SAOIRSE32

RSF News
http://rsf.ie

For release
24ú Eanáir / January 2009

Republican Sinn Féin have established a Cumann in Carlow Town as the organisation in Leinster continues to grow. Named the Myles Shevlin/Tony Ruane Cumann, its aim is to go on on a recruiting and development drive over the coming weeks.

The cumaan is named after Carlow Republican Myles Shevlin, who over a period of over 40 years played a leading role in the Republican Movement. A solicitor, Myles Shevlin was part of the IRA delegation which engaged in negotiations with the British government in 1972. Tony Ruane, a native of Co Mayo, was a life-long Republican from the Tan war and Civil war period up to his death in 199. He is buried in Carlow cemetery.

The cumann intends to fully support the campaign of Republican Sinn Féin Vice President Des Dalton who is a candidate for Athy Town Council in this year’s local elections.

Ends.

News Letter
24 January 2009

DUP minister Gregory Campbell has blasted Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness after he described “partitionism” as an evil and compared it with racism.

Mr Campbell said he listened “with incredulity” to comments made to the Press by the Deputy First Minister, who was criticising politicians in the Republic who urged people not to cross the border to shop.

And he warned the Deputy First Minister that he and future generations of his family had “better get used to” living within the UK.

Speaking to the Press on Friday, Mr McGuinness said “partitionism” was an evil that was on a par with sectarianism and racism.

He said: “There are a number of tremendous evils in our society. One is racism, the other is sectarianism and I think an evil also is partitionism.”

Mr Campbell took part in the North/South Ministerial meeting for the first time when it was held in his home city of Derry.

Afterwards, Mr Campbell blasted Mr McGuinness’s comments, saying: “If he means by partitionism the existence of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland – two separate countries – then that’s an evil that he’s going to have to get used to, his grandchildren are going to have to get used to, and his great great grandchildren are going to have to get used to.

“It’s not an evil, it’s a good, and he’d better waken up to it.”

The Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure also highlighted the expenditure of substantial sums of money investigating deaths during the Troubles, and contrasted this with the Republic’s approach to the past.

He said: “In Northern Ireland we have spent hundreds of millions of pounds looking at the past, with a whole range of inquiries.

“The Irish Republic hasn’t spent one euro in trying to clear up the mess that they helped to create in the financing and funding and beginnings of the IRA. Well, we’ve got to try and get some closure on that.”

Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott said: “The Deputy First Minister’s statement is profoundly disturbing. It is right and proper to condemn the evils of racism and sectarianism. However, he then went on to describe ‘partitionism’ as ‘an evil’.”

“Those of us who are unionists have just had our political beliefs described as ‘evil’ by the Deputy First Minister – the same Deputy First Minister who took the pledge of office ‘to serve all the people of Northern Ireland equally’.

“The real evil within the society in Northern Ireland is those who killed and injured innocent people throughout the Troubles.”

TUV vice-chair Keith Harbinson said: “Many people will be rightly outraged by the remarks.

“Many people will understandably ask how McGuinness can be joint First Minister of a country he doesn’t even believe should exist.

“His republican movement is the embodiment of evil, having been responsible for the murder of thousands of individuals.”

Mr Campbell also criticised the use by Dublin politicians of the title of the Republic’s head of state.

He said: “Their head of state is the President of the Irish Republic.

Politicians and Muslim leaders describe broadcaster’s refusal to show aid appeal as inexplicable, feeble and dereliction of duty

Nicholas Watt and agencies
Guardian
Saturday 24 January 2009

The BBC came under renewed pressure from the government today to “stand up” to the Israeli authorities and broadcast an appeal to raise emergency funds for Gaza.

Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary, yesterday rebuked Britain’s broadcasters for refusing to air an emergency appeal for Gaza by Britain’s Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).

In a letter to the BBC, Sky and ITV, Alexander expressed his “disappointment” that the appeal would not be broadcast.

Today the health minister Ben Bradshaw, a former BBC journalist, described the decision not to screen the appeal as “inexplicable” and dismissed the corporation’s explanation for its position as “completely feeble”.

The BBC refused to broadcast the humanitarian appeal for Gaza on the grounds that it did not want to risk public confidence in its impartiality.

The decision meant other broadcasters also refused to air the appeal by the committee, the umbrella group for 13 aid charities.

A BBC spokesperson said: “The decision was made because of question marks about the delivery of aid in a volatile situation and also to avoid any risk of compromising public confidence in the BBC’s impartiality in the context of [a] news story.”

In his letter, Alexander said: “I write to express my disappointment at your decision not to support the Disasters & Emergency Committee (DEC) Gaza Crisis Appeal. I met with DEC, along with other NGOs and charities, yesterday to discuss their and the British government’s humanitarian response.

“As you know, the support of broadcasters is highly effective and extremely valued by the group of charities and NGOs [non-governmental organisations] who provide humanitarian relief under the DEC umbrella.”

Alexander offered to mediate between the charities and the broadcasters. “I understand from a statement issued to the press by the BBC that ‘the decision was made because of question marks about the delivery of aid in a volatile situation’.

“I stand ready to facilitate discussions with NGOs and charities to seek to address broadcasters’ concerns on this point. The situation is developing on the ground and I understand that Oxfam, Save the Children and others have been able to get some aid into Gaza today.”

In his reply to Alexander, the BBC’s director general, Mark Thompson, said: “After consultation with senior news editors, we concluded that to broadcast a free-standing appeal, no matter how carefully couched, ran the risk of calling into question the public’s confidence in the BBC’s impartiality in its coverage of the story as a whole …

“We will continue to broadcast news about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and, if appropriate, to cover the work of the UK NGOs on the ground. We cannot, however, broadcast anything which we believe might compromise the impartiality of the BBC’s journalism.”

The former cabinet minister Tony Benn will today join a protest against the decision outside the BBC’s Broadcasting House. He used an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme to broadcast an appeal himself, urging listeners to send gifts to PO Box 999 London EC3A 3AA, or donate via freepay account 1210 at the Post Office.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said it viewed the BBC’s decision to disallow an appeal by the DEC for Gaza as “a serious dereliction of its public duty”.

In a statement, the MCB said: “We urge the corporation’s governors to urgently reverse its decision which would severely jeopardise efforts to raise millions of pounds of voluntary contributions for emergency humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

“In sabotaging the DEC appeal broadcast, the BBC is clearly acting against the public interest. As custodians of the public trust in the BBC its governors must act immediately to avoid the blame of being complicit in denying humanitarian aid to the desperate people of Gaza.”

The MCB secretary general, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, said: “The excuses given by the BBC are simply untenable and the governors need to act quickly before the corporation’s image is irretrievably tarnished.

“The need [to] reverse this decision is even more compelling as the BBC’s coverage of the carnage in Gaza was very tame and not reflective of the scale of the violations committed there.”

Proposals cover all those killed in sectarian violence during the Troubles in Northern Ireland

Henry McDonald in Belfast
Guardian
Saturday 24 January 2009

The families of an IRA bomber and the leader of the loyalist Shankill Butchers gang, that slaughtered innocent Catholics, are to get the same compensation as their victims.

Under a controversial proposal contained in a new report on how to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland’s Troubles, relatives of the IRA member Thomas Begley, who who died when a bomb he was planting on Belfast’s Shankill Road went off prematurely, and the UVF sectarian killer Lenny Murphy will be among those entitled to claim £12,000.

The money is part of a £300m–pound fund for relatives of those who died in the conflict, and is part of a report drawn up by the Church of Ireland archbishop Robin Eames and the former Policing Board co-chairman Denis Bradley.

Begley’s botched bombing of a fish shop below the UDA’s headquarters in October 1993 led to nine Protestants being killed and pushed Northern Ireland to the edge of civil war. Murphy’s local UVF ran a reign of terror against Belfast’s Catholics from the mid 1970s until 1982, when the Shankill Butchers’ leader was shot dead by the IRA.

The Eames-Bradley report was scheduled to be published next Wednesday. However a selected briefing yesterday afternoon for journalists in Belfast revealed a number of proposals, including the idea of £12,000 for each person killed in the Troubles including some of those who perpetrated the violence.

Victims’ campaigner Raymond McCord, whose son Raymond Jr was murdered by the UVF in 1997, yesterday described the compensation package as “disgusting blood money”.

McCord, who exposed collusion between his son’s killers and members of the RUC Special Branch, said: “If the families of perpetrators are getting the same compensation as their victims then I won’t be touching this money.

“This is the equivalent of the American government setting up a fund for the victims of the 9/11 atrocities and making sure that the families of the suicide-hijackers who also died on the crashed jets get compensation as well.”

He added: “And I have a particularly message for Archbishop Eames: “I was brought up in the Church of Ireland but if you were my minister today I wouldn’t have anything to do with you or your parish after this.”

The Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson said the victims on all sides “would feel a deep sense of betrayal” over this proposal to compensate relatives of terrorists who died in the Troubles.

Gordon Brown was briefed on the report at Downing Street yesterday. It contains 30 recommendations including an end to Bloody Sunday-style inquiries.

Derry Journal
23 January 2009

Dissident republicans are being blamed for holding a Strabane mother and child hostage while her partner was forced to drive across the Border to Castlefin to deliver guns to a waiting gang.

It’s since been reported that a second woman - a friend of the family - was also held after calling to the house.
A well-placed republican source told the ‘Journal: “I would be 99 per cent certain that the guns are in the hands of a dissident republican grouping.” He added that he believed more than five weapons were stolen, including “high powered rifles”.
Shortly after 9pm on Tuesday, the 24-year-old gun owner was taken from the house in Castlegrange in Strabane and forced to drive to his home in the neighbouring town of Castlederg to pick up the firearms. He was forced to hand the weapons over in the car park of St Mary’s Church in Castlefin, Co Donegal.
A friend of victim’s family said the event would “have a very traumatic affect”.
“It is something that child will carry for all the rest of her days. When these boys (intruders] forget about it that child will be carrying that scar.”
Strabane UUP Councillor Derek Hussey said dissident republicans were the “main suspects”.
Strabane priest Fr Patrick O’Hagan condemned the family being “terrorised in their home”.
Sinn Fein Councillor and Chair of the local District Policing Partnership, Brian McMahon, added: “These guns were held by people who were using them for sporting activities and this is certainly more sinister. Obviously there is a more sinister reason for taking them.”

By Barry McCaffrey
Irish News
23/01/2009

TWO more men appeared in court yesterday charged with the murder of Tommy English.

Alexander Wood (32) and Jason Loughlin (33) are accused of the murder of the UDA man in front of his wife and children in their Newtownabbey home in October 2000.

Wood, of Milewater Way, Newtownabbey, was also charged with UVF membership.

A detective told Belfast Magistrates Court he could connect both men to the charges.

He said the evidence against them related to witness statements made by Newtownabbey brothers David and Robert Stewart.

Lawyers for Loughlin, of Ballyvessey Park, New Mossley, said he strenuously denied the charges and that Wood had been questioned about the killing eight years ago and “denied involvement then and now”.

Both men were remanded in custody.

Eight people have been charged in recent weeks in connection with Mr English’s murder.

Police are understood to be searching for two other men who are understood to have gone “on the run”.

In 2005 both Wood and Loughlin were charged in connection with a brutal UVF assault on Newtownabbey doorman Trevor Gowdy.

The doorman had identified Wood, nicknamed ‘Poko’, from a police line-up as one of two men who had attempted to assault him outside a bar in Newtownabbey in December 2002.

Loughlin had been identified by detectives at the scene from CCTV footage.

Mr Gowdy successfully defended himself against attack.

However, the following day he was ordered to a meeting with Mount Vernon UVF leader Mark Haddock where he was attacked with iron bars and hatchets.

Wood and Loughlin were originally charged in connection with the assault but the charges were later dropped.

Mark Haddock was jailed for 10 years.

:::u.tv:::
Friday 23 January 2009

Relatives of those killed in the Real IRA outrage in 1998 have reacted angrily to speculation that the group examining ways to deal with the legacy of the Troubles would recommend that no further hearings were instigated.

With the bill for the Bloody Sunday inquiry set to top £200m, and other similar probes also costing tens of millions, the consultative group on the past is expected to advise the government to stop setting up new hearings.

But Michael Gallagher from the Omagh Support and Self Help group said a full cross-border judicial inquiry was the only way to find out what really happened at Omagh.

Twenty-nine people, including a woman pregnant with twins, were killed in what was the bloodiest day in the 40-year conflict.

Mr Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aiden died in the explosion, said the families would continue their campaign for an inquiry.

“This won`t stop us,” he said.

“We have been very badly treated by all politicians across the board who have not supported us, so this won`t put us off.”

“There are so many things that happened in the lead up to the bomb and in the aftermath that have never been properly and independently investigated, and that needs to happen.”

The families are set to meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown next month to again call for the inquiry.

Irish News
23/01/2009

MARK Haddock was charged with murdering a rival loyalist leader based on supergrass evidence from two “wounded animals” with something to gain, a court heard yesterday.

Lawyers for the north Belfast man made the claim following allegations he was the UVF commander who directed the assassination of senior UDA man Tommy English in October 2000.

Prosecutors revealed that detectives were told Haddock (40) gave the order for Mr English to be shot in retaliation for the killing of UVF man Bertie Rice.

Newtownabbey brothers David (38) and Robert Stewart (34) have also alleged that he gave roles to gang members involved in the murder, issued weapons, masks and even instructed them to get a sledge hammer to break into their victim’s home.

The pair are alleged to have made police statements implicating up to 10 men in the murder.

Haddock, a police agent from north Belfast’s Mount Vernon area, was refused bail due to the risk of re-offending or interference with the ongoing police investigation.

He has been charged with the murder of Mr English – who was gunned down in front of his wife at their Newtownabbey home during a loyalist paramilitary feud which claimed seven lives – as well as UVF membership following a new investigation by the specialist Historical Enquiries Team.

Five other men have also been accused of the killing, while the brothers have pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting and UVF membership after originally being charged with murder.

Prosecutors opposed to Haddock’s release also disclosed that a day after he was arrested earlier this month, an arson attack was carried out on a car belonging to an associate of the Stewarts.

Belfast Magistrates Court was told the timing appeared to be directly linked to the operation against Haddock.

Prosecuting counsel David Russell confirmed the Stewart brothers had gone into Antrim Police Station last year and confessed being involved in Mr English’s murder.

“They specifically stated that Mr Haddock was the commanding officer of the Mount Vernon-Shore Road UVF and that it was he who undertook the swearing-in to the organisation at a ceremony performed in the kitchen at his home address in the Mount Vernon estate,” he said.

“Mr Haddock undertook that role of commanding officer for a considerable period of time and had considerable sway.”

Mr Russell added that after Mr Rice was murdered, Haddock called men to a flat and directed that Mr English be killed in revenge.

Gang members were instructed to remove anything that could identify them and put it in a bag, the court heard.

An accelerant was also to be used to set fire to a hijacked taxi used in the shooting.

According to the Stewarts their role was to hold the taxi-driver hostage.

But defence barrister Mark Farrell launched a withering attack on the quality of the evidence against his client, likening it to notorious criminal trials from the early 1980s when IRA and loyalist suspects were convicted on the word of former associates turned Crown witnesses.

“It’s a very dark day for justice when the prosecution have made the case against not only this defendant, but up to 10 defendants, based on the unwholesome nature of supergrass-type evidence,” Mr Farrell said.

“This evidence is unsavoury and quite toxic for good reason.”

Mr Farrell, who revealed his client was seeking to be released to live at an address outside Northern Ireland, insisted reputation and notoriety had no relevance to the application.

“The only evidence against Mr Haddock is the evidence of two supergrasses, and I don’t use that term lightly,” he added.

With the court told the Stewart brothers have signed an agreement with the prosecution under the Serious Organised Crime Police Act (SOCPA), the barrister claimed they could receive up to 75 per cent off any sentence imposed.

Although Mr Russell stated no offer was made for a fresh start involving name changes, living allowances and relocating them out of Northern Ireland, Mr Farrell argued it did not matter “whether it’s a statutory supergrass deal or a closed doors, men sitting round with brandy glasses and cigars deal”.

Referring again to the Stewarts, he said: “When animals are wounded they take unusual and extraordinary actions to best position themselves to get on with their lives.

“This case is based on motivated witnesses who have something to gain.”

Mr Farrell also claimed Haddock, who was close to completing a 10-year

sentence for an attack on a nightclub doorman when he was arrested for the murder, wanted to put his criminal past behind him.

Haddock, who survived an assassination attempt before being jailed for the assault, has no interest in staying in Northern Ireland, the court heard.

“He is someone who has obtained the burden of extensive media coverage to the extent where the press now believe they can say what they want about him,” his lawyer said.