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March 12, 2005

03/12/05 – Brits Resist Public Finucane Inquiry

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Table of Contents - Overall
Table of Contents – Mar 2005
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IT 03/12/05 Britain Resists Public Finucane Inquiry
IT 03/12/05 Adams Faces Task In US Of Restoring Faith In SF
SF 03/11/05 Adams - Re-Building The Peace Process Must Begin Now
NY 03/11/05 Sinn Fein Leader To Seek Support In U.S.
TO 03/11/05 Now The IRA Wall Of Silence Begins To Crumble
DJ 03/11/05 A Tale Of Two Inquiries
DJ 03/11/05 Brits Discriminating Against SF Voteres – Mclaughlin
DJ 03/11/05 Durkan Meets Garda McCabe's Widow
DJ 03/11/05 'Arrogant' IRA Indulged For Far Too Long – Durkan
UT 03/11/05 Loyalists Deny Threat To Worker
IT 03/12/05 Opin: Tim Pat Coogan: IRA Must Accept The War Is Over
BH 03/11/05 IRA's Time Has Come, Gone
IT 03/12/05 Opin: Realism Of A Very High Order Needed On North
IT 03/12/05 Alliance Against McDowell Plan Formed
DJ 03/12/05 Museum Of Free Derry
ND 03/11/05 Country's Head Hibernian To March In Today's Parade

NW 03/11/05 Cheltenham Festival Preview –VO
NW 03/11/05 Search For A 'Song For Carlow' -VO
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Cheltenham Festival preview - Helen McInerney talks to the owner and trainer of the winner of the Cheltenham Champion Hurdle at last year's festival
http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/2031064.smil

Search for a 'Song for Carlow' - Mary Kennedy looks at the entries in a competition to find a county song for Carlow
http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/2031071.smil

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0312/2853725279HM8FINNUCANE.html

Britain Resists Public Finucane Inquiry

Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent

Britain has refused to make any concessions to the Government over plans to hold an inquiry in private into the killing of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

Serious divisions emerged yesterday at a meeting in London between officials from the Northern Ireland Office, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of the Taoiseach.

The meeting was described by the Department of Foreign Affairs last night as "full and frank", a diplomatic code used when a serious disagreement exists.

The legislation would give ministers the power to order an inquiry to hear evidence in private, and to bar the production of some evidence altogether to protect British national security.

The Irish officials sought concessions on the shape of the Inquiries Bill, which has already been passed by the Lords and will go before the House of Commons next Tuesday.

In particular, the Government wants an inquiry into the 1989 killing of Mr Finucane by the UDA to be held under the 1921 Tribunals of Inquiry Act, which would allow for hearings in public.

Failing that, the Government wanted a change to Clause 20 of the Inquiries Bill so that British ministers would not restrict such an investigation.

The lack of British concessions means that the Finucane inquiry will feature prominently during the Taoiseach's visit to the United States next week.

A spokeswoman said last night that Mr Ahern intends to raise the British stand during his meeting with President George Bush in the White House.

"He is adamant about our position on this. And it hasn't changed. He has mentioned it at every meeting he has had with Tony Blair," the spokeswoman went on.

Earlier this week Mr Ahern described the British government's position as "unsatisfactory" and "not in line or in tandem" with the recommendations made by Canadian judge Peter Cory.

The Taoiseach said then he hoped that yesterday's meeting of officials would have provided the means to "see if we can get an agreed basis".

Judge Cory investigated the most controversial killings of the Troubles, including Mr Finucane's, Robert Hamill in Portadown in 1997, LVF leader Billy Wright in the Maze Prison in 1997 and Rosemary Nelson in Lurgan in 1999.

He may attend a Capitol Hill hearing in Washington into the Finucane killing, which has been organised by Republican congressman Chris Smith.

Mr Finucane's widow, Geraldine, will speak at the hearing, along with Jean Winter of British Irish Human Rights Watch, and Mr Bush's special envoy to Northern Ireland, Dr Mitchell Reiss.

The proposed British legislation has already been sharply criticised by Lord Saville of Newdigate, who chaired the Bloody Sunday inquiry.

Last week he said: "I would not be prepared to be a member of an inquiry if at my back was a minister with power to exclude the public or evidence from the hearings."

The judge, whose concerns are shared by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, and other British legal figures, said: "I take the view that this provision makes a serious inroad into the independence of any inquiry.

"It is likely to damage or destroy public confidence in the inquiry and its findings, especially in any case where the conduct of the authorities may be in question."

The inquiry should itself have the power to decide what evidence was heard in public and what documents were published.

"The idea that this would not be done by the inquiry but by the government, which might have a vested interest in the findings, strikes me as unacceptable."

© The Irish Times

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0312/1616504292HM8MCCARTNEY.html

Adams Faces Task In US Of Restoring Faith In SF

Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams flies out to the United States today for a week of engagements in which he must convince Irish-America and the US administration that, despite the current crisis, Sinn Féin and the IRA remain committed to the peace process.

Mr Adams will be in Washington for St Patrick's Day but will not be attending the annual White House function hosted by President George Bush because he and the other Northern political leaders were not invited due to the current political tumult.

The McCartney sisters and Robert McCartney's partner, Bridgeen, will attend the White House event at the US president's invitation, which is intended to act as a fillip for the family's campaign and a message to republicans that the IRA must end all activity.

The McCartneys travel in the middle of next week. They also hope to meet US politicians such as President Bush's special envoy to Ireland, Mitchell Reiss, Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator Hilary Clinton.

Mr Adams, who also has engagements in New York, New Jersey and Ohio, will be in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday he will meet Dr Reiss at the State Department and later that night attend the America-Ireland Fund dinner.

On St Patrick's morning he will attend a Friends of Sinn Féin breakfast. In the afternoon he will speak at the US National Press Club and then meet Senator Kennedy and the Friends of Ireland Ad-Hoc Committee.

Mr Adams said he would be seeking continuing support from influential figures in the US "so that the task of rebuilding the peace process can begin".

"I will be speaking directly to those who have supported the peace process and Sinn Féin's role in it.

"I will be briefing them on the grave difficulties that the process faces at this time and also outlining the contribution that republicans are willing to make to get the process back on track," he added.

"The peace process is the only way forward, but we have to be realistic. The only aspect of the process which currently exists is the IRA cessation. There are no political institutions, no dialogue, no plans to implement the outstanding aspects of the agreement," said Mr Adams.

"If we are to move out of this deepening crisis, then the starting point has to be genuine dialogue between the parties and the two governments. That is the message that I will be bringing to the US next week," he said.

Mr Adams travels to the US as a Belfast Telegraph/BBC Newsnight polls illustrates that he still commands strong support in Sinn Féin despite the continuing fallout from the murder of Robert McCartney, the Northern Bank raid and the allegations of multi-million-pound IRA money-laundering.

The poll shows that 88 per cent of Sinn Féin supporters believe Mr Adams is performing very well or fairly well. This compares with 93 per cent support two years ago in a similar poll.

A total of 55 per cent of SDLP supporters believe Mark Durkan has performed very well or fairly well. The rating for DUP leader Ian Paisley is 81 per cent.

Ulster Unionist supporters give leader David Trimble 55 per cent support compared to 64 per cent two years ago.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern also performed favourably in the poll, with 54 per of the 1,010 Northern Ireland people interviewed saying he is doing very well or fairly well. This compares with 32 per cent support for British prime minister Tony Blair.

© The Irish Times

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http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/8860

Adams - Re-Building The Peace Process Must Begin Now

Published: 11 March, 2005

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams MP is travelling to the US tomorrow to carry out a extensive series of engagements. Mr. Adams will be in Washington DC, New York and Ohio. Speaking before his departure Mr. Adams said "My message in the United States next week will be very clear - I will be asking those who have supported the peace process and Sinn Féin's role in it, to continue that support so that the task of re-building the peace process can begin." Mr. Adams is in County Meath today where he is campaigning with the party‚s by-election candidate Joe Reilly.

Mr. Adams said:

"For more than a decade now Irish America has played a valuable role in the peace process. When opponents of change were lined up against progress, they intervened in the interests of peace. Next week I will be asking them to do so again. I will be speaking directly to those who have supported the peace process and Sinn Féin's role in it. I will be briefing them on the grave difficulties that the process faces at this time and also outlining the contribution that republicans are willing to make to get the process back on track.

"The peace process is the only way forward but we have to be realistic. The only aspect of the process, which currently exists is the IRA cessation. There are no political institutions, no dialogue, no plans to implement the outstanding aspects of the Agreement.

"If we are to move out of this deepening crisis, then the starting point has to be genuine dialogue between the parties and the two governments. That is the message that I will be bringing to the US next week." ENDS

Itinerary

Saturday, March 12
05:45 PM Friends of Sinn Féin Reception - Cincinnati, Ohio
07:15 PM Friends of Sinn Féin Community Event - Union Hall, Local 392 Plumbers Cincinnati, Ohio

Monday, March 14
07:45AM Council on Foreign Relations Breakfast - New York City
12:00PM Friends of Sinn Féin Luncheon - New York City
04:45PM Transport Workers Union Local 100 - Annual James Connelly Reception New York City
07:30PM Friends of Sinn Féin Reception - New Jersey

Wednesday, March 16
04:00 PM Meeting with Mitchel Reiss at State Department Washington DC
06:30 PM America-Ireland Fund Dinner, Washington, DC

Thursday, March 17
08:00AM Friends of Sinn Féin Breakfast - Washington, DC
03:00 PM National Press Club - Washington, DC
04:30 PM Senator Kennedy - Washington, DC
05:30 PM Friends of Ireland/Ad Hoc Committee - Washington, DC

Friday, March 18
01:00PM John Carroll University (Speech) - University Heights, Ohio
06:00 PM Friends of Sinn Féin Reception - Mayfield Heights, Ohio

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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/12/international/europe/12irish.html

Sinn Fein Leader To Seek Support In U.S.

By The Associated Press
Published: March 12, 2005

BELFAST, Northern Ireland, March 11 (AP) - Facing heavy criticism at home over Irish Republican Army activities, Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, the guerrilla group's political arm, announced Friday a weeklong trip to the United States to seek support from Irish-Americans.

He said his trip would start Saturday in Cincinnati. It also includes a breakfast talk at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and an appearance at a labor hall in the city, and a news conference on March 17 in Washington.

This year, for the first time since 1995, Mr. Adams will not be permitted to raise money, visit the White House or attend official Capitol Hill functions on St. Patrick's Day, March 17.

The diplomatic chill reflects growing impatience in London, Dublin and Washington with the I.R.A.

Recently, it has been accused of the $50 million robbery of a Belfast bank in December, the killing of a Catholic civilian, Robert McCartney, in a Belfast pub brawl in January, and the illegal laundering of millions of dollars. The Irish government has identified Mr. Adams as a current I.R.A. commander.

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1521433,00.html

Now The IRA Wall Of Silence Begins To Crumble

By Ted Oliver

A stand by Belfast sisters against republican rule by fear has become an example to others

IN THE past few weeks, the stand by the sisters and partner of Robert McCartney has captured headlines as they exposed the brutality and cynicism of IRA thugs in their republican working-class areas.

Now their bravery is giving others the courage to speak out. The lid is being lifted on just how the IRA, ceasefire or no ceasefire. seeks to rule and dominate the areas where it and Sinn Fein are dominant.

This week, at a small youth court only yards from where Mr McCartney was murdered outside a Belfast pub, a 13-year-old boy admitted stealing a car radio, criminal damage and possessing a small amount of cannabis. It is a story that has been heard many times in inner-city courts across the United Kingdom.

However, in this case there is one significant difference. After being sentenced by the court he will not be able to return to his home in West Belfast because the IRA has placed him on a punishment list. His mother, who was informed of the threat by police, knows that, should he dare to come back, an IRA gang will take him away and beat him severely.

The family cannot be identified but the boy’s mother has told friends: “He is a bit of a tearaway but he is not a bad lad. Like a lot of his mates, he looks up to older boys in the area who steal cars for joyriding, take drugs and just generally go mad.

“Around here, a kid is either clever and headed for university, in the IRA or a joyrider.

“Grown men, some of whom were active during the real Troubles, are threatening to damage a 13-year-old boy — I don’t know how badly but I can’t take the risk of bringing him back home. He is facing more serious allegations now so I am scared that he might get more than a beating. He is my son, after all.”

The boy is in secret temporary fostercare because secure accommodation is unavailable.

A neighbour said: “We have been living like this for years. The IRA run this place like their own kingdom. There is a lot of crime — stolen cars, burglaries and drugs — but you never report anything to the police. The IRA says it will take care of it.

“I have three children. My eldest, a daughter, is now at university studying law. Her brother is 19 and he has been kneecapped twice and beaten for stealing cars, but thankfully the youngest, who is 15, has stayed out of trouble so far.

“So many people are so proud of the McCartney family, but we aren’t brave enough to do the same.”

Such pressures were tragically shown last year in the Ardoyne area of North Belfast when at least 12 teenagers committed suicide under threat from the Irish National Republican Army, which was fighting a turf war with the Provisionals.

One case that has only begun to be highlighted because of the McCartney campaign is that of James “Dee Dee” McGinley in October 2003. The 23-year-old handyman was stabbed through the heart after an exchange of words with a well-known republican “enforcer” in Bogside, Londonderry.

The family say that the killer is Bart Fisher, sentenced to three years a fortnight ago for manslaughter. He is a member of the IRA and was seen acting as a senior steward close to the Sinn Fein leadership during the most recent commemoration of the Bloody Sunday shootings. Like the McCartney family, McGinley’s family say that the local IRA has closed ranks round Fisher.

Yet another Londonderry family is putting further pressure on the IRA. Mark Fisher, 22, was stabbed and beaten to death in April 2001. No one has been charged with his killing but Sheila Holden, Mr Fisher’s aunt, says that the killer’s identity was well known.

“The IRA cleaned the scene where Mark was killed just like they did with Robert McCartney, and I admire the way his family are standing up to them. They are an example to all who have suffered in silence at the hands of the IRA with no hope of justice.”

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http://www.derryjournal.com/story/6008

A Tale Of Two Inquiries

Friday 11th March 2005

The sister of a man murdered on Bloody Sunday has said she was shocked to see that all the statements and transcripts from the Widgery Tribunal could be stored in a single box.

There is a stark difference between this and the 88 boxes containing the evidence from the Saville Inquiry, which does not include the photographic, audio and video evidence used at Saville.

Jean Hegarty, who's brother Kevin McElhinney was killed on Bloody Sunday, said the single box reveals all anyone needs to know about Widgery.

Ms Hegarty said: "Saville at least looked at the evidence and has seen the truth, whether he reports it or not is a different matter.

"It was always a big criticism of Widgery that they never really looked at all the evidence and this single box proves that beyond any dispute. "I think this one box tells us more about the Widgery Inquiry than the 88 boxes tell us about the Saville Inquiry - but, as I said, at least they have looked at the evidence."

Ms Hegarty said while she was not completely confident of what would come from the Saville Inquiry, she did say at the same time she was not pessimistic either.

She continued: "One thing we can be sure of is that Saville has at the very least done a much more thorough job than Widgery, but we will have to wait and see if they have done a better job.

"They have looked at the truth, though I am not yet 100 per cent sure that all the truth has come out yet, but they have certainly looked at a lot more.

"I have to admit that, even knowing what we do about Widgery now, I was still shocked to see all the evidence could be stored in one small box, I think that says a lot.

"Even though Widgery only sat for a few weeks, you would think that they would have produced more than this.

"Now it's just a waiting game to see if the relatives of the Bloody Sunday victims will finally get justice."

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http://www.derryjournal.com/story/6012

British Discriminating Against Those Who Vote Sinn Fein - McLaughlin

Friday 11th March 2005

Sinn Fein Foyle MLA Mitchel McLaughlin, reacting to the announcement that Paul Murphy will block financial assistance to Sinn Fein's Assembly team, has accused the British government of discriminating against the people who voted for his party.

He said: "Paul Murphy has no right to discriminate against democratically elected Irish politicians."

Mitchel McLaughlin continued: "He has no mandate here in Ireland. The people of Ireland elect us and we are accountable to them.

"We reject these anti-democratic actions by a British government against an Irish political party. This is an act of discrimination against the people who vote Sinn Fein."

He went on: "We will fight this discrimination politically, legally and through an ongoing campaign of democratic resistance. We will go to the nationalist and republican people in elections in May.

"The IMC upon whose report this action is based is not independent. It has no credibility. It is the tool of the securocrats whose stated aim is to prevent the further growth of Sinn Fein and the further development of the peace process."

He concluded: "The British government has no right to act unilaterally if this is a partnership arrangement.

"More importantly, the Irish government has a duty to defend the rights of Irish people and their political representatives."

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http://www.derryjournal.com/story/6017

Durkan Meets Garda McCabe's Widow

Friday 11th March 2005

Side deals by the North's political parties have damaged the peace process, SDLP Leader Mark Durkan said this week after meeting with the widow of Detective Garda Gerry McCabe.

Mr. Durkan said that deals like the one brokered by Sinn Fein on the murder of Detective McCabe, who was shot dead in a hail of IRA bullets after a botched robbery in Limerick in June 1996.

IRA jail-breaker, Strabane man Pearse McCauley, was among four men jailed for between 11 and 14 years for manslaughter following the shooting amid claims of witness intimidation at the trial.

Sinn Fein was given assurances by the Irish Government that McCauley and his IRA comrades would be released as part of the deal to restore the devolved assembly at Stormont last December.

Speaking after his meeting with Ann McCabe, this week Mr. Durkan called for no more side deals in the process.

"The SDLP has always said there should be no side deals where parties are able to barter and bargain on all kinds of issues behind closed doors. It is because parties have been indulged in this way that the process is in the bad state it is in," he said.

"These side deals have never been about the public interest. They have been about the private interests of parties and their private armies. They have never solved anything - they have only damaged confidence in the peace process.

"We have had failed deal after failed deal where people have made demands like the release of Detective Garda McCabe's killers. Why keep repeating that recipe," he asked.

He further called on the Dublin and London Governments to "take a leaf" from Robert McCartney sisters and his partner Bridgeen Hagans.

"They have stated that there are very clear and fair standards of justice which paramilitaries must adhere and adjust to. Until now paramilitaries have acted as if everyone else should adjust to their standards.

"They have expected us all to subscribe to their mindsets. That is why people like Ann McCabe

feel such disgust at what has happened to them," added the SDLP leader..

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http://www.derryjournal.com/story/6007

'Arrogant' IRA Indulged For Far Too Long - Durkan

Friday 11th March 2005

The IRA has become bloated with "arrogance" as a result of being "indulged" and "spoiled" for far too long by both the Irish and British governments, SDLP leader Mark Durkan told the 'Journal' last night.

The Foyle MLA - who is defending the party's Derry seat in the forthcoming Westminster general election - believes the organisation currently finds itself in a "confused and confusing situation." "Given that the IRA has consistently failed to recognise and do what the Agreement requires of them, in my view recent events are as close to inevitable as you can get," he remarked.

The Foyle MLA is further convinced that the IRA has been ' indulged and excused in their failure' by the Sinn Fein leadership.

"Indeed, it seems to me that they have become bloated with arrogance because of the way in which they have been indulged throughout this process," he added.

"You only have to look at the manner in which the governments have managed the process and spun aspects of it which have allowed the IRA to delude themselves that the process revolves around them and that they are the people who almost provide the battery power for the Agreement in terms of what ever next offer and whatever next contribution they are ready to make."

The Foyle MLA says the governments' mismanagement of the process has only succeeded in "spoiling" the IRA and given both Sinn Fein and the IRA a "privileged negotiating advantage."

He said that, in circumstances in which the governments' frequently "turned a blind eye" to ongoing IRA activity, "it was almost understandable but not acceptable that the IRA believed they could act with impunity and, certainly, political immunity."

He said such an " arrogant" mindset obviously took hold within the IRA with regards to the recent murder of Belfast man Robert McCartney.

"Indeed, it was only when the McCartney sisters' campaign began to gain some traction in the media and with politicians that we finally got an acknowledgement from both Sinn Fein and the IRA. The IRA is not used to being dealt with in terms that are clear and straight. In many ways, the governments should learn lessons from the McCartneys in how to deal with an organisation like the Provisional IRA: you set out standards that are clear, legitimate, fair and firm.

"The governments have failed to do this throughout the process. Each time the IRA has come up short on what is needed, the governments have put more efforts into spinning the 'historic', 'unprecedented' and 'groundbreaking' move that the IRA has made rather than showing good authority by saying what is the standards they still have to meet and what remains to be tested."

He added: "Of course, the governments have done this on the assumption that these type of people don't respond to pressure and only work according to their own terms and mindset.

"However, the McCartneys have shown this isn't true because they have been able to force the Provos to move four or five times in as many weeks. If this kind of clear, consistent, principled approach had been there from the governments all along, we may have had positive movement from the IRA much earlier." "Indeed, on this basis, the IRA may not have found themselves in the sort of difficulties, embarrassments and contradictions that they currently find themselves in and, equally, Sinn Fein wouldn't be taking the credibility hits that they are currently taking."

The SDLP leader concluded by underscoring his belief that it is time for the IRA 'to wind up clearly, cleanly and, even at this late stage, early.

"This is the best thing they can do for both Ireland and the peace process," he says.

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http://www.utvinternet.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=57766&pt=n

Loyalists Deny Threat To Worker

Loyalist paramilitaries were not involved in a threat which forced the closure of a benefits office, it was claimed today.

By:Press Association

Union representatives have warned the centre in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim will remain shut until further notice following a staff walk-out.

The protest was over a threat issued to an employee while at work.

A notice on the job centre revealed the action was taken because of intimidation by a paramilitary organisation.

But after the Nipsa trade union called on politicians to condemn the incident, Newtownabbey councillor Tommy Kirkham said he found it abhorrent.

"Many people are dependent on the services provided through this office," he said.

"However, there are agencies set up who can deal with the legitimacy of threats and can verify any threat within a couple of hours.

"This would reduce the need to close for two days in some cases."

But Mr Kirkham, a spokesman for the Ulster Political Research Group which advises the Ulster Defence Association, insisted no loyalist groupings were to blame.

He said: "All three groups (UDA, UVF and Red Hand Commando) confirmed that with me.

"No loyalist grouping was responsible for issuing such threats.

"They are mystified as to who would have been responsible."

Earlier union official Tony McMullan told of staff anger at how one of their colleagues had been treated.

"Our members working in the jobs and benefits office only want to provide a high-class level of service to the public in the local area," he said.

Benefits for those due to sign-on in the last two days will not be affected by the closure, the Social Security Agency said.

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2005/0312/2094138219OPTIMPAT.html

Opin: Tim Pat Coogan: IRA Must Accept That The War Is Over

The Northern peace process and the development of Irish democracy need Sinn Féin - but the party and the IRA must now go their separate ways, writes Tim Pat Coogan.

Recent events have created a new political reality. Within a few short weeks Sinn Féin's links with the IRA have created an image of the party advancing on power with the writings of Pádraig Pearse in one hand and a picture of Tony Soprano in the other.

The republican movement preserved unity until the Belfast Agreement by using the "ballot box and Armalite" formula. The peace dividend, combined with Sinn Féin's hard work and political skills, subsequently overcame the split (from the "Real IRA") and brought the party great electoral rewards, with more seemingly certain to follow.

But almost overnight a gut-wrenching choice, which was being talked about anyhow, has suddenly become a political imperative for holding on to its gains. With renewed violence ruled out, the republican movement now has two realistic choices:

Either the IRA acknowledges that the war is over, that the situation has moved on, and stands down of its own volition.

Or Sinn Féin acknowledges that remaining linked with the IRA means having its image destroyed by the resultant mud (and blood) splashes, and instead publicly breaks with it while continuing to attempt to achieve republican goals by demonstrably, unassailably, constitutional methods.

My preference would be for the first option, which would lessen tensions and enable the IRA and its supporters who have lost loved ones to preserve some dignity and respect.

For the force-versus-political-action debate is the oldest and most agonising in the history of this State. The State itself was mid-wifed from it, and the debate resulted in the foundation of Cumann na nGaedheal, Fianna Fáil, Clann na Poblachta, Sinn Féin, the Workers' Party and Democratic Left.

All these parties eventually came to a point when it had to be recognised that the price of maintaining unity within the republican family meant, in effect, that the political leadership of the constitutionalists had responsibility without authority. It is Sinn Féin's karma that it, too, must now face that reality.

The current situation is bad enough for Sinn Féin in the light of the Northern Bank robbery, the murder of Robert McCartney and the issuing of the IRA statement which proclaimed that an organisation, supposedly observing a ceasefire, was ready, willing and able to kill people.

But even in the wake of this, some republican apologists still defiantly use defensive arguments which, while they may resonate in the ghetto, sound a death knell among would-be Sinn Féin voters south of the Border.

This week (March 10th) Daily Ireland editorialised that critics of the IRA statement would care little "if and when someone ends up in the dock charged with [ the McCartney] murder" . . . whether that person got there via "a face-to-face across a kitchen table in Belfast or two days hanging upside down in a cattle shed in Co Louth."

People would care very deeply in the South. But in the North we are coming to the marching season when the abnormal is normal. This year, as they have done for over a century, Orangemen will turn their faces from their Catholic neighbours for some weeks before the Twelfth, dance drunkenly around their huge, tribal fires, insult their neighbours' religion and march where they are not wanted.

And in Catholic ghetto areas people will sleep easier knowing that there are republican volunteers watching out for loyalist death squads.

And while all this is going on everyone will take it as a given that it is quite normal to suspend all political dialogue for the summer until the marching season is over and the Klansmen are at rest.

Nevertheless, that in the Republic and the wider constituency - and this includes George Bush's post-9/11 Washington - Sinn Féin seeks to influence the idea of voting for a party joined at the hip to an organisation which could even contemplate hanging people upside down for days is totally out of touch with reality.

And the publicity is set to get worse. Police investigations into the Northern Bank robbery can hardly fail to turn up more damning material. The Cab is getting its teeth into paramilitary money-laundering. On a more serious level, the families of other men said to have been murdered by the IRA are taking heart from the McCartney family's courage and are intent on having these cases reopened and pursued. So long as the IRA exists such killings are nearly inevitable.

Discipline within both the green and the orange paramilitaries is subject to fluctuation.

I remember during the Troubles, after the shooting of a garda in Wexford, a breach of the IRA's standing order No 8, that the IRA volunteer involved was ordered to give himself up, which he did, and served a sentence.

On the orange side I remember Andy Tyrie, the head of the UDA, personally going to the Belfast home of a UDA man who had been granted a temporary release from Mountjoy Prison but did not want to return, putting him in a car and driving him back to jail.

The contrast between either event and Sinn Féin's current inability to control Robert McCartney's killers says all that is required on the subject of authority as opposed to responsibility.

But while the Dublin anti-republican elite, its guru Michael McDowell and some sections of the media have seized upon Sinn Féin's discomfiture to go clog-dancing on what it hopes will be Sinn Féin's political coffin, let us remind ourselves that the peace process, and the development of Irish democracy, need Sinn Féin.

They'll be needed on the streets of Belfast to help ensure that rioting does not develop into a wider August 1969-type conflagration. And when the present clamour dies down, the Irish and British governments will still have to do business with these people.

So, some day, will the main beneficiary of the current state of play, the man now wearing the wall-to-wall grin, Ian Paisley, the man who threw the peace process into chaos before Christmas. The man whose malign influence at a time when Seán Lemass and Terence O'Neill were trying to bring North and South together not alone wrecked their efforts but had a direct influence on the political climate which gave rise to the Provisional IRA in the first place and kept the IRA alive thereafter.

Even if there was no criminality I would be suspicious of the Great Disturber's intentions towards Dublin, nationalism and Catholicism. But it is quite certain that so long as the IRA's activities offer him an excuse not to deal, deal he will not. For all his folksy old grandad interview with Dana, that old bigot is still capable of All Kinds of Everything.

Is Sinn Féin capable of holding an extraordinary ardfheis, where all can see the debate, the pain and the honesty of purpose which will be attendant on the party separating from the IRA?

Is the IRA willing to stand down voluntarily and without humiliation? It was talked of as part of the aborted pre-Christmas deal. It should be done now because it is right.

The coming Easter would be an appropriate time for republicans to answer those questions, although realistically, if such a development is to come, it would probably have to wait until at least the end of the marching season. But certainly the time has passed when a statement from P O'Neill would be sufficient reassurance.

Tim Pat Coogan is a former editor of the Irish Press and author of biographies of Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera as well as On the Blanket; The IRA; 1916: The Easter Rising; and The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal 1966-1996 and the Search for Peace.

© The Irish Times

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http://news.bostonherald.com/opinion/view.bg?articleid=72894

IRA's Time Has Come, Gone

By Boston Herald editorial staff

Saturday, March 12, 2005

It doesn't seem that long ago that Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was invited to the Clinton White House for St. Patrick's Day celebrations, peace from sectarian violence seemed assured and Adams himself was being compared to South Africa's Nelson Mandela.
This year the honored guests at the White House festivities will be five Catholic sisters from Belfast who have gone very public with their insistence that their brother, Robert McCarthy, was murdered by thugs from the Irish Republican Army. This year neither Adams nor any political leader from Northern Ireland is on the White House guest list and a piece on the oped page of Wednesday's Wall Street Journal poses this question:

``Is the Irish republican movement the Hezbollah of Ireland, a state within a state? The south Irish mainstream fears as much,'' writes author Dean Godson.

While the eyes of the world have been focused on the Middle East and on the Orange Revolution in Yugoslavia, progress in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday accords of 1998 seems at a standstill.

Another St. Patrick's Day and another Good Friday loom, but when it comes to the IRA and its political wing things just get stranger and stranger.

This week a statement from the IRA tacitly acknowledged its role in the killing of McCarthy and offered to kill four people it blames for the Jan. 30 murder. Apparently the rule of law is something the IRA isn't much bothered by.

In response, President Bush's envoy to Northern Ireland, Mitchell Reiss, told BBC radio in Belfast, ``It's time for the IRA to go out of business. And it's time for Sinn Fein to be able to say that explicitly, without ambiguity, without ambivalence, that criminality will not be tolerated.''

The courage of the McCarthy sisters, speaking out against the IRA and its campaign of intimidation among Belfast's Catholic community is to be applauded - as it no doubt will be by President Bush [related, bio].

And Bush is right to insist that thugs and terrorists have no place in a civil society though they may speak with a familiar accent about a day when their cause was a just one.

It doesn't seem that long ago that Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was invited to the Clinton White House for St. Patrick's Day celebrations, peace from sectarian violence seemed assured and Adams himself was being compared to South Africa's Nelson Mandela.
This year the honored guests at the White House festivities will be five Catholic sisters from Belfast who have gone very public with their insistence that their brother, Robert McCarthy, was murdered by thugs from the Irish Republican Army. This year neither Adams nor any political leader from Northern Ireland is on the White House guest list and a piece on the oped page of Wednesday's Wall Street Journal poses this question:

``Is the Irish republican movement the Hezbollah of Ireland, a state within a state? The south Irish mainstream fears as much,'' writes author Dean Godson.

While the eyes of the world have been focused on the Middle East and on the Orange Revolution in Yugoslavia, progress in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday accords of 1998 seems at a standstill.

Another St. Patrick's Day and another Good Friday loom, but when it comes to the IRA and its political wing things just get stranger and stranger.

This week a statement from the IRA tacitly acknowledged its role in the killing of McCarthy and offered to kill four people it blames for the Jan. 30 murder. Apparently the rule of law is something the IRA isn't much bothered by.

In response, President Bush's envoy to Northern Ireland, Mitchell Reiss, told BBC radio in Belfast, ``It's time for the IRA to go out of business. And it's time for Sinn Fein to be able to say that explicitly, without ambiguity, without ambivalence, that criminality will not be tolerated.''

The courage of the McCarthy sisters, speaking out against the IRA and its campaign of intimidation among Belfast's Catholic community is to be applauded - as it no doubt will be by President Bush [related, bio].

And Bush is right to insist that thugs and terrorists have no place in a civil society though they may speak with a familiar accent about a day when their cause was a just one.

******************************************

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2005/0312/2036986273HMMANSERGH.html

Opin: Realism Of A Very High Order Needed On North

Martin Mansergh

More than 10 years after the first IRA ceasefire, the advantages of having an "undefeated" standing army must be a decidedly mixed blessing for the republican political leadership.

The acceptance of military defeat by republicans in 1923, which ended the Civil War, blocked off certain paths and made for greater political clarity among its leaders.

The year 1924 was one in which Sinn Féin and the IRA, like today, were different faces of the one movement.

Fr J. Anthony Gaughan's Austin Stack: Portrait of a Separatist, published in 1977, prints in an addendum minutes kept by Mary MacSwiney of a meeting of Comhairle na dTeachtaí on August 7th to 8th and presided over by Eamon de Valera.

It was made up of republican deputies of the second Dáil as well as those elected in the pact election of June 1922 and in the general election of August 1923.

At that time "faithful" members of the second Dáil claimed to be an emergency government de jure, not in a position to exercise its functions de facto.

Interesting from today's viewpoint is their discussion on what was legitimate and permissible.

Seán McEntee raised the issue as to whether they should have the wide powers of a validly established and constituted government over the life and property of every citizen.

If so, he could not assent to that, as a government using such powers must be freely chosen by the people under no duress whatever and govern with the assent of the majority.

De Valera agreed that they had no power of life and death, and that "we can have no sanction of force". Outside a war situation, he could not be a member of a government arrogating to itself such powers, unless it was both the de jure and the de facto government of the country.

"The criminal side is a matter we will not be able to deal with except by public opinion and expulsion from the body of citizenry," de Valera said. The following day he repeated: "We will not permit or sanction any executions."

Countess Markievicz stated: "If we attempt to execute a man for common murder we should be acting as a junta."

De Valera went on to say that if the army disobeyed or any attempt was made to take life, they would immediately disclaim all responsibility and regard those responsible as traitors. It would never be that simple.

Today we all believe that we have peace, even though the republican movement has never formally declared, as de Valera did in May 1923, that "the war, so far as we are concerned, is finished".

Even in terms of republican ideology, leaving aside Sinn Féin's signed-up commitment to the Mitchell Principles, how can a peacetime IRA usurp powers of justice that belong only to legitimately constituted government, clearly defined and ratified by the people in the Good Friday agreement, which includes the present fallback position of direct rule with British-Irish consultation?

How can shootings, robberies and intimidation be legitimised by their alleged political purpose or be other than criminal?

It would help enormously in the present fraught situation if there was clarity about this. There will never be agreement about the IRA campaign, which most people abhorred. Making its cessation complete in all its manifestations is the sine qua non of democratic progress in Ireland and of a viable and sustainable political dynamic.

A good deal of sense and nonsense is spoken at ardfheiseanna, Sinn Féin's included. At one level it would be hard to fault the content of the passionate statements by Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness on bringing to justice those involved in slaughtering Robert McCartney, even if republican reaction to popular feeling was distinctly tardy. Results are needed.

Denis Bradley, vice-chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, put his finger on it when on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland last Wednesday, he partly attributed the current contortions of the republican movement to its determination to try and avoid giving any support or credibility to new policing, an issue still being ruthlessly exploited as an electoral battering-ram against the SDLP.

Yet it is Sinn Féin that is outside the nationalist consensus on this. The McCartney family wants justice in the courts, not a compounding of the original offence by the IRA.

The IRA's Green Book, with its cringe-making ideology of an anonymous and wholly unaccountable paramilitary "government of the Irish Republic", belongs to the era of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and its obsolete doctrines. How far Adams's apparent recognition last weekend of the legitimacy of this republic has been internalised by the movement is unclear.

Nonsense includes the demonisation of Eoin MacNeill's grandson, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, who articulates in no understated fashion the impatience of people who feel the process has been dragged out for far too long and who now demand clarity. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, for his part, is more concerned to win the peace rather than win the argument.

The claim by Mitchel McLaughlin that all that survives of the peace process is the IRA ceasefire, as if they were somehow the heroes of the hour, is nonsensical.

Did no one with an ounce of political savvy have advance sight of the IRA statement? The chasm in mentality and in values to be bridged represents an awesome challenge.

No one in the governments or other political parties has the stomach for a further painstaking attempt to put the institutions back, if it is only to see them collapse again within a few weeks or months because of a further breach of trust, lukewarm IRA commitment and a refusal to carry out what is required to restore confidence.

A self-styled revolutionary party may not attach much importance to stability, preferring to demand a Green Paper on a united Ireland rather than knuckle down to making the Good Friday agreement work.

Political leadership and realism of a very high order are needed.

© The Irish Times

******************************************

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0312/4088870682HM7ANTISOCIAL.html

Alliance Against McDowell Plan Formed

Kitty Holland

A coalition of church, civil liberties and children's rights groups has been formed to fight the introduction of new "draconian" powers to deal with "anti-social" behaviour.

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has confirmed his intention to introduce Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) before the end of the year, saying they had worked well in Britain.

In Britain, where they were introduced in 1998, ASBOs can be applied for by local authorities, police forces or registered social landlords, against any youth over the age of 10 allegedly involved in anti-social behaviour.

The young person is brought before the courts on a civil basis and an ASBO is made against them. If the order is breached the matter becomes a criminal matter, and the young person can be arrested.

Anti-social behaviour is defined as any "which causes harassment, alarm and distress".

The Coalition Against ASBOs - which includes the Children's Rights Alliance, the ISPCC, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Amnesty International, the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice and the Irish Youth Council - said yesterday ASBOs were not a means of dealing with the problem and would criminalise young people.

"The fact that the order is a civil order means that the burden of proof is on the balance of probabilities and not 'beyond reasonable doubt'," it said.

An order against a young person could be made on hearsay evidence, the coalition said, and ASBOs would be used disproportionately against young people from disadvantaged areas.

UCC law lecturer Ursula Kilkelly said that in Britain ASBOs had led to an increase in the number of young people in custody.

A third of young people against whom ASBOs had been made breached them and half of these ended up in custody, Ms Kilkelly said. The idea of introducing them here was "appalling" and they would have a "net-widening" effect. They would undermine the Children's Act which says custody should be the sanction of last resort.

The union representing probation and welfare officers has described Mr McDowell's plans as a "paper tiger". Impact probation spokesman Oliver Fallon said his members had not been consulted.

He expressed concern at the possible increasing criminalisation of young people, but doubted whether there would be an increase in the number of young people in custody.

"There aren't the places to put them," he said. There were 34 places in Oberstown and 26 in Trinity House which were almost always full. There were real problems with anti-social behaviour and young people, Mr Fallon said.

"We have real concerns about juvenile justice and are currently trying to roll out the Children's Act, with limited resources," he added.

© The Irish Times

******************************************

http://www.derryjournal.com/story/6028

Museum Of Free Derry

Friday 11th March 2005

It's been seven years in the planning but the Bogside's Glenfada Park is finally going to be the site of the Museum of Free Derry, due to open in August.

'The Journal' marked this historic occasion by talking to the project co-ordinator, Adrian Kerr, about what exactly the museum will entail and the positive impact it will have on the local community.

Adrian explained: "The museum will start off with a history of the Bogside, it will then move on to the Stormont years from the 1920s - 60s, then it will look at Derry in the 60s and the self-help mentality with groups like Derry Housing Action Committee, then on to the Civil Rights movement, the Battle of the Bogside, then internment, of course Bloody Sunday and finishing with Operation Motorman.

"As the museum develops we will bring it right up to the present day. We also hope to set up a National Civil Rights Archive in the next few years as part of the museum. "When we speak about Free Derry, it's important to remember that Free Derry was in different places at different times, barricades moved so where the barricades were in 1969 would have been different to where they were in 1971.

"So, bearing that in mind, when we talk about Free Derry, we are referring to the old South Ward, including the Bogside, Brandywell, Bishop Street and Creggan."

Adrian explained how the museum will, in a sense, belong to the people of the area, without whose help it could not exist.

He continued: "We have around 20,000 to 25,000 items all relating to the history of the area, documents, photos and banners etc.

"The amazing thing is that all these items, except one, came from the local community; everything relating to that time has been kept so it shows how important that period in history is to people here.

"There are strong connections between Derry of the 60s and Derry now. It was a time when the community took control of its own destiny, with a strong ethos on self help and that is still happening in the community today.

"We cannot ignore our history, what happened then has shaped our community today, and although everyone is aware of it

and has a good idea of what happened, we want the museum to put that in context.

"We are telling our part of the story. If there was one official museum of the Troubles who would be trusted to set it up? This is part of the story we know and we can tell, there are other parts we wouldn't dream of trying to tell.

"We see this as complementary to other museums such as the one being set up in the Fountain which in turn tells another part of the story from another perceptive. "It's not about who's right or wrong, it just shows the two different perceptions and that's what is important."

Adrian went on to explain that the museum would look at both the negative and positive aspects of local history.

He said: "This was a time in our history when a lot of negative things happened and we're taking that and trying to create a positive legacy. But it's important to remember that along with the negative, a lot of positive things came about as well, such as a community empowering itself, which is something that is sometimes overlooked. "This museum is first and foremost for the people of Derry but it will obviously attract a lot of visitors and tourists as well. "Glenfada Park was the natural choice for the site of the museum as it is central to most of the events that will be covered in the museum. In fact the building still holds the last remaining physical evidence of Bloody Sunday in the area as there are two bullet holes on the face of the building.

"But as well as this Glenfada Park also places the museum at the heart of what is now one of the main tourist attractions in the city. It will be only yards from the Bloody Sunday Monument, Free Derry Corner and the Bogside Artists' murals.

"The museum will provide a focal point for tourists interested in this area and provide a context for other points of interest. Even on a very basic practical level the museum will be right in the heart of the city."

Adrian concluded by explaining his hopes for the Museum of Free Derry in the future.

He added: "In ten years time I would like to see the archive well up and running, have the museum expanded to tell the whole story right up to the present day, and see the museum fulfilling the role we've always intended it to fill. By that I mean we want the museum to be more than just a museum but to be a fully functioning part of the community."

Anyone wishing to find out more about the Museum of Free Derry can ring 028 7136 0880 or check out the website http://www.museumoffreederry.org .

******************************************

Ned McGinley

WADK radio host Bob Sullivan, left, jokes with Ned McGinley, right, national president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, after Sullivan's show Friday on which McGinley was a guest. In the background are AOH member Joe Brady, left, and former Newport Mayor Robert J. McKenna. (David Hansen/Daily News photo)

http://www.newportdailynews.com/articles/2005/03/12/news/news1.txt

Country's Head Hibernian To March In Today's Parade

By James J. Gillis/Daily News staff

NEWPORT - As national president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Ned McGinley gets to travel the world. This weekend has brought him to Newport, where he faces an action-packed schedule of social events.

"We were actually here once before," said McGinley, who is from Wilkes-Barre, Pa. "We were driving back from the Cape and drove through. My wife likes to go through different areas. That was probably 20 years ago."

But it's more than a drive-through this time around. McGinley was scheduled to march in today's 49th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.

"I've marched in snow and rain and wind, especially wind in March," he said.

He is expected to face a bit of all three today. Overnight snow was expected to taper off by 10 a.m., but Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass., predicted occasional snow or rain showers throughout the day. Temperatures will barely get above freezing, and winds will gust to 30 mph, he said.

"It'll be raw, cold and windy," Dunham said.

Joe Brady, membership committee chairman for the Newport Hibernians, has served as McGinley's local guide, accompanying him to various social events, a stop at some pubs and a talk show visit with WADK's Bob Sullivan. On Thursday night, McGinley visited the newly refurbished Hibernian Hall on Wellington Avenue.

"Wow, what a building this is," he said to his wife, Mary Ellen. "This is amazing."

The Ancient Order of Hibernians is more than a social organization for McGinley, not that he shied away from enjoying a Guinness when he arrived. In his second term, McGinley said the organization has taken a Pennsylvania hunger program and made it a national activity.

Coats for the poor and scholarships also are in the mix. Brady said local Hibernians work toward the same goals, with an annual scholarship program. Often the group works under the radar, he said, providing for the local needy.

"But if someone needs help for anything, we're here and we'll give 100 percent of what we can," Brady said. "We help with fund-raising. We're here to help. And we are very proud to have the national president here with us."

When McGinley visits Ireland he meets with dignitaries and political leaders such as Gerry Adams, head of the Sinn Fein Party. Last month, McGinley was one of nine prominent Irish-Americans to sign a letter urging British Prime Minister Tony Blair to keep the 1998 Irish Peace Accord intact, despite some struggles.

The Hibernians are an Irish-Catholic organization. McGinley said the group favors a united Ireland, with the largely Protestant Northern Ireland and the predominantly Catholic Republic of Ireland. "Our goal is a united Ireland through all peaceable means," he said.

Brady and McGinley met at a convention more than a year ago. Brady invited McGinley to the 2004 St. Patrick's Day Parade but he was unavailable. Brady jokingly said that McGinley would've been better off last year, when the parade day was relatively mild and sunny.

McGinley is the hearty type. A retired English teacher, he has coached wrestling at Kings College in Pennsylvania for 30 years. Through sports, McGinley met some Hibernians who inspired him to start a chapter in his home area.

The 61-year-old national president jogs regularly. On Friday, he took to the local roads with Rhode Island State Trooper Frank Sullivan, a local Hibernian. McGinley said he had no plans to challenge Sullivan in a foot race.

"He's young and he looks like he's in great shape," McGinley said.

"I run for about 40 minutes. I'm kind of a tourist jogger. I like to look at the sites. And there are a lot of beautiful things to see here, from what I can tell."

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