SAOIRSE32

BBC

Attacks on Orange halls are intended to “breed strife and division”, a senior clergyman has said.

Robert Saulters and Drew Nelson at the protest

Methodist President Rev Roy Cooper said the attackers were “out of step with the vast majority of the community”.

More than 200 Orangemen protested outside Hillsborough Castle on Monday evening following a spate of attacks.

The number of successful prosecutions for attacks on halls is just 0.8% - the lowest for any crime in Northern Ireland, the Orange Order has claimed.

But the Northern Ireland Office said it took the matter very seriously and had met the Order to discuss a way forward.

An Orange hall was attacked in Crumlin

Grand Master Robert Saulters told the crowd at Monday’s protest that good relations with the government were being severely damaged.

The Orange Order said more than 30 of its buildings have been attacked in the past year.

“These ongoing attacks and the absence of an adequate government response to them has led the institution to doubt what practical benefits the St Andrew’s Agreement and the establishment of a devolved Assembly have brought to our community,” Mr Saulters said.

‘Stirring division’

In a statement, the NIO said a number of meetings had been held with the order.

A spokesman said that Security Minister Paul Goggins visited one of the halls which had been attacked and met police and Orange Order representatives on Monday. Further meetings were planned, he said.

First Minister Ian Paisley said he and Mr Goggins had talked about the need to streamline the compensation process for damaged halls.

The attackers were “intent on stirring up sectarian division” but were “a minority within Northern Ireland who have a deep-seated hatred for all things Protestant”, he said.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said: “Such attacks are motivated by sectarianism and have no place in this society.”

He was speaking on Monday after a third Orange Hall was attacked over the weekend.

BBC

Loyalists have been accused of burgling a state primary school four times in the past month since a visit by Education Minister Caitriona Ruane.

The Sinn Fein assembly member had visited Millburn County Primary School in Coleraine to discuss a new building.

Principal John Platt said the school is in a “staunchly unionist community” and “a couple of individuals not terribly keen on change” were responsible.

He said he expected four stolen laptops to be returned within days.

The issue has been resolved by community leaders, he said.

“I was 100% certain her visit would cause problems, but if you set out trying to please everybody you shouldn’t be leading a school,” he said.

“Being a staunchly Protestant school, it was a big step for her to come here as well.

“Community leaders also made a big effort - flags were removed from around the school.”

He said the attackers wanted to “send a message that we can make life difficult for you”, but he was pleased it had been sorted out.

Belfast Telegraph

By Claire McNeilly
Monday, December 17, 2007

The family of the owner of the pub involved in one of the biggest atrocities of the Troubles today paid tribute to their father’s capacity for forgiveness.

Patrick McGurk (86), from Belfast, who died on Saturday, lost his wife Philomena and 14-year-old daughter Maria when a loyalist bomb went off in the family bar in December 1971.

The explosion at the Tramore Bar at North Queen Street - which was better known as McGurk’s - claimed 15 lives in total and left dozens injured.

Shortly after the atrocity, Mr McGurk appeared on television calling for no retaliation.

“It doesn’t matter who planted the bomb,” he said.

“What’s done can’t be undone. I’ve been trying to keep bitterness out of it.”

Mr McGurk’s family today said they believed he would be remembered as a quiet man who forgave those who took his loved ones prematurely from him.

Sunday Life journalist John McGurk - who was just 10 years old when he was injured in the bomb - was in the sitting room above the pub, playing table football with his brother, Gerard, and his friends when it went off.

“My father never seemed to dwell on what happened - he just got on with life,” he said.

BBC

17 Monday 2007

The judge in the Omagh bomb trial has said he will deliver his verdict on Thursday.

Twenty-nine people died in the Omagh bombing

Sean Hoey, 38, from Jonesborough, County Armagh denies a total of 56 charges, including the murders of 29 people killed in the 1998 bombing.

His trial at Belfast Crown Court lasted for 56 days and ended in January.

The prosecution case against Mr Hoey hinges on DNA evidence, but this has been robustly challenged by his defence team who believe it is unreliable.

BBC

17 December 2007

Patrick McGurk, the owner of McGurk’s bar where 15 people were killed by a UVF bomb in 1971, has died.

The devastation left at McGurk’s bar

He was 86 years old. His wife and his 14-year-old daughter were among those killed in the north Belfast bomb.

Fifteen people, including two children and three women died in what was one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles.

The theory that the explosion in the Catholic bar was caused by the IRA added to the pain felt by the bereaved. In 1977, a UVF man confessed to it.

The driver of the getaway car admitted his part in the attack and it became clear that it was carried out by loyalist paramilitaries, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

The driver received 15 life sentences and remains the only person ever to have been convicted in relation to the explosion.

Mr McGurk and his three sons were also injured in the blast.

A memorial was unveiled on the Queen Street site of the bar in 2001 to mark the 30th anniversary of the bombing.

Mr McGurk forgave those responsible for the explosion and prayed for the men who carried out the atrocity.