SAOIRSE32

Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: +353-1-872 9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie
Date: 18 Meitheamh / June 2008

Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom

http://saoirse.info

In this issue:

1. Tribute paid to Wolfe Tone at Bodenstown
2. Yes Treaty rejected by 110,000 votes in poll of over 1.6m people
3. RSF condemn Brit enlistment in 26 Counties
4. British police attacked in Fermanagh
5. Listowel Republicans remove Union Jack
6. Six war protesters acquitted
7. Bush in Belfast
8. British army gun used in 1973 UVF killing of Belfast teenager
9. Six-County Parades Commission to rule on city march as negotiations fail
10. Hamill family in tribunal call
11. Civil service ‘Irish bias’ claim
12. Shell to Sea court cases
13. Strathaven martyr remembered

1. TRIBUTE PAID TO WOLFE TONE AT BODENSTOWN

THE Republican Sinn Féin annual Wolfe Tone Commemoration was held in Bodenstown, Co Kildare on June 14. Republicans travelled from all over Ireland as well as from England to pay their respects to “the father of Republicanism” Wolfe Tone.

The parade assembled in Sallins Village behind a colour party from Munster, Cumann na mBan and Na Fianna Éireann and to the rousing marching tunes of the Raheen Pipe Band from Roscommon marched to the graveyard. Many banners were carried denoting the many areas represented.

At the graveside, the Chief Marshal Seosaimh Ó Maoleoin, Iar Mhí, brought the parade to attention for the playing of the Last Post and Reveille and the dipping of the flags. A wreath was laid on behalf of the Republican Movement by Kitty Hawkins, a lifelong Republican from Kildare.

Peig Galligan, Dublin, of the National Graves Association, gave an account of Bloody
Sunday in Dublin in November 1920.

Ruairí White chaired the proceedings. He welcomed everyone to Bodenstown and congratulated the people in the 26 Counties who rejected the EU/Lisbon Treaty.

Dan Hoban, Mayo, gave the main oration. He traced the history of the Republican Movement from the time of Wolfe Tone to the present day.

He ended his stirring oration by calling on the youth of Ireland to join the Republican Movement and play a part in achieving the All-Ireland Republic for which so much has been sacrificed down the years.

The parade marched back to Sallins where Seosaimh Ó Maoileoin dismissed the parade with the singing of Amhrán na bhFiann.

(more…)

By Lesley-Anne Henry
Belfast Telegraph
Wednesday 18, June 2008

A man accused of killing 29 people in the Omagh bomb was seen “laughing and sniggering” hours after the 500lb explosion ripped through the Co Tyrone town, a court heard yesterday.

As the death toll mounted on August 15, 1998, Seamus Daly, an alleged Real IRA footsoldier, was seen drinking in a Dundalk bar — owned by another of the accused, Colm Murphy.

Daly and Murphy are among five men believed to have been behind the 1998 blast. Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt, his alleged director of operations Liam Campbell and Seamus McKenna are also being sued by the families of six victims.

The civil suit at Belfast High Court heard how Terrence Patrick Morgan had seen Seamus Daly and a number of associates, whom he also believed were linked to the Real IRA drinking in the Emerald Bar on the night of the bombing.

The group were described by Morgan as “all tramps” and were named in court as ‘Shanty’ Brady, Colm Murphy, Seamus McKenna and a butcher known as ‘fat boy’.

Referring to Daly’s demeanour on the night of the bombing Mr Morgan said: ” He was laughing, sniggering and drunk. That’s what sticks in my mind that night.”

He added: “They were laughing and talking away among themselves.”

When asked by police if the group were “crying into their beer” he replied “no”.

Morgan worked as a foreman at Colm Murphy’s building site at Dublin City University. He was being questioned by detectives because his mobile phone was found to have travelled to Omagh in the Vauxhall Cavalier bomb car. During four days of interviews between February 21 and 25, 1999, he told police he had unwittingly lent the phone to his boss the Friday before the explosion.

While under caution Mr Morgan also told police that a highly intoxicated Seamus Daly had made an off the cuff remark about Omagh: “He was drunk and he was slabbering ‘you were the driver of a van today’. He said to me, you drive the yoke into Omagh.” When asked by police if the statement had shocked him, Morgan replied: “It did shock me”.

However he did not make any reply: “I did not I just walked away. He (Daly) was drunk. I knew his pedigree after that.”

Mr Morgan said the possibility of being implicated in the mass murder had ” worried” him but he was too scared to say anything.

At hearing.

By Kathryn Torney
Belfast Telegraph
Wednesday 18, June 2008

Thirty grammar schools today released detailed information on the new common entrance tests which will be used to select pupils after the 11-plus is consigned to history later this year.

Every primary school in Northern Ireland was today due to receive packs from the Association for Quality Education (AQE) relating to the exams which will be taken for the first time in the autumn of 2009 by pupils currently in P5.

The grammar schools have decided to plough ahead with developing the Common Entrance Assessment (CEA) because they say the Department of Education has not brought forward any satisfactory alternative.

The CEA will consist of three one-hour papers, similar in format to the current 11-plus. Pupils will sit the tests in grammar schools on Saturdays.

They will assess only English and Mathematics and marks will be awarded on the basis of the best two scores.

If funding is not provided by the department, the schools hope to keep the cost of the test to under £30 per pupil.

There will be no charge for young people who receive free school meals.

The CEA information pack for primary schools includes information on the expected timetable, a guide for parents, sample test questions, a draft registration form and details on how special educational needs will be dealt with.

In response to questions from the Belfast Telegraph, AQE confirmed that pupils sitting the tests will be awarded a score rather than a grade and it will then be up to individual schools to decide how these are used. Some may allocate places in rank order while others may decide to use different criteria to allocate places among pupils they judge to be suited to a grammar school place.

Writing for today’s Telegraph, Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, chair of the AQE, said: “It is not elitist but logical to recognise that children have different talents and aptitudes, some mainly academic and some mainly vocational, but all of them essential and to be valued in a successful society.”

An agreed new school transfer system for the whole of Northern Ireland is hanging in the balance as politicians have failed so far to agree on any proposal put forward.

Education Minister Caitriona Rune is moving ahead with her plan to phase out academic selection over three years – however, this proposal has already been criticised by the DUP, Ulster Unionists and the SDLP.

Despite this, the minister has already commissioned exams body CCEA to work on a temporary transfer test to enable grammars to select 50% of their pupils based on their academic ability in 2010, 30% for the intake in 2011 and 20% in 2012. In 2013, Ms Ruane says that all admissions would be based on non-academic criteria.

The minister has yet to follow through on commitments to send out information to schools, parents and every household in the province.

She said earlier this year: “Schools considering a breakaway entrance exam should be aware of the considerable legal and financial risks they may face if they decide to proceed.

“There is the potential for multiple appeals and litigation aimed at overturning admissions decisions.

“I have made clear that the Department of Education will not fund or support any such entrance exam.”

Belfast Telegraph
Wednesday 18, June 2008

The murder of Robert McCartney and the alleged involvement of IRA members had “significant ramifications” for the peace process, Belfast Crown Court was told yesterday.

Patrick Lyttle QC, the barrister defending 47-year old Joseph Fitzpatrick, spoke of the “parallel investigation by a paramilitary organisation” which he said influenced the evidence of one of the main prosecution witnesses.

Ed Gowdy, a friend of Robert McCartney, has given evidence at the trial and claimed Fitzpatrick hit him on the face with a stick in Market Street. Fitzpatrick has denied the assault charge and a further charge of causing an affray on January 30, 2005.

Making a ‘no case to answer’ application to the court, Mr Lyttle said the only evidence against his client was identification evidence by Mr Gowdy. The barrister said it was unfair to try Fitzpatick as Mr Gowdy’s evidence ” has been entirely filtered through the prism of an IRA investigation that has influenced this witness.”

Speaking of the six to eight hours of meetings Mr Gowdy claimed had taken place with IRA members in the wake of the murder, the barrister said Fitzpatick “cannot get a fair trial” because the contents of the meetings were not before the court.

Mr Lyttle said: “This was an incident that had very high publicity and very serious ramifications for what was then known as the peace process.”

He also spoke of the credibility of Mr Gowdy’s evidence, especially he said since the witness admitted drinking up to 32 pints that weekend. The barrister said that since the murder, Mr Gowdy has “given completely contrasting views” rendering him “unreliable”.

Also making a ‘no case to answer’ application to the court was Eilish McDermott QC who is representing James McCormick (39). The accused has been charged with but denies causing an affray.

Ms McDermott said that while there “probably was an affray of some kind” in Market Street which followed from a row in Magennis’s pub, Mr Gowdy’s evidence did not establish “whether Mr McCormick was a party to it” .

Mr Gowdy claimed he saw McCormick walking down Market Street with a group of men armed with bottles and sticks following Robert McCartney and his friend Brendan Devine. He claimed the last he saw of the two men was them about to walk onto East Bridge Street at the top of Market Street. This evidence, Ms McDermott said, provides “no support for the allegation of affray”.

She told Mr Justice Gillen: “The Crown has got to prove that Mr McCormick unlawfully fought… there is no evidence whatsoever that he fought.” At hearing.

BBC

The gun used by loyalist paramilitaries to kill a Donegal teenager 35 years ago was stolen from an army base, according to a new investigation.

Henry Cunningham (Picture from Irish News)

Henry Cunningham, 16, from Carndonagh, died in August 1973 when loyalist gunmen ambushed the van he was in.

His family said detectives also uncovered evidence of security force collusion in their brother’s murder.

The details emerged after a fresh investigation by the Historical Enquiries Team.

Henry Cunningham was travelling home on the M2 when UVF gunmen opened fire on the van from a motorway bridge.

His older brother Herbie, who was driving, was injured, but a third brother, Robert, was unhurt.

“We are very angry about this, that such a thing could happen, that people could allow these men with guns to go out and shoot innocent people,” he said.

Herbie said it was hard for them to accept what had happened.

“I don’t know how you’d put into words what they did do, what was the purpose of it, to shoot innocent people?,” he said.

No-one has been prosecuted for the murder, and the family said the new evidence raises serious questions about the initial investigation.

They now want the taoiseach to take the case up with the British government.

‘Shocking new information’

The brothers said the investigation had been a “long and painful process”. “Many questions remain unanswered.

“The Historical Enquiries Team (HET) review has however provided us with some answers and with shocking new information about the circumstances of Henry’s death,” they said.

According to the report, one of the weapons used in the attack had been stolen from a UDR base in Lurgan in 1972.

The HET found evidence of collusion between loyalists and the security forces in the raid on the base.

Both murder weapons were recovered by the RUC in separate incidents in 1974, but despite being linked to a number of unsolved serious crimes, they were later destroyed by the RUC.

The HET also said that declassified documents noted that “there were high-level concerns regarding RUC elements ‘too close to the UVF’ and ‘too ready to hand over information’, and worries that loyalist extremists had heavily infiltrated the UDR.”

‘Incorrectly identified’

The report concluded that Henry Cunningham, other members of his family and work colleagues, were “specifically targeted as a group by the UVF in a pre-planned attack on 9 August 1973″.

It said that it was likely they had been observed following a regular pattern, travelling on the M2 in a van with Republic of Ireland registration plates.

It also said they were all incorrectly identified as Catholics working in the construction industry.

Those in the van were both Catholic and Presbyterian.

“The ballistic linkage of one of the murder weapons to the double murder of Catholic workmen gives credence to this scenario,” it said.

BBC

The four members of the Commission for Victims and Survivors are to give evidence before a Stormont committee.

The commisison is to begin a series of meetings

They will answer questions at the Committee for the First and Deputy First Minister.

It will be the first appearance by commissioners Brendan McAllister, Patricia McBride, Bertha McDougall and Michael Nesbitt.

The commission, set up amid a series of controversies, is also to begin holding public meetings.

Consultation on an initial programme of work will take place at the first meeting in Ballymoney on Wednesday.

The commission was created under legislation passed by the assembly last month with the aim of promoting the interests of victims and survivors.

It will work to a three-year corporate plan with programmes for each year.

The commission will consult with victims and survivors, groups and organisations in the community, voluntary and statutory sector.

Its initial work programme focuses on the period from the present until the end of March 2009.

Four additional meetings are scheduled for this month. These will be held in Londonderry on 17 June, Enniskillen, 18 June, Belfast, 16 June and in Newry on 23 June.

In January, details of Northern Ireland’s victims’ commissioners were revealed.

They include broadcaster Mike Nesbitt and ex-interim victims’ commissioner Bertha McDougall whose RUC Reservist husband was murdered by the republican INLA.

The others are Patricia MacBride, whose brother was killed by the SAS and whose father died 17 months after being shot by loyalists, and Brendan McAllister of Mediation NI.

All four posts are full-time and receive the full advertised salary of £65,000.

BBC

The Orange Order has said it will help the police stop people drinking alcohol at a parade this Friday.

The Tour of the North is taking place on Friday

Officials organising the Tour of the North march in north Belfast say they want to create a family atmosphere.

Stephen McAlister, from the order, said they have worked closely with the police on their plans.

“What we will do is we will have a marshal close by police and officials,” he said.

“Just to say to the community ‘look this is wrong, we don’t want this and we support what the police are doing’.”

Last week, it was announced that a deal had been brokered by Ardoyne residents and parade organisers to alter the route of the parade.

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

In the past there have been violent clashes during the Tour of the North.