SAOIRSE32

News Letter
05 November 2009

THE Royal British Legion has warned it will “walk away” from a Remembrance Day parade in North Down if loyalists hijack the event.

The News Letter has learned that a loyalist group has threatened to attend the official Remembrance Day parade in Bangor’s Ward Park with the intention of joining the march.

A source close to the loyalist organisation told the News Letter the group wants to lead Sunday’s parade, which is meant to honour the sacrifice made by the brave men and women of the armed forces.

The loyalist group claims it has the right to be there because of the 1912 UVF’s links to the Battle of the Somme.

The rumours have caused outcry in North Down, where loyalist tensions have been ongoing for several months.

Bill Craig, County Manager of the Royal British Legion, which organises the official march, told the News Letter he had been “very disappointed” to hear about the plans.

He said: “If this group shows up uninvited we will walk away; we will not be taking part in the march.

“They are not a bona fide organisation and so should not be taking part in the official march. This is not what the day is about.”

Speaking to the News Letter, Alliance MLA for North Down Stephen Farry said he was aware of recent speculation surrounding the parade.

He added: “There is a very clear distinction to be made between the commemoration of those who sacrificed their lives honourably in the service of their country and in the pursuit of peace, and those who have been mixed up in paramilitary activity.

“People will be naturally concerned at any attempt to blur this distinction.”

Mr Farry said he did not believe it was in anyone’s interest for the commemoration to be “undermined”.

He added: “It is my understanding that wiser counsel and common sense will prevail, and I would be cautiously optimistic that this will remain the case.”

Speculation over the Remembrance Day parade comes after months of tensions in North Down.

In the run-up to this year’s Twelfth celebrations, loyalists became angry with local councillors over issues including flag flying and bonfire regulation.

In a “peaceful protest”, they erected Union and Ulster flags throughout the borough, in a move many residents labelled intimidatory.

The flags were not removed until Ulster Day on September 28.

During the second stage of the protest, loyalists sent out postcards of Bangor’s marina, with an image of the town’s wind turbine painted red white and blue, to hundreds of homes.

The front of the postcard read “Welcome to Loyalist North Down x.”
Loyalists in Bangor’s Kilcooley estate also came under fire when it emerged that nearly £75,000 of public money was spent to build a Garden of Reflection in the estate.

The garden was meant to honour fallen soldiers of the First and Second World Wars but when it was unveiled featured three plinths, each dedicated to the “glorious memory” of loyalist paramilitary organisations the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando.

As speculation about Sunday’s march continues, a spokeswoman for North Down Borough Council said official invitations had been sent to Army personnel and their support organisations only.

She added that the invitations clearly stated they were not to be passed on to other groups.

A source from Kilcooley estate told the News Letter it was his understanding the loyalist group would not show up at the Ward Park march, and may instead march in Kilcooley.

He added: “This may just be a case of someone trying to stir trouble ahead of the march.”

Report by International Monitoring Commission warns dissident threat has reached six-year high

Henry McDonald
Guardian
4 November 2009

Republican dissidents will shift their attacks across the Irish Sea to mainland Britain if they get the opportunity, the body overseeing paramilitary ceasefires warned today.

The International Monitoring Commission also said former Provisional IRA members were helping dissidents to destabilise the peace process.

In its latest report, the IMC revealed that the dissident threat was at its highest level for six years.

The paramilitary watchdog said most new recruits to the Real IRA, Continuity IRA and Oglaigh nah Eireann were “inexperienced young males” but warned that the involvement of former PIRA members “significantly added to the threat”.

The report, covering the period from 1 March until the end of August, said dissidents remained committed to launching an attack in mainland Britain if the opportunity emerged.

The group said the two main dissident republican groups, the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA, were working more closely together than ever in their attempts to kill police officers and soldiers.

Reporting on the aid given to the groups by ex-PIRA activists, the IMC said: “This is not surprising following the dissolution of PIRA’s structures.”

It stressed that the vast majority of republicans had followed the IRA leadership and supported the peace process, but said: “The overall level of dissident activity was markedly higher than we have seen since we first met in late 2003.

“The seriousness, range and tempo of their activities all changed for the worse in these six months. During this period, dissident republicans were violent and showed an intent to kill if the opportunity arose.”

On 7 March, the Real IRA killed sappers Mark Quinsey, 23, and 21-year-old Patrick Azimkar at the Massereene army base in Antrim. Two days later, the Continuity IRA shot dead PSNI Constable Stephen Carroll in Craigavon, County Armagh.

In the period covered by the report, there were 11 further attempts to kill PSNI officers in Northern Ireland.

“A number of the incidents for which dissidents were responsible demonstrated a capability to plan and organise which adds to the threat they present,” the document added. “They pose a major challenge to the law enforcement and other agencies on both sides of the border.”

The report was released following a night of paramilitary-linked violence across Northern Ireland.

A 23-year-old man was shot five times in the legs after armed and masked men broke into his mother’s home in Derry. During the attack, the gang put a gun to his mother’s face and forced a nine-year-old girl into a room on her own at the house, on the Creggan estate.

In west Belfast, a 24-year-old man was shot in the legs at his home in the Lenadoon area of the city. Both shootings were linked to dissident republican groups trying to build support by offering communities “summary justice”.

BBC
4 Nov 09

Legislation to help relatives of those “disappeared” by the IRA is set to come into force, it has been announced.

The Act will allow the families of the so-called Disappeared, who have never found the bodies of the victims, to settle their affairs.

Searches have been carried out for the Disappeared

The move was announced by Finance Minister Sammy Wilson.

He said “for those families, such as those of the Disappeared, I hope that this Act will ease some of the suffering”.

The Presumption of Death Bill comes into force on 9 November.

Mr Wilson said that under the Act the families of missing persons will, for the first time, be able to have the presumed death of their family member confirmed by the High Court, and a certificate of presumed death made available to them by the General Register Office.

The minister said: “For those families, such as those of the Disappeared, I hope that this Act will ease some of the suffering that they have endured.”

In October, the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains said it was investigating the disappearance of another man in the early 1970s.

Peter Wilson was 21 when he went missing from his west Belfast home in 1973 and it is reported he may have been abducted and murdered by the IRA.

A spokesman for the commission confirmed that it had received a report of another case.

The investigation is believed to be in its very early stages.

The inclusion of Mr Wilson on the list of the Disappeared would bring to 14 the number of people abducted and murdered in secret by republicans, all but one of them by the IRA.

That organisation has publicly said it was involved in nine of the killings, but has not admitted its role in the others.

Institutional Abuse

By Diana Rusk
Irish News
03/11/09

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES: Above, the children of Nazareth Lodge including Deirdre (circled).

FOR most of her life, 54-year-old Deirdre Harper has been petrified of water. She says the fear stems from an incident during her childhood when her head was repeatedly forced under water after she took a bath at the wrong time.

Other memories of those days include the time her face was pushed into urine-soaked sheets to punish her for wetting the bed.

Then there are the countless beatings she endured from a leather strap that hung near a string of Rosary beads and the times she was pulled up flights of stairs by her hair.

Deirdre was one of hundreds of disadvantaged children taken into the care of the religious order, the Sisters of Nazareth, and placed into Nazareth House in south Belfast.

Behind the red-bricked walls of the Ormeau Road building, some of the sisters charged with caring for the children are instead alleged to have subjected them to physical violence and mental abuse.

Decades later, nine former residents have made claims for compensation against the religious order.

The Sisters of Nazareth have already settled two claims while the remaining seven are being pursued through solicitors.

Deirdre is one of two other former residents who have instead dealt directly with the order to try to get some closure.

She also wants her story heard.

“A public apology from the Sisters of Nazareth and the Catholic Church would be a start,” the mother-of-two said.

“The abuse that went on in Nazareth House was horrendous.”

Deirdre, then O’Donoghue, was born in Limerick but moved to Belfast shortly after her air-traffic controller father developed an addiction to alcohol and lost his job.

She and her two elder sisters were removed from her family home by the NSPCC in 1959 and dispatched into the care of the Sisters of Nazareth.

“I was four years old and taken to the nursery department while my two older sisters were taken to another department,” she said.

“I could only see them through the iron gates in the yard which separated both departments. I would scream and cry for them to come to me but this was not allowed.

“My time in the nursery wasn’t too bad except for being away from my sisters. There was a nice nun in charge who would give me a cuddle when I was upset. The nightmare began when I left the nursery.”

An early photograph of Deirdre shows her smiling beside the other children in the home as they enjoy playing on a slide during a Christmas party.

In the background, however, she claims the reality was much different and that her childhood memories are filled with emotional terror.

She claims she was punished for wetting the bed, taking a bath at the wrong time and, when she ran away once, she was dragged by the hair up several flights of stairs and locked in a storeroom.

Presents given to her during brief stays with her aunt and uncle were taken away when she returned to Nazareth House and a strap that hung from the nun’s belt was used to beat her and the other children.

At night-time there were checks to ensure all the children slept on their backs with their arms crossed over their bodies – “so that if we died in our sleep we would go to heaven”.

“Saturdays were spent polishing floors. I was down on my knees doing my best to get a good shine on the floor,” she recalled.

“Whichever nun came to inspect my work, if it wasn’t good enough I was grabbed by my hair and swung about.”

Except for the brief outings to Ormeau Park where she “could be a child for a while”, she said she felt like a prisoner in the children’s home.

“The cruelty that went on behind those walls still haunts me now at the age of 54,” she said.

“I was a child who took the beatings and accepted it as the norm as it was all I knew.

“Seeing other children taking a beating was horrendous to watch knowing there was nothing we could do to help each other.”

The Poor Sisters of Nazareth were founded in the mid-19th century in Hammersmith, London, to take care of the young and the old. There were Nazareth Houses all over Britain, Ireland, Australia and South Africa.

The home on the Ormeau Road was opened in 1876 as a home for the children and the elderly. There was also a school on the site but all care for children stopped more than a quarter of a century ago.

Of the nuns that Deirdre claims abused her, two are dead, one is the subject of a civil case from another former resident and the fourth has been described by the order as being in “poor and frail health”.

During meetings with the order, the nuns were unable to give Deirdre any answers to her allegations blaming institutional practices at the time.

She has received an apology of sorts through a letter from Sr Mary Anne Monaghan, the superior-general of Nazareth House.

“I am pained and sorry that the years you spent in the care of Nazareth House have left you with unhappy memories,” it stated.

“I am sorry for anything that you feel was done to you by the Sisters of Nazareth that may have caused you suffering or anguish.

“It is a matter of profound regret to the Sisters and to me that your time with us has left you with those painful memories.

“Unfortunately we cannot change the past. I hope your contact with us over this last while will help ease, insofar as is possible, some of the hurt and distress you feel.

“I also hope that it may help you get on with your life, despite your pain, in a positive and fulfilling way.”

While some of those living in Nazareth House have come forward about their abuse, others are only beginning to gather the courage.

Stella Percival, originally from Randalstown, Co Antrim, only decided to look into her past earlier this year when she got a computer and learned how to use the internet.

She has never spoken to lawyers or sought compensation from the religious order.

The 57-year-old searched the term ‘Nazareth House’ and found a group of survivors of the regime speaking out about their childhoods.

“I was just a baby when my mother left me there. She was an unmarried mother and she later went to England to live,” she said.

“I was there from 1951, the year I was born, until I was 16. Even then I had to work for them for a year when I left school.

“The one thing I remember about the abuse was that I used to wet my bed until I was 13.

“We used to be terrified because we had to line up in the mornings outside the nuns room and we would get an awful beating if you did it.

“So we used to make our beds up and pretend we were dry so at night we would climb back into a soaking wet bed rather than face another beating.”

Like many children, she was frightened of the dark but she claims she was made to stand on a stage with the light switched off.

“I was so afraid because it was pitch black and I would be left there for hours at a time.”

“These experiences have affected my whole life.”

“I would like an apology for the terrible times we had in their care.

“I would not like a face-to-face meeting because I think I would feel too intimidated and would feel sick if I had to meet them after all these years.

“I would like the public to know how we were treated and I also think we should all get compensation.

“I know that people brought up in homes in the south of Ireland have received it and America and Australia so we should be entitled to it too.

“Some people have already got compensation and we were all in there at the same time so why not us?

“I do plan to put in for this myself. It is not greed. They ruined our life. I never went out for years and I was so brainwashed I was afraid of any one in charge. I could never speak up for myself. I was as timid as a mouse.

“One good thing that did come out of all that was that I swore my children would never experience anything like that and I would have died before they ever got taken into care.

“They made my life worth living.”

Sr Patricia Enright, a spokeswoman from the Sisters of Nazareth, said there have been complaints about the care of children at the Ormeau Road institution.

“Since 1995, nine former residents of Nazareth House, Belfast have made a claim for compensation against the Sisters of Nazareth,” she said.

“Two of those cases have been settled by the Sisters of Nazareth.

“The other cases are being handled by the solicitors for the claimants and the Sisters of Nazareth have engaged with them.

“Two other persons have made complaints to the sisters about their treatment in Nazareth House and the sisters have engaged with them also.”

By Allison Morris
Irish News
03/11/09

Dissident republican Paddy Murray has been arrested by the PSNI at the gates of a jail in England to be questioned about previous paramilitary activity.

Murray had been serving a four-year sentence for abduction.

Last October he was spirited out of Maghaberry Prison amid allegations he had been working as a Special Branch informer prior to his arrest.

The once senior member of the dissident republican Real IRA has been held in a prison somewhere in the south of England ever since.

He was arrested yesterday by PSNI detectives who had travelled to England to speak to the Co Antrim man.

It is believed Murray had intended to settle somewhere in England with his partner and two young children following his release.

In February 2008 Murray pleaded guilty to the abduction and assault of Antrim man Kevin Gillen three years previously.

It is believed his fresh arrest is in connection with his alleged role in a spate of Real IRA incendiary bomb attacks on commercial premises in 2006.

A spokeswoman for the PSNI said last night: “A 47-year old man has been arrested in relation to serious crime in Northern Ireland.

“He was arrested in England by detectives from the PSNI working in association with English police.

“He is being questioned in England.”

In 1994 Murray was sentenced to 25 years for possession of explosives. He was released in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

News Letter
04 November 2009

COLOURFUL quilts made by Ulsterwomen depicting the human cost of the Troubles and hopes for a lasting peace are to be displayed at one of London’s most famous museums.

An anti-war exhibition called the Human Cost of War will feature three quilts documenting the trauma of the 1970s and recent protests against the dissident republican murders of PC Stephen Carroll and Sappers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar.

The hand-sewn pieces, which will go on display at the Imperial War Museum this week, document the international cost of conflict and are part of a drive to give women a medium to express their reactions to the inhumanity and cruelty of violence.

Organised by the Movement for the Abolition of War (MAW), the exhibition shows quilts dealing with World War I, the Spanish Civil War and many other high-profile conflicts from across the globe.

Sonia Copeland’s ‘No Going Back’ arpillera which will go on display

The three quilts from the Province are: the ‘Northern Ireland Peace Quilt’ by Women Together, a cross-community group which focuses on reconciliation and the promotion of peace; ‘Common’ Loss by Irene MacWilliam, which charts every life lost in Ulster’s 30-year conflict; and No Going Back by Sonia Copeland from Ballygowan.

Sonia, wife of UUP MLA Michael, contributed an arpillera – a kind of textile work made for hanging on the wall – that captures Ulster’s response to dissident republican activity earlier this year.

‘No Going Back’ shows protestors gathered outside the City Hall, united in opposition to any return to violence in the Province.

The deaths of Stephen Carroll, Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar are noted at the top of the intricately-sewn piece.

“I wanted to capture one of the cross-community demonstrations which followed the murders of Constable Carroll and Sappers Quinsey and Azimkar,” said Sonia.

“I have shown the figures in different colours because I wanted to make it clear that people of all colours and creeds and from both sides of the community came together to declare that they did not want any return to the turmoil of the Troubles.

“It was a united call for peace that said – ‘there can be no going back’.”

Sonia said that the demonstration of support for the victims and their families was important to her personally because she served in the RUC during the worst years of the Troubles “and suffered as a result of terrorist attacks on four occasions”.

She added: “It seemed to me that peace, won as a result of so much pain and suffering, was under threat.

“At the demonstration I resolved that nothing and no-one should steal from our children the right to a peaceful life.”

• The Human Cost of War will go on display at the Imperial War Museum in London on November 8. Go to the website www.iwm.org.uk for more information.

BBC

Some former Provisional IRA members are helping dissident republican efforts to wreck the peace process, the paramilitary watchdog has said.

The Independent Monitoring Commission said the dissident republican threat was the highest for almost six years.

It said most new recruits were “inexperienced young males” but the involvement of former IRA members “significantly added to the threat”.

Dissident republicans killed two soldiers and a policeman in March.

The body, which is responsible for monitoring paramilitary activity, delivered its 22nd report on Wednesday.

It also reported a sharp rise in the number of beatings carried out by loyalist paramilitaries.

The latest report covers the period from 1 March until the end of August.

The IMC said the two main dissident republican groups, the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA, were working more closely together to increase the threat posed to security forces.

It said a small number of former Provisional IRA members have given assistance to dissident republicans.

“This is not surprising following the dissolution of PIRA’s structures,” it said, adding that the vast majority have followed the IRA leadership and supported the peace process.

“The overall level of dissident activity was markedly higher than we have seen since we first met in late 2003,” the report said.

“The seriousness, range and tempo of their activities all changed for the worse in these six months.

“During this period dissident republicans were violent and showed an intent to kill if the opportunity arose.”

On 7 March, the Real IRA killed sappers Mark Quinsey, 23, and Patrick Azimkar, 21, at Massereene Army base in Antrim.

Two days later the Continuity IRA shot PSNI Constable Stephen Paul Carroll in Craigavon, County Armagh.

In the period covered by the report, there have been 11 attempts to kill other PSNI officers in Northern Ireland.

The IMC said: “The three murders in March were by far the most serious incidents but there were many others involving extreme ruthlessness.”

It added: “A number of the incidents for which dissidents were responsible demonstrated a capability to plan and organise which adds to the threat they present.

“They pose a major challenge to the law enforcement and other agencies on both sides of the border.”

The group said dissidents remained committed to launching an attack in Great Britain if the opportunity emerged.

It said the devolution of policing and justice powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly would undermine dissidents and signal the strength of the political process.

The Independent Monitoring Commission was set up by the British and Irish governments in January 2004.

BBC

The number of loyalist paramilitary assaults has increased sharply, Northern Ireland’s ceasefire watchdog has said.

The Independent Monitoring Commission said that between March and August, 38 people were attacked - the highest number in almost four years.

The IMC said the UDA has plenty of room for improvement

This figure was more than double the amount in the previous period.

It said members of the UDA and UVF were involved in events leading to the death of Coleraine man Kevin McDaid in May.

The commissioners added that they believed those involved were acting without the approval of paramilitary leaders.

The report published on Tuesday contains a detailed assessment of activity carried out by each paramilitary group.

Intelligence gathering

On the UDA, the commissioners welcomed the announcement in September that it had begun decommissioning its weapons and is expected to get rid of all its arms by the February deadline.

We increasingly see a picture of an organisation on its way to going out of business as a paramilitary organisation
IMC’s assessment of the UVF

The commissioners said they were encouraged by this progress, and praised UDA leaders for changing the organisation.

“In some areas the leadership has shown remarkable commitment and progress in community development, a fact acknowledged by all sections of the local community in those areas,” they said.

“Across the organisation as a whole, however, much remains to be done.”

It said that following the murders of three security forces members in March, there was some intelligence gathering about dissident republicans, some of which happened with the knowledge of senior members.

The report said the UDA remained effectively split into two distinct groups - the mainstream UDA and the South East Antrim group.

It said members of both factions remained involved in a range of criminal activity.

Personal gain

Regarding the UVF/Red Hand Commando, it said the completion of decommissioning in September was “a very significant and positive development”.

“We increasingly see a picture of an organisation on its way to going out of business as a paramilitary organisation, though that might not preclude the maintenance of some form of association for past members,” it said.

The IMC said it believed UVF leaders took steps to prevent a violent reaction to the dissident republican killings of two soldiers and a policeman.

“The organisation has expelled members who have acted in a way unacceptable to the leadership.

“Senior members have continued to take steps to reduce criminality amongst the membership.”

Despite the progress made, the IMC said some members were involved in a wide range of criminal activity for personal gain.

“We cannot rule out that some arms have been retained in some parts of the organisation or that individual members have sought to acquire weapons on an ad-hoc basis outside the organisation’s strategy,” it said.

The commissioners said they expected the progress made during the period under review to continue, “including giving active support to the police”.

On the Loyalist Volunteer Force, it reiterated its assessment of the group as a “small organisation without any political purpose”.

The Independent Monitoring Commission was set up by the British and Irish governments in January 2004.

BBC

The dissident republican group Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) is partly responsible for the increase in paramilitary-style attacks in Derry, according to the IMC.

In its latest report, the Independent Monitoring Commission referred to the “growth of vigilante organisations which claim to want to ‘clean-up’ (their term) anti-social behaviour”.

The IMC said these groups - which included RAAD and the Belfast group, Concerned Families Against Drugs, were “a factor behind the increase in the number of attacks in some nationalist areas”.

The body, which is responsible for monitoring paramilitary activity, also said it believed the groups had undertaken attacks which included the use of pipe bombs.

The report, which was released on Wednesday, follows the shooting of a man in the Creggan area of Derry on Tuesday night.

Tony Dalzell, 23, was shot in the legs five times at his home in Iniscarn Crescent as his 14-year-old sister and her friends were held at gunpoint.

Local residents have said they believe RAAD was responsible.

It is believed the group has been behind almost a dozen similar attacks in the city over the past year.

RAAD admitted an attack on a 27-year-old man, who was dragged from a house in the Brandywell by a masked gang and shot in the Bogside four weeks ago.

In May, the mother of a Derry man who died in Glasgow from a suspected drugs overdose blamed RAAD for his death.

Gary Cullen, 26, from Cornshell Fields, moved to Scotland two weeks after the organisation warned he would be shot if he did not leave.

After a similar paramilitary-style attack in Creggan in September, RAAD said it had “vowed to remove the scourge of drug dealing from within the local community”.

PSNI Inspector Jon Burrows has promised to “take on” the group and dismantle them.

“Groups like RAAD and INLA that carry out these attacks play into the hands of drug dealers and rapists as officers can’t be in two places at once.”

“People have a choice to make,” he added.

“Do we want police officers investigating the shootings or do they want us investigating burglaries?”

Derry man claims MI5 tried to recruit him

Derry Journal
03 November 2009

A Derry man has claimed that his company has been placed in jeopardy by MI5 who offered to make his business happen only if he works with them.

Ciaran Doherty of Northern Lites Limited is currently trying to open premises for a cigarette manufacturing company and claims that four applications to HM Revenue and Customs have been turned down.

He said that on each occasionthey failed to outline any reasons or issue any formal notification of rejection.

Mr. Doherty said he and his business partners have spent £500,000 on purchasing machinery for the plant. It is currently in storage.
He believes the venture could create 350 jobs and £10-£15 million tax revenue annually.

He said that he was returning from a business trip last Tuesday evening when he was approached by MI5 as he attempted to board a flight at Luton airport.

Mr. Doherty said: “I was taken into a side room by a man calling himself ‘Justin’, who identified himself as MI5. He was able to tell me all about the history of my business and the troubles I’ve had with securing a licence for premises.

“We have applied on four separate occasions for a licence for premises - twice for Derry, one in Tyrone and one in Newry. Each time we have been rejected without reasons being given. At one meeting the Customs and Revenue representative advised us against even applying to open a site in Derry.”

According to Mr Doherty, ‘Justin’ claimed he was seeking information on a Cypriot business contact Mr Doherty had just met for the first time.
“They told me he was the target of their investigation.”

Mr Doherty said his business partner, who’s also from Derry, was recently approached at Schipol airport, Amsterdam. He was asked to help security services target dissident republicans in Derry.

“This is placing my entire business in danger,” said Mr. Doherty. “The deal we done on Tuesday has probably fallen through as I had to inform the Cypriot in London that MI5 were enquiring about him.

“I have to travel quite a bit sourcing materials - am I going to be stopped every time I do so?

“I am a legitimate businessman. I have notified HM Revenue and Customs every step of the way on this business venture - even Justin admitted that. However if I cannot get approval for premises I cannot trade, it is as simple as that.”

When contacted by the Journal a spokesperson for HM Revenue and Customs said: “HMRC have requested further information in writing from (the applicant) in June and August 2009 but to date have received no reply to our request.”

Mr. Doherty agreed that this was the case but argued: “We have spoken to Customs about the information they have requested. It concerns accounting systems and they agreed that this would follow at a later stage.

“This has only become an issue now, I think it is their get out clause. To be honest I believe the whole thing is a set-up in order to try and recruit informers,” he claimed.

Derry Journal
03 November 2009

A Strabane republican has claimed the PSNI attempted to recruit him as an informer after he was stopped at a checkpoint in the town last week.

A spokesperson for the 32 County Sovereignty Movement (32CSM) said the man was given a telephone number to call by the PSNI if he was willing to provide information on republicans.

“This young man was stopped at a checkpoint in Strabane last week and was taken around a corner by the police where he was approached by two other men who asked him to become an informer. They gave him a mobile phone number to ring if he was interested,” the 32CSM spokesperson claimed.

This telephone number was given to the ‘Journal’ and when a reporter dialled the number it was answered by a man calling himself ‘Brendan’ who asked if the caller remembered him. When the reporter identified himself and asked if ‘Brendan’ worked for the PSNI, he replied; “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The 32CSM spokesperson also claimed the PSNI officers who stopped the man made references to Strabane republican John Brady, who was found dead while in police custody in Derry last month.

“They mentioned John Brady and said he had spent 18 years in jail and then taken his own life and that the same future lay in store for this young man if he involved himself in republicanism,” he said. Mr Brady’s family have rejected reports that he took his own life.

The spokesperson also called for anyone who may have been approached by the PSNI in similar circumstances to contact them.

“We would appeal to anyone who has been asked to work as an informer to get in touch with us and they will find a sympathetic ear,” he said.

Gemma Burns
North Belfast News
2nd of November 2009

The brother of a North Belfast teenager who was brutally tortured and murdered by the UVF 35 years ago next month has dubbed unionist politicians, lobbying Libya for compensation for IRA victims, as “hypocrital” for leaving families of loyalist violence out in the cold.
A delegation - led by DUP MLA Jeffrey Donaldson and North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds - representing victims of the IRA is set to fly to Libya at the weekend in a bid to reach a multi-million pound compensation settlement.
Ligoniel Road man Paul Armstrong was just 18 years old in 1974 when he was abducted, tortured and shot in the head four times before his body was found in a derelict bakery in Byron Street in the Oldpark area. The murder was claimed by the Protestant Action Group, a cover name for the UVF.
No one was ever brought to justice for the brutal murder and no one ever came forward with any information, despite Paul being abducted in broad daylight on the Ligoniel Road and tortured for up to seven hours before his death.
His brother Gerry said that he is “sickened” by the cross-parliamentary group heading to Libya in a bid to extract compensation from the government when hundreds of families in the North lost their loved ones at the hands of loyalists and the British state.
“It sickens me and makes me angry when I see them go to Libya and say there is no hierarchy of victims when there obviously is,” he said.
“I honestly believe Paul was allowed to die to maintain political expediency. He was abducted in broad daylight on the Ligoniel Road in 1974 when the place was coming down with the RUC and foot patrols, yet no one saw anything and no one ever had any information.
“I can remember so well the police coming to our house, I was only 19 at the time and the policeman saying they would hunt to the ends of the earth to look for Paul’s killers. We never heard from them again.
“I don’t want money but what I do want is someone in power to stand up and say what was allowed to happen.
“I know the truth, I know someone, somewhere knew about Paul’s killing but it never came out. I just want it acknowledged.
“I’m wondering, like many hundreds of families who have lost loved ones at the hands of the UVF killer gangs, what country does the family of Paul Armstrong sue or bring a lawsuit against?”
Paul’s mother and father died without ever getting justice for their son.
His mother Mary was so distressed by the gruesome nature of her child’s death she could not attend his funeral or visit his graveside at Milltown Cemetery.
“My mother died a broken hearted woman. When we got Paul home and they opened the coffin, he had no hands, they had cut off his fingers. That makes me so mad and angry and I often think about what he went through in those hours.
“As long as I’m alive I will keep mentioning Paul’s name because there are hundreds of families like us, who aren’t high profile enough to get justice. The politicians can travel to Libya and demand money for one part of the community, I want justice for Paul.”

News Letter
03 November 2009

DOZENS of petrol bombs and paint containers were thrown as republican youths laid siege to a police station in south Armagh at the weekend. However, details of the attack, involving up to 50 people, were only released by police after a request for information was made by the News Letter.

Ulster Unionist MLA Danny Kennedy criticised how police reported the attack, saying there would be “serious suspicions” about why the “major public disturbance” was not reported within hours.

“Are they trying to save republicans from embarrassment here? Whatever the reasons, we need clarity to ensure public confidence in the police force,” said Mr Kennedy.

In a statement released last night, police defended their decision not to proactively report the attack to the media, saying the PSNI has “a responsibility to release information where appropriate”.

Police estimated that 20 petrol bombs and 30 paint containers were thrown, along with a barrage of other missiles including bricks and stones, at the building in Crossmaglen, where a number of officers were stationed on Halloween night.

Damage was caused to the exterior walls and gates of the station but no injuries were reported, a police spokesperson said yesterday.

Mr Kennedy said there was “little doubt” that the weekend violence had been an attempt to cause a “full-scale riot” by dissident republican elements.

“This was done maliciously, with the intent to draw police onto the streets, and possibly to create a riot situation,” said Mr Kennedy.

“It does represent a serious concern about police resources. I fully accept that if police respond in large numbers it can make the situation more serious.

“Thankfully, this has passed off, but the question remains as to whether the police could handle a more escalated situation.

“Those behind this attack have no support locally, and their actions must be condemned. It was a cynical attempt to create violence and mayhem on the streets of Crossmaglen.”

The PSNI’s Department of Media and PR say they “release information proactively on all incidents at the direction of a senior investigating officer, who is ultimately in charge of what information is released into the public domain”.

The statement continued: “In most cases information is released in order to make an appeal for information or witnesses, in order to progress the inquiry and assist the investigation team.

“The SIO may also decide not to release information and this may be for a number of reasons; for example, there may already be an arrest, detectives may be following a definite line of inquiry, or it may have a negative impact on an ongoing investigation. Information may also not be released to protect the identity of the victim, or at the wishes of the victim or their family. Each case is judged individually and a carefully considered decision taken.”

BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA
An Phoblacht
29 October 2009

CUMANN Lúthchleas Gael, the Gaelic Athletic Association, was founded 125 years ago and in that century and a quarter it has played a central role in Irish life as an organisation promoting national games and national identity. The GAA was often crucial in the struggle for independence and counted among its members many of those who fought and died for Irish freedom.
The game of hurling has its origins in ancient Ireland while, as in most of Europe, forms of football were also played by people in the countryside. But throughout the 19th century organised sports in Ireland were the preserve of the privileged classes. It was the coming together of the idea of distinctively Irish sports and the demand for popular, non-elitist organisation and participation that gave rise to the GAA.
Leading nationalists recognised the potential of native games. Young Ireland leader Thomas Francis Meagher organised sports meetings and hurling matches in Waterford in the period prior to the Rising of 1848. The founder of the Fenians in the United States, John O’Mahoney, urged the Fenians at home to form an association to promote athletics with a separatist outlook.
A key figure in prompting the foundation of the GAA was Patrick Nally, a Mayo athlete and ‘Head Centre’ of the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Connacht. He organised sports meetings on his family’s land with Charles Stuart Parnell as patron. In 1879, he met with Michael Cusack and discussed the idea of a sports body. In 1883, the Supreme Council of the IRB set up a sub-committee with the aim of establishing a nationally-minded athletic movement.

IRB BACKING

It was thus with IRB backing that the foundation meeting took place and the GAA was founded by Michael Cusack and Maurice Davin, the organisation’s first president, in Thurles in 1884.
Two of the seven founding members, J.K. Bracken and John Wyse Power, were IRB men. In the Parnell split in 1891 the IRB backed Parnell as did the GAA, whose patron he was. A contingent of 2,000 GAA members carried hurleys in Parnell’s funeral cortege.
The early years saw tensions within the GAA between Home Rulers and republicans but the organisation managed to preserve its integrity by not becoming involved in party politics. That did not mean it was not political. Like Conradh na Gaeilge (the Gaelic League), which was founded in 1893, the GAA fostered a strong sense of national identity and organised its members democratically at local, regional and national level and this was a subversive act in an Ireland totally dominated by the British Empire.
The GAA was therefore a vital element in the mix of forces which led to the revival of Irish nationalism and republicanism at the start of the 20th century. It proved to be the biggest single recruiting ground for the Irish Volunteers when they were founded in 1913. Many of the leaders and rank and file in the 1916 Rising and the subsequent struggle were prominent GAA members. These included Con Colbert, Seán Mac Diarmada, Austin Stack, Michael Collins and Harry Boland. Sam Maguire of the IRB and London GAA gave his name to the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship trophy.
The organisation of the GAA at local level, then and now, was a force for social cohesion, promoting a definite sense of community. This was especially important in the aftermath of the 1916 Rising and during the Black and Tan War. With national leaders imprisoned, leadership passed to regional and local level.

BLOODY SUNDAY

The importance of the GAA as a meeting place was recognised by the British regime, which banned its games and attacked players and spectators. This culminated on Bloody Sunday, 21 November 1920, when British forces attacked Croke Park, killing 13 people, during a challenge football match between Dublin and Tipperary. It is often forgotten that the match was in aid of the families of republican prisoners.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, the GAA helped to ease tensions and restore normal community life. In the Six Counties, however, conditions remained similar to those that had existed in all of Ireland under British rule. GAA members were subject to harassment from the RUC and after the reintroduction of British troops in 1969 several GAA grounds were confiscated for military installations. Members were murdered by British forces and unionist death squads, Aidan McAnespie (Aughnacloy) in 1988 and Seán Brown (Bellaghy) in 1997, being only the most prominent examples.
125 years on, the GAA remains a hugely positive force in Irish life and an expression of inclusive national identity.

Cumann Lúthchleas Gael was founded in the billiard room of Miss Hayes’s Commerical Hotel, Thurles, on 1 November 1884, 125 years ago this week.

Michael Collins, Luke O’Toole and Harry Boland in Croke Park, 1919

By Barry McCaffrey
Irish News
02/11/09

The Official IRA (OIRA) will begin decommissioning its weapons within weeks, a senior source close to the process last night confirmed.

Last month The Irish News revealed that the OIRA had begun talks with General John de Chastelain’s Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD).

News of the talks had caused some surprise in political and security circles as the OIRA has been on ceasefire for the last 37 years.

Despite having abandoned its “armed struggle” for more than three decades the OIRA is understood to have retained a significant amount of arms.

When it announced its ceasefire in 1972, it was believed to possess up to 400 rifles, a number of heavy machine guns and dozens of handguns.

The organisation is understood to have been keen to resolve the arms issue before General de Chastelain ends his decommissioning role in February next year.

A source close to the process last night confirmed that OIRA decommissioning was “imminent” and would be “substantive” and “full”.

Veteran OIRA members are said to have been informed that it was about to begin decommissioning its weapons at a private function on October 11.

It is understood that the actual decommissioning process, when it begins, could take a number of weeks but would be fully completed by the end of November.

This summer General de Chastelain announced that the UVF had put all its weapons beyond use and the UDA had committed to destroying its arsenal by February when the government’s deadline for decommissioning ends.

The Provisional IRA completed its decommissioning in 2005.

Last month the INLA announced that it was abandoning its “armed struggle” but refused to confirm that it would decommission.

However, there is speculation that talks have taken place between General de Chastelain and the INLA.

Confirmation that the OIRA was preparing to decommission its guns came as an unexpected surprise as the organisation had never been mentioned in any of the IICD’s previous 19 reports.

The OIRA, or ‘Stickies’ as it was nicknamed, emerged from a split in the IRA in 1971.

The organisation was responsible for 52 killings during the Troubles.

Despite apparently being on ceasefire since 1972 the group has sporadically used weapons during internal republican disputes or for so-called punishment attacks.

It has also been accused of involvement in criminal activity.

In October 2005 former OIRA leader Sean Garland was arrested at a Workers Party conference in Belfast after a request by the FBI that he be extradited to the US to be questioned about a multi-million-dollar international counterfeiting operation.

The IICD has refused to confirm or deny that it is in discussions with the OIRA.

“IICD does not comment on its work,” a spokesman said.

“However, the IICD is open to all organisations on ceasefire until the end of its mandate next February.”

Independent.ie
Monday November 02 2009

A delegation of politicians from the UK have held talks with the Libyan authorities in Tripoli over compensation for victims of IRA violence in Northern Ireland.

The cross-party group of three MPs and three members of the Lords met a number of officials from Colonel Gaddafi’s regime to discuss the ongoing bid to secure financial redress for Libya’s role in arming the republican paramilitaries during the Troubles.

Since arriving in the north African state they have had discussions with the Libyan minister for Europe, Abdulati Alobidi, and the British Ambassador in Libya, Vincent Fean.

Meetings were also convened with the Speaker of the General People’s Congress of Libya and the Mayor of Tripoli.

Included in the delegation are Democratic Unionist MPs Jeffrey Donaldson and Nigel Dodds.

“Further meetings are scheduled where both Mr Dodds and Mr Donaldson will be making a strong case for the thousands of victims of IRA terrorism in Northern Ireland,” a DUP spokesman said.

Semtex explosives supplied by Libya were one of the IRA’s most lethal weapons in its decades-long terror campaign.

Links between the IRA and Colonel Muammar Gaddafi are thought to stretch back as far as 1972, and Libya is understood to have supplied the republican group with Czech-made Semtex in the 1980s.

Although members of the victims’ families were not invited on the trip, the fact that the trip was taking place was welcomed as a sign of progress in the long-running campaign.

In a statement, their lawyers said: “The victims view this as a significant step forward, as well as recognition by both countries that their plight will not be overlooked as Anglo-Libyan relations develop. They sincerely hope that, following the parliamentarian team’s visit, Libya will review its position towards them and appreciate that they wish to visit Libya in the spirit of peace and reconciliation.”

BBC

Over the years Belfast’s peace line has become higher, but in recent times murals have softened its appearance

Belfast’s buildings are partly to blame for a hardening in some of its people’s bitter sectarian attitudes, a new study suggests.

Fences, parks, footbridges and even a playground can influence intense and bitter conflict between Catholics and Protestants, Dr Ralf Brand, a lecturer from the University of Manchester, has found.

But he also uncovered examples of architecture that could help heal the wounds of the Troubles.

His project spanned trouble spots from Beirut to Berlin.

In Belfast, he handed out disposable cameras to local people and asked them to picture places of conflict.

What he found was that a city’s man-made landscape has powers to hurt and to heal.

“In Belfast, a fence can be tempting to throw a stone over, simply to prove how tough you are and that can trigger a sort of arms race,” he said.

“Some of the heavily fortified structures, such as police stations and some peace walls - though needed - can reinforce tensions by their mere appearance. It is obviously simplistic to just dismantle them.”

The study found that where there is conflict, there are few neutral features and architecture can make things worse.

But if the study pointed to the divisions, it also highlighted the success stories like the design of a west Belfast community centre.

The peace line runs through Alexandra Park in north Belfast

The study picked out the Stewartstown Road Regeneration Project as a particular example of how to create a place of peaceful coexistence. A corridor in the building gives equal access from both sides to both communities.

Offices are identically shaped and sized.

“Through the efforts of a group of courageous people - mostly women meeting secretly at first - the tension and crime in this area has dropped significantly,” Dr Brand said.

“It may seem to outsiders that there is little need to consult about seemingly mundane features such as a corridor or the shape of an office.

“But in areas of conflict, that is exactly the sort of initiative which is required and the results are very heartening.

“The building has never been attacked and there is hardly any graffiti; a pretty important indicator in Belfast.”

An exhibition featuring photographs from the study will be held from 6 - 28 November at the Place Architecture and Built Environment Centre at Fountain Street, Belfast.

The project was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

By Brian Rowan
Independent.co.uk
Monday, 2 November 2009

The republican leadership last night moved to distance the IRA from the disappearance of west Belfast man Peter Wilson in 1973.

Last week, the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains confirmed that another case had been reported to it.

Since then, there have been news reports suggesting Mr Wilson may have been abducted and shot by the IRA — making him one of the “disappeared”.

But now a senior republican source has contacted sister paper The Belfast Telegraph. The paper knows his identity.

On many occasions in the past he has spoken with the authority of the republican leadership at key moments in the peace process.

In a brief comment the source told the Belfast Telegraph: “The IRA was not responsible for the disappearance of Peter Wilson.”

That comment, the source said, was “on-the-record”. This is the IRA speaking in all but name.

Since the ending of its armed campaign and the decommissioning that followed, that organisation has only rarely issued public statements.

One of the last times it did was in July 2006 when it repeated its claim that Jean McConville was “working as an informer for the British Army”.

In 1972, the IRA “executed” and “disappeared” the Belfast mother-of-ten. Her remains were not found until 2003.

The IRA’s position on the “disappeared” was set out in a detailed briefing more than 10 years ago, in March 1999.

At that time the republican organisation, speaking through its leadership spokesman ‘P O’Neill’, said it believed it had |located “the whereabouts of |the graves of nine people”.

Their names were then listed — Seamus Wright, Kevin McKee, Eamon Molloy, Jean McConville, Columba McVeigh, Brendan Megraw, John McClory, Brian McKinney and Danny McIlhone.

The IRA also said it had “endeavoured to locate the burial site of British SAS operative Robert Nairac”, but was unable to do so.

Since that statement a decade ago the remains of a number of those named have been found, but the graves of others have not yet been located.

There was no mention of Peter Wilson in that briefing more |than a decade ago, nor has he been named in the many IRA statements on the disappeared since.

The west Belfast man was 21 when he went missing in 1973.

The senior republican who |contacted this newspaper yesterday, has now dashed hopes that the IRA might be able to provide information on this case.

This newspaper understands that republicans are still cooperating with the Independent |Commission for the Location |of Victims’ Remains on other cases.

Source: The Belfast Telegraph

Irish News
30/10/09

1997: The Parades Commission was established following an RUC decision to allow the Orange Order to march down the predominantly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown, Co Armagh

1999: The commission carried out a four-month review following complaints from nationalists and unionists

2000: Garvaghy Road resident Evelyn White took a legal challenge on the grounds the Parades Commission was not fairly representative of both communities. The application was dismissed

2007: Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown began a review of the Parades Commission after complaints had been received from both unionists and nationalists

April 2008: An interim report recommended that the commission disappear and its functions be handed to a panel appointed by politicians

October 6 2009: Details of a DUP ‘wish list’ were leaked to the media including a call for the scrapping of the Parades Commission. The party made no official comment

October 7 2009: Sinn Fein released a statement criticising several items on the ‘wish list’ but when questioned the party would not say whether the parades body was on the talks table

October 27 2009: Peter Robinson told the House of Commons that the Parades Commission must be abolished before policing and justice powers are devolved.

By Marie Louise McCrory
Irish News
30/10/09

It brought poets, artists, sports stars, politicians and trade union leaders together for one cause – to fight a very public campaign against IRA bomb attacks on the Belfast to Dublin rail line.

Around 2,000 people boarded two trains at Central Station in Belfast on October 28 1989 to travel the 200 miles to Dublin for the inaugural journey.

As the trains departed at 8.10am and 8.20am people in the Republic were being asked to sign a petition calling for the IRA bombings to stop.

Up until that point the IRA had carried out 64 attacks on the rail link in a tactic thought to be aimed at drawing British soldiers out into exposed areas.

The ‘Peace Train’ was greeted in Dublin by the city’s lord mayor and following a number of speeches, passengers returned to Belfast where a campaign meeting was held.

However, when the train attempted to travel to Dublin again the following day it found itself halted at Portadown because of a bomb alert.

While many passengers boarded buses to continue their journey, around 70 people stayed on board, determined not to give in to those behind the alert.

Chris Hudson, who along with broadcaster Sam McAughtry founded the Peace Train Foundation, was among those who stayed on board along with several TDs and senators.

He said he spent the night sleeping in the carriages and was awoken the following morning by police officers and a priest bringing them food.

“I remember Austin Currie said they would have to carry him off the train by his feet,” he recalled.

“The police brought us tea and sandwiches and Ken Maginnis brought us breakfast. The world’s media arrived at the train.”

The passengers eventually reached Dublin where they were met with rapturous applause from supporters.

The IRA said it had not been responsible for the alert, which was confirmed to have been a hoax.

In the years that followed the Peace Train continued to make its journey, albeit sometimes disrupted by bomb alerts.

It continued to operate each year up until 1994 when the IRA announced a ceasefire.

Twenty years on from its first journey, the Peace Train was last night remembered at a special event at Central Hall in Belfast where some of those involved in the initiative gave a talk.

Mr Hudson said it was a campaign which gave “a platform to ordinary people to express their opposition to the IRA”.

“The main focus was defence of the Belfast/Dublin railway line,” he said.

“The idea was to get a number of prominent people, political and Church leaders and civil society leaders to call upon the IRA to desist from bombing the rail link between Belfast and Dublin.

“Our view was that Irish people, north and south, should have had the freedom and the democratic right to travel without being challenged.

“The Peace Train gave us a mechanism to fight.”