SAOIRSE32

BBC

A 38-year-old man has been jailed for 14 years for his part in a failed mortar attack on Newry police station in July 1998.

Jones appeared in the dock at Belfast Crown Court

Gary Jones, of Castlekeel in the city, was found guilty in October of causing an explosion likely to endanger life.

Belfast Crown Court heard that in July 1998, a white van parked close to the station, crashed into a parked car.

As the driver began to run off, the mortar launched from the back of the van. However, it failed to explode.

Diplock trial

His trial was told that on 21 July 1998, a white van was parked in a car park close to the police station at Corry Square in Newry.

The diplock court was told that after the van crashed into a parked car, a passer-by tackled the driver as he began to run off.

Moments after he did so, the mortar launched from the rear of the van but landed just a few feet away and failed to explode.

Jones was linked to the attack by forensic evidence.

Sentencing Jones, Mr Justice Morgan said the attack had been “carefully prepared and premeditated” which, if it had been successful “would have caused extensive damage and potentially could have caused serious injury and even death”.

“A mortar bomb is a weapon which can kill and maim a large number of people and cause substantial damage to property. Such devices have frequently done so in the past,” he said.

Describing the improvised mortar bomb system as a “merciless weapon of great destructiveness”, he said it was only a fluke that the attack went wrong.

Irelandclick.com

Andersonstown News
12/07/2006

A new Irish language lobby group has been formed to press the British government on honouring their commitments to an Irish Language Act.
Acht Act has been established to direct a short and focused campaign aimed at getting agreements made during the St Andrew’s talks implemented.
The campaign will centre around four main demands. One is to keep the commitment to the Language Act, with the second that the rights of Irish speakers be enshrined in the Act. Thirdly, that adequate resources are set aside for implementation, and finally that an Irish Language Commissioner is appointed for the North of Ireland.
Already signed up to Acht Act are Conradh na Gaeilge, Glór na nGael, Forbairt Feirste and An Chultúrlann, and organisers hope that more groups will show their support.
Jake Mac Siacais from Forbairt Feirste said the demands being made were very reasonable.
“What this is about is getting the British government to deliver on what was agreed at St Andrew’s. This campaign is island-wide and the posters are going up as we speak.
“The weeks ahead are critical because the British government has to start its public consultation soon if it is to keep to the agreed timetable,” he said.
To get the public involved, thousands of postcards listing the four demands are being made available in Irish language centres throughout the country. These are pre-addressed to Stormont Minister Maria Eagle. Anyone wishing to show their support for the campaign is urged to pick one up and send it.
As part of the campaign politicians both North and South will be lobbied to show their support and the campaign will end with a large public rally to be organised in the New Year.

Irelandclick.com

By Damian McCarney
Andersonstown News
12/07/2006

THE MP Sinn for West Belfast, Gerry Adams, has called for the urgent introduction of two measures to help address the shortfall of voters on the electoral register.
As the register stands, one in four potential voters in the West of the city will be unable to use their vote in the forthcoming Assembly election, scheduled for March 2007.
Mr Adams has called for last year’s register, comprising over 54,000 names, to be rolled over. This would effectively add those who were on last year’s register, who are not yet registered, to the 45,923 names on the December 2006 register.
The same procedure occurred last year when 95,000 names across the North’s 18 constituencies were rolled over from the previous register.
Mr Adams is also urging the British government to introduce a provision into the electoral legislation which will push the registration deadline back, enabling voters to register up to 11 days before March’s Assembly election.
“Sinn Féin has raised this issue with the British government at the highest level, and with the Electoral Office, and we intend to challenge this injustice in every way possible,” said Mr Adams.
“Specifically, we are demanding that the register used in the last election be rolled over to allow for its use in any Assembly election in March. Citizens should also have the ability to register to vote up to 11 days before polling day.”
And the Sinn Féin President claimed that nationalists were disproportionately affected by the registration shortfall.
“It is no coincidence that 19 of the 20 electoral wards in the North with the worse figures for voters being ripped off the register have majority nationalist populations. West Belfast has been the hardest hit with 8,000 voters (see table right) – twice as many as any other constituency – stripped from the last register. When taken with the numbers of people already taken off the register in previous years, it means that an estimated 18,000 people, or one in four of eligible voters in West Belfast, are currently denied their vote.
“Forty years ago the Civil Rights movement fought a long and dangerous campaign to secure a number of fundamental human rights, including the right to vote. Since that time nationalists faced a concerted effort by elements of the political system to disenfranchise them.
“Tens of thousands of nationalist voters are currently being denied their vote. The purpose of this is to minimise nationalist political influence,” said Mr Adams.
Douglas Bain, the Chief Electoral Officer, said that the British government had given a commitment to the introduction of ‘late registration’ to the North, however he went on to say that legislation was not yet in place to implement this, and even if it were, practical considerations would prevent its use in March.
“I would not be able to do this,” said Mr Bain, “even if the law was in force, if I was required to put the necessary arrangements in place in advance of a March election. And having to do so within such a tight timeframe would undoubtedly limit my ability to develop and deliver the most effective arrangements possible, which must be a priority.”
He added that he was opposed to the idea of a rolling register on which votes would be carried forward.
“The law that allowed for the ‘carry forward’ is no longer in force. If the law is changed then I will implement it, but as the Chief Electoral Officer I would be very strongly opposed to any such change,” he continued.
“I see no reason for anyone who wishes to register not doing so by January 11 and would be opposed to any carry forward which would inevitably include some names and address that were no longer accurate.
“In Northern Ireland we have by far the most accurate and comprehensive register anywhere in these islands and any restoration of the carry forward would inevitably undermine this,” said Mr Bain.