Via Newshound
‘Political journalist and Unionist Revisionist Dr John Coulter contoversially suggests the Dublin Government’s plans to launch a second Leinster House-style headquarters at south Belfast’s Notting Hill marks the countdown to Joint Authority’
(Editorial, Irish News)
The discovery by police of 20lbs of high powered explosives in a loyalist part of north Belfast is a deeply alarming development.
Sources within the UVF have accepted responsibility for the cache, but denied any plans to launch a bombing campaign.
However, it is ludicrous that an organisation which is supposed to be on ceasefire should be storing such material in a built-up area close to nationalist districts.
The seizure underlines the need for unionist politicians to intensify their efforts to secure loyalist decommissioning.
Some elected representatives dispute the extent of republican disarmament while ignoring the fact that loyalists have retained 100% of their weaponry.
This is entirely unacceptable. It is essential that double standards are removed from the debate on decommissioning.
August 26, 2006
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This article appeared first in the August 9, 2006 edition of the Irish News.
25 August 2006
The Dorrian family say they know who killed Lisa. Eighteen months after her disappearance and murder they tell of how claims that paramilitaries were involved have hindered the investigation and of their struggle to get justice.
GEMMA MURRAY reports…
The family of missing Bangor woman Lisa Dorrian last night revealed: “We know who killed her.”
But 18 months on, they feel they are no closer to getting justice for her murder – or being able to bury her body.
Police have carried out nine arrests in connection with the investigation. No one has been charged.
The Dorrians feel initial claims that paramilitaries were involved with Lisa’s disappearance and murder put people off coming forward with details.
Patricia Dorrian, 49, said: “We know who is responsible, more or less. But he couldn’t have done it on his own. An individual or individuals had to be involved.
“We believe that people were scared to come forward at the start because of the paramilitary link to the investigation.
“The police have now ruled that out. It had nothing to do with paramilitaries. Anyone who said there was did us a great disservice.”
The man being blamed by the Dorrians is now in Maghaberry jail on unrelated charges. He cannot be named for legal reasons.
It’s understood that he has been targeted on the wings by inmates linked to paramilitary groups.
A loyalist source said: “He is not getting an easy time, believe me. He wants to move from where he is in the jail, but that’ll make little difference.”
John Dorrian, 59, said the man they believe was the killer has been described as a “loose cannon”.
Michelle Dorrian, 22, said she knew of him from before her sister went missing: “They used to hang around after the bars closed.”
Joanne Dorrian, 23, said “that man” only started running about with her big sister Lisa in the weeks before she went missing.
“Lisa was with him in that crowd for the last six weeks she was living,” she said.
Joanne said she worried that people who spent time with “this man” were too quick to forget what he is capable of.
“They are not seeing the point here, he’s a murderer. He is capable of doing this again and I think this is one of the big things that is always lost in Lisa’s story,” she said.
“He or they are murderers and they are capable of taking someone else’s life for no reason. That is what I would say to their girlfriends and friends – watch yourself and your children.”
Michelle spoke of her horror at being told by the police that Lisa’s body was hidden – and then moved six months later.
“It is nothing short of disgusting. That was completely planned. The day I was told that – 21st February 2006 – was the day I accepted that Lisa was dead.”
Published: 25 August, 2006
Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Truth, Philip McGuigan MLA speaking after today’s (Friday, 25th August) meeting of the ‘Preparation for Government’ committee at Stormont has said that the Unionists’ obsession with reinforcing a hierarchy of victims scuppered proposals around a Victims’ Forum and an inclusive Day of Remembrance.
Mr McGuigan said:
“The obsession of both the UUP and DUP with propagating divisive myths about a hierarchy of victims scuppered two proposals designed to cater for the needs of those who suffered as a result of the conflict.
“Unionists need to grow up and recognise that their determination to politicise victims’ issues only serves to disenfranchise all victims.
“A consensus was reached on making victims’ issues a priority for any future Executive and on the need for the British government to deliver on the recommendations of the Commission for the location of bodies and for a liaison officer.
“Unionists then refused to support a proposal that the Inquiries agreed at Weston Park, including those into the murders of Pat Finucane and Robert Hamill, should be fully independent and allowed to get to the truth. This speaks volumes about their partisan approach to the issues of truth recovery and healing.
“Sinn Féin wants a focused discussion around a Truth Process based on full disclosure and co-operation from all the protagonists, not a partial one designed to hide the truth about Britain’s dirty war in Ireland.” ENDS
26/08/2006 - 09:11:18
History will be brought back to life today when Ireland’s bronze age is celebrated with a re-enactment at a historic site.
The event, which marks the launch of Heritage Week, will be staged at Rathgall Hillfort, Rathwood, Co Wicklow.
Hosted by Rath Community Group and Umha Aois, the bronze age festival will open from 1.30pm to 3pm.
More than 500 different attractions will feature throughout Heritage Week, which runs nationwide until September 3.
Wildlife walks, traditional dance classes, story telling, craft masterclasses, guided tours, food and music fairs are among the free events being held by hundreds of national and local community organisations.
For details visit www.heritageweek.ie or call 1850 200 878.
Summer meetings of the NI Assembly’s Preparation for Government Committee have not built a common purpose amongst the parties, Sinn Fein has said.
Sinn Fein has said NI’s parties have no common purpose
Sinn Fein’s John O’Dowd said they would not decide whether to participate in assembly proceedings this autumn until an internal party review in September.
Interviewed for the BBC’s Inside Politics programme, Mr O’Dowd said the DUP had yet to engage with his party.
He said at this stage, none of the parties were prepared for government.
“In the sense of identifying areas of common purpose, the DUP still have not directly engaged with Sinn Fein - in fact, they won’t even look directly at us across the table,” the Upper Bann assembly member said.
“We are three months or thereabouts from the government deadline, where if the DUP don’t agree to share power with Sinn Fein, the institutions are coming down.
“So are we preparing for government? At this stage, I would say no, we’re not.”
On 15 May, Northern Ireland’s politicians took their seats in the Stormont assembly for the first time since October 2002.
While there is no immediate prospect of a power-sharing executive being formed, the government hopes recalling the politicians will help to pave the way towards a deal in the autumn, by its deadline of 24 November.
Devolved government was suspended over allegations of a republican spy ring.
The court case that followed collapsed and one of those involved, Denis Donaldson, later admitted working as a British agent.
Direct rule from London was restored in October 2002 and has been in place since.
By Dan McGinn and Alan Erwin
26 August 2006
THE Ulster Unionists are facing fresh demands to sever their ties with a loyalist party after the father of a murder victim claimed he had received death threats.
Cross community Alliance Party deputy leader Naomi Long urged UUP leader Reg Empey to end his party’s association with the Progressive Unionists in the Assembly after Raymond McCord said he had been warned twice in 24 hours his life was in danger from an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang.
In May, the UUP admitted Progressive Unionist leader David Ervine, whose party is the political wing of the UVF, into its Assembly Group.
Ms Long, an Assembly member for East Belfast, said: “It is absolutely disgusting that Raymond McCord has been issued with death threats. He is rightly seeking justice over the UVF’s murder of his son and it is despicable that the UVF has issued these threats because they cannot abide the fact that someone is standing up to them.
“The UVF organisation should be disbanding, not making threats to innocent people seeking justice over the organisation’s murders.
“This yet again illustrates the need for the Ulster Unionists to break their deal with the PUP, because it is totally unacceptable to absorb the representatives of armed and active paramilitaries into a political party in the way they have done.”
Police warned Mr McCord twice this week of an alleged imminent attack by a UVF gang.
Mr McCord, whose son, also called Raymond, was murdered in 1997, said the terrorists had targeted him because of his involvement with Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan’s major investigation into the killing.
Her probe centred around claims that a Special Branch informer who ordered the former RAF man’s murder in 1997 was shielded from prosecution.
With the Ombudsman’s report due to be published next month, police went to Mr McCord’s home in Belfast on Wednesday and again Thursday.
On both occasions they alerted him to threats from the UVF’s Mount Vernon gang in north Belfast who beat his son to death and then dumped his body in a quarry.
One warning said: “Raymond McCord is going to be silenced. He’s going to be shot or attacked within the next couple of days. This relates to the Ombudsman’s report and the damage he has done.”
Mr McCord, who has defied previous threats during his nine-year justice campaign, insisted he would not be silenced.
“I’m concerned but not frightened,” he said.
The threats were condemned by Ulster Unionist leader Reg Empey, who called on the people responsible to stop issuing them immediately.
Earlier this month, Ulster Unionist deputy leader Danny Kennedy confirmed his party would review in September its decision to admit Mr Ervine into its Assembly Group.
The sole Ulster Unionist MP, Sylvia Hermon, has already expressed unease about the move.
By Ciarán Barnes
A young Catholic family is considering moving out of their new north Belfast home after it was targeted by loyalists in an arson attack.
On Sunday morning a loyalist gang from the White City area tried to burn down the Old Throne Park home of Mickey Magennis.
His girlfriend, Juanita Magennis, and 12-week-old baby daughter Mollie narrowly escaped injury in the blaze that left the house, in the Whitewell district, extensively damaged.
Mr Magennis told the Andersonstown News his family is lucky to be alive and are now considering moving out of the area.
“We only moved into the house in February,” said the 27-year-old father of one.
“We have a mortgage and are trying to make a life, and then something like this happens.
“This could have been much worse. My girlfriend woke up when she heard the window smashing. If she had not got up both her and the baby would have burned to death.”
Mr Magennis said he was considering asking the Housing Executive to buy the house under the Special Purchase of Evicted Dwellings (SPED) scheme. A number of his neighbours, who have also been the victims of loyalist attacks, have had similar requests turned down by the Housing Executive.
Sinn Féin Councillor Tierna Cunningham hit out at the loyalist gang behind the arson attack. She accused them of attempted murder.
“They are a young couple with a young baby, trying to make a start in life, and this type of thing, in this day and age, is not on,” she said.
“The grass is completely covered with oil, the windows are burned out and the house is completely black at the back.
“The attack amounts to attempted murder.”
Firefighters who battled the blaze said the flames were 20 feet high when they arrived.
Station Commander Mark Beresford said the Magennis family was fortunate to escape.
“I think they were alerted fairly early on. One of the neighbours knocked the door and at the same time, the windows started to smash so the woman and the child were able to get out fairly quickly,” he said.
“They were fairly lucky, if it had been much longer this could have been a tragedy.”
Attacks on Catholic homes in the Whitewell have increased in recent weeks. At the beginning of the month there was a tense stand-off between rival groups amid claims that a Catholic man had been assaulted and a Protestant teenager run over by a car.
Last year three homes on Old Throne Park suffered severe damage in a sectarian arson attack.
Journalist:: Ciaran Barnes
By Evan Short
The daughter of one of the men murdered in the 1971 Ballymurphy Massacre has called for the death of her father to be reinvestigated on the 35th anniversary of his death.
Janet Donnelly’s father Joseph Murphy (41) was one of 11 people to be murdered in the nationalist area in the three days following the introduction of internment.
Ten men - one of whom was a priest - and one woman were shot dead by the Parachute Regiment in the hours that followed the rounding-up of local nationalists.
Janet says many of those who were on the crowded streets were only there to look for loved ones who had been lifted earlier that day - as the British government moved to detain nationalists without trial - when the British soldiers came out of the Henry Taggart barracks, firing at passers-by.
It is only now that the truth surrounding the horrific incidents of 1971 are emerging, after relatives grouped together to investigate the killings themselves, explains Janet who has also become heavily involved in recording the exact details of the Ballymurphy Massacre.
“The British army came out of the Henry Taggart (memorial hall) firing at whoever was there, they did not care who they were shooting at – they were there to murder and they did. Everyone who was shot was totally innocent.”
Janet was just eight years old when her father died, leaving behind him a wife and nine young children.
It was not until 1998 however that Janet, along with other relatives, came together to try to find out what happened and discovered from official documents, released by both the RUC and the Coroner’s Office, that the deaths of these 11 innocent people had not been fully investigated.
“Basically me and some of the other families started doing a bit of digging by sending away for inquest papers and knocking doors in Ballymurphy trying to find out what people had seen at the time.
“My father was one of four people shot in the Manse Field. He was shot twice in the leg and died two weeks later in hospital but the only investigation into his death has been written in a paragraph on a page, and a lot of the information was inaccurate,” she said.
The families’ investigation found some details which Janet admits she still struggles to cope with.
“The coroner’s report shows that my daddy was beaten after he was shot. By the time he got to hospital he was covered in extensive bruising,” says Janet who explained that the Paras had emerged from the barracks firing both rifles and hand guns.
Having discovered that the same soldiers were involved in the Bloody Sunday massacre six months later, Janet says she now believes that had the incident been properly investigated at the time it could have saved further tragedy.
“The British government didn’t care what happened that day,” said Janet.
“There were not any television cameras about so really it is remembered only by word of mouth.
“For many people when they think back to 1971 and internment they remember people being lifted, for us we remember the murder of family members, six months before the same people carried out another massacre in Derry.”
Journalist:: Evan Short
The West Belfast Taxi Association (WBTA) has announced an increase in its fares effective from Monday, September 4.
Citing increases in fuel costs, additional insurance costs, vehicle testing costs and road tax, the WBTA has increased its standard fare from £1 to £1.10.
It has been almost two-and- a-half years since the WBTA’s last increase and the WBTA is keen to stress that senior citizens’ fares are not subject to any increase.
From September 4 the standard fare will be £1.10, the children’s (aged 5-16 years) fare will be 80p while the senior citizens’ fare remains unchanged at 60p.
Fares to Poleglass, Twinbrook and Lagmore will cost £1.50, 90p or 70p from September 4.
The cut-off point for the standard fare from the city centre country-bound is Greenway’s shop, while the cut-off point for passengers from the Colin area paying standard fare is Milltown Cemetery.
Journalist:: Staff Journalist
Is it safe? Is it safe?
Still not sure whether Ireland’s going to be part of the United Nations force which is about to deploy in Lebanon. Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern took time off from dealing with the foreigners in the north of his own country to speak to RTE about the make-up of the UN force and his words were very interesting indeed.
“A major issue,” he said, “will be whether or not we can confirm the safety of our troops…”
Hmmm. Squinter fears that Dermot is suffering from a major misapprehension about what’s expected from soldiers - even Irish ones - and what their role is when they find themselves in theatres of conflict. Of course, if a government could “confirm the safety” of its troops before sending them out, there’d be no need for them in the first place, would there? Or maybe Dermot’s going to ask the UN if it would be possible for the Irish lads to make the tea or tidy the place up while the French, Nigerians, Spaniards and so on went out on patrol.
Still on RTE and while Squinter’s favourite headline used to be ‘Small Earthquake in Chile - Not Many Dead’, the national broadcaster has given him pause for thought.
‘No Irish Caught Up in Greece Fire’ was how the RTE website reported on Tuesday the devastating forest fire which ravaged northern Greece this week. Another way of reporting it might have been to point out that a German tourist died, or that vast tracts of land were consumed by the blaze, or that dozens of planes and helicopters were involved in a huge rescue mission. But no, for RTE the news lay in the fact that there were no Irish people about when the flames took hold.
By Mick Hall
25/08/2006
The family at the centre of the Morris tribunal into Garda corruption in Donegal have threatened High Court action if they are not granted a public hearing before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights.
Frank McBrearty Jnr told Daily Ireland yesterday that his family believed the inquiry by Mr Justice Morris had sought to protect the Garda commissioner, the justice minister and senior gardaí who he said were implicated in covering up an attempt to frame members of his family for murder.
The inquiry found gardaí in Donegal had failed to investigate an apparent hit-and-run of cattle dealer Richie Barron and instead attempted to frame publican Frank McBrearty Jnr and his cousin Mark McConnell for murder. It found gardaí had manipulated witnesses, forged evidence and intimidated people during their investigation.
Mr McBrearty blasted the inquiry, claiming it had disclosed “nothing new” and had in fact failed to call over 300 witnesses who had given important evidence to the family’s legal team.
The Donegal man said if a hearing in the Oireachtas was denied, the family would be taking the unprecedented step of taking out a High Court civil action against the Morris tribunal and the state.
He said: “Why were so many witnesses left out? Why did it not deal with the [Garda] Carty report cover-up? Why weren’t members of the justice department, who paid the informer used against us, not called to give evidence? And why, after all this, is the minister for justice Michael McDowell refusing to set up an independent police Ombudsman to investigate future complaints against the garda?”
Yesterday the informer used by gardaí to give false statements against the family, Bernard Conlon, apologised for the hurt he had caused.
The Morris inquiry’s “silver-bullet” module, published last week, concluded that Sergeant John White and Sligo Garda John Nicholson had used the Sligo criminal to prosecute members of the McBrearty family for breaching liquor licensing laws.
Mr McBrearty responded by saying that, whatever Mr Conlon was now claiming, he had been an informer for the state, paid by the Department of Justice and that the minister for justice had serious questions to answer over his role.
Work permit plan to restrict Bulgarian and Romanian workers
Sam Smyth and Ciaran Byrne
26 August 2006
THE Government is planning to close the door to thousands of foreign workers looking to move here next year.
The Irish Independent has learned the State wants to end its open-door policy for migrant workers from Bulgaria and Romania.
Thousands of workers from the two EU accession states had been expected to move here once they became full members of the EU in January 2007.
Now, however, government sources have revealed Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Justice Minister Michael McDowell plan to introduce specific work-permits for nationals from the two new EU member states.
“The standard of living in Bulgaria and Romania is so far below the other access countries we would be swamped by workers seeking jobs here,” a source said.
The Fianna Fail/PD coalition is wary of a voter backlash which they fear would be sparked by a fresh influx of foreign workers.
The ban on Romanians and Bulgarians working here would not affect the position of migrant workers from Poland and the Baltic States.
Almost 100,000 Polish workers are estimated to be already living here.
The Government’s move is a stark reversal of its position when it rebuked other EU member states for refusing open access to workers from the 10 accession states who joined in May 2004.
In May, Mr Ahern said: “We’ll have to eventually look at Bulgaria and Romania but I’d rather see my colleagues being a bit more advanced.”
Ireland, Britain and Sweden were the only countries that allowed workers from accession states to freely seek work in 2004.
To date, Finland is the only EU member to publicly announce it will allow Bulgarian and Romanian workers full access to jobs.
News of the plan comes after the Irish Independent exclusively revealed yesterday government plans to introduce ID cards for non-nationals as part of a blitz on illegal immigration.
Mr Ahern and Mr McDowell are currently fine-tuning a landmark “one-stop” immigration law to be brought to Cabinet before the Dail resumes next month.
The measures are modelled on tough US immigration laws.
They will oblige all non-EU nationals to carry bio-metric ID cards.
The Refugee Appeals Tribunal is also to be scrapped and a single law called the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill, will be introduced to replace all existing asylum legislation.
Labour Justice spokesman Brendan Howlin last night expressed concern that non-nationals forced to carry ID cards would be singled out.
“I have said on a number of occasions that there was a need for a rational discussion on the case for the introduction of a national identity card,” he said.
“But I would be reluctant to go down the road of insisting that only one section of Irish society should be required to carry such a card.”
Political observers are likely to see the move as a cynical pre-election ploy as political parties acknowledge that immigration is becoming a big topic on the doorsteps.
Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness signalled difficulties for Bulgarian and Romanian job-seekers in Ireland in June.
She said: “The clear implication from the Taoiseach was that the decision about the free movement of citizens from Romania and Bulgaria would depend on what other member states, notably the UK, did in this regard.”
There has been a growing campaign in Britain to deny access to workers from the two countries.
25 August 2006
A DERRY republican, who claims he is the victim of a ‘quasi British propaganda ploy,’ has stated categorically: “I’m no informer, never would be and never could be.”
Paddy Kavanagh, a former republican prisoner who was released from Portlaoise Prison under the Good Friday Agreement, claims ‘always to have been very open with my republican beliefs,’ later became involved with the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association.
Mr. Kavanagh told the ‘Journal’: “Several years ago due to an emotional crisis in my life I left Derry in order to recuperate and I ended all my republican activities.
“In my absence a smear campaign that the British would have been proud of was started branding me an informer.
“This was quickly nipped in the bud by my former comrades but those behind it continued to try and brand me with the most shameful tag a republican can be called - the name of an informer.
“I detest the informer even more than I detested the occupying enemy as I have seen too many good republicans destroyed by these creature’s actions.”
Mr. Kavanagh continued: “My own personal belief is that the smears directed at me were done by people who were carrying on the work of the British enemy in trying to destroy and criminalise true republicans.
“To bear a cross is something I can do myself with all the strength and wisdom that my years of experience in the republican struggle have taught me but it is unjust to ask my children to bear the stigma of their father being an informer so that is why I am speaking out.
“Some of my children have encouraged me to publicly and openly challenge the scurrilous allegations so that the pride they feel in their father as a republican will not be diminished in any way.”
The Derry man went on: “Those quislings who sold out the republican struggle live in the dark and the sewers where they belong and have no right to attack a real republican.
“I will repeat it again and again. I am no informer, never would be and never could be, all I am doing now is making my position clear as all I want now is to be left alone to get on with my life.”
25 August 2006
A DERRY republican, who claims he is the victim of a ‘quasi British propaganda ploy,’ has stated categorically: “I’m no informer, never would be and never could be.”
Paddy Kavanagh, a former republican prisoner who was released from Portlaoise Prison under the Good Friday Agreement, claims ‘always to have been very open with my republican beliefs,’ later became involved with the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association.
Mr. Kavanagh told the ‘Journal’: “Several years ago due to an emotional crisis in my life I left Derry in order to recuperate and I ended all my republican activities.
“In my absence a smear campaign that the British would have been proud of was started branding me an informer.
“This was quickly nipped in the bud by my former comrades but those behind it continued to try and brand me with the most shameful tag a republican can be called - the name of an informer.
“I detest the informer even more than I detested the occupying enemy as I have seen too many good republicans destroyed by these creature’s actions.”
Mr. Kavanagh continued: “My own personal belief is that the smears directed at me were done by people who were carrying on the work of the British enemy in trying to destroy and criminalise true republicans.
“To bear a cross is something I can do myself with all the strength and wisdom that my years of experience in the republican struggle have taught me but it is unjust to ask my children to bear the stigma of their father being an informer so that is why I am speaking out.
“Some of my children have encouraged me to publicly and openly challenge the scurrilous allegations so that the pride they feel in their father as a republican will not be diminished in any way.”
The Derry man went on: “Those quislings who sold out the republican struggle live in the dark and the sewers where they belong and have no right to attack a real republican.
“I will repeat it again and again. I am no informer, never would be and never could be, all I am doing now is making my position clear as all I want now is to be left alone to get on with my life.”
25/08/2006 - 15:13:45
In the North, Sinn Féin is protesting against a decision by a local council to build a memorial to the Ulster Defence Regiment.
The party said nationalists feared and hated the UDR and its members were suspected of colluding in murder.
The UDR was seen by many nationalists as a modern day equivalent to the Black and Tans.
For unionists, the regiment was a bulwark against IRA violence.
Lisburn Council, already under fire for flying the union flag at its offices 365 days a year, is planning a monument to honour UDR men murdered in the Troubles.
The mayor of Lisburn has now agreed to meet the family of Michael Power, a daily communicant, who was threatened by UDR members before being murdered on his way to chapel.
Police questioned members of the UDR but they were never charged although the family claim there was collusion.
'So venceremos, beidh bua againn eigin lá eigin. Sealadaigh abú.'
--Bobby Sands
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