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December 12, 2004

News 12/12/04 - Ahern Urges Final Effort

Monthly Table of Contents 01/05
Monthly Table of Contents 12/04

IT 12/13/04 Ahern Urges Final Effort On North Deal
IT 12/13/04 SF To Meet Taoiseach And Blair For Talks
SM 12/12/04 Peace Deal 'Just Hours Away', Says Ahern
BB 12/12/04 IRA 'Must End Criminal Activity' –V
IO 12/12/04 McGuinness Offers 'Sin' Meeting With Paisley
IT 12/14/04 New Archaeological Discovery Uncovered At Carrickmines

NP 12/14/04 Hopes Rest On Ambassador Bruton Of The E.U. –AO
TV 11/23/04 The Film: The Halo Effect -VO
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Hopes Rest On Ambassador Bruton Of The E.U. - Weekend Edition -
Sunday, December 12, 2004 · The Bush administration has high hopes
that John Bruton, the European Union's new ambassador to the United
States, can help repair relations with Europe. NPR's Michele
Kelemen profiles the diplomat, who was once involved in Northern
Ireland peace negotiations.
http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=WESUN&showDate=12-Dec-2004&segNum=14&mediaPref=RM&getAd=1

The Film: The Halo Effect - 'The Halo Effect' is the latest feature
film from Lance Daly and stars Stephen Rea as Fatso. It is the
story of a decent man struggling hard to keep his Dublin chip shop
in business, while at the same time trying to control his gambling
addiction. And as if life isn't tough enough between his employees
and his customers he finds himself surrounded by a rare collection
of misfits, eejits and thugs. The Panel discusses 'The Halo Effect'
http://www.rte.ie/arts/2004/1123/theview/theview56_3a.smil

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2004/1213/4253521418HM4BERTIE.html

Ahern Urges Final Effort On North Deal

Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent

The Taoiseach has called for a final effort to reach a
comprehensive agreement in Northern Ireland, saying there was so
little left to agree that it would be "an act of insanity" not to
complete a deal.

In an interview on RTÉ's This Week programme yesterday Mr Ahern
also rejected Mr Gerry Adams claim that he had said five years ago
that the release of the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe would be
"no problem" in the context of a deal.

He demanded a clear commitment from the IRA not to engage in future
criminality, saying the IRA had not yet given one, and that there
was no difference between Fianna Fáil and the PDs on this issue.

The Taoiseach said he believed that if the Rev Ian Paisley had not
made his speech in Ballymena - in which he said the IRA must be
"humiliated" and "wear sackcloth and ashes" in public - a deal
could have been done. He said the IRA had not said "No" to the deal
until the final 24 hours, and he believed the Ballymena speech had
an influence on this.

Urging a final effort he said: "What's left in this in my view is
small enough fry compared to what we had actually finished last
Wednesday. Really, it just re- quires a bit of cool nerves, a bit
of straight negotiation on very few issues, a few chances to be
taken . . . if we all do it collectively this can be finished.
There isn't 10 hours work left in it, at the end of a year in which
we must have spent thousands of hours at it."

He said the big issues including decommissioning, demilitarisation,
policing, justice and the stability of the institutions were all
resolved. What was left was "the issue of transparency and
photographs. We never got agreement on the photograph issue".

He said Sinn Féin had consistently said it had a problem with this.
"Obviously the Ballymena speech I think put an end to it".

He said that left to themselves, the Irish and British governments
would not have seen photographs as necessary. "The governments
would have been quite happy with John de Chastelain and his team
calling it," he said.

Mr Ahern said he and the Progressive Democrats were at one in
demanding the IRA sign up to a pledge not to get involved in
criminality in the future, and they rejected Mr Adams's claim that
they had effectively done this.

He said the governments had said there must be an end to "all
paramilitary activity and other illegal activity". It was important
because "this is about thefts, it's about robberies, it's about
kneecapping, it's about the end of criminality", he said. Yet "the
IRA answered our issue about paramilitary activity, but it didn't
answer the issue about other illegal activity.

"It's no good Gerry Adams saying as he did this weekend that that
should be understood. The IRA are past masters at saying things
have to be clear. It's not clear, and what is clear is that they
haven't answered it, so they have to answer it." He said it was
"not correct" for Mr Adams to say, as he has done twice, that
around the time of the signing of the Good Friday agreement the
Government had given him the understanding that the McCabe killers
would be released.

"The McCabe killers were not even convicted at that stage.
Technically they were still innocent people. The court case wasn't
for another 10 months.

"In fairness to Gerry, he usually has a good memory, but on this
one he is wrong."

© The Irish Times

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2004/1213/3039219075HM4NORTHPOLS.html

SF To Meet Taoiseach And Blair For Talks

Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor

Sinn Féin will meet the Taoiseach in Dublin this morning before
meeting the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, in Downing
Street, as efforts to find agreement continue.

Mr Ahern claimed yesterday that an IRA representative had been in
further contact over the weekend with the Independent International
Commission on Decommissioning, headed by Gen John de Chastelain.

Sinn Féin will take part in talks at Hillsborough, Co Down, on
Wednesday to be jointly hosted by the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Mr Dermot Ahern, and the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy.

A reliable, senior Sinn Féin source said the party was committed to
finding an early solution to the impasse which led to last week's
failed attempt at agreement.

The outstanding problem, The Irish Times was told, was "DUP demands
on the issue of arms". It was claimed that an IRA commitment to
ending any activity that endangered political progress was not an
issue either for Sinn Féin or the British and Irish governments.

The release of the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe had been
agreed in October last year, the source said, and the raising of
that and last week's IRA statement by the Progressive Democrats was
"politicking" and a clear attempt "to attract votes away from Fine
Gael".

The DUP leader detailed the type of photographic evidence unionists
needed to convince them IRA decommissioning had been completed.

The Rev Ian Paisley said: "If we hadn't three charades of so-called
decommissioning, we wouldn't have to be as strong on this matter.
We must first of all have an independent observer and that
independent observer must be free to do what he likes as far as
having a notebook, as far having his own inventory, as far as
saying what time so many arms were destroyed.

"He must be absolutely free but, of course, that has never been
agreed by the IRA. Then he must be able to have photographs taken
by the [ de Chastelain] commission, not by the IRA, on every step
taken for the destruction of those arms - photographs before they
were destroyed, photographs when they are destroying and
photographs of after they're destroyed."

The political fallout among the Northern parties since last
Wednesday's publication by the governments of its blueprint
intensified yesterday.

Mr Peter Robinson, the DUP deputy leader, issued a strident
rebuttal of Mr David Trimble's claims that too much had been
conceded to republicans on policing and justice.

The SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, stepped up his party's criticism
of the British-Irish "Comprehensive Agreement" saying: "There is
only one comprehensive deal, and that is the Good Friday
agreement."

© The Irish Times

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N. Ireland Peace Could Hinge on a Photograph - Weekend Edition -
Sunday, December 12, 2004 · NPR's Liane Hansen speaks to Boston
Globe reporter Kevin Cullen about a hurdle in peace talks between
British Protestants and Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland. The
Democratic Unionist party wants the Irish Republican Army to be
photographed disarming its troops, but the IRA says that act is a
form of humiliation.
http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=WESUN&showDate=12-Dec-2004&segNum=13&mediaPref=RM&getAd=1
----

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3878173

Peace Deal 'Just Hours Away', Says Ahern

By Kieran McDaid, PA

The Northern Ireland peace process is within 10 hours of a
successful conclusion, Irish Premier Bertie Ahern claimed today.

Mr Ahern called on all parties to make a final push to revive the
powersharing institutions at Stormont and claimed failure to cross
the finish line would be an act of insanity on the part of everyone
involved.

He said transparency of how IRA arms would be put beyond use was
the main remaining stumbling block but revealed the republican
organisation had been in fresh contact with the International
Independent Decommissioning Commission (IICD) since last week's
latest breakdown in the process.

Mr Ahern also said the British and Irish governments were only
informed within 24 hours of their joint press conference in Belfast
last Wednesday that the IRA had refused to provide photographs of
decommissioning.

"My biggest concern now is that we don't lose too much time in
getting it across the line because inevitably what happens is...
people start re-enacting it and chipping away at it and reading
things into things that aren't there," he said.

Mr Ahern called on all parties to use this weekend to look at what
had been achived so far and to make a final determined effort to
reach a deal.

He added: "It would be an act of insanity by the whole lot of us
not to see that through.

"What's left in this, in my view, is small fry compared to what we
had actually finished last Wednesday.

"Really it just requires a bit of cool nerves, a bit of straight
negotiation on very few issues, a few chances to be taken, nobody
likes the bits that are outstanding but if we all do it
collectively, this can be finished.

"There's not 10 hours of work left in this having had...a year
where we must have spent thousands of hours on it."

Mr Ahern said the IRA only made clear its total opposition to
photographic evidence of decommissioning on the eve of the day an
agreement was due to be announced.

He said the Republican group had also been in contact with General
John de Chastelain's body in the last few days.

"That should be read as a very positive sign," he said.

Mr Ahern called on the IRA to fully commit to a complete end to
criminality as well as paramilitary activity.

"We're not trying to be overly difficult but we have to get
absolute certainty and clarity that we're not just talking about
paramilitary activity," he said.

"We're talking about robberies and frauds and petrol and drink
(smuggling) and all the other things that are there, everybody
knows what they are.

"We need a clear end on that and we have no words on it."

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IRA crime a 'red line issue' says Taoiseach - Vivienne Traynor
reports as Bertie Ahern calls on the IRA to make a clearer
statement on ending illegal activity
http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/1212/9news/9news56_1a.smil
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4089587.stm

IRA 'Must End Criminal Activity' -V

The IRA must make a clear statement on ending illegal activity,
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said.

"We have to get absolute certainty and clarity that we're not just
talking about paramilitary activity," he said.

"We're talking about robberies and fraud and petrol and drink
(smuggling) and all the other things that are there, everybody
knows what they are."

Calling on the parties to make a final push, he said the political
process was within 10 hours of being resolved.

A "comprehensive agreement" between the DUP and Sinn Fein broke
down last week over the issue of IRA weapons being put beyond use.

Mr Ahern told RTE radio on Sunday it was a "very positive sign"
that the IRA had been in fresh contact with the International
Independent Decommissioning Commission since then.

He added: "Really it just requires a bit of cool nerves, a bit of
straight negotiation on very few issues, a few chances to be taken
- nobody likes the bits that are outstanding but if we all do it
collectively, this can be finished."

The DUP has demanded that a photographic record is made of the IRA
decommissioning its weapons.

However, Sinn Fein said that the IRA would "not submit to a process
of humiliation".

Efforts will continue to try to resolve the issue on Monday.

The Sinn Fein leadership will meet Mr Ahern in Dublin before flying
to Downing Street for talks with Tony Blair.

DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson said his party already knows who it wants
to help oversee decommissioning.

"We have already appointed an independent witness from the
Protestant community, and I understand there is a witness from the
Roman Catholic community," he said.

"We haven't yet got agreement on what role the witnesses will play
in the decommissioning process in verifying what has happened."

Meanwhile, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church has said that
any arms move should be witnessed by four clergymen including
someone "who has lost a loved one".

Reverend Ken Newell said photographs of decommissioning were
desirable but not essential.

Mr Newell told BBC Radio Ulster's Sunday Sequence that more
clerical witnesses could provide a solution to the political
stalemate.

"From the unionist side anyhow, one of those clerical witnesses
should be a minister who has lost a loved one," he said.

"(Someone) who is very concerned that this whole thing is done with
credibility and will build confidence in the community.

"I think we have got to consider increasing the number of witnesses
to four, and put in there someone who has been a victim of the
Troubles that we have been through."

The British-Irish proposals said that decommissioning would be
witnessed by two clergymen.

On Sunday, Mr Paisley insisted that he would not move from his
demand for photographic evidence of decommissioning.

The DUP leader told Sunday Sequence that he would not compromise on
the issue after "previous failed attempts".

"If we hadn't three charades of so-called decommissioning, we
wouldn't have to be as strong on this matter," the North Antrim MP
said.

"We must first of all have an independent observer and that
independent observer must be free to do what he likes as far as
having a notebook, as far having his own inventory, as far as
saying what time so many arms were destroyed.

"He must be absolutely free but, of course, that has never been
agreed by the IRA.

"Then he must be able to have photographs taken by the
(disarmament) commission, not by the IRA, on every step taken for
the destruction of those arms - photographs before they were
destroyed, photographs when they are destroying and photographs of
after they're destroyed."

The political institutions in Northern Ireland have been suspended
since October 2002 amid allegations of IRA intelligence gathering
at the Northern Ireland Office.

The DUP and Sinn Fein became the largest unionist and nationalist
parties after assembly elections in November 2003.

However, the two parties have never been able to reach a deal which
would allow a power-sharing executive to be formed, and Northern
Ireland continues to be governed by direct rule from Westminster.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish premier Bertie
Ahern published joint government proposals for power-sharing in
Belfast.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2004/12/12 18:50:23 GMT
© BBC MMIV

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http://www.online.ie/news/viewer.adp?article=3185928

McGuinness Offers 'Sin' Meeting With Paisley

online.ie
2004-12-12 16:40:03+00

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness today offered to meet Ian Paisley on
the issue of sin if it helped move the peace process forward.

The Mid Ulster MP was responding to comments from the Democratic
Unionist leader that Gerry Adams could go to his Belfast church any
time and discuss repentance and sin.

Mr Paisley, who is the Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church,
said in a radio interview broadcast in Northern Ireland: "If Mr
Adams wants to hear me preach, he is welcome. The doors of Martyrs'
Memorial Church are open to him. He can hear me preach at any time.

"If he came into this room and said: 'I would like to talk to you,
Ian about sin and how you get rid of it, about what the Gospel is',
I would talk to him.

"But that is not political. Negotiations on the future government
of the country is entirely different."

Mr McGuinness said he was encouraged by the comments from the DUP
leader in an interview broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster.

"I am prepared, and I know Gerry would be willing, to meet Ian on
the issue of sin if it helped to break the ice," the former
Stormont Education Minister said.

"We would be willing to meet him on the basis that we are all
sinners including Ian, and I think it would be interesting.

"It is very much Sinn Féin's view that one of the difficulties in
the current process is that we have not Ian and (DUP deputy leader)
Peter Robinson sitting across the table to talk to the likes of
Gerry and myself."

Meanwhile Mr McGuinness welcomed the contribution from the
Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Rev Ken
Newell, that four independent witnesses should be appointed to view
an act of disarmament, including a Protestant minister who could
represent the victims of violence.

"Ken Newell has consistently made a useful contribution to this
debate in poo-pooing the notion of a photograph," he said.

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2004/1213/1117883810HM3CASTLE.html

New Archaeological Discovery Uncovered At Carrickmines

Tim O'Brien

A new discovery of archaeological remains, thought to be those of
a "curtain wall" extending up to 80 metres and dating from the 17th
century, has been made at Carrickmines Castle in south Co Dublin.

The area of the remains, on a hillside to the south-west of an
existing farmhouse, indicates the castle itself was a considerably
larger complex than was originally thought, according to
archaeologists.

The new finds, which come as the archaeological dig at the castle
enters its fifth year, is not in the line of the motorway or the
controversial Carrickmines interchange.

The curtain wall is separate to the "fosse" - essentially an outer
defence - and archaeologists are hoping the find will reveal more
information on how the castle was defended.

Carrickmines campaigner Mr Ruadhán MacEoin said the discovery of
the curtain wall would suggest the original keep and its walls were
on a scale similar to that of Trim Castle in Co Meath. "This means
it is much bigger than we originally thought," he said.

Archaeologist Dr Mark Clinton, who led the original dig at the
castle, said it represented "a very significant find".

Dr Clinton said it had been his ambition to excavate the site in
the early days of the dig but he was discouraged from doing so. He
said the pattern of the excavation was now "turning into a soap
opera" and added: "It is good that it has been found, but you have
to wonder at the official silence about the discovery."

Dr Clinton said he had learned that tree-felling at the site
yesterday had damaged archaeological remains of wells which served
the castle and remains which were possibly those of a chapel.
"These are what Séamus Brennan [the former minister for transport]
wanted to keep and they have felled trees on them." Dún Laoghaire-
Rathdown County Council said, however, that no artefacts were
damaged during the tree-felling, which it insisted was carried out
under archaeological supervision.

The council's director of transportation, Mr Eamon O'Hare, said it
had always been known or suspected that there were additional
artifacts at Carrickmines and this had been the council's
difficulty in considering moving the interchange and motorway.

"Wherever we moved it, there was always the likelihood that we
would find new material," he said. He also revealed that the
northern carriageway of the motorway had now been "black-topped",
which is the final covering, while the southern carriageway is
expected to be similarly finished within weeks.

A public inquiry into plans to widen the M50 starts on December
14th.

© The Irish Times

Monthly Table of Contents 01/05
Monthly Table of Contents 12/04
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