SAOIRSE32

BBC

The family of three brothers murdered 31 years ago have received an apology for their treatment at the hands of some members of the security forces.

Eugene Reavey said police had now spoken to his mother

Catholic brothers John Martin, Brian and Anthony Reavey were shot a day before the 1976 Kingsmills Massacre.

Their brother, Eugene, said the Historical Enquiries Team Director, David Cox, had accepted that none of his brothers were in the IRA.

He said he had shown regret for the harassment his family later endured.

The brothers, aged 24, 22 and 17, were shot dead in their home at Whitecross in south Armagh by the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in January of 1976.

Mr Reavey said that after the murders there had been a “whispering campaign” that his brothers were in the IRA and that no-one from the authorities had ever talked to his mother about the killings.

“They apologised for no-one from the government or the police ever going to see her (his mother).

“Secondly he apologised to her for harassment by the Army, and thirdly he said to her that there was no credible evidence anywhere to suggest that her sons were members of the IRA or any other illegal activity.

“They were completely innocent victims.”

The day after the Reavey brothers were killed, 10 Protestant workmen were murdered by the IRA at Kingsmills in south Armagh. Two people survived the attack.

More than 3,000 unsolved murders of the Troubles are being re-examined by the Historical Enquiries Team.

BBC

Packages found in cemeteries in County Tyrone contained 19 bullets, the area’s Sinn Fein MP Pat Doherty has said.

Two bundles with the bullets, which also contained photographs, were found. one in Newtownstewart and one in Killyclogher near Omagh.

The 19 bullets equal one for each of the elected representatives Sinn Fein has in West Tyrone.

Mr Doherty said he was not scared by the threats, aimed at unnerving party members during the policing debate.

“This was clearly designed to unnerve Sinn Fein and Sinn Fein representatives in this current debate we’re having on policing - it won’t work we’ve been through a lot worse,” he said.

“We’re very aware that this could have come from any amount of facets of society here and we’re not saying because we don’t know who was involved in this.”

In December, police reportedly warned Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams and Gerry Kelly about dissident republican threats.

Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde said the threats to the Sinn Fein leadership were “very real”.

Republican sources said the threats to senior party members came from disaffected IRA members who left the organisation in recent months.

:::u.tv:::

THURSDAY 18/01/2007 11:46:48

A plan to cut more than 1,000 police officers in Northern Ireland is facing fierce criticism from the Police Federation.

It says the move would reduce the level of service to dangerously unacceptable levels.

And it is warning that dissident republicans could mount a fresh series of attacks in the wake of the cuts.

The recommendation was made by Her Majesty`s Inspectorate of Constabulary as part of a value for money review and would be introduced after 2011.

It would see policing levels fall from 13,000 at the height of the Troubles to just over 6,000.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland says the cuts will only go ahead if the chief constable agrees.

International Herald Tribune

The Associated Press
Published: January 18, 2007

DUBLIN, Ireland: Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said Thursday he wants to meet with the commanders of three anti-British paramilitary groups and persuade them to abandon violence and disarm, the path already taken by most Irish Republican Army members.

Adams, who long defended IRA bloodshed and destruction as necessary to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom, is about to face one of his greatest political challenges — persuading members of his IRA-linked party to accept the police force in the British territory.

Adams said a 14-year-old peace process had opened up unprecedented opportunities for Northern Ireland’s Catholic minority to achieve its hope of uniting with the Republic of Ireland peacefully. He said this meant Catholics should start working with police and IRA dissidents should give up.

Adams said he wanted to meet the leaders of three splinter groups that reject the IRA’s 2005 decision to renounce violence and surrender its weapons stockpiles. Two of these groups — the Real IRA and Continuity IRA — continue to mount attacks in Northern Ireland, while the Irish National Liberation Army has observed a cease-fire since 1998 but refuses to disarm.

Adams said he wanted to meet with the groups to brief them on developments “and impress upon them my belief that the current Sinn Fein strategy is the best way forward for our community and for the wider (Irish) republican struggle.”

“The goal of a united Ireland remains absolute, but the means by which it can be achieved no longer needs to involve armed action,” he said.

“The conditions which in the past led to republican armed actions have fundamentally changed. Armed struggle was never a republican principle. It was an option of last resort in the absence of any other alternative. But there is now an alternative. There is a peaceful way to achieve political change, equality, justice and ultimately Irish freedom.”

Adams’ 23-year term as Sinn Fein leader faces a severe test Jan. 28 when he convenes the 2,000-strong party grass roots to vote on opening normal relations with the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Before then, Adams and his closest party allies plan to lead public debates in Sinn Fein strongholds throughout Northern Ireland starting Saturday.

But the step runs the risk of splitting Adams’ party and fueling support for the dissidents, who have demonstrated no political support to date. Two of Sinn Fein’s 24 members in the Northern Ireland Assembly already have resigned from the party in protest at the move to abandon its decades-old hostility to the province’s police.

At stake is the revival of power-sharing, the central goal of the Good Friday peace pact of 1998. The major Protestant party, the Democratic Unionists, says it will not form an administration alongside Sinn Fein unless Adams can get his party to embrace law and order in Northern Ireland as part of the deal.

Britain which wants to hand over control of Northern Ireland’s government to a power-sharing coalition, has set a series of deadlines for both sides to meet.

It expects Sinn Fein to vote to begin cooperating with the police, after which the Northern Ireland Assembly — a 108-member body with the power to elect an administration — would be dissolved Jan. 30 for an election campaign.

Following a March 7 election, the new assembly would appoint a 12-member administration March 14. Britain would transfer control of 13 government departments March 26. But if the Democratic Unionists refused to sit in a Cabinet alongside Sinn Fein by that date, Britain would dissolve the assembly the next day.

:::u.tv:::

WEDNESDAY 17/01/2007 17:10:37

Lawyers representing the families of two IRA men shot dead by the security forces in controversial circumstances have gone to the House of Lords to challenge the manner in which the inquests into their deaths will proceed.

By:Press Association

Pearse Jordan was shot dead by an RUC officer after the stolen car he was driving was involved in a collision with an police vehicle on Belfast`s Falls Road in 1992.

Martin McCaughey was shot dead near Loughgall, Co Armagh by an undercover SAS unit two years earlier.

Jordan`s father Hugh, who successfully took the government to the European Court of Human Rights in 2001 for a breach of the government`s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, is seeking to secure changes to the inquests system to permit a jury in Northern Ireland to return a verdict of unlawful killing.

McCaughey`s father Owen is seeking to compel the Chief Constable to produce key documents including intelligence reports relevant to the death of his son and the report of the RUC`s investigating officer.

In January 2002 Northern Ireland High Court Judge, Mr Justice Weatherup ordered the disclosure of the documents, however the Chief Constable successfully appealed the ruling in January 2005.

Peter Madden of Madden and Finucane, who is solicitor for both families, said: “The decision of the House of Lords will have profound implications for the manner in which inquests shall be conducted by coroners in Northern Ireland.”

He said previous judicial challenges his firm had taken had secured amendments to the Coroner`s Rules which now compel those members of the security forces responsible for the use of lethal force to appear at inquests and be subject to cross examination by lawyers for the family.

“We hope that the outcome of these further challenges will enable the families to have access to all relevant documents and permit the jury to return a verdict of excessive force and unlawful killing, in protection of the families` legitimate interests, the public interest and in a manner which is compatible with Article 2 of the European Convention - the right to life,” said Mr Madden.

The Jordan killing sparked controversy after witnesses claimed he was shot several times in the back by an unnamed RUC Sergeant while trying to run away after his stolen car was rammed by a police vehicle.

McCaughey was allegedly unarmed when he and fellow IRA man Dessie Grew were shot by the SAS as they walked towards a barn where weapons were stored.

The killing raised fresh allegations of a shoot-to-kill policy being operated as McCaughey was said to be a “marked man” after being wounded in a shoot out with soldiers earlier in the same year and escaping across the border where he was still undergoing treatment at the time of his death.

:::u.tv:::

THURSDAY 18/01/2007 12:02:23

Arounds 3,000 homes in Northern Ireland are without power because of the increasingly high winds.

The gales have brought down cables, affecting electricity supplies in Omagh, Enniskillen, Armagh, Ballymena and Ballyclare.

Meanwhile motorists are being asked to take extra care on the roads as the country braces itself for more storms.

The Foyle Bridge in Derry is already closed to high-sided vehicles.

Many lorry drivers, though, are still choosing to cross the bridge despite a new system of illuminated warning signs. Police in the city have advised anyone in a high-sided vehicle to obey the signs.

All areas, meanwhile, will experience high winds later today. Forecasters are warning of gales and heavy rain in the afternoon. The weather should ease by night-time.