SAOIRSE32

Irelandclick

By Ciarán Barnes
North Belfast News
15/12/2006

The father of a loyalist murder victim has accused former Secretary of State Mo Mowlam of helping to cover up his son’s killing.
Raymond McCord Snr, whose son Raymond Jnr was beaten to death by the UVF in November 1997, said the Labour MP protected the gang which carried out the brutal murder.
At least three UVF men involved in the killing are police informants. They escaped prosecution in return for continuing to provide information on the UVF.
Mr McCord told the North Belfast News that Ms Mowlam was aware RUC Special Branch officers had given their UVF touts a “licence to kill”.
He insists she refused to take action against them out of fear the paramilitary group would withdraw its support for the peace process.
At the time of the McCord killing intensive all-party talks involving the UVF’s political wing, the PUP, were taking place. These negotiations would eventually lead to the signing of the April 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
“Mo Mowlam knew full well that the Special Branch was covering up UVF murders in order to protect touts in the organisation” said Mr McCord.
“She protected the officers who were giving their informants a licence to kill out of fear of the PUP withdrawing from the talks. It’s disgusting what she got up to.”
Mr McCord revealed a Police Ombudsman report into his son’s murder due to be published in the new year will be highly critical of Ms Mowlam.
The report is also expected to recommend prosecutions against the Special Branch detectives who covered up UVF informant Mark Haddock’s role in a series of crimes over a ten-year period.
“Mowlam will definitely feature in the report, the woman has blood on her hands,” added Mr McCord.
“The question that now needs to be asked is did she brief Tony Blair on what she was doing. If she did then the Prime Minister has to shed some light on this, and if she didn’t then it is clear Mr Blair wasn’t doing his job properly.”
In 1997 a convicted North Belfast UVF killer who was part of the PUP’s talks team was questioned about the murder of Mr McCord Jnr.
Angus Knell, who served a 15-year life sentence for the 1976 murder of Catholic barman Eugene McDonagh, was taken to Gough barracks for questioning by murder squad detectives.
It has since emerged that Ms Mowlam ordered the release of Knell to prevent PUP members withdrawing from the talks.
Mr McCord sees this as another example of Ms Mowlam using political interference to hamper the investigation into his son’s murder.
Ms Mowlam died in August 2005 from a brain tumour. She served as Secretary of State between 1997 and 1999.
In 1998 she held a face to face meeting with loyalist prisoners in the Maze in a bid to convince them to support the peace process.

Irelandclick

Family homeless for Christmas

By Ciarán barnes
North Belfast News
15/12/2006

A seriously-ill Catholic single mum and her three kids will be homeless over Christmas following a series of loyalist attacks on their home.
Mary Lawlor told the North Belfast News she has no other choice but to quit her house at the top of the Oldpark Road after the windows were smashed for the third time last weekend.
The worried mum fears for the safety of her three children, two of whom have been beaten up by loyalists within the last year.
Last week loyalist youths from the Ballysillan area threatened to burn her house to the ground.
Mary is so frightened she insists on her family living in the upstairs bedrooms of their home. They are too scared to even put up a Christmas tree.
Making matters worse is the fact that the Ardoyne-born woman suffers from the crippling Chromes disease.
She is recovering from major surgery and has an open wound which is treated regularly by district nurses who call to her home. At present the mother of three weighs little over six-stone.
Mary says the thought of moving out of her home is “heart-breaking”, but she has no other choice.
“Loyalist youths have attacked my home three times in the last month. It’s breaking my heart moving out of here, I have put thousands into the place, but what choice do I have?
“If I stay and something was to happen to one of my kids I couldn’t live with myself. I have no other option but to go.”
Mary explained that her family has been living in fear for the past year.
“The kids can’t go out in case they are attacked. When my children come home from school I either have to walk with them up the Oldpark Road or speak to them on their mobiles while they walk up to the house,” she added.
Mary has reported the recent attacks to the PSNI. A police spokesman said it was investigating an incident last Sunday in which a brick was thrown through her window.
The Housing Executive said it is doing its best to find Mary a new home.
Sinn Féin councillor Danny Lavery has also been trying to find the Lawlors alternative accommodation.
He said: “I’ve spoken to the Housing Executive and private landlords to try and get the family relocated. I totally condemn the attacks on their home. They should be allowed to live in peace.”

Irelandclick

Setevens’ probe into Diana Spencer’s death is in public domain while collusion report remains hidden

By Damian McCarney
Andersonstown News
19/12/2006

THE BRITISH government has been urged to immediately publish the findings of the John Stevens report into collusion after the former top cop published in full the findings of his investigations into the death of Diana Spencer.
Lord Stevens’ 832 page document, released on Thursday, will form a major part of next year’s inquests into the deaths of the British princess, her boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed and chauffeur Henri Paul, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
Now the widow of Gerard Slane who was gunned down in his Clonard home in September 1988 by UDA gunmen has called on the British government to similarly disclose in full Lord Stevens’ findings into the murders of people in the North in circumstances which suggest collusion by state forces.
Father-of-three Gerard Slane was shot by the loyalist murder gang who were acting on the direction of the Force Research Unit (FRU) through their key UDA agent, Brian Nelson.
Pressure has continued to mount on the British government to call an independent inquiry into the hundreds of murders which occurred in similar circumstances to Mr Slane’s. November’s Oireachtas Committee Report, and the recently published findings of an international panel of jurists that examined collusion in scores of killings in mid-Ulster during the 1970s, both added weight to claims of collusion by state forces. The pending MacEntee report in Dublin and the Police Ombudsman’s report into loyalist killer and Special Branch agent Mark Haddock are likely to further add to the calls for the demands of the bereaved families to be met. “Whilst I and many other families would support fully the rights of these families to know the truth and full facts surrounding the tragic deaths of their loved ones, today’s [Thursday’s] publication nonetheless will leave a bitter taste for hundreds of Irish families affected by collusion which John Stevens also investigated and which the British government still refuses to make public,” said Gerard’s widow, Teresa Slane, speaking from the offices of Relatives for Justice.
“I find it adds insult to injury to me and hundreds of other Irish families. This is a clear case of double standards and one which I interpret as being blatantly discriminatory and racist. The British government is effectively saying that the value of the lives of Diana Spencer, Dodi Al Fayed and Henri Paul are much greater than those of hundreds of people murdered by British state agents placed within loyalist murder gangs.
“I call on them to explain why they have distinguished between the hundreds of lives of those Irish nationals deliberately murdered by the British state and the deaths of three civilians in a Paris car crash. It begs the question: what is the price of the life of an Irish national?”
Teresa further called on John Stevens to meet with her and her family to explaining his failure to brief them on his findings on Gerard’s murder.
“John Stevens concluded his 3,000 page report in April 2003, holding a press conference on April 17 in Belfast’s Europa Hotel. I, along with other relatives and representatives of Relatives for Justice, attempted to attend the press conference but was refused entry even though the report examined the murder of Gerard. This was a particularly difficult and painful rebuttal by Stevens and his team as I stood in a hallway while journalists and others sat behind closed and guarded doors.
“We were effectively treated as wrongdoers yet we were the bereaved relatives. It was contemptible to say the least and in complete contrast to his approach this week in which he has met with the Spencer and Windsor families briefing them on his findings prior to today’s [Thursday’s] publication,” said Teresa.

Sinn Féin

Published: 18 December, 2006

A Sinn Féin delegation including Caitriona Ruane, Mitchel McLaughlin and Michelle Gildernew this morning attended the first session of the roundtable meeting to formulate a Bill of Rights for the north.

Speaking after the meeting Ms Ruane said:

“Today’s meeting is very much the first step along the road of the British government delivering on the Good Friday Agreement commitment to ensure a Bill of Rights is out in place.

“During the recent talks at St. Andrews Sinn Féin made this issue a priority. It is now vital that the next steps are put in place. That means an independent chairperson being appointed to oversee this work and a funded secretariat put in place.

“Sinn Féin will actively participate in this process and we look forward to the other parties doing likewise. A proper rights based society threatens nobody and is a key demand of the Good Friday Agreement which must be delivered.” ENDS

Irish Independent

The Moriarty Tribunal is due to publish its report today into the finances of the late Charles Haughey.

The report will deal with millions of euros in payments received by the former Taoiseach between 1979 and 1996 from various identified and unidentified sources.

It is expected to draw a link between a £50,000 payment he received from a wealthy Saudi sheikh in 1985 and his support for Irish passport applications from a number of Middle Eastern nationals.

However, reports this morning say the tribunal has been unable to identify any other significant favours received by any of the known donors.

Elsewhere, the tribunal is expected to conclude that Mr Haughey used money from the Fianna Fail party leader’s account and from Brian Lenihan’s medical treatment fund for his own personal gain.

The consequences for Mr Haughey’s family could be significant because the report is expected to find that the former Taoiseach was unco-operative, meaning the tribunal could recoup some legal costs from his estate.

BN.ie

19/12/2006 - 11:50:45

Two IRA members jailed for killing Detective Garda Jerry McCabe today lost their bid for freedom.

Pearse McAuley and Jeremiah Sheehy, who are serving 14 and 12 years respectively for the manslaughter of the senior policeman, had claimed the detention breached their human rights.

Legal teams for the men also argued the British government’s refusal to release them breached their rights under the Constitution, the Belfast Agreement and the European Convention on Human Rights.

McAuley, originally from Strabane, Co Tyrone, and Sheehy, from Limerick, pleaded guilty at the non-jury Special Criminal Court to the manslaughter of Det. Gda McCabe during an attempted robbery outside Adare Post Office in June 1996.

They pleaded guilty at a non-jury special criminal court in 1999.

Mr Justice Daniel Herbert, sitting in Dublin’s High Court, dismissed their application and ruled the detention was not discrimination.

Derry Journal

DUP politicians have defended their decision not to attend the Mayor’s ‘Time of Reflection’ service on Sunday afternoon and have said they see “no reason” for it.

By Stephen Emerson
19 December 2006

The event was held in the Guildhall and was, according to Mayor Helen Quigley, aimed at bringing the whole city together in an attempt to “move forward through reconciliation”.
DUP members said the annual event, first organised when Sinn Fein’s Gearoid O’Hara was Mayor two years ago, was an attempt by republicans to circumvent Remembrance Sunday.
Deputy Mayor Drew Thompson said he saw no reason for the service to exist.
“Our position is very clear. We recognise the 11th of November as the day of remembrance and reflection for anyone who wants to remember a loved one who has been murdered or killed. We cannot be part of something that holds murderers in the same vein as the murdered. We cannot let widows stand beside the person who killed their husband.”
East Derry MP Gregory Campbell said DUP members would not attend the event until it was clear who was being remembered.
Issue
“The issue is not whether people are prepared to go to go to an event run by a Sinn Fein or an SDLP mayor. That is not the issue. What I want to know is who the event is commemorating. Killers should not be remembered beside those were killed. If innocent victims are being remembered alongside those who made them innocent victims then we will not be going, not this year, next year or any other year.
“This is a clear problem that needs to be addressed but at the moment no one is prepared to address it,” he said.
Mayor Helen Quigley said the format of the service had been changed this year to be more “inclusive”.
“By creating an opportunity for reflection and reconciliation in a neutral space, I afforded an opportunity not only to look back but to look forward on the theme of reconciliation, which was particularly fitting at this time of year.
“I look forward to a future where the people of the city can live, work and socialise together and where the city truly embraces all of its citizens and where all its people are at ease with one another.”

Derry Journal

DISSIDENT REPUBLICANS are to step up the pressure on Sinn Fein on policing with meetings in Derry and Strabane early in the New Year.

by Ian Cullen
19 December 2006

Hardline republicans - who organised a “well attended” public debate in Toomebridge on Thursday last to discuss the issue - have anounced that a series of meetings are to take place across the North.
A 12-strong ‘focus group’ is organising the meetings in an attempt to highlight what it regards as a Sinn Fein “sell-out”. The ‘focus group’ is made up of representatives of the IRSP, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, (the political wings of the INLA and Real IRA respectively) independent republicans and what are being described as “disillusioned Sinn Fein members”.
Willie Gallagher, a Strabane-based IRSP representative on the group, said a number of items will be up for discussion at the gatherings, with Sinn Fein’s proposals for policing at the top of the agenda.
“Republicans in all areas are crying out for meetings on the issue. It’s been suggested that after Christmas there’ll be public meetings in East Tyrone, then possibly Derry City and then Strabane.Last Thursday’s meeting in Toombridge was very well attended by around 200 to 250 people.”
He said the group met in Belfast recently to get the ball rolling in terms of opposition to Sinn Fein’s proposed move.
“Afterwards we were approached by a lot of people, including Sinn Fein members, demanding similar debates around the country. We were told Sinn Fein is having private meetings on policing but they are geared towards the yes men. It is a closed shop.”
Mr. Gallagher has also confirmed that the group is considering mounting political opposition to Sinn Fein by supporting independent candidates in marginal constituencies if Assembly elections are called on March 7.
“We condemn Sinn Fein’s plans outright. We believe it’s a simple quid pro quo for going into power with the DUP. It seems they’re not living in the real world at all. You can’t negotiate away political policing within a partitionist system,” he said.
However, Mr. Gallagher has condemned recent reported threats against Sinn Fein leaders.

BN.ie

19/12/2006 - 11:27:16

The Government has announced plans to draw up a new 20-year strategy to promote the Irish language.

The initiative aims to develop and facilitate the public’s right to use Irish in every-day dealings with the State.

The Government says a wide range of new services will be made available to parents who wish to raise their children as Irish-speakers.

It also says Irish will remain a compulsory subject in all schools up to Leaving Cert level, while more money will be invested in training Irish teachers and providing text books.

Work on preparing the strategy is expected to be completed in two years’ time.

BN.ie

19/12/2006 - 10:22:17

The British government was tonight warned any attempt to ease pressure on Sinn Féin over the transfer of policing and justice powers will end in failure.

As behind-the-scenes efforts continued to persuade Sinn Féin to call a meeting of its national executive to debate whether to have a special conference on policing, Democratic Unionist MP Nigel Dodds claimed Gerry Adams’s party was boxed into a corner on the issue.

The North Belfast MP also warned republicans his party would give no date for the transfer of powers until Sinn Féin had publicly endorsed the Police Service of Northern Ireland and proven its words were for real.

“The DUP has made it clear time and time again that we will not be giving any date for the devolution of policing and justice powers,” Mr Dodds stressed.

“With Sinn Féin now increasingly boxed into a corner on this issue, the or government will no doubt be trying to ease the pressure on them. Such a strategy is doomed to failure.

“It is for Sinn Féin and the Republican Movement to deliver full and unequivocal support for the PSNI, the courts and the rule of law, and to prove it over a credible period.

“There is nothing required to be done by the DUP except to await delivery by Sinn Féin.”

Republican support for policing is seen as being the key ingredient of prime minister Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s plan to restore power sharing.

With the DUP leader, Ian Paisley, indicating he will share power with Sinn Féin in the event of it honouring its obligations, focus has switched to Gerry Adams’s party.

Sinn Féin is the only one of the four parties who would qualify for cabinet posts in a power sharing executive which refuses to publicly support the PSNI or encourage its voters to co-operate with police investigations.

Both governments believe the prize of Sinn Féin support for policing is within their grasp.

However, if Gerry Adams’s party is to the change its policy on the PSNI, he will first have to call a meeting of his national executive and secure two thirds backing for a special party conference on the issue.

Mr Adams and Sinn Féin’s policing spokesman Gerry Kelly, who have both received police warnings that they are being targeted by dissident republicans, have warned the party needs a date from the DUP for the devolution of policing and justice from Westminster to Stormont before they can change policy.

They also want agreement from the DUP on the type of government department that will handle justice and policing powers and assurances that MI5 will have no future role in policing.

The DUP insists Sinn Féin must move first, endorsing the PSNI and then demonstrating its support for the police on the ground before the devolution of policing and justice can be contemplated. Time is running out fast for political progress within the timetable set by Mr Blair and Mr Ahern.

With the Northern Ireland Assembly due to be dissolved on January 30 to prepare for a fresh Stormont election on March 7, it is believed in some political circles Mr Adams will have to call a meeting of his national executive and the special party conference next month if deadlines are to be met.

Sinn Féin has rejected a DUP proposal to break the deadlock which suggested the Minister for Policing and Justice could be selected by a different method from other devolved ministers.

Instead of being allocated the ministry under the D’Hondt system for sharing out cabinet posts according to party strength at Stormont, the DUP proposed the minister would have to receive 70% or more support in an Assembly vote.

This, the party argued, would guarantee the minister had the support of both communities and could mean a cross community Alliance Party candidate could put his or her name forward along with the DUP, Sinn Féin, Ulster Unionists and nationalist SDLP hopefuls.

Sinn Féin, the SDLP and Ulster Unionists rejected the proposal which was put to them at a meeting of the Stormont Programme for Government Committee’s policing and justice sub-group last Thursday.

They argued if the 70% model were adopted it would mean the minister would effectively be at the mercy of the DUP within the Assembly.

The three parties also dismissed DUP suggestions that the minister would not have a vote in cabinet meetings.

It is understood in a bid to break the impasse the government has also sounded out the SDLP about choosing the policing and justice portfolio as one of its two devolved ministries on the basis that this would be more acceptable to the DUP than a Sinn Féin minister and would allow the transfer of powers to take place.

Mr Dodds said tonight after all years of bloodshed and violence inflicted by the IRA, there was no question his party would allow Sinn Féin to immediately have control or influence over policing and justice.

“Having consigned generations of people in Northern Ireland to the deepest nightmare of violence and terror, Sinn Féin cannot complain when unionists say rightly that it will be a political lifetime before such people could ever have control or influence over policing and justice,” the former Stormont Social Development Minister said.

“Unionists will examine any proposals for devolution of policing and justice in this light to ensure this does not happen.

“Sinn Féin’s ludicrous assertion that it must be given a timetable for political devolution of policing and justice powers before agreeing to support the police is not supported by any other party. It is time its hypocrisy was exposed.”

BBC

A coroner has paid tribute to the bravery of murdered Sunday World journalist Martin O’Hagan.

Mr O’Hagan was known for his stories on paramilitaries and drug-dealers

Mr O’Hagan, 51, was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries as he walked home from a pub in Lurgan, County Armagh with his wife in September 2001.

Mr John Lecky said he was satisfied Mr O’Hagan was murdered because he had been investigating loyalists who were dealing drugs in the mid-Ulster area.

No-one has ever been charged with the killing.

At the time, the murder was claimed by the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used by both the Loyalist Volunteer Force and the Ulster Defence Association.

Mr O’Hagan had built a reputation for paramilitary and drug-dealing stories.

He had infuriated County Armagh paramilitary bosses, including murdered LVF leader Billy Wright, by exposing their crime and drugs rackets.

Earlier on Tuesday, Northern editor of the Sunday World Jim McDowell said it was time the murderers were caught.

Ombudsman inquiry

“There are an awful lot of theories about collusion. Martin O’Hagan was murdered because of a vendetta from the grave.

“Billy Wright, the founder of the LVF, left instructions that whatever happened to him was to happen to Martin O’Hagan. So his henchmen carried out that murder. That’s my understanding of it.”

He added: The mechanism is there now in the Historical Inquiries Team to take a fresh look at that, get the file, look at the case and go after the murderers of Martin O’Hagan and bring them to justice, five and a quarter years down the line.”

Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan has been asked to investigate the police inquiry.

The National Union of Journalists made the request after lobbying for renewed action on the case.

Mr O’Hagan left behind a wife, Marie, and four daughters.

BBC

The government has announced plans to allow bookmakers and bingo halls in Northern Ireland to open on Sundays.

Bookmakers’ offices will be able to open on Sundays

Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom where these premises have to close on Sundays.

The changes would allow bookmakers’ offices to open between 1030 GMT and 1830 GMT and bingo clubs to open between 1400 GMT and 2300 GMT.

There are also plans for new employment rights to protect staff who do not want to work on Sundays.

Members of the public and interested parties have 14 weeks to respond to the proposals.

Proceed

If the government then decides to proceed, the new law could be introduced in 2008.

However, if the Stormont assembly is restored, it could decide not to implement the proposed changes.

Minister for Social Development David Hanson MP stressed that the “changes are only proposals at this stage”.

“Some betting and bingo club workers may not wish to work on a Sunday,” he said.

He said any relaxation of the Sunday restrictions would be accompanied by “important new employment rights for such workers”.

“I wish to ensure that all those interested will have an opportunity to comment and I encourage them to do so,” Mr Hanson said.

“I am inviting comments from a wide spectrum of opinion to ensure any decisions taken are well-informed on all of the issues highlighted in the consultation period.”

BBC

The Omagh bomb trial has been told that telephoned warnings ahead of the explosion which killed 29 people were deliberately vague and misleading.

Prosecution lawyers were responding to an attempt by the defence to have the case against Sean Hoey thrown out.

Mr Hoey, 37, of Jonesborough, County Armagh, denies 58 charges, including the 29 murders in Omagh in August 1998.

The prosecution claimed that he had made the bomb timers, and that the bombers meant to kill.

Prosecution QC Gordon Kerr told trial judge Mr Justice Weir that the warnings given about the Omagh bombing were vague, misleading, inaccurate and wrong, unlike the warnings given for other bombings in Lisburn, Armagh, Newry and Banbridge in 1998.

Mr Kerr said there was a “callous and blatant disregard for the consequences of the explosion”.

The prosecution claim there is also fibre evidence and alleged patterns between the bombings.

The sensitive form of DNA being used in this trial has been called the foundation stone of their case, but its reliability has been consistently under scrutiny.

The prosecution are expected to complete their submission on Tuesday.