SAOIRSE32

BBC
17 )ct 2008

The Republic’s Criminal Assets Bureau has succeeded in confiscating more than 635,000 euros from alleged former IRA leader Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy and others.

The high court in Dublin gave the order on Friday.

The judge said he was satisfied the money seized in a raid on Murphy’s farm in County Louth in March 2006 was from the proceeds of crime.

The farm was also the address of Ace Oils Ltd and Murphy’s brothers Frank and Patrick.

The cash, which was 435,000 euros and £150,000 sterling, will now be given to the Irish Exchequer.

Murphy, 56, is still facing tax offence charges.

His brothers Patrick and Frank have reached tax settlements with the Criminal Assets Bureau for a figure understood to be over 1m euros.

BBC
17 Oct 2008

The UVF has denied owning more than 70 weapons discovered by police in a house in a loyalist area of north Belfast.

The guns were seized by officers investigating the death of a man believed to have taken his own life in the Ballysillan area at the weekend.

Billy Hutchinson has represented the UVF at decommissioning talks

The arms find has been linked to the UVF which announced last year that it was putting its weapons beyond reach.

Senior UVF sources said the weapons and about 10,000 rounds of ammunition did not belong to the organisation.

BBC Northern Ireland security correspondent Vincent Kearney said UVF sources were adamant that the weapons did not belong to the organisation.

PUP member Billy Hutchinson, who has represented the UVF at meetings with the international decommissioning body, said he was “confident the guns would not be traced to the UVF”.

“I think there has been enough soul-searching, enough investigation going on to ensure that nobody was connected to his man,” he said.

“My understanding is that he ran some sort of combat company. I think that’s where the police should be looking.”

Following the search of the man’s house, more guns were seized from a nearby lock-up premises.

All the weapons were removed for examination and police inquiries.

Senior UDA sources said the weapons did not belong to them.

By Raymond McCartney
An Phoblacht
16 Oct 2008

On Wednesday morning 8 October, Peggy McGuinness was carried to her final place of rest in Cockhill Cemetery to be buried beside her husband, Willie, by her six sons, Tom, Martin, Paul, William, Declan, and John. With them was Peggy’s daughter, Geraldine. And although they had to part with their mother’s mortal remains, each in their own way carried onwards with them the values and lessons of life that she displayed in her living years.
And for all the many blessings and joys that they brought to her, that they were there to let her take her leave of this world would have been a source of contentment and fulfillment for her. She would have known from life’s experience that too many parents in our city of Derry and beyond have faced that most difficult of tasks of burying one of their own children.
Anyone who has ever been a visitor to 5 Elmwood Street would know and appreciate the great warmth and kindness that Peggy brought to her home. She was a woman of great strength and determination and it is by knowing her that you realise that the many qualities that her children bring to their lives are simply the products of following their mother’s example.
In life, we all tend to steer away from expressing our admiration to those whom we admire. In death, we find that the words we possess are not adequate, nor do they come together to truly reflect that which the heart knows instinctively.

STRENGTH AND WISDOM

In his eulogy at her graveside, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams used a Gaelic word, ‘cranntaca’, to describe Peggy McGuinness. This was the word used by our Celtic ancestors to describe the importance of a mother and grandmother in life, that of an elder within an teaghlach, the household. It conveys a sense of strength and wisdom and its rough translation into English is that of a giant tree.
My thoughts on the day were that of an oak tree, its towering strength, its relationship to Derry, to Colmcille, to the Long Tower and to the McGuinness family.
Peggy McGuinness would not have been a woman who sought praise or tribute, but this word is one I believe that she would find favour with.
In this one word, Gerry found what a thousand other words would fail to do, describing this remarkable Irish woman, wife, mother, sister, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend.
On 8 May last year, the day Martin became deputy First Minister, I had the privilege of taking Peggy and Geraldine to Stormont. On the way into the building, Rose, my wife, remarked to Peggy that this was a great day for her. She replied that it was indeed but this was a day created by many great people. She was a woman of humility and with it a profound sense of history and those who help shape it.
So Peggy, cranntaca, may have left us, but like a great oak, which sheds its leaves each autumn to become stronger in spring, her spirit and her fortitude remain, grow and become even stronger in her children, in her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. For that we will be the richer.
To Tom, Martin, Paul, Geraldine, William, Declan, John, to her sister Jeannie and brothers John, Seamus and Owen and to the McGuinness family circle and on behalf of the republican family, our sympathy and solidarity is yours.
Déan trócaire ar a anam.

BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA
An Phoblacht
16 October 2008

In October 1988 the British Home Secretary Douglas Hurd announced in the House of Commons that all Sinn Féin spokespersons and representatives were to be banned from television and radio.
For years the truth about the war in Ireland had been subject to self-censorship in the British media but this was the first time that such an overt ban had been imposed. This was highlighted by David Pallister, writing in The Guardian on the Hurd order:
“The election of Bobby Sands in 1981 came as a shock to most of the British media. This newspaper remarked that his death-bed victory had thrown years of myths out of the window. And the biggest myth is that the IRA in its violent phase represents only a tiny minority of the population. The media of course was largely responsible for the myths created simply because they failed to investigate the feeling of the nationalist community…Self-censorship and the inevitable ignorance that it engenders has worked as effectively as any government ban.”
In justifying the censorship order to the House of Commons Douglas Hurd cited the similar order under Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act in the 26 Counties. Since 1971 this had not only banned Sinn Féin spokespersons and representatives from the airwaves but had been widened by RTÉ management to restrict all kinds of expressions of republican opinion, even ballads. The widening of the ban to include all members of Sinn Féin, regardless of the context or capacity in which they were interviewed, was later found to be unlawful by the courts.
Initially British broadcasters reacted to the ban with confusion as it was not clear how widely it would apply. A radio station axed an interview with Bernadette McAliskey even though she was not a member of Sinn Féin. However, such was the opposition to the ban among British broadcasters, that, unlike their RTÉ counterparts, they eventually undermined it. Actors were employed to do ‘voice-overs’ on footage of Sinn Féin interviewees. This reduced the ban to farce and by highlighting the censorship itself it made many people in Britain question their government’s policy in Ireland.
The broadcasting ban also brought international embarrassment for the British government. The head of the white racist regime in apartheid South Africa, P.W. Botha, warned his country’s already censored press: “They must not complain when we institute regulations similar to those of the British government.”
Renowned journalist John Pilger wrote: “Consider the irony: the freedoms recently gained in Gorbachov’s Russia are those being abandoned here.”
As the Peace Process developed the absurdity and injustice of the ban became totally exposed and the British government had to abandon it in 1994.
The British broadcasting ban on Sinn Féin was imposed by Douglas Hurd on 19 October 1988, 20 years ago this week.

News Letter
17 October 2008

A CRIMINAL assets portfolio worth almost £1million has been handed to authorities by the alleged former leader of the IRA and his brothers.

The Criminal Assets Bureau in the Republic and operatives in Britain confiscated almost £500,000 in cash from Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy.

He and his brothers Frank and Patrick also handed over other assets including properties in the UK worth £445,000.

The three men and the Ace Oils fuel company were targeted by police investigating a massive smuggling racket operating on both sides of the Irish border.

The high court in Dublin gave the order today for the assets to be seized.

The judge said he was satisfied the money seized in a raid on Murphy’s farm in County Louth in March 2006 was from the proceeds of crime.

The farm was also the address of Ace Oils Ltd and Murphy’s brothers Frank and Patrick.

Murphy, 56, is still facing tax offence charges.

His brothers Patrick and Frank have reached tax settlements with the Criminal Assets Bureau for a figure understood to be over 1m euros.

In a separate investigation, ‘Slab’ Murphy, 58, faces nine charges of tax evasion for failing to furnish a return of his income, profits or gains over eight years from 1996.

He is expected to try to block the trial in the High Court next month.

The three men were under investigation since March 2006 when “Slab” Murphy’s sprawling farm in Hackballscross, straddling the border between Louth and Armagh, was raided.

More than £140,000 in mixed currencies, 30,000 cigarettes and 8,000 litres of fuel were seized while 30 archive boxes of documents, three tankers and a truck with a fourth tanker concealed inside were impounded.

An oil laundering unit was also seized.

Londonderry Sentinel
**Via Newshound
15 October 2008

**Oh wonderful…a site for the ‘Troubles’ in tune with Myspace and YouTube. :-p

A NEW website covering the ‘Troubles’ is receiving massive interest from both sides of the divide in Derry.
To be launched next month, www.sharedtroubles.net is the brainchild of a man inspired by a conversation with his young children to give them an impartial overview of what happened here during the conflict.

Mr Todd said the idea arose as he drove past the Droppin’ Well at Ballykelly and mentioned to them it was the site of an horrific INLA bombing in 1982.

It was then he realised that his 11 year-old son and nine year-old daughter had no conception of what had gone on during the ‘Troubles’.

“I then decided to get on my white horse as it were and create a resource to educate people,” he said.

“After looking at the internet I found that every site, apart from the University of Ulster’s CAIN site, is entirely for one side or the other.”

Mr Todd said he sought the advice of Michael Gallagher of the Omagh Relatives Group who told him he was doing exactly the right thing by canvassing as much opinion as he could from as many sources as possible.

“I have spoken to a wide range of people including former soldiers, loyalists and IRA members as well as fire officers for example who witnessed terrible things,” he said.

“These people are so far apart in their views but have been incredibly open.”

The new website will be structured to become what the creator has described as the ‘My Space’ of the ‘Troubles’.

All people need do is register at the site - this then captures the e-mail and IP address and then people can begin to upload their stories and photos.

Mr Todd contends that the site will be in tune with the ‘YouTube’ generation where young people can access information in quick, accessible and informative chunks.

“I have already received a lot of interest from staunch loyalist areas as well as the Bogside,” he said.

“Some of the stories are very strong and my message is that is you are delicate do not get involved.

“The interest has been amazing. It has shown a great leap of faith from people to contact me because they don’t know who I am.”

The website author also said that everyone’s opinion is valid.

He told the Sentinel that if you are a heavyweight politician or an old lady who once helped a soldier and got hassle for it, then you should contact the site.

“Read this and make up your own mind,” he said.

BY MARK McKELVEY
Ulster Herald
16 Oct 2008

West Tyrone DUP Assembly member Tom Buchanan has refuted suggestions that an amendment he made to a Stormont motion calling for a full cross-border public inquiry into the Omagh bombing was a political points scoring exercise.

The essence of the original motion proposed by the Alliance Party and supported by local Independent MLA Dr Kieran Deeny, was the call for a full cross-border inquiry to reveal the undisclosed information held by the security forces, both prior to and after the attack. The motion was supported by the Omagh Self-Help and Support Group.

However, Mr Buchanan says he felt aspects of this motion were “weak

and flawed”. Instead he made an amendment that did not call for a cross-border inquiry, instead demanding for the release of information by the UK government that may have assisted in the prevention of the bombing immediately, in co-operation with the Dáil.

Despite receiving strong support from Sinn Féin and the SDLP, the Alliance motion failed. With Mr Buchanan’s amendment receiving full backing from the DUP and UUP, objectors within the chamber said they decided not to express their views so not to be divided on such a sensitive issue, resulting in the substantive motion being passed without going to vote.

Speaking following this debate in Parliament buildings on Tuesday, Kevin Skelton, whose wife Philomena died in the August 15 1998 atrocity, said he was disgusted at the outcome, while venting that some politicians had turning this into a “political football”.

Kevin said, “We went hoping for a full backing from everybody for the Alliance motion for a full cross-border pubic inquiry. Why Buchanan made this amendment I don’t know. The only way we can find the truth to that is a public inquiry, but his amendment stopped that.

“That is what he wants because they don’t want a public inquiry. They don’t want the truth to come out as they know in their hearts that the British government is not going to release those tapes within three months. This was simply a political stunt.

“I was absolutely disgusted at what went on in Stormont on Tuesday.”

Explaining why he felt the need to table this amendment, Mr Buchanan said the original motion would bring neither justice nor closure for the families of Omagh.

Mr Buchanan said, “The amendment that I made was carried. I pleaded with the members not to split the house on this matter as it was too important. The Alliance motion was too weak and did not go far enough and would have let the people of Omagh down for yet another occasion. That is why we put in an amendment that was much stronger and requesting the governments to act with urgency to immediately release this material that the GCHQ had.”

However, after watching the proceedings on Tuesday from the public gallery, Kevin Skelton stressed his belief that this was both a DUP and Sinn Féin “stunt”.

He said, “As Sinn Féin abstained from voting they might as well have been sitting over with the DUP on the opposite side of the house.

“If they had of voted against the DUP amendment it would have went to Westminster as a divided issue. If Sinn Féin were backing the Alliance motion and on the side of the families they should have voted on the DUP amendment rather than letting it pass.

“We want a public inquiry and nothing else will do and we will continue to fight for that and will get a public inquiry despite what happens up there.”

Dr Deeny also conveyed his belief that this DUP amendment was a political points scoring exercise that should never have happened.

He said, “The families were very keen to go with our original motion. My view was that this whole issue should not have been politicised and I am certain that it was by the DUP making this amendment.

“This amendment caused a split in the house and when we knew we were numbered by the DUP and UUP in the vote we decided not to create division by vocalising our objections which would have been very embarrassing for the house. Out of respect to the families it was agreed amongst us to let the DUP amendment pass.”

Mr Buchanan remained adamant that this move was done in the best interests of the people of Omagh and was in no way a politicising this issue.

He said, “There were no dissenting voices to overthrow our amendment. We want to go the second mile. This was not a political points scoring exercise during the debate as this is much to sensitive an issue.

“There was some families that attended Stormont for the debate and I explained to them why we put in this amendment to get them what they were looking for and that we felt it was in the best interests of the Omagh people. Some expressed some concerns about this and other seemed happy enough with it.

“Even the families legal team in the Civil case are saying that if this information is released by Gordon Brown it would have much better results than any cross-border public inquiry.”

Speaking during the debate, Sinn Féin West Tyrone MP Pat Doherty expressed his full support for the Alliance motion calling for a full disclosure of all the facts from both the Irish and British Governments.

He said, “I can relate to the passion and conviction with which Tom Buchanan delivered his speech. However, the amendment tabled by the DUP prejudges the outcome of any potential investigation. Indeed, this amendment sits ill at ease with a motion that Tom Buchanan proposed to Omagh District Council in July 2005. I urge the DUP to reconsider and to support the Alliance Party motion. My party will support that motion and abstain on the DUP amendment. It is with some regret that I will abstain, because I appreciate the commitment of Tom Buchanan and his party colleague Allan Bresland in respect of this matter.”

News Letter
17 October 2008

SINN Fein are set to disrupt the Royal Irish homecoming parade with a counter demonstration on the same day.

It emerged last night that the party has lodged an application with the Parades Commission to hold their own march on November 2, as members of the armed forces parade through Belfast for the first time since World War Two.

The news came just hours after Royal Irish soldiers paraded as heroes through an English town.

Mystery

Mystery, however, surrounded the official reason for the Sinn Fein march application as party spokesmen were unable to comment on why the parade was taking place.

It proposes to start and finish in Belfast city centre around the same time as the homecoming parade.

Consideration

Last night, a spokesman for the Parades Commission said both parades – the Sinn Fein parade, a late application, and the homecoming parade – will go up for consideration next week.

He added that the Parades Commission would also be seeking clarification on the reason for the Sinn Fein parade.

Crowds expected

In its application Sinn Fein said it expected 500 people to attend.

However, last night the DUP said it would be seeking an urgent meeting with the Parades Commission to establish the reason for their parade.

Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson, who attended yesterday’s service of thanksgiving, said he was “very sad to hear of Sinn Fein’s plans”.

He said: “Today the Royal Irish got such an amazing reception from every corner of Shropshire, from every age and from every political party. It would really be very sad if it became a political football in Northern Ireland.

“Today, quite by chance, most of the soldiers I met were from the south of Ireland. They found the disagreement in Northern Ireland completely incomprehensible.”

Parade

According to the Parades Commission website, the Headquarters Northern Ireland MOD for Joint Services and TA in Northern Ireland have applied for a homecoming parade on November 2 in Belfast city centre.

The parade of 280 participants, with one band, and 280 supporters is proposed to start at 12.45pm from College Square East.

Organisers have asked for the parade to process to Howard Street, Donegall Square West, Donegall Square North, Chichester Street, Crown Courts Plaza and Oxford Street.

The end time of the outward route is proposed to be 1.10pm.

Timing

Meanwhile, the start time of the controversial Sinn Fein parade is proposed for noon from Bank Square to Chapel Lane, Castle Street, Castle Junction and Donegall Place. The end proposed time of the outward route is 1.05pm.

The Parades Commission website says that the expected number of participants is 500.

Condemning the Sinn Fein proposals, DUP MLA Nelson McCausland said: “The Sinn Fein protest parade is simply a squalid attempt to disrupt the day and to intimidate those who want to come out to see the ‘welcome home’ parade.

“Thousands of people will be out on to the streets of Belfast that day to welcome home the local men and women who have served so bravely in Afghanistan and Iraq in the ranks of Her Majesty’s Forces.

“The DUP will be meeting the Parades Commission to discuss the Sinn Fein protest parade, which is deliberately provocative and offensive.

“Those who spent decades trying to kill British soldiers do not even want to allow them to walk the streets of our capital city.”

David Sharrock, Ireland Correspondent
Times
17 October 2008

A loyalist terrorist weapons dump containing more than 70 guns and thousands of bullets has been uncovered in Belfast after police searched the home of a man who took his own life.

The arms haul is being linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force, which refused to get rid of its weapons when it called a ceasefire but claimed that it had put them “beyond reach”.

More guns were found in follow-up searches of lock-up premises in the greater Belfast area.

Police confirmed today that all the guns had been taken away to be examined by forensics experts.

Police would not comment on where the weapons were found but the funeral of the man, who died last weekend, was taking place this morning from his home in Ballysillan, north Belfast.

It is one of the biggest arms dumps ever found in Belfast. Ballistic tests will be carried out on every weapon to determine if they have been used in terrorist attacks.

The dead man was named locally as Billy “Black Neck” Bell, a former UVF prisoner who was a weapons expert. A local source said that Bell, who was in his 40s, turned replica guns into fully functioning weapons. Police are not treating his death as suspicious, but an inquest is likely to be held later.

A statement by police today said: “A substantial amount of guns and ammunition were discovered as part of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of a man in the north of the city at the weekend.

“During a follow up search of the man’s house, more than 70 suspected guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition were discovered. All have been removed for forensic examination.

“A further small number of suspected firearms were also found in lock-up premises in the greater Belfast area.”

In May last year, the UVF effectively declared an end to its campaign of violence by announcing the organisation was adopting a non-military and civilian role.

Recruitment, military training and targeting had ceased, intelligence rendered obsolete and all guns “put beyond reach”.

Reporters were threatened and told to leave the area this morning as the man’s funeral took place.

News Letter
17 October 2008

ENOUGH loyalist guns and bullets to start a war have been found by police who searched a house in north Belfast.

More than 70 guns and thousands of bullets linked to the UVF were discovered when officers entered the house a man who is believed to have committed suicide.

Death

It is understood the man’s death is not being treated as suspicious.

More guns were also found in other searches of lock-up premises in the greater Belfast area.

The huge cache of arms was seized at the weekend, but news of the find only emerged today.

Forensics

All of the weapons have been taken for forensic examination, police said.

The exact location where the guns were found has not been disclosed by police, but it is believed the house where the man died suddenly last weekend is in the Ballysillan area.

It is one of the biggest armouries ever found in Belfast and ballistic tests will be carried out on every weapon to determine if they have been used.

The name of the dead man has not been disclosed, but it is understood he was well known in loyalist paramilitary circles.

A police spokesman said: “A substantial amount of guns and ammunition were discovered as part of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of a man in the north of the city at the weekend.

“During a follow up search of the man’s house, more than 70 suspected guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition were discovered. All have been removed for forensic examination.

“A further small number of suspected firearms were also found in lock-up premises in the greater Belfast area.”

By Brian Rowan
Belfast Telegraph
Friday, 1 August 2008

A senior loyalist has claimed the paramilitary leadership would be overthrown if it pushed for decommissioning.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph on condition of anonymity, the paramilitary leader said: “If you uttered decommissioning you would get slaughtered — even now.”

He continued: “You would lose the leadership. I can see no form of decommissioning this side of the general (General John de Chastelain of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning) going.”

His comments come at a time of increasing political and police pressure on loyalists — both UVF and UDA — to begin the decommissioning process through the IIC.

The senior loyalist who spoke to this newspaper believes that pressure will intensify.

“I don’t think it’s cranked up yet,” he commented, adding that the Northern Ireland Office and police “have made their minds up and are adamant that if there is no form of decommissioning before the general goes, then they intend to treat loyalists as criminals.”

But the leader of the PUP Dawn Purvis argues that pressure and demands will not work; that there needs to be another way.

“There’s no discussion or debate about it in the loyalist community, and I think there’s probably a lack of understanding from those in the chattering classes who make the demands but have no idea of the processes of delivery, nor do they engage in order to help people move forward,” she said.

Those who demand decommissioning should “engage with people, seek to understand where people are at and what things need to happen in order to deliver”.

“I don’t see people under any pressure,” Ms Purvis commented, “but what I do see is a loyalist community under pressure and it’s not from weapons.”

In statements last year the UVF and Red Hand Commando said their weapons had been put “beyond reach”, and the UDA said arms had been put “beyond use”.

Those weapons have not been destroyed, and the Northern Ireland Office has indicated that the de Chastelain Commission is now operating on a short timeframe.

The assistant chief constable Peter Sheridan also recently warned that any weapons found after the IICD is closed down will be subject to forensic and other evidence processes.

“If we can identify people they will go for their tea,” he told the Irish News.

One loyalist who spoke to this newspaper sees the writing on the wall: ” People will not let them (the loyalist paramilitaries) continue to play the game they are playing of talking and talking and talking and doing nothing.”

“If you don’t do it (decommission),” he said, “you are thrown in with the rest of the criminals”.

Brian Rowan: Even if there is the will to decommission . . . can they actually deliver?

The senior loyalist would not describe what “beyond reach” really means.

It was the term used by the UVF and Red Hand Commando in a leadership statement in May last year to describe what had happened to their “ordnance”, as they described it.

“Instructions” had been given that weapons were to be put away.

The source spoke of a court martial and expulsions in one case in which those instructions or orders had been disobeyed. Others, he said, had sought access to weaponry but had been “steered in another way”.

“Let’s say someone wants to reach for a weapon — it goes right to the very top,” the source commented.

In other words, the leadership has to clear any use of weapons — those guns that are not yet out of the reach of the UVF and Red Hand organisations.

There is now a greater focus, political and policing, on the question of loyalist guns, but it may be too late.

You need orders from those in authority to achieve decommissioning, and as one loyalist commented to this newspaper: “Sure, there is no leadership.”

“The IRA is an army,” the loyalist commented. “It gave orders. You’re a soldier, you obey, and if you have another opinion, (you) keep it to yourself,” he continued.

That loyalist doubts the ability of the Command Staff of the UVF and the Inner Council of the UDA to achieve the same result.

He also sees what is coming if a gun is found. “It will be treated as a criminal find,” he said. A criminal find with all the “consequences” that entails.

The Assistant Chief Constable Peter Sheridan has clarified comments attributed to him earlier this week.

The membership would have to agree to decommission — they could not be ordered

He said he was not suggesting that police know where loyalist weapons are being hidden but, rather, when the decommissioning process is brought to a close, he is confident that there are intelligence systems in place that will lead to the location of those arms.

His intervention was deliberate and part of the building pressure; a strategy that is about telling loyalists that their guns have not been forgotten, despite the claims of them being “beyond reach” or “beyond use”.

The loyalist who told me you would get “slaughtered” if you “uttered decommissioning” holds a senior paramilitary rank. His comments suggest that the membership of organisations would have to agree to decommission — that they could not be ordered into such a position.

It suggests a decision-making process from the bottom up rather than from the top down, and it suggests an inability to make decommissioning happen.

That seems to be the real problem.

By Roisin McManus
Belfast Media
Andersonstown News Thursday

An iconic new mural of West Belfast hunger striker Bobby Sands is currently being exhibited in a city centre art gallery.

The mural of the IRA volunteer and MP was painted by West Belfast artist Danny Devenny and is now being shown at the Golden Thread Gallery in Great Patrick Street.

Click image for gallery notice

The mural is part of an exhibition called A Shout in the Street: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art, and is curated by Declan McGonagle

The exhibition features contemporary and historical paintings, sculpture, lens-based media, a bonfire stack, graphics and also broadcast film.

A Shout in the Street features materials from a wide variety of sources including the Cain Archive and works by mural painters Danny Devenny and Mark Ervine alongside works by a range of artists including Alastair MacLennan, Sandra Johnston, Factotum, Colin Middleton and Philip Napier. Danny says he believes that this is the first time that a mural of Bobby Sands has been exhibited in an art gallery. The mural depicts Bobby Sands surrounded by pages containing excerpts of his poetry.

A Shout in the Street runs until November 6.

Opening hours of the exhibition are Tuesdays to Fridays 10.30am to 5.30pm and Saturdays 1pm to 4pm.

By Noel McAdam
Belfast Telegraph
Friday, 17 October 2008

Northern Ireland’s Executive Ministers will today again fail to meet as the Stormont stalemate reaches a third of a year.

Hopes of a last minute breakthrough faded last night as officials confirmed the meeting — the third successive non-event since the end of the summer recess — is unlikely to take place.

While behind the scenes talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein were said to be continuing, little progress was being reported on the key issues between them.

The four-month mark for the fortnightly meetings — the last Executive meeting was on June 19 — deepens the crisis with ministers increasingly forced to use ‘urgent procedure’ mechanisms to deal with day-to-day business.

Finance Minister Nigel Dodds said he has used the device to re-allocate unspent cash tapped by the quarterly spending round for investment in schools, the health service, housing and infrastructure.

“Sinn Fein’s continued refusal to attend meetings of the Northern Ireland Executive is creating an abnormal political situation – government by urgent procedure is not what people want to see in these trying times, but we have been left with no choice,” the DUP deputy leader said.

Sinn Fein’s Alex Maskey said: “They (the DUP) demand a reduction in crime rates and an increase in detection. Yet those very same politicians are the people who are refusing to take these powers into their own hands and begin dealing with these issues. The time for DUP stalling on this issue is long since past.”

PATSY McGARRY
Irish Times
17 October 2008

IT WAS only when Tony Blair came to power that the British army in Northern Ireland was finally brought fully under the control of the British government, former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald said last night.

He had been told this by a senior British official, he said. He also recalled how as minister for foreign affairs in the 1973-77 coalition government, he had to make frequent representations to London about the indiscipline of British forces in Northern Ireland.

Dr FitzGerald was speaking in Dublin last night at the launch of The News From Ireland: Foreign Correspondents and the Irish Revolution by Maurice Walsh.

He recalled how indiscipline by the British army was central to the success of the Irish in the Anglo-Irish propaganda war of 1919-1921.

“The Volunteers could not defeat the British forces; what they were able to do was harass them in a way that provoked a British military response which was so incompetent and undisciplined that, when exposed to the public gaze by journalists from Britain, the US, and continental Europe, it undermined support in Britain for the British government’s military policy in Ireland, to the point of forcing it to negotiate a settlement,” he said.

He noted how “historians have consistently paid tribute to the success of the underground Dáil government’s propaganda, led by my father Desmond FitzGerald from mid-1919 until his arrest in February 1921.” He commended Maurice Walsh on examining “thoroughly and with considerable insight” relevant factors involved, and said his book was “a valuable contribution to our understanding” of those factors.

Following Dr FitzGerald’s address, the author read excerpts from the book. Then he and Dr FitzGerald took part in a brief question-and-answer session, which was chaired by playwright and broadcaster Vincent Woods.

GERRY MORIARTY, Northern Editor
Irish Times
Friday, 17 October 2008

‘Hunger’ premiere: award-winning film recalls final weeks of Bobby Sands

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BELFAST WAS last night figuring how to come to cinematic terms with the 1981 hunger strikes. Being Belfast, the British and Irish premiere of the film Hunger about the last six weeks of the life of Bobby Sands generated controversy.

The red carpet was rolled out for director Steve McQueen and stars of the film such as Michael Fassbender, who plays the part of Sands, Liam Cunningham who as a priest plays what he called a “sphincter-tightening” 22-and-a-half-minute scene with Fassbender, and Stuart Graham, who plays one of the prison officers in the Maze/Long Kesh prison.

Unionist politicians such as DUP Minister Gregory Campbell and junior minister Jeffrey Donaldson have expressed serious reservations about the film, which was made in Belfast, suspecting that it might be an exercise in republican propaganda.

They weren’t at the premiere in the Moviehouse on Belfast’s Dublin Road but former Presbyterian moderator, the Rev John Dunlop, did turn up “because I was invited”. He was a little uneasy. This is still a raw subject in Northern Ireland.

“People shouldn’t forget that 50 people died over the period of the hunger strikes, 35 of them murdered by republicans and 32 of those murdered by the IRA,” he said.

“I hope this isn’t republican propaganda; I hope this is properly contextualised,” he added before heading into the theatre.

Several republicans attended the premiere including Sinn Féin Assembly member Barry McElduff, and hunger striker Laurence McKeown, who would have been the 11th republican to die but for the fact that his mother insisted he should be fed after he fell into a coma, an act that hastened the end of the fast.

Also there was Sinn Féin MLA Raymond McCartney from Derry who spent 53 days on hunger strike in the first of the strikes in 1980 and knew Sands quite well. He was conscious of unionist concerns and had already debated the subject with Gregory Campbell.

“People should make their judgment after they see the film, not before it,” he said. “If Steve McQueen makes a film in a particular way, go and watch it, and then come out with whatever criticism you have. Certainly I hope that my particular view of this period is reflected in the film, but if it’s not then you can have a discussion about it afterwards,” added Mr McCartney.

Film director, the former Turner Prize winner Steve McQueen, emphasised the exact same point, saying he was attempting to make a rounded, balanced film. “This is a story about human beings; this is about the prison officers and the prisoners; that is what I was interested in. This is about ordinary people who had to deal with extraordinary situations,” he said.

Killarney native Fassbender as Sands, Belfast actor Stuart Graham as the prison officer Raymond, and Dublin actor Liam Cunningham as the prison chaplain, also stressed the “humanity” of the work which has won accolades and awards all over the world.

“The thing that came to fore was the humanity of the piece,” said Cunningham. “I would not have been interested if it was going to take sides or if it was going to make heroes out of an incredibly difficult situation. I would urge people to go and see it, even people for whom the name Bobby Sands would raise hairs on the back of their necks. This is a very well-balanced film.”