SAOIRSE32

Daily Ireland

by David Lynch
06/07/2006

The first ever Sinn Féin mayor of Portlaoise has described a “very positive reaction” in the town since his election.
Councillor Brian Stanley was elected to the position this week supported by two independent and three Fine Gael councillors on Portlaoise town council.
“It is a great honour,” he told Daily Ireland.
“I will do everything possible to ensure that I carry out my duties in a fair and equitable manner.”
Mr Stanley said he would make changes to the town’s electoral boundary one of his aims this year.
“Much of new Portlaoise is not within the town boundaries,” he said.
“Dublin people and foreign people who are living in the new estates find themselves living outside the old town boundary.
“I want the boundary to reflect the development of the town.
“The chain of office and the position of mayor belong to the people of Portlaoise and that includes all those living in our town, regardless of class, religion or ethnic grouping.
“Eighty per cent of our people now live in urban areas and this needs to be reflected in our structures of local government.”
The Portlaoise Area Plan is currently being worked on will determine how and where the town will develop over the next six years.
Mr Stanley said he sees this as a priority as well.
“The provision of a new state-of-the-art A&E unit and a CT scanner at Portlaoise hospital must be completed as a matter of priority,” he said.
“Over the coming year, I hope we can create a greater awareness of the importance of democratic, local structures and encourage a greater civic spirit in our town.”
Mr Stanley said he saw no particular national significance in Fine Gael councillors voting for him, as this just reflected the local political situation.

Daily Ireland

Urgent restoration rejected

by Ciarán Barnes
06/07/2006

A damaged memorial to three republicans executed in England 150 years ago is to be repaired by concerned residents after the local council refused to fund the restoration.
The monument to the Manchester Martyrs in Mount St Lawrence cemetery, Limerick, was attacked by vandals last month.
Despite numerous appeals Limerick city council has refused to pay for the repairs, despite having a committee dedicated to the preservation of national monuments.
This has forced the Limerick Republican Graves Association to step in and ask its members to pay for the restoration out of their own pockets.
The group’s treasurer, Sean O’Neill, described the situation as a “national scandal”.
“Limerick Republican Graves feel that this preservation work should be carried out by the council as the men honoured by the memorial also gave their lives in the cause of Irish national self-determination,” said Mr O’Neill.
“We are hoping that the work will be completed in time for the annual commemoration at the end of November.
“We are now appealing to the nationally and republican-minded people of Limerick to assist in the restoration work and contribute towards the cost of the work.”
A spokesperson for Limerick city council yesterday said that it was not aware of any damage to the monument or any appeals to the council for the memorial to be restored.
The Manchester Martyrs – William O’Mera Allen, Michael Larking and William Goold (who was also known as O’Brien), were publicly hanged in the northern English city in 1867.
They were sentenced to death after attempting to rescue Fenian leaders Colonel Thomas J Kelly and Captain Timothy Deasy.
Two other men arrested with the martyrs, Thomas Maguire and Edward Stone, managed to escape the noose despite also being sentenced to death.

Daily Ireland

By Connla Young
06/07/2006

Nationalist politicians have united in their call for the PSNI to abandon plans to vest land currently occupied by the British Army in Crossmaglen.
Controversy erupted last week when people living close to Crossmaglen PSNI barracks were informed by letter that the PSNI is attempting to claim land to the rear of their homes and businesses.
Locals had expected the land, which was first occupied by the British Army two decades ago, to be returned to the original owners later this year. Earlier this week a Sinn Féin motion was passed at Newry and Mourne council, supporting calls by residents for the land to be returned to them.
Last night Newry and Mourne MLA Dominic Bradley said he will be meeting with PSNI chiefs in the area to discuss the vesting dispute.
“We have been in communication with local people and they are interested in getting their land back again. I have spoken to the local police commander and made him aware of that and we will be meeting him again in the future. We are not opposed to a new police station in Crossmaglen and would welcome it as part of the normalisation process and we want that to go ahead, but at the same time we want the views of local people to be part of that process.”
SDLP policing board member Dolores Kelly said she will support the stand taken by party colleagues in south Armagh when the vesting issue is raised with the policing body.
“People have put up with a lot and an element of natural justice will have to be taken into consideration. We will be supporting our people down in Crossmaglen.”
Crossmaglen Sinn Féin councillor Terry Hearty welcomed the motion, but was angered that a number of unionist and SDLP councillors failed to support it.
“Whilst the adapting of the motion has to be welcomed, it was unfortunate that there were SDLP and unionist councillors who felt they could not support the community.
“Whilst businesses and communities are endeavouring to raise the confidence and capacity of the Crossmaglen area, this decision effectively is stating that as far as the PSNI is concerned nothing will be changing.
“There is a determination by the PSNI to continue pedalling the myth that the area and in particular Crossmaglen is a lawless, bandit community.”
The PSNI refused to make any comment.

cryptome

6 July 2006

A writes concerning an injunction banning information about Freddie “Stakeknife” Scappaticci:

The British MoD told Scappaticci to instruct his solicitor to seek an injunction to prevent investigations by journalists.

MoD officials have bugged the phones of a number of leading journalists and tipped off Scap.

However this does not prevent journalists in the Republic of Ireland pursuing Scappticci who often spends weekends in Portrush, Co Antrim, with his wife and family. They also visit him in Gran Canaria and Tenerife as well as Manchester (where Scap has relatives and where he often attends Manchester City football games, a team he once had a trial with as a teenager). Scap has avoided Cassino in Italy, birthplace of his father, in recent months as several newspapers have sent reporters there to look for him. When he does go there, he stays at Hotel La Pace.

BBC

The Parades Commission has put restrictions on a Twelfth of July parade in north Belfast.

Only a single drum beat is to be played over a disputed part of the route at Ardoyne shops during the return parade.

Supporters are also not allowed to accompany the parade and will be bussed along the disputed stretch of the parade ahead of the march.

In the past, there have been disturbances in the area surrounding contentious parades.

Irish Examiner

By Paul O’Brien Political Reporter
06 July 2006

SENIOR members of the security forces in the North allowed a climate to develop in which loyalist subversives believed they could attack Catholic targets “with impunity”, an inquiry has found.
In addition, the RUC may have kept information from gardaí investigating a bombing in order to hide security force collusion in attacks.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was called upon last night to order the RUC’s successor, the PSNI, to cooperate fully with Oireachtas hearings that will be held on the issue later this year.

The findings were contained in an interim report of the commission investigating the bombing of Kay’s Tavern in Dundalk on December 19, 1975, in which two people were killed.

Later that same night, a gun and bomb attack was carried out at Donnelly’s Bar in Silverbridge, Co Armagh, killing three more people.

In his report published yesterday, former Supreme Court judge Henry Barron — the sole member of the commission — said the Dundalk bombing was carried out by loyalists, most probably associated with the mid-Ulster UVF.

These loyalists were using the farm of an RUC reserve member, James Mitchell, as their centre of operations, although Mr Justice Barron said he accepted the bomb did not originate from the farm, located in Glennane, Co Armagh.

However, he believed the Dundalk and Silverbridge bombings were coordinated by members of the “Glennane group”, and therefore “members of that group must at least have known in advance of the plan to attack Dundalk”.

The judge said allegations of collusion were “impossible to prove or disprove”. However, he could say that:

nThe Glennane group contained members of the RUC and the British Army’s Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), “some of whom probably knew of the plan to attack Dundalk”.

nSenior members of the security forces “allowed a climate to develop in which loyalist subversives could believe that they could attack with impunity”.

nSome of those suspected of the bombings, such as well-known loyalists Robin Jackson and brothers James Nelson Young and Joseph Steward Young, had relationships with British intelligence and/or RUC special branch officers.

While the commission did not have firm evidence, Mr Justice Barron said he suspected the RUC kept crucial intelligence from the gardaí investigating the Dundalk attack in order to “limit information relating to security forces collusion in terrorist activity from reaching the public domain”.

The judge also said that, while forensic evidence was inconclusive, the nature of the explosives used suggested a possible link between the Dundalk attack and the bombings of Dublin and Monaghan in 1974 and Castleblayney in 1976.

An Oireachtas sub-committee will begin hearings on Mr Justice Barron’s report in September, and issue its own report by mid-November. But families of the victims again expressed disappointment last night that no public inquiry would be held.

Sinn Féin said the Taoiseach needed to hold a special summit with Mr Blair to discuss exclusively the issue of collusion.

Balleymoney Today

06 July 2006

PEOPLE are using the Twelfth bonfire on Finvoy Road to dump unwanted household items and waste, according to a local resident.

The concerned mother of four contacted the Times to explain that the bonfire, which she alleged stretches nearly 50 yards, has seen bikes, beds, mattresses and sofas deposited by people who ‘can not be bothered to get rid of them in the proper manner’.
She also claimed that even household waste was being thrown onto the site which ‘could attract rats and other vermin’ to the area.
“The bonfire really is a horrible sight,” she explained. “It stretches over 50 yards along the main Finvoy Road and is a total eyesore.
“I am a ratepayer, like everyone else, and it angers me that my money is being wasted on having to tidy up areas like this – the money could be used for more important things that benefit the whole community.
“I have nothing against the building of the bonfire, nor the people that are organising it.
“The organisers have put up a sign wanting wood and that’s fine, I have even given stuff. However I do have a problem with those who are taking advantage and using it as a dumping ground for anything and everything.
“They are just being lazy and can’t be bothered to get rid of it in the proper manner.
“On many occasions I have seen people coming along with rubbish bags with household waste which could attract rats and other vermin.
“Children play around this area and I’m sure parents wouldn’t be happy and neither would the residents living nearby.
“Another concern of mine is that the bonfire is being built right next to a petrol station, surely that isn’t safe either?
“Last week a suite of furniture had to be lifted from the middle of the road. Someone had taken it from the bonfire and dumped it there.
“Luckily a van came along and two men lifted it out of the way of oncoming traffic – I dread to think what could have happened if a motorist had come along and not seen it, it’s a fast road.”
Calling for a more responsible attitude, she added: “Like I said, I don’t have a problem with the actual bonfire if it is kept small and tidy,” she added.
“I have spoken to a number of other residents from both sides of the community and they feel the same.
“In the past the bonfire has been too big and caused damage to the local area. It has melted the post box, burnt trees and continues to smoulder for weeks afterwards.
“All I am asking is for everyone to think and dump the right stuff and not take advantage of the situation.”

Belfast Telegraph

By Noel McAdam
06 July 2006

Secretary of State Peter Hain has refused to allow an Assembly debate on the massive shake-up facing councils and public bodies - for the fourth time, it was claimed today.

Nevertheless Direct Rule policies will come under attack as “damaging” when the Assembly tomorrow stages its last meeting before the two-month summer recess.

But Mr Hain has not, as expected, asked members to ‘note’ or review the work of the multi-party Preparation for Government committee, which meets again next Monday.

Instead they are being asked to focus on the implications of spending priorities for a future programme for government and the spending reviews both of 2004 and next year.

Yet the Assembly’s business committee has four times requested a debate on the review of public administration involving the reduction of the 26 councils to seven.

Alliance chief whip Kieran McCarthy said today: “It is bizarre, it is crazy.

“We are being brought together to discuss something no one really wants to discuss.

“The business committee has four times requested a discussion on the Review of Public Administration. Peter Hain has not even told Assembly Members to discuss the issues raised within the committee. It is just dictatorship.”

Ulster Unionist committee member Alan McFarland said the ’stop-start’ activity of the last few weeks had been a fiasco.

But welcoming tomorrow’s debate, he added: “The Assembly should and must be given the right to express its views on the raft of damaging and ongoing direct rule policies that are being foisted upon the people of Northern Ireland against their clearly stated wishes.”

Belfast Telegraph

By Chris Thornton
06 July 2006

Anger over spending as funding still not found for Police College

The Northern Ireland Office was attacked today for spending secret millions on building MI5’s high-tech Ulster headquarters when it can’t find cash for the PSNI’s Policing College.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan described the situation as “perverse and damaging”.

An intelligence report released last week revealed the NIO is contributing a secret amount towards MI5’s Holywood HQ, which is currently being built inside Palace Barracks.

The department is also funding MI5’s expansion programme in Northern Ireland, which will see the service take over anti-terrorist operations from the PSNI next year.

Whitehall’s Intelligence and Security Committee identified how much is being spent on the building and the overall programme, but the figures have been removed from its published report.

Mr Durkan, who opposes the MI5 transfer, questioned why the NIO could come up with the money for the current building project when it can’t find an extra £40m to start work on the Policing College.

Five years ago the Government pledged £90m towards building the college in Cookstown to replace the PSNI’s “third world” training facilities, but costs have risen to an estimated £130m in the intervening years.

Last month Oversight Commissioner Al Hutchinson criticised the “systematic inertia” that has delayed the college, saying an entire generation of police officers have been denied the benefits of a new training regime.

Even if the Government came up with the cash today, the Policing College would not open before 2010 - long after the MI5 building is due to be running anti-terrorist operations.

“The NIO is telling us that they don’t have enough money for the new Police College that we desperately need,” Mr Durkan said. “Yet they are spending undisclosed millions on new MI5 headquarters in the north that we don’t need.

“That is perverse and damaging.”

The Foyle MP also criticised the secrecy over the spending.

“The fact that they won’t even say how much is being spent shows MI5’s lack of accountability.

“But that’s no surprise. After all, MI5 also withheld from the police threat warnings about the Omagh bomb for seven whole years and now won’t even bother to meet the Omagh families to say sorry.”

Although the estimates are being kept secret, the costs for the new Northern Ireland MI5 building is believed to be in the tens of millions of pounds.

MI5 has been criticised in the past for spiralling costs.

In the 1980s, refurbishment of its London headquarters was estimated at £60m but ended up costing £244m. A delay in purchasing the building, Thames House, ended up costing taxpayers an extra £13m.

A spokeswoman for the NIO said: “From 2007, national security arrangements in Northern Ireland will be brought into line with those for the rest of the UK.

“Some of the cost for the transfer of intelligence lead is being provided by the NIO.”

Fears over delay in expansion strategy

The Government has been warned that an internal row over the funding for MI5’s expansion in Northern Ireland could hamper the secret service’s work.

The Intelligence and Security Committee, a Whitehall watchdog, says the dispute between the NIO, the Ministry of Defence and “other interested parties” needs to be “concluded quickly”.

Planning for MI5’s takeover of anti-terrorist operations in Northern Ireland next year is already well under way, but the committee - chaired by former Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy - says no final decision has been taken on who will pay for it.

MI5 currently spends 17% of its budget on fighting Irish terrorism, a drop from 23% two years ago. That figure is not believed to represent a fall in actual spending, but is likely to be the result of increased spending on global terrorism.

The expansion into Northern Ireland will lead to increased costs because MI5 will end up conducting all operations against republican terrorists.

Those operations are currently being run jointly with the PSNI, which has overall responsibility until 2007. The PSNI will still conduct operations against loyalists after the transfer, because those groups are not deemed to be threats against national security.

The NIO is currently paying for the joint operations from its security budget, but the amount of spending has been removed from the Intelligence and Security Committee’s report.

“Funding beyond 2007/08 has not yet been identified and the matter is still being negotiated between the NIO, MoD and other interested parties,” the report said.

“The committee is concerned that further delay in identifying funding may have an impact on the Service’s ability to plan ahead, and we recommend that negotiations be concluded quickly.”

Click to view ‘Fort at Forkhill, South Armagh’ by Jonathan Olley

>>Artists Source

BBC

Paramilitary involvement in organised crime threatens political progress in Northern Ireland, MPs have said.

The NI Affairs Committee report into organised crime was the result of more than six months of meetings taking evidence from a wide range of sources.

Committee chairman Sir Patrick Cormack said both loyalists and republicans were involved in human trafficking.

“It has not yet reached the dimensions of the rest of the UK but it is a disturbing new feature,” he said.

“Illegal fuel sales, which are at an unacceptably high level, cigarette smuggling, counterfeit goods, illegal dumping, armed robbery - there is a paramilitary involvement in all of these things.

“Indeed, we have received quite astonishing evidence that on occasions loyalists and republicans work together.”

The report said organised crime affected the Northern Ireland economy more so than in other parts of the UK.

Its recommendations for combating organised crime included a call on the government to urgently consider reducing fuel duty in Northern Ireland to the same level as it is in the Irish Republic.

The committee said this would deal a fatal blow to fuel smugglers.

However, Willie Oliver from the Road Haulage Association said he does not believe the government would consider it as an option.

“From an economic point of view, for Northern Ireland business, it would obviously be very welcome to see a levelling of fuel duties as it is with most other taxes” he said.

The committee also said efforts to tackle organised crime would be significantly limited as long as Sinn Fein’s refused to support the PSNI.

It warned that efforts to restore devolution would be completely undermined by another Northern Bank robbery.

Sir Patrick said: “The efforts of the PSNI will be limited as long as Sinn Fein withholds its support for, and recognition of, the legitimacy of the PSNI.”

‘Sufficiently rigorous’

Sinn Fein MP for Newry and Armagh, Conor Murphy, said his party’s signing up to the Policing Board was “not the immediate solution”.

“The loyalist and unionist communities give support to the PSNI, and yet many people would argue that if the statistics were provided, there is significantly more crime and organised crime in those communities,” he said.

The committee also highlighted the failure of government to move quickly enough to regulate charities following claims that paramilitary groups were exploiting them to launder funds.

Its report also expressed concern about the involvement of professionals in organised crime, which, it said, was becoming more sophisticated in the province.

“It is incumbent on the professional bodies, such as the Law Society and the Institute of Chartered Accounts to satisfy themselves that their membership requirements are sufficiently rigorous and that observance of them is carefully monitored,” the committee said.

Security Minister Paul Goggins said he welcomed the inquiry into organised crime and would give the recommendations careful consideration before responding to the committee.

“Organised crime creates victims in our society and the OCTF (Organised Crime Task Force) and its partner agencies will seek to protect our communities by continuing to relentlessly pursue those engaged in organised criminal activity, from whatever source,” he said.

Ulster Unionist MP Lady Sylvia Hermon, who sits on the committee, said her assembly colleagues should consider their relationship with the Progressive Unionist Party after evidence in the report showed the UVF was still involved in organised crime.

“I do hope, I do encourage Sir Reg and my assembly colleagues, to read the evidence… and report in great detail - I think they would benefit greatly from a reading of this report.”

Daily Ireland

04/07/2006

Belfast City Council has voted to give £110,000 (€158,000) towards next year’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Councillors voted to support the event at the council’s monthly meeting last night by 24 votes to 23. The vote was passed after the Alliance Party supported calls for the celebrations to receive full council backing.
The show of hands at the meeting came after the council’s policy and resources committee had voted to scrap funding for the event next year.
Sinn Féin councillor Michael Brown welcomed official council backing for the event.
“We were confident going in that full council would overturn this sectarian decision of the policy and resources committee.
“I hope this exorcises the ghost of St Patrick’s Day-related disputes now and that St Patrick’s Day events will be written into the council’s events diary in the same way as others,” he said.

:::u.tv:::

05/07/2006 17:04:47

The army’s use of baton rounds and live fire during last year’s Whiterock parade disturbances was justified and proportionate, it was ruled today.

By:Press Association

Independent assessor of military complaints Jim McDonald cleared soldiers of recklessly discharging live rounds and non-lethal rounds, known as Attenuated Energy Projectiles (AEPs), during some of the worst street rioting seen in years.

The trouble flared following the rerouted September 10 Orange Order parade.

Soldiers and police officers were attacked with petrol bombs and blast bombs, as well as live bullets during the rioting which saw 63 people arrested and 60 police officers and one soldier injured.

The total policing bill was estimated at £3m.

Soldiers fired five live rounds and 140 AEP`s during three days of trouble in Belfast. Rathcoole, the Shankill Road and Broadway were the areas affected.

Mr McDonald`s report said: “In my judgement the response from the military was proportionate.

“The 140 AEP`s that they fired were used within the current guidelines; albeit that in those most dangerous engagements (with military gunners specifically targeted by blast bombs, live rounds, petrol bombs and bricks), the gunners` aim at moving, ducking and weaving targets was often less than perfect- though certainly not reckless or inept.

“I am also satisfied that the thorough and realistic training gives the confidence and composure to soldiers which is necessary when facing extreme violence.”

The trouble was linked to loyalist deprivation by some unionist politicians as well as to frustration at the re-routing decision. Police said it was clearly orchestrated and pre-planned.

The assessor made a series of recommendations to improve performance:

:: The number of “high hits” (ie. those in the chest area) as reported by the military gunners, needs to be examined.

:: The whole area of training, in the prospective absence of the Royal Irish Regiment and their expertise in dealing with public order tactics, should be addressed.

:: The presence of children in public order situations should be re-emphasised in training.

:: The enhanced post-firing report form (with its improved guidance) should be completed as quickly as possible, including the role played by the Royal Military Police.

Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde said the Orange Order was involved in the violence and added that the Parades Commission`s determination had been comprehensively breached.

Some Orangemen, including Belfast`s senior member Dawson Bailie, accused security forces of heavy-handedness while others expressed disgust at the rioting.

The Order delayed the parade from June until September in protest after the Parades Commission re-routed the entire parade through the former Mackies factory site instead of allowing it through Workman Avenue.

This year`s parade, held on June 24, passed off peacefully after the Parades Commission allowed one lodge onto the nationalist Springfield Road with the main parade re-routed via a former factory site.

About 100 nationalists, including Sinn Fein Assembly member Fra McCann and councillor Tom Hartley, staged a peaceful protest as the Orangemen passed.

Mr McDonald`s report acknowledged that it can be difficult to identify children during riots.

He also published his 13th annual report for 2005 which found that the number of complaints had fallen from 403 in 2004 to 203 in 2005. The assessor found that troop levels had fallen and patrolling levels and helicopter complaints reduced.

His dossier added that dissident republican attacks “appear to pose” the greatest threat to the peace process but said various loyalist groups also engage in violence and organised crime.

:::u.tv:::

04/07/2006 17:37:11

Ihab Shoukri has been refused bail in the High Court in Belfast after a judge said he was satisfied he was a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) when he attended a rehearsal for a show of strength in the Alexandra Bar, north Belfast, last March.

Lord Justice Nicholson said the UDA was notorious for criminal activity of all sorts and he was concerned that if Shoukri was granted bail he would be a danger to the community and there would be public disorder.

BBC

Two men have been jailed for being members of the loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force.

Barwise and Irwin admitted membership of the UVF

Roy Barwise, 47, and John Irwin, 43, admitted membership of a proscribed organisation, the UVF.

Barwise was sentenced to four years and two months and Irwin to two and a half years at Manchester Crown Court.

The men, both from Liverpool, were arrested last July in police raids following an attempt to harm loyalist Johnny Adair in Bolton.

Barwise, of Cardigan Way, Anfield, was jailed for being a member of a banned organisation and nine firearms offences.

A weapons haul was discovered in police raids

Irwin, from Scarsdale Road in Norris Green, was jailed for his UVF membership.

Both were former Territorial Army soldiers and part of the Liverpool Battalion of the UVF.

Explosives, a machine gun, pistols, shotguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were found in the raids on Merseyside.

The convictions were led by Greater Manchester Police’s Anti-Terrorism Unit which carried out an in-depth investigation into loyalist terrorism.

Addresses were searched across Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Northern Ireland as part of the same operation.

The court was told they used membership of one of the 50 Orange Lodges in the Merseyside area as a cloak for their activities.

Both men’s lawyers said there was no evidence that either had encouraged or supported acts of terrorism above simply being members of the organisation.