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By Ian Bothwell
News Letter
29 February 2012
AL Hutchinson has opened up fresh debate on how to deal with the past. It comes with the usual suspicion as to why and who it may please. But all things considered the idea of an amnesty deserves a settled and mature response.
Many victims who have hopes raised by new information from HET want justice and sincerely believe that they will feel better when someone is jailed for years.
I’m not convinced that this will be the case nor am I convinced that there is the political will to sentence and imprison.
The need for a home-produced solution is urgent and needs to be found if our fragile relationships are not to disintegrate further; it needs to be found if we are to prevent dissident republican groups from stealing away what they see as the unwanted ground of cooperation.
We in the community sector need to have the courage of our deep conviction, pursue a solution and run the risk of being misunderstood, rejected or isolated.
In some circles the guilt of the past is great but it can never be as great as grace. We need to do more than sing about Amazing Grace – we need to practice it and offer it freely across our religious political barrier and historic pain.
Meanwhile, the suffering penetrates mind and heart, robs victims of sleep and rest while others who actually carried out the deed cannot find forgiveness because the framework is not in place to allow them to actually talk.
At the end of the day we do need to use words and there is also a need for politicians to give the signal that it is okay to talk and find peace.
There is also a need for three tiers of society to join together to help find a solution. We need a legal framework from lawyers; political leaders need to give permission to people to participate and church leaders need to give creative leadership – perhaps a series of special Sundays over a year where victims could have special prayers for strength and comfort.
Mercy is something not discussed even in our Christianised culture of Northern Ireland.
Although we do teach the story of the Good Samaritan to children we fail to release the impact of mercy on our own victim world. It is meant to be a way of life not just for the story book.
Mercy has the upper hand on justice and it is a big thing to ask. But it may be the only way to lay to rest the past, which in doing so would give us a legacy of peace for the future.
As regards to south Armagh being a no-go place for Protestants, that is only the case if we don’t invest time in relationships with our Catholic neighbours. Community consultants from all sides have pooled resources to help Crossfire Trust to where we are today.
Many republicans are proud that we have been recognised and given the Queen’s Award for Volunteering, as we have reached out to serve all sides.
They have a high regard for honour and recognising the suffering of the past. Given the right thought and consideration, accommodation can be found to honour all victims.
Some of the best community workers on both sides have done things in the past which they would now shrink away from.
It will be a day of kindness when victims chose to forgive, let go, embrace mercy and grow in understanding as to why good people did bad things.
We need to love. To love is to sit and listen, feel and understand and travel in a pilgrimage of community to a better place of function and cooperation.
John Mulgrew
Belfast Telegraph
29 Feb 2012
An “open and all inclusive” service to remember those killed or injured during the Troubles will take place in Belfast at the weekend.
According to organisers, the service, held at St Anne’s Cathedral on Sunday (3.30pm), is intended to represent both sides of the community who have been caught up in the violence — including those killed by both paramilitaries and the security forces.
Organiser Alan McBride of the WAVE Trauma Centre said he had personally invited both The First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness — along with MLAs and TDs from the Republic and religious representatives.
“It’s for people injured, family of the Disappeared, people who were bereaved, children who lost parents and those who were traumatised,” he added. “It’s also for those killed by security forces and armed groups, both loyalist and republican.”
Mr McBride’s wife Sharon and his father-in-law were killed in the Shankill bomb in 1993.
News Letter
29 February 2012
A SOUTH Armagh peacemaker has revealed he knows several former IRA members who are in “torment” over things they have done during ‘The Troubles’ and would like to find forgiveness for their past actions.
Ian Bothwell of Crossfire Trust in Darkley was speaking to the News Letter in the wake of high tensions in south Armagh over a walk for victims of the 1976 Kingsmills Massacre, in which 10 Protestant textile workers were murdered by the IRA.
The walk, planned for last Saturday, was to be through the strongly nationalist village of Whitecross.
However, it was vigorously opposed by the SDLP and Sinn Fein and in the end the families postponed it until they felt they would be welcome.
But peacemaker Ian Bothwell, who together with his wife Pauline have been active in community relations work in south Armagh for some 30 years, has taken the opportunity to propose a new way forward between paramilitaries and victims in the area.
He says he knows several former IRA members who would like closure on the deeds they have committed in the past.
“We are talking about a number of republicans who have engaged in front-line activity,” he told the News Letter.
“They would like closure. They would like to deal with the torment in their minds and I think they would like to have a framework which would allow them to feel safe in doing so.
“This really needs to be openly and purposely supported by churches and political leaders across the board. I think some people really feel bad and do regret the past.
“They are maybe sorry for the pain they have caused, yet not sorry for having felt they had to do it.
“They are on a journey and if they were to see the appropriate response coming from across the other side of the community at the same time, then I think we could be amazed at how far we could get at forgiving and letting go.
“I think we could be amazed at the area of common ground we could find in pursuit of lasting deep peace and wholeness.”
“People have expressed these feelings to me,” he said.
“We are talking about a number of people from Keady down to Crossmaglen, ranging from their forties to older. These people are seeking forgiveness for their past actions.”
But is there an inner conflict in the minds of people who are tormented by their past deeds and yet may still feel there was justification for their actions?
“That is the hub of the issue,” Ian says. “There are days when they will see it one way and days they will see it another. That is a reflection of the journey they are on. That is the dilemma for those of us trying to get a handle on the past.
“I don’t think one template will suit everyone. I can see the day coming when neighbour will talk to neighbour spontaneously.
“If there were more shared community festivals, for example agriculture and ploughing events, these would create opportunities for people to speak together naturally in south Armagh.”
How might an encounter proceed where a victim would ask why their loved one was murdered and an IRA member might reply that ‘it was war’?
“Questions like this need to be unpacked,” he says.
“There could be facilitation, but only coming from growing relationships and trust between people who have been victims and people who have been involved in creating the pain.
“We need to trust our feelings that there are unresolved issues that will fester if we don’t put something in place to clean out wounds, irrespective of how they were caused.”
He is also concerned about stopping the cycle whereby “propaganda” is influencing a new generation.
“We need to stop propaganda to those in their teens and twenties who think that the only way to be a hero is to get their names in the history books,” he said.
“Young people need to know about the depths of feelings of loneliness and abandonment of prisoners and widows, realities which are not conveyed to them today.”
But why have some republicans begun to feel such remorse – and why now?
“Some south Armagh republicans have been expressing such views to me since Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley started having a warm and open public working relationship,” he says.
“The continuation of this relationship between Martin and Peter [Robinson] has deepened the impact,” he says.
“The question then arose – what was it all for? Taken together with the Queen’s visit to the Republic, when President McAleese took that risk and walked out together in peace … these people have ended up being surprised at their own deep emotional reaction to these developments.
“It is making them think again – what was it all for? There is no doubt they are now glad we are moving in this direction and that there is some clarity of thought. Maybe it is a relief that the war is over?”
He would be glad to talk to anyone who is interested in discussing the issues.
“There is the possibility we may not deliver, but it worth trying,” he added.
• The News Letter is inviting south Armagh reaction to Ian Bothwell’s thoughts in a series of pieces this week.
TIM O’BRIEN
Irish Times
29 Feb 2012
EVIDENCE RELATING to the alleged attitude of more than one former taoiseach towards Garda co-operation with an RUC investigation into the killings of 18 British soldiers, was delayed after objections at the Smithwick Tribunal yesterday.
The soldiers died in a double bombing at Narrow Water, about 3km from Warrenpoint, Co Down, in August 1979. The tribunal heard the bombs were detonated from a hillside across the water in the Republic.
Giving evidence at the tribunal yesterday a former RUC deputy assistant chief constable said Garda co-operation in the investigation into the soldiers’ deaths was “non-existent”.
The former RUC officer who was identified only as Witness 68 and who gave his evidence by video link from Belfast, said even a request for co-operation by the then chief constable to the Garda Commissioner, had not been fruitful.
Witness 68 said a meeting had been arranged with gardaí in Dublin Castle in which a senior garda had quoted the words of more than one taoiseach in relation to co-operation with the RUC.
However, counsel for the Garda, Michael Durack SC, said the Garda legal team had been given short notice of this evidence, and he asked that it not be heard at that time.
Counsel for the tribunal Mary Laverty SC said “public bodies” would have to be notified before the evidence could be heard.
Following a discussion, tribunal chairman Judge Peter Smithwick said he would be keen to hear the “untrammelled” evidence of the RUC officer and proposed to take this aspect at a later date.
Earlier Witness 68 had said gardaí had gathered vital forensic evidence and arrested two suspects on the day of the bombing, who he identified as Brendan Burns and Joe Brennan of south Armagh.
Witness 68 said the RUC received an assurance from then Det Sgt Owen Corrigan of the Garda that the scene on the Irish side of the Border would be preserved overnight and that the RUC investigating officers would be granted access to it.
However, when the RUC officers came back, the entire site and surrounding countryside had been cut back with ferns, briars and potential evidence already removed.
Brennan and Burns were later released by gardaí who said there was no evidence to hold them for anything other than motoring offences. Witness 68 said Brendan Burns was killed in 1988 when a bomb he was transporting exploded prematurely.
He said Joe Brennan was arrested in Northern Ireland in 1995 and later convicted on bomb-making charges relating to other incidents.
The tribunal continues today.
BBC
29 Feb 2012
Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has called for an investigation over the use of 50,600 euros worth of ink printer cartridges by a Sinn Fein TD.
Aengus O Snodaigh used 434 cartridges over a two-year period.
Aengus O Snodaigh used 50,000 euros worth of printer cartridges
The figure emerged in a report in the Irish Daily Mail, based on information released under the Freedom of Information Act.
The cartridges were valued at €130 each and 215 were taken in 2007 and another 219 in 2008.
The use of such cartridges was not restricted in those years, but is now.
Last year, Mr O Snodaigh used 18. That figure was topped by five other TDS – two from Labour, two from Fianna Fail and one from Fine Gael.
Labour’s Joe Costello used the most – 25 cartridges at a cost of 3,484 euros.
Mr Martin said the 50,000 euros bill run up by Mr O Snodaigh in 2007 and 2008 was “an extraordinary amount”, and said it should be investigated, possibly by the Oireachtas Commission.
Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald conceded that the ink bill was “excessive”, but said her party colleague had not broken any rules and said the system was at fault.
Ms McDonald said Mr O Snodaigh did not realise the cost and would not have run up such a bill had he been advised by the Oireachtas authorities.
Milton Valencia
Boston Globe
29 Feb 2012
The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has decided to support two journalists who are fighting release of interviews they conducted for the Belfast Project at Boston College, an oral history of the tumultuous times in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles.
The ACLU filed legal arguments yesterday with the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit opposing release of the interviews, saying the journalists had a right to argue on their behalf and that the release of the information would jeopardize their integrity.
The ACLU also argued that the journalists and their subjects would be labeled informers and subjected to violence by a paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, pointing out the Irish Republican Army’s rules forbidding disclosure of information.
“The forced turnover of interview materials will convert the interviewees and their interviewers into informants,’’ the ACLU said in legal arguments.
In December, a US District Court judge ordered BC to turn over the documents to the federal government, which had subpoenaed them on behalf of British authorities investigating crimes during the sectarian fight for control of Northern Ireland. England and the United States have a treaty that requires each of them to furnish materials that would aid in criminal inquiries.
British officials are looking into the killing of Jean McConville, a Belfast mother of 10 who disappeared in 1972 and whose body was recovered in 2003. The IRA has admitted to killing her because she was falsely suspected of being an informer.
The Belfast Project journalists guaranteed their sources anonymity until death.
But British officials were specifically interested in the interviews with former IRA member Dolours Price. Price and Brendan Hughes, another former IRA member, have said in other interviews that the abduction, execution, and burial of McConville was ordered by Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, which had served as the IRA’s political arm.
US District Court Judge William G. Young agreed to order BC to turn over materials related to the Price interview. He later ordered that other interviews be released as well. BC said that it would not appeal the ruling related to the Price interview, but that it opposed release of the remaining interviews.
The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has agreed to review the decision, specifically Young’s refusal to let the two journalists, Anthony McIntyre and Ed Molony, argue against the release of the information.
Moloney has said that he moved forward with his own legal action because BC had not addressed the effects that release of the information could have on the political scene in Ireland and the safety of McIntyre, who lives in Ireland.
Jennifer O’Leary
BBC
29 Feb 2012
A former senior RUC officer has told the Smithwick Tribunal that he trusted the retired Dundalk-based Garda sergeant Owen Corrigan “with his life”.
The tribunal is investigating alleged Garda/IRA collusion in the murders of RUC officers Ch Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan in 1989.
Gerry McCann was a former detective inspector in Newry for 10 years.
He told the tribunal that he had nothing but admiration for Mr Corrigan and members of the Garda in Dundalk.
“I never heard any concerns about Owen Corrigan or heard any talk that lead me to think I needed to be careful about what I discussed with him.”
“There was suspicion of collusion between RUC and loyalist paramilitaries, I never heard anything that gave me concern about the Garda and the IRA.”
Mr Corrigan is one of three former gardai under the spotlight at the Dublin tribunal.
Chief Supt Breen and Supt Buchanan died in an IRA ambush in south Armagh only minutes after leaving Dundalk Garda Station.
Mr Corrigan denies all allegations of collusion against him.
Mr McCann said he often discussed his travel routes south of the border with Mr Corrigan and took his advice.
“There were many times over the years when Owen Corrigan knew my travel plans and could, if he wanted, to set me or my colleagues up.”
“In the course of service I never had suspicions, had reason to, or had suspicions expressed to me about Owen Corrigan or any other gardai at Dundalk Garda Station.”
Harry Breen and Harry Buchanan The policemen were the most senior RUC officers murdered during the Troubles
Mr McCann, who had a role in the Narrow Water investigation, said he was “surprised” to hear evidence on Tuesday of a lack of Garda co-operation in the bomb attack.
“I can only speak about the relationship between police officers in Newry and Dundalk in the 1970s and 1980s and that relationship was second to none,” he said
“I was surprised to hear there was any shadow of suspicion.”
The tribunal has previously heard that Harry Breen had expressed concerns to Sgt Alan Mains about travelling to Dundalk because there was an IRA mole among the gardai.
“Where any concern came from I don’t know,” said McCann. “It is unbelievable that information was floating around that I was not aware of.”
BBC
29 Feb 2012
A former loyalist turned assisting offender is entitled to his police interview tapes, the High Court has heard.
Some of the material has already been disclosed to defendants in the UVF supergrass trial.
Lawyers for Gary Haggarty disputed that information compiled in a debriefing process was too sensitive to disclose.
They argued that he has more reason to protect it than the men acquitted of killing UDA leader Tommy English.
In that case, 12 out of 13 defendants were cleared of all terrorist-related charges following a 71-day trial in Belfast, including the alleged former north Belfast UVF leader and police agent Mark Haddock.
Mr Haggarty, 39, from north Belfast, is currently on remand charged with the murder of taxi driver William Harbinson in May 1997.
The 39-year-old victim was handcuffed and beaten to death on the Mount Vernon estate.
Mr Haggarty is also accused of eight other offences, including membership of a proscribed organisation and directing a terrorist organisation.
Charges were brought against him following a new investigation by detectives from the Historical Enquiries Team (HET).
But in January 2010, he signed an agreement to become an assisting offender under the terms of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA).
As part of that pact he has undergone a debriefing process involving regular phased interviews at a secret location in Britain.
Sensitivity
Mr Haggarty brought judicial review proceedings over the non-disclosure of the recordings, claiming his trial and any proceedings at which he appears as a prosecution witness could be delayed.
Some 30,000 pages of material and 760 interview tapes have been amassed from the interviews.
His barrister, Karen Quinlivan QC, claimed today that it was irrational of police to deny him the recordings.
She rejected any suggestion of a breach of confidence in providing information which her client first supplied to police.
Three judges hearing the challenge were told there was no explanation for denying Haggarty and his lawyer some of the material already made available at the UVF supergrass trial.
“It’s been given to ten-plus defendants in the Haddock case,” Ms Quinlivan said.
“The material given and its dissemination is much more vulnerable than if it was given exclusively to my client and his solicitor.”
It was contended that the tapes can no longer be withheld due to the sensitivity of what they contain.
“That argument is taken away in that category of material because of the extent to which it has already been disseminated,” Ms Quinlivan added.
Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, Lord Justice Higgins and Mr Justice Treacy reserved their decision in the case.
Government Documents Show Just How Exact Brendan Duddy’s Notes Were.
‘The Pensive Quill features guest writer, Thomas Dixie Elliot, commenting on the hunger strike debate.’
Click the above link to read.
News Letter
28 February 2012
Unionists and republicans were at odds yesterday over how Northern Ireland’s troubled past should be resolved.
Speaking after talks with Secretary of State Owen Paterson on the matter yesterday, First Minister Peter Robinson said a story-telling archive focused on victims could be established at the former Maze/Long Kesh prison.
Victims have a right to tell their story and in many cases have been denied the opportunity, the DUP leader added.
Mr Robinson accepted that there was not a consensus on what happened in the past.
He said: “The victims have the right to tell their stories and in many cases have been denied that opportunity so far.”
On Sunday he said the re-writing of history by terrorists to portray the security forces as villains will not be allowed to happen.
“What would be the purpose of having a Truth Commission when we know without a doubt that the terrorists will not be coming forward to tell the truth? All you would get, once again, would be the police and army in the dock and history being distorted,” he said.
He adamantly ruled out any type of amnesty for past offences, adding: “The unacceptable and unrealistic proposals of others should not hinder discussions about how the past can be dealt with.”
After meeting Mr Paterson yesterday TUV leader Jim Allister said: “Whatever lip service is paid to justice for victims, there is no quest for such, no appetite to bring the perpetrators to justice, because there is too much vested interest in protecting the disreputable status quo. In fact, innocent victims are an embarrassment to the political establishment, both to those who made them victims and those who brought the victim makers into power.”
The TUV welcomed “the fact that the Secretary of State is opposed to a ‘truth commission’”. However, while it seems there will be no formal amnesty, many victims resent what they see as a de facto amnesty for republicans, he added.
Sinn Fein MLA Mitchel McLaughlin wants to see the British Government play a key part in a truth process.
“Perhaps our biggest difficulty at the end of the day is not the DUP, but the British Government who appear adamant that none of their agencies are going to contribute to establishing the truth,” he said. “We have seen in their dealings with the Bloody Sunday Inquiry they spend hundreds of millions of pounds making it difficult for people to find the truth.”
DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson told Mr McLaughlin yesterday that any truth process would also have to involve allegations of collusion between the Irish state and the IRA.
By Jim Dee
Belfast Telegraph
28 February 2012
Ironically, for a case sparking huge interest on both sides of the Atlantic, there are times when following the Boston College IRA tapes court saga is akin to watching paint dry.
Last week, Boston College appealed against a judge’s ruling that it surrender to US prosecutors (acting on Britain’s behalf) interviews conducted a decade ago with seven former IRA members – interviews deemed, to varying degrees, of relevance to the IRA’s 1972 murder of Jean McConville.
In December, Judge William Young had ordered the college to hand over interviews conducted with convicted Old Bailey bomber Dolours Price, in which she allegedly implicates Gerry Adams in Mrs McConville’s murder.
That ruling was appealed by two lead researchers of Boston’s oral history project on the Troubles, journalist Ed Moloney and former IRA member Anthony McIntyre, who argue the peace process will be imperiled if the PSNI ultimately obtains the material and initiates prosecutions.
However, it may be that the fate of the interviews may be decided via quiet diplomatic back-channels rather than a courtroom.
Judge Young said in December there were few grounds for flexibility regarding America’s obligations under the 1994 US-UK Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.
The only one with potential relevance in the Price case is if the US was to deem any of its “essential interests” at risk. Moloney and McIntyre argue, given Washington’s long-term involvement in it, the Irish peace process qualifies.
Professor Jim Cohen, a criminal law expert at Fordham University in New York, said the “essential interests” clause could play a pivotal role. “No question about that,” said Cohen. “[The court] would have to defer to the sovereign – the sovereign being the State Department, as representative of the United States.”
Cohen added that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could also make a statement that, while stopping short of declaring that America’s essential interests are at stake, “would allow a court to conclude that and thus take the weight off the executive branch”.
The State Department’s role has always been a wild card. Several Washington sources, told the Belfast Telegraph that ‘State’ – and even Clinton herself – must have signed off on the Justice Department’s decision to pursue the British subpoena.
The question now is whether or not opposition to the subpoena by Irish-American groups and some senior members of Congress will be enough to persuade State to weigh in on behalf of Boston College, Moloney and McIntyre.
One insider, who’s long had a hand in Irish affairs, said a State Department intervention is by no means certain. “They may decide the peace process is healthy enough to survive on its own,” he said. “But if they decide this is a problem to be solved, then I think the problem will be solved quietly, behind closed doors.”
As an example, he cited the case of three IRA prisoners who escaped from the Maze prison in September 1983 and were later arrested in the San Francisco area.
Years of British attempts to secure their extradition from the US followed. But after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, Britain scrapped the effort.
“And the reason they withdrew it was that the Clinton administration let it be known that they really didn’t like it,” said the insider.
Whether or not history repeats itself may well determine the victor in the Boston College saga.
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