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By Roisin McManus
Belfast Media
Andersonstown News Thursday

The West Belfast Taxi Association (WBTA) is to display bilingual route signs in black taxis following the launch of a new initiative.

Over the coming days the WBTA will replace all existing signs with new signage in both Irish and English and customers will now be able to hail black hacks with new signs such as Whiterock/An Charraig Bhán or Shaws Road/Bóthar Seoighe.

The new bilingual signs include 11 routes – and the dreaded Not Working sign – Níl Mé ag Obair.

Changes which come in with the implementation of the new signage include a new sign for Andersonstown Road-Stewartstown Road – Bóthar Bhaile Andarsan-Bóthar Bhaile Stiobhaird. The Andersonstown route sign has been replaced by Shaws Road/Bóthar Seoighe and the former Castle Street sign will now read King Street/Sráid an Rí.

The new route signs follow on from the introduction of bilingual signage in the West Belfast Taxi Association headquarters in King Street earlier this year.

“Where possible the Association has retained the colour-coded signage that can be used in conjunction with the route indication,” said WBTA General Manager Stephen Long.

“The Association hopes that this venture will encourage others, individuals and businesses alike, to follow our example and use bilingual signage where and when possible.

“The Association is the gateway to the planned Gaeltacht Quarter and it is imperative that those who visit the area have their first experience of the Irish language in the heart of the city centre,” he added.

Foras na Gaeilge provided a developmental grant for the WBTA to develop the scheme.

“Foras na Gaeilge is delighted with the success of this pilot project that the WBTA has developed in using the Irish language so effectively in a business context,” said Gearóid Trimble, the Community and Business Programme Manager at Foras na Gaeilge.

“We believe it will be a model for other businesses to build upon.”

Gearóid said that the scheme also involved Forbairt Feirste and thanked Ciarán Mac Goilla Bhéin for helping the WBTA with design and translation.

Meanwhile, the WBTA will shortly issue a handbook to all Association members. The handbook will include a Code of Conduct for all members and the Child Protection Policy of the West Belfast Taxi Association.

“It is our hope in the not-too-distant future to extend the use of our native tongue to the Association handbook,” added Stephen Long.

Derry Journal
12 December 2008

A car occupied by four men accused of IRA membership was chased and stopped by a garda patrol in Co Donegal last year, the Special Criminal Court in Dublin heard yesterday.

The four Derry men are Gary Donnelly (38), Kildrum Gardens, Michael Gallagher (28), Sackville Court, Martin Francis O’Neill (40), Colmcille Court and Patrick John McDaid (38), Marlborough Street.

Sergeant Niall Coady told Patrick Marrinan SC, pros
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ecuting, that he was observing the Nineteenth Hole pub in the Bridgend area, Co Donegal, on March 16th this year, when, at 3.10pm, he saw a Volkswagen Passat come from the Derry direction.

“There were four male occupants in the car. The car stopped right in front of me on the main road for possibly five seconds.

“I regarded the car as suspect and involved in unlawful activity, people using this car involved in IRA activity.

“I would’ve known the car for that reason,” he said.

Sgt Coady told the court that he was “familiar with some of the occupants of the car, with Patrick McDaid, who was driving, Martin O’Neill, in the passenger seat and Gary Donnelly, the back left seat passenger.”

Sgt Coady said that Donnelly “looked toward me and I looked at the car and the car immediately went forward toward Muff.

“I immediately followed this car before it did a U-turn on the main road in front of me and I did a similar move, intending to get the car stopped.”

“I moved alongside the car and pointed to the driver to pull in to the left.”

The car pulled into the hard shoulder 500 metres from the border with Northern Ireland.

Sgt Coady approached the car and took the names of the four male occupants. They were the four accused.

“I had a suspicion at the time that these men were engaged in IRA activities.”

He said that he “asked the driver where they were going to and the driver said that they were going for a quick pint in the Nineteenth Hole, possibly to watch football. He [the driver] said they didn’t because the pub was packed.

“I had already seen that the pub was not packed so didn’t regard this as a truthful account of their movements.”

Sgt Coady said that he then called for assistance and that the four men got out of the car.

“Mr Donnelly approached me and asked me what would I do if they went to walk towards the border? My response was that they’d have to carry out that action before I’d answer it.”

Sgt Coady said that assistance arrived and at 3.45pm he arrested Mr McDaid and brought him to Letterkenny Garda Station.

The trial continues.

By Jennifer McCann, West Belfast MLA
Belfast Media
Andersonstown News Thursday

This Sunday, December 14, sees the 90th Anniversary of the first woman to be elected as an MP.

At the time of her election, Constance Markievicz was being held in a British Gaol as a result of her participation in the 1916 Easter Rising.

She was one of two women to stand for Sinn Féin in the 1918 election, the second being Winifred Carney, who stood in Belfast.

Markievicz went on to be made Minister for Labour in the First Dáil in 1919 and was returned as an abstentionist TD for Dublin City South in the election of 1923.

The election of Countess Markievicz in Dublin in 1918 was not only a significant milestone in the struggle for Irish freedom, but it also represented a significant gain for women’s equality as it sent out a clear message that women had a role to play in politics.

Women had always been at the forefront of the struggle for national liberation as far back as the 1798 rising.

They were active in formulating and creating the United Irish culture that emanated from Wolfe Tone and, as a consequence, raised the awareness of women’s equality within the culture of republicanism.

They demanded equal rights as women as well as equal rights as Irish republicans and, despite living in an era where men dominated society, they did have support from male colleagues on the issue of women’s equality.

The contribution made by republican women like Countess Markievicz in Ireland towards equality for women in the late 19th century and at the turn of the 20th century cannot be ignored.

The rise of nationalism and the Labour movement and the women’s movement in Ireland all made significant contributions towards equality for the working class.

Women fought alongside men and had active roles in every rising against British occupation, yet most of the participation of women hasn’t been recorded historically or indeed has been deliberately ignored.

So did the election of Countess Markievicz 90 years ago signal that women would have greater representation in political life?

Today in Ireland as a whole, women make up 51 per cent of the population, yet in the North of Ireland only 16.7 per cent of MLAs are women and 21.3 per cent of local councillors.

In the South of Ireland only 13 per cent of TDs are women and only 15 per cent of elected councillors are women.

Out of 108 MLAs elected to the Assembly at Stormont, only 18 are women.

These statistics show that women are still seriously under-represented at all levels of the decision-making process and at all levels of government, and women being under-represented in politics and public life has a negative impact on politics and in all other areas of life.

They constitute a diverse group with many talents and life experiences and have many positive attributes to bring to the world of politics.

Sinn Féin currently have eight women MLAs, two of whom are Ministers, including Michelle Gildernew, who is also an MP, and two women MEPs, one of whom is Báirbre De Brún from West Belfast.

Across Belfast the party has three women MLAs and eight women councillors sitting in Lisburn and Belfast.

Two of the six Sinn Féin MLAs representing West Belfast are women and of the 16 councillors for West Belfast, including the Colin area, six are Sinn Féin women.

We still need more women, particularly young women, to come forward into political life.

It is only through women’s participation that equality for women will be seen as a priority and the issues that affect woman’s lives are kept high on the political agenda.

We need to follow the example set by Countess Constance Markievicz, all those years ago and ensure that the barriers to women’s participation in all aspects of life, including politics, are removed.

There will be an event to celebrate the life and contribution of Countess Markievicz at Stormont on Monday, December 15 at 2pm in the Sinn Féin members room. All are welcome to attend.

BBC

A steel cage which has protected an iconic Orange hall in north Belfast from attacks is to be taken down.

The Orange hall at Clifton Street is famous for its statue of King William.

Orange brethren at the hall on Clifton Street are planning a complete face-lift for the landmark building.

The hall is close to the Carlisle Circus interface which separates the loyalist Shankill estate from the republican New Lodge area.

The work is part of a city council initiative to improve the appearance of main roads going into the city centre.

The hall was built in the 1880s. During the Troubles windows were blocked up and the building surrounded by the cage to prevent arson and paint attacks.

William Humphrey, a DUP councillor for the area, said the work would “return the building to its former glory”.

“This is all about making Orange halls accessible to the community,” he said.

“It is a unique building, the statue on top of King William and his horse is the only equestrian statue in Belfast.

“It is also a beautiful building in the inside and we want to place the Orange hall at Clifton Street at the heart of Belfast’s tourist package.”

BBC
12 Dec 2008

Spanish journalists packed the court for the appearance of Inaki de Juana Chaos, pictured at a previous hearing

A court has heard Spanish attempts to extradite a convicted Eta killer are based on a “vague” interpretation of a speech allegedly given in his name.

Inaki de Juana Chaos, 53, is wanted on charges that he praised or supported terrorism in a letter read at a rally.

He denies being behind the letter, Belfast Recorder’s Court was told.

His barrister said extradition was not covered by the alleged offence as there was no equivalent crime in UK law under the Terrorism Act. The case continues.

De Chaos was released from a Spanish jail in August after being jailed in the 1980s for his involvement in 25 murders.

His barrister argued the warrant for his extradition to Spain was defective.

Paraphrased

He claimed that it was impossible to tell from a reporter’s paraphrased account whether what was said amounted to a call to continue the armed struggle.

“It’s just too vague - you have got to say what the words were,” he said.

He said he believed the source of the complaint was a translation of a document attributed by a journalist as “praise for political prisoners”.

The barrister read a phrase which he predicted would bring “gales of laughter” from Spanish journalists packed into the courtroom.

Translated, it read: “Keep it up, carry on or kick the ball”, he told the court.

The lawyer argued that it could just be encouragement to prisoners to “continue to endure”, an expression of the fight for separatism or simply to “keep up the good work”.