SAOIRSE32

Sunday Life

Laird and Master?

By Joe Oliver
27 August 2006

An outspoken Ulster peer who wants to transform the Twelfth into a cultural and cross-community carnival is being tipped as the next leader of the Orange Order.

Lord Laird of Artigarvan is seen by many within the institution as a natural successor if Robert Saulters decides to step down as Grand Master later this year.

Mr Saulters has held the post for 10 years and in that time has guided the order through the most difficult chapter in its history.

But he recently indicated to colleagues that he believes the time is right to hand over the reins.

There is a growing belief among Grand Lodge of Ireland members that public relations expert Lord Laird would be the ideal candidate to drive through a programme of reform.

The order has been on a charm offensive for some time following meetings with Catholic leaders, the SDLP, the Human Rights Commission and Irish President Mary McAleese.

It has also accepted the need for major parading concessions, and was controversially grant-aided by the Government - to the tune of £100,000 - to help turn this year’s Twelfth into a ‘Notting Hill-style’ carnival.

Lord Laird, a member of the Royal York Loyal Orange Lodge No 145, helped organise floats with an Ulster-Scots flavour.

The former Stormont MP also stated: “We are turning the situation around and making the Twelfth even more family-friendly, and, most important, an event open to everyone, regardless of their background or religion.”

One senior member of the Grand Lodge told Sunday Life: “It’s now accepted that Robert will stand down this year, and probably before our AGM in December. Naturally, there has been talk about his successor and it would be fair to say that Lord Laird’s name frequently crops up.

“Whether he would have the time is another matter, because he is a very effective cross-bencher in the House of Lords and a tireless advocate of the Ulster-Scots language.

“There would, of course, also be those opposed to Belfast having a second Grand Master in succession.

“But I don’t think anyone would question Lord Laird’s ability to put forward the order’s case to an international audience and also press ahead with the necessary reforms to bring the institution in from the cold.”

As well as reducing the number of annual parades, the order has accepted that many will in future be restricted to arterial routes. There is also support for a root and branch review of its disciplinary code.

“There’s no doubt the order is facing many major challenges in the days ahead and it’s vital we have the right man at the helm,” the source added.

Sunday Life

By Alan Murray
27 August 2006

Sir Reg Empey has urged the leadership of the UVF to issue a statement saying it offers no threat to campaigning north Belfast man Raymond McCord.

The UUP leader has come under fire over his party’s tie-up with the UVF-linked PUP.

Mr McCord’s home was visited three times last week by police to convey warnings of death threats.

Neighbours also reported suspicious activity around his house.

The UUP leader said: “I think it would be helpful for the UVF’s leadership to clearly outline in public that it has no intention of attacking Raymond McCord and wouldn’t authorise an attack of any nature on him.”

But Mr McCord, whose son Raymond jnr was murdered by the UVF in 1997, said he still believed the UVF leadership would support an attack on him, even if it can’t control the Mount Vernon UVF unit suspected of being behind the threats.

“I know from UVF contacts in the Shankill that the leadership is furious with me because my actions have exposed their incompetence over the infiltration of the organisation by police informers,” he said.

“I think the Mount Vernon element is out of control and beyond the reach of the Shankill leadership now. So, overall, I don’t expect them to make a statement, and if they did, I wouldn’t accept it at face value.”

Since the murder of his son by the Mount Vernon UVF unit led by police informer Mark Haddock, the north Belfast man has had to move to south Belfast, where police patrols keep a regular observation on his home.

Sunday Life

14 months in limbo as victims of sectarian fire attack blast compo body

By Stehpen Breen
27 August 2006

These are the angry north Belfast women who say they have not received any compensation - 14 months after their homes were gutted in a sectarian arson attack.

Outraged Joan McManus and Mandy McCall, from Old Throne Park, off the Whitewell Road, hit out at the NIO’s Compensations Agency for failing to issue them with criminal damage claims.

Extensive damage was caused to the two women’s properties and a neighbour’s home when their oil tanks were set ablaze in June, 2005.

Almost £180,000 worth of damage was caused to Mrs McCall’s home, with £110,000 worth of damage caused to Mrs McManus’ property.

The homes are just a few yards from where dad-of-one Michael Magennis had his home destroyed in a similar attack, last Sunday.

Mrs McCall told how her family had been in “financial meltdown” over the last year.

She added: “It has been delay after delay and we have just had enough. We have been left in limbo over the last year or so.

“We just want this issue resolved so we can attempt to rebuild our lives again. We still haven’t been able to properly return to our home.

“We have the evidence which shows that there was more than just scorch damage caused to our homes and it’s about time someone realises the trauma we have been through.”

Mrs McManus claims her life has been left in “tatters” following the attack.

Said the mum-of-four: “We lost everything after this attempt at mass murder and we want to know why there has been a delay in the allocation of our criminal damage claims.

“They haven’t given us a clear answer about liability and we just hope they are treating the attack as sectarian. The last year or so has been a nightmare because we have lost everything. I could have lost my kids that night and the NIO should recognise this once and for all.”

A spokesman for the Compensations Agency said the matter is still being investigated.

The two women have also lodged complaints with Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan over the police investigation into the attack.

The pair have also alleged police failed to probe loyalist threats against them.

Residents held a meeting with police last Wednesday and have called for security fencing to be installed to stop the arsonists from gaining access to their homes.

Locals have also called for CCTV cameras to be installed at the rear of their homes in a bid to prevent attacks.

A police spokesman refused to comment on the claims because the matter is now being investigated by Mrs O’Loan.

Sunday Life

By Sinead McCavana
27 August 2006

Three months after dashing to Germany for a life-saving operation, little James Hynes is getting out of hospital this week.

Parents Jim and Cathy are overjoyed they’ll be able to have James staying with them in their accommodation from Wednesday.

“We’ll be attending the hospital as outpatients from next week,” said Jim. It’ll be great to have him with us and have some normality in our lives.”

The Dundrod couple, originally from west Belfast, say their toddler son, who is now clear of cancer, is continuing to make steady progress. And doctors gave the doting parents more good news last week.

“James’ blood count is almost back to normal and his immune system is working,” Jim told Sunday Life last night.

But the couple are keen to stress “it’s early days yet and that the leukaemia could return”.

Over the past fortnight Cathy and Jim have been able to take James out of the hospital for four hours each day.

Added Jim: “We take him on the bus into town. He loves waving at everyone on the bus it’s as if he’s saying: ‘Look at me, I’m out’. His face, which was badly swollen, is almost back to normal. I’ve never seen him looking so well.”

BN.ie

27/08/2006 - 11:07:16

New research has found that Irish people are more likely to be victims of assault, burglary, theft and sexual assault, than those living in most other EU states. (European Commission Hdqtrs building)

The findings are from a European Commission study is yet to be published, but the information was leaked to today’s Sunday Times.

In the report, Ireland is singled out as the country with the overall highest victimisation rate for ten common crimes, and is among five countries where the risk of being assaulted was found to be the highest.

Experiences of sexual violence were reported more often by women in Ireland than in any other EU state. This country also has more than twice the average rate of robbery.

The report concludes that Ireland is a high crime country.

BN.ie

27/08/2006 - 16:39:22

Sinn Féin MPs should be stripped of their parliamentary allowances if the British government cancels the salaries and allowances of Assembly members in the absence of the restoration of devolution in November, it was claimed today.

Political parties in the North have been given until November 24 to strike a deal for the return of the power-sharing Assembly at Stormont. If they fail to do so Tony Blair says he will wind up the Assembly and stop all payments.

East Belfast Ulster Unionist MLA Michael Copeland said following the premise that Assembly members get no money for not performing their elected functions, Sinn Féin should lose their Westminster allowances as well because of their abstentionist policy.

Mr Copeland said: “Sinn Féin MPs currently do not sit in the chamber in the Houses of Parliament. Subsequently they do not vote, sit in committees, nor take part in any vestige of parliamentary activity apart from constituency work – yet they are still in receipt of substantial allowances.

“The Government must be consistent and even-handed on November 24. If MLAs salaries and office cost allowances are to be cut based on the (British) government rationale that MLAs cannot be paid for not exercising their elected legislative duties, then surely common sense dictates that Sinn Féin MPs, who unlike MLAs find themselves in a similar situation through ’principled’ choice, must have their allowances cut too.”

A whole tier of political representation was about to be lost in the North if no agreement was made by November 24, he said, and the government had to be fair.

“It would be hypocritical and inconsistent for government to punish one group of democratically elected politicians for not performing legislative functions while actively funding another party whose members steadfastly refuse to participate in basic parliamentary activity,” said Mr Copeland.

A renewed drive to reach a political agreement by the November deadline will be launched in September but there has been scant indication so far that it will be successful.

Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party continues to refuse entering government with Sinn Féin until it is satisfied the republican movement has totally turned its back on paramilitarism .

Sunday Times

Liam Clarke
27 August 2006

THE IRA and Sinn Fein in South Derry have split, with up to 40 members and supporters offering to co-operate with dissidents. Security forces fear the possibility of an escalation in violence as various militant groups start to work together to build a “left republican alternative”.

The defection of an entire IRA brigade would considerably strengthen them, and could transform the security situation.

Details of the new organisation will be given at a public meeting in Toomebridge, Co Antrim, on Tuesday night. Paddy Murray, a dissident republican and former IRA bombmaker from Co Antrim, is one of the organisers of the meeting. “We are trying to get as many people as possible genuinely thinking of an alternative to the Provos,” he said. Murray is currently on bail awaiting kidnapping charges.

“There will be other, less public, meetings later where serious business will be done,” predicted one Real IRA member. “The South Derry people say they can provide 40 men who are well-trained and not informers,” he added.

Michael McDowell, the Irish minister for justice, has estimated that the Continuity IRA and Real IRA have about 200 active members each.

Some of those planning to attend the meeting are hoping that Dominic McGlinchey, whose father of the same name was a notorious INLA leader, will give a lead and act as a rallying point for dissident republicans. McGlinchey previously opposed dissidents and supported the republican leadership, but now says he will wait until after the meeting before making his current position clear. His decision could swing a large section of republican support in South Derry.

Both Real IRA and security sources say there is already co-operation between republican splinter groups and the South Derry IRA. They cite the discovery of a nail bomb and command wire in Bellaghy, Co Derry, at the beginning of July.

Security forces have warned of a possible escalation of dissident republican activity in the autumn as attempts are made to restore devolved government.

Eleven days ago, a partially detonated 70lb bomb was defused by the Irish army at a house being built for Lord Ballyedmond, the Unionist peer formerly known as Eddie Haughey, at Hackballscross in Co Louth.

Sunday Times

Liam Clarke
August 27, 2006

A FORMER police informant, who claims that security forces ignored advance warnings of the Omagh bombing, is prepared to appear as a defence witness in the trial of a man accused of the atrocity.

Evidence from Kevin Fulton, a former IRA bombmaker, could be used to cast doubt on prosecution claims that Sean Hoey was the only person capable of making that bomb. The prosecution of Hoey, which is due to open on September 6 in Belfast, could be the biggest murder trial in British legal history.

Fulton said yesterday that he would be happy to appear as a witness at the trial, if he was subpoenaed.

He is said to have met Peter Corrigan, the Belfast lawyer acting for Hoey, at the London offices of British Irish Rights Watch, a human rights group.

Hoey, 36, from Jonesborough, south Armagh, has been committed for trial for the murders of 29 people killed in the 1998 Real IRA atrocity. He faces 61 terrorist and explosive charges, all of which he denies.

At committal proceedings the prosecution alleged that the detonation system of the Omagh no-warning car bomb, which was contained in a lunchbox, was manufactured using methods distinctive to Hoey. They also produced a voice recognition expert who testified that she believed Hoey had telephoned in the bomb warning.

The defence team is expected to make a number of applications for disclosure when the trial opens and will seek to establish whether British or Irish intelligence agents or informants were involved in any way in the planning or execution of the bombing.

Fulton has told Nuala O’Loan, the Northern Ireland police ombudsman, that he warned his police handler that he had seen another bombmaker, referred to as Man A, mixing explosives shortly before the Omagh bombing.

There have been repeated suggestions that Man A, who now lives in Newry, was also an informant and was protected by the authorities. Similar suspicions surround another Real IRA bombmaker who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Paddy Dixon, the man who supplied the car used in the Omagh attack, was working for the gardai and is now living in England after being resettled. Dixon has been interviewed by the PSNI team who investigated the bombing but Fulton has not.

Dave Rupert, an American who infiltrated Real IRA on behalf of the FBI and MI5, is yet another agent on the periphery of the attack. Hoey’s defence team is expected to probe this complex intelligence background to establish whether any relevant facts have been withheld from them.

Such probing resulted in the acquittal of Denis Donaldson, another police agent, and others accused of taking part in the so-called Stormontgate IRA spy ring. When disclosures threatened to identify a police agent, a decision was taken to offer no evidence against the accused.

Fulton may insist on being subpoenaed in order to appear as a witness, fearing that he might endanger his good relations with the families of the Omagh bereaved if he is seen to co-operate willingly with a man accused of the bombing.

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed in the blast, said he would have no objection. “I would like Hoey to have the best possible defence, because if he is convicted the verdict will be all the safer for that,” Gallagher said. “I don’t want a verdict where there is doubt. So if there are any doors that his defence team want to kick open, I certainly have no objection.

“Fulton is free to do whatever he thinks fit and I will not fall out with him. He was the first to open the door on Omagh; he let us know a lot more than we would otherwise have known.”

Corrigan said: “I have consulted senior counsel and we have no comment to make.”

Sunday Times

August 27, 2006

MINISTERS are to introduce legislation to help combat a lucrative trade in pedigree puppies, writes Kathleen Nutt.

Crime gangs with links to loyalists in Northern Ireland are transporting hundreds of young dogs a week into Scotland on ferries from Belfast to Stranraer and Cairnryan.

The animals, which sell for hundreds of pounds each, are often bred and transported in appalling conditions. Many of them die a few weeks after being sold.

Under new regulations expected to come into force next year all dog dealers in Scotland, including those buying dogs from puppy farms in Northern Ireland and the Irish republic, will be required to have a licence.

The licences, which are expected to cost several hundred pounds, will mean the dealers must be registered with a local authority and have their premises inspected by animal health officers.

The pups will also have to be at least eight weeks old and fully weaned, unless they are sold with their mothers. They will also have to be checked by a vet and the dealers must have documents to say the dog is in full health.

Animal rights campaigners have welcomed the legislation, based on a private member’s bill drawn up by Christine Grahame MSP, an SNP member for the south of Scotland, with support from the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which believes a full ban on pups coming into Scotland from across the Irish Sea is necessary.

Ross Minett, the director of Advocates for Animals, said: “While we welcome moves that will help to tackle and reduce the import of farmed puppies into Scotland, we believe an outright ban is the only acceptable solution.

“This will be much simpler to enforce than complicated new regulations and send a clear message to breeders and importers that Scotland will not tolerate this kind of unnecessary suffering in the name of profit.”

The Ulster Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA) has recently uncovered puppy farms in Northern Ireland and suspects that paramilitaries have become involved in the trade because of the sums involved, with dealers often making between £50,000 and £100,000 a year.

Breeders in Northern Ireland and the Irish republic often own up to 60 bitches, each producing 15-20 puppies a year. A bull mastiff puppy can fetch £800, a St Bernard £600 and a West Highland terrier £300.

David Wilson, a spokesman for the USPCA, welcomed the legislation, but added that people needed to be vigilant when they bought pups.

“Criminal elements are becoming involved in setting up puppy farms in Northern Ireland. We and the police suspect some have links to loyalist paramilitaries,” he said. “People buying a dog need to be patient, find a proper recognised dealer and see the pup with its mother.”

Caroline Kisko, the secretary of the Kennel Club, said: “We welcome these regulations in Scotland, which we hope will push up welfare standards among dog breeders and dealers. We don’t think they will lead to an increase in the price of puppies, as normally there is an agreed cost for each breed.

“The Kennel Club runs an accredited breeders scheme, which is our response to puppy farms.”