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News about the Irish & Irish American culture, music, news, sports. This is hosted by the Irish Aires radio show on KPFT-FM 90.1 in Houston, Texas (a Pacifica community radio station)
February 21, 2005
02/22/05 – Belfast Paper to Sue McDowell
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Table of Contents - Overall
Table of Contents – Feb 2005
IT 02/22/05 Paper To Sue McDowell For 'Provo Front' Claims
IT 02/22/05 Ahern Cites IRA Pressure On SF - V(2)
IT 02/22/05 SF Must Withstand 'Avalanche Of Propaganda'
IT 02/22/05 Blair Resists Pressure For Vote To Exclude SF
IT 02/22/05 Chesterton Offered More Attractive Returns Than Banks
IT 02/22/05 PSNI's Hoax Report Led To Flurry Of IRA Calls
IT 02/22/05 Taoiseach Says Peace Process Threatens To Unravel
IT 02/22/05 Gardai Focus On Money Trail -V
IT 02/22/05 PwC Vouched For Firm In Money Inquiry
IT 02/22/05 Man 'Central' To IRA Money-Laundering Case Granted Bail
IT 02/22/05 Deputy Has 'No Idea' About Posters –V
IT 02/22/05 MLAs Welcome Postponement Of President's Visit -V
IT 02/22/05 Luas Crash: 5 People Suffer Minor Injuries
QA 02/21/05 Is Bank Raid SF's Watergate & Will It Go To Adams-VO
QA 02/21/05 Should GAA Open Up Croke Park To Soccer & Rugby? –VO
NW 02/21/05 A Day In The Life Of Dublin Airport -VO
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Questions and Answers - 21 February 2005
John O'Donoghue, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism
Brendan Howlin, Labour Party Spokesperson on Enterprise, Trade & Employment
Eugene McGee, GAA writer with The Irish Independent
Catherine Ghent, solicitor
Brian Feeney, Head of the Department of History at St Mary's University College Belfast and Irish News columnist
Conor Murphy, MLA, member of Sinn Féin's talks team
Q1: Is The Northern Bank Raid Sinn Féin's Watergate, And If So Does It Go All The Way To The President?
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/qanda/qanda56_1a.smil
Q2: Should The GAA Open Up Croke Park To Soccer And Rugby?
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/qanda/qanda56_2.smil
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A Day In The Life Of Dublin Airport (25 minutes)
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/nationwide/nationwide56.smil
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/3985550238HM8DAILYSUE.html
Paper To Sue McDowell For 'Provo Front' Claims
Christine Newman
The publisher of Daily Ireland, the new pro-nationalist newspaper based in Belfast, has begun libel proceedings against the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell.
Mr Máirtín Ó Muilleoir said yesterday the action was being taken over the Minister's remarks about the paper which is part of the Andersonstown News Group. One of the Minister's accusations indicated the publication was a "Provo front".
Yesterday Mr Ó Muilleoir denied that it was a front for the Provos. He said the newspaper had instructed its solicitors that day to start libel proceedings against the Minister.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice when asked what the Minister's reaction was to being sued, said: "It was, 'See them in court'."
Speaking on RTÉ radio Mr Ó Muilleoir said he took the Minister's remarks about the newspaper very seriously. "They are scandalous, they are rubbish, they are defamatory," he said.
He said that previously, when the Minister said they were a fascist publication, he wrote personally to Mr McDowell and his solicitors wrote to him but no reply was received.
"So we instructed our solicitors today after his most recent outburst to start libel proceedings against the Minister about his claims," Mr Ó Muilleoir said.
He was asked about the Minister's remarks that one of the objectives of the paper was to take out the Irish News, the Belfast paper, because it was not seen as being sufficiently green.
"Daily Ireland which launched on February 1st is a newspaper which is anti-violence, which is pro-united Ireland. The question I would ask is, who's afraid of words? Why can we not have an alternative point of view to the Minister?" he said.
He was asked where the money for the paper came from. "The majority of the money is coming from the Andersonstown News Group, courtesy of a major loan from the Bank of Ireland," he said. Other funding came from a range of small investors in this country and in the US. Some were well-known business people in Belfast. Mr Peter Quinlan, former GAA president, had invested as well, he said.
"Our operation is totally bona fide," Mr Ó Muilleoir said. "This sort of allegation has never been made by unionist politicians in the North and this type of slur has never been made by any of our most ardent opponents commercially either, so the Minister is talking rubbish and it's an attempt to try and damage us and prevent us from publishing."
© The Irish Times
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SF/Govt row intensifies over party's links to IRA - Declan McBennett reports on the escalating political row between the Govt and Sinn Féin
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/9news/9news56_1a.smil
Tommie Gorman, Northern Editor, assesses the Sinn Féin response to recent developments
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/9news/9news56_1b.smil
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/3015584279HM8BERTIE.html
Ahern Cites IRA Pressure On SF - V(2)
Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent
IRA hardliners refused last December to let Sinn Féin's Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness sign up to promises not to engage in criminality, the Taoiseach has said.
In an attempt to ease pressures on the Sinn Féin leadership, the Taoiseach said he believed they are "genuinely saying" they want to sign up to a final peace deal.
However, Mr Ahern warned that the Sinn Féin leadership has to deliver major concessions because the marching season "is just weeks away" and it could "unravel" the peace process.
Mr Ahern has taken a deliberately different and softer line to the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, who once more alleged Mr Adams, Mr McGuinness and Kerry South TD Mr Martin Ferris are members of the IRA's army council.
"I might have my own views about whether people are, or are not, on the army council. I do not know the membership of the army council," said Mr Ahern.
Offering diplomatic words towards the Sinn Féin leadership, Mr Ahern said: "They are genuinely saying that they are trying to get to a situation where they want to see these things through," said Mr Ahern, speaking in Dublin.
"Why did we break down on the eighth of December on the criminality end? We know about decommissioning. But why did we break down on criminality? It is because Sinn Féin went to the IRA and the IRA would not allow them the movement. That is what happened. Sinn Féin went to the IRA. But Sinn Féin has to work that out," the Taoiseach said.
"If [ the SF leadership] want this process to be inclusive they have to come back to us as we asked some time ago and give us the answer," said Mr Ahern, who acknowledged that Sinn Féin would need time. "It requires some time. I'm not saying that we will leave it forever. We need them to be coming back saying, the end of paramilitarism, the decommissioning of all weapons, and the cessation of all criminal behaviour."
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/1782364632HM8SHINNERS.html
McGuinness Tells Rally That SF Must Withstand 'Avalanche Of Propaganda'
Gerry Moriarty
Sinn Féin's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, told a republican rally in Belfast last night that they faced a huge challenge to withstand the "avalanche of propaganda" against them.
The most immediate challenge was the local and expected Westminster elections in May and, whenever "others come to their senses", to rebuild the peace process.
Mr McGuinness, echoing recent comments by Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams, told the rally of 600 people in the Hilton Hotel that "no republican worthy of the name" can be involved with criminality.
"If any are, we are absolutely determined to see that they are out of our ranks. We are not involved in criminality, and we will not tolerate under any circumstances such behaviour. Our opponents know that in their heart and soul, but some can barely disguise their glee at the recent turn of events."
He said that following Garda raids and arrests last week, a media "kangaroo court" immediately went into operation even though only one person was charged, and of the several arrested only one was a Sinn Féin member.
He described Mr McDowell as the "so-called Minister for Justice, a minister that I describe as a minister for smear, for allegations and for by-passing justice, challenging my credentials, Gerry Adams's credentials and Martin Ferris's credentials".
He said Mr McDowell's comments naming him, Mr Adams and Mr Ferris as members of the IRA army council were a "grossly disgraceful abuse".
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/2696787521HM8BLAIRMURPHY.html
Blair Resists Pressure For Vote To Exclude SF
Frank Millar, London Editor
British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair is resisting pressure from Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble to recall the Stormont Assembly to vote on a motion to exclude Sinn Féin from a resumed power-sharing Executive.
This emerged last night as the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, prepared to impose limited financial sanctions on Sinn Féin in response to the Independent Monitoring Commission's (IMC) report on the Northern Bank robbery.
The Irish Times understands that in his Commons statement today Mr Murphy will propose the renewed withholding of Sinn Féin's "Assembly Party Allowance" - worth £120,000 - when that existing penalty expires in April.
In addition, he is expected to signal the government's willingness to bring forward a motion calling for the withdrawal of Sinn Féin MPs' Westminster allowances, worth close to £500,000 a year.
However indications are that Mr Murphy has decided against withdrawing the salaries and expense allowances of Sinn Fein's Assembly members, worth an estimated £1.5 million a year.
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/917965045HM8PWCINSIDE.html
Chesterton Offered More Attractive Returns Than Banks
John McManus
Chesterton Finance Limited, the company at the centre of the Garda inquiry into IRA money laundering, sought outside investors by offering returns significantly more attractive than those readily available from the commercial banks.
Correspondence seen by The Irish Times, indicated that the company promised investors a return of 10 per cent a year in February 2003. At the time the best rate on offer from the commercial banks for sums of up to €20,000 was 2.3 per cent.
An individual described as the principal of Chesterton - who cannot be named for legal reasons - is a central figure in the ongoing Garda investigation into money laundering by the republican movement.
Mr Phil Flynn, the former trade unionist turned business consultant, became a non-executive director of the company last year. This link has already cost Mr Flynn a number of high profile posts in the private and public sector.
Details of the terms offered by Chesterton are contained in letters from a then partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to an adviser to a prospective investor in Chesterton.
The partner in question, Mr William Roche, refers to Ballincollig Co Cork-based Chesterton as a client of the international accountancy firm in a letter dated October 2001.
Mr Roche, a partner in the tax and legal services department of PwC until about a year ago, says in the latter that "their established investment policy is to lend on security of fixed assets where the value of the security is at least twice the amount of the lending".
In another letter dated February 2003, Mr Roche refers to the returns being offered by the company. "The rate of 10 per cent per annum for a period of one year is in the present economic climate a very good rate.
"We all know the aftermath implications of (sic) stocks and shares in regard to the terrorist attack in New York on 11th September 2001. Clearly, commentators have indicated it will be a matter of some time before stocks and shares are used as a suitable investment medium."
Mr Roche wrote again on Chesterton's behalf in May 2003. He explains that the company is "engaged in the business of lending money on foot of taking charges on land and property for borrowings. It is the company's policy that the market value of the land secured has to be at last twice the amount lent on it."
He adds that copies of documents relating to the security are available for inspection, before once again pointing out "the rate of interest being paid by the company to the investor is way in excess of the deposit rate obtained from a financial institution".
Mr Flynn, who was questioned by the Criminal Assets Bureau, about Chesterton has described it as a "clean" company. However, he said that he had made an error of judgment in joining the firm.
The former Irish Congress of Trade Unions president said that he took a 10 per cent stake in the business in return for helping to turn it around. He told RTÉ that he travelled to Bulgaria in recent weeks with the principal of the firm, reportedly to look at property investment opportunities.
Mr Flynn resigned as chairman of Bank of Scotland (Ireland), the VHI and the Government's decentralisation implementation committee, before the weekend. He subsequently stepped down from property group Harcourt Developments Ltd. Mr Flynn, who is a former vice-president of Sinn Féin has asserted that he had "no involvement good, bad or indifferent in money laundering".
PwC are the second largest accountancy firm in the state, with a fee income last year of €151 million. Its clients include numerous Government Departments and agencies as well as some of the best known businesses in the country.
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/2655780519HM8CORKRAIDS.html
PSNI's Hoax Report Led To Flurry Of IRA Calls
Barry Roche
The PSNI was able to confirm suspicions that the Provisional IRA was behind the Northern Bank raid when they monitored and taped telephone conversations between some of the main suspects who fell for a hoax report that stolen money had turned up at the Dundonald ice rink, Belfast.
According to a Garda source, the PSNI leaked information that some notes from the £26.5 million taken in the Northern Bank raid had turned up at Dundonald International Ice Bowl in the hope it would cause their main suspects in the PIRA to start talking among themselves.
According to the source, the PSNI already had a number of Provisional IRA suspects in mind as being behind the robbery and they put in place a sophisticated series of surveillance and monitoring systems to see if the hoax report would prompt any reaction from their suspects.
It's understood that the report of the money turning up at the Dundonald International Ice Bowl prompted a spate of phonecalls among some of the PSNI's main suspects, confirming police suspicions.
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2005/0222/992634424HM1NEWLEAD.html
Taoiseach Says Peace Process Threatens To Unravel
The Northern Ireland peace process threatens to "unravel" within weeks unless Sinn Féin gets the IRA to agree quickly to end paramilitary activity and criminality and complete decommissioning, the Taoiseach has said, write Mark Hennessy Gerry Moriarty and Denis Staunton
Warning that the marching season begins in four weeks, Mr Ahern issued one of his strongest pleas yet to Sinn Féin to move quickly: "We are into an unravelling situation that is serious and that is going to continue to be serious from the knowledge that I have."
However, Mr Ahern said Sinn Féin's Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness would have signed up last December to end all IRA criminality but they could not get the IRA's agreement.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell's decision to identify Mr Adams, Mr McGuinness and Kerry North TD Mr Martin Ferris as members of the IRA army council has caused some irritation within the Government, with some figures labelling his action "a distraction".
In Brussels, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, distanced himself from the assertion. He criticised Mr McDowell's decision to make public the content of confidential Garda briefings. "These are issues that should not be vented in public."
The Minister said it was "no surprise to anyone" that there was an intertwining in the leaderships of Sinn Féin and the IRA, but it was difficult to speak with authority on the leadership of a secret organisation such as the IRA. The confidence placed in Sinn Féin by the Government and by unionists was "severely dented", and the Minister accused Sinn Féin and the IRA of opposing the will of the Irish people by refusing to abandon criminal activity.
"In 1998, in the first act of all-Ireland self-determination since 1918, the Irish people backed the Good Friday agreement. That agreement granted Irish people the legitimate expectation of an end to paramilitarism and criminality. That is clearly the will of the Irish people," he said.
The Taoiseach said he believed Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness "genuinely" wanted the Belfast Agreement to be implemented fully. The December deal collapsed because of divisions in the Provisional republican community. "It is because SF went to the IRA, and the IRA would not allow them the movement. That is what happened," said the Taoiseach.
The agreement cannot be implemented successfully "if the republican movement says 'No', if they tie the hands of the political leadership as they did in December. That is what they did the previous October and they did it the previous April. Three times," Mr Ahern declared.
He warned that Sinn Féin could not be excluded from the Belfast Agreement, despite the discovery of the IRA's recent criminality. A comprehensive peace deal cannot be agreed without republicans' involvement, though they must accept fully peaceful means and the end of the IRA.
Sinn Féin will receive another blow today when the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, imposes sanctions on it following the Independent Monitoring Commission's decision to blame the IRA for the Northern Bank robbery. In Belfast yesterday the Minister for Justice stood by his allegation that Mr Adams, Mr McGuinness and Mr Ferris are currently members of the IRA's leadership.
The Taoiseach denied he was at odds with him. "I might have my own views about whether people are, or are not, on the army council." Neither he, nor Mr McDowell had "personal knowledge" of the council's make-up. "The Minister is Minister for Justice and he does receive detailed intelligence briefings as Minister for Justice, but intelligence briefings are one thing, there is another thing about hard evidence," he said.
© The Irish Times
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Gardaí seize a further £437,000stg in money laundering probe - Paschal Sheehy, Southern Editor, reports on the seizure of money in Cork, Dublin, Offaly and Kerry in the garda investigation into alleged money laundering by republican paramilitaries
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/9news/9news56_2a.smil
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/1583438591HM8CORKMONEY.html
Gardai Focus On Money Trail -V
Barry Roche, Southern Correspondent
Gardaí investigating a Provisional IRA money-laundering operation believe that £2.3 million seized last week was part of a £5 million consignment brought from the North to be channelled through an operation run by a Cork financial adviser.
However, gardaí believe the adviser thought that some £1.5 million was part of the proceeds of the £26.5 million taken in the Northern Bank raid and he believed it was too dangerous for him to handle.
According to an informed source, the adviser stalled on collecting the final £1.5 million of the £5 million haul and the money was instead collected by a republican activist from the greater Cork area who was given responsibility for laundering that money. It is believed the activist divided up the £1.5 million and gave £60,000 to a fellow republican activist for safe-keeping, while he gave an undisclosed sum to a second man who panicked and burned it when gardaí began closing in.
Meanwhile, it is understood that the financial adviser began farming out the money to a number of enterprises, including £250,000 to a businessman in the Tullamore area.
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2005/0222/2598457519HM1PWC.html
PwC Vouched For Firm In Money Inquiry
PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the State's best-known firms of accountants, vouched for a company at the centre of the Garda investigation into IRA money-laundering, writes John McManus
Mr William Roche, who was a partner in the tax and legal services division of PwC, wrote several letters in support of Chesterton Finance Co, which he described as clients of the firm, between 2001 and 2003. An individual described as the "principal" of Chesterton - who cannot be named for legal reasons - is central to the Garda investigation. The company specialised in lending money secured on assets, usually land.
One of the non-executive directors of Chesterton is Mr Phil Flynn, the trade union official turned business consultant. Mr Flynn, a former vice-president of Sinn Féin, has resigned from a number of business and Government posts after being linked to Chesterton last week. He has denied any role in money-laundering, describing the company as "clean".
In a letter dated October 2001, which has been seen by The Irish Times, Mr Roche - who retired from PwC over a year ago - described Chesterton as a client and described it as having an established investment policy "to lend on security of fixed assets where the value of the security is at least twice the amount of the lending".
In another letter, dated February 2003, Mr Roche described the interest rate being offered to potential investors by Chesterton as "in the present economic climate a very good rate".
He points out that stocks and shares are an uncertain investment in the wake of the "terrorist attack in New York on September 11th, 2001".
A third letter from Mr Roche, dated in May of that year, states that "the rate of interest being paid by the company to the investor is way in excess of the deposit rate obtained from a financial institution".
PricewaterhouseCoopers, whose clients include government departments and a number of blue chip companies, declined to comment last night. A spokeswoman for the firm said that it did not comment on client business.
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/2951658906HM8CTBULLMAN.html
Man 'Central' To IRA Money-Laundering Case Granted Bail
A Co Cork chef arrested as part of a Garda investigation into IRA money laundering was granted bail of €30,000 by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday despite Garda objections that he was a "central individual" in an IRA money-laundering operation.
Mr Don Bullman (30), a chef and father-of-two, of Fernwood Crescent, Leghanamore, Wilton, Co Cork was charged last Friday with membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the IRA on February 16th.
The court granted Mr Bullman bail on his own bond of €500 and an independent surety of €30,000. He was ordered to report daily to a local Garda station, to surrender his passport and not to travel outside Co Cork.
The court also ordered him not to associate with anyone convicted of subversive crime or to associate with four named people - Mr Conor McLaughlin, Mr Christopher McElhinney, Mr Tom Hanlon and Mr George Hegarty.
Mr Bullman's counsel, Ms Anne Rowland, said she was not in a position to take up the bail and the court remanded Mr Bullman until March 8th.
Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan, presiding, said that if the court refused bail it would be denying Mr Bullman the presumption of innocence.
Yesterday Det Supt Diarmuid O'Sullivan of the Special Detective Unit, objected to bail and said he believed Mr Bullman would interfere with evidence if granted bail.
He said Mr Bullman was stopped by gardaí in a Northern Ireland-registered jeep at Heuston Station in Dublin last Wednesday. There were two other men in the jeep and Mr Bullman was in the back seat and beside him was a blue holdall. In this was a plastic bag containing a Daz box and the box contained over €94,000. Supt O'Sullivan said Mr Bullman's fingerprints were found on the plastic bag containing the Daz box.
Supt O'Sullivan said Mr Bullman was "a central individual" to the activities of the IRA prior to February 16th and that activity was "a money-laundering operation for the IRA, in which he is central".
He said that six mobile phones were found in the jeep when Mr Bullman was arrested and Mr Bullman had two mobile phones. Gardaí examined text messages and found one message sent to Mr Bullman's phone on February 12th, which said: "Get me a rate for hundred. Make sure it's a good rate. If it's not good we'll walk away."
Cross examined by Ms Rowland, Supt O'Sullivan said that one of the people arrested with Mr Bullman had made a statement saying the money found in the jeep was his and he had taken it out of a bank in the North and was lodging it into another bank.
Supt O'Sullivan said Mr Bullman had told gardaí during questioning that he had been attending a catering trade fair at the RDS and he admitted that he had made an application there in the name "Jerry McCabe, catering officer, Garda Club". He admitted knowing that Garda Jerry McCabe had been shot in Adare and said he used his name as a joke, the superintendent said.
Mr Bullman, in evidence, said: "I am not a member of any unlawful organisation and never was."
© The Irish Times
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Ó Snodaigh baffled about election posters - David McCullagh, Political Correspondent, finds Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh has 'no idea' how his election posters came to be in a van used by five men convicted of IRA membership
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/9news/9news56_4a.smil
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/3471941288HM4AENGUS.html
Deputy Has 'No Idea' About Posters -V
Alison Healy
Dublin Sinn Féin TD Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh said last night that he had "absolutely no idea" how his election posters had ended up in a van used by the five men who were jailed yesterday for membership of the Provisional IRA.
Mr Ó Snodaigh is a Sinn Féin deputy for Dublin South Central and is party whip in Leinster House.
He is also a member of the Sinn Féin ardchomhairle and of the party's negotiations team.
"I have absolutely no idea what the men were doing," Mr Ó Snodaigh said in a statement last night.
"Whatever they were at had nothing whatsoever to do with myself or Sinn Féin and those in court were not and are not members of the party, nor were they acting on behalf of the party," the TD said.
He said Sinn Féin could not be answerable for these men's actions.
He told RTÉ News that he only knew one of the five men from when he was growing up in Sandymount in Dublin and that he had not seen him for several years.
"We are obviously aware that in the current climate this will add to people's concerns about the overall state of the peace process," Mr Ó Snodaigh said.
"We will continue to do all that we can to move beyond this crisis and get the process back on track."
© The Irish Times
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President McAleese defers visit to Belfast
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/6news/6news56_3.smil
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/316118540HM3MCALEESE.html
MLAs Welcome Postponement Of President's Visit -V
Gerry Moriarty
Unionist politicians and loyalist community activists have welcomed the decision by the President, Mrs McAleese, to postpone a visit to a Shankill Road school while on a scheduled visit to Belfast on Thursday.
There was general agreement that a visit to Edenbrook Primary School on the Shankill at this time would be inappropriate because of the continuing fallout from her recent comments that appeared to compare Nazi treatment of the Jews with some Protestant parents engendering distrust of Catholics in their children.
While she apologised for these remarks, such was the strength of unionist reaction there was concern that a visit to the Shankill on Thursday could trigger protests and damage the outreach work in which she and her husband, Dr Martin McAleese, have been engaged with loyalists.
DUP Assembly members Mr Nigel Dodds, Ms Diane Dodds and Mr Nelson McCausland, whose area of representation takes in west and north Belfast, said her remarks caused enormous offence. "By insulting an entire community, Mary McAleese not only did severe damage to her own reputation but she opened deep wounds which only time can heal," they said.
"It remains to be seen whether the Irish President can recover from this appalling incident. However, in the meantime, the Shankill area has been spared the difficulties and divisions which a visit at this time would undoubtedly have caused," the Assembly members added.
Ulster Unionist MLA Mr Fred Cobain and UUP councillor Dr Chris McGimpsey said the President's decision was "sensible".
Mr Cobain said: "I am glad to see that common sense has prevailed. I think it is now important for all involved to step back and take a more circumspect and considered view."
Added Dr McGimpsey: "I welcome the decision of the Irish President to act upon the overwhelming mood of local residents and cancel her visit. This is the sensible position to take."
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/1261772326HMLUAS.html
Luas Crash: Five People Suffer Minor Injuries As Truck Collides With Luas
Alison Healy
Five people were taken to hospital last night after a truck collided with the Luas on the Red Line at Queen Street, in the Smithfield area of Dublin.
The tram was travelling into the city when it was derailed in the incident which happened at about 9 p.m. Both the Luas driver and the truck driver were treated for shock at the scene.
A spokeswoman for Luas said the five people had received minor injuries in the incident. Three units of the Dublin Fire Brigade and three ambulances attended the scene and took the injured people to the Mater Hospital.
A Luas incident officer was at the scene last night and services between the Blackhorse stop and Connolly Station were suspended for the night.
A spokeswoman for Luas said it was hoped that the trams would be running as normal this morning.
The Red Line, which runs from Connolly Station to Tallaght, has been the scene of more than 10 accidents since it opened in late September. This accident rate is much higher than on the Green Line, which runs from Sandyford to Tallaght.
However, the Red Line is more complex with 35 road crossings, compared with just six crossings on the Green Line.
© The Irish Times
Table of Contents - Overall
Table of Contents – Feb 2005
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Table of Contents - Overall
Table of Contents – Feb 2005
IT 02/22/05 Paper To Sue McDowell For 'Provo Front' Claims
IT 02/22/05 Ahern Cites IRA Pressure On SF - V(2)
IT 02/22/05 SF Must Withstand 'Avalanche Of Propaganda'
IT 02/22/05 Blair Resists Pressure For Vote To Exclude SF
IT 02/22/05 Chesterton Offered More Attractive Returns Than Banks
IT 02/22/05 PSNI's Hoax Report Led To Flurry Of IRA Calls
IT 02/22/05 Taoiseach Says Peace Process Threatens To Unravel
IT 02/22/05 Gardai Focus On Money Trail -V
IT 02/22/05 PwC Vouched For Firm In Money Inquiry
IT 02/22/05 Man 'Central' To IRA Money-Laundering Case Granted Bail
IT 02/22/05 Deputy Has 'No Idea' About Posters –V
IT 02/22/05 MLAs Welcome Postponement Of President's Visit -V
IT 02/22/05 Luas Crash: 5 People Suffer Minor Injuries
QA 02/21/05 Is Bank Raid SF's Watergate & Will It Go To Adams-VO
QA 02/21/05 Should GAA Open Up Croke Park To Soccer & Rugby? –VO
NW 02/21/05 A Day In The Life Of Dublin Airport -VO
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Questions and Answers - 21 February 2005
John O'Donoghue, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism
Brendan Howlin, Labour Party Spokesperson on Enterprise, Trade & Employment
Eugene McGee, GAA writer with The Irish Independent
Catherine Ghent, solicitor
Brian Feeney, Head of the Department of History at St Mary's University College Belfast and Irish News columnist
Conor Murphy, MLA, member of Sinn Féin's talks team
Q1: Is The Northern Bank Raid Sinn Féin's Watergate, And If So Does It Go All The Way To The President?
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/qanda/qanda56_1a.smil
Q2: Should The GAA Open Up Croke Park To Soccer And Rugby?
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/qanda/qanda56_2.smil
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A Day In The Life Of Dublin Airport (25 minutes)
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/nationwide/nationwide56.smil
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/3985550238HM8DAILYSUE.html
Paper To Sue McDowell For 'Provo Front' Claims
Christine Newman
The publisher of Daily Ireland, the new pro-nationalist newspaper based in Belfast, has begun libel proceedings against the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell.
Mr Máirtín Ó Muilleoir said yesterday the action was being taken over the Minister's remarks about the paper which is part of the Andersonstown News Group. One of the Minister's accusations indicated the publication was a "Provo front".
Yesterday Mr Ó Muilleoir denied that it was a front for the Provos. He said the newspaper had instructed its solicitors that day to start libel proceedings against the Minister.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice when asked what the Minister's reaction was to being sued, said: "It was, 'See them in court'."
Speaking on RTÉ radio Mr Ó Muilleoir said he took the Minister's remarks about the newspaper very seriously. "They are scandalous, they are rubbish, they are defamatory," he said.
He said that previously, when the Minister said they were a fascist publication, he wrote personally to Mr McDowell and his solicitors wrote to him but no reply was received.
"So we instructed our solicitors today after his most recent outburst to start libel proceedings against the Minister about his claims," Mr Ó Muilleoir said.
He was asked about the Minister's remarks that one of the objectives of the paper was to take out the Irish News, the Belfast paper, because it was not seen as being sufficiently green.
"Daily Ireland which launched on February 1st is a newspaper which is anti-violence, which is pro-united Ireland. The question I would ask is, who's afraid of words? Why can we not have an alternative point of view to the Minister?" he said.
He was asked where the money for the paper came from. "The majority of the money is coming from the Andersonstown News Group, courtesy of a major loan from the Bank of Ireland," he said. Other funding came from a range of small investors in this country and in the US. Some were well-known business people in Belfast. Mr Peter Quinlan, former GAA president, had invested as well, he said.
"Our operation is totally bona fide," Mr Ó Muilleoir said. "This sort of allegation has never been made by unionist politicians in the North and this type of slur has never been made by any of our most ardent opponents commercially either, so the Minister is talking rubbish and it's an attempt to try and damage us and prevent us from publishing."
© The Irish Times
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SF/Govt row intensifies over party's links to IRA - Declan McBennett reports on the escalating political row between the Govt and Sinn Féin
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/9news/9news56_1a.smil
Tommie Gorman, Northern Editor, assesses the Sinn Féin response to recent developments
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/9news/9news56_1b.smil
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/3015584279HM8BERTIE.html
Ahern Cites IRA Pressure On SF - V(2)
Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent
IRA hardliners refused last December to let Sinn Féin's Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness sign up to promises not to engage in criminality, the Taoiseach has said.
In an attempt to ease pressures on the Sinn Féin leadership, the Taoiseach said he believed they are "genuinely saying" they want to sign up to a final peace deal.
However, Mr Ahern warned that the Sinn Féin leadership has to deliver major concessions because the marching season "is just weeks away" and it could "unravel" the peace process.
Mr Ahern has taken a deliberately different and softer line to the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, who once more alleged Mr Adams, Mr McGuinness and Kerry South TD Mr Martin Ferris are members of the IRA's army council.
"I might have my own views about whether people are, or are not, on the army council. I do not know the membership of the army council," said Mr Ahern.
Offering diplomatic words towards the Sinn Féin leadership, Mr Ahern said: "They are genuinely saying that they are trying to get to a situation where they want to see these things through," said Mr Ahern, speaking in Dublin.
"Why did we break down on the eighth of December on the criminality end? We know about decommissioning. But why did we break down on criminality? It is because Sinn Féin went to the IRA and the IRA would not allow them the movement. That is what happened. Sinn Féin went to the IRA. But Sinn Féin has to work that out," the Taoiseach said.
"If [ the SF leadership] want this process to be inclusive they have to come back to us as we asked some time ago and give us the answer," said Mr Ahern, who acknowledged that Sinn Féin would need time. "It requires some time. I'm not saying that we will leave it forever. We need them to be coming back saying, the end of paramilitarism, the decommissioning of all weapons, and the cessation of all criminal behaviour."
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/1782364632HM8SHINNERS.html
McGuinness Tells Rally That SF Must Withstand 'Avalanche Of Propaganda'
Gerry Moriarty
Sinn Féin's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, told a republican rally in Belfast last night that they faced a huge challenge to withstand the "avalanche of propaganda" against them.
The most immediate challenge was the local and expected Westminster elections in May and, whenever "others come to their senses", to rebuild the peace process.
Mr McGuinness, echoing recent comments by Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams, told the rally of 600 people in the Hilton Hotel that "no republican worthy of the name" can be involved with criminality.
"If any are, we are absolutely determined to see that they are out of our ranks. We are not involved in criminality, and we will not tolerate under any circumstances such behaviour. Our opponents know that in their heart and soul, but some can barely disguise their glee at the recent turn of events."
He said that following Garda raids and arrests last week, a media "kangaroo court" immediately went into operation even though only one person was charged, and of the several arrested only one was a Sinn Féin member.
He described Mr McDowell as the "so-called Minister for Justice, a minister that I describe as a minister for smear, for allegations and for by-passing justice, challenging my credentials, Gerry Adams's credentials and Martin Ferris's credentials".
He said Mr McDowell's comments naming him, Mr Adams and Mr Ferris as members of the IRA army council were a "grossly disgraceful abuse".
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/2696787521HM8BLAIRMURPHY.html
Blair Resists Pressure For Vote To Exclude SF
Frank Millar, London Editor
British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair is resisting pressure from Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble to recall the Stormont Assembly to vote on a motion to exclude Sinn Féin from a resumed power-sharing Executive.
This emerged last night as the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, prepared to impose limited financial sanctions on Sinn Féin in response to the Independent Monitoring Commission's (IMC) report on the Northern Bank robbery.
The Irish Times understands that in his Commons statement today Mr Murphy will propose the renewed withholding of Sinn Féin's "Assembly Party Allowance" - worth £120,000 - when that existing penalty expires in April.
In addition, he is expected to signal the government's willingness to bring forward a motion calling for the withdrawal of Sinn Féin MPs' Westminster allowances, worth close to £500,000 a year.
However indications are that Mr Murphy has decided against withdrawing the salaries and expense allowances of Sinn Fein's Assembly members, worth an estimated £1.5 million a year.
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/917965045HM8PWCINSIDE.html
Chesterton Offered More Attractive Returns Than Banks
John McManus
Chesterton Finance Limited, the company at the centre of the Garda inquiry into IRA money laundering, sought outside investors by offering returns significantly more attractive than those readily available from the commercial banks.
Correspondence seen by The Irish Times, indicated that the company promised investors a return of 10 per cent a year in February 2003. At the time the best rate on offer from the commercial banks for sums of up to €20,000 was 2.3 per cent.
An individual described as the principal of Chesterton - who cannot be named for legal reasons - is a central figure in the ongoing Garda investigation into money laundering by the republican movement.
Mr Phil Flynn, the former trade unionist turned business consultant, became a non-executive director of the company last year. This link has already cost Mr Flynn a number of high profile posts in the private and public sector.
Details of the terms offered by Chesterton are contained in letters from a then partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to an adviser to a prospective investor in Chesterton.
The partner in question, Mr William Roche, refers to Ballincollig Co Cork-based Chesterton as a client of the international accountancy firm in a letter dated October 2001.
Mr Roche, a partner in the tax and legal services department of PwC until about a year ago, says in the latter that "their established investment policy is to lend on security of fixed assets where the value of the security is at least twice the amount of the lending".
In another letter dated February 2003, Mr Roche refers to the returns being offered by the company. "The rate of 10 per cent per annum for a period of one year is in the present economic climate a very good rate.
"We all know the aftermath implications of (sic) stocks and shares in regard to the terrorist attack in New York on 11th September 2001. Clearly, commentators have indicated it will be a matter of some time before stocks and shares are used as a suitable investment medium."
Mr Roche wrote again on Chesterton's behalf in May 2003. He explains that the company is "engaged in the business of lending money on foot of taking charges on land and property for borrowings. It is the company's policy that the market value of the land secured has to be at last twice the amount lent on it."
He adds that copies of documents relating to the security are available for inspection, before once again pointing out "the rate of interest being paid by the company to the investor is way in excess of the deposit rate obtained from a financial institution".
Mr Flynn, who was questioned by the Criminal Assets Bureau, about Chesterton has described it as a "clean" company. However, he said that he had made an error of judgment in joining the firm.
The former Irish Congress of Trade Unions president said that he took a 10 per cent stake in the business in return for helping to turn it around. He told RTÉ that he travelled to Bulgaria in recent weeks with the principal of the firm, reportedly to look at property investment opportunities.
Mr Flynn resigned as chairman of Bank of Scotland (Ireland), the VHI and the Government's decentralisation implementation committee, before the weekend. He subsequently stepped down from property group Harcourt Developments Ltd. Mr Flynn, who is a former vice-president of Sinn Féin has asserted that he had "no involvement good, bad or indifferent in money laundering".
PwC are the second largest accountancy firm in the state, with a fee income last year of €151 million. Its clients include numerous Government Departments and agencies as well as some of the best known businesses in the country.
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/2655780519HM8CORKRAIDS.html
PSNI's Hoax Report Led To Flurry Of IRA Calls
Barry Roche
The PSNI was able to confirm suspicions that the Provisional IRA was behind the Northern Bank raid when they monitored and taped telephone conversations between some of the main suspects who fell for a hoax report that stolen money had turned up at the Dundonald ice rink, Belfast.
According to a Garda source, the PSNI leaked information that some notes from the £26.5 million taken in the Northern Bank raid had turned up at Dundonald International Ice Bowl in the hope it would cause their main suspects in the PIRA to start talking among themselves.
According to the source, the PSNI already had a number of Provisional IRA suspects in mind as being behind the robbery and they put in place a sophisticated series of surveillance and monitoring systems to see if the hoax report would prompt any reaction from their suspects.
It's understood that the report of the money turning up at the Dundonald International Ice Bowl prompted a spate of phonecalls among some of the PSNI's main suspects, confirming police suspicions.
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2005/0222/992634424HM1NEWLEAD.html
Taoiseach Says Peace Process Threatens To Unravel
The Northern Ireland peace process threatens to "unravel" within weeks unless Sinn Féin gets the IRA to agree quickly to end paramilitary activity and criminality and complete decommissioning, the Taoiseach has said, write Mark Hennessy Gerry Moriarty and Denis Staunton
Warning that the marching season begins in four weeks, Mr Ahern issued one of his strongest pleas yet to Sinn Féin to move quickly: "We are into an unravelling situation that is serious and that is going to continue to be serious from the knowledge that I have."
However, Mr Ahern said Sinn Féin's Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness would have signed up last December to end all IRA criminality but they could not get the IRA's agreement.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell's decision to identify Mr Adams, Mr McGuinness and Kerry North TD Mr Martin Ferris as members of the IRA army council has caused some irritation within the Government, with some figures labelling his action "a distraction".
In Brussels, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, distanced himself from the assertion. He criticised Mr McDowell's decision to make public the content of confidential Garda briefings. "These are issues that should not be vented in public."
The Minister said it was "no surprise to anyone" that there was an intertwining in the leaderships of Sinn Féin and the IRA, but it was difficult to speak with authority on the leadership of a secret organisation such as the IRA. The confidence placed in Sinn Féin by the Government and by unionists was "severely dented", and the Minister accused Sinn Féin and the IRA of opposing the will of the Irish people by refusing to abandon criminal activity.
"In 1998, in the first act of all-Ireland self-determination since 1918, the Irish people backed the Good Friday agreement. That agreement granted Irish people the legitimate expectation of an end to paramilitarism and criminality. That is clearly the will of the Irish people," he said.
The Taoiseach said he believed Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness "genuinely" wanted the Belfast Agreement to be implemented fully. The December deal collapsed because of divisions in the Provisional republican community. "It is because SF went to the IRA, and the IRA would not allow them the movement. That is what happened," said the Taoiseach.
The agreement cannot be implemented successfully "if the republican movement says 'No', if they tie the hands of the political leadership as they did in December. That is what they did the previous October and they did it the previous April. Three times," Mr Ahern declared.
He warned that Sinn Féin could not be excluded from the Belfast Agreement, despite the discovery of the IRA's recent criminality. A comprehensive peace deal cannot be agreed without republicans' involvement, though they must accept fully peaceful means and the end of the IRA.
Sinn Féin will receive another blow today when the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, imposes sanctions on it following the Independent Monitoring Commission's decision to blame the IRA for the Northern Bank robbery. In Belfast yesterday the Minister for Justice stood by his allegation that Mr Adams, Mr McGuinness and Mr Ferris are currently members of the IRA's leadership.
The Taoiseach denied he was at odds with him. "I might have my own views about whether people are, or are not, on the army council." Neither he, nor Mr McDowell had "personal knowledge" of the council's make-up. "The Minister is Minister for Justice and he does receive detailed intelligence briefings as Minister for Justice, but intelligence briefings are one thing, there is another thing about hard evidence," he said.
© The Irish Times
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Gardaí seize a further £437,000stg in money laundering probe - Paschal Sheehy, Southern Editor, reports on the seizure of money in Cork, Dublin, Offaly and Kerry in the garda investigation into alleged money laundering by republican paramilitaries
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/9news/9news56_2a.smil
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/1583438591HM8CORKMONEY.html
Gardai Focus On Money Trail -V
Barry Roche, Southern Correspondent
Gardaí investigating a Provisional IRA money-laundering operation believe that £2.3 million seized last week was part of a £5 million consignment brought from the North to be channelled through an operation run by a Cork financial adviser.
However, gardaí believe the adviser thought that some £1.5 million was part of the proceeds of the £26.5 million taken in the Northern Bank raid and he believed it was too dangerous for him to handle.
According to an informed source, the adviser stalled on collecting the final £1.5 million of the £5 million haul and the money was instead collected by a republican activist from the greater Cork area who was given responsibility for laundering that money. It is believed the activist divided up the £1.5 million and gave £60,000 to a fellow republican activist for safe-keeping, while he gave an undisclosed sum to a second man who panicked and burned it when gardaí began closing in.
Meanwhile, it is understood that the financial adviser began farming out the money to a number of enterprises, including £250,000 to a businessman in the Tullamore area.
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2005/0222/2598457519HM1PWC.html
PwC Vouched For Firm In Money Inquiry
PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the State's best-known firms of accountants, vouched for a company at the centre of the Garda investigation into IRA money-laundering, writes John McManus
Mr William Roche, who was a partner in the tax and legal services division of PwC, wrote several letters in support of Chesterton Finance Co, which he described as clients of the firm, between 2001 and 2003. An individual described as the "principal" of Chesterton - who cannot be named for legal reasons - is central to the Garda investigation. The company specialised in lending money secured on assets, usually land.
One of the non-executive directors of Chesterton is Mr Phil Flynn, the trade union official turned business consultant. Mr Flynn, a former vice-president of Sinn Féin, has resigned from a number of business and Government posts after being linked to Chesterton last week. He has denied any role in money-laundering, describing the company as "clean".
In a letter dated October 2001, which has been seen by The Irish Times, Mr Roche - who retired from PwC over a year ago - described Chesterton as a client and described it as having an established investment policy "to lend on security of fixed assets where the value of the security is at least twice the amount of the lending".
In another letter, dated February 2003, Mr Roche described the interest rate being offered to potential investors by Chesterton as "in the present economic climate a very good rate".
He points out that stocks and shares are an uncertain investment in the wake of the "terrorist attack in New York on September 11th, 2001".
A third letter from Mr Roche, dated in May of that year, states that "the rate of interest being paid by the company to the investor is way in excess of the deposit rate obtained from a financial institution".
PricewaterhouseCoopers, whose clients include government departments and a number of blue chip companies, declined to comment last night. A spokeswoman for the firm said that it did not comment on client business.
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/2951658906HM8CTBULLMAN.html
Man 'Central' To IRA Money-Laundering Case Granted Bail
A Co Cork chef arrested as part of a Garda investigation into IRA money laundering was granted bail of €30,000 by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday despite Garda objections that he was a "central individual" in an IRA money-laundering operation.
Mr Don Bullman (30), a chef and father-of-two, of Fernwood Crescent, Leghanamore, Wilton, Co Cork was charged last Friday with membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the IRA on February 16th.
The court granted Mr Bullman bail on his own bond of €500 and an independent surety of €30,000. He was ordered to report daily to a local Garda station, to surrender his passport and not to travel outside Co Cork.
The court also ordered him not to associate with anyone convicted of subversive crime or to associate with four named people - Mr Conor McLaughlin, Mr Christopher McElhinney, Mr Tom Hanlon and Mr George Hegarty.
Mr Bullman's counsel, Ms Anne Rowland, said she was not in a position to take up the bail and the court remanded Mr Bullman until March 8th.
Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan, presiding, said that if the court refused bail it would be denying Mr Bullman the presumption of innocence.
Yesterday Det Supt Diarmuid O'Sullivan of the Special Detective Unit, objected to bail and said he believed Mr Bullman would interfere with evidence if granted bail.
He said Mr Bullman was stopped by gardaí in a Northern Ireland-registered jeep at Heuston Station in Dublin last Wednesday. There were two other men in the jeep and Mr Bullman was in the back seat and beside him was a blue holdall. In this was a plastic bag containing a Daz box and the box contained over €94,000. Supt O'Sullivan said Mr Bullman's fingerprints were found on the plastic bag containing the Daz box.
Supt O'Sullivan said Mr Bullman was "a central individual" to the activities of the IRA prior to February 16th and that activity was "a money-laundering operation for the IRA, in which he is central".
He said that six mobile phones were found in the jeep when Mr Bullman was arrested and Mr Bullman had two mobile phones. Gardaí examined text messages and found one message sent to Mr Bullman's phone on February 12th, which said: "Get me a rate for hundred. Make sure it's a good rate. If it's not good we'll walk away."
Cross examined by Ms Rowland, Supt O'Sullivan said that one of the people arrested with Mr Bullman had made a statement saying the money found in the jeep was his and he had taken it out of a bank in the North and was lodging it into another bank.
Supt O'Sullivan said Mr Bullman had told gardaí during questioning that he had been attending a catering trade fair at the RDS and he admitted that he had made an application there in the name "Jerry McCabe, catering officer, Garda Club". He admitted knowing that Garda Jerry McCabe had been shot in Adare and said he used his name as a joke, the superintendent said.
Mr Bullman, in evidence, said: "I am not a member of any unlawful organisation and never was."
© The Irish Times
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Ó Snodaigh baffled about election posters - David McCullagh, Political Correspondent, finds Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh has 'no idea' how his election posters came to be in a van used by five men convicted of IRA membership
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0221/9news/9news56_4a.smil
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/3471941288HM4AENGUS.html
Deputy Has 'No Idea' About Posters -V
Alison Healy
Dublin Sinn Féin TD Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh said last night that he had "absolutely no idea" how his election posters had ended up in a van used by the five men who were jailed yesterday for membership of the Provisional IRA.
Mr Ó Snodaigh is a Sinn Féin deputy for Dublin South Central and is party whip in Leinster House.
He is also a member of the Sinn Féin ardchomhairle and of the party's negotiations team.
"I have absolutely no idea what the men were doing," Mr Ó Snodaigh said in a statement last night.
"Whatever they were at had nothing whatsoever to do with myself or Sinn Féin and those in court were not and are not members of the party, nor were they acting on behalf of the party," the TD said.
He said Sinn Féin could not be answerable for these men's actions.
He told RTÉ News that he only knew one of the five men from when he was growing up in Sandymount in Dublin and that he had not seen him for several years.
"We are obviously aware that in the current climate this will add to people's concerns about the overall state of the peace process," Mr Ó Snodaigh said.
"We will continue to do all that we can to move beyond this crisis and get the process back on track."
© The Irish Times
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President McAleese defers visit to Belfast
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/316118540HM3MCALEESE.html
MLAs Welcome Postponement Of President's Visit -V
Gerry Moriarty
Unionist politicians and loyalist community activists have welcomed the decision by the President, Mrs McAleese, to postpone a visit to a Shankill Road school while on a scheduled visit to Belfast on Thursday.
There was general agreement that a visit to Edenbrook Primary School on the Shankill at this time would be inappropriate because of the continuing fallout from her recent comments that appeared to compare Nazi treatment of the Jews with some Protestant parents engendering distrust of Catholics in their children.
While she apologised for these remarks, such was the strength of unionist reaction there was concern that a visit to the Shankill on Thursday could trigger protests and damage the outreach work in which she and her husband, Dr Martin McAleese, have been engaged with loyalists.
DUP Assembly members Mr Nigel Dodds, Ms Diane Dodds and Mr Nelson McCausland, whose area of representation takes in west and north Belfast, said her remarks caused enormous offence. "By insulting an entire community, Mary McAleese not only did severe damage to her own reputation but she opened deep wounds which only time can heal," they said.
"It remains to be seen whether the Irish President can recover from this appalling incident. However, in the meantime, the Shankill area has been spared the difficulties and divisions which a visit at this time would undoubtedly have caused," the Assembly members added.
Ulster Unionist MLA Mr Fred Cobain and UUP councillor Dr Chris McGimpsey said the President's decision was "sensible".
Mr Cobain said: "I am glad to see that common sense has prevailed. I think it is now important for all involved to step back and take a more circumspect and considered view."
Added Dr McGimpsey: "I welcome the decision of the Irish President to act upon the overwhelming mood of local residents and cancel her visit. This is the sensible position to take."
© The Irish Times
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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0222/1261772326HMLUAS.html
Luas Crash: Five People Suffer Minor Injuries As Truck Collides With Luas
Alison Healy
Five people were taken to hospital last night after a truck collided with the Luas on the Red Line at Queen Street, in the Smithfield area of Dublin.
The tram was travelling into the city when it was derailed in the incident which happened at about 9 p.m. Both the Luas driver and the truck driver were treated for shock at the scene.
A spokeswoman for Luas said the five people had received minor injuries in the incident. Three units of the Dublin Fire Brigade and three ambulances attended the scene and took the injured people to the Mater Hospital.
A Luas incident officer was at the scene last night and services between the Blackhorse stop and Connolly Station were suspended for the night.
A spokeswoman for Luas said it was hoped that the trams would be running as normal this morning.
The Red Line, which runs from Connolly Station to Tallaght, has been the scene of more than 10 accidents since it opened in late September. This accident rate is much higher than on the Green Line, which runs from Sandyford to Tallaght.
However, the Red Line is more complex with 35 road crossings, compared with just six crossings on the Green Line.
© The Irish Times
Table of Contents - Overall
Table of Contents – Feb 2005
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