Belfast loyalist has been refused bail at the High Court.

Darren Moore, 36, from Mount Vernon Park, Belfast, is alleged to have aided the murder bid by stepping aside as an accomplice opened fire from a car.

Mr Haddock was shot six times in the attack.

Lord Justice Campbell said he was not prepared to grant bail “because of Moore’s paramilitary connections”.

BBC

The Electoral Commission is asking the police to examine the discovery of two undisclosed bank accounts linked to the Ulster Unionist Party.

The government watchdog has been talking to the party about funds which should have been disclosed to it amounting to about £50,000.

The commission is now asking the PSNI to see if there is an issue to investigate.

It is understood detectives had already visited the Ulster Unionist Party.

This was on an informal basis to discuss the matter, but no investigation is currently under way.

‘More information’

A commission spokesman said: “It was brought to our attention by a previous treasurer of the Ulster Unionist Party that a bank account had not been disclosed to the party’s appointed auditors.

“The commission began discussions with the party about this matter and asked for more information and evidence about the party’s assets, including those of accounting units.

“As a result, a second bank account has also been brought to our attention.

“The commission has decided to refer this matter to the Police Service of Northern Ireland and has asked it to investigate whether an offence has been committed.”

Ulster Unionist treasurer Lord Maginnis said he had been working with the commission since he took up the post eight months ago.

“The matter of the undisclosed account has been in the public domain for some time and was brought to the attention of the commission six months ago,” he said.

“We continue to work closely with the commission on all the matters of compliance.”

BBC

Taxis will no longer be able to pick up fares at the front door of Belfast’s International Airport.

From Monday, taxi drivers are being instructed to move to the short stay car park at the Aldergrove site.

A spokesman for the airport said the aim was to cut down on traffic congestion.

However, one local taxi driver said it would mean an increase in fares and would make collecting passengers more difficult.

“You go into the arrivals department and you pick up a board. You write the passenger’s name on it and you go out until you find the passenger you are looking for,” he explained.

“You take the board back in again. You proceed to lift the cases, come back across to the short stay car park, put the cases in the boot, pay the fee whatever amount it is going to be and that is added on to the fare for the passenger.”

BBC

A community centre in east Belfast has been closed after alleged threats from a paramilitary group.

Castlereagh Borough Council took the decision to close Cregagh Youth and Community Centre at lunchtime on Friday after consultation with staff.

A PSNI spokesperson said police were investigating the matter.

Jimmy Spratt, Mayor of Castlereagh, said people from the local community would suffer but the safety of staff was a priority.

“This certainly is a very well-used centre within Cregagh and it’s a vital centre for the community,” Mr Spratt said.

“I am sad, and I know others are sad, that the people of the Cregagh estate are now suffering the closure of the centre.”

BBC

Members of the assembly’s Preparation for Government committee have held “an acrimonious meeting” at Stormont.

They failed to reach agreement, but are to hold three more meetings next week in the hope of agreeing a report to place before the assembly.

The main political parties, with the exception of Sinn Fein, had been hoping that the assembly would debate four issues next week.

These included sentencing sex offenders and review of public administration.

However, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain, who has the power to direct debates, refused to sanction any on the basis there was no agreement on the matter.

Instead, he has said he will await a recommendation from the new Preparation for Government committee.

This is viewed by some as an attempt to encourage compromise between the main political parties, particularly the DUP and Sinn Fein.

Following Friday’s meeting, Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said it was “yet another missed opportunity to do real business”.

“It is increasingly clear that the DUP are interested only in bullying the British secretary of state and the other parties into allowing pointless debates in a powerless assembly. Sinn Fein, however, will not be bullied by the DUP,” he said.

The DUP is enthusiastic about debates, but Sinn Fein has said it will only take part in business that will lead to a restored executive.

The DUP has made members available for four consecutive working days from Friday to next Wednesday.

Devolution

The main parties have been asked to list issues which they want addressed if devolution is to be restored.

They had been deadlocked over who should chair the committee since it first met last week.

On Monday, Mr Hain intervened to appoint the assembly’s deputy speakers, DUP MLA Jim Wells and Sinn Fein MLA Francie Molloy as impartial officers.

The Northern Ireland secretary said that he “would have preferred not to have had to issue a direction on this procedural matter”.

Mr Molloy chaired Monday afternoon’s committee session, while Tuesday’s session was chaired by Mr Wells.

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.

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

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

BBC

The Tour of the North parade has sparked trouble in the past

There has been a minor disturbance at the Tour of the North Orange Order parade in Belfast, which has largely passed off peacefully.

As it was passing the Ardoyne shops, golf balls and stones were thrown by nationalist protestors.

The chairman of the Parades Commission, Roger Poole, was present at the Ardoyne shops. He said recent dialogue had helped avoid major trouble.

An agreement had earlier been reached over the disputed parade.

The Tour of the North parade has sparked trouble in the past.

However, the North and West Belfast Parades Forum and the Ardoyne Parades Dialogue Group reached an accommodation over it.

The marchers agreed to limitations on a contentious part of the return leg of the parade while residents would stage a smaller protest.

It was agreed that the return parade would proceed down the same route as normal, but would consist of only one band, a single banner and representatives only of the constituent lodges.

Music would not be played along the contentious part, according to the accommodation reached.

A nationalist protester was hit by a missile from a crowd behind her

Mr Poole had come to observe the deal in action and for a time it seemed to be going perfectly to plan.

However, as the reduced parade reached the token protest, some golf balls and stones were thrown by a larger crowd being kept back by stewards.

One woman, who had been part of the nationalist protest, was hit by a missile thrown by the crowd behind her.

The disturbance was short and in contrast to previous years, relatively minor - something Mr Poole was keen to stress.

Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly conceded that nationalists had thrown stones, bottles and golf balls, but said the trouble should not be overstated, and he hoped more dialogue would follow.

The Reverend Norman Hamilton, a Protestant clergyman who has worked hard to improve relations in the district, said while the stone throwing had been regrettable, he hoped the talking would continue.