SAOIRSE32

Belfast Telegraph

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness are clear in their message that a peaceful Northern Ireland is open for business, but the first day of their week-long visit had little impact in the US media.

The joint leaders of the power sharing executive are spending the New York leg of their trip to the United States in a series of closed talks with leading business and political figures in the city.

The First and Deputy First Ministers secured a promise from the city’s mayor Michael Bloomberg that he would visit Ulster following an economic conference there next year, but their first joint trip overseas went virtually unnoticed by the city’s media.

New York City’s daily newspapers offered no coverage, but the Associated Press news agency noted: “The men were bitter enemies for years but have been running Northern Ireland’s cabinet together since May.'’

The two MPs are in the US to promote Northern Ireland’s local economy and the upcoming economic conference which is to be held in Belfast next May.

Yesterday they met financial service executives on a visit to the New York Stock Exchange.

The Washington leg of the trip will see the political leaders on Capitol Hill for discussions with leading members of the Senate and Congress.

They will also have meetings with US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and the head of the National Security Council Steve Hadley.

They also plan to meet US President George Bush at the White House on Friday.

BBC

3 December 2007

Sinn Fein assembly member Gerry McHugh has resigned from the party over the direction he feels it has taken.

Mr McHugh will still sit in the assembly as an independent

The Fermanagh/South Tyrone MLA told a local newspaper he had become disillusioned with “the undemocratic nature of the party”.

Mr McHugh will still sit in the Northern Ireland Assembly as an independent.

Sinn Fein has said it is disappointed with the decision and was not aware of any problems.

‘Well aware of policies’

In a statement to the Irish News, Mr McHugh said Sinn Fein had become “overly controlling of members”.

“I have become increasingly disillusioned with the totally undemocratic nature of the party and the totally top-down dictation within it,” he said.

“I feel the direction Sinn Fein is taking is more about appeasement of the British government and administrating British rule in Ireland rather than working towards the end of British occupation.”

Sinn Fein assembly group leader John O’Dowd questioned why Mr McHugh failed to raise issues of concern within the party.

“Obviously it disappointing that Gerry did not raise any of the issues he is claiming led to his resignation within the assembly team prior to going public with his decision,” he said.

“Gerry has been a member of the party for a number of years and is well aware of our policies in relation to issues such as policing.

“Our special ard fheis was held months before he allowed his name to go forward as a Sinn Fein candidate in the assembly elections.

“It was on this basis that Gerry McHugh was elected.”

BBC

4 December 2007

Top secret reports into an alleged police ’shoot-to-kill’ policy more than 20 years ago are to be opened to Northern Ireland’s chief coroner.

Three IRA men were shot dead at a checkpoint by police in Lurgan in 1982

John Leckey said Chief Constable Hugh Orde had granted him access to confidential reports compiled by John Stalker and Sir Colin Sampson.

He is currently undertaking a preliminary hearing into seven controversial killings.

The reports’ details cannot be disclosed without Mr Orde’s go-ahead.

Mr Leckey is conducting inquests into the deaths of five republicans and a Catholic teenager in 1982, and an IRA member 10 years later, where it is claimed the police operated a shoot to kill policy.

IRA men Eugene Toman, Gervaise McKerr and John Burns were shot dead near Lurgan, County Armagh, by the Royal Ulster Constabulary in November 1982.

The killings provoked huge controversy and Mr Stalker was brought in to investigate.

However, his report was never published and earlier inquests into the killings were abandoned.

Secure location

In his preliminary hearing, Mr Leckey is also examining the killing of Catholic teenager Michael Tighe, shot dead at a hayshed near Craigavon the same month.

The other killings being re-examined are those of INLA suspects Seamus Grew and Roddy Carroll, who were shot dead near Armagh in December 1982 after being followed across the border by a police surveillance unit.

Mr Leckey is also looking at the death of Pearse Jordan, 23, an IRA man from the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast, who was shot dead by the RUC in disputed circumstances after a car collision on the Falls Road on 25 November 1992.

Mr Leckey will have to travel to a secure location to read the Stalker and Sampson reports.

He will not be able to share the details with anyone else - including lawyers representing the dead men’s families - without the agreement of the chief constable.

The police could decide whether to apply for public interest immunity (PII) certificates which would prevent some of the material being made public.

‘Positive development’

Tommy Carroll, brother of one of the dead men, said: “We would consider this announcement to be a very positive development after all these years - it didn’t have to take this long.

“I would hope the chief constable and secretary of state don’t go down the road of issuing PII certificates.

“It is now 25 years on and the situation has changed.”

Mark Thompson, of Relatives for Justice, considered the development important and he too cautioned the chief constable about trying to cover up information.

He said: “We are in a new dispensation, a new era. Twenty-five years have passed and the shootings need to be examined in an open and unhindered way.”

Sinn Fein assembly member John O’Dowd said the decision was “an important step forward for the families”.

“For justice to be achieved, the very minimum requirement is for the legal team representing the families to now be given access to the report,” he said.