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News Letter
23 October 2008

Sinn Fein’s protest at the armed forces’ Belfast homecoming parade was tonight approved by the Parades Commission.
In a determination issued at 7pm this evening, the commission said that it was happy for both the homecoming protest and the protest to go ahead but imposed conditions on the Sinn Fein march.
It will not be allowed to leave the start point at Bank Square before 11am on November 2 and will have to form into a static protest no closer than 40 metres from where the homecoming parade will pass the front of the City Hall.
Earlier, the Army moved Belfast’s homecoming parade forward by an hour - but Sinn Fein promptly did the same.
This morning the Ministry of Defence (MoD) moved the homecoming parade forward to 11.45am, leaving an hour window between it and the republican ‘protest parade’.
But, determined that its protest should coincide with the soldiers’ homecoming, Sinn Fein has responded by submitting another application to the Parades Commission, moving its protest forward by an hour.
The MoD had originally asked to hold the parade at 12.45pm on Sunday, November 2, prompting Sinn Fein to then apply to hold a 12pm counter-march in protest at the troops.
But now the MoD has submitted an altered application which will see the homecoming parade begin at 11.45am from outside the gates of the RBAI school.
A spokesman for the Parades Commission, which has held high-level meetings with senior politicians and top PSNI officers in recent days, said that yesterday it had deliberated late into the night about the issue.
The commission praised both the MoD and Sinn Fein for engaging with it, but noted that dissidents were planning to hold an illegal protest.
In a statement, it said: “We are aware that others are planning alternative protest events and are doing so outside the legal process.
“These have not been notified to the Parades Commission and if they go ahead they will be acting illegally.
“We would urge those responsible to take account of the overwhelming desire amongst the wider community for a peaceful day on November 2.
“Illegal parades or protests are unhelpful and are a matter for the PSNI to deal with.”
All that a Ministry of Defence spokesman would say was: “We are doing all we possibly can do to have peaceful, respectful and solemn parade for those who have been deployed.”
Sinn Fein’s attempt to disrupt the armed forces’ Belfast homecoming parade is looking increasingly isolated after the SDLP, a prominent Catholic priest and the Andersonstown News urged the party to allow the parade to pass peacefully.
On Friday morning Ulster medics will return to the Province from Afghanistan.
Territorial Army members of 204 (North Irish) Field Hospital - most of whom are NHS doctors and nurses in Ulster hospitals - will return to Belfast where they will be reunited with their families.
The unit’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Iain Moles, said that the medics were looking forward to coming home.
“Talk is now of home, Ulster fries, Guinness, who Ulster are playing at Ravenhill and will we be home in time for the next home game,” he said.
Speaking of the medics’ time in Helmand Province, he said: “A few have been out on the ground and seen a little of what can be a starkly beautiful land, but this has been a working visit and not a tourist opportunity.
“There is an overwhelming feeling of having done well; the unit have every right to be proud of their achievements.
“We have been the busiest hospital on Op Herrick of any so far.
“Over 400 operations, 1,000 ED attendances, 246 patients in ITU/HDU, 500 admitted to wards and sadly over 55 deaths, some quite gristly.
“Still, going home to the NHS will be different, it will lack the cohesion speed and focus of care here, we will be back to waiting lists and trolley waits, targets and deadlines.”

News Letter
23 October 2008

THE trial of six people facing charges arising out of the murder of schoolboy Michael McIlveen has been dramatically halted and the jury dismissed.

The Antrim Crown Court jury of eight women and four men were told only that “as a result of certain matters which have arisen”, they were being discharged them from any further involvement in the 27-day trial.

Mr Justice Treacy also thanked the jury, first sworn in on September 8 last, telling them that given their commitment to the trial since then, he would, if they wished, discharge them for life from any further jury service.

No other details surrounding the legal move were given in court and the case has now been adjourned until November 10 when a new jury will be sworn in.

This is the second dramatic turn of events to overtake the running of the case.

Within days of it first opening, one of the original accused, 20-year-old Mervyn Wilson Moon from Douglas Terrace, Ballymena, pleaded guilty to his involvement in the murder of the 15-year-old.

The schoolboy died from brain injuries the day after he and friends were allegedly chased and attacked in an alleyway by Moon and others on May 7 2006.

Moon, who faces life imprisonment has been remanded back into custody to await sentence at the end of the retrial of his former co-accused, five of whom deny murder.

Those still on trial for murder are; a 17-year-old who cant be named for legal reasons, 19-year-olds Jeff Colin Lewis of Rossdale, Christopher Francis Kerr (22), Carnduff Drive, Aaron Cavana Wallace (20), Moat Road, and Christopher Andrew McLeister (18), Knock Crescent, all Ballymena.

A sixth defendant is 18-year-old Paul Edward David Henson of Condiere Avenue, Ballymena who denies charges of affray and criminal damage.

Henson, McLeister, Wallace and the 17-year-old were freed on continuing bail, while Lewis and Kerr were remanded back into custody.

BBC
23 Oct 2008

A west Belfast GAA club has cancelled a booking for a function to commemorate an INLA murderer.

The event, remembering Christopher ‘Crip’ McWilliams, had been due to be held at the St Paul’s club next month.

In a statement, a club spokesman said its committee was not aware of the nature of the booking when it was made.

“We can now hopefully return to our primary function of serving our local community with sporting and cultural opportunities,” he added.

In 1991, McWilliams, who died from cancer in June this year, shot dead a bar manager who had asked him to leave a Belfast snooker club.

Six years later, he shot and killed LVF leader Billy Wright in the Maze Prison.

On Wednesday, former sports minister Edwin Poots of the DUP called on St Paul’s to cancel the booking, which had been made by a club member.

Carrickfergus Times
23 October 2008

EAST Antrim MLA Sean Neeson is to co-sponsor the debate in the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body that calls for the release of information that the two governments have on the Omagh Bombing in 1998.
In a statement, Mr. Neeson said: “This is an extremely important debate. We are fully behind the victims’ relatives call for the release of information about the Omagh bomb.

“Serious questions must be asked if either government had any relevant security information prior to the bombing but have so far failed to release it.

“Gordon Brown promised that he would release any information his government had but so far has not done so. If all the representatives of the parliaments in Britain and Ireland support this motion then that will send a strong message to Gordon Brown to release any information he has.

“Last week, the Alliance Party brought a debate on this issue to the floor of the Assembly and we will hopefully succeed in delivering for victims through our campaign for the truth.”

By Deborah McAleese
Belfast Telegraph
Thursday, 23 October 2008

SF and the PSNI clashed today over claims the security forces were protecting informants in dissident republican groups.

Rioting last night in the Craigavon area of Co Armagh was today blamed on dissident republican groups opposed to the peace process.

But when senior Sinn Fein representative John O’Dowd claimed the dissident ringleaders were being protected by the security forces, police said the allegation was an insult.

The area has been blighted by outbreaks of rioting in recent months and Mr O’Dowd said the local community wanted the thugs off their back.

“The question the community is asking more and more is how these individuals continue to operate in the community with apparent immunity,” he said.

“There is a suggestion that some of them are involved in some level as informers or agents and if they are I would call for their immunity to be lifted immediately and for those people to be put through the judicial process.”

There were also unconfirmed reports that shots were fired, with speculation rife that the violence was aimed at drawing police into the area so dissidents could attack officers.

But PSNI Superintendent Alan McCrum denied the allegation that police hands were tied when it came to tackling those dissidents behind the Craigavon activity.

“I would categorically refute what has been said. Nobody is above the law. The police are not in any way protecting informers,” he said. “Police in Craigavon area are seeking to work with the community to get enough evidence and bring people before the courts.”

Fire crews and police officers came under attack during last night’s rioting. The incidences began just after 7pm when three masked men hijacked a bus at the Drumbeg roundabout in Craigavon. Passengers on the bus were ordered off by the gang.

Around 45 minutes later a van was hijacked on the nearby Old Portadown Road outside Lurgan.

A number of roads where the disturbances broke out, including Drumbeg roundabout, Old Portadown Road and Tandragee Road were closed today.

Mayor of Craigavon Borough Council, Sidney Anderson, said the disturbances were an attempt “to lure” police to an ambush.

The DUP councillor added: “Craigavon has moved on. We do not need this type of behaviour dragging us back into the past.”

Independent councillor for the area Mark Russell said: “This is a very difficult job for the police but they need to sit down and look at what they can do to reduce the risk to the public when this type of trouble kicks off. I know of a football team of a unionist background were passing the area at the time. What would have happened if their vehicle had been hijacked?”

Irish Times
23 Oct 2008

Political pressure made it more difficult for police to raise security concerns about sensitive information at public inquiries in Northern Ireland, it was claimed today.

Officers faced demands to avoid a rift with any panel investigating security force collusion in killings, a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) memo said.

The warning was finalised for a Westminster committee a month before this May’s loss of a disc containing sensitive personal material by the Rosemary Nelson Inquiry. The Catholic lawyer (40) was killed by loyalists almost a decade ago.

PSNI assistant chief constable Alistair Finlay said: “Our position is that the inquiries do not have the policies and procedures available to them and nor are they themselves subject to independent scrutiny with regard to their safekeeping of sensitive and critical information, information for which this Service has liability for.

“I will be frank in stating that the political pressure on the PSNI not to be seen to cause a rift with any inquiry in face of questions about collusion has made querying the state of inquiry security all the more stressful.”

This stress was caused by the lack of clarity surrounding responsibilities and liabilities once the documents were handed over, he told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in written evidence dated April 6th.

In May the Nelson Inquiry confirmed that a disc with personal and protectively marked material had been lost. The team said it deeply regretted the serious breach of secure data handling standards.

Mrs Nelson died after a booby-trap bomb left by loyalists exploded under her car in March 1999 in Craigavon, Co Armagh.

Retired judge Sir Michael Morland is chairing a three-strong panel examining alleged security force collusion.

The inquiry must determine whether the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Northern Ireland Office (NIO), Army or other state agency facilitated the murder, or blocked attempts to investigate it.

The other public inquiries concern the deaths of Robert Hamill (25), a Catholic killed by a loyalist mob in Portadown, Co Armagh, in 1997, and Billy Wright (37), the former leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), shot dead by republicans inside the Maze Prison in December 1997.

The Bloody Sunday inquiry surrounds the shooting dead by British soldiers of 14 civil rights protesters in Derry in 1972.

Mr Finlay, in a written submission to the committee, recommended a mandatory memo of understanding assigning accountability to the inquiries on secure handling and management and storage.

He said that when inquiries held information ordinarily subject to scrutiny by an oversight body, like the intelligence services, then that scrutiny body’s remit should extend to the inquiry.

“It may well be that the Cabinet Office or another body accepts responsibility for this- but right now this is operating on good faith and a promise,” he added.

The senior officer also called for people involved to be bound by the Official Secrets Act.

The NIO has said its review concluded that overall there was an adequate or good level of security being applied within all the independent public inquiries.

Recommendations also included strengthening security guidance in place with each of the four public inquiries and ensuring all government agencies adhere to the rules when supplying classified information.

By Barry McCaffrey
Irish News
**Via Newshound
21/10/08

Eight members of a top-secret British army surveillance unit are to give evidence at the trial of three suspected dissident republicans after being given guarantees that their identities will not be revealed in court.

It is believed to be the first time in more than 20 years that members of the British army’s highly secretive special forces units will give evidence to a Belfast court.

Members of the ‘elite’ unit will be allowed to give evidence via video link after they raised concerns that their lives could be in danger if their identities were revealed.

They are to give evidence at the trial of three Co Armagh men charged with possession of an improvised mortar bomb.

A preliminary inquiry in advance of the trial was held in Belfast yesterday.

Sean McConville of Kilwilkee Road in Lurgan, Damien McKenna of Dean’s Walk in Cragavon and Gary Toman of Drumnamoe Avenue in Craigavon are all charged with possession of the mortar in March last year. All are in their early twenties.

Yesterday soldier ‘F’ told a Belfast court that he had been stationed at the British army’s headquarters in the north when he had been tasked to carry out surveillance in the Cornakinnegar Road area of Lurgan.

Surveillance footage filmed by ‘F’ shows three figures – alleged to be the accused – walking into a field, where they stayed for an hour and were allegedly seen at three different points.

Other members of the undercover unit were hiding in the field monitoring the movements of the three figures.

Soldiers ‘D’ and ‘E’ later alleged they had watched the accused get into a Nissan Primera car with another man and drive off towards Lurgan.

The car was stopped a short distance away by police and four men arrested.

Mr McKenna and Mr McConville were alleged to have had dirty hands and wet and dirty trousers.

Mr McKenna is alleged to have had a circuit tester, wire cutters and gloves.

Mr McConville is alleged to have had gloves.

A search of the field found nothing and the four men arrested were released without charge.

However, five days later a second search of the field came up with an improvised mortar and launch tube at a spot where the men had allegedly stood.

The three defendants were rearrested and charged but the fourth man remains at large.

Forensic examination found fibres alleged to be from Mr McConville’s gloves on the mortar, launch frame and a gate.

Fibres from a sock alleged to belong to Mr Toman were said to be indistinguishable from fibres found on the mortar.

When initially approached, each of the eight soldiers said they feared for their safety and would not give evidence unless their identities were protected.

Judge ATG White granted anonymity to the soldiers.

“Many if not all of the eight soldiers concerned are now out of Northern Ireland,” he said.

“It is clear, however, that they are performing similar duties elsewhere and could be required to return to Northern Ireland in the future.

“I am satisfied that, if their identities were to become known, it could seriously compromise their ability to perform their duties.”

RENAGH HOLOHAN in Newcastle upon Tyne
Irish Times
22 Oct 2008

THERE WILL be no amnesty for those giving information to the Consultative Group on the Past, the body’s co-chairmen Lord Eames and Denis Bradley told parliamentarians here yesterday.

The two men addressed backbenchers at a closed session of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly on their work to date, and on issues raised by communities in the North as they investigate ways of helping victims of the Troubles.

Media reports that those giving information to a truth recovery process investigating unsolved murders would be free from the threat of prosecution were untrue, the men told Assembly members.

Their assurances were welcomed by several parliamentarians including the SDLP’s Alasdair McDonnell and the DUP’s Jim Wells. Others spoke of the huge and emotional task Lord Eames and Mr Bradley faced in confronting the past and emphasised the enormous care and consideration needed in trying to assist bereaved families. Some spoke of the necessity to avoid a judicial/adversarial approach in favour of a reconciliatory route.

The co-chair of the assembly Peter Hain MP said everyone was very moved by the two men’s emotional and philosophical presentation, considering the depth of the problem they were addressing.

As he left yesterday’s meeting, Lord Eames said he and Mr Bradley had outlined the range of issues, including legal ones, which the victims had raised during their consultations and what they would recommend in the move towards a new society in Northern Ireland.

Lord Eames told reporters that reports this week that limited immunity would be offered to paramilitaries who gave information had been unhelpful. His consultative group hoped to report before Christmas, and leaks only gave one snippet of the whole pattern and it could be wrong.

“We can understand the emotion, it is raw and it hurts out there. Nobody needs to tell me in my career about the hurt of families who have lost loved ones during the Troubles. But they are only seeing part of the package, part of the proposal that we want to make,” he said.

“We have been very, very sensitive, we have been from the beginning, for the hurt and the memories of all those people out there.”

The Church of Ireland Primate Archbishop Alan Harper said yesterday the Eames/Bradley report would “undoubtedly, make uncomfortable reading for everyone in Northern Ireland”.

In a presidential address to the Armagh Diocesan Synod, he said: “The issue of how we move on as a community in both parts of Ireland, but especially in Northern Ireland, is a matter of crucial importance. Dealing with the past is a central component of the issue . . . It is important that the churches make their contribution to the shaping of a new future. However, we also require from Government a renewal of focused attention to the task of moving the whole community forward.

“However, if the Executive continues to fail to meet, my fear is that the vacuum so created, and the sharpness of the issues that remain unaddressed, will permit malign or extreme influences to gain ever more ground”.

News Letter
21 October 2008

THE Parades Commission has confirmed that it cannot ban a dissident republican parade which vows to “oppose” the armed forces at their Belfast homecoming parade – because dissidents had not submitted an official form.

Acknowledging that it was aware of the planned march – which has been widely publicised on the internet and in posters around Belfast – the commission said that it was powerless to ban a parade if the organisers did not ask it for permission to march.

Unlike Sinn Fein, which has asked the Parades Commission for permission to hold a protest march just before the homecoming parade, splinter republican group éirígí has said that it will not be asking the commission for permission to march.

Last night the éirígí plan – which would see protestors bussed in from Dublin, Armagh, Fermanagh and south Londonderry – was denounced as a “recipe for disaster” on a day when soldiers’ families will be coming to welcome them home from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Promoting the protest, éirígí said it would “oppose” the homecoming parade and added: “Give the Royal Irish Regiment the only reception it deserves – a hostile one.”

A spokesman for the Parades Commission confirmed that it had not been notified of the parade and said that there was nothing it could do to prevent a parade taking place if it had not been asked to adjudicate.

He did stress that if it does not approve a parade, it would then be illegal.

And, warned that anyone breaking the law would be “fully investigated”.

He said: “The parade and any associated protests will be policed in an appropriate and proportionate way to ensure public safety, minimum disruption and an early return to normality.

“Any peaceful and lawful protest will be facilitated, however anyone in breach of the law will be fully investigated.”

UUP Assemblyman Basil McCrea said that the rule of law should apply to everyone in society – including dissident republicans.

“Whatever we might think of the Parades Commission – and there are certainly good grounds for criticising its approach to the parading issue – there is a legal obligation on parade organisers to notify the commission of a parade,” he said.

“The refusal of dissident republican groups to do so requires a firm response from the police and the commission.

“It is a matter of profound regret that Sinn Fein and the dissident republicans are attempting to politicise the homecoming parade.

“As the Bishop of Lichfield stated at the parade for the Royal Irish last week in their garrison town of Shrewsbury, that the conduct of the Royal Irish in Afghanistan modelled ‘what it is like for Protestants and Catholics to work together’.”

Another Policing Board member, DUP MLA Ian Paisley Jnr, said that it was outrageous that the organisers of a parade could avoid any chance of it being banned by simply not asking the Parades Commission for permission to march: “We have a pious Parades Commission blinding itself to the reality that there will be a serious protest and they are doing nothing about it.”

“This shows how out of touch republicanism is with the general feeling of the entire community who are thankful that many of our soldiers are returning home after doing a very long and arduous duty overseas,” he said.

l A group which advises the UDA last night called on Sinn Fein to ensure its counter-protest against the RIR homecoming parade would be peaceful.

A spokesman for the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG) said: “The UPRG recognise the right of all communities to peaceful protest and to justice and equality, but also call on Sinn Fein to face up to the responsibility not to heighten community tension for narrow political point-scoring.

“Many people in the working-class communities are striving together on a daily basis to put the past behind them and to create a positive and inclusive environment for all people in the future.”

Belfast Telegraph
Thursday, 23 October 2008

Fianna Fail TD Michael Kennedy was heckled by a crowd of angry pensioners outside the gates of Leinster House yesterday.

The former Dublin footballer and hurler — and now a TD for Dublin North — was the only member of his party to engage at length with some of the 15,000 people who turned up to protest.

Exchanges became heated as he tried to explain the changes to the medical card scheme for over-70s, saying only “millionaires” would lose their cards.

Mr Kennedy went on the offensive against one of his chief critics, Sinn Fein member Danny O’Connor (63), who had accused him of robbing the elderly.

“You guys robbed the banks. Bring Sinn Fein into power and they will rob the banks and give you money,” Mr Kennedy said.

But Mr O’Connor, whose son Shane is a Dublin-based Sinn Fein councillor, hit back by saying “at least we wore balaclavas”.

“As one robber to another, you’re better than I ever was,” he said.

Mr Kennedy struggled on for a half hour amid shouts of “Go home” and “You’re talking rubbish” from some pensioners.

Belfast Telegraph
Thursday, 23 October 2008

A bus and van were hijacked last night as disturbances broke out in Co Armagh. Police officers and fire crews came under attack during the trouble in Lurgan and Craigavon.

The incidents began just after 7pm when three masked men commandeered a bus at the Drumbeg roundabout in Craigavon. Passengers on the bus were ordered off by the gang.

A bus blazes in the Drumbeg estate in Craigavon during disturbances last night

Around 45 minutes later a van was hijacked on the nearby Old Portadown Road outside Lurgan. Youths who congregated at the area then pelted emergency services with stones and other missiles.

Police have advised motorists to avoid the area this morning.

Meanwhile, two men, aged 35 and 37, arrested yesterday in Craigavon in connection with dissident republican activity have been released pending police reports to the Public Prosecution Service.