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News Letter
7 February 2012 08:32
A STORMONT minister has slammed the Irish Government for issuing eight months of “holding replies” to requests for a meeting with IRA victims – while giving “almost immediate access” to other Troubles victims.
Regional Development Minister Danny Kennedy said yesterday that he had been “continuously” asking for a meeting with the Taoiseach’s office for eight months, but to no avail. He is requesting Enda Kenny meet the families of 10 Protestant workmen murdered by the IRA at Kingsmills in south Armagh in 1976.
In November, the Taoiseach angered many unionists when, on his first visit to Belfast as Irish premier, he pledged to back a campaign for a full public inquiry into the UFF murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.
At the time, former UUP leader Lord Empey said Mr Kenny was ignoring “thousands” of Ulster people who will have no inquiry into the murders of their loved ones.
Yesterday, Lord Empey’s party colleague Mr Kennedy lost patience and went public to complain that he had not been able to secure a meeting with the Taoiseach for border IRA victims, despite trying since June 2010.
“I am getting increasingly concerned that there has not been a definite date pencilled in or confirmed for the meeting,” Mr Kennedy told the News Letter.
“And I have obviously seen that other people can gain almost immediate access on ‘the past’ and victims’ issues.”
He first asked for a meeting in June 2011, after the publication of a HET report into the Kingsmills murders.
“I have been in continuous contact with the Taoiseach’s office and Department of Foreign Affairs ever since. And in spite of promises and holding replies they have not confirmed a date for a meeting. It is beginning to reflect badly on them.
“We need at least an acknowledgement of the failure of successive Irish Governments to deal with the terrorist problem on the south Armagh border. We need an expression that this happened and that it will not happen again.”
Last week, English MPs from the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee were angered by Mr Kennedy’s insistence that the IRA campaign against unionists in south Armagh had amounted to “genocide” or “ethnic cleansing”.
A spokesman for the Taoiseach said: The Taoiseach met with Geraldine Finucane and members of her family on one occasion, during his visit to Belfast on 17th November 2011, immediately prior to the Aisling Awards at the Europa Hotel.
“The following day, the Taoiseach met in Armagh with minister Danny Kennedy at his request to discuss victims of killings in the south Armagh area.”
Tom Brady
Independent.ie
February 07 2012
TWO suspected associates of the dissident Real IRA were being questioned last night by gardai investigating the murder of one of Ireland’s biggest gangsters, writes Tom Brady.
The two, who are in their 20s, were detained in swoops by armed detectives on the northside of Dublin yesterday morning.
They were arrested in connection with the shooting of Michael “Mica” Kelly, who was gunned down after he left an apartment block last September.
He had been visiting his son and the baby’s mother at Marrsfield Avenue in Clongriffin.
Kelly had been warned by gardai that his life was in danger and knew there was a “contract” on his head as a result of a row between his gang and the Real IRA.
Tuesday 7 February 2012 08:30
A CONSTRUCTION company that employed 14 men killed or maimed in the Teebane bombing have refuted the findings of a police cold case report which claimed they had failed to notify the RUC they were travelling on the road.
News Letter
7 Feb 2012
The review by the Historical Enquiries Team stated that Antrim-based Karl Construction did not take appropriate vehicle safety measures to help prevent its workers from becoming the target of terrorists as they travelled from Magherafelt to Omagh in January 1992.
Last month, relatives of those who were killed in the IRA blast released the HET report to the media days before the 20th anniversary.
Speaking to the News Letter, Cedric Blackbourne, the CEO of Karl construction, said he was “devastated” to read extracts of the report and revealed that his company was not contacted by any HET officers before publishing their findings to the victims’ families.
In a statement, released to the News Letter, the company said: “The opinion of the directors, including Cedric Blackbourne, was that all Karl vehicles were either travelling on secure routes or with security cover under the direction of the RUC.
“OPS Antrim did not at any time state to Karl security staff that the transport vehicle collecting the workmen and travelling from Antrim via Magherafelt and Cookstown to Omagh was not on a secure route.”
The HET report went on to state that no-one in Karl Construction was nominated to both send and receive information about designated routes to the police at the time.
In response, the construction company stated: “Karl do not agree that the RUC had no single point of contact as the company provided a member of staff at Springfarm yard for information on transport of operatives to Omagh.
“This arrangement and all information being provided by Karl was put in place with advice and assistance from the RUC.”
The HET report also said: “Questions over the authenticity of a company fax, claimed to have been sent to the RUC the day before the atrocity detailing the start and finish times, pick-up and drop-off of the 14 workers travelling in the minibus on the main Omagh to Cookstown road, are raised in the report.”
But Karl Construction said: “The insinuation that documents were falsified is strenuously denied by the company and by the individual member of security liaison.”
They added: “One fact remains, the RUC were aware of the men travelling to and from work at Lisnanelly Barracks but never drew Karl Construction’s attention to this lack of security or offered any advice for them to pass to their staff.
“Karl Construction’s directors and staff involved with this project should have been given the opportunity to provide evidence to the HET in line with the opportunity afforded to the RUC and others.”
Yesterday, a spokesperson for the HET said: “HET reviews are concerned with the circumstances of Troubles-related deaths and seek to answer any questions raised by families.
“In some cases this can lead to a review of ancillary matters – in this case, continuing controversy over security arrangements for the workers travelling to and from the Army base in Omagh.
“This aspect of the review, which has been made public and discussed in the media, did not uncover any different or new material evidence that was not considered in the previous RUC and PSNI investigations, and thus did not require any parties to be further interviewed.”
A claim from Sinn Fein that ex-RUC officers are investigating cases they were involved in has been rejected by the Historical Enquiries Team.
Hundreds of retired officers have been re-employed by the PSNI after leaving with Patten redundancy packages.
Gerry Kelly claimed there was a conflict of interest within the HET
The government’s spending watchdog is to investigate the PSNI’s re-hiring of retired officers as civilian staff on temporary contracts.
Gerry Kelly has claimed there is a conflict of interest within the HET.
“Let me say that the board has become very frustrated at the lack of information which is why we need to go to an investigation here.
“Our job is oversight, it is to hold the police to account,” he said.
The Policing Board was told last month that there are currently 304 retired police officers back working for the PSNI on temporary contracts.
The PSNI has defended the practice, saying the experience of the former officers was valuable and it was only a temporary measure.
BBC
7 Feb 2012
The journalist and author Toby Harnden has withdrawn from giving evidence to the Smithwick Tribunal.
The tribunal is investigating alleged Garda collusion in the murders of RUC officers Harry Breen and Bob Buchanan in south Armagh in March 1989.
Mr Harnden’s book Bandit Country publicised allegations of collusion between the Garda and the IRA.
Mr Harnden withdrew from his scheduled appearance after discussions with his new employers Associated Newspapers.
He was due to give evidence on Wednesday.
The legal representative for one of the gardai alleged to have colluded with the IRA described the development as “a matter of extreme concern”.
Jim O’Callaghan said the reason the tribunal had been established was because of the allegations contained in Mr Harnden’s book.
The tribunal is investigating suggestions that a Garda mole leaked information to the IRA leading to the murders of the two senior RUC officers in a border ambush.
Mr O’Callaghan said that although there had been speculation of collusion following the murders, Mr Harnden’s book had given the story “legs”, and that he was anxious to cross-examine the journalist.
Should Mr Harnden fail to appear it would unbalance the tribunal in its adjudication, he said.
Tribunal chairman Peter Smithwick did not comment, beyond saying he hoped Mr Harnden would be able to give evidence at a later date and the tribunal would talk to the solicitors at Associated Newspapers to facilitate the journalist’s attendance.
BBC
7 Feb 2012
Gun residue, consistent with the bullet that killed Constable Stephen Carroll, were found on a jacket found in one of the accused’s home, a court has heard.
On Tuesday, a forensic scientist told Belfast Crown Court that a black coat seized from Brendan McConville’s home had particles on five surfaces.
Mr McConville, 40, of Glenholme Avenue, Craigavon and John Paul Wootton, 20, of Colindale, Lurgan, deny murder.
Mr Wootton’s mother Sharon, 48, is accused of perverting justice.
The forensic scientist also examined another jacket found in the alleged getaway car which the prosecution said also belonged to Mr McConville.
On it, he said he found traces of an explosive compound commonly found in semtex.
The jacket, which was removed from the boot of Mr Wootton’s car the day after the murder, also had cartridge discharge residue (CDR) on it, but it was off a different make-up to the residue found at the murder scene.
Similarly swabs on clothing seized from Mr Wootton also revealed CDR but again, their make-up was such that a different firearm was the more likely source, said the forensic scientist.
Suzanne Breen
Sunday World
5 Feb 2012
**Via Newshound
Dublin is bracing itself for another loyalist invasion. Hundreds of Love Ulster demonstrators plan to hold a controversial parade on southern soil.
Fierce rioting followed their last attempt to march as more than 1,000 republican protestors took to the streets.
The city centre was brought to a standstill as republican youth fought running battles with gardai who were attacked with rocks, bottles and fireworks.
Businesses were smashed and cars set on fire in an orgy of violence which cost €10million.
The Love Ulster organisers’ latest plans will raise republican fury even further. They want to parade past the GPO at Easter, a hallowed date in the nationalist calendar.
Loyalists bands will be invited to take part and some of the marchers will wear Orange sashes. The organisers have already notified gardai of their intentions.
Willie Frazer, head of IRA victims’ group FAIR, said the rally was to highlight the Irish state’s “collusion” with the IRA during the Troubles.
FAIR has compiled “a damning catalogue of evidence” showing the Southern authorities either actively colluding with the Provos or turning a blind eye to their activities, Frazer claimed.
“We’ve repeatedly asked for a meeting with Enda Kenny to discuss this matter. The Taoiseach hasn’t even graced us with a reply.
“He won’t meet us so we’re bringing our case to him on the streets of Dublin,” the IRA victims’ campaigner said.
He accused the Irish government of hypocrisy for supporting an independent public inquiry into solicitor Pat Finucane’s murder while “ignoring collusion in its own back yard”.
Evidence at the Smithwick tribunal that rogue gardai helped the IRA was “only the tip of the iceberg”, Frazer said.
He agreed that holding the march on Easter Saturday would be seen as deliberately provocative but said it was a desperate move because nobody listened to Protestant victims.
“The only way to get an audience in this country is to kill people or do something controversial – and we’re not prepared to kill people. Staying quiet and being good boys and girls doesn’t work,” he added.
Love Ulster’s last attempt to parade in February 2006 had to be abandoned as the rioting erupted and loyalist demonstrators were bussed to the Border with a gardai escort for protection.
Frazer said IRA victims couldn’t be held responsible if there was serious violence again.
“We’re not setting out to cause trouble. If republicans react violently to our democratic right to march, that’s their business,” he added.
Frazer said FAIR’s dossier on alleged Irish state collusion with the IRA showed that the IRA was given 400 weapons from an army barracks in Dublin in 1970.
He said it also included evidence that the Southern state funded the Provos at the start of the troubles and set up training camps for them.
He claimed the Republic had been “a safe haven for terrorists” throughout the conflict and failed to provide proper Border security.
Frazer said in 1975 when the IRA shot dead his father Robert, a UDR man, a British army helicopter followed the killers to the Border but then had to stop because it lacked permission to enter Irish airspace. “How despicable is that,” he added.
The Love Ulster march is supported by South Armagh pastor Barrie Halliday. “The Queen went to Dublin in person to deliver an apology for the perceived wrong of hundreds of years of British rule.
“We want an apology from the Irish state for the injustice inflicted on us,” he said.
February 6, 2012
________________
This article appeared in the February 5, 2012 edition of the Sunday World.
The Relatives for Justice Report on the Sean Graham Bookies Massacre is available at:
http://relativesforjustice.com/docs/sgraham.pdf [PDF download]
February 5 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of the loyalist attack which claimed 5 lives.
Received via email from Helen McClafferty:
I have just gotten word from Maria McGeough that Gerry has been take to the cardiac unit of a hospital. She has no further information for us nor is she allowed to see him.
I will keep you updated as soon as I know more.
Prayers are need for him and his family.
Thank you,
Helen
Former Northern Ireland first minister, 85, is being treated in Ulster hospital, his wife confirms
Guardian
6 Feb 2012
Former Northern Ireland first minister Ian Paisley is in intensive care in hospital after suffering respiratory problems.
The family of the 85-year-old founder of the Democratic Unionist party, now officially known as Lord Bannside, confirmed that he was being treated in Ulster hospital on the outskirts of east Belfast.
In a statement issued on Monday afternoon his wife, Lady Paisley, requested that “the family’s privacy be respected at this time”.
The veteran unionist politician and fundamentalist Protestant preacher took ill at the family home in east Belfast on Sunday. DUP members of the Northern Ireland assembly were briefed on their ex-leader’s medical condition in the Stormont parliament.
Last year Paisley had a pacemaker fitted at St Thomas’s hospital in London after he fell ill at Westminster. Paramedics had to revive him after he collapsed in parliament.
Since he stepped down as first minister Paisley has slowly retreated from public life. In December he announced his retirement as a preacher in the Free Presbyterian church, the hardline Protestant sect he founded in the 1960s.
His final sermon took place last week in the Martyrs Memorial Church in Belfast. He told worshippers inside the church he helped build that he wanted to take time out to write his autobiography.
For nearly five decades Paisley was a colossal presence in Ulster politics. He established the DUP in 1971 and opposed every attempt by successive British and Irish governments to create a power-sharing government between nationalists and unionists in Northern Ireland.
When he moved aside as DUP leader he was succeeded by his long-time deputy and closest political confidant Peter Robinson.
However, Paisley stunned the political world in 2006 when, after the St Andrews agreement, he indicated that the DUP would share power with their former enemies in Sinn Féin. As a result, he and ex-IRA member Martin McGuinness became first and deputy first ministers of Northern Ireland. The pair struck up an unlikely rapport and gained the nickname “the Chuckle Brothers” because at public events they were often seen smiling together.
During his long reign as head of the Free Presbyterian church Paisley embarked on several moral crusades, including an unsuccessful battle to oppose the legalisation of homosexuality in Northern Ireland.
In opposition to Paisley’s “Save Ulster from Sodomy” campaign, the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Movement depicted him as an “ayatollah” who was watching everyone in the province.
Derry Journal
5 Feb 2012
In this article Sinn Fein MLA Martina Anderson argues that while the north of Ireland has come far, more can be done to move forward collectively and together on the island of Ireland [Note: There are some interesting comments onsite.]
“No man has the right to fix the boundary to the march of a nation. No man has the right to say to his country “thus far shalt thou go and no further” […] While we struggle today for that which may seem possible for us with our combination, we must struggle for it with the proud consciousness that we shall not do anything to hinder or prevent […] men who may come after us from gaining better things than those for which we now contend”
People may be surprised that I begin not with a quote from an Irish Republican but with one from the leader of the Home Rule movement in Ireland in the 19th Century, Charles Stewart Parnell – and a bit surprised at using a quote that refers only to “men”. However, towards the end of his political career Charles Stewart Parnell began to realise the constitutional limitations of Home Rule. He understood that once in motion it was impossible to constrain by constitutional or any other means the ‘march of a nation’. Furthermore he correctly ascertained that ‘home rule’ or ‘devolution’, his political goal, was only the start of a process of national affirmation not the end.
These words were not only prophetic, given the momentous events that preceded events such as the Easter Rising of 1916 and the War of Independence. But they are as applicable today as when they were first uttered. They suggest to us an incontrovertible historical truth; that the Union enforced in 1701 in Scotland and 1801 in Ireland set against transfer of powers to the North of Ireland, Scotland and Wales is coming to an end.
A process of dislocation by democracy within what is called the United Kingdom has begun. The process is steady, restless and moving inexorably in one direction. Every new power transferred is a calibration towards peaceful independence. Nobody has anything to fear from this.
In the context of peaceful independence a new possibility arises one which is the antitheses of the old Union. The old Union being imposed, elitist and colonial – where one nation ruled the others. But points towards a new association of equal and independent nation states within Europe.
A new congress of equals. An Inter-Isles confederation where we can utilise each other’s strengths and build and work for a more social Europe and encourage equality between nations and its citizens. Where we work in our mutual interest as island nations that lie off the coast of mainland Europe.
In Ireland, Sinn Féin has set its political drive towards building a New Republic. An all island Republic which truly ensures that its people are sovereign. Where the political institutions work for public good and not the sectional interests of bankers and developers. Where basic human needs are met and services are free at the point of delivery in Health Care, Housing and Education. Ireland as an island needs to muscle up economically and politically – in the face of aggressive economic recession world wide, two economies dislocated on one small island is insular lunacy.
And yet in the North of Ireland it is truly remarkable how far we have come. Political equality and stability has been achieved. Despite the futile efforts of those who would seek to drag us backwards, we can and will do more, moving forward collectively and together on this island we all call home. Sinn Féin, for a considerable period of time has campaigned for fiscal powers to be transferred to the Assembly. This realignment would allow us to make better, closer and more informed decisions on how we raise taxes and develop our economy and public services, in the north and in an all-Ireland context. Unionists here should embrace a return of fiscal powers, their Unionist contemporaries in Scotland have.
In the life time of the current Government of Scotland, there is now a promise to hold a referendum on independence – and of course as Martin McGuinness said, it is for the people of Scotland to choose their own destiny. Much has been made of this in the media, and judging by the reaction of local Unionists in the North of Ireland they are at odds with reality. They have no power to save the Union and they do appear to be losing their political compass points, one by one. However, Ulster Unionists do have power, real power, here on the island of Ireland – sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees.
The Union on this island was irrevocably breeched with the institutionalisation of the Strand 2 of the Good Friday Agreement creating permanent all-Ireland bodies and cross border work is accelerating at a pace, while political broadswords of the SNP hack away the residual connections with a domineering Westminster.
I do not feel that it is my place to encourage people in Scotland to vote one way or the other. However, I can discern, from what I have read, that the current constitutional status quo in Scotland is not really an option.
That even the political unionists of Scotland in Labour, the Tory and the Lib Dem parties will all campaign for more power in what is being called degrees of independence lite or devolution max. It is interesting to note that the Political unionists of Scotland are bolder and more far sighted than their counterparts in the North of Ireland, who are against the transfer of more powers to the North’s Assembly.
At this juncture I am again reminded of the prophetic words of Charles Stuart Parnell,
“No man has the right to fix the boundary to the march of a nation. No man has the right to say to his country “thus far shalt thou go and no further”
There is no doubt in saying that Scottish Nationalism has changed the face of politics in Scotland and beyond. Scotland, the North of Ireland and Wales are constitutionally linked by the same process of ‘Devolution’ from Westminster.
The transfer of more powers to any of these constituent parts diminishes the position of the status quo and makes the case for the same powers to be transferred universally.
Scotland’s march towards independence, by degrees, and the institutionalisation of the all-Ireland political decision making here is at the forefront of the process of dislocation within what we can now call the dis-united kingdom
The last millennium saw an antagonistic process of conquest, colonialism, insurrection and conflict.
The new millennium is ours to mould, it will be one of peace, independence and a mutual recognition of our commonalities and shared interests as close island nations in the global community.
Union of 1701 in Scotland is gone, the Union of 1801 in Ireland is history, what we put in its place is not a problem but a great opportunity.
A great opportunity which is all about our future and not about the agonies of our past.
In the words of the United Irishmen – “let us bury our animosities with the bones of our ancestors”
:::u.tv:::
6 Feb 2012
A new memorial to those who died in a UFF gun attack at a bookmakers in south Belfast 20 years ago has been unveiled.
Five people were shot dead – four men and a boy aged 15 – at Sean Graham’s on the Ormeau Road in 1992.
Around 200 people turned out on Sunday to mark the occasion, which included a minute’s silence at exactly the time the attack was carried out.
The memorial stone bears the names of those who were killed by the two gunmen, who carried out the attack using a rifle and a Browning pistol.
No-one has ever been convicted of the murders.
Tommy Duffin, whose father was one of those killed, says many questions remain unanswered.
“It was an atrocity that definitely could have been avoided,” he told UTV.
“All the families are looking for is truth, they’re not looking for anybody to be locked up they just want the truth.
“If they get the truth, this will be put to bed.”
Suzanne Breen
Sunday World
5 Feb 2012
**Via Newshound
Ex-Provo Richard O’Rawe has challenged leading republicans to take a lie detector test over claims Sinn Féin rejected a deal that could have saved the lives of IRA hunger-strikers.
The former prisoner said a secret Sinn Féin committee rejected a British government offer that would have prevented the last six hunger-strikers dying.
But senior republicans have branded him a liar and denied that the H-Block death fast – which made headlines across the world – descended into a cynical PR exercise to win Sinn Féin votes.
Now O’Rawe has agreed to take a polygraph to prove he’s telling the truth. And he’s challenged Gerry Adams, Danny Morrison, and Bik McFarland to do the same.
“It will end the controversy about the hunger-strike for once and for all,” the former Blanketman declared. “It will show who is being honest and who isn’t.
“They’ve been calling me a liar for years. This is their chance to put their money where their mouths are. Let’s all take a polygraph.
“Our accounts of what happened in 1981 will be thoroughly tested and the republican community and everybody else will conclusively know the truth.”
O’Rawe claims the hunger-strike is “the biggest cover-up in the history of Irish republicanism”.
The idea that both sides in the bitter dispute take a lie detector test comes from the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), the INLA’s political wing.
Contact has been made with a well-respected firm which carries out polygraphs, although the IRSP said any other company, agreed upon by all taking the test, could be used.
Each participant would be asked a lengthy series of pre-agreed questions about their role in the hunger-strike negotiations.
An IRSP spokesman said: “Three INLA volunteers died on hunger-strike so we’ve every right to ask people to take polygraphs.
“An independent inquiry into the hunger-strike would be better but Sinn Féin will never agree to it. That’s why a lie detector test is a speedy and cheap way of sorting out the argument.”
The proposal is supported by Louise Devine who as a five-year-old girl watched her father Mickey endure an agonising death on hunger-strike. The last time she saw him, he was blind and covered in bed sores. He held his children’s hands and said goodbye with tears streaming down his face.
Devine called on Danny Morrison, Gerry Adams and Bik McFarlane to agree to the test.
“It’s a great idea and I’m asking these three men – if they’ve an ounce of compassion in their hearts – to take the polygraph. Knowing the truth about the hunger-strike would end the mental torment I’m in,” she said.
The hunger-strike was run on the outside by a clandestine committee headed by Gerry Adams.
In the H-Blocks, the IRA prisoners were led by Brendan McFarlane, their commander, and Richard O’Rawe, their PRO.
On July 5 1981, the British made an offer effectively granting the prisoners’ five demands except free association.
O’Rawe says Morrison visited the jail and briefed McFarlane. Later, McFarlane told O’Rawe and they accepted the offer believing no more men should die.
But, O’Rawe claims, the IRA prison leadership were over-ruled by the Adams’ committee. McFarlane initially denied discussing the offer with O’Rawe.
When other prisoners said they’d overheard it, that refreshed his memory. He agreed telling O’Rawe it was “amazing … . a huge opportunity”.
O’Rawe says the hunger-strikers went to their deaths totally in the dark about the life-saving offer. Danny Morrison insists the prisoners were always informed and in charge of their own fate.
If agreed, Morrison would be questioned on the alleged offer he brought into the jail and whether the hunger-strikers themselves were informed.
Adams would be quizzed on claims he over-rode the prison leadership’s acceptance of the British proposal. He’d also be asked about his meeting with the hunger-strikers on July 29 in the H-Blocks.
Kevin Lynch was just three days away from death and Kieran Doherty four. Adams has been quoted as telling them there was “nothing on the table, no movement from the British”.
February 6, 2012
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This article appeared in the February 5, 2012 edition of the Sunday World.
SAOIRSE32 
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