SAOIRSE32

By Donal Hickey
Irish Examiner
Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A RETIRED Garda sergeant has recalled in a new book how he narrowly escaped death during one of the worst atrocities of the troubles.

Now retired and living in his native townland of Kilbrean, outside Killarney, Seán O’Sullivan traces his story from his early days growing up on a farm in the 1950s, cutting turf, serving as a garda in the border area during the “troubles”, to dealing with a varied assortment of characters while in uniform over a 38-year career. He recalls how he came within inches of losing his life on the day when 33 people were killed and about 300 were injured in the loyalist bombings of Dublin and Monaghan in May, 1974 — the largest number of casualties in any single day of the conflict in the north.

That year, Seán was stationed in Scotstown Garda Station, in Co Monaghan.

He was getting a newspaper in a shop near the diamond, in the centre of the town, when a car bomb exploded on North Road.

“I was knocked to the ground with the force of the explosion and lucky not to be among the seven people who so tragically lost their lives,” he said

“It was a day I’ll never forget. Bodies had to be pulled out of cars and sirens were going off all over the place.” Following his service in Monaghan, he moved to Boherbue in north Cork, and later to nearby Millstreet where he was to serve as sergeant for 20 years until his retirement.

His book, From Kilbrean and Back, has been launched by Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe. Both men are past-pupils of St Brendan’s College, Killarney. Speaking at the launch, Mr O’Keeffe said Seán had uncovered a fascinating fabric of local history and anecdote which would amount to a valuable legacy for generations to come.

“Seán has truly has left his children and grandchildren a legacy in this book — the values of decency and community and the importance of roots, of simple living, of tradition, of family and of friendship,” he said. Seán is also a well-known musician and proceeds from the sale of his book and an accompanying CD will go towards the MS Society.

BBC

A 27-year-old man has been assaulted by a masked gang at his home in Belfast.

The man was dragged out to the garden to be assaulted again

Up to five men, one of them believed to have been carrying a gun, forced their way into the man’s Newtownbreda Road flat at about 2030 GMT on Monday.

They then tied up and beat him before ransacking the property. The man was then dragged into the garden where he was further assaulted.

The man’s father, who lives next door but was out at the time, said they both believe the attack was sectarian.

He also said they are preparing to move out of the area.

The gang who carried out the attack made off in a silver Mercedes car.

‘No place’

“This type of attack has no place in our community and I would call upon anybody with information about this incident to contact the PSNI,” said Sinn Féin MLA Alex Maskey.

Alliance Councillor Sara Duncan said: “These men who carried out this attack are adding nothing to our society except to scare innocent people in their own homes.”

By Barry McCaffrey
Irish News
16/12/08

Efforts to deal with the legacy of the Troubles should not be restricted by financial constraints, the Consultative Group on the Past has said.

Co-chairman Robin Eames issued the warning yesterday during an address to a victims’ group in west Belfast.

Insisting that the concerns of victims could not be ignored by wider society, the former Church of Ireland Archbishop said: “Outside the victims sector there are many who would wish the past away; who believe that if we simply throw money at meeting the physical and emotional needs of victims then they should be happy, should go away and allow the rest of society to get on with the future.

“Dealing with the past is not just about victims – it is about our entire society.

“If we are to truly deal with our past, of course we must look after the well-being of those who have suffered most.

“But to stop there is to stop far short of actually dealing with the fundamental issues that led to our society ripping itself apart over the last 40 years.”

Lord Eames rejected criticism of the amount of money already spent on funding public inquiries.

“Some argue that enough money has been spent on dealing with the past and that nothing more should be done,’’ he said.

“They say that the current processes should simply be allowed to run their course.

“If we base dealing with the past solely on how much it will cost in financial terms then we will be making a huge error of judgment.”

However, in his address to the group Relatives for Justice, Lord Eames admitted that Northern Ireland could find itself still dealing with the past in 35 years unless an alternative approach was found.

“We do not believe the current legal processes are the best way to deal with the legacy of the conflict,” he said.

“So we either find a better way or we let these processes continue for many years to come.”

Insisting that his group’s report would seek to find ways to “finally close this violent chapter in our history’’, he said: “Not everyone will agree with everything in it – that would be unrealistic.

“But for anyone to dismiss it because this is just too difficult to deal with or because it would cost too much would be the biggest insult to the thousands of people, – ordinary people like you – who suffered over the last 40 years.”

Relatives for Justice spokesman Mark Thompson said only the establishment of an international, independent truth commission could bring closure to families who had lost loved ones through state collusion.

“Eames/Bradley have the opportunity to take a bold step to depart from the failed policies of the past,’’ he said.

“An independent international truth commission provides the best opportunity for truth recovery for the greatest number of those affected by the conflict.

“Until this is established victims of state violence will carry on with their campaign.”

Irish News
16/12/08

ONE of the two teenagers stabbed to death on an isolated country road more than eight years ago punched his killer in a last-ditch attempt to defend himself, a court heard yesterday.

David McIlwaine (18) and Andrew Robb (19) both died from cut-throat injuries so deep their spines were damaged in the savage double murder.

The victims were lured from a house in Tandragee to the Druminure Road on the outskirts of the Co Armagh town where they were knifed to death.

Relatives of both Mr McIlwaine and Mr Robb sat in the public gallery of Belfast Crown Court where they heard an account of the horrific injuries the victims sustained in the early hours of February 19 2000.

Dr Michael Curtis, the pathologist who carried out postmortem examinations on the murder victims, said both had sustained fatal cut-throat injuries.

The wounds extended across their necks, Mr McIlwaine’s was 10.3 cms in length, Mr Robb’s was 18 cms.

Dr Curtis said it was his opinion both of these injuries had been inflicted from behind.

The pathologist was questioned about other wounds the victims sustained.

He said that while Mr McIlwaine displayed defence wounds including injuries to a clenched fist which suggested he threw a punch before he died, Mr Robb’s remains revealed no such injuries.

Dr Curtis told the court that Mr Robb had sustained a stab wound to his buttock, a knife wound to his abdomen which sliced part of the small intestine and that he had also been stabbed three times in the left thigh.

His remains also showed cuts and bruises to his face and a head wound caused by blunt-force trauma.

Dr Curtis said tests carried out on Mr Robb’s blood and urine indicated he was “grossly intoxicated”.

He revealed that Mr McIlwaine’s remains displayed multiple cuts and bruises to his face and head, many

of which could have been consistent with blows.

Mr McIlwaine also sustained a stab wound to just below his eyeball which penetrated his brain and other knife wounds to his face.

Telling the court that, as with Mr Robb, Mr McIlwaine’s neck injury was “down to the bone of the spine” and was likely to have been inflicted from behind with at least moderate force, Dr Curtis also revealed that Mr McIlwaine sustained seven separate stab wounds to his chest.

These wounds, the court heard, were also “non-survivable” and damaged both of Mr McIlwaine’s lungs as well as his heart.

“These were inflicted from the front. [Mr McIlwaine] probably was lying on the ground on his back,” Dr Curtis said.

He said samples taken from Mr McIlwaine indicated he was moderately drunk.

The pathologist was asked by John McCrudden QC, defending, if he could tell from the stab wounds whether or not two knifes had been used in the attack. Dr Curtis concluded that it was “possible”.

Steven Leslie Brown (28), who is also known as Steven Revels, from Castle Place in Castlecaulfield, Co Tyrone, is standing trial for the murders of Mr Robb and Mr McIlwaine. He denies the charges against him.

The trial has been adjourned until the new year.

Irish News
16/12/08

A HIGH Court judge yesterday dismissed a legal bid by the PSNI to be allowed to question witnesses at the inquiry into solicitor Rosemary Nelson’s murder.

The force was also seeking a ruling that any convictions or criminal associations they had should be considered by the tribunal as part of a test on their credibility.

Lawyers wanted permission to cross-examine up to nine witnesses, described as complainants, who have made allegations about police threats or abuse directed at Mrs Nelson before she was killed in a loyalist paramilitary bomb attack in March 1999.

Earlier this year the inquiry, which was set up to examine claims of security force collusion, refused to allow any cross-examination by counsel for the PSNI.

It stressed that the proceedings were an inquisitorial – rather than adversarial – process aimed at establishing the truth.

Seeking a judicial review of that decision lawyer John Larkin, for the PSNI, had warned of the potentially serious consequences for officers’ reputations if the claims made against them were backed by the tribunal.

But Lord Justice Girvan ruled: “I conclude, not without hesitation, that this court should not interfere with the

inquiry’s decision on this aspect of [its] ruling.

“The inquiry has to make a balanced judgment on the question whether opening up these lines of inquiry would be more prejudicial to the inquiry than probative of relevant issues.”

The judge accepted that the impact on the tribunal’s overall effectiveness and the level of cooperation from other witnesses did enter the equation but said: “The inquiry panel, steeped as it is in the evidence and material gathered, is best placed to make that judgment.”

Mrs Nelson (40), who represented a number of high-profile clients in the nationalist Garvaghy Road involved in the Drumcree marching dispute, died in a booby-trap car bomb explosion near her home in Lurgan, Co Armagh.

Retired judge Sir Michael Morland is chairing a three-member panel which must determine whether the then RUC, Northern Ireland Office, British army or other state agencies facilitated the murder, or blocked attempts to investigate it.

“The inquiry in the present instance is fully alive to the fact that the complainant witnesses were familiar with the criminal process, had spent time in police stations and had an incentive, if they wished, to exaggerate and distort evidence in a particular way,” Lord Justice Girvan said.

“It is aware of their political viewpoints and background.

“It was entitled to conclude in the circumstances that opening the issue of the previous convictions and associations would potentially do more damage than good to the effectiveness of the inquiry and that is a decision which lay within its margin of appreciation.

“Accordingly the application must be dismissed.”

Irish News
16/12/08

IT would be an “affront to justice” if British intelligence services were not forced to reveal all material linked to mobile phone conversations recorded on the day of the Omagh bombing, the High Court heard yesterday.

Lawyers for victims’ relatives who are seeking any tapes, transcripts or notes as part of their multi-million pound compensation claim against five men they blame for the outrage

rejected claims that full disclosure could threaten national security.

Their application is based on a television documentary which claimed the British government listening agency General Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) monitored calls as the bomb team drove into the Co Tyrone town in August 1998.

It is not known if the exchanges which formed the basis of the BBC Panorama programme were listened to live or simply recorded.

The allegations provoked anger among relatives of those killed and led to Prime Minister Gordon Brown ordering a three-month intelligence review due to be completed this week.

Barristers representing the security services, GCHQ, present and former police ombudsmen Al Hutchinson and Dame Nuala O’Loan and four retired senior police officers all attended the civil action as Lord Brennan QC, for the Omagh families, opened his case for disclosure yesterday.

“This is a unique set of circumstances in which to apply for third-party discovery of the phone calls said to have been taped by the security services on the day of the Omagh bombing,” he told Mr Justice Morgan.

Lord Brennan argued that the publicity surrounding the programme meant there was no evidence of any significant damage to national security or the work of the security services if a court order for disclosure was made at the civil trial, where Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Seamus McKenna, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly all deny responsibility.

“We are about seeking discovery of that which is now well established in the public arena in relation to a major atrocity,” he said.

Rejecting legal submissions for non-disclosure, the lawyer claimed the relevant third parties had not dealt adequately with evidence before the court and relied on generalities about the need for national security.

“The recurrent theme is that these matters are secret, they are protected by a legislative framework of secrecy which applies for all purposes and for all time,” he said.

“The conclusion properly to be drawn by any objective observer is that the law of this country… is now in a position where there’s going to be an affront to justice if the application by the plaintiffs is rejected.”

Before opening an application which is expected to last three days, the court was told that discovery claims against Panorama reporter John Ware and Sir Joseph Pilling, a retired under-secretary at the Northern Ireland Office, were being discontinued.

Lord Brennan also made clear that it was not a general challenge to relevant legislation in force.

“We are not challenging the general apparatus of the practice of neither confirming nor denying,” he said.

Derry Journal
**Via Newshound
16 December 2008

Young republicans in Derry held a protest on Saturday afternoon calling for the release of all political prisoners.

Activists from Ógra Shinn Féin unveiled banners and held placards during the protest at Shipquay Gate.

The chairperson of the local group, Aoife McNaught, said they wanted the release of political prisoners all around the world, including Ireland.

“Christmas is the time of year when we traditionally remember all those imprisoned for their political beliefs. Ógra Shinn Féin held a number of vigils in the city centre on Saturday afternoon calling for their release.

“Christmas time is a time for families to spend time together as a joyful occasion but unfortunately some families will not have their joyous experiences this Christmas because their loved ones are being interned.

“Ógra Shinn Féin will be concentrating on this matter over the next month as we know it is a very important matter which must be resolved immediately. The vigils in Derry called for the release of these prisoners who were not released under the Good Friday agreement. We will also have The Cuban 5, Leonard Peltier and Pól Brennan at the forefront of our minds this coming week and month,” she said.

Derry Journal
17 December 2008

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement will stage a rally in the Bogside this Saturday in support of four Derry republicans currently on trial in Dublin.

The organisers of the ‘Free the Derry Four/End Internment by Remand’ protest will also unveil a mural on the back of Free Derry Corner.

The protest will start at Free Derry Corner on Saturday 20th December at 2pm.

The protest is being staged by the Lynch/Duffy and Phil O’Donnell cumainn of the Derry 32 Country Sovereignty Movement.

Derry Journal
17 December 2008

Defence counsel for four Derry men accused of Real IRA membership have submitted that their detention by a Garda Sergeant at Bridgend in Co. Donegal was not lawful.

At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin on Tuesday, Patrick Mc Daid said that Sgt Niall Coady stopped him in a car with his three co-accused in the border village on March 16 last.
He told his counsel Mr Brian McCartney QC that he asked him his name and then asked the names of three other men.
“He said turn the ignition off. He reached in and took the keys of the ignition,” he added.
The court has heard that the four men were arrested the day after a Real IRA press conference was filmed by the BBC in Derry. A Detective Garda has identified two of the accused, Gary Donnelly (38), of Kildrum Gardens, and Martin O’Neill, (40) of Colmcille Court, as men photographed in the background of the press conference given by three masked men. Michael Gallagher (28), Sackville Court, and Patrick John McDaid (38), Marlborough Street, are also on trial.
All four have pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann (IRA).
McDaid told his counsel he was driving to Bridgend to get some diesel and have “a quiet pint” in the 19th Hole bar. He said that, after taking his keys, Sgt Coady moved to the back of the car and was talking on his mobile phone. He said he got out of the car and rang his solicitor, Mr Paddy MacDermott.
He said the four men were standing outside the car at the side of the road for about 30 minutes and at one stage he said to Sgt Coady that he was going to get cigarettes from a nearby garage to which Sgt Coady replied: “No, you are not.”
McDaid said that a large number of gardai then arrived in a convoy and Sgt Coady arrested him and he was taken first to Burnfoot Garda Station and then to Letterkenny. He said that the Sergeant did not explain to him why he was arresting him.
Defence counsel for the four men have submitted that their detention by Sgt Coady was not lawful and the court was due to rule on that issue.

BBC

A suspected arson attack on the home of a DUP councillor is being investigated by police in County Tyrone.

An outhouse to the rear of the Ballygawley home of Councillor Sammy Brush was destroyed overnight.

A police spokeswoman said officers would have to wait for gas cylinders stored in the shed to cool before a full examination could be carried out.

“I can’t understand what pleasure they get out of tormenting myself and my wife,” said Mr Brush.

“I’m 66 and the wife is 79 - you would think that surely to goodness we could be allowed to live the rest of our lives in some sort of peace rather than having to tolerate this every few weeks or so.”