SAOIRSE32

Sinn Féin

Published: 18 July, 2006

Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brún has described the arrest of an Irish language school teacher in Belfast for speaking Irish as ‘treatment which brings us back to the days of the penal laws’.

Ms de Brún made her comments before she was due to attend a protest tomorrow along with Irish language activists at the Belfast court where the woman’s case will be heard.

Ms de Brún said:

“I want to express my anger at the arrest of an Irish language schoolteacher after she spoke in Irish on a Belfast street. The woman continued to speak in Irish, as is her right, and I am told that the PSNI member became abusive and pushed the woman before arresting her. She was held in a Belfast PSNI barracks before being charged with disorderly behaviour.

“Tomorrow her case comes before the courts in Belfast and I will join a picket organised by Irish language activists and speakers. This sort of behaviour by the PSNI is a throwback to the penal days. Irish language speakers will not be denied our basic right to speak our own language on our own streets by the PSNI or anyone else. That is the clear message coming from this case.” ENDS

Editors Note: The protest will take place tomorrow (Wednesday 19th July) at 10am outside the Laganside Court complex.

BN.ie

18/07/2006 - 19:16:26

Reg Empey’s Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) were in the red by almost £500,000 (€730,480) last year, it was revealed today.

According to figures released by the Electoral Commission, the UUP had debts of more than £450,000 (€657,432) last December at the end of a disappointing electoral year.

In a statement accompanying its accounts reviewing what it described as a difficult year, the UUP acknowledged the existence of two party bank accounts which had not figured in the 2004 end of year financial statement.

The previously undeclared bank accounts were referred for investigation to the police last month by the Electoral Commission.

Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which had their best ever set of Westminster and local government election results last year, also recorded debts last year of more than £52,000 (€75,970).

Its statement revealed the party had 2,912 members by the end of the year, with three new branches formed in Erne North in Co Fermanagh, as well as Killultagh and Ballyclare in Co Antrim.

Three branches ceased to exist in Donaghadee and Moira in Co Down and Ballinamallard in Co Fermanagh but were swallowed by other branches.

In contrast, the North’s two nationalist parties, Sinn Féin and the SDLP both recorded surpluses for 2005.

Mark Durkan’s SDLP, which was beset with debts years ago, recorded a surplus of more than £58,000 (€84,736).

The party recorded a slight fall in its income from party members from more than £76,500 (€111,779) in 2004 to more than £68,000 (€99,350) last year.

It also saw donations and fundraising fall from more than £565,000 (€825,487) to more than £334,000 (€487,987).

However conference income increased, as did the value of a policy grant from the Electoral Commission.

The SDLP vowed to make “strenuous efforts to increase its membership during 2006 as well as taking steps to improve our fundraising activities”.

After recording a £200,000 (292,217) deficit in 2004, Sinn Féin returned a surplus of more than £1,300 (€1,900).

The party said this was due to an increased contribution from its elected representatives which rose from more than £348,000 (€508,556) in 2004 to more than £482,000 (€704,379) last year.

However political donations to Gerry Adams’ party fell from almost £181,000 in 2004 to more than £137,000 (€264,375) last year.

In a statement accompanying the accounts, Sinn Féin said it expected 2005 to be a tough year financially following the decision by the British government to stop its Assembly Party Allowance and its Westminster allowances.

“In November our Assembly party allowance and our Westminster allowances were restored and we finally got the equivalent of short money,” the party noted.

“However we still have not got the policy development grants which the other parties have long enjoyed. We will continue to rely on the generosity of our elected representatives and our donors especially, as always, Friends of Sinn Féin.”

The cross community Alliance Party recorded a deficit of more than £42,000 (€61,358) but insisted it remained in a reasonable financial shape.

“The party did have a significant deficit during 2005 due to the costs of running two major election campaigns in one year,” Alliance explained.

“Effective action was taken to contain costs to the minimum required to run a professional and effective campaign. It is expected that the deficit can be managed over the course of the four-year election cycle.”

The Progressive Unionists recorded a deficit of almost £6,300 and the UK Unionists a surplus of nearly £2,000 (€2,922).

Statements were also filed by the Green Party, the Socialist Party, the Newtownabbey Ratepayers Association, Rainbow George’s Make Politicians History Party, the Telepathic Partnership.com Party and the National Front in Northern Ireland.

The statement from the Women’s Coalition, which folded in May this year, revealed it was forced to close its offices in November and recoup funds by selling off stationery and furniture.

This followed the departure of Monica McWilliams to become the chief of the Human Rights Commission in the North and the loss of its last remaining seat in the local government elections.

Derry Journal

18 July 2006

THE FATHER of the Catholic man brutally assaulted by a sectarian gang at Chapel Road in Derry early on Sunday morning has said he is still clinging to the hope that his son will survive his horrific injuries.

Speaking to the ‘Journal’ yesterday, Jim McCauley said his 29-year-old son Paul remained in a critical condition and that his family were maintaining a vigil at his bedside in the Royal Victoria Hospital. (Photo: forensics team gathering evidence)
“We are all together now. Paul has a brother and two sisters and we are all here supporting each other. We are drawing strength from each other but this is just a very sad and very difficult time. We are living on a knife edge.”
Paul suffered serious head injuries when he and two friends were attacked by a group of eight men as they sat by a fire at the end of a farewell party in the garden of a house on Chapel Road early on Sunday morning. A friend organised the party because he planned to leave tomorrow to teach in Azerbaijan.
A 29 year-old father of one, Paul suffered a fractured skull from a blow to the back of the head in the attack. Jim said last night that he’d been told that Paul was hit as he tried to help one of his friends, who suffers from a disability.
“He was left for dead,” he said. “That blow was meant to kill.”
According to an eyewitness, the gang members ran off laughing. Police believe the attack was sectarian and it’s understood it’s being treated as attempted murder.
Jim said the family have been told that Paul ‘died’ twice after the attack and had to be resuscitated.
“He hasn’t got any worse today but there are no guarantees,” he said. “We’ve been told that if Paul survives we won’t know for perhaps weeks how he’s been affected by the trauma to his brain.
“I’d like those responsible for the attack to see the state of Paul now in hospital. We can’t bring his little six year-old daughter in to see him.”
Jim added that the family were being strengthened in their ordeal by the many messages of support from all sections of the community.
Police in Derry have described the assault, in which two other men were also injured, as a “grievous attack”. At a news conference at Strand Road police station yesterday, Superintendent David Hanna said: “I would appeal to the community to come forward and help put these men where they belong - behind bars.”
The attack has been condemned by the DUP MP Gregory Campbell and other local politicians. The Mayor Colr. Helen Quigley, has said it’s time to make a united stand against what she called “hate crime”.

BN.ie
18/07/2006 - 14:59:42

Loyalist terrorist godfathers in the North are trying to hold the British treasury to ransom with demands for a financial package, it was claimed today.

As Northern Ireland Office Minister David Hanson prepared to meet representatives of the Ulster Defence Association at Stormont later today, SDLP Assembly member John Dallat launched a scathing attack on the British government, accusing it of offering sweeteners to loyalist and republican elements.

Urging Northern Secretary Peter Hain to reject UDA demands for a financial package in return for the abandonment of paramilitarism and criminality, Mr Dallat said: “The Brigadiers (of the UDA) have moved up from extorting sweetie shops and building sites to sticking up the treasury.

“There are several good reasons why they should be told in no uncertain terms where to go.”

The East Derry MLA added: “There must be some sort of morality scale in public policy.

“Handing money to the UDA is a massive slap in the face for the victims of violence in general and the victims of the UDA in particular.

“Unfortunately, it fits neatly into the Northern Ireland Office approach of buying off sectional interests one by one with shady side deals sweetened by taxpayers’ money.”

Daily Ireland

18/07/2006

A ship that once transported first-class passengers to the Titanic returned to Belfast last night amid tragedy as one of the men working to clean the vessel died after becoming ill suddenly.
The SS Nomadic returned for a multimillion-pound restoration which it’s claimed will turn it into a centrepiece for a world-class visitor attraction.
It came dangerously close to ending up on the scrapheap after lying idle and decaying in the French port of Le Havre. The British government paid €250,001 (£172,000) to keep it afloat .
The Nomadic was commissioned by the White Star Line. It was used to take passengers out to the Titanic at Cherbourg in 1912 before the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.
During both world wars, the Nomadic was used as a troop carrier.
It became a floating restaurant beside the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Then it was left to rot in Le Havre.
Weeds grew from the ship’s deck, with rusting plates of iron covering up half the portholes.
A trust is to be set up as part of a fundraising campaign to pay for the restoration work.

Daily Ireland

Sinn Féin accuses SDLP leader of ‘slavishly following an agenda set by the securocrats within the NIO’

By Eamonn Houston
18/07/2006

Nationalist parties in the North yesterday clashed over any future role for restorative justice schemes in policing arrangements.
Sinn Féin general secretary Mitchel McLaughlin accused SDLP leader Mark Durkan of “slavishly following an agenda” set by NIO securocrats after Mr Durkan wrote to British prime minister Tony Blair and Conservative Party leader David Cameron warning against British government funding for community restorative justice schemes on estates across the North.
Mr McLaughlin said Mr Durkan had joined forces with the Tories to attack the schemes at a time when the Democratic Unionist Party had been blocking political progress towards the restoration of the North’s assembly.
“At a time when the sole focus needs to be on the DUP and their continuing failure to engage in the political institutions, the SDLP continue with their attacks on what are widely regarded as a progressive and valued community facility in an attempt to prevent further policing change and therefore justify their flawed decision to jump too early onto policing.
“The SDLP’s opposition to CRJ has nothing at all to do with these schemes or the way they operate. Mark Durkan is once again slavishly following an agenda set by the securocrats within the NIO to try and allow Ian Paisley off the hook,” said Mr McLaughlin.
He said restorative justice schemes were not an alternative to policing.
“Such projects are additional to a policing service and now operate successfully across the world. Indeed, the work of the schemes currently operating here has been praised by the oversight commissioner,” he added.
SDLP policing spokesman Alex Attwood said Sinn Féin had avoided dealing with the issue of policing.
“Rather than face up to the well-documented concerns about community restorative justice schemes, Sinn Féin again send out Mitchel McLaughlin to embarrass himself with a fresh political reminder.
“A week after the family of Jean McConville was vindicated by the Police Ombudsman, Sinn Féin put up as a policing authority the very man who refused to accept that her murder was a crime. Mitchel McLaughlin’s standing on policing matters is as credible as Ian Paisley’s views on the Catholic Church,” said Mr Attwood.
At the weekend, secretary of state Peter Hain chose the launch of a Co Donegal summer school to call on republicans to enter policing arrangements in the North.
He said Sinn Féin should take the peace process forward by allowing republicans to deal with the PSNI ahead of a party vote on policing.
Mr Hain was speaking at the launch of the MacGill Summer School in Glenties. In a keynote address, he said: “The world has changed. The commitments made by the IRA in July 2005 and delivered over the past year mean that a vacuum has opened up in communities which can only be filled by a policing service.”
Sinn Féin Foyle assembly member Raymond McCartney yesterday rubbished Mr Hain’s remarks.
“The core issue is the transfer of powers away from securocrats in London and the NIO and into the hands of democratically elected politicians in Ireland. We have set out publicly the core of what is needed. That is the enactment of the necessary legislation by the British government to transfer powers on policing and justice, an agreement on the detail of what is to be transferred, and agreement on the departmental model and a timetable for transfer,” said Mr McCartney.
He said refusal by the DUP to discuss policing or the institutions set up under the Good Friday Agreement remained the chief obstacle to progress.
“Peter Hain should concentrate the minds of the British government on convincing the DUP that there is no other way to advance the peace and political process outside of the GFA institutions,” he said.

BBC

The number of government departments in Northern Ireland should be cut, NI Secretary Peter Hain has said.

Mr Hain said he wants the assembly to cut the number, but if the NI parties have not reached agreement by the end of November he will make the changes.

It is thought the current 11 devolved departments could be reduced to about six or seven.

Mr Hain said he believed the changes “will improve the effective governance of Northern Ireland”.

He said if it was right to ask local government to slash the number of councils in the province from 26 to seven, then it was also right to focus on the future shape of central government and whether 11 departments were needed to deliver public services in Northern Ireland.

Functions transferred

“Following implementation of the review of public administration, a number of departments will simply be unsustainable in their current form,” he said.

“The Department of the Environment, for example, will see many of its functions transferred to local authorities and, if it is recommended by the ongoing review of environmental governance, many of its remaining functions may transfer to a new environment agency.”

He said the Department of Regional Development will see responsibility for water transferred to the new government-owned company and responsibility for local roads transferred to councils.

Mr Hain said that in health and the two education departments, “significant parts” of these will transfer to the new Health and Social Services Authority and the Education and Skills Authority.

BBC

Northern Ireland temperatures are soaring for a second day with the hot weather set to continue.

It is another fine and sunny day in all areas, but it will be particularly hot in western counties.

A sea breeze will keep eastern coastal areas and Belfast somewhat cooler than Monday.

Ian Hutchinson of the Met Office said: “Hot and sunny best describes the weather again.

“The hottest spot will be out in the west on Tuesday and Wednesday, maybe 29 or 30 celsius, and elsewhere 27 or 28 celsius, with the east coast a little more comfortable at about 24 or 25 celsius.

“It will be another uncomfortable night for sleeping, with the low at just 16 celsius.”

The Met Office said the outlook for Wednesday was fine, sunny and very hot.

However, temperatures are set to dip later in the week.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Northern Ireland was 30.8 celsius.

It was recorded in June 1976 at Knockarevan, near Derrylin in County Fermanagh, and in July 1983 at Shaw’s Bridge in Belfast.

Belfast Telegraph

By Lisa Smyth
18 July 2006

An Ulster greyhound welfare group has said claims of the one-man slaughter of 10,000 of the breed deemed to be too slow for racing is “only the tip of the iceberg”.

The scandal was reported in the weekend newspapers which claimed that David Smith from Seaham in Co Durham charged trainers £10 a time to shoot the animals through the head with a bolt gun when they failed to win.

Jill Hobson of Greyhound Action Northern Ireland said that many of the animals killed at the alleged slaughter house - dubbed the greyhound killing fields by the Press - were bred in Northern Ireland.

Appealing for a boycott of all greyhound race tracks, she said: “The industry admits that 25,000 greyhounds are bred and registered every year but we believe the number bred is actually many thousands more than this, when taking into account pups that never get registered and those killed by breeders at a very young age.

“This is a money-led industry and owners don’t hold onto the dogs when they stop winning. The dogs are bred purely to make money for these people and if there’s no more support for the industry it will soon die out.”

According to Ms Hobson, many of the unwanted dogs are disposed of in a horrific manner - they are shot in the head or their throats are cut.

And she highlighted examples where greyhounds are found abandoned with their ears torn off or burnt off with acid.

“They do that so the greyhound can’t be traced to its owner because when they are registered, their details are tattooed on their ears,” said Ms Hobson.

“The worst thing is that because greyhounds have been given such a bad press over the years, those that are lucky enough to find their way to an animal sanctuary are very often never re-homed because there is so much misunderstanding about the breed.

“They really are the most friendly, gorgeous dogs and they’re actually extremely lazy. What we need to do is educate people about how cruel this so-called sport really is.”

Belfast Telegraph

Hanson reveals Ulster figures as he examines 50% remission

By Deborah McAleese
18 July 2006

Ulster’s jailed rapists have been spending, on average, less than four years behind bars, it can be revealed today.

While the average sentence for rape handed down by Northern Ireland’s courts from 1999 to 2003 was seven and a half years, the controversial 50% remission policy here meant that rapists were automatically freed after serving, on average, slightly more than three years.

Statistics released by Criminal Justice Minister David Hanson, in response to a parliamentary question, show that over that five year period 52 people were convicted and jailed for rape.

During that time the highest annual average sentence passed down by the courts was eight years.

Figures also released by the Minister for the same period show that slightly more than half of all those convicted of sex crimes were jailed by the courts.

Of the 514 people convicted of a sexual offence - including rape, attempted rape, incest, gross indecency, buggery, making and possessing indecent images of a child - 289 were sentenced to immediate custody.

The average sentence handed down for all sex crimes was three years. Therefore, on average offenders were walking free in 18 months.

The revelations are certain to spark further criticism of the Government for its early release policy, which permits dangerous sex offenders to automatically walk free after serving half of their sentence.

Mr Hanson recently agreed to consider the calls of over 20,000 Belfast Telegraph readers to scrap the policy for dangerous sex offenders. However, he will not be making any decision until the autumn when he announces the Northern Ireland Sentencing Review Framework and it is unclear if any new conditions will extend to current prisoners.

The Belfast Telegraph launched a Justice For Attracta campaign, calling for an end to the policy, in the wake of massive public outrage after it emerged that Trevor Hamilton murdered retired librarian Attracta Harron on his release from prison - where he had served half of a seven year sentence for a brutal rape.

Mrs Harron’s husband Michael said: “I think that people are wakening up to the fact that somehow, almost without anyone knowing, this 50% remission for dangerous sex offenders slipped into legislation here.

“Why should there be special dispensation for sex offenders? People involved in crimes during the Troubles have been allowed some sort of licence to try and resolve tensions here, but sex offenders? Why?”

Hamilton is due to be sentenced for Mrs Harron’s murder in a few weeks and he has already been warned by the court that he could be jailed for the rest of his natural life.

Victims groups today warned that the Government needs to learn from the mistakes made and make sure that sex offenders and violent criminals are not released until it is absolutely certain they no longer pose a risk to the public.

“We have been calling for an end to 50% remission for the past 20 years but the Government has just not been listening to what the people are saying. This policy was brought in because of very particular political circumstances, therefore it is now time for it to change,” said Eileen Calder, director of the Rape Crisis Centre.

In Northern Ireland the maximum time a judge can impose for rape is a life sentence. However, it is very unusual for such a sentence to be handed down for rape. There is no minimum tariff.

Belfast Telegraph

Probe held after death of man following chase

By Fiona McIlwaine Biggins
18 July 2006

The Police Ombudsman has criticised police procedures and training for vehicle pursuits in a report released today, following an investigation into a fatal accident that left a 19-year-old man dead in 2004.

While Nuala O’Loan found no evidence of misconduct by any of the officers involved in the incident that lead to the death of Raymond Robinson after a collision with a police car, she found that the police pursuit policy was unclear as to when police officers needed to seek authorisation for a pursuit.

She also found that the officers involved had not been trained in pursuits or pursuit commentaries.

Mr Robinson drowned in shallow water after becoming trapped under a police car in Whiteabbey in April 2004.

Police had pursued him as he drove, and then made off on foot across grass and into an area known as The Glen.

He became trapped when a police car slid down a steep 12-15 ft bank and landed on top of him in a stream known locally as ‘The Threemilewater’.

Police officers tried but failed to free the teenager. They gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but he was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 2.45am.

Police had been trying to stop Mr Robinson after receiving reports that a white Seat Toledo car matching the description of his vehicle was being driven erratically in the area.

A post mortem report revealed that although Mr Robinson had suffered a range of injuries, the cause of death was drowning.

It also revealed that he had twice the legal driving limit of alcohol in his bloodstream at the time of his death, as well as traces of solvents and cannabis.

Mrs O’Loan concluded that Mr Robinson’s death had been “a tragic accident”.

While no individual officer was guilty of misconduct, she said “severely deficient” police training and pursuit policies may have contributed to the fatality. She said: “From the evidence it is clear that police did not deliberately run into Mr Robinson.

“However, it is my conclusion that the pursuit should have been called off before the police car became involved in following the car off-road.”

A spokesman for the family of Raymond Robinson said: “The family have received the Police Ombudsman’s report and are gravely concerned about the police handling of the situation on the night Raymond was killed. We are now going to consider our next course of action.”

A PSNI spokesman said: “We welcome the Ombudsman’s findings that no officer was guilty of misconduct. This was a tragic accident.”

Belfast Telegraph

By Ann O’Loughlin
18 July 2006

Building contractor Colm Murphy has gone to the High Court to try to stop his retrial on conspiracy charges connected with the Real IRA bombing of Omagh in 1998, which killed 29 people.

The trial is scheduled to open before the non-jury Special Criminal Court on January 11 next but may be delayed because of the legal challenge.

Murphy (53) from Co Louth claims that the “systemic delay” in prosecuting him has prejudiced his right to a fair and speedy trial. That delay, he contends, included a three-year delay by the Director of Public Prosecutions in proceeding with perjury charges against two gardai who gave evidence at his first trial, which opened in 2001.

One of those gardai, Det Liam Donnelly, earlier this year brought an unsuccessful High Court proceedings aiming at halting his trial on perjury charges. He and the second officer, Det John Fahy, have been returned for trial later this year.

Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill said yesterday there was urgency in the case and he returned it for mention on July 27 next.

Murphy, a native of Co Armagh but with an address in Co Louth, was freed on bail last year after the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed his conviction and 14-year sentence for conspiracy offences connected with the Real IRA bombing in Omagh.

BBC

Apprentice Boys will still march in the city

The organisers of the Apprentice Boys’ Maiden City Festival in Derry have called off this year’s event.

Bluegrass music concerts planned for the city walls, fireworks, and children’s events have all been cancelled.

Organisers said “endless layers” of bureaucracy delayed the festival’s funding.

David Hoey, one of the organisers, said he and his colleagues were having to spend most of their time fundraising.

“We work for three or four months and then you have only got a few weeks to organise the festival,” he said.

“We believe that you need a very clear funding process right up front well in advance so you can organise not just one year’s festival, but have a bit of security so that you can approach commercial sponsors to look for three or four years ahead.

“The difficulty with the process is that without being able to tell a commercial sponsor that this is going to go ahead they are not going to support you and invest their brand money.”

Siege

A few events will be held in 2006 during the week before 12 August, but not as Maiden City Festival activity.

The festival was created to extend an understanding of the Protestant culture among all communities within the city.

The variety of exhibitions, shows, talks and evening entertainment and culminated with the loyal order’s Relief of Derry celebrations.

The festival commemorates the actions of Protestant Apprentice Boys who shut the city gates against the forces of the Catholic King James in December 1688.

King James laid siege to the city from December to August 1689 until the Protestant forces of King William of Orange relieved the city.

BBC

Apprentice Boys will still march in the city

The organisers of the Apprentice Boys’ Maiden City Festival in Derry have called off this year’s event.

Bluegrass music concerts planned for the city walls, fireworks, and children’s events have all been cancelled.

Organisers said “endless layers” of bureaucracy delayed the festival’s funding.

David Hoey, one of the organisers, said he and his colleagues were having to spend most of their time fundraising.

“We work for three or four months and then you have only got a few weeks to organise the festival,” he said.

“We believe that you need a very clear funding process right up front well in advance so you can organise not just one year’s festival, but have a bit of security so that you can approach commercial sponsors to look for three or four years ahead.

“The difficulty with the process is that without being able to tell a commercial sponsor that this is going to go ahead they are not going to support you and invest their brand money.”

Siege

A few events will be held in 2006 during the week before 12 August, but not as Maiden City Festival activity.

The festival was created to extend an understanding of the Protestant culture among all communities within the city.

The variety of exhibitions, shows, talks and evening entertainment and culminated with the loyal order’s Relief of Derry celebrations.

The festival commemorates the actions of Protestant Apprentice Boys who shut the city gates against the forces of the Catholic King James in December 1688.

King James laid siege to the city from December to August 1689 until the Protestant forces of King William of Orange relieved the city.

Guardian

· Chlorine gas from indoor pools could affect lungs
· Be cautious if the smell is strong, professor warns

Sarah Hall, health correspondent
Tuesday July 18, 2006
The Guardian

The rise in childhood asthma in the UK may be partly due to increased exposure to indoor swimming pools, according to research published today which shows a direct correlation between the number of swimming pools in a country and the prevalence of asthma.

The researchers, led by Alfred Bernard, professor of toxicology at the Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels, found that the incidence of childhood asthma rose in areas with indoor pools.

This may explain why 20% of children in the UK suffer from asthma, compared with less than 4% in eastern European countries such as Latvia, Romania and Poland, 3% in Russia and 5% in Greece - where there are markedly fewer indoor swimming pools. It also explains why asthma levels remain high in parts of the UK, such as Scotland, with low pollution.

“This research indicates a strong correlation,” said Prof Bernard. “The data we have now suggests that this factor could be involved in the geographical variation, which is largely unexplained by other factors.”

Research in Belgium has already suggested that regular pool attendance, especially by young children, increases the risk of developing asthma - especially among the 30% of children who are atopic (susceptible to allergies). Trichloramine gas - a byproduct of chlorination which produces the distinctive “chlorine smell” - is to blame. Water-insoluble, it goes straight into the lungs when inhaled and damages the tissue there.

The new research, published in the BMJ journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, builds on the previous data. The researchers drew on the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC), which analysed rates of wheezing and asthma among 190,000 teenagers, aged 13-14, from 21 countries.

The figures were then set in the context of the number of indoor chlorinated swimming pools compared with population size, which ranged from one for every 50,000 people in western Europe to one for every 300,000 in eastern Europe.

The research shows that childhood asthma is particularly prevalent in countries where there are enough pools to ensure that children can swim at least once a week - two or three pools for every 100,000 people.

The study concluded that the incidence of childhood asthma rose by 2.73% for every indoor swimming pool among 100,000 of the population.

The researchers also looked at the prevalence of asthma among six- to seven-year-olds, and found that this also rose with swimming pool availability, although the increase was not as pronounced.

The findings have led Prof Bernard to conclude that children who are susceptible to allergies should not be allowed to swim in pools which smell strongly of chlorine. Outdoor chlorinated pools are safer as the gas is quickly dispersed.

“If there is a strong chlorine smell and if the child is atopic, it may increase their risk of atopic diseases,” Prof Bernard warned. “This environment isn’t healthy for them and I personally would be careful. I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s just common sense.”