SAOIRSE32

Belfast Telegraph

By Chris Thornton
05 December 2006

A senior legal figure who knows his way around Whitehall was appointed last night to investigate whether Peter Hain and senior civil servants committed crimes by deliberately misleading the High Court.

Peter Scott QC will conduct an inquiry into Mr Justice Girvan’s complaints about the Northern Ireland Office’s apparent attempts to cover up the role of the DUP in the appointment of Victims’ Commissioner Bertha McDougall.

The NIO initially denied that the DUP played any role in the appointment, when Mrs McDougall had been nominated by DUP leader Ian Paisley and was the only candidate interviewed for the post.

Last month the judge referred the case to the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, posing 67 questions about the behaviour of the Secretary of State, Civil Service head Nigel Hamilton and NIO Permanent Secretary Jonathan Phillips in the case.

Mr Justice Girvan declared that Mr Hain had failed in his “duty of candour” to the court and said affidavits by both civil servants had been misleading. If their actions were deliberate, he said that would amount to an attempt to pervert the course of justice, which is a criminal offence.

Shadow Secretary of State David Lidington said an effective inquiry is “vital”.

“Let’s hope we now get the truth about what went on in the Secretary of State’s Office,” he said. “It’s vital for public confidence in the integrity of government and the legal process that the whole truth is made plain.

“I hope this inquiry will be thorough, speedy, and the report will be published without delay.”

Lord Goldsmith announced details of the inquiry as Mr Hain stepped up his bid to become deputy leader of the Labour Party.

Mr Scott has been asked to report “as soon as is possible consistent with the need to conduct a thorough review”.

Mr Scott is a member of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the watchdog that investigates MI5 and MI6. A deputy High Court judge and former chairman of the Bar in England and Wales, the Prime Minister re-appointed him as a trustee of the National Gallery in 2004.

He is also chairman of the panel on Takeovers and Mergers and a judicial chairman of the City Disputes Panel.

He is a former standing counsel to the Department of Employment, the registrar of Restrictive Trade Practices and director general of Fair Trading.

Last night Peter Hain pledged to co-operate fully with the inquiry.

——————————-

Secretary of State takes flak from all sides in Assembly

Assembly Speaker Eileen Bell was “forced into making an utterly false statement” by Secretary of State Peter Hain, her party leader said yesterday.

Alliance chief David Ford made the remark about a statement Mrs Bell delivered to the Assembly that said Mr Paisley had satisfied the criteria for a nomination for First Minister on the NIO’s deadline day, November 24.

She delivered the statement even though Mr Paisley had said the “circumstances were not reached for a nomination or designation to be made”.

As DUP members repeatedly told the Assembly yesterday that Mr Paisley had not made a nomination, MLAs queued up to attack Mr Hain’s role in the November 24 meeting and the wider political process.

Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey accused Mr Hain of overriding the Assembley’s business committee last week to allow Martin McGuinness to make a speech.

“The evidence is that the Secretary of State is still interfering,” he said.

Sir Reg said Mr Hain rewrote the Assembly’s Order Paper at the behest of Sinn Fein, something Gerry Adams did not deny during his speech.

Mr Hain got Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams to agree during the debate - with both leaders attacking him.

Mr Paisley also made a plea to the Sinn Fein president to accept policing, as both men lectured each other about the role of Presbyterians in the 1798 rebellion.

During the debate Mr Paisley made his “plea to the leader of the party opposite”.

“We want to hear him say he is going to support the police and abide by the conditions set out in the Agreement,” he said.

Mr Adams did not reply directly to the plea and there were more familiar disagreements between the DUP and Sinn Fein during the debate, with Sinn Fein objecting to Mr Paisley’s repeated references to “Sinn Fein-IRA”.

“Perhaps it’s a good omen that they’re ashamed of being called the IRA,” he said.

———————

Hain red-faced as two MPs deny they back him for deputy leader
By Mark Hookham

Deputy Labour leadership hopeful Peter Hain was left red-faced yesterday after two MPs who he claimed were backing his campaign insisted they had not made up their minds.

Backbencher Roger Berry said he was “surprised” to be included on a list of 26 MPs “available for quotes” to publicly support the Ulster Secretary’s campaign.

And fellow Labour MP Peter Soulsby said his support for Mr Hain will depend on his stance on renewing the Trident nuclear missile system.

Their comments are an embarrassing blow to Mr Hain as he attempts to attract support for his bid to replace John Prescott when he stands down next year.

The Secretary of State yesterday unveiled his campaign team and a list of MPs who journalists were encouraged to phone for supportive quotes.

But when the Belfast Telegraph called Kingswood MP Roger Berry, we were told he was likely to support Mr Hain, but had not yet given his permission to be listed as a backer.

He said: “I certainly did not give authorisation. I am discussing the situation with my constituency party. It’s either Peter or Hilary Benn (the international development secretary).”

Likewise, Peter Soulsby, MP for Leicester South, insisted he was keeping his options open.

The MP, who is “totally and utterly” opposed to renewing Trident, said: “I’ll be listening very carefully to what he [Hain] and others say before deciding”.

Hain4Labour campaign organiser Joe Carberry yesterday admitted there had been a “misunderstanding”.

BN.ie

05/12/2006 - 07:52:47

Anti-fur activists are to march along Dublin’s Grafton Street today to call for an end to the trade.

The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (Caft) said masked protestors will be carrying bloody animal skins in a coffin as it demonstrates outside Barnardo’s Fur Shop at the bottom of the shopping street.

A spokesman said the group will be acting to stop the thousands of animals skinned, electrocuted and gassed for the fur business.

The demonstration will begin at 2pm at the bottom of Grafton Street before stopping outside other shops in Castle Market and South Anne Street.

A spokeswoman said the group had to rely on the stark image of the coffin and bloodied skins in order to get the message across to shoppers.

She said: “The message is: ‘Don’t wear animal skins. You are wearing death.’”

BN.ie

05/12/2006 - 09:57:35

More than a quarter of the Patten proposals for overhauling the North’s police service have yet to be completed, a new report revealed today.

In his penultimate assessment Oversight Commissioner Al Hutchinson has set out all 175 recommendations and identified where further work is still needed.

These include more “civilianisation” within the organisation, enlarging the Part Time Reserve, and efforts to encourage Catholic officers in other forces to join the PSNI.

Another key issue, the devolution of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont, which is at the core of the ongoing political process, is unlikely to be finalised by the time Mr Hutchinson signs off next May.

But he urged the relevant authorities to press ahead in other areas, such as the protracted attempts to fund and build a new state-of-the-art training college to replace the Garnverville complex in east Belfast.

With £40m (€59.4m) still needed to finance the planned academy at Cookstown, Co Tyrone, Mr Hutchinson claimed it could be realised within months.

He said: “Other issues, such as the securing of funding for the new Police College of Northern Ireland, are more amenable to rapid decision-making and progress, and certainly could be resolved by the end of the oversight mandate.

“It is also possible to achieve further progress in the appropriate civilianisation of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and on such things as the estate and training strategies.”

The major progress in the transformation of policing can be shown by the relatively few outstanding recommendations, with many of these expected to be completed or further advanced by May, Mr Hutchinson said.

Nevertheless, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police veteran’s report, based on an evaluation in June, emphasised where the focus should be.

He said: “The purpose of this present report is to indicate the work that remains by clearly identifying the 46 recommendations and 103 performance indicators that require completion by the various stakeholders, principally the Police Service of Northern Ireland.”

Mr Hutchinson reiterated the critical role political leadership has to play in developing fully effective, representative and accountable policing.

He added: “In this respect progress remains elusive.

“As I have noted in several previous reports, collective politics has to date failed policing in Northern Ireland.”

BN.ie

05/12/2006 - 10:23:23

Northern police chief Hugh Orde will today tell MPs that controversial neighbourhood justice schemes must work under tight guidelines if they are to be state funded.

The chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland will appear before a House of Commons committee in Belfast after claims that his officers turned away a murderer brought to a police station in west Belfast last year by a nationalist community restorative justice group.

Jim Auld of Community Restorative Justice Ireland (CRJI) told stunned members of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee that police also failed to help a rape victim seeking an exclusion order against one of her relatives.

The British government is considering plans to fund the programmes operating in loyalist and nationalist neighbourhoods, which are seen as an alternative to so-called punishment attacks and expulsions by paramilitary groups.

Critics of the schemes claim they are being used by paramilitaries to exert control over communities, with republicans trying in particular to turn them into an alternative police service.

Mr Auld yesterday denied during evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee that Community Restorative Justice Ireland was seeking to be an alternative police force.

He also insisted his staff and volunteers referred serious crime to the police and saw their work as being complementary to the work of a police service.

However he also insisted that the lack of confidence in the police by the nationalist community in the North had made that task more difficult.

Orde and his officers have indicated they share the concerns of the North’s Independent Monitoring Commission about the involvement of paramilitaries in the restorative justice programmes.

The PSNI is believed to support British government proposals that the restorative justice schemes, which bring the perpetrators of low-level crimes face-to-face with their victims to understand their motivation and agree an appropriate penalty, should comply with human rights and equality legislation and United Nations standards.

The British government’s proposals also require nationalist and loyalist restorative justice groups to promote confidence in the criminal justice system including the police and to pass on promptly details of a criminal offence or offender directly to the police, who will decide what further investigations are required and if fingerprints and DNA samples must be taken before passing them on to public prosecutors to decide who should handle the case.

The committee was told yesterday by Northern Ireland Alternatives, which runs four schemes in loyalist areas of Belfast and Bangor, that they had police officers serving on their boards.

This made them different from Community Restorative Justice Ireland.

Tom Winstone of Northern Ireland Alternatives said despite this difference, his scheme was being tarred with the same brush as the nationalist schemes, with potential partners and funders holding back because of the political controversy around CRJI’s activities.

Northern Ireland Office minister David Hanson will give evidence at Westminster tomorrow on his plans for restorative justice.

Sinn Féin

Published: 4 December, 2006

Sinn Féin TD Aengus O’Snodaigh has welcomed the fact that the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is to raise with the British Prime Minster Tony Blair British State involvement in the murder of citizens through their policy of collusion during their talks in London today.

The Dublin South-Central TD said: “Last week’s Oireachtas report into the role of the British State in the murder of citizens, through their policy of controlling and directing the activities of unionist paramilitary gangs, was the latest in a long succession of irrefutable evidence, which has recently emerged about the extent of the British State involvement in the murder of citizens across the island of Ireland.

“I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach is finally to raise these issues with the British Prime Minister during their talks in London today. Bertie Ahern needs to make it very clear to the Tony Blair that the policy of concealment and cover-up, which has marked their approach so far to this issue, had to end. It is no longer an option for the British government to ignore inquires like that established by Justice Barron.

“The families of those killed by the British State through collusion have long demanded an independent, international inquiry into these matters as the only way in which the truth can be revealed. Sinn Féin absolutely supports these families in their campaign. It is now vital that the

Taoiseach adds his voice to this call and ensures that the British government will be required to co-operate with such an inquiry in the future.”

BBC

Hundreds of schools across Northern Ireland face closure after a new report stated there were too many schools and not enough pupils.

The Bain report found that a third of schools - 440 in total - do not have a required minimum number of pupils.

Its author, Professor Sir George Bain, said this did not mean that small schools should close.

However, he warned that the current status quo could not prevail. Schools could face closure or amalgamation.

Publishing the report of the Independent Strategic Review of Education on Monday, Sir Geroge said: “There are too many schools with too few pupils.” With 54,000 empty desks in schools across Northern Ireland and pupil numbers set to fall further, action had to be taken, he said.

His report recommended that the governing principle in judging the future of any school must be the quality of education it provided - but it said there should be a review of the future of small schools.

Sir George Bain examined how education is organised and funded

It also recommended that the minimum enrolment for primary schools should be 140 in urban areas and 105 in rural areas. The current minimum number advised is 60 pupils.

For post-primary schools, the minimum numbers in years eight to 12 should be 500 and for those with a sixth form there should be a minimum of 100 pupils in the sixth form. Any school with numbers below that should be examined to ensure they are able to deliver a full education for their pupils.

Sir George said schools should share more facilities and if they did so, they would get better buildings and their projects might get priority.

The report also states that the building of already approved schools could be stalled and priority given to those which agree to share facilities.

In future, Sir George, said schools should be planned to cover the needs of a geographical area rather than at present when a range of schools, Catholic, State, Integrated and Irish Language can all exist within a small area.

The report highlighted the problems created by an education system in a divided society where there are Catholic, Protestant and integrated schools at both primary and post-primary level. It advocated the promotion of sharing and collaboration between schools but made no recommendation for enforced integration.

Sir George said: “We do not advocate one single approach to integration, rather a more pervasive and inclusive strategy, focused on the dynamic process of integrating education throughout the school system.

“This should be achieved through the availability of additional resources for schools that take a more inclusive approach to `integrated education’.

“These incentives will encourage and support local schools to build on existing levels of shared facilities and staff to develop their partnership further.”

The 61 recommendations are being studied by the Education minister who will announce shortly which of them she will support.

BBC

Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams and the DUP’s Ian Paisley have had direct exchanges across the floor of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The two party leaders debated the composition of the United Irishmen

The party leaders first debated the religious composition of the United Irishmen before moving onto wider political matters.

The debate was being held to discuss how proceedings on 24 November were handled by NI Secretary Peter Hain.

The motion had been tabled by Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey.

Sir Reg’s motion, which was passed by the assembly, said Mr Hain had interfered in proceedings on that day when the DUP and Sinn Fein were asked to indicate their choices for first and deputy first minister.

During the debate, Mr Adams moved things on to the role played by Presbyterians and the rising of the United Irishmen.

‘IRA/Sinn Fein’

The exchanges then moved to politics when Mr Adams objected to Mr Paisley using the term IRA/Sinn Fein.

“There is no party here called IRA/Sinn Fein, the party is Sinn Fein,” he said.

But, Mr Paisley said the term IRA/Sinn Fein was used by more than his party.

“Evidently the members of the British government don’t know it, the members of the Tory party don’t know it - for that is how they refer to them.”

BBC Northern Ireland political editor Mark Devenport said the exchanges were “feisty but fascinating” given the long-standing refusal by the DUP to exchange in any direct dialogue with republicans.

Monday’s meeting was the first substantive debate of the transitional assembly, designed to deliver devolution by 26 March.

Peter Hain has come under criticism

The DUP is seeking delivery from Mr Hain on his economic package and other issues and from Sinn Fein on policing.

On Sunday, Ian Paisley Jr of the DUP said his party was not bothered about any power-sharing deadline or dates for devolving policing.

Mr Paisley said it was up to Sinn Fein to prove republican credentials and build confidence before any restoration of devolved government at Stormont.

He insisted Gerry Adams would not get a date from the DUP for the transfer of policing powers to Stormont.

The DUP leadership held a one-day meeting near Templepatrick on Friday to agree the party’s strategy regarding power-sharing.

It followed claims of discontent among the ranks about aspects of the St Andrews Agreement which surfaced at the assembly on 24 November when the DUP and Sinn Fein were asked for ministerial nominations.

Proceedings were adjourned that day after an attack by loyalist Michael Stone.

After the adjournment, DUP leader Ian Paisley said that if all his conditions were fulfilled he would accept the first minister’s post after a spring election.

Sinn Fein had nominated Martin McGuinness as deputy first minister.

BBC

A projectile which was fired from a mortar tube aimed at Craigavon Police Station has been found on a nearby piece of wasteland.

The mortar tube was found at the rear of Brownlow Health Centre

The mortar tube was found at the rear of Brownlow Health Centre across the road from the station.

Police said the device, which they described as viable, was dealt with by Army bomb experts.

Detective Superintendent Derek Williamson said it could have caused serious injury or death.

“I strongly condemn such irresponsible action, the blatant disregard for human life is deplorable and completely unacceptable,” he said.

Meanwhile, the police have been dealing with two separate alerts at Strabane and Newtownstewart in County Tyrone.

In Strabane, a “viable device” found at a pub at Cloughcor has been taken away for examination.

In Newtownstewart, police have closed off a minor road in a security alert.

The Strahulter Road was closed following a warning that a device had been left in the area.