SAOIRSE32

Times Online
July 12, 2008

**Photos by Chris Steele-Perkins, and there many more onsite in a slideshow

Thirty years after photographing the Troubles, Chris Steele-Perkins returns to a city adapting to peace

Owen Coogan and friends, playing in a Belfast Street. Owen, pictured in the striped top in 1978

Chris Steele-Perkins first came to Belfast in 1978 to document the lives of the poor. He was working on a book on inner-city poverty in the Seventies and had been to Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Glasgow, and London, but Belfast was “more extreme: poorer”.

He wanted to understand the violence the people at the heart of a conflict lived with. By 1978, 1,850 people had died, and injuries amounted to almost 20,000. An estimated 12,000 homes were destroyed and more than 32,000 damaged. Although Times reporter John Cartes wrote that it no longer went silent when an Englishman walked into a pub, and that violence was slowing, there was still rioting in the streets, and bombing increased through the autumn.

“In Northern Ireland there was a low-intensity war going on,” recalls Steele-Perkins. “The Army patrolled the streets, bombs destroyed lives and buildings, and gunmen roamed.”

Although Steele-Perkins was aware that there was poverty in the Protestant areas too, a poverty that provided the foot soldiers for the Protestant militias, he concentrated on photographing the tough streets and estates of Catholic West Belfast. He came to squat in the Divis flats, dour slabs of housing in the Lower Falls area. They have since been knocked down, apart from the tower block, and replaced with terraced housing, but at the time had a dark reputation for violence and for being a Republican stronghold.

“I don’t know how I came to squat there. It was a combination of my lack of finances and a wish to be at the heart of things. The flats were dirty and, if you were a British soldier, dangerous, but they were also vibrant. Nobody bothered me. It was as if by planting myself there I had to be OK. No informer would have been so stupid.” There he met Paul McCorry, who was working with the Divis Residents’ Association, and who offered him a bed in his flat. This was to be Steele-Perkins’ home from home on his many trips to Belfast.

It soon became clear that, despite the poverty, there was a powerful sense of community. A community held together by a common religion, sense of injustice and enemy, yet also fractured by sectarian politics, the dominant voice of which was the IRA. Steele-Perkins wandered the streets, spoke to all kinds of people, knocked on doors, listened to stories, complaints, lectures, and took photographs.

Thirty years on, he decided to go back to Belfast and photograph some of his subjects again, where possible in the same location, to see how they had changed and how they viewed the transition to peace. Despite a general acknowledgement of greater opportunities – in jobs, education and housing – recurrent themes emerged of community breakdown, increasing crime and rising suicide rates. In the past, paramilitary groups had enforced the law, their law, but one generally seen by the community as necessary; now the police do not fill that void. Many people in poorer areas do not venture out at night.

The rise in suicides, he says, is harder to fathom. “Perhaps it is unconnected, but it is perceived to be a part of the failure to address the ongoing issues of sustaining community and order in a society subsequent to the ‘revolution’: the mismatch between expectation and delivery that follows on every great political achievement.”

OWEN AND MOIRA COOGAN AND THEIR CHILDREN, NIáMH AND CáOLAN

Owen Coogan used to live in the Divis flats. He left school at 16 and after working as a roofer with his father, he went to work for Northern Irish Ferries, and now at Montupet, which makes cylinder heads. He lives with his wife and children in Dunmurry, Belfast.

Owen’s father was interned in 1972 and remained so for four years, when Owen was 3 years old. “In Belfast at the time we felt the Falls Road was under siege, so everyone tried to do their bit,” he says. “Even though you were young, you knew what was happening.

“There were a lot of derelict houses, which we used as our playground. The reason for the catapult, I think, is we didn’t get many toys; we had to make them.

“The Divis flats had a bad reputation, but for kids, you didn’t know anything else. Because it was densely populated there would be 30 or 40 of us playing together, so we had this camaraderie.

“Education-wise, the Troubles have affected me. Sometimes you couldn’t get to school because of what was happening around. The riots.

“The kids have so many more opportunities now. The amount of money that’s come into Belfast and other places in Northern Ireland is unbelievable. I think it’s just non-stop, it’s going forward. Which is a great thing.”
Multimedia

ADALINE SHANNON

Adaline was 8 years old when the original photograph was taken of her holding a poster of a man shot by a plastic bullet. She now works as a leisure manager for Belfast City Council. Her father was jailed when she was six months old and was interned for six years. He was, she says, never charged or tried.

Adaline Shannon was eight years old when this photograph was taken

“My mother was on her own with three children. I was the youngest,” she says.

“Any political rally, Mummy would have taken us along and we would have stood with posters. We never missed a march. But we were always taught by my mother that it was some other son… Y’know, not to hate, not to judge.”

Their family home was raided regularly, and she recalls the children being put to bed in their clothes because they would be turfed out between three and five in the morning.

“It just got to be a game for us, to be honest with you. Until you saw the devastation next day. Many teachers knew that if you put your head down and fell asleep you were raided the night before. If you missed your schoolwork or slept through lunch, they let us sleep.”

Now, she says, “the way it is going is the only way to go”, although there is still some enmity. “It seems we are just giving up everything and gaining, to be honest with you, very little.”

CHRISTINE MALONE

Christine Malone, then 14, was part of the Charlie Hughes Accordion Band, named after a Provisional IRA man shot dead by the Official IRA. She now lives off the Falls Road, near where she was photographed as a child. She is married to a staunch Republican who took part in the Blanket Protest, where prisoners refused to wear prison clothes, culminating in a hunger strike, in 1980.

“My daddy was Charlie’s best friend and so he organised the band,” Christine recalls.

“We marched every Sunday to raise funds for the band, plus we played at political marches.”

She stayed with the band until she married at 17. Her father was interned for almost two years. In 1980, he was shot through both legs by a loyalist.

“Everybody threw stones at the soldiers,” Christine recalls. “My oldest sister and I during the rioting got buckets of water with vinegar in it to give to the fellers who were rioting, to stop the tear gas from stinging their eyes. Plus, we tore up rags for the petrol bombs.”

She says that she wasn’t against the Protestants, but the issue was getting the British government out of Northern Ireland. But she agrees that the peace agreement is inevitable.

“The downside is there’s been more criminal activity. When we were young we respected the IRA; if you stepped out of line they would deal with you. The PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) aren’t interested. The only way forward is for Catholics to join the police service. It’s hard, because you can’t forget what the police have done. But you have to move on.”

MARGARET LOCHRAN, HER DAUGHTER MARIE AND GRANDDAUGHTER ROCHELLE

The photograph of Margaret Lochran, mother of six children, was taken at her house at 60 Service Street, in the Lower Falls, which has been knocked down and replaced with new homes.

The family moved to another house in the same area in 1980. They weren’t involved in any political group. “There was a curfew and all sorts,” recalls Mrs Lochran. “We never went out there or anything. We are all happy it’s all over.”

“We just kept ourselves to ourselves in the house,” says Marie. “Went out with our friends to discos, but anything political, we never got involved. We wouldn’t want to go back to the way it was.

“When we were kids you always saw a lot of British Army about, stopping you and asking where you were going. Your name. Everywhere you went, you were always getting searched. Everybody wants to go forward at the moment. It can only get better for our kids.”

KIARAN GEDDIS

Kiaran Geddis was 18 and had just finished school when he was photographed (wearing the zip-up cardigan), signing on in the dole office, but soon afterwards he trained to be a sheet-metal worker, before working for the council as a dustman. He is now in management in the cleansing section, and he lives in Andersonstown, Belfast, with his wife and four children.

His 10-year-old brother was killed by a stray plastic bullet, and after that, he says, “My mother and father were very protective of us. Rightly so. I kept a low profile.

“From the point of view of my family, my children, the positive side of the peace agreement has been a normalisation of the whole environment. It is going to be a slow change.

“I play the guitar; they used to stop you, search your guitar, take it and start playing. They’d make you take your shoes off, hold you back and try to psychologically wear you down.

“I’m playing in a band at the moment, and funnily enough I’m going to Nigeria next month – for St Patrick’s Day.”

FRANCIS GRAHAM AND MARTIN DALY

The two schoolfriends were 16 and 15 respectively, and were photographed at the top of Leeson Street where they both lived – Francis in the centre, and Martin second from right. They were on the verge of leaving school – Francis for plastering and Martin for the building trade. They were members of the Officials – the Official as opposed to Provisional IRA. Each has four children and Martin (in the brown top) has a grandchild. They still live near Leeson Street.

“Probably all of us had somebody who was killed,” says Francis. “A friend had a new bar and they threw a bomb in. A cousin was carrying a bomb that went off and she was blown to pieces.”

“I had a sister who was badly hurt, when her partner was shot,” says Martin.

“They shot him in the bed and she was made to watch.”

“Thinking about it, there were a lot of our friends killed,” says Francis. “There was a wee lad, Mickey, we used to run with, he was killed at the top of Leeson Street, there, with a plastic bullet.”

“I was standing beside him,” says Martin. “A plastic bullet hit him in the face. Killed him stone-dead. It’s people like that who maybe die for nothing. At the end of the day, only kids, only youngsters, throwing stones.”

Surprisingly, both friends look back affectionately at such a violent period.

“They were good times, no use telling lies,” says Francis. “All right, you had bad things happening to your families, but you still enjoyed life. Every day you were either throwing stones at soldiers or Peelers. That’s what your life was, but I think most of us enjoyed it, to be honest.

“The positive part about the peace agreement is there are no more innocent killings, no more people getting shot dead in the streets. My wee girl goes with a Protestant fellow. You couldn’t have brought him into your area then. No way! So really, it’s changed a hell of a lot. It’s about time, because the ordinary working people never got much in life.”

THE McCABE FAMILY

John and Elizabeth McCabe, with their daughter Deidre and son John, were photographed in their house in McDonald Street. The family had one other daughter, Siobhan, who was killed in crossfire in 1975, three years before this photograph was taken. In 1980, they moved to another house in the same street, where they still live. In the present-day picture, they’re joined by Deidre’s son, Aaron.

John and Elizabeth McCabe with their daughter Deidre and son John. The family had one other daughter Siobhan who was killed in crossfire in 1975

“When you look back now, you think, God, how did we ever live through all that?” says John.

“But at the time, you never thought about it, the riots and shootings were just part of the daily routine. To tell you the truth, I didn’t feel the peace agreement would last as long as it has. It will still take a lot of years yet before it’s normalised.

“There’s still a lot of pain in there, simmering under,” says Elizabeth. “A lot of people have lost people, like ourselves with our daughter, and thousands more like us who have lost family members. I think it will take a long time to heal those wounds.”

SEAN WALSH

Sean was 12 when the original photo was taken in Lenadoon. An only child, his family lived in Osman Street at the time. He recalls that there were a lot of Catholic families being burnt out by Protestants. Now, after a period labouring in England, he lives with his parents, still in the Lenadoon area of Belfast.

“You were in fear of what was going on around you,” he says. “My first recollection was of the house being boarded up when I was 4 years old.

“My father was shot in the back and the leg by loyalists, and his friend, Tony Morgan, was killed.

“In those days, there were sectarian murders, but you were shielded from the rest that was going on around, in Britain or even Ireland. Drug culture, anti-social behaviour.

Sean was 12 when this picture was taken in Lenadoon

“There’s crime getting committed here now that would never have been committed in those times. It wasn’t that you were picked up willy-nilly; they [the IRA] would find evidence and you suffered the consequences.

I personally think what I was brought up with was a lesser evil. Despite all the atrocities, I think it was a safer period. In my heart I know it was.”

“There’s also a good side to this, where people are getting better employment, housing and material things. But as a parent, I would be more worried about my kids getting involved with drugs than I would about them getting in a riot. It’s what they call progress, isn’t it?”

ANNE McCORRY AND DANNY LARGIE

In the original photograph, above, Anne is shown in Daly’s Bar, with her friend Danny, centre, and her brother-in-law, Martin. Anne was a mother looking after three children, including a severely disabled girl, Sinead, who died a few years later. Anne and her husband Paul offered Steele-Perkins a place to stay when he squatted in the Divis flats.

Paul (on the right in the present-day photograph) was working in a flour mill and was also active with the Divis Residents Association, trying to get them improved.

Danny was a friend, with a reputation for fighting a lot. Now he is a self-employed electrician, helped by his son.

Paul and Anne live a mile away from where the Divis flats were. Paul works shifts at the Royal Victoria Hospital in the boiler room and has become an artist. Anne is an active member of a small internet forum.

Daly’s Bar used to have metal grills all over the door and windows and a tight security system for people to come in. Now it is a regular bar with music and a large TV screen.

ANN GILMARTIN

Ann was 13 at the time the picture was taken at a drop-in centre in the Divis flats where she lived, one of five children. Her brother, now a taxi driver, and husband were in prison for 15 years. She still lives in Lower Falls with her husband, Martin, where she works as a barmaid.

“I’ve always supported Sinn Fein – you were involved no matter what,” says Ann, but she is behind the peace agreement. “I’d never want my children to be brought up in it. It was a hard life,” she says.

She and her husband say that lack of discipline is a problem for the city. “They’re good people with no authority, like having a dog with no teeth,” says Martin. “They can’t touch the wee lads because it’s a criminal offence.

“The question a lot of people want to ask is: ‘What was it all about, and was it worth it?’ I spent 15 years in jail, and my answer would be, it wasn’t. Not only for the people who went to jail, but for the people who died.

“People would rather have this than what they had 20 years ago, though. As time goes by more people will fall into line, even the ones who are discontented with it.”

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: 10 Iúil / July 2008

Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom

http://saoirse.info

In this issue:

1. Large turnout at Tom Maguire commemoration
2. Loyalist threat read out on radio
3. RUC/PSNI Chief in bid to block Coroner’s access
4. Sectarian attacks on nationalists in Belfast
5. Nationalists under siege in Stoneyford
6. Loyalist in collusion case seeks legal ban on his identification
7. 200 fined, 60 held at Orange parades
8. Health service union to oppose cuts of £1.2m in North ambulance service
9. Scrap means test for carers
10. Sellafield decommissioning to take over 100 years
11. Belgian foreign minister supports cause of the Miami Five

1. LARGE TURNOUT AT TOM MAGUIRE COMMEMORATION

MORE than 100 people attended the annual Comdt-General Tom Maguire commemoration in Cross, Co Mayo on July 5 last. People from all over Ireland but mainly from Mayo and Galway marched behind a colour party to the grave in Cross Cemetery where proceedings were chaired by Dan Hoban, Newport. The oration was delivered by Des Long, Ard Chomhairle member from Limerick. Following the commemoration many copies of Dílseacht, the story of General Maguire written by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh were sold.

In the course of his oration Des Long said that the declaration by Martin McGuinness that Republicans must pursue a peaceful future was “a breathtaking example of Josef Goebbels-like Nazi propaganda”.

He said that the political hypocrisy of men like McGuinness is an affront to all those who died in the ongoing struggle for Irish freedom.

“Not content with selling out and surrendering to the British Crown, McGuinness and his ilk are now doing the dirty work of the British forces of occupation and felon setting for the police.”

“For Martin McGuinness to condemn Republicans is to be expected because he is now a Crown Minister. His party seem to forget however that being a Crown Minister is incompatible with being a true Republican. So his condemnation of Republicans must be seen in the light of a man who is now serving the interests of the British Crown in Ireland.

“The ideals of the 1916 Proclamation and the aims of the Easter Rising cannot be judged on what he terms community support. The people of Ireland have an age old right to national self-determination and no matter how many former Republicans defect from the cause or are lured by the power and wealth of political office, the fact remains that the ideal of the All Ireland Republic is still alive.

“The ideal is alive thanks today to men like Tom Maguire who took principled stands and resisted the British – they will still be remembered when men like McGuinness will be relegated to the list of traitors to the All Ireland Republic.”

2. LOYALIST THREAT READ OUT ON RADIO

IT was reported on July 10 that loyalists who intimidated a nationalist family out of Stoneyford were believed to be behind a chilling message which was unwittingly read out on BBC Radio Ulster recently.

On the Gerry Anderson show on July 3, hosted by John Toal, the following message was read out: “Can you please shout out a big bye bye to the Braniff family from all the boys in Stoneyford?”

The nationalist Braniff family has been subjected to a long campaign of intimidation by loyalists in Stoneyford. Their home in Stoneyford was attacked on numerous occasions and they received death threats.

Seán Braniff said that he is in no doubt that loyalists were behind the message. He said that although his family has moved out of Stoneyford it is obvious that the intimidation hasn’t stopped. He and his young family fled the village in March while other family members left the village last week after being subjected to intimidation.

A spokesperson for the BBC said that BBC Northern Ireland has been made aware of this issue and is currently looking in to it.

3. RUC/PSNI CHIEF IN BID TO BLOCK CORONER’S ACCESS

RUC/PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde launched a legal challenge to try to block Belfast Coroner John Leckey from gaining access to the police investigation into the shooting of Pearse Jordan, an unarmed nationalist.

Pearse Jordan (21) was shot dead by an undercover RUC unit as he drove a car along the Falls Road in west Belfast in November 1992. Over the last 16 years his parents have fought a legal battle to gain access to the police files surrounding their son’s killing.

In 2007 a British House of Lords ruling ordered the RUC/PSNI to provide Six-County coroners with all relevant police files relating to controversial killings.

As a result John Leckey re-opened the Jordan inquest after an 11-year adjournment. Last month he ordered the chief constable to hand over the senior investigating officer’s report into the Jordan murder by 4.30pm on July 4. However Orde refused to hand over the police investigation report, claiming he was not legally obliged to disclose the murder files to the coroner.

“The investigating police officer’s report, insofar as it consists of matters of opinion, comment, assessment, conclusions and recommendations, does not constitute ‘information’,” a solicitor for the RUC/PSNI said in a legal challenge opposing the handing over of police files.

Resisting the coroner’s request, the solicitor said that “this is a routine document prepared in every case where a crime file is opened and later submitted to the Public Prosecution Service”.

“It contains no primary evidence at all and is a summary of the various witness statements, which were taken at the time, together with a commentary by the investigating officer stating his conclusions and recommendations,” the solicitor said.

However, the Jordan family’s solicitor, Fearghal Shiels of Madden & Finucane, insists that the RUC/PSNI is legally obliged to hand over the files.

“The investigating officer will be giving evidence to this inquest and he bears ultimate responsibility for the conduct of the RUC investigation, which was strongly criticised by the European Court of Human Rights in 2001 for its lack of independence,” he said

“It purports to be an analysis of the evidence and is the cornerstone upon which a decision was taken by the DPP not to prosecute Sergeant A for murdering Pearse Jordan”.

“The information contained in this report and the process whereby that decision was arrived at could not be more relevant.” (more…)

BBC
11 July 2008

A petition to unite people following the murder of Emmett Shiels has caused divisions in the community.

The campaign, organised by community workers, urges dissident republicans to “choose another path” and was signed by hundreds of people.

Bishop of Derry Seamus Hegarty has refused to sign it.

His spokesman Father Michael Canny said he felt “it did not go far enough to condemn violence and people who propose it to be a legitimate means”.

On Thursday, Emmet Shiels’s family made a direct appeal to Bishop Seamus Hegarty to rethink his position.

Maureen Wilkinson, Emett Shiels’s sister said she could not understand why anybody would not sign it “if it was to get guns off the streets of Northern Ireland”.

“We have lost a family member because of a gun, stand up and be counted,” she said.

Some of the petition organisers criticised the bishop’s decision, including Creggan community worker Seamus Heaney.

“The Catholic Church in this city, and Ireland in general, has failed to show leadership at the appropriate time and this is just another instance of that,” Mr Heaney said.

“I think they’ve miscalculated and misunderstood what were trying to do here.”

SDLP assembly member Pat Ramsey said he understood why the bishop had reservations and had doubts about signing the petition himself.

“I still have my doubts why I did do it, for me it was more to do with the family,” he said.

“I think there’s a consistent approach, that this needs to stop.”

By Ian Graham
Independent.ie
July 10 2008

A JUDGE who acquitted a man of the Omagh bombing was at the centre of an unprecedented row last night after the head of the Northern Ireland judiciary was forced to reject claims that he had engaged in speculation.

Responding to the allegations from two former top policemen, the Lord Chief Justice’s office in the North said the judge “did not speculate”.

Criticism of Mr Justice Reg Weir — one of the North’s most senior trial judges — in a report published yesterday by two of the UK’s former top policemen has caused consternation in legal circles.

The former police chiefs said, in a report commissioned by the Northern Ireland Policing Board in the wake of the acquittal, that part of the judgment clearing Sean Hoey of all charges amounted to speculation.

That was too much for the office of the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Brian Kerr.

A tersely worded statement read: “The judge did not speculate that others were involved, much less who such others might be.

“He registered his concern that others may have been involved and he has left it to other agencies to investigate and determine whether that is the case.”

It said Mr Justice Weir considered the nature of the evidence given by the two individuals he identified in the judgment raised the possibility of the involvement of others.

The judge had not identified those other persons in the judgment nor had he reached any conclusion as to who they might be, the statement said.

Critical

The judge was highly critical of the police handling of the case, and accused a detective sergeant and a PSNI scenes of crime officer of a “deliberate and calculated deception'’.

Mr Justice Weir referred the actions of the officers to the Police Ombudsman for investigation — his report is expected later this month.

He said others involved in the investigation and preparation of the case may have been involved in the deception.

Sir Dan Crompton and David Blakey, both former chief constables and ex-HM Inspectors of Constabulary, seized on the comment.

In their report they said: “We were left wondering why this passage was included in the judgment.

“In such a high-profile case every single word, finding, or suggestion is likely to be rigorously examined by interested parties.

“We conclude that the judgment in this respect amounted to speculation by Mr Justice Weir, but we [and others] are left uninformed as to what triggered that speculation.'’

The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) was equally unimpressed with the report and a recommendation it should have a closer working relationship with the police.

The PPS said: “The present arrangements with police provide for a close working relationship.”

Any further comment from the PPS will come after the Ombudsman’s report.

- Ian Graham

By Tina Curran
Derry Journal
11 July 2008

The first soldier to be shot in Derry during the Troubles has made a journey of discovery to the city more than 37 years later.

It was in 1971, when 25-year-old Peter Booth was messing about with his army mates, surrounded by a world that was alien to him, that he became part of the city’s history forever

But it wasn’t until he visited the Free Derry Museum earlier this year that he realised the part he unwittingly played. After convincing his friends to join him, Peter travelled to the city in April this year to begin, a ‘healing process.’

“The last three or four years I just started getting flashbacks of things and I needed to come back as some sort of reconciliation,” said Peter.”Three friends and I tend to take holidays together, usually to First World War battle fields, and I said I had to go back to Derry. I thought they would laugh at me, but they said they would come with me.”

The group made the trip to the city in late April/early May and Peter said he felt a range of emotions.

“Coming back was very important,” he said. “It was terrific to hear some of the views of nationalists and the people I spoke to.We made two trips to Derry, the first began at the Free Derry Museum and included a political tour of the Bogside led by Gerry McCartney.

“I had the surprise of my life when I discovered two images of me on pages 109 & 110 of Willie Carson’s book as the First British Soldier Shot in Derry. I did not know I was. I can vaguely remember Willie taking the photographs, it was all very unreal with me crumpled and in great pain.”

Recalling what it was like in Derry in the early 1970s and the day he was shot, Peter said: “It wasn’t that bad then. It obviously got a lot worse.There were constant riots in Derry when I was shot. You couldn’t go anywhere in the Bogside without being spat at and insulted.

“On that particular day it was getting all very quiet. It was the last knocking of riots along William Street and Little Diamond. I seem to remember there was a mini cab business with people waiting nearby.

“We were taking the ‘mick’ out of each other and there was a lot of banter and then the shots rang out. I was the last person to realise I was shot when someone told me. The pain was excruciating. My leg has never been right since.”

Peter was taken to Altnagelvin where he managed to have a conversation with a young nationalist lad in the bed next to him, before being taken to Belfast and then on to England.

Memories

But years later, memories of his time in Derry were triggered by newspaper reports which gave Peter the urge to revisit.

“I suppose the memories came around various programmes about Bloody Sunday,” said Peter. “I don’t believe in Post Traumatic Stress but my memories came back after my mum died about three or four years ago. They just started to emerge and they were in need of healing, for want of a better word.

Part of that healing process was talking about it and coming back to Derry.

“You just think of all the families of the victims of Bloody Sunday and people who live there usually have to suffer it all the way through. We came and went, it was easy for us. No attachments or loyalties, but for people living there it was very different. Every time I read something about Bloody Sunday I am appalled.

“Things keep coming up. I read something last night and if it’s true, I received more compensation for my wounds than all but four families of the 13 victims of Bloody Sunday. I found that staggering.”

Coming to terms with the past

Peter has vowed to come back to the city to continue coming to terms with his past and the part he played during the Troubles, but he has regrets.

“I wish I had told people about being in the army which I didn’t do, as a confession type of thing, but the words kept getting stuck.

“I feel guilty not telling them who I was when they were so open with me about their pasts.“I’ll hold back nothing next time I come to Derry.”

Derry Journal
11 July 2008

You have reached the fork in the road.

We, the undersigned members of the Derry community, wish to address the leadership and members of the INLA, Continuity IRA and Real IRA:

On Tuesday 24th June 2008, Emmett Shiels was murdered on our streets. That night we stood together as a community and on our behalf these words were spoken:
“We are appalled at what has been done on our streets. From here, we want two messages to go out: one of sympathy with the Moore and Shiels family, especially with Emmett’s young partner; and one of anger and impatience with the people who carried out this terrible deed. The people who shot Emmett Shiels have no mandate from us. They have no right to act on behalf of the people of Derry. We are trying to move forward. They are holding us back”.

We believe your continued activities bring nothing but hardship and hurt to the people of Derry. We cannot as a society stand idly by and allow our young people to be killed, injured or to end up in prison with families torn apart. The people of this city have come through several decades of terrible loss, hurt and hardship and, because of this, we must not allow our young people to engage in a so-called ‘war of liberation’ which has no support and will only cause further pointless hardship.

You have reached the fork in the road. We demand that you stop your campaign here and pursue your aspirations through political means only. Join the rest of the people of this city in building a city and a people that cherishes all our children and young people equally and promotes respect for honest dialogue, human rights and social justice. We owe this to all of those who have suffered in this city as a result of injustice and conflict. Most importantly, we owe it to the memory of Emmett Shiels.

**List of names available onsite

Derry Journal
11 July 2008

Dissident republicans in Derry have ruled out talks with local community representatives who are trying to bring about a ceasefire.

The IRSP in Derry - a group believed to be linked to the INLA - said they see no prospect of the INLA meeting with the organisers of a petition calling for an end to dissident republican activity.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement (32CSM) in the city also said they have already been approached by the organisers of a public petition calling for an end to dissident republican activity following the murder of 22 year-old Emmett Shiels in the city last month. The organisation - which security sources regard as the political wing of the Real IRA - said they have been approached to engage in talks but insisted they would only talk about “issues of our national sovereignty.”

A spokesperson for the IRSP dismissed the public petition, branding it a ‘witch hunt’. “The organisers know full well that if they wanted to meet with the INLA or any of the other groups mentioned then there is clear and well known mechanisims for making this happen. A publicity driven petition is quite obviously not the way. Witch hunt diplomacy will not work.

“We in the republican socialist movement are prepared to talk to and listen to anyone who is sincere and genuine and we have done so in the past and will do so in the future. But these talks have never come following an opportunistic witch hunt driven by a desire to see political opponents go away. Therefore we see no prospect of the INLA meeting with these representatives.

“We view this initiative as nothing more than political opportunism which is being directed by the Provisional movement against those they view as politically opposed to their viewpoint,” an IRSP spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for the 32 CSM said: “It has come to the attention of the 32CSM that on the evening of Wednesday 9th July two approaches were made to members of our Derry cumann to engage in talks of some description. The first of these approaches was made by two organisers of a petition against anti-agreement republicans through Community Restorative Justice and the second was by someone claiming to represent the Bogside/Brandywell Initiative.The 32 County Sovereignty Movement’s position on talks with any group is clear, we will talk to anyone on the issues of our national sovereignty and national self determination.”

The spokesperson also said that permission for any discussions would have to be given at national level and would not be held in secret. “We are a national movement and anyone wishing to discuss issues with us must first go through our National Executive. Any individual cumann or area is not permitted by our constitution to engage in discussions on the national movement’s behalf. Those who have approached our members in Derry know full well how to contact our movement and we look forward to an official request, we are not aware of one at present,” the spokesperson said.

By Senan Hogan
Belfast Telegraph
Friday 11, July 2008

The Irish parliament has urged the British Government to release security files on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

Thirty-four people were killed when bombs planted by loyalist paramilitaries were detonated in Dublin and Monaghan in May 1974.

Nobody has ever been convicted, but the UVF admitted responsibility in 1993.

The Dail yesterday passed an all-party motion urging the British Government to release security files relating to the bombings to an independent international judge. The motion arises out of parliamentary debates on security forces collusion held in the Dail earlier this year.

The text urges the British Government “to allow access by an independent, international judicial figure to all original documents held… relating to the atrocities”, with a view to resolving the crimes.

The Justice for the Forgotten group, which represents victims of the bombings, yesterday called on the Government to act promptly.

“This is a very significant move,” said spokeswoman Margaret Unwin. “It has the support of the three government parties as well as Opposition parties and Justice for the Forgotten is calling for speedy progress on this matter from the British Government.”

The Dail is also forwarding to the House of Commons boxes of reports compiled over several years by an all-party committee and by Justice Henry Barron.

By Noel McAdam
Belfast Telegraph
Friday 11, July 2008

Twelfth demonstrations tomorrow are to be targeted by ex-DUP MEP Jim Allister to attack his former party and the Stormont administration.

Activists in Mr Allister’s Traditional Unionist Voice group plan to distribute around 50,000 leaflets at Twelfth parades at the start of what he termed a ‘summer offensive’.

The MEP said he believed the leaflet will “greatly assist” in spreading the TUV message that there are alternatives to the current Stormont regime to a wider audience.

But the DUP today said it has already sent leaflets to every Orange lodge across the province and cautioned against TUV attempts to ‘politicise’ Twelfth parades.

MLA Nelson McCausland said: “Mr Allister is interested only in sniping but our focus is on delivering.” The DUP leaflet says it has secured £1m which has benefitted 40 Orange halls and achieved de-rating and compensation for damaged halls.

The TUV leaflet says people were promised no water tax, but charges are on the way; the saving of the education system which instead had become a “shambles” and unionists in control, while the First Minister requires the aproval of Deputy FM Martin McGuinness to “even sign a letter”.

“When David Trimble said there was no alternative, the DUP denounced him. Sadly, now they parrot Trimble’s lines as they implement the Belfast Agreement devolution over which they so vilified him,” the leaflet argues.

“What did (Terence) O’Neill, (Brian) Faulkner and Trimble do that the DUP has not ended up doing? The only difference is they get to do it!”

In spelling out two ‘alternatives’, the TUV leaflet which also asks for financial contributions says it is not opposed to shared government but it should be by voluntary coalition, or, it argues, “streamlined local government and a single super council at Stormont, to administer such things as education, health and roads, could easily provide efficient and sufficient government”.

Mr Allister said: “The leaflets will be handed out on the approaches to the fields not in the fields themselves and we will be covering every demonstration.

“This leaflet poignantly contrasts what unionists were promised with what they have got under the DUP/Sinn Fein coalition. It makes stark reading. We exist to challenge and defeat that axis.”

Mr McCausland said: “While Jim may circulate leaflets filled with bile and bitter attacks on fellow unionists the DUP is focused on delivering for the Loyal Orders. Jim should ask the hundreds of lodges whose Twelfth demonstration now benefits from the Community Festivals Fund, reformed by the (former) Minister Edwin Poots, if devolution has made a difference to them. Previously the funds in this pot were accessed by a small number of festivals in republican areas. The Twelfth is about celebrating our free civil and religious liberty.”

By Ashleigh McDonald
Belfast Telegraph
Friday 11, July 2008

Tens of thousands of Orangemen were making final preparations today for the annual Twelfth of July celebrations.

Figures for those both attending and watching tomorrow’s parades — which are taking place at 18 locations across Northern Ireland — are expected to top last year’s estimate of half a million people.

Four demonstrations have been selected as flagships for the biggest event in the Orange Order’s calendar.

The largest will be in Belfast while flagships are also being held in Dromara, Tandragee and Coleraine.

The events have received support from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Tourism Ireland in a bid to boost the number of visitors to the province over the July holidays.

Dr David Hume, the Orange Order’s director of services, said: “We know there is hard evidence that more and more tourists are planning trips to Northern Ireland to coincide with the parades.

“All our parades are very important to us and we will be working with all the authorities to maximise the positive impact of the Twelfth parades.

“But Grand Lodge decided that we should put an extra special effort into our four flagship demonstrations this year.

“After an internal competition we selected the four locations and we have no doubt they will be a huge success.”

Thanking the tourist authorities for their support and suggestions about the celebrations, Dr Hume continued: “The Twelfth is a unique attraction in Northern Ireland and it brings with it immense benefits to the economy and to everyone in the community.

“We will be doing everything we can to make the Twelfth attractive for all the family and for anyone — local or visiting — who wants to see it.”

The biggest parade marking the 318th anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne begins in Belfast at 10am tomorrow when the Millar Memorial Flute Band will be leading lodges and bands from across the city on its annual procession.

After leaving Carlisle Circus, a wreath-laying ceremony will take place at the City Hall before the parade, cheered on by spectators lining the route, makes it’s way through south Belfast to the field at Barnett’s Demense.

A service of thanksgiving is due to start at 2.30pm followed by the platform proceedings when the 90th anniversary of the Armistice — when the guns fell silent in World War One — will be acknowledged.

Tandragee is hosting a flagship demonstration which will feature the sound of 100 Lambeg drums.

More than 5,000 Orangemen are expected to attend the event in the Co Armagh town and the parade will be led by Scottish visitors the Imperial Blues Flute Band.

A ring ceremony is due to take place in the Square at 9am tomorrow and 11 districts taking part in the parade will proceed to the field at Old Scarva Road.

Coleraine’s demonstration includes a carnival pageant which will feature an Ulster Scots float, King Billy on horseback and Chinese lion dancers as well as an African samba band.

Hosted by Macosquin No 8 District lodge, the Orange parade will leave the Ballycastle Road at noon and will make its way to the field at Carthall Road where a children’s playground will be set up.

And in Dromara, tomorrow’s demonstration will be the highlight of the Co Down village’s Ulster Scots Festival.

Grand Master Robert Saulters will be addressing those gathered at the field on the Rathfriland Road and around 90 lodges are set to take part in the parade.

King William will lead the procession as it makes its way from the Banbridge Road at noon. Other Twelfth demonstrations will be taking place at Maghera, Kesh, Ballyclare, Omagh, Benburb, Aughnacloy, Derriaghy, Ballymena, Broughshane, Portavogie, Cullybackey, Kilkeel, Newcastle and Rasharkin.

Public holiday timetable for travellers

MOTORISTS across Northern Ireland were today warned by police to drive safely during the busy Twelfth celebrations.

The PSNI has said with more vehicles expected on the roads this weekend there are opportunities for collisions to occur.

Meanwhile, commuters are being warned to expect a number of changes to bus and rail services.

A Public Holiday timetable will operate on Saturday 12 and 14 July for Metro Services. July 13 will be a normal Sunday service.

The annual procession will start at approximately 10am from Clifton Street, Belfast. During the procession there will be temporary departure points in the City Centre and Metro services will be subject to diversions.

Laganside Station will be closed between July 12 to 14 and buses will depart from Europa Bus Centre.

Ulsterbus are also warning passengers that due to the parade being held in Newcastle, services operating to and from Kilkeel will be subject to delays and/or cancellations on July 12.

Services operating to and from Belfast and Castlewellan from Newcastle are also subject to delays and possible diversions.

A Saturday timetable will be in operation on Monday 14 July and Tuesday 15 for NI Railways and Enterprise Services.

For further information contact Translink Call Centre on 028 9066 6630.

BBC
10 July 2008

It will take over 100 years before the toxic nuclear site at Sellafield is safe, it has been revealed.

The atomic power-station overlooks the Irish Sea

A Westminster report claims that the UK’s largest atomic power-station, overlooking the Irish Sea, won’t be completely clean until 2120.

Anti-Sellafield protester and South Down SDLP MP Eddie McGrady said: “The nuclear waste is a time bomb.

“They are not only producing but importing the dirty stuff from the rest of the world, it is incredible.”

But DUP environment minister Sammy Wilson predicted that an increase in usage of nuclear power would reduce dependence on foreign supplies of fuel from volatile and unstable parts of the world.

Reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel is expected to end by 2020 but it will take years for radioactivity levels inside unused reactors to fall to safe limits.

A spokesman for Sellafield Ltd said: “Sellafield isn’t a place that can just be closed down. It is about the removal of plant and equipment from the building, it is about decontaminating and knocking them down, that takes decades.

“A lot of work has been done but with a site as complex as Sellafield that will take a long time to do carefully and safely, which is the priority and can’t be compromised on.”

It has been estimated that it will cost £73bn to decommission all nuclear civilian facilities in the UK.

However, the report from Westminster’s Public Accounts Committee warned that the cost of decommissioning these plants was likely to rise because successive governments and the industry found it easy to push costs onto future taxpayers.

The government is reviewing the issue amid rising fossil fuel costs and new plants could be built, although there is no suggestion at this stage that Northern Ireland is being considered as a site.

BBC
10 July 2008

A loyalist at the centre of an alleged police collusion case is to undergo a risk assessment to decide whether he qualifies for home leave from prison.

The alleged informer is serving a 10-year sentence

Mark Haddock from Mount Vernon in Belfast, was jailed for 10 years in 2006 for an attack on a nightclub doorman.

Haddock, who is preparing to have his name changed, is seeking a ban on the media reporting his new identity.

The application was adjourned for two months at the High Court on Thursday.

Haddock’s lawyer told the same court earlier this week that his client was under imminent threat of death.

Amid claims that he is under imminent death threat, he wants an interim injunction to stop publication of any future address of him and his partner, photos of the pair and any change of identity and appearance.

Legal representatives for media organisations resisting the move urged Mr Justice Weatherup to dismiss the application after hearing that a decision on whether to grant parole had been deferred.

Haddock, who was previously named in court as a leading member of the Ulster Volunteer Force, survived a murder bid in 2006. He was shot up to six times in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, while out on bail.

BBC
10 July 2008

The Irish parliament has passed an all-party motion calling on the British government to release security files on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

UVF was suspected of carrying out the attacks which killed 33 people

The UVF is suspected of carrying out the attacks which killed 33 people in May 1974.

The all-party motion asked the government to release the files to an independent international judge.

The motion arose out of parliamentary debates on security forces collusion held in the Dail earlier this year.

The Justice for the Forgotten group, which represents the victims of the bombings, asked the government to act promptly on the motion.

“This is a very significant move and it carries considerable weight,” spokeswoman Margaret Unwin said.

“It has the support of the three (Irish) government parties as well as opposition parties.

“Justice for the Forgotten is calling for speedy progress on this matter from the British government.”

The Dail is also forwarding for the consideration of the House of Commons boxes of reports compiled over several years by an all-party committee and by Justice Henry Barron.

Labour TD Joe Costello, who helped table the motion, said he regretted there was no time for a debate on the issue as the Dail was adjourning for its summer recess.

However, Tanaiste Mary Coughlan, who was representing the taoiseach in the chamber, said a debate may be accommodated in the autumn.

No-one has ever been convicted of the attacks on 17 May 1974, which injured more than 250. It was the biggest loss of life on a single day in the Troubles.

A 2003 report by Mr Justice Henry Barron said there were grounds for suspecting the bombers may have had help from members of the British security forces, but there was no conclusive proof.

By Allison Morris
Irish News
**Via Newshound
09/07/08

A TURF war between rival loyalist factions has led to an upsurge in paramilitary flags in parts of Northern Ireland in the lead up to the annual Twelfth of July Orange marches.

A previous commitment to reduce the number of paramilitary flags in loyalist areas has been cast aside as UVF and UDA flags compete for space on lampposts across Northern Ireland.

LOYALIST DISPLAY: An illegal UDA flag on the loyalist Rathcoole estate in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim (PICTURE: Mal McCann)

This week SDLP assembly member Dolores Kelly called on the police to take action.

“Paramilitary flags are illegal and there is no excuse for the PSNI not to take enforcement action against those responsible for placing them,” she said.

“Ordinary people don’t want their town centres marked out in this way and that includes people in the unionist community who have told me they have to ‘quietly endure’ this kind of behaviour around the Twelfth.

“While paramilitary flags are illegal the displaying of other flags such as the Union flag is a political issue and more needs to be done by the first and deputy first ministers’ office to address this.

“They cannot agree on the way forward and our society is suffering because of that.”

Meanwhile, with the Eleventh Night fast approaching, a shop in east Belfast selling loyalist memorabilia has been cashing in on the practice of burning the Irish tricolour on top of loyalist bonfires.

The Union Jack Shop on the mainly Protestant Newtownards Road has been selling tricolours in the run-up to Friday’s annual bonfire night advertising them as ‘Fenian flags’.

Niall O Donnghaile of Sinn Fein said yesterday that referring to the tricolour as a

‘Fenian flag’ was an “exercise in bigotry”.

“I would call on the owners of this shop to reflect on the hard work put in by community workers and political representative across east Belfast to ensure a quiet and peaceful summer,” he said.

“This type of irresponsible bigotry does nothing to assist that work.”

When contacted, a spokesperson for the Union Jack Shop declined to comment.

A spokesperson for the PSNI said they were “firmly committed” to addressing the issue surrounding the flying of flags in public areas.

“The display of flags to mark out geographical areas of control or to promote sectarianism or intimidation is wholly unacceptable in a peaceful and tolerant society and the police service is clear in its responsibility to work with communities to find acceptable solutions and enforce the law,” a spokesperson said.

BBC
10 July 2008

A judge has granted a County Derry publican an occasional licence for an Orange Order parade in Maghera despite police objections.

Nigel Crookes wanted the licence from 11am to 11pm on Saturday so he could sell alcohol in Pattersons Yard.

Fifty-three bands, 3,000 Orange Order members and 8,000 supporters are expected at the parade.

Inspector John Burrows said he believed the licence could add to the potential for public order offences.

The applicant’s solicitor described the police objections as ‘overkill’.

He said the local town sergeant had no objections and the objections before the court had come from higher up the PSNI hierarchy.

The District Judge McElholm said the police objections did not fall within the statutory grounds for refusal and he granted the licence from noon to 2030 BST.