SAOIRSE32

IAIS
10/20/08 10:51 EST

The group looking at how best to deal with the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland is to propose creating a five-year commission to reinvestigate all murders.

If prosecutions are not possible, the police, British Army and paramilitary organisations will be asked to provide details about their roles.

Any information given would not be used for prosecutions.

The consultative group on the past, chaired by Denis Bradley and Lord Eames is still working on its final report.

However, details have emerged about some of its key recommendations.

It is expected to call for the establishment of an independent commission for a five-year period.

It would take over the role of re-examining all killings during the Troubles, something currently carried out by the Historical Enquiries Team.

The commission would also investigate controversial killings where there are allegations of collusion with the security forces - a role currently undertaken by the Police Ombudsman.

In cases where there is no possibility of a prosecution, the commission would ask the families of victims if they want to know details about what happened.

If the families agree, the commission would then call on those responsible - whether it was paramilitary organisations, the police or army - to come forward and provide details.

There would not be a general amnesty - but those who agree to meet the commission would be given immunity for the information they provide, meaning it could not be used for prosecutions.

The group hopes to publish its report before Christmas.

By Andrea McKernon and Claire Simpson
Irish News
20/10/08

GUNS and other items have been found at a house in north Belfast in a follow-up operation linked to the discovery of a massive cache of weapons.

The PSNI said it had removed more weapons in the search of a property at the weekend.

However, a spokeswoman refused to confirm if the suspect items were discovered in the Ballysillan house belonging to Billy Bell, whose body was found at the address last week.

More than 70 firearms and over 10,000 rounds of ammunition were found at the father-of-four’s house in the Tynedale area. About a dozen weapons were discovered in lock-ups around the Crumlin area where Bell, who was in his forties, ran a paintballing business.

It is believed Bell had died by suicide.

“In a follow-up search of a property in north Belfast Saturday morning, police recovered a further three suspected firearms and other items. All the items have been removed,” a spokeswoman confirmed.

The PSNI said it was too early yet to establish if any of the weapons were linked to paramilitary murders or if tools and equipment used to reactivate replica weapons had been found in any of the properties.

The UVF has strongly denied any connection with the arsenal.

The PUP’s Billy Hutchinson who has represented the UVF at meetings with the international decommissioning body, said after Friday’s discovery that he was “confident the guns would not be traced to the UVF”.

The loyalist group claimed last year that it was putting its arms beyond use.

Belfast Telegraph
Monday, 20 October 2008

The brother of former INLA ‘Border Fox’ Dessie O’Hare has allegedly taken his own life.

Paddy O’Hare (49) died in “non-suspicious” circumstances on Saturday last.

The construction boss from Keady in Co Armagh was a father of four and a successful businessman.

Although he was the brother of one of Ireland’s most notorious criminals, he was never believed to have any involvement in Dessie’s crimes.

Paddy had previously offered his wayward sibling work on his building sites in an attempt to introduce him to a life outside crime.

Dessie was originally a member of the Provisional IRA but after a series of disputes left it in the late 1970s and later joined the INLA.

He was once considered by authorities as the most wanted man either side of the border.

It is widely thought that the economic downturn had taken its toll on Paddy’s businesses and what was very profitable work was now making a loss.

A heavy but discrete police operation was this morning preparing to patrol the perimeters of Paddy’s funeral in case it could be used to target his brother.

Although Paddy was a well-known republican, he was never involved in paramilitary activity.

Irish Times
20 Oct 2008

People in Belfast are still suffering the trauma of the Troubles 14 years after the main paramilitary groups called their first ceasefires, it was revealed today.

The city suffered terribly, with 40 per cent of the deaths caused by the violence in Northern Ireland — and 75 per cent of those in the north and the west of the city.

Almost half of the children killed in the Troubles were also residents of north or west Belfast.

The experiences and consequences of the Troubles was the subject of newly published research carried out by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust’s trauma resource centre.

It was carried out to help staff better understand both the history and the problems of people being referred to the centre with traumatic stress disorder and related difficulties.

Unveiling the report, Victims Commissioner Brendan Mcallister said: “Fourteen years after the big ceasefires, 12 years after the Good Friday Agreement, a trauma centre in north and west Belfast confirms a high level of trauma is still being suffered across the community.”

Pat McCartan, chairman of the trust, added: “This piece of work will inform practitioners, managers and policy makers of the long term and lingering effects of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and influence service developments.”

The trauma centre uses a multi-disciplinary treatment approach allowing each individual client to receive an holistic range of therapies including counselling and complementary therapies. The treatment has evolved through various research studies .