SAOIRSE32

David Burrows will not deliberate on parades in Portadown

A controversial Parades Commission member has resigned from the Orange Order, the commission has revealed.

David Burrows was a member of the Portadown Lodge which was at the centre of the decade-long Drumcree dispute.

His appointment to the commission had been ruled unlawful last month, but this decision was overturned at the Court of Appeal.

Commission chairman Roger Poole said the move was “designed to remove any element of doubt” about his position.

The Parades Commission was set up by the government in 1997 to make decisions on whether controversial parades should be restricted.

‘Public interest’

Mr Poole said in a statement that the decision was taken “in the interests of the greater good of the commission and the public interest generally”.

The commission said it had taken account of the judgements of the courts.

It said it was “conscious” that Mr Burrows’ association with the Portadown lodge meant he could not “participate fully in all of the commission’s deliberations, activities and decision making processes”.

The commission said in a statement that Mr Burrows would not play any part in its deliberations on parades in Portadown, “in the interests of fairness and transparency”.

“Mr Burrows’ resignation, regardless of its motivation, is a case of bolting the stable door after the horse has left.”
John O’Dowd
Sinn Fein

Mr Burrows and Portadown Orangeman Don MacKay were at the centre of the recent court proceedings.

Mr MacKay resigned from the commission last month after it emerged he had listed DUP MP David Simpson and SDLP assembly member Dolores Kelly as referees on his application form without asking their permission.

A spokesperson for Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition, which brought the legal action to have the two men removed from the commission, said on Thursday they had been vindicated by Mr Burrows’ resignation.

The coalition said it was “one of the inevitable outworkings of the lengthy legal campaign with which we have been involved with since Peter Hain made his political appointments to the Parades Commission”.

Sinn Fein Upper Bann assembly member John O’Dowd said the resignation “does not change the fact that the Parades Commission remains unbalanced and deeply flawed”.

“Mr Burrows’ resignation, regardless of its motivation, is a case of bolting the stable door after the horse has left - on this occasion, the horse was called ‘public confidence’,” he added.

BBC

Orangemen have voted “overwhelmingly but reluctantly” to reduce the numbers participating in part of the Whiterock parade in west Belfast on Saturday.

The decision means a smaller number of Orangemen will pass through the Workman Avenue security gates on to the mainly nationalist Springfield Road.

The proposal by senior members of the Order’s Belfast No9 district was put to a meeting on Thursday evening.

Residents want a judicial review of the Parades Commission’s determination.

The commission has allowed one lodge onto the nationalist Springfield Road with the main parade re-routed via a former factory site.

The residents of the Clonard area are seeking the judicial review to be heard in the High Court on Friday.

Earlier on Thursday, Orangemen said they would abide by the restrictions placed on the parade by the Parade Commission.

‘Compromise’

Tommy Cheevers from the North and West Belfast Parades Forum said it had been a difficult decision but there had to be a compromise.

“If we can achieve a peaceful summer we’ll have played our part,” he said.

“One side can’t have a veto and it has to be done in a spirit of compromise and accommodation, it can’t be just one side’s story told here.”

On Wednesday, the commission turned down a request from Sinn Fein to review its ruling on the march, which last year saw serious rioting.

The commission said there was no new evidence to look at.

Sinn Fein said the determination was rewarding violence.

The cost of policing the Whiterock parade last year and subsequent rioting in a number of loyalist areas was estimated at £3m by the PSNI.

Police officers were attacked with petrol bombs and blast bombs, as well as live rounds during the trouble.

Last year the Orange Order delayed the parade until September in protest after the commission re-routed the entire parade through the former Mackies factory site instead of allowing it through Workman Avenue.

The government-appointed Parades Commission was set up in 1997 to make decisions on whether controversial parades should be restricted.

BBC

Two people have been charged in connection with a police operation into dissident republican activity in Northern Ireland and Europe.

The pair, a man aged 41 and a woman aged 37, will appear before Belfast Magistrates Court on Friday.

Police said the charges relate to a major anti-terrorism operation carried out in counties Armagh and Fermanagh.

A woman also being questioned has been released pending a report to the Public Prosecution Service.

Detectives have been given more time to question three other people who were also arrested during Monday’s police operation.

Police said a handgun, explosive material and other bomb making items were found during searches on Lettergreen Road, Donagh.

A related search in France continued into Tuesday.

Police said the searches were part of a joint investigation “between the PSNI Crime Operations Department and the British Security Service” and had “disrupted a potential major terrorist conspiracy”.

Republican News

Republican News - 18-22 June 2006

The Irish National Liberation Army has offered informers a one-week amnesty after reportedly uncovering a PSNI Special Branch agent in County Derry.

A 51-year-old man is understood to have confessed to working for PSNI Special Branch for the past 12 months.

The man, who comes from the north of the county, was responsible for setting up and recruiting a number of young people into an INLA cell in south Derry.

INLA members have said that the man has admitted on tape to having organised a number of attacks on Orange halls in south Derry in recent weeks on the instructions of Special Branch handlers.

A source close to the INLA’s leadership last night said the organisation is offering a one-week amnesty to all informers.

“It is noteworthy that this man has not been killed. There is now a one-week amnesty for all informers to come forward. This man was told to recruit members into the INLA and was trying to start tensions with other republican groupings. He was responsible for passing on information, both real and false. He would have portrayed himself as a senior INLA figure.”

Belfast Telegraph

By Michael McHugh
22 June 2006

Asbestos cancer victims are celebrating a boost in their battle for better compensation after the Government announced that it is to bring in legislation making it easier for claimants to fight their case.

The move by Dept of Constitutional Affairs minister Lord Falconer and the Department for Work and Pensions follows widespread anger at a House of Lords decision which made it more difficult for victims to claim damages from employers where the mesothelioma lung disease may have been contracted.

Tony Blair told a meeting of trade unionists recently that he would legislate for a fairer deal for sufferers and their families and the DCA has now announced new proposals.

Lord Falconer said: “The Government is acting quickly to help claimants suffering from this terrible disease to receive the compensation to which they are entitled as soon as possible.

“I intend to bring forward an amendment to the Compensation Bill to provide that in these cases negligent employers should be jointly and severally liable, so that the claimant can recover full compensation from any relevant employer.

“It would then be open to that employer to seek a contribution to the damages awarded from other negligent employers.”

The Barker v Corus Lords judgment involved a widow of a mesothelioma victim and insurance companies who were arguing that one employer could not be held solely responsible if the claimant had been exposed at a number of workplaces.

The Law Lords accepted that damages had to be apportioned among the different employers.

Belfast Telegraph

Hours after waving goodbye to his family on his way to a routine operation, a freak accident killed Miki McCallum. Lisa Smyth spoke to his parents about their son’s life and their search to uncover the truth

22 June 2006

The death of a 13-year-old Portstewart schoolboy was an accident waiting to happen, the boy’s father has said. (BBC photo from >>this story)

An inquest found that Michael ‘Miki’ McCallum died in January 2005 - two weeks after a routine operation at Antrim Area Hospital when an oxygen tube became trapped in the mechanics of the operating table.

It was the first reported incident of its kind but photographs of a reconstruction of the operating theatre on the day in question show numerous wires and tubes running from the anaesthetic machine and lying loose and tangled on the floor.

Roger McCallum said that during his quest for truth, he has developed serious concerns about procedures at Antrim Area Hospital which are widely accepted in hospitals throughout the UK.

“Looking at the photographs of the theatre, there are wires lying all over the place and boxes on top of the anaesthetic machine that could easily fall off,” he said.

“What happened to Miki was an accident waiting to happen. I would have thought in such a technologically advanced world that steps could be taken to reduce the possibility, however remote, of apparatus becoming a taker rather than a provider of life.”

The grieving father also said he was deeply concerned that no consultant anaesthetists were present in the hospital during Miki’s operation. “We’re told there was no consultant present because it was a Bank Holiday weekend but I’m not sure that’s acceptable,” he said.

“There appeared to be an attitude of complacency present as I listened to the professionals giving evidence at the inquest but just because something has been done in a certain way for many years and by many a great people, it doesn’t mean it is still fit for purpose.”

Although United Hospitals Trust has made a number of amendments to surgical protocols at Antrim Area Hospital, a spokeswoman declined to comment on whether trainee doctors will continue to be responsible for anaesthetising patients while there is no consultant present in the hospital.

She said: “In both of the independent investigations carried out into the circumstances of Michael’s death, no concerns were voiced about the competence of the practitioners carrying out the medical procedures.

“In accordance with recommended practice throughout the NHS, the Trust makes its decision on the level of staffing on any occasion based on the competence and expertise of its practitioners.

“Managers, clinical directors and staff within the Trust will be meeting to discuss the various issues which have arisen out of the inquest to make sure that we can learn as much as possible from this tragic incident.”

Belfast Telegraph

By Chris Thornton and Maureen Coleman
22 June 2006

Loyalists appeared today to have grudgingly accepted a ruling by the Parades Commission to allow a limited march through the Workman Avenue peaceline gate during Saturday’s Whiterock Parade.

The Commission ruled on Monday that 50 Orangemen would be allowed to walk through a peaceline gate at Workman Avenue and on to a nationalist part of Springfield Road.

The Commission’s decision has angered nationalist residents, who called for a review of the ruling.

But last night the North and West Belfast Parades Forum met the Orange Order, and reluctantly accepted to recommend that people abide by the restrictions.

Fifty Orangemen have been cleared to cross the peaceline at Workman Avenue, while the rest of the parade - 700 marchers including 16 bands - will go along last year’s route, through the Mackie’s site further down the road.

Tommy Cheevers of the North and West Belfast Parades Forum said: “The fact is that if we have a peaceful summer, we will have played our part.”

Belfast Telegraph

By Chris Thornton
22 June 2006

The Parades Commission last night rejected nationalist calls for a review of its Whiterock march ruling.

The Commission said no new evidence had emerged to make it change its decision to allow a limited Orange parade on the Springfield Road in West Belfast on Saturday.

Nationalists say the Commission has rewarded Orangemen for the violence that broke out when the parade was rerouted last year.

The Commission denied the accusation, and appealed for calm.

Fifty Orangemen have been cleared to cross the peaceline at Workman Avenue, while a further 700 marchers, including 16 bands, will go along last year’s route, through the Mackie’s site further down the road.

Other restrictions have been imposed, including which flags can be carried and where music can be played.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams accused the Commission of effectively authorising two parades.

Orangemen object to the decision, saying the entire march should be allowed through the Workman Avenue gate.

A spokesman for the Commission said last night: “All of the evidence presented was taken on board as part of the original consideration of this parade. We have decided, therefore, not to review our decision.”

NIO

Thursday 22 June 2006

The Northern Ireland Office today released Research and Statistical Bulletin 2/2006 entitled ‘The Northern Ireland Prison Population in 2005’. (.pdf file)

Irelandclick

SF angry as Commission refuses to review decision to let Order march through area

By Francesca Ryan

The Parades Commission’s refusal to review its decision on the controversial Whiterock parade has merely “compounded the wrong decision”, says one Sinn Féin councillor.

Residents of the Springfield Road are bracing themselves for a potentially explosive weekend after the contentious Whiterock march was given the green-light earlier this week.

The decision reached by the Parades Commission will see 50 Orangemen march through Workman Avenue and on to a nationalist stretch of the Springfield Road on Saturday while the remainder of the 800-strong parade will process through a nearby industrial estate, the former Mackies site.

On Tuesday, a Sinn Féin delegation, led by West Belfast MP Gerry Adams, met with the Parades Commission to voice their concerns over the contentious parade. Mr Adams called on the Commission to review what he termed “a deeply flawed determination”. The request was denied.

“The original determination by the Parades Commission directly rewarded the Orange Order and the unionist paramilitaries for the violence they engaged in last September,” said councillor for the Springfield area, Tom Hartley.

“I am disappointed that the Parades Commission have decided to refuse the request to review their decision. This is the wrong approach and compounds the wrong decision already taken by the Parades Commission with the initial determination. Even at this late stage I would appeal to the leadership of the Orange Order to remove their bar on talking with local residents on the Springfield Road and sit down face to face and try and seek a resolution to this issue.”

Despite efforts to avoid a repetition of the scenes of violence which flared following last September’s Whiterock parade, there is growing concern that the march will not pass off as peacefully as hoped. It is believed that neither the Orange Order nor nationalist residents are happy with the outcome.
Speaking to the Andersonstown News, Sean Murray of the Springfield Residents’ Action Group said the Commission ignored the hard work of residents in favour of rewarding loyalist violence.

“We are disappointed at the decision by the Parades Commission. We feel aggrieved that the Commission has essentially rejected the five-point plan we’ve been working on for the past three years as we are sure it could have brought around some accommodation which would be satisfactory to both sides.

“The Parades Commission however ignored the very positive work of the residents’ group in trying to find a solution, and instead rewarded the violence of last year. People are angry in the community as they see that their best efforts were ignored by the Parades Commission.”

Mr Murray said there was no reasoning behind the determination to allow a limited number of Orangemen to pass through Workman Avenue.
“The integrity of the Parades Commission is now in question.
“This is a new commission with new commissioners and we tried to work with them, but our working relationship is now in jeopardy after this decision where they have rewarded the negative events of last September.

“We have not been given a clear rationale for this decision. There have not been any changes in circumstances since last year.”

Following a meeting with the Parades Commission yesterday, the SDLP have also called for a review of the determination.

“The Commission has been responsible for a grievous error,” said Councillor Tim Attwood.

“The decision over Whiterock has caused deep resentment and anger in the local community. The Commission has turned on its head the principles that informed previous determinations and this could have significant consequences.”

When contacted by the Andersonstown News yesterday, neither the Orange Order nor the North and West Belfast Parades and Cultural Forum were prepared to comment ahead of a crunch meeting being held last night.

Journalist:: Francesca Ryan

Irelandclick

Disruption at Twelfth proves a costly business

by Damian McCarney

Get set to put your hand deep in your pocket as more vast sums of public cash go up in smoke as Belfast braces itself for another summer of bonfires and marches.

Each year Orange Order marches bring the city to a standstill with parades, road blockages, bonfires and sporadic violence. The activity on the streets places a huge financial burden on public bodies which is inevitably footed by the taxpayer.

The Andersonstown News contacted the numerous public agencies whose services are called on over the Twelfth to count costs of last year’s loyalist ‘celebrations’.

Of the three emergency services, the PSNI account for the greatest cost.
The expense of policing the Twelfth marches in Belfast came to £642,000.
However, this almost pales into insignificance when we consider that policing for marches across the whole of the North from April 1 until September 30 last year cost a startling £9,242,580.

The Ambulance Service is over twice as busy on the Eleventh Night as any other, with 72 call-outs as compared to 34 call-outs on an average night. The cost of employing the six additional crews required for both the Eleventh and Twelfth to cope with the extra demand comes to £3,600.

Surprisingly, the Fire Service claims to have no additional expense for these two days. In Belfast they do not employ extra staff for the Eleventh Night as they have full-time staff who receive the same payment whether they are called out or not. However, their crews and vehicles are put under increased pressure as they received 78 bonfire-related calls last year on the Eleventh Night.

The Roads Service spent £66,000 on repairing what the Department for Regional Development (DRD) call ‘burn sites’ in Belfast. Burn sites are where loyalist youths build bonfires on the road causing enormous damage to the tarmac surface.

Last year Belfast City Council provided loyalist groups with £50,000 as part of a Bonfire Management Pilot Scheme in a bid to encourage a more responsible approach by bonfire organisers. This year Belfast City Council has doled out £45,000. In addition, Belfast City Council also spent £48,000 on cleaning up the bonfire mess.

Eleventh night bonfires are often held on Housing Executive green areas. The charred remains must be removed but the most significant damage, financially speaking, is that caused to the scorched earth.

In 2003, the last time that an assessment of costs was conducted, the Housing Executive had spent £4,500-£5,000 on reseeding green areas and conducting repairs to damaged properties in Belfast.

Across the North, in 2003 they spent £91,000, the majority of which was on reseeding after bonfires.

These costs do not include the loss incurred to both businesses and the exchequer from the Twelfth’s status as a bank holiday.

In addition to the cost met from the public purse there were also huge expenses on private individuals which are incalculable.

Sinn Féin councillor Paul Maskey said that the money is wasted and greatly needed elsewhere.

“If this money was redirected into local facilities it would make an enormous difference. Just look at Féile who have lost £100,000 in funding and yet they have brought millions and millions into the West of the city.”

The total cost of the Twelfth in Belfast is £814,600.
No-one from the Orange Order was available for comment.

Journalist:: Damien McCarney

BBC

Services to help victims of the Troubles are uncoordinated and lack any long-term funding strategy, a report has suggested.

Victims Commissioner Bertha McDougall warned that available money would be dramatically reduced by 2007.

“The over-riding impression is that services for victims are policy-driven rather than focused on specific and changing needs,” she said.

She said more than 120,000 people in NI were directly affected by the Troubles.

Mrs McDougall is publishing her interim report on Thursday, six months after she was appointed by the government.

She said that while there were many pockets of good practice, they were not consistent across all areas of Northern Ireland and not accessible to everyone.

Lack of co-ordination had led to confusion, duplication of funding, gaps in funding, over-administration and an incomplete picture of provision, she said.

She said that government had provided £36.4m in funding since 1998, while Europe had added another £7.6m.

“Much of this funding is coming to an end and it is imperative that we establish a service that is adequately funded, resourced and strategically planned,” she said.

“Conservative estimates put the number of people directly affected by the Troubles at over 120,000. These people and their carers need to be provided for in a sustainable way.

“Current funding arrangements allow for one-off grants and group support. However, greater flexibility could benefit individuals.”

Mrs McDougall said ongoing support tailored to the changing needs of victims and survivors was necessary.

‘Appropriate treatments’

Mrs McDougall said the assistance was “hand-to-mouth”.

“Funding is about practical aspects - it is to do with support for emotional aspects, for physical injuries and financial provision for people,” she told BBC News.

“There has been a willingness for funding - funding is there - it has tended to come through government departments, and of course, each department has its own priorities.

“Therefore, there is no co-ordination of the funding… that is where you get an overlap and duplication.”

One of the major concerns was the reduction and potential disappearance of “peace money”, said Mrs McDougall.

“There has been no attempt to actually consider what will be the impact on the work of groups when this funding is reduced.”

The minister responsible for victims, David Hanson, said he welcomed the report.

“We do have a significant amount of European money that has been coming into Northern Ireland - not just to support victims - but to support a range of initiatives throughout Northern Ireland, which is now drying up and needs to be managed and challenged for the future.

“We in government are taking the issue very seriously - we are looking to what we can do in the long term, to help support a wider victims’ strategy.”

Mrs McDougall was appointed Commissioner for Victims and Survivors last October by Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain.

Her husband, Lindsay, was killed by the INLA in 1981. An ex-primary school teacher, she set up the victims’ group, Forgotten Families.

BBC

An alleged leading loyalist shot six times will be returned to prison when he is released from hospital, a judge has ruled.

Mark Haddock, 36, survived being shot six times in Newtownabbey on 30 May.

Mr Haddock’s bail was revoked by Belfast Crown Court judge Mr Justice Hart.

He said when Mr Haddock was shot he had made a “deliberate, significant and indeed, flagrant breach of his bail conditions” by being in the area.

He is currently awaiting judgement in relation to the attempted murder of Ballyclare pub doorman Trevor Gowdy.

Mr Haddock, from Mount Vernon Park in north Belfast, is currently in the Royal Victoria Hospital receiving treatment after the murder bid, allegedly carried out by his former comrades in the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

“It has been repeatedly stated by the courts where there are breaches of bail conditions, other than trivial or perhaps excusable circumstances, the almost inevitable result is that they will have their bail revoked and returned to prison,” the judge told Thursday’s court hearing.

Mr Gowdy was found unconscious in the Monkstown estate, Newtownabbey, in December 2002.

BN.ie

21/06/2006 - 07:14:33

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will today unveil a postage stamp to commemorate the forthcoming 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.

More than a million soldiers died in the bloody four-month assault in North France that began on July 1, 1916.

The Government is expected to organise an anniversary ceremony at the Islandbridge War Memorial in Dublin next month to remember the casualties, which included thousands from Ireland.

An Post also issued a stamp to mark the 90th anniversary of the Easter 1916 Rising in April.

Mr Ahern recently said of the Battle of Somme: “More than 5,000 men of the 36th Ulster Division fell in the first two days in July 1916. They fought alongside 200,000 Irish men from every county of Ireland.

“Their bravery was no less than that shown by the insurgents of Easter Week.”

Mr Ahern visited the Somme Museum in Belfast last November.

The Taoiseach will launch the new stamp at Government Buildings this afternoon.

:::u.tv:::

21/06/2006 17:46:52

The UDA in north Belfast has rejected the instruction to expel the Shoukri brothers.

The “North Belfast Brigade” of the loyalist paramilitary organisation this morning said it rejected the decision of the UDA`s inner council to expel Ihab and Andre Shoukri, and a third man.

It said the North Belfast Brigade has “consulted widely with its membership. It is their choice that the present leadership remain, with their full support and confidence. This decision should be fully respected and accepted”.

The UDA is expected to issue a second statement later.

:::u.tv:::

21/06/2006 18:14:25

New forensic tests could finally lead to charges being brought for the terrorist killing of a former RAF man, the victim’s father has claimed.

By:Press Association

Raymond McCord revealed developments have taken place after holding talks with Northern Ireland Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde.

The Belfast man, who has fought a nine-year justice campaign over allegations that special branch officers shielded the loyalist paramilitaries that beat his 22-year-old son Raymond Jr to death, was also briefed by a unit set up to probe unsolved murders throughout the Troubles.

Even though no-one has ever been convicted, he said: “I would now like to think that I will be walking into Belfast Court and see people charged with my son`s murder.

“I’ve been told new forensic tests are taking place in the investigation.”

Mr McCord`s assessment was based on what he was told by David Cox, head of the Historical Enquiries Team, who was at the 70-minute meeting.

Allegations that an Ulster Volunteer Force gang were allowed to kill his son in 1997 and dump his body in a quarry are being examined by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O`Loan.

Central to that investigation is the role of alleged informer Mark Haddock, once a UVF commander, who survived an attempted assassination carried out by former associates near north Belfast last month.

Although Mr McCord was encouraged by what Sir Hugh told him, he also urged the Chief Constable to publicly pledge his officers will not provide agents with any immunity from prosecution.

“I have asked for something positive to be done to give victims hope,” he said.

“Hugh Orde knows what he has to do. The police have to turn around and say what happened in the past, with informers in special branch, is a thing of the past.

“He has to be able to put his hands up and say what happened was wrong, and that our people were involved in it.

“But I was pleased with his attitude. He gave me the impression that special branch aren`t going to tell him what to do.”

During the meeting at police headquarters in Belfast, Haddock`s case was discussed.

“I got the feeling Haddock`s a spent force. He`s no use to them.

“I believe he was dropped a while ago. Obviously the Chief Constable wouldn`t say who was an informer.

“But there was no denying Mark Haddock was a special branch informer, and Hugh Orde was a lot more open than the meetings I`ve had with other senior policemen.”

BBC

Assembly members returned to Stormont last month

The “virtual assembly” currently sitting at Stormont is not subject to Freedom of Information legislation.

This emerged after members of the Preparation for Government Committee decided to ask the assembly’s Hansard clerks to provide an accurate transcript of their proceedings.

The transcript will be circulated privately to committee members but will not be provided to the press or posted on the assembly website.

More cursory minutes of the committee meetings will be posted on the website.

The demand for a transcription of the committee proceedings followed a clash last week between Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness and the DUP’s William McCrea and Ian Paisley Jnr.

Accusation

The Mid Ulster MP had accused the DUP members of imperilling his safety over the recent allegations, which he has denied, that he was a British agent.

Disputes over the minutes took up much of Monday’s meeting of the committee, but members are now working their way through the parties’ differing lists of obstacles to the return of devolution.

Sinn Fein wants the committee to address issues like policing and justice; the need for a peace dividend and the importance of a quiet summer.

The DUP raised the need for complete decommissioning; an end to criminality, and the need for everyone to support the police.

They also want increased accountability of the devolved institutions; an end to loyalist paramilitary activity, and progress on parades.

Alliance raised the need for reforms to the Assembly designation and voting systems.

They are once again championing a voluntary coalition; more collective responsibility in a future executive, and the need for a greater emphasis on integration in Northern Ireland society.

The SDLP highlighted all-Ireland cooperation; policing and justice issues; their objections to the 2004 Comprehensive Agreement, and the need for a programme for government which will address pressing social and economic concerns.

‘Not consensus’

The Ulster Unionists also raised the Comprehensive Agreement; parades and law and order issues; the future of the IRA; whether politicians should be allowed to have a dual mandate, and the number of departments which should be included in any future executive.

The minutes for the first meetings of the committee, which were dominated by disputes over who should take the chair, are already on the assembly’s website.

BBC Northern Ireland political editor Mark Devenport said the most frequently repeated phrase in the minutes of the first two sessions was that “there was not consensus and the proposal fell”.

However, one committee member told the BBC that recent meetings have been more positive, with “the first signs of proper engagement” between committee members.

The committee is meant to be laying the groundwork for a visit by Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern to Northern Ireland next week.

Republican SINN FÉIN - Corcaigh

by RPAG - Republican Prisoners Action Group

Lock-ins: Republican POWs are subjected to up to 23-hours’ lock-up on a “bad day”. There is what is known as the “good day, bad day” policy operating within the prison.

Strip-searches and rub-downs: the screws have prisoners strip the clothes from the top of their bodies before being searched, and are again searched after replacing their clothes and stripping the bottom half of their body. Seemingly this is an attempt to deny that strip-searches occur within
Maghaberry Gaol as EU legislation defines them as full-body searches with all clothes removed at the one time. (One prisoner was searched a total of eleven times in one day. These included strip searches.) Lack of access to solicitors and legal representation: prisoners have been searched on their way to and from legal visits, and in some instances made to miss the visit altogether.

No free association: Lack of educational opportunities - these are available to other prisoners. New restrictions on parole and compassionate parole: the draconian conditions placed on them have led to many prisoners refusing parole.

Misuse of sniffer dogs to prevent visits and refusal of open visits. Despite passing some visitors, the dogs have been brought past them again and made to sit. This can prevent a visit from taking place. Another tactic is to offer an “open” visit, which most prisoners will not accept.

Internment by remand: there are a growing number of cases whereby people have been remanded in custody for many months before being granted bail or acquitted. They may be refused bail on the grounds of forensic evidence connecting them to the charges - however the forensic reports show that no such evidence exists.

It is clear that the British government is attempting to criminalise Republican prisoners and by extension the struggle for Irish freedom, as evidenced by the signing away of political status under the terms of the 1998 Stormont Agreement. They are seeking to destroy the prisoners - both mentally and physically. POWs have been subjected to sleep-deprivation and other methods. However history shows that oppression inevitably results in increased resistance.

We also find it ironic that others who have argued constantly that there are no longer any political prisoners in Ireland should call a public meeting to discuss the issues facing prisoners in Maghaberry. These are of course the selfsame people who were only too happy to sign away political status for anyone convicted of a “scheduled offence” after the Stormont Agreement came into operation. Ten men died during the Hunger Strike of 1981 to restore this right - a right that did not belong to those who sought to remove it.

Despite the much publicized reintroduction of segregation (or “separation” as the British now call it), prisoners can be refused entry to the segregated wing on the basis of RUC or prison authority opinion that they are not qualifying prisoners. The former head of the British prison service, John Steele, proposed that segregation be reintroduced, as it was necessary to ensure the Health & Safety of prisoners. As such the perception of these prisoners by other inmates is of far greater importance than the perceptions of the RUC/PSNI and/or Prison Service staff. If pro-British and Loyalist prisoners believe them to be Republican or nationalist then their safety is clearly in jeopardy and therefore they should be admitted into segregated accommodation.

We unreservedly support the aims of Republican prisoners for the granting of full political status, which they are entitled to as of right, as well as their struggle to end British Occupation and restore the All-Ireland Republic so that Irishmen and Irishwomen can finally be free from all foreign interference.

Republican SINN FÉIN - Corcaigh

STATEMENT FROM OC CIRA POWS IN MAGHABERRY.

We the Republican POWs call on all nationalist, Republican people of Ireland and abroad to support us in our upcoming protest for better conditions and the restoration of political status. In 2003 we embarked on a protest for segregation, this battle was won and segregation was introduced in September of that year. At that time the Brits asked for a period of transition and conditions would then improve. These terms were accepted reluctantly by Republicans.

However as in 1980 when our comrades in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh ended their first hunger-strike, we have found that the Brits are still incapable of honouring their promises. As a result we again find ourselves in the unfortunate position of having to embark on a prolonged protest. This has come about as a direct result of the intransigence of the Brits in seeking a policy of criminalisation. We hereby state that we as Republican POWs will no longer co-operate with nor accept the policies and regime imposed on us by Brit puppets.

We have outlined our five demands. The protest which we now embark upon will not end until our demands are met. We will take whatever steps are necessary in order to improve the conditions not alone for ourselves, but also for those who may come behind us. I would therefore like to call on all Republican bodies, all politicians to back us in our plight. We have exhausted all avenues open to us. We gave the Brits the transition period required by them and still they refuse to accept that we are not criminals. We would ask everyone to support us by supporting our representatives on white-line pickets and leaflet hand-outs taking to the streets and demand that the Brits and their prison service sort this out once and for all.

Go raibh maith agaibh
Slán
OC, CIRA POWs
Maghaberry Concentration Camp