SAOIRSE32

Michael Brennan
Independent.ie
11 June 2008

SINN Fein leader Gerry Adams has attacked Taoiseach Brian Cowen for trying to “foist” a treaty on the electorate which he hadn’t even read.

He insisted that it would be possible for the Government to renegotiate the Lisbon Treaty and get a “better deal” for the people of this island.

“Just remember, Government ministers including the Taoiseach, admitted they hadn’t even read the treaty. So look at that in terms of arrogance and in terms of trying to foist this on people,” he said.

Although Mr Cowen has confirmed he has not read the treaty, he said this was because he had negotiated it line by line and knew exactly what was in it.

Mr Adams was due to speak outside the GPO on O’Connell Street yesterday but ironically was forced to move further up the street due to the number of noisy ‘No’ groups canvassing there.

By David Young
Independent.ie
Wednesday June 11 2008

President Mary McAleese ran the gauntlet of a crowd of loyalists shouting sectarian abuse yesterday as she visited a primary school in the North.

Protesters swore and jeered at the President and her husband Dr Martin McAleese as they arrived at Millburn Primary in Coleraine.

Carrying placards and waving Union flags, some of the 50 strong group of demonstrators yelled “No surrender”, “F*** off home republican scum”, and “We don’t want you here” as the presidential convoy drove through the gates.

The protesters said Mrs McAleese was not welcome because of controversial comments she made three years ago when she compared Protestant attitudes to Catholics during the Troubles as akin to the situation in Nazi Germany before the Second World War. The President subsequently apologised for any offence caused by her remarks.

They also claimed the school did not properly consult with the local community about her visit. Mrs McAleese was invited to the school, which sits in the heart of a broadly unionist estate, to see first-hand innovative early years teaching techniques imported from Finland.

John Moffat, a protester and member of the local residents’ association, said the community was showing its distaste at the president’s presence.

“This is not only a protest about the president’s visit, but also at the way the school has handled things. There were the Nazi comments, and it has also been claimed that the Queen wouldn’t be able to visit the Irish Republic until policing and justice were devolved, yet she can come up here without any pre-conditions.”

Millburn Primary School accommodates 420 pupils. A Union flag flies in the grounds and Northern Ireland flags adorn lampposts all around it.

Headmaster John Platt said the protesters represented a very small minority and claimed the vast majority in the area supported the president’s visit.

“There are probably about 40 or 50 people out there today and I was told there would be thousands,” he said. “There are around 75,000 people in the wider area around the school — if I have 74,950 people on our side then that will do for me.”

Mr Platt said some people had contacted him claiming loyalist paramilitary elements were involved in the opposition. However, he said he had since been assured by the organisations that they were not involved.

“It has obviously been a worrying time,” he said. “I haven’t had much sleep over the last fortnight, but I am sure the vast majority of people support us.”

Building

Mr Platt also rejected claims he or anyone else in the school had called protesters bigots.

“I can be absolutely clear the word bigot was not used by me or anyone else at the school.”

Some of the protesters had held up banners suggesting that the Irish Government was poised to fund a new school building at Millburn. But Mr Platt said this was not the case as all funding for the school came from the Northern Ireland Department of Education.

After her visit, at her next engagement at a nearby nursing home, Mrs McAleese refused to comment when asked directly for her reaction to the protest at Millburn.

- David Young

Patrick Wintour and Vikram Dodd
Guardian
Wednesday June 11 2008

· Ministers optimistic after ‘offer of £200m for Ulster’
· Rebel MPs admit they do not have enough support

Ministers are increasingly optimistic that the government will win today’s vote on pre-charge detention for up to 42 days with the support of the nine Democratic Unionists MPs, following negotiations to strengthen the finances of the Northern Ireland executive.

Mohammad Sarwar, Labour MP for Glasgow Govan, has also decided to back the government after he was given an undertaking that anyone locked up for as long as 42 days and then released without charge would receive compensation on a day-by-day basis.

If the nine DUP MPs vote with the government, defeat would require around 50 Labour MPs to rebel and that seems unlikely.

A leading opponent of the measure said: “I fear the DUP is going to be decisive. It is remarkable we have done as well as we have, given all we have is the power of argument.” The Labour rebellion is thought to number in the mid-30s.

A DUP source said the MPs would meet to decide how to vote at lunchtime today, and would hold one further meeting with ministers.

The DUP insists it will make a decision based on principles, but is also seeking concessions on retaining water charge revenues, which are scheduled to be phased in over two years.

There was speculation at Westminster last night that up to £200m has been placed on the table for Northern Ireland.

Next year the average additional burden for households is predicted to be £160, rising to £250 in 2010. The calculations will take account of the contribution households already make towards water services through rates.

Victory in today’s vote would give Gordon Brown some breathing space to rebuild his political authority with two important summits abroad, a visit to the Middle East and a series of announcements on crime, immigration and constitutional reform to take him into the summer holidays.

Ministers continued to claim the vote would be tight, but their demeanour did not suggest a government about to suffer a big defeat.

Opponents of 42-day detention challenged claims that recent cases had shown a need to keep terrorist suspects for longer than the current limit of 28 days.

In a letter to the joint select committee on human rights, Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, said “no suspect has been held for more than 14 days” since the power to detain for up to 28 days was renewed almost a year ago.

Liberty, the civil rights group, also accused the government of exaggerating its case for extension after claiming that suspects in the most complex terrorism plots uncovered so far were charged well within the current 28 days maximum. It said senior ministers had repeatedly claimed the case for the 28-day limit was under strain.

The new row surrounds two suspects in a case, cited last week by David Miliband, the foreign secretary, that has yet to come to trial. The suspects were charged after 27 and 28 days in detention. Liberty said that its analysis showed that the key evidence used to charge the two suspects emerged after they were detained for four and 12 days respectively.

It was also claimed that in their final fortnight in detention police questioning lasted no more than 16 minutes a day.

Tony McNulty, Home Office minister, broke ranks yesterday to say he expected the vote to be won. He suggested the new laws might never be used, in contrast to Smith who last week suggested the law might be needed in the wake of the first big bomb plot.

With the vote seen as vital to Brown’s authority, his supporters have started to rally behind their leader, and frequent rebels on other issues such as Jon Trickett and Jon Cruddas are going to vote with the government, forcing other Labour rebels to fall back on a relatively tight circle.

Two of the 53 Labour rebels on 90 days, Joan Ruddock and Sadiq Khan, are backing the government, and a third, Gwyneth Dunwoody, has died. A fourth, Tony Lloyd, has been elected chairman of the parliamentary party.

If all the opposition MPs line up against the measure, something that is unlikely, it requires only 34 Labour MPs to vote against the bill for the government to lose. But if the nine Democratic Unionists were to abstain that would add nine to the government’s majority, meaning that 43 Labour MPs would have to vote against to defeat the government.

In frantic last minute lobbying the Muslim Council of Britain, the main Muslim umbrella body in the UK, came out against the extension to 42 days, saying: “We do not believe that the government has made a convincing case for extending the pre-charge detention period from 28 days to 42 days. We are very concerned about the negative impact that this proposed legislation could have on relations between younger members of the Muslim community and the police.”