SAOIRSE32

BBC

The route of one of the most contentious parades of the marching season has been altered in a deal brokered by residents and organisers.

The Tour of the North parade has sparked trouble in the past

In the past the Tour of the North has sparked violent clashes.

Following talks, the return journey of next week’s parade will not pass the Ardoyne shops flashpoint.

Joe Marley, from the Ardoyne Parades Dialogue Group, has welcomed the decision of the North and West Belfast Parades Forum.

“From our perspective, we view this as a highly significant move,” he said.

“Local engagement, local dialogue is certainly as far as we’re concerned, the best way to secure an overall settlement that meets the needs of both communities.”

Belfast Telegraph
Tuesday 10, June 2008

A Downpatrick man has been blinded by a woman who stood on his head in stiletto heels according to a local Sinn Fein councillor.

Eamon McConvey has condemned what he called an unprovoked sectarian attack in the County Down town which has left the Catholic man blinded.

Mr McConvey said the victim was knocked to the ground and repeatedly kicked by assailants who also shouted sectarian slogans, before he was blinded in one eye by the woman’s shoe.

By Chris Thornton
Belfast Telegraph
Wednesday 11, June 2008

The QC who mysteriously left the Billy Wright Inquiry said today that he had been sacked.

Derek Batchelor QC, the inquiry’s lead counsel until a week ago, released a statement early this morning contradicting last week’s announcement that he had resigned.

Mr Batchelor (right) — the main lawyer responsible for questioning witnesses about the LVF chief’s prison murder — says he is considering legal action over his departure.

Last Wednesday the chairman of the inquiry, senior Scottish judge Lord MacLean, unexpectedly told a hearing of the inquiry “with regret” that Mr Batchelor had “resigned his post last night with immediate effect”.

No explanation was given for his departure, which came in the middle of a witness’ testimony at Banbridge Courthouse, where the £21m inquiry has been hearing evidence since last year.

But now, after consulting other lawyers, Mr Batchelor says he was ” dismissed” the previous day, during a meeting with the three-man tribunal examining Wright’s 1997 murder in the Maze Prison.

“Last Tuesday afternoon, I was called to a meeting and was advised by the panel that complaints had been made over my handling of some staff matters,” he said in a statement.

“There was no doubt in my mind on leaving this meeting that I had been dismissed from the inquiry.

“Contrary to subsequent reports, I have not resigned and I had no intention of leaving my post as the inquiry reaches critical stages.

“To avoid any doubt over my understanding of the situation, I have since offered to return to the inquiry but this has not been progressed.”

An official for the inquiry indicated yesterday that Lord MacLean had no reason to alter his statement that Mr Batchelor resigned.

Mr Batchelor had been lead counsel for the inquiry for three years and had been involved in more than 60 days of hearings.

The QC is understood to have consulted lawyers about the circumstances of his departure after returning to Scotland, where he has worked as a prosecutor.

“I do not wish to disrupt the work of the inquiry,” he said in his statement. “It is essential that the inquiry continues and reaches a satisfactory conclusion.”

Lord MacLean indicated last week that the inquiry will begin to search for a new lead counsel, the lawyer who conducts the primary questioning of most witnesses.

Mr Batchelor said: “I am happy to offer assistance to any replacement counsel by sharing essential information, subject to certain limitations out of my control.”

That is believed to refer to documents and material retained by the inquiry.

Mr Batchelor added: “It is regrettable that I now feel obliged to consider legal action.

“However, I believe it is important to ensure that the exact nature of my departure is known and understood by all involved in this important investigation.”

Mr Batchelor’s departure has caused the inquiry to reschedule witnesses and reconsider the order in which they will look at evidence.

By Chris Thornton
Belfast Telegraph
Wednesday 11, June 2008

The QC who mysteriously left the Billy Wright Inquiry said today that he had been sacked.

Derek Batchelor QC, the inquiry’s lead counsel until a week ago, released a statement early this morning contradicting last week’s announcement that he had resigned.

Mr Batchelor (right) — the main lawyer responsible for questioning witnesses about the LVF chief’s prison murder — says he is considering legal action over his departure.

Last Wednesday the chairman of the inquiry, senior Scottish judge Lord MacLean, unexpectedly told a hearing of the inquiry “with regret” that Mr Batchelor had “resigned his post last night with immediate effect”.

No explanation was given for his departure, which came in the middle of a witness’ testimony at Banbridge Courthouse, where the £21m inquiry has been hearing evidence since last year.

But now, after consulting other lawyers, Mr Batchelor says he was ” dismissed” the previous day, during a meeting with the three-man tribunal examining Wright’s 1997 murder in the Maze Prison.

“Last Tuesday afternoon, I was called to a meeting and was advised by the panel that complaints had been made over my handling of some staff matters,” he said in a statement.

“There was no doubt in my mind on leaving this meeting that I had been dismissed from the inquiry.

“Contrary to subsequent reports, I have not resigned and I had no intention of leaving my post as the inquiry reaches critical stages.

“To avoid any doubt over my understanding of the situation, I have since offered to return to the inquiry but this has not been progressed.”

An official for the inquiry indicated yesterday that Lord MacLean had no reason to alter his statement that Mr Batchelor resigned.

Mr Batchelor had been lead counsel for the inquiry for three years and had been involved in more than 60 days of hearings.

The QC is understood to have consulted lawyers about the circumstances of his departure after returning to Scotland, where he has worked as a prosecutor.

“I do not wish to disrupt the work of the inquiry,” he said in his statement. “It is essential that the inquiry continues and reaches a satisfactory conclusion.”

Lord MacLean indicated last week that the inquiry will begin to search for a new lead counsel, the lawyer who conducts the primary questioning of most witnesses.

Mr Batchelor said: “I am happy to offer assistance to any replacement counsel by sharing essential information, subject to certain limitations out of my control.”

That is believed to refer to documents and material retained by the inquiry.

Mr Batchelor added: “It is regrettable that I now feel obliged to consider legal action.

“However, I believe it is important to ensure that the exact nature of my departure is known and understood by all involved in this important investigation.”

Mr Batchelor’s departure has caused the inquiry to reschedule witnesses and reconsider the order in which they will look at evidence.

By Claire Weir
Belfast Telegraph
Wednesday 11, June 2008

An interface area in Derry has been united in grief by the tragic death of a teenager in a car crash.

Youths from the strongly loyalist Tullyally area even donned Celtic shirts on Monday evening as a crowd of almost 200 formed a homecoming guard of honour for the body of Ciaran Doherty (17), from the nationalist Currynierin estate.

Ciaran died in hospital on Sunday a week after a car crash on the Ardmore Road.

Pals from both sides of the divide donned the striped shirts bearing the teen’s nickname, ‘Walla’, while others wore Rangers jerseys.

A community worker said people were staggered by the show of solidarity among young people in an area infamous for sectarian rioting.

Ciaran is due to be buried today following a service at St Mary’s Chapel in Ardmore, not far from where the fatal accident occurred.

He was killed on when the car he was travelling in left the road on June 1. He was taken to hospital in Belfast but died on June 8.

Four people were arrested at the time of the crash — two of whom have since been released. One has been released on bail and another has been released pending a police report.

Mickey Carlin, a long-time community worker in Currynierin said that Ciaran’s family had been left devastated by his death.

“The whole area is in shock. It has affected the whole estate. He was a young boy and his parents just don’t know what to do with themselves — they are in bits,” he said.

“He was a likeable young fella and this is a small, close knit area.

“On Monday night, when the body was coming home, a big crowd of boys came over from Tullyally. Some of them wore Rangers tops and some of them even put on Celtic jerseys — it was fantastic to see. They were lined the whole way up the estate as the coffin was brought back to the house. All you could see were Celtic jerseys, it was unbelievable. He was Celtic mad.

“A lot of boys had tops with Ciaran’s nickname, ‘Walla’ written on them. It just shows you how well he was thought of, bringing people together like that. You would never have seen anything like that 10 years ago.

“The support shown from both sides of the community has been a big help to his parents.”

Ciaran is survived by parents Charlie and Regina, brothers Sean-Paul, Thomas and Charles and sisters Charmaine and Margaretta.

By Maggie Taggart
BBC NI education correspondent
BBC
11 June 2008

An integrated secondary school in Armagh is to close after only four years of operation.

The school is to close in September next year

It is understood Armagh College is the first integrated school in Northern Ireland to fail after having been granted government funding.

The integrated movement blamed a series of setbacks, including a fall in pupil numbers for the decision to close.

It is hoped that pupils will be able to transfer to an integrated school in Dungannon, County Tyrone.

Pat Carville, Chairperson of the Board of Governors, said the decision to close “has been an incredibly difficult one to make”.

“Despite exploring a range of other options the governors felt that the fall in pupil intake, combined with current developments in education policy meant that it would be unlikely that the college could achieve long term viability,” she said.

The school is funded by the Government, and this is the first integrated school to close after having cleared that hurdle.

However, it is known that a recent inspectors’ report criticised “a lack of stability and continuity of leadership” after the school had five different principals in four years.

It also criticised deficiencies in the teaching of some subjects, although there was said to be “outstanding work” in some lessons.

Since the report, numbers have fallen to 136, and the integrated movement said the school was unlikely to be viable in the long term.

So far the Department of Education has not been formally asked to approve the closure, which is to take place in September next year.

Michael Wardlow of the Northern Ireland Council on Integrated Education said parents in Armagh city had made a “huge commitment” to integrated education.

“The decision to initiate the closure of Armagh has been a hard one for governors to make, especially those who themselves have children attending the school or who had hoped to enrol their children,” he said.

BBC
11 June 2008

**Video onsite

The DUP has denied it supported government proposals to let police hold terror suspects for 42 days because it was offered a string of inducements.

Thirty-six Labour MPs joined forces with Conservatives and Lib Dems to vote against the proposals.

The 42-day proposal was passed by 315 MPs to 306 - with votes by the nine DUP MPs proving crucial.

The DUP’s William McCrea denied it was promised any financial support and insisted it voted on principle.

“The issue was on national security,” the South Antrim MP said.

Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward also told the BBC no deal had been done with the DUP.

He said: “There is no deal. They decided on principle. They made up their own minds.”

HOW THEY VOTED
–Lib Dem and Tories voted against the government
–36 Labour MPs voted against the government
–Seven ex-ministers defied the Labour whip: Frank Dobson, Mark Fisher, Kate Hoey, Glenda Jackson, Peter Kilfoyle, Michael Meacher, and Chris Mullin
–All nine Democratic Unionist MPs backed the government. They were: Gregory Campbell, Nigel Dodds, Jeffrey Donaldson, The Rev William McCrea, The Rev Ian Paisley, Iris Robinson, Peter Robinson, David Simpson, Sammy Wilson
–The only Tory MP to back the government was former Home Office minister Ann Widdecombe

Full list of rebels

But there was uproar in the Commons as the result of the key vote on 42 days was announced after five hours of tense debate - with Tory and Lib Dem MPs shouting “You’ve been bought” at the DUP benches.

Labour rebels claimed the DUP had obtained guarantees that the government would block efforts to use the Human Embryology and Fertility Bill, currently going through Parliament, to loosen abortion rules in Northern Ireland.

They are also said to have cut a deal to keep revenue from water rates, which Westminster had been set to claw back.

Sylvia Hermon, the Ulster Unionist Party’s only MP, said she also voted in favour of the legislation.

The SDLP’s Mark Durkan said the government had won a humiliating victory. His party’s three MPs opposed the move.

“It had been the prospect for quite some time that the DUP could have the power to sway this vote,” he said.

“Gordon Brown offered the SDLP a deal on Sunday but we told them we were not prepared to deal in civil liberties.”

Conservatives Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said the government had lost the argument “hands down” but had “bought the vote”.

And he vowed to fight it in the Lords - predicting the 42-day proposal would never become law.

“It has no authority, it has no legitimacy and it will be thrown out,” he added.

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said the manner of Labour’s victory had been “astonishing” - and for them to rely on the DUP to get such a crucial vote through the Commons would “have been laughed out of court a few weeks ago”.

By Diarmaid Fleming
BBC NI Dublin correspondent
BBC
11 June 2008

The trial has opened in Dublin of the Maze escaper and former IRA leader Brendan McFarlane on charges in connection with the kidnapping of English supermarket executive Don Tidey almost 25 years ago.

Brendan McFarlane is a former IRA leader and Maze prison escapee

The accused denies charges of possession of firearms, intent to endanger life and unlawful imprisonment.

Prosecution senior counsel Edward Comyn told the three judges at the non-jury Special Criminal Court in Dublin that Don Tidey was kidnapped at gunpoint by men dressed in garda uniforms near his home in Rathfarnham in Dublin on 24 November, 1983.

He said that Mr Tidey was leaving his daughter Susan to school when he stopped at a fake checkpoint. His son Alistair was following him in another car and stopped behind him, preventing Mr Tidey from reversing to escape after one of the kidnappers pointed a gun at him.

The children were released but Mr Tidey was taken in a van to a hideout by the gang which was “highly organised”.

After being told he had been kidnapped, his captors said a demand for money would be made.

“He was told his life would be in his own hands,” Mr Comyn told the court.

In the hideout at Derrada Woods, near Ballinamore in County Leitrim, Mr Comyn said that Mr Tidey, who had been chained and manacled, was subject to a daily routine set out by his captors who showed “considerable discipline”.

As the kidnap gang prepared to move, some of them were spotted and a shoot-out began in which an Irish Army soldier and garda died

“The group were well-organised and observed military discipline at all times. Everything was organised in advance,” said Mr Comyn.

The court was told that the kidnappers had ordered Mr Tidey to walk between kidnappers in front and behind if the gang had to leave the hideout.

On 16 December 2003, the voices of soldiers and gardaí who were searching for Mr Tidey and his kidnappers could be heard only “yards” from the hideout.

The gang escaped with a number of hostages including Irish soldiers, before taking their weapons and escaping in a car, despite a massive garda and army search.

The court was told that in the panic, an Irish soldier trained an automatic weapon in Mr Tidey who was dressed in paramilitary-like camouflage fatigues, placing the kidnap victim “in a very dangerous position,” said Mr Comyn.

‘Fingerprint evidence’

The soldier suspected he was one of the kidnappers and was “very suspicious as to who he was” before Mr Tidey’s identity was confirmed.

Mr Comyn said the prosecution case against the accused would rest on witness accounts including Mr Tidey and his daughter Susan and son Alistair, and of police and soldiers involved in the operation to free him.

He also said that fingerprint evidence would be presented, which he said would link the accused to the hideout where Mr Tidey was held.

The prosecution barrister said Mr McFarlane’s fingerprints were found on a milk carton, a plastic container and a pot in the hideout.

However, he said that due to the “lapse of time”, some witnesses had died, and that the exhibits with the fingerprint evidence had been lost.

“Unfortunately… some of the effects have been lost. I have asked on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions to find why they were lost… but the fact is they are lost,” he said.

The barrister also said that photographic evidence would be presented in court.

The case continues and will begin hearing from witnesses on Thursday.