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The British and Irish governments were last night urged to bin plans to hold an intense Leeds Castle-style talks session for northern politicians later this year.
Ulster Unionist leader Reg Empey issued the appeal following speculation that parties will be locked away in a country house in Scotland or England for a round of discussions aimed at breaking the political deadlock over power-sharing in October.
Mr Blair and Mr Ahern have given the North’s politicians a November 24 deadline to agree to share power.
Mr Empey claimed another attempt to have a hothouse round of talks outside of the North would be a waste of taxpayers’ money.
The East Belfast Assembly member said: “The cost of hiring the venue, the associated security, flying over, accommodating and feeding a large number of Assembly members and staff is astronomical and a chronic waste of public expenditure.
“The big house spectacular summit may have worked in the past in terms of the optics and trying to generate a pressure cooker environment but in reality they achieved little.
“Can anyone in Northern Ireland name one big house summit where a breakthrough was made?
“The answer is no. The contrary is true.
“Castle Buildings, Stormont and Hillsborough Castle have been places where meaningful progress has been made in the past.”
In September 2004 the British and Irish governments held talks in Leeds Castle in Kent in a bid to bridge the gap between the Reverend Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin over power-sharing.
An agreement was not reached, although Mr Blair and Mr Ahern insisted progress had been made.
Three months later, Sinn Féin and the DUP failed to make further headway in discussions involving them and the two governments.
The Ulster Unionist leader said he had already told the governments not to go down the road of another big summit.
Ex-INLA leader McGlinchey’s son denies ‘Provo-bashing’ forum
By Connla Young
A well-known republican has outlined the reasons behind the cancellation of a political forum, claiming the event was “hijacked” by elements with no connection to the proceedings.
Dominic McGlinchey, a son of the former INLA leader of the same name, says his decision to speak out was prompted after several days of “reckless and dangerous” media speculation on the event in Toome, Co Antrim, which was to include “a broad section of republican opinion”.
Speaking to Daily Ireland yesterday, 29-year-old Mr McGlinchey from Co Derry, said the event was “hijacked by people who had no input whatsoever into organising it”. He also dismissed media reports claiming the well-publicised meeting was organised to debate forming a military strategy.
“A lot of the speculation has been very wreckless and dangerous. This meeting was not arranged to debate forming a military strategy,” he said.
“It was intended to be a meeting of political minds. The meeting was about the coming together of a broad section of republican opinion, to either agree or disagree. It wasn’t meant to be about Provo or Sinn Féin bashing.”
Mr McGlinchey also hit out at the implication that the meeting was to be a platform for dissident opinion.
“It was made clear to everyone who was invited that Sinn Féin are the main players within republicanism and without them being present at the meeting there was no point in it taking place.
“I wasn’t pressurised by the provisional movement into cancelling it. This was intended to be one in a series of meetings arranged to analyse our past. It was about what has taken place over the last 30 years and the last 600 years.
“It was intended to be about what have we learned from Connolly and Costello, who talked about having an umbrella where no one was marginalised.”
Reports in several weekend newspapers speculated that a large number of individuals in south Derry were moving away from mainstream republicanism.
A former member of Sinn Féin, Mr McGlinchey says he is not aware of any split within the ranks of that party in south Derry.
Despite claims to the contrary, Mr McGlinchey insists no political or paramilitary organisation was invited to the cancelled meeting.
“Only individuals were invited to attend this meeting, people were invited as individuals, including members of Sinn Féin. There was to be no top table, just one chairman who would have directed the debate.
“At the minute republicanism is fragmented but we are all after the same goal. We want a united Ireland and we all want a better society than that endured by our fathers and mothers.
“In the end, with the way things went, the meeting would have divided republicans rather than united them and the meeting was cancelled for that very reason.
“To divide republicans would have been to go against the original objectives.”
29 August 2006
A former police informant who claims that advanced warnings of the Omagh bomb were ignored has indicated he is prepared to stand as a defence witness in the trial of the man accused of 1998 atrocity.
Former IRA bombmaker Kevin Fulton may now provide evidence which could cast doubt on prosecution claims that Sean Hoey was the only person capable of making that bomb.
The prosecution of Hoey is due to open on September 6 in Belfast.
Fulton told a Sunday newspaper that he would be happy to appear as a witness at the trial, if subpoenaed.
He is understood to have met Hoey’s solicitor Peter Corrigan, at the London offices of British Irish Rights Watch, a human rights group.
Hoey, 36, from Jonesborough, south Armagh, has been returned for trial for the murders of 29 people killed in the 1998 Real IRA atrocity, including Buncrana schoolchildren Sean McLaughlin, Oran Doherty and James Barker. He denies all 61 terrorist and explosive charges against him.
Fulton has told police ombudsman Nuala O’Loan that he warned his police handler that he had seen another bombmaker, referred to as Man A, mixing explosives shortly before the Omagh bombing.
There have been repeated suggestions that Man A, who now lives in Newry, was also an informant and was protected by the authorities. Similar suspicions surround another Real IRA bombmaker who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed in the blast, said he would have no objection to Fulton being called as a defence witness.
“I would like Hoey to have the best possible defence because if he is convicted the verdict will be all the safer for that. I don’t want a verdict where there is doubt. So if there are any doors that his defence team want to kick open, I certainly have no objection.
“Fulton is free to do whatever he thinks fit and I will not fall out with him. He was the first to open the door on Omagh; he let us know a lot more than we would otherwise have known.”
By Connla Young
29/08/2006
The erection and removal of loyalist arches is costing the economy thousands of pounds each year, a Co Antrim businessman has claimed.
The Glengormley-based businessman, who has asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal, has said the closure of roads while arches are erected and taken down in the summer months results in a significant loss of trade each year.
The businessman was speaking just days after loyalists in Glengormley, on the outskirts of north Belfast, removed an arch from the town centre. The operation involved the PSNI closing local roads without warning while heavy lifting equipment was brought in.
“We don’t receive any notification at all. They just decide to close roads and none of the businesses are told. This happens every year and it caused major problems.
“We are trying to create a night-time economy in Glengormley but the town is sealed off for hours on end. Many people are left with staff who have nothing to do. We can’t even send them home as they can’t get out of the area.
“I’m not able to get any money back because of the loss of business. No one lets us know — not the police or the Orange Order. They don’t even let the local chamber of commerce know what’s happening,” he said.
The businessman said the erection of loyalist flags in the Glengormley district had a negative impact on business.
“Last year, they took down the flags and that was brilliant. This year, they have been left up and it doesn’t help the image of the town. Everybody uses Glengormley but these flags are negative and they put some people off coming to the town.”
29 August 2006
MOVES TO unite dissident republican groups are being viewed as “a real threat”, the Irish government has warned.
It has been reported that members of the Real IRA, Continuity IRA, INLA and recent dissidents from the Provisional IRA are due to attend a meeting in Co. Derry this evening.
However, the ‘Journal’ has learned that the mooted meeting may not now go ahead after details of it were published in a Sunday newspaper.
An INLA source said there was anger among its ranks at the tone of the report carried on the front page of the ‘Sunday Tribune’.
It stated that recently-defected Provisionals would join with Real IRA and Continuity IRA activists in a bid to challenge the peace process “politically and militarily”.
But the INLA source said: “This gives the impression we are to discuss military options. But as far as we’re concerned, this is a distortion of what the meeting was to be about. “The meeting was to be an internal, not a public meeting and was to include members of the IRSP, 32 County Sovereignty Movement, Republican Sinn Fein, Provisional IRA and others. It was being held to look at the whole of republicanism –where it is today and where we are going?”
In response to the newspaper reports, an Irish government spokesman made it clear the latest developments were viewed very seriously and would be closely monitored by security forces in the Republic and the North.
He said dissident republican groups have made various efforts to “get their act together” and this has been, and will continue to be, monitored very closely.
“The Independent Monitoring Commission and the two governments made clear their view that dissident republican organisations represent a real threat,” he said.
But he warned that the governments and the security authorities will continue to address any threat posed by those groups.
It’s reported that tonight’s meeting has been organised in Derry in an effort to capitalise on a split in the Provisional IRA South Derry Brigade.
Up to 40 members are said to have quit because of disillusionment with the strategy adopted in the peace process.
Death threats have been issued to the seven people charged over the death of Ballymena teenager Michael McIlveen, the High Court has heard.
Michael McIlveen died after being attacked in Ballymena
The revelation was made by a Crown lawyer in a case involving the only defendant to be granted bail.
The 16-year-old juvenile was accused of fighting and causing an affray before the 15-year-old was murdered last May.
His application to get bail revoked was granted as he could no longer live with his grandparents for domestic reasons.
The boy had been released earlier this month to live with them in England after the court was told that it was unsafe for him to return to his Ballymena home.
The boy’s solicitor applied to have his bail revoked from Thursday, when he is due to return to Northern Ireland for a remand hearing.
The judge said he was reluctant to do this, as the courts were under an obligation to young people to try and ensure they remained in a family environment.
Although he did revoke bail, he said the case would be reviewed on 14 September to see if alternative accommodation could be found outside Ballymena.
Michael McIlveen died after being attacked by a gang in the town on 7 May.
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