SAOIRSE32

By Lisa Smyth
Belfast Telegraph
Saturday, 22 November 2008

There was uproar last night after it emerged that a man convicted of offences arising from a UVF murder has been appointed chairman of a Co Derry branch of the Royal British Legion.

Members of the organisation contacted the Belfast Telegraph after Bobby Douglas was elected on Thursday night. The Coleraine man, a former UDR soldier, was acquitted of the bloody paramilitary murder of Samuel Patton in 1988 but jailed for related offences.

One member said: “There is a lot of anger about this. People aren’t happy.”

A number of members of the branch walked out of Thursday night’s meeting in protest after Mr Douglas was appointed chairman election.

And last night SDLP MLA John Dallat called for an investigation into election procedures in the organisation — a UK charity providing financial, social and emotional support to the millions who have served and are currently serving in the armed forces.

He said: “I have been inundated with phonecalls about this. I think someone in authority really needs to carry out an investigation into this. The Royal British Legion has worked hard to portray itself as a neutral organisation and something like this will undo all that work. This is something that needs to be addressed as it certainly makes it difficult for Catholics to embrace the efforts of the legion to portray itself as politically neutral.”

This is the second time the branch of the organisation has come under fire for electing a person with a terrorist past to its committee.

In 2006, the Belfast Telegraph revealed that Russell Watton — who was convicted of wounding three men with intent during a gun attack on a bar in Dunloy in the 1970s — had been elected as assistant secretary of the branch.

Publicity generated by the revelation prompted Mr Watton to step down from the post.

But speaking to the Belfast Telegraph last night, Mr Douglas said he will not be pressurised into resigning from the post.

“This is just about sour grapes,” he said. “I was voted in by a majority of the members and there is no way I will be resigning or standing down.”

During the trial into the death of Mr Patton, the court heard that four men, including Geoffrey Boyd and Brian Gamble, who were subsequently convicted of the murder, drove the victim to a field. One started firing shots at him and he shouted: “Don’t be killing me. What are you shooting me for?”

One of the men told police he thought Mr Patton was to be punished because he had angered fellow members of the UVF by refusing to hand over proceeds of a robbery he had committed and because he was suspected of giving information to the police.

No-one was available from the Royal British Legion last night to comment on the matter.

Irish Times
22 Nov 2008

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Peter Robinson says he has received assurances from republicans that the IRA is no longer active.

The Democratic Unionist leader said he has been told privately that the paramilitary is permanently out of business.

Mr Robinson this week helped broker a deal on devolving policing and justice powers from Westminster, ending a stand-off with Sinn Féin that has blocked Stormont cabinet meetings since June.

But the DUP leader insisted that confidence in the Executive would be further boosted if the assurances he received on the IRA were given in public.

“Right at the heart of building confidence within the community will be people’s perception of those who are in the assembly,” Mr Robinson said.

“It’s important that those who are in the leadership of the republican movement make it very clear publicly, as they have done to us privately, that the IRA is out of business for good and is not going to return.”

The DUP leader told BBC Radio: “People have to be convinced and it’s not just somebody saying it, all the actions have to be there as well.”

Traditional Unionist MEP Jim Allister has accused his former colleagues in the DUP of dropping its pledge that policing and justice would not be devolved while the IRA army council is still functioning.

Mr Allister said: “The sad truth is that the DUP has got so entangled in the web of Belfast Agreement devolution that it will say anything and do anything just to cling to power”.

“If that requires rolling over on Sinn Fein’s demands on policing and justice and pretending the wicked army council is gone, then so be it.”

News Letter
22 November 2008

A MEMORIAL - dedicated to two Protestants murdered by the IRA - has been vandalised in an overnight attack in east Belfast, police have confirmed.

The memorial on the lower Newtownards Road was daubed with paint and sectarian graffiti.

The monument, near the nationalist Short Strand, is in tribute to James McCurrie and Robert Neill who were shot by terrorists in 1970.

A police spokeswoman confirmed police officers chased youths involved in the incident and retrieved a number of items.

Police have called for calm and appealed for people in the interface area of the Short Strand and lower Newtownards Road areas to help catch those behind such attacks.

Acting Inspector Robert Ellison said: “The vast majority of people do not want this type of activity in their community, it is only a small minority who are intent on causing trouble.”

Statement by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, President, Republican Sinn Féin
19 Nov 2008

The decision by the DUP and the Provos to put together again the Stormont Executive must be viewed against the background of the declaration of DUP leader, Peter Robinson, at the recent DUP annual conference that they seek an end to “mandatory coalition” or a power-sharing type executive in favour of majority rule once more.

Thus a return to the old Stormont of the 1960s is clearly on the DUP agenda which bodes ill for the nationalist community. There is no mention of an Irish Language Act, education reform or development of the Long Kesh prison site.

The threat by the British Government to hold an immediate Stormont election seems to have forced the hands of both parties. Nationalists will note that before Ian Paisley retired after a ceremonial year as First Minister, he declared that power sharing had been agreed for one term only. The old Stormont appears to be the real objective of the DUP as majority unionist party.

ENDS