SAOIRSE32

Pro fide et patria
Irish News
**Via Newshound
Editorial
13/06/08

While Gordon Brown and the DUP spent most of yesterday denying that they had struck a private deal in advance of Wednesday night’s Westminster vote on the anti-terrorism bill, very few political commentators believe them.

Mr Brown plainly miscalculated the level of opposition to his proposal that the maximum period for holding terrorism suspects without charge should be extended to 42 days.

He engaged in last-minute talks with the nine DUP MPs, and then, with their support, saw his bill scrape home by a convenient majority of nine.

Mr Brown’s reputation took another battering in the process, with the Guardian newspaper accusing him of conniving with “parliament’s most reactionary faction”.

Although the prime minister’s nod and wink to the DUP might yet return to haunt him, the main issue was the introduction of a measure which effectively amounts to internment under another name.

Allowing police to interrogate prisoners for fully six weeks before a decision is taken on a prosecution brings the UK’s judicial system into disrepute.

It is highly unlikely to prove of practical significance in the fight against evil groups like al-Qaida and will almost certainly alienate many moderate British Muslims from the state.

The entire initiative brings back memories of the worst mistakes made by the authorities in Northern Ireland during the 1970s and 1980s and it would be an enormous relief if it were to be rejected by the House of Lords.

Deal can herald a peaceful summer

The fact that recent summers have passed off without the violence which has marred so many previous marching seasons has been hugely beneficial to those who live in flashpoint areas as well as the wider community.

Given the vastly improved atmosphere, it is almost unthinkable that we could see a return to the tensions and street disorder which turned the summer period into a tourism wasteland and a time of misery and fear for thousands of people.

However, contentious issues do not resolve themselves and the significant progress of recent years is a tribute to the efforts of those on both sides who work to reach agreed solutions.

Another example of this positive work has come in north Belfast where an agreement has been brokered to ensure the contentious Tour of the North parade passes off peacefully next week.

Following negotiations between nationalist residents and march organisers, the parade will not pass Ardoyne shops.

Furthermore, there will not be a feeder parade past Ardoyne to the Whiterock parade later this month.

The hope is that the dialogue and agreed arrangements will deliver a peaceful summer in this part of north Belfast and help to reduce potential problems elsewhere. This can only be good news at the start of summer 2008.

Ian Traynor in Brussels and Henry McDonald in Dublin
Guardian
14 June 2008

· Result threatens Lisbon treaty
· EU to hold crisis talks next week

**Video onsite

The long campaign to forge a new dispensation for the European Union descended into panic and uncertainty yesterday when Ireland turned its back on its 26 EU partners and voted down the Lisbon Treaty.

EU leaders in Brussels and governments across the union, particularly Germany and France, were stunned by the Irish verdict, which amounted to a huge vote of no confidence in the way the EU is run.

The referendum in Ireland was the sole popular vote in the EU on the grand plan to give Europe a sitting president and foreign minister, and reconfigure the way the EU is governed. The result left the project severely wounded, perhaps fatally.

The Irish voted by a 7% margin, 53.6 to 46.4, against the treaty, which has already been ratified by 18 EU countries and is expected to be endorsed by the other eight.

The result left Europe’s leaders with a giant dilemma over what to do next. A summit next week in Brussels was originally planned as a celebration. The Irish result is particularly painful for Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, who masterminded the new treaty last year, and for the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who was relishing the central role of ushering in a new European era over the next six months of France’s EU presidency.

Berlin and Paris moved swiftly last night to try to limit the damage, pressing Downing Street, according to sources in Brussels, not to make matters worse by abandoning Britain’s ratification of the treaty, now in its final stages in the Lords.

Merkel and Sarkozy issued a joint statement, urging all other EU countries to ratify the document and declaring that the reforms envisaged by the treaty remained essential. Gordon Brown was said to have reassured both governments that he had no intention of scrapping ratification.

“It is the height of arrogance for Gordon Brown to press ahead with ratifying this treaty, flying in the face of public opinion,” said the Tory leader, David Cameron. “The elites in Brussels have got to listen to people in Europe who do not want these endless constitutions and treaties.”

The pressure on Britain indicated that Germany and France still hope to salvage the treaty, although it was not clear how since it has to be ratified by all 27 EU countries to take effect.

“It’s not a Doomsday scenario. Everything now depends on next week’s European Council [summit],” said a diplomat in Brussels.

José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said: “The no vote in Ireland has not solved the problems which the Lisbon Treaty is designed to solve. The ratification process is made up of 27 national processes; 18 member states have already approved the treaty, and the commission believes the remaining ratifications should continue to take their course. I believe the treaty is alive.”

Everything suggested that Europe’s key leaders were urgently conferring on a scheme to steamroller their blueprint through despite the Irish rejection, a course likely to trigger protest from Eurosceptics and deepen Europe’s democratic legitimacy problems.

At the very least, the deadlines for implementing the treaty looked difficult to achieve. The new regime was to be in place by January 1 2009, to be up and running before European parliament elections next May and the appointment of a new European Commission in October.

The treaty was backed by nine out of 10 MPs in the Irish Dáil and all the main political parties, except Sinn Féin, but the government of Brian Cowen, in office for only a few weeks, was felt to have run a complacent and lacklustre yes campaign. An odd and well-funded coalition of anti-European forces stole the headlines.

“You don’t say yes to something you don’t understand,” said Hugo Brady, a analyst at the Centre for European Reform thinktank.

The no vote was boosted by concerns over sovereignty, possible tax harmonisation, neutrality, and fears that the treaty could erode Ireland’s abortion ban, all issues that analysts say are fatuous.

Belfast Telegraph
Saturday 14, June 2008

Palestinian prisoners from Gaza held in Israeli jails have launched a legal battle along with their families to lift a year-long ban on visits organised by the Red Cross.

Their legal action, supported by a series of Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations, is seeking to overturn a decision by the Israeli authorities to bar prison visits while Hamas remains in control of Gaza.

One of the Israeli organisations, Hamoked, says there are about 930 prisoners from Gaza held in Israeli jails and the cancellation of regular family visits “constitutes collective punishment and violates international law”.

In a response to Hamoked, the Israeli authorities said that “since Hamas’ military coup in the Gaza Strip … [it is not] possible to co-ordinate passage through the border crossings, which are now under the control of terrorist organisations.” But the rights group says that the International Committee of the Red Cross is willing to co-ordinate the visits as it always has in the past and has itself pressed for the restoration of the visits.

Its court petition quotes Ruweida Al-Burdini, the wife of one prisoner held in an Israeli jail, as saying that her husband has had 10 operations since being detained but that she has been unable to find out the details. She said: “The children and I miss my husband very much … We want to realise our right to visit him in prison. We did not do anything wrong. Why are we being punished?”

*Israel’s Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, told Labour Party activists yesterday that turmoil in the ruling Kadima party was undermining truce negotiations with Hamas. “If this government wasn’t overshadowed by the Kadima primaries, a truce agreement with Hamas would have been achieved a long time ago.”

Belfast Telegraph
Saturday 14, June 2008

The Irish people’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty was a severe poke in the eye for European Union leaders in Brussels. A tiny nation of just three million voters has thrown plans for reform of the EU, population 490m, into disarray.

Ireland was the only country among the 27 member states to hold a referendum on the treaty which needs to be ratified by all members.

Just where the EU goes from here is very uncertain. The Lisbon Treaty, which took years of negotiation to draft, replaced a more ambitious draft constitution which was rejected by French and Dutch votes in 2005. Effectively it was Plan B and there is no further alternative.

The No vote is not just a blow for Europe, but also for the new Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, who had led the vigorous campaign for acceptance of the Treaty. Only Sinn Fein among the parties represented in the Dail had urged the electorate to vote against. While republicans will attempt to milk the decision for all it is worth, the No vote was more a result of uncertainty over what the Treaty actually meant for Ireland than an indication of a resurgence in support for Sinn Fein.

Uncertainty was the crucial factor in the referendum campaign. The Treaty, which is designed to help the EU cope with its new Eastern European members, is a hugely complex and often impenetrable document. Those who supported the Treaty had to persuade the voters to take a leap of faith and sign up to something most of them could not fully understand. Opponents could highlight areas of concern and tap into national fears of increased bureaucracy, loss of sovereignty, and a host of other issues. At the end of the day, the voters decided to stick with the status quo which suits them quite nicely.

Ireland is a country which has benefited greatly from EU membership and, indeed, it was money from Europe which helped to give birth to the Celtic Tiger economy and turn Ireland into one of the most vibrant countries in Europe. It has always been one of the most pro-European countries in the EU and remains so.

But, like many people throughout Europe, the Irish are intensely jealous of their own sovereignty, especially given the price they had to pay for it nearly 100 years ago in a disastrous and bloody civil war. It was inevitable that any perceived threat £ real or imagined £ to that sovereignty would be opposed. That was one issue on which the No campaign fought a very successful battle.

EU leaders were desperately hoping that the vote would go in favour of the Treaty, which has been ratified by 14 countries so far. It was due to come into force on January 1 next year, but it is difficult to chart a way forward now. This is the third time in three years that EU reform plans have been rejected at referendum and that is bound to undermine the authority of Brussels.

This is the second time Irish voters have posed EU leaders a problem. In 2001 they rejected the Nice Treaty which was concerned with eastwards expansion of the Union. It took a second, much criticised vote, to remove that blockade. That option does not appear realistic this time. It seems that a return to the drawing board is urgently required.

Received via email from Mairtin Og Meehan

Ceartais/Justice

‘A Chara,

I’m pleased to announce the formation of a new POW support group called Ceartais. The aim of Ceartais is to support former Long Kesh Prisoners and their families. Our objective is to reveal the truth behind a CR Gas attack on hundreds of Political Prisoners by British Crown Forces on October 15, 1974. Ever since, the British government and its armed forces have denied using CR Gas. Ceartais will also be highlighting the fact that scores of former Prisoners have battled various forms of terminal cancer, dozens of whom have tragically died.

Ceartais can be contacted by:

ceartais@hotmail.com

www.ceartais.blogspot.com

www.bebo.com/ceartais

Please feel free to join, send photos etc. and pass it on! Ceartais’ inaugural meeting and public launch will take place in the Glenpark, Ardoyne Avenue, Belfast on June 17th at 7PM.’

Failte Mhor Gach Daoine,
Mairtin Og Meehan

By Cahir O’Doherty
Irish Abroad
**Via Newshound
June 12, 2008

FORMER IRA prisoners living in the U.S. told the Irish Voice this week of the difficulties they’re facing in their campaign to secure their legal immigration status here. All are members of Thar Saile (Overseas), the new support group for the men.

In 2000, President Bill Clinton announced that deportation proceedings against the former IRA prisoners would be halted and they would move into “deferred action” status. Although the action was hailed at the time as a victory for the peace process, the men’s legal status remains unresolved to this day.

With their legal status unresolved since, each of the 15 men still face the threat of deportation at any time, although they’ve all lived, worked and raised families in the U.S. for decades.

As they point out, they were teenagers when The Troubles began –- the majority of the men are now in their early 50s — hailing from Nationalist strongholds like Derry and Andersonstown, and having grown up in the era of the civil rights marches.

But they have long since moved on and their war is over, they claim. Married to American wives and fathers of U.S.-born children, they find themselves in a legal limbo that seems to have no end in sight. Now they can see no value in prolonging their uncertainty as the north enters a new era.

Matt Morrison, 52, originally from Derry, is a registered nurse and is also the chair of the Irish American Unity Conference (IAUC). Now living in St. Louis, he told the Irish Voice about the continuing anxiety his unresolved statues causes.

“What has happened over the past couple of years is that we’ve seen guys be deported for one reason or another,” says Morrison.

“Right now I do not have a green card. I have a work permit, which is generally renewed every year. The problem is for a period of about 18 months they put me on 60-day work permits. It creates huge expense and trauma. If I don’t have a work permit, I do not work.”

Morrison points out that in international conflict resolution, the first step in the process is for the complete reintegration of former combatants into society. But the 15 men in the Thar Saile campaign have been treated, he says, in a way that is “haphazard, lackadaisical and unfocused.”

Added Morrison, “While this uncertainty doesn’t have the capacity to stop the peace process dead in its tracks, it does have the capacity to fray the edges of the fabric. It gives some ammunition to the people we might describe as dissidents, who are opposed to the peace process.

“The bottom line is this is a relatively small group of men we’re talking about. It’s not a blank check. It will not compromise the security of the United States.”

Paul Harkin, 55, from Derry came to the U.S. 21 years ago and lives in Chicago with his American wife and three sons ages 7, 11 and 13. Harkin was not included in Clinton’s “deferred action” group because his case was filed too late and was therefore not suspended. Currently he is facing a longstanding deportation order.

“Technically I’m still considered deportable. I have made an application for political asylum and also an application for an adjustment of status, which anyone marrying a U.S. citizen would apply for,” says Harkin.

“Normally the latter process would take about two or three years. It’s over 10 years now and it still hasn’t emerged. Clearly a political decision has been made not to pursue the case either way.”

Terry Kirby, 52, originally from Andersonstown, came to the U.S. in 1985 after escaping from the Maze prison that year. Since then he has lived and worked in Chicago with his wife and his 14-year-old daughter.

“I was one of the H-Block Four, so I was fighting extradition by the British and I wasn’t a part of President Clinton’s group,” he says.

Kirby appealed the extradition ruling in the Ninth Circuit in 1996 and they ruled in his favor. Shortly after the British government announced that they would drop extradition charges against him and the other three.

Says Kirby, “My status is still unresolved. So I never know at any point what’s going to go on. I’m disabled now from an accident at work and I’m on crutches for the rest of my life.

“Any of us would be glad to have a chance to work and get on with it. All we want to have is a normal life.”

Kirby is aware of talk in official circles that an attempt may be made to extradite him again, and these kind of rumors gained focus when they were repeated on Belfast-based writer and activist Danny Morrison’s website last year.

“We started Thar Saile to try and give support to all the others who are in same position. This whole thing is letting you see that the U.S. government is out of sync with what the peace process is all about and they’re supposed to be one of the key brokers in it,” he said.

Currently the former prisoners cannot travel to Ireland to visit family. They must also constantly renew their work permits over a period of months on an ongoing basis, frequently jeopardizing their employment in the process.

Last week the IAUC released a document entitled Prisoners of Peace making the case that the reintegration of former prisoners is a first and critical step in any peace process. In Northern Ireland, they point out, former prisoners are holding elected office and working together to build a new society. Only in the U.S. is their status still unresolved.

Irish Times
12/06/2008

Former supermarket boss Don Tidey told a court today of the “battleground” that erupted around him when security forces rescued him from his kidnappers almost 25 years ago.

Mr Tidey, who is now in 70s, said that he heard a burst of gunfire, followed by more gunfire and an explosion, possibly caused by a grenade, after gardai and soldiers surrounded the hide where he had been held captive for 23 days in 1983.

And he described to the Special Criminal Court how after his rescue a Garda Inspector held a gun to his head while he confirmed his identity.

Mr Tidey, who was the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Associated British Food companies in Northern Ireland and the Republic, said that he could not identify any of his captors.

He was giving evidence on the second day of the trial of Maze prison escaper Brendan “Bik” Mc Farlane.

Mc Farlane (56),a father of three, of Jamaica Street in Belfast was arrested outside Dundalk and charged in January 1998.

He has pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning Mr Tidey on dates unknown between November 24th and December 16th, 1983. He also denied possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life at Derrada Wood, Drumcronan, Ballinamore, Co Leitrim between November 25th and December 16th,1983 and possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose between the same dates.

Mr Tidey told prosecuting counsel Edward Comyn SC that he left his home in his Daimler car at Woodtown Way, Rathfarnham at 7.50am on November 24th, 1983 to take his 13-year-old daughter to school and with his son Alistair in his own car behind him.

He was flagged down by a man who appeared to be a garda who asked his name and then put a gun to his head and told him to get out of his car.

Mr Tidey said he resisted but was forcibly thrown into the back of a car where people sat on him, rupturing his ribcage. He was struck heavily on the head with the butt of a weapon.

After a period of time he was put into a van and after a tortuous journey they stopped at farmland where he was interrogated about things in his diary and people who might be contacted. He was told he had been kidnapped.

He was then taken by vehicle to a destination where he was to spend his captivity. Mr Tidey said that he was manacled with his legs chained, handcuffs and a hood placed over his head.

He said that the handcuffs were “antiquated’ because they were too small for his wrists and caused him considerable pain. He was deprived of sight by a blindfold. He said that he settled into a daily routine in which he was taken to a clearing, a bucket of bog water was thrown over him and he was able to wash with some soap.

At one stage when the weather was dry he was chained to a tree with his legs and wrists manacled. He said he was given food, mainly bread, occasionally jam and once or twice a segment of fruit. He was also given tea and soup.

He said that during his captivity his business suit and fine cotton shirt was replaced with a thick shirt and combat style clothing and he was given Wellington boots stuffed with straw to keep his feet warm.

He said that on the 22nd day of his captivity the routine changed and it was clear that his captors were concerned about noise.

On the 23rd day his hood was removed and replaced with a balaclava and his legs were unchained. He was aware of noise and movement and heard voices and the sound of dogs.

He understood that the security forces were closing in on them and he heard someone ask another person about identifying people.

“There was a burst of gunfire, then more gunfire, and frankly from that moment on it became a battleground,” he said. “It changed immediately because once firing had broken out everybody made their own arrangements. My arrangement under fire was to hit the ground, which I did. I rolled down an incline into bracken and took in my circumstances.

“There was gunfire. There was to the best of my recollection an explosion which I judged was a grenade.”

“When I looked up I was looking into the muzzle of a weapon just a short distance from my forehead. The situation froze. I looked along the length of the barrel and saw a soldier. Behind the soldier I saw a young guard or maybe two.”

Mr Tidey said that he said :“I am a hostage” and pointed to his chest.

He said he learned subsequently that the soldier and garda thought he was going for a gun and he added;“By the grace of God he didn’t pull the trigger.”

He said the soldier and garda did not recognise him and he was taken across several fields losing his trousers and boots in the process. “I was led for two or three hundred yards across the field where I was delivered into the hands of the Task Force who took some time to determine I was who I was.”

He said he met Sergeant Nacie Rice and Inspector Bill Somers. Inspector Somers “held a gun to my head to ascertain who I was”, he told the court.

Mr Tidey said that a car then approached them at speed and the occupants opened fire on them with automatic weapons. He and Inspector Somers jumped to the ground but a soldier was hit in the legs. Mr Tidey said he could not identify any of his captors.

Susan O’Gallagher (nee Tidey), also gave evidence of the events on the day her father was kidnapped as he took her to school.

Don Tidey’s son Alistair gave evidence that he was driving behind his father’s car which had almost crashed into his as his father reversed away from the first man in garda uniform.

Mc Farlane was the OC (officer commanding) of the Provisional IRA prisoners at the Maze prison at the time of the hunger strike in 1981 and escaped in the mass break out by 38 prisoners from the jail in September, 1983. He was later arrested in Amsterdam in January, 1986, extradited to Northern Ireland and released on parole from the Maze in 1997. He was arrested by gardai outside Dundalk in January , 1998 as he travelled back to Belfast from Dublin following a trip to Copenhagen.

Mr Tidey was kidnapped by an IRA gang in 1983 and rescued after 23 days in captivity. A trainee garda, Gary Sheehan (23), of Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan and a member of the Defence Forces, Private Patrick Kelly(35), from Moate, Co Westmeath were killed in a shoot-out with the kidnap gang when Mr Tidey was rescued.

The trial continues tomorrow.

By Ronan McSherry
Ulster Herald
**Via Newshound
12 June 2008

The ninth week of the Omagh bomb civil case, which has returned to Dublin, has heard barristers for the five men being sued accuse gardai detectives of ‘bending the rules’ during their investigations.

The remains of the actual Omagh Bomb timer unit (Top), and a replica built by forensic experts.

Six families are suing five dissident republicans they believe are responsible for bombing on August 15, 1998 when 29 people and unborn twins lost their lives while hundreds more were injured. Michael McKevitt, Colm Murphy, Liam Campbell, Seamus Daly and Seamus McKenna deny liability. The families have sought recourse to a civil action as they believe no-one will ever be convicted in a criminal court of law. The Omagh families are seeking punitive and exemplary damages in this court action.

On Monday Detective Garda James Hanley rejected claims that officers inserted stock Garda phrases into statements. Dermot Fee QC, for Colm Murphy, told the landmark civil action that similar statements appeared in the transcript of notes taken by the retired officer in other high-profile court cases in the Republic.

Murphy (56) was convicted in connection with the Omagh bomb in 2002 but later had his conviction overturned following claims that two officers lied during the trial. During a subsequent trial of detective Gardai John Fahy and Liam Donnell a judge directed they be cleared of perjury, forgery and using a forged document on the grounds the forged interview notes and technical analysis of them were inadmissible.

Mr Fee also raised concerns over why interviews were not tape recorded and queried why there were only a small number of notes from interviews which were up to four hours long.

The defence barrister said, “Mr Murphy says he made no incriminating admissions or remarks at any time during his interview. What he says happened here is more has been added on to the interview notes by the gardai.”

Mr Fee accused the officers of concocting admissions in order to make Murphy liable for the atrocity. Mr Hanley replied, “I deny that happened.”

Mr Fee also alleged that Hanley bent the rules when investigating other serious crimes He revealed a judge previously criticised him during the conviction of notorious drug dealer John Gilligan. The retired officer had conceded that he had not kept a record of several meetings he had with two key witnesses. Mr Fee suggested to Hanley that Colm Murphy did not say he knew ‘those fellas’ (who used his mobile phone the day of the Omagh bomb) were involved in moving bombs to the North to bomb targets. Murphy is also quoted as telling gardai that he was cooperating with them as a sign he was responsible for his actions but that others were responsible for the disaster.

“At no time did he make this comment,” said Mr Fee.

Mr Hanley replied, “He certainly did.”

The trial continues.

Irish News
12/06/08

A detective rehearsed evidence he gave at the landmark Omagh civil action, it was claimed in court yesterday.

A barrister accused Detective Sergeant Gerard McGrath of meticulously reading the transcript from a trial against a suspected terrorist to highlight inconsistencies in his testimony.

Colm Murphy was jailed in connection with the Omagh bombing in 2002 after a trial in the Special Criminal Court. His conviction was later overturned.

Dermot Fee QC, for Murphy in the civil case, claimed Mr McGrath was attempting to tie in what he said yesterday with evidence he had given previously.

“It’s approximately five to six years since I gave that evidence,” the garda said.

“It was for the purpose of refreshing my memory.”

Mr Fee asserted that Mr McGrath had rehearsed his testimony by getting access to the transcript.

“You went through it meticulously, highlighting evidence that you gave and pointing out any inconsistencies or difficulties,” Mr Fee said.

“You identified areas which may cause you difficulty or areas of conflict.”

“That’s not necessarily the case,” Mr McGrath replied.

“I’m trying to refresh my memory and that’s the purpose of it.”

The case, which has sat for nine days in Dublin’s District Court, will return to the city in September to take testimonies from a small remaining number of gardai.

The £14 million groundbreaking action by six families is the first time the victims of terrorism have confronted alleged perpetrators and the first time evidence from a Northern Ireland case has been heard in the Republic.

The RIRA bomb on August 15 1998 was Northern Ireland’s worst atrocity, killing 29 people including a pregnant woman with twins.

Michael McKevitt, alleged RIRA leader; Liam Campbell, said to be his number two; Murphy; Seamus Mc-Kenna and Seamus Daly all deny any involvement.

Murphy was sentenced to 14 years for conspiracy to cause an explosion, but had his conviction overturned following claims two gardai detectives–John Fahy and Liam Donnell–lied during his trial.

A jury was later directed to find the detectives not guilty of perjury, forgery and using a forged document on grounds that the forged interview notes and technical analysis of them were inadmissible.

Throughout yesterday’s hearing, Mr McGrath disputed Mr Fee’s accusations.

The barrister claimed replies allegedly given by Murphy during interviews were nonsense, fiction invented by the gardai, factually wrong and added a cloak of authenticity to garda suspicions.

He also argued that officers showed a lack of basic interrogation skills by not sustaining interviews after an apparent breakthrough and that there were defects in the exchange of information and retention of documentation.

Referring to allegations that Murphy admitted knowing his mobile phone was used by those responsible for the bombing, Mr Fee said the line was a deliberate and calculated addition to the interview to implicate his client.

“I disagree with that,” Mr McGrath said.

Mr Fee claimed no memorandum of the alleged admission existed at the time or was passed on to Mr Fahy and Mr Donnell, who subsequently interviewed Murphy.

“I handed it in to the incident room,” he said.

News Letter
12 June 2008

ENFORCING a ring of steel at Stormont to protect Ulster’s politicians has cost the taxpayer over half a million pounds.

Tough new security arrangements were installed at Parliament Buildings earlier this year following the botched raid by Michael Stone in November 2006.

Security arrangements put in place at Parliament Buildings following Michael Stone’s failed raid in 2006 has cost the taxpayer over half a million pounds

A News Letter Freedom of Information (FOI) request has shown a total of £558,000 of public money has been spent to date to shield our public representatives from intrusion.

The revelation comes only days before the high profile visit to Stormont by US president George Bush, when security will be paramount.

The new enforcements ‘on the hill’ include the relocation of a new outdoor search facility (£34,674), the installation of railings and fencing on the building’s parameter (£88,000) and new X-ray equipment (£123,000).

The largest outlay was a fee for the presence of PSNI officers which totalled £181,000. Other costs included a new PA system (£34,475), barriers (£13,200) and associated services (£43,500).

The FOI request also revealed other additional security measures would be implemented during the current financial year.

Much disapproval has been directed at the railings that have been erected which bar access up the famous main steps at the front of the building.

Despite the criticism, the Assembly Commission, comprising members from the five main political parties, has said the overall project sought to balance ease of access with the need for protection.

DUP MLA Stephen Moutray who sits on the Assembly’s corporate body, says the safety measures have brought Stormont into line with its counterparts across the British Isles.

“A security review was instigated after the Michael Stone incident and there were many concerns raised about security in and around Parliament Buildings. The review came up with recommendations and those recommendations have been carried out,” he said.

“One of those recommendations was an exterior search facility as there is at the Scottish Parliament, Westminster and the Dail in Dublin.”

The DUP man believes it is positive the search facility has been moved outside, making the Great Hall more “people friendly”.

He also revealed the new measures were introduced unanimously after Stone’s infringement.

“What happened that day helped to focus thoughts on security more and the Assembly Commission as well as the leaders of all the political parties made their dissatisfaction known.

“The issue was raised regularly in the House,” he added.

When contacted by the News Letter, an Assembly spokesperson declined to answer further questions directly but referred to FOI legislation which allows the response to be delayed by 20 working days.

News Letter
14 June 2008

Former Northern Ireland Office Minister Adam Ingram told the Billy Wright Inquiry yesterday that he could not remember being told the INLA intended to attack LVF prisoners at the Maze prison in 1997.

Mr Ingram – who was security minister at the NIO at the time of the LVF chief’s murder – said he had no great clarity of a meeting with members of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) which took place on July 1, 1997.

Earlier this week, POA official Joseph Duffy told the inquiry panel he warned Mr Ingram during the meeting INLA prisoners at the top security jail had told staff they intended to take out the LVF given the chance.

Mr Ingram said whilst he remembered Mr Duffy he had no recollection of him saying anything about an INLA threat to the LVF.

The former NIO minister also told the inquiry he had absolutely “no recollection whatsoever” of another meeting – also in July 1997 – with representatives of the Northern Ireland Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders (NIACRO) during which concerns were voiced about the decision to house INLA and LVF prisoners on the same H Block at the Maze.

When pressed by Alan Kane QC – counsel for the Wright family – Mr Ingram accepted concerns had been raised about INLA and LVF prisoners being on the same H Block but he had never reviewed the decision to co-locate the rival paramilitary factions.

However, despite being shown evidence to the contrary by Mr Kane, the former security minister maintained he had been accurate when he informed the House of Commons on January 21, 1998, that block searches and cell fabric checks were ongoing at the Maze in the six months prior to Wright’s murder.

He is expected to conclude his evidence to the Wright Inquiry some time later this month.