SAOIRSE32

Breaking News.ie
28/12/2008

**How can you shoot someone who is fleeing bombs?

Israeli jets pound Gaza tunnels

Egyptian border guards opened fire today on Palestinians who breached the border to escape Israel‘s assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

An Egyptian security official said there were at least five breaches along the 9 mile border and hundreds of Palestinian residents were pouring in.

At least 300 Egyptian border guards have been rushed to the area to reseal the border, the official added on condition on anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press.

A resident of the Gaza Strip side of the border, Fida Kishta, said that Egyptian border guards opened fire to drive back the Palestinians. Residents have also commandeered a bulldozer to open new breaches.

Palestinians reported several people were wounded by the gunfire.

Israeli aircraft earlier bombed the border area in an apparent attempt to destroy cross border tunnels used to smuggle weapons and contraband into the Gaza Strip.

Dr Abdel Qader Higazi, a representative of the Egyptian Doctor’s Syndicate in Rafah, said Egyptian authorities closed the border crossing after allowing several trucks of medical supplies into Gaza.

Please contact: info@patfinucanecentre.org if you can help

‘We are urgently trying to raise funds to ensure the ongoing work of the Centre in the Derry and Newry offices … We are facing a very serious shortfall until promised new funding comes through in February 2009 … The PFC has charitable status and donors should contact us for details.’

“The issue of defending human rights is far from won. If you believe in shaping stronger human rights protection then invest in the Pat Finucane Centre and those who find themselves in the frontline in their work to defend human rights.”

Geraldine Finucane (Widow of Pat Finucane)

www.patfinucanecentre.org

[Photo of Geraldine Finucane with son Michael]

My friend Joe Baker, the well-known Belfast authour affiliated with the super Glenravel Local History Project site at glenravel.com, has sent me a copy of a letter which was posted through all the doors in the New Lodge by the Brits just before Xmas 1971. As Joe says, ‘It’s very interesting, and note the bit where they blame the McGurk’s Bar bombing on the Provos.’

This is small size of it, but if you will follow the link under the photo, you can see a larger view.

Joe informs me that glenravel.com will be relaunching the Troubles’ history files in a new format and layout, but don’t wait to go avail yourself of all it has to offer now. It is great! [Picture of the rainbow over Donore Court is from the Wikipedia article on New Lodge.]

Thank you Joe!

Larger view

By Maeve Connolly
Irish News
27/12/08

A BOMB left close to an Armagh GAA club could have been picked up by children who regularly use the area. The device was discovered 100 yards from Pearse Og GAC on the city’s Friary Road and close to the GAA’s Athletic Grounds.

A claim that a bomb had been left in the area was made on December 13 but nothing was found.

However, police returned on Christmas Eve and discovered what they described as a “viable device”.

Inspector Paul Fulham said children had been put at risk.

“This device could have caused serious harm and grief to members of the public, especially children who may have played in the area,” he said.

“The people who left it have no regard for life and we do not want them in our society.”

Pearse Og chairman Gerry Davidson said the device was found around 100 yards from the club.

“Thank God it was cleared. It’s always a worry that if it hadn’t been found it could have gone off,” he said.

Sinn Fein councillor Cathy Rafferty described the find as “sinister”.

“The device was found on banks behind the clubhouse and a lot of young people would go down those banks as a shortcut when going to school or to the club… any of them could have picked it up,’’ she said.

“There was absolutely no thought given to the young people who live in the area and the young people who go to the club.”

DUP councillor Freda Donnelly appealed for anyone with information to contact police.

“Any right-minded person would

not be carrying out such a dangerous act,” she said.

“It could have hurt anyone, young or old, as there are so many people out and about at Christmas time.”

SDLP councillor Pat Brannigan also condemned those responsible.

By JIM CUSACK
Sunday Independent
Sunday December 28 2008

The south Armagh IRA-controlled fuel-laundering industry is still fully operational — though security sources say only a fraction of the profits is being ploughed back into the ‘movement’.

And the smugglers and ‘washers’ are still dumping massive amounts of highly dangerous toxic waste on both sides of the Border for local authorities to clean up.

The latest evidence was found just before Christmas, when smugglers abandoned a trailer loaded with 40 one-tonne containers of the waste — which contains sulphuric acid, diesel and other by-product chemicals.

The waste is corrosive, poisonous and cancer-causing.

Every year, local councils on both sides of the Border are spending millions disposing of the waste. Louth and Monaghan county councils have to send the waste to Germany to be disposed of, at massive expense. The trailer was found two miles west of Dundalk, at Killin. It had a full load of plastic containers filled with the waste.

It was taken by Louth County Council to a safe storage area and will be transported to Germany in the New Year. It was the 13th trailer-load of toxic waste left in the Louth County Council area alone this year.

Louth County Council has asked people not to buy the cheap diesel being offered along the Border — not only because it is illegal, but also because of the environmental hazards created by the production process and the cost to the taxpayer in both lost tax revenue and the cost of disposing of the waste. In previous years, the IRA-controller operators have dumped the waste in streams and near public water supplies, but after this was highlighted in newspapers they switched to loading up trailers and abandoning them to be disposed off by local councils.

Environmental protection officials estimate that the 40 tonnes of waste found at Killin represents by-product from the ‘washing’ of around three million litres of illegal diesel.

At a profit margin of around 40c a litre, this suggests that the operation responsible — and there are thought to be dozens along the Border — made a profit of around €1.2m.

Although the PSNI and gardai officially state that the Provisional IRA is no longer operational, sources in south Armagh say the organisation there is very much intact and controls most of the criminal activity in the area.

However, they say that dissident republicans from the Real IRA are increasingly involved in cigarette smuggling, also a multi-million euro business.

The Provisionals keep control of the area through the threat or use of violence, as seen in the murder of young south Armagh man Paul Quinn, who was beaten to death by an IRA squad in October 2007 after he had a dispute with a local IRA boss. No charges have been brought.

Garda and Customs sources say that though the diesel and other smuggling operations are costing hundreds of millions in lost revenue to the State, insufficient resources are being used to track down offenders.

The former taoiseach says Irish and British politicians regularly took part in slanging matches during the peace process
Liam Clarke

The Times
28 Dec 2008

THEY were trying to end the violence in Northern Ireland, but key players in the peace process sometimes came close to fighting among themselves. Bertie Ahern, the former taoiseach, has revealed that the invective hurled between Irish and British politicians during the peace talks was the worst he had ever heard.

“The level of abuse I heard grown adults give to each other has never been surpassed, and that includes in the back streets of Dublin or on football pitches,” he said in a BBC Radio Ulster interview to be broadcast on Friday. “There were no holds barred, I can tell you.”

Ahern believes one particularly vicious slanging match in 2001 had a therapeutic effect on the politicians because “the following morning they all got up and they all felt good because they had said what they thought”.

During the peace talks, his relationship with Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, was particularly fraught, Ahern told David Dunseith, the presenter. This was partly because he refused to follow Sinn Fein’s advice on what the role of taoiseach should be.

“I had lots of rows with them, particularly with Gerry,” Ahern said. “I tried to take a balanced view because I was going to be no use to the process if I took a one-sided southern republican-nationalist viewpoint.” Despite these difficulties, he admired Adams and Martin McGuinness because “they have made hard decisions for militant republicans . . . and they have tried to move forward”.

He confirmed he had a tumultuous relationship with David Trimble, the then Ulster Unionist party leader. Jonathan Powell, a former adviser to Tony Blair, revealed in a recent book that on the morning of Good Friday in 1998, Trimble was “appallingly rude” to Ahern, who “came within an ace of hitting him, as he told us after the unionists had left the room”.

In the BBC interview Ahern says: “At some of the meetings with delegations he [Trimble] would let fly . . . I got a good insight into why he couldn’t do things.”

Asked if was indeed on the point of “chinning” Trimble, the former taoiseach said: “Maybe that is the way I looked. They reckoned in the room that I had taken so much abuse from him that maybe I looked as if I would, but I don’t think I ever was.”

Relations were far more cordial when Trimble and Ahern met privately. “When I was one-to-one with David I got on particularly well with him . . . You knew where you stood.” Ahern never took what was said in “the cut and thrust of tough negotiations . . . as a personal insult to me”.

Having previously ruled out standing for the presidency, Ahern now appears to be leaving the door open. He points out that it will not become an issue until early 2011, the year President Mary McAleese’s second term ends. He said he does not know at this stage if he will stand.

Ever since his retirement as taoiseach last May, Ahern has kept a high profile in public life, attending receptions, launching books and giving interviews. Many commentators speculate that the aim is to keep his profile high in preparation for a tilt at the Aras in just over two years’ time.

He agrees that speculation about his candidacy is inevitable. “You get people talking about what will happen, but my answer to that is very simple: it doesn’t come up for three years. [McAleese] is the president and I just don’t think it is even right people talking about who will be [her successor].”

Ahern played down suggestions he could have joined the IRA as a youth. “I don’t know if it ever came to that because our house was a Fianna Fail house,” he said. “But there were fellows I knew well growing up that did get involved in it. I watched them and I suppose they watched me.”

Irish Times
Sunday, December 28, 2008

Over half a million sterling has been awarded to marching bands in Northern Ireland, it was revealed today.

Loyalist flute, silver and accordion bands from across the province were awarded grants of up to £5,000 each. Musicians from the nationalist side of the community also benefited, the Arts Council said.

Among successful applicants were the Hounds of Ulster and the Burntollet Sons of Ulster.

DUP Assembly member Ian McCrea used to play in the Dunamoney Flute Band in Magherafelt.

“Bands have been set up for years and sometimes their instruments are old so they need time to play them in,” he said. “That is why I want to see the grants being given earlier.”

The Hounds formed in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, in 2006 and have over 20 members. They received £5,000.

The Burntollet Sons are from Co Londonderry and described themselves as self-taught. They are on the look-out for new members. They also received £5,000.

According to their website they play The Sash, Blue Sea Ibrox, Billy’s March and Shepherd’s Boy among others. There were other bands from Strabane, Co Tyrone, included for grants.

A total of 101 bands were given £446,228 over the last three years. Separate Awards for All worth £84,238 will go toward musical tuition and performances.

The Arts Council said there was significant educational value in developing new musical skills among young people who would not have had the same access without the money.

A spokeswoman said: “The scheme is designed to increase the quality of music making in the community by helping bands, including brass, silver, flute and accordion, to replace worn out instruments and purchase new instruments.”

Sinn Fein Assembly member Paul Butler said: “There is demand for such funding for countless marching bands across the north, however, there must be mechanisms for the Arts Council and Awards for All to ensure that anyone receiving funding isn’t involved in sectarian bands such as the so-called ‘Blood and Thunder’ bands that are evident on our streets every summer.

“We have all seen marching bands carrying loyalist banners and flags or with loyalist emblems on their drums.

“Anyone engaged in such an intimidating campaign must be barred from this funding and a clear message must be sent that public money will not be used for sectarian purposes.”

The Arts Council said it was aware of its obligations under the equality legislation and added the previous round of funding had been independently and favourably reviewed.

Coa Pipe Band, in Fermanagh, successfully applied for their Instrument for Bands award in 2005/06

“It was great to get it as before our instruments were cobbled together; from three or four broken sets we would get one working set of pipes, which was still about 100 years old!

“With this funding we were able to purchase a full drum section and 16 sets of pipes; this allowed more young people from our very rural area to start learning to play music.”

By Stephen Breen
Belfast Telegraph
Sunday, 28 December 2008

Notorious terrorist godfather Dessie O’Hare is planning a huge robbery in the Republic, Sunday Life can reveal. Senior cops on both sides of the border believe O’Hare — nicknamed the ‘Border Fox’ — has moved his base from Northern Ireland to Dublin to finalise plans for the heist.

Although the PSNI and gardai have no specific details about his plans, they have received intelligence the INLA gunman is planning “something big”.

O’Hare has also been spotted in recent days in the company of well-known gun-smugglers and robbers in the Republic and in his native south Armagh.

Former INLA Prisioner Dessie O’Hare

He has also been spending his spare time enjoying his favourite milkshakes at restaurants in Dublin.

Top security sources believe O’Hare is planning the robbery after we revealed last month (above right) he had lost thousands from the collapse of his brother’s property business.

The self-confessed serial killer had secretly invested in his sibling’s property business.

But when the construction crash hit it left Paddy (49) with little more than a handful of properties — all with negative equity — and facing ruin.

The businessman took his own life after losing a fortune on the crisis-hit housing market.

Sources say O’Hare is planning to recoup some of the cash that he lost in his brother’s business.

Said one source: “Dessie is skint at the minute and he is finding it hard adapting to living in a normal society because no one will employ him.

“The police on both sides of the border are watching him closely, but he’s slipped the net a few times he has been in Dublin and the word is that he plans something big.

“The police are picking up this intelligence from a variety of sources, but the problem is that they don’t have the specifics of what O’Hare is planning.

“O’Hare claims that he’s found God, but this man will never change.

“He only knows crime and that’s why he’s determined to get the cash, so that he can build a life for himself now that he’s out of prison.

“He also has to realise that there’s still a lot of people out there who despise him and if they get a whisper about his plans they will be on the phone to the police straight away.”

O’Hare also remains worried about cold-case cops quizzing him about the 26 murders he was involved in during the Troubles.

The source added: “The Historical Enquiries Team is currently at the 1970s and O’Hare is worried that it won’t be long before they get to the dates of serious crimes that he was involved in.

“He has become paranoid in recent weeks because everyone seems to be after him — the gardai, PSNI and his former comrades.

“People are still going to jail for crimes they committed during the Troubles and Dessie could be one of the biggest names to be sent back to prison.”

In a separate development, the leadership of the Continuity IRA held a terror summit at a top Dublin hotel earlier this month.

The meeting, attended by the terror group’s leadership from Belfast and Craigavon, was arranged by the CIRA to discuss its plans for 2009.

It’s understood terrorists who attended the gathering were told by leaders to step up their attacks against the security forces over the coming year.

Said a senior source: “Anyone who was at the meeting was told that things were going to step up a gear in 2009.

“They were there from all over the country, but the gardai knew about the meeting and were probably listening to what they were saying.

“It’s only through the grace of God that these guys haven’t killed anyone yet, but police are determined to clamp down on their activities.”

Henry McDonald
The Observer
Sunday 28 December 2008

New recruits to a unit of dissident republicans in Northern Ireland are being roughed up by the terror group before joining, an Assembly member has claimed this weekend.

Dolores Kelly, the Upper Bann SDLP Assembly member who sits on Northern Ireland’s Policing Board, told the Observer that she has recently received reports of dissidents using tough initiation ceremonies. A group of republicans opposed to the political compromise at Stormont have been reorganising in Kelly’s constituency.

Kelly said she was told by a relative that a teenager from Lurgan had signed up to the group this month. “When I first heard what they had done to this young man, I could hardly believe it,” she said. “However, I have no reason to doubt the source of this information. I understand he was roughed up and then told constantly that he would be treated as an outcast if he joined. I suppose they were trying to see if he was fit enough to withstand police interrogations or being regarded as a pariah.”

Kelly said there had been recent reports of similar incidents in the North Armagh area. “This kind of bizarre behaviour should be a warning to young people. Just imagine that if they are prepared to put you through a beating before you join, what are you going to be asked to do once you are a member?” she said.