SAOIRSE32

Derry Journal
7 July 2008

An 18-year-old Derry man appeared in court today charged with murdering Emmett Sheils in the Creggan area of the city last month.

Garry Meenan from Bishop Street, also faced firearms offences.

A detective inspector told the court he believed the defendant did not fire the shots which killed Mr Sheils (22), but was part of the gang which murdered him.

He said that during five days of questioning Meenan consistently denied the charges. Meenan was remanded in custody at Saturday’s hearing held at Bishop Street Courthouse.

A court order was imposed banning photos being taken of the accused.

News Letter
7 July 2008

AS the Twelfth approaches, the ever increasing number of attacks on Orange halls across Northern Ireland is serving to increase tensions, according to the police.

Over the weekend, there were two separate attacks on Orange properties in County Tyrone.

Last week, Kilrea Orange hall was subject to an overnight attack.

Due to the spate of vandalism, police are fearful of retaliation. GAA premises and Catholic churches have also been targeted.

Assistant chief constable Judith Gillespie said: “It appears that in order to serve their misguided ends they try to raise tensions, particularly ahead of set times in the Northern Ireland calendar like July 12.

“One of the ways they are doing this is to attack buildings which are of importance and significance to their neighbours.”

“We have seen a series of attacks on Orange halls. But we have also seen attacks on buildings which are culturally important to the Catholic community.”

An Orange Order spokesman confirmed the organisation is working with the police to reduce attacks.

He said: “We have condemned all attacks on any type of community hall and we would encourage the police to do everything they can to prevent any further incidents.

32CSM’s Message Board
Posted on 6/7/2008 at 20:09:35

The revelations that the people of Derry City are to be petitioned in order to put pressure on Anti Agreement Republican Separatists to disband is disingenuous in the extreme and smacks not only of political opportunism but also no small measure of desperation.

It is clear that those behind this political stunt are using the understandable anger in the community at the murder of Emmet Sheils to further their own political objectives, namely an end to opposition to support for the RUC/PSNI and the British Administration in Stormont.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement will not be deflected from our political work by such ill conceived political posturing nor will any other Anti Agreement Republican groupings.

Those who have sought to ferment community tensions by deliberately and falsely attributing blame for the murder of Emmet Sheils will be exposed for what they are as will their cynical use of his death for their own narrow agenda. Republicans will not be intimidated from upholding the Republican position and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement are resolute in our intention to continue our work in Derry City and across the nation.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement are attracting disillusioned and disenfranchised Republicans right across Ireland and further a field as are other Republican organisations and the cynical manipulation of this tragic event illustrates how low Pro State Nationalists will go to undermine this growth, they will fail.

We note also the presence of the so called Deputy First Minister in Iraq. Just recently the same Minister greeted the US President to the Six Counties without a whimper of protest from him against the occupation and wholesale slaughter in that country. This reluctance to petition for protest against these blatant injustices is at least consistent with their equal reluctance to petition for protest against other high profile murders here because they do not afford him the same opportunity for cheap political kudos

The Irish Resistance Movement will not be forced to disband and anyone endeavouring to do so is not only naïve but is also acting in a dangerous manner. Attempts to foster a civil war mentality will also fail as all previous attempts have done.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement have this pledge to make to Republicans,
While the British Occupation remains so too will Irish Resistance to that Occupation.

By David McKittrick, Ireland correspondent
Independent.co.uk
Monday, 7 July 2008

The Northern Ireland troubles may be over, but heavily armoured Saracen military personnel carriers still trundle through downtown Belfast.

Their look-out points and emergency doors no longer house British troops with high-powered rifles, wary of sniper and rocket attack. Instead they feature high-spirited young women whooping at pedestrians. This is party time in post-troubles Belfast and those in the vehicle are clutching not lethal weapons but alcopops. It is uproar of a different kind, one of celebration rather than commotion: the hazard has been replaced by the hen night.

The armoured wagon is just the most visible, and frivolous, example of a Belfast phenomenon of holding on to relics of the conflict. Researchers have just completed an “artefacts audit” and found, to their amazement, no fewer than 424,000 mementos. The findings lend weight to the argument for establishing an official museum – or museums – explaining the troubles.

The artefacts are held in 79 public and private collections in Northern Ireland, Britain and the Irish Republic. Until now, no one had realised just how memorabilia had been retained.

The range is remarkable, encompassing the military and the paramilitary, the political and the civilian. Most of it is modern but there are five ancient cannonballs, handed down through the centuries, as well as material related to the Black and Tans. There are defused bombs and grenades, as well as improvised devices which, though built into coffee jars and soup tins, were deadly.

The various stashes include battered helmets, riot shields, tear gas canisters, truncheons and plastic bullets, together with the bin lids that used to be rattled in warning and in defiance. There are mugs, badges, fridge magnets, insignia, photographs, films, posters, manifestos and threatening letters. There are chess sets in which Ian Paisley confronts Gerry Adams; republican banners forecasting victory; and loyalist T-shirts proclaiming “Proud to be Prod”.

One Sinn Fein election poster solicits votes for Denis Donaldson, later shot as an informer. There are berets which signified support for highly dubious organisations: some of those who wore them are today government ministers.

Some of the equipment is in official military museums, some is held by republican and loyalist groups, but much has been squirreled away by enthusiastic individuals and small groups.

Down on the border, a refurbished mechanical digger, known in its day as a “borderbuster”, which locals would use to reopen frontier roads dug up by the Army, has been placed on display.

Belfast’s Linenhall Library has amassed a quarter of a million documents, which Gerry Adams calls “a vast history book” and which Ian Paisley describes as “indispensable”. Thousands of items made in prison remain stashed away, including at least two illicit alcohol stills. Prison officers have held on to bolt cutters, signalling flags and tunnelling equipment as well as dummy guns constructed for escape attempts. Someone has even kept a cell door.

Celtic harps, drums and other symbols fashioned behind bars are commonplace in republican areas. And there are many descriptions of prison lore. Mr Adams, for example, recollects panicking when the man in front of him in a tunnel broke wind. Another IRA leader still bears the nickname of a well-known ballpoint pen, in tribute to his capacity to secrete contraband about his person.

Republicans in particular are assiduous collectors, one commentator describing their material as “practically erupting from the ground”.

The huge number of artefacts has been uncovered by Healing Through Remembering, one of a the groups grappling with the thorny problem of what might commemorate the conflict while helping bind up society’s wounds. It includes former IRA members, extreme loyalists and ex-members of the security forces. One of its leading members is Alan McBride, who lost his wife and father-in-law in an IRA bombing. On the subject of establishing a museum, he said yesterday: “There is no consensus on whether or not to gather all this material together, or on how to do it.

“But young people in particular should have access to it … as a contribution towards peace-building. There is a growing interest in addressing the legacies of division and using the material culture of the conflict to tell stories, hold memories, commemorate or learn lessons from the past.”

BBC
7 July 2008

Out of more than 1,100 unsolved murders from the Troubles re-opened by a team of detectives, it has emerged just one has been put forward for prosecution.

A Northern Ireland Affairs Committee report said the high cost of inquiries into Northern Ireland’s troubled past is “financially unsustainable”.

It said too much focus on cold cases is compromising the police’s ability to cope with present-day terror threats.

The £34m project re-examining more than 3,200 killings needs reviewed, it said.

In its Policing the Past report, the Committee warned the cost of the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) and associated investigations could spiral to more than £45m - 60% over the original budget.

Committee chairman Sir Patrick Cormack said: “The Police Service of Northern Ireland faces significant demands in terms of its work with all of the different historical investigations and we are concerned about the impact of this in relation to the police service’s primary role in policing the present.”

Ombudsman’s workload

The report also found the efficiency of the Police Ombudsman has been damaged by the workload posed by its remit to investigate historic events.

>>Cold case inquiry ‘a right’

Cases dealt with by the HET that involve potential misconduct by officers in what was then the Royal Ulster Constabulary are referred to Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson.

So far the HET has passed 54 investigations to the Ombudsman’s office, with 300 more expected before 2013 when the chronological re-examination of files is due to be completed.

The report said: “The number of complaints about the former Royal Ulster Constabulary arising from the years of the Troubles and the inadequate provision of additional resources have compromised the Ombudsman’s ability to investigate complaints against the PSNI.

“There is a risk that this reduced capability will damage public perception of the Ombudsman’s Office and public confidence in policing.”

The committee also said issues had to be resolved around PSNI cooperation with inquiries and unheard coroner’s cases into killings during the Troubles.

It said the future of the HET project would ultimately have to be reassessed in the context of the findings of the Consultative Group on the Past.

Set up to look at how to deal with the legacy of the Troubles, the group is co-chaired by former Church of Ireland primate Lord Eames and ex-Policing Board vice chairman Denis Bradley.

It is due to present its recommendations to the government later this summer.