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)

April 29, 2005

SF's Manifesto Challenges

News About Ireland & The Irish

BB 04/29/05 Sinn Fein's Manifesto Challenges
SF 04/29/05 Real Peace Is Most Important Issue Facing Irish Today
DI 04/29/05 SF Hits Out At Orde
DJ 04/29/05 SDLP/SF Remove Info In Postal Row
IT 04/30/05 SDLP Hopes Of Keeping Hume's Seat Depend On High Turnout
BB 04/29/05 PSNI Probe Vote Fraud Allegation
BB 04/29/05 Republicans Heckle Sinn Fein
UT 04/29/05 Sinn Fein Leaders Face Fresh Demands Over McCartney Case
BT 04/29/05 Sectarian Attack On Integrated Pupils
BB 04/29/05 Durkan Hopes To Foil SF Advance
EX 04/29/05 Opin: Adams Joins Leaders Who Use Partition For Their Own Ends
BB 04/29/05 Profile: Gerry Adams
IE 04/29/05 Nelson Kin Optimistic At Start Of Inquiry
IT 04/30/05 Unionists Are Opting For Paisley's Bludgeon
IT 04/30/05 Work On Bewley's Granted An Exemption By Council
IT 04/30/05 Final Irish Tsunami Victim Found


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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/vote_2005/northern_ireland/4497509.stm

Sinn Fein's Manifesto Challenges

Sinn Fein has laid down challenges for the two governments and unionists if the IRA decides to
abandon the "armed struggle" for purely political means.

Launching their election manifesto, party president Gerry Adams also called for the British
government to move on policing and justice issues.

He said unionists in Northern Ireland must accept equality and human rights.

Mr Adams also said the Irish government would have to address what he called "the united
Ireland agenda".

The party's manifesto, published on Friday, called for the scaling down of military bases and the
Army's presence in Northern Ireland.

It claimed it was unacceptable that, eight years after the Good Friday Agreement, more British
troops were in the province than in Iraq.

The party stressed the importance of transferring responsibility for policing and justice from
Westminster to the next government at Stormont.

Sinn Fein also said in the event of the powers being devolved, Gerry Adams would recommend to
his national executive that a special party conference be held, but only once the British
government had enacted new policing legislation.

The main points of the Sinn Fein manifesto include:

Repealing anti-terror legislation

Setting up a proper inquiry into alleged security force collusion with loyalists in the 1989 murder
of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane

Rejecting water charges in Northern Ireland and privatisation of services

Increasing capital gains tax for owners of several homes, a 50% tax band for incomes in excess of
£100,000, removing the low-paid out of the tax net

Seeking a green paper from the Irish government setting out its strategy for a united Ireland, with
a minister of state appointed in Dublin to oversee this

Economic planning for Irish unity such as the development of a common currency throughout the
island and a harmonised tax regime

Seeking participation for Northern Ireland's 18 MPs in the Irish Republic's parliament and senate

Additional funding for small rural primary schools to keep them open, expanding the school
breakfast programme and after-schools clubs

Ending academic selection with all-ability comprehensive schools for 11 to 18-year-olds

Extending student loans and grants programmes, abolishing top-up fees and establishing an Irish
language higher education sector

Creating a minister for children at Stormont and increasing the level of child benefit

Moving towards an all-Ireland health service

Introducing a properly resourced waste management strategy based on reduction, reuse and
recycling, rejecting incineration to dispose of waste

Introducing early retirement schemes in farming, the lifting of the beef export ban in Brussels and
the removal of UK status from food exports from Northern Ireland

Creating a commissioner for the Irish language in Northern Ireland and a commissioner for senior
citizens.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/04/29 12:48:51 GMT
© BBC MMV

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

See complete copy of SF Manifesto at:
http://www.sinnfein.ie/pdf/Westminster05Manifesto.pdf

http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/9404

Real And Lasting Peace Is The Most Important Issue Facing The Irish People Today

Published: 29 April, 2005

Sinn Féin General Secretary Mitchel McLaughlin speaking at the launch of the party's manifesto
for the Westminster election said "

"Real and lasting peace is the most important issue facing the Irish people today. Defending and
advancing the peace process is Sinn Féin's primary focus. We need to halt the downward spiral
and the pointless recriminations. Peace is too important. The peace process is too important.

On April 6th, Gerry Adams took a major initiative to:

· Revive the peace process

· Remove unionist excuses for non-engagement

· Put the onus firmly on the Irish and British governments to move forward

"Gerry Adams initiative is a huge challenge, not just to the IRA, but also to all other participants in
the process to face up to their responsibilities.

"We now have an unprecedented opportunity to make progress, to finally and conclusively deal
with outstanding issues and to see the Good Friday Agreement realised in full.

"Sinn Féin is about building a political alternative. Our Westminster manifesto sets out in detail
our policies on defending and advancing the peace process, on protecting public services, on
tackling the crisis in rural communities and on redressing structural inequality. We also set out
our approach to improving the health service and education system and a range of other social,
economic and cultural issues.

"The under-funding crisis that has engulfed all of the Education Library Boards has been
mismanaged and frontline services are now under threat. The Executive's Children Fund was
abolished and there have been cuts in funding for community groups and rural development
groups. Plans to improve the health service were abandoned and it is under increasing pressure.
The crisis in the agriculture industry continues to be ignored as does the crumbling infrastructure
and of course we have attempts to introduce water charges.

"In recent years the electorate has backed Sinn Féin in growing numbers. In this election we are
the strongest pro-Agreement party, we are the strongest nationalist party and we are the only all-
Ireland party.

"A vote for Sinn Féin in this election is a vote for the peace process. It is an endorsement of our
role in that process. It is a vote for a free, united and independent Ireland. It is a vote for change.
It is a vote for a republican alternative that puts equality and change at the heart of society.

"Sinn Fein is standing candidates across all 18 constituencies and on May 5th I am asking the
electorate to endorse our work and vote Sinn Féín."ENDS


Sinn Féin's priorities are:

· Seeking support for Gerry Adams initiative to rebuild the peace process

· Challenging the British and Irish governments to deliver on their responsibilities on
demilitarisation, equality, human rights, Irish language and justice and policing

· Challenge unionism to reject sectarianism and accept equality and inclusivity

· Transfer of powers on policing and justice

· Campaigning to get the Taoiseach to commission a Green Paper on Irish unity

· The 18 Westminster MPs to be automatically accorded membership of the Dáil, with consultative
and voting rights

· Campaigning with others, including the SDLP, for the holding of a Border Referendum.

· The introduction of an Irish Language Bill for the North

· A strategy to eradicate the unemployment differential between Catholic and Protestant males

· The development of an all-Ireland economy with one tax regime, one currency and economic
strategies that benefit the island as a whole

· An an-Ireland approach to agriculture and co-ordinated cross-departmental programme for rural
development

· A Minister for Children and the publication of an all-Ireland 'State of our Children' report

· Universally available, publicly funded pre-school education for all children from the age of three
to five years

· The extension of student loans and grant programmes and the abolition of student top up fees

· A free, prompt and co-ordinated breast-screening programme for all women over 40

· Opposing water charges and the privatisation agenda being pursued by direct rule ministers

· A total ban on tobacco advertising and smoking in the workplace, alongside restrictions on
smoking in public places

· Opposing incineration as a means of waste disposal and calling on all councils to have a
minimum target of 50% recycling by 2010

· The establishment of an all-Ireland Environmental Protection Agency with strong enforcement
powers

· Department of Social Development to be stripped of housing power with the Housing Executive
to take the lead role in the build and supply of social housing

· A time limited programme to make all public transport accessible

· Fundamental review of the standard of living of senior citizens, including pension provision, cost
of living, fuel poverty and disposable income

· The creation of a Minister for Europe in any future Assembly

· All political parties to sign an anti-racist pledge

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

http://www.derryjournal.com/story/6389

Unionism Must Do Business With Republicans - Mclaughlin

Friday 29th April 2005

Sinn Fein's Mitchel McLaughlin says unionism knows it must do business with republicans.

The Foyle Westminster candidate says: "This was evident last December when the DUP was
persuaded to embrace the Good Friday Agreement."

He added: "Sinn Fein goes into these election as the largest pro-Agreement party. We are asking
the electorate to confirm that status.

"After the election we want to do business with unionism. We are seeking an increased mandate
for that.

"In my view unionism knows, even though it might not admit it at this time, that it needs to do
business with republicans. "Ian Paisley knows this. Despite his current protestations he has, quite
rightly in my view, conceded the principle of powersharing. There may be issues of timing to be
resolved but unless the DUP lose their nerve all this is doable. "Beyond the politics of the peace
process there are other big issues of job creation, water charges, education and health, racism
and sectarianism which need to be tackled.

"All of these effect every individual and every family, whether they are unionist, nationalist or
republican.

"So there is a need to take political power back under local democratic control and to work
together to

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

http://62.253.251.16/dailyireland/home.tvt?_ticket=V8LOX98PBHSJ53J94NNAD02I9LLDNVP5TRRIVQNAFNXHAMLALMZFURUQC609ANWRBLPEBHSJ5LE1HONDNMTEGPKACN1FURUQS6&_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News&id=3581&opp=1

SF Hits Out At Orde

PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde has once again been accused of making a “political
intervention” after he told reporters that IRA activity is continuing.

“We know they are still recruiting, they still target, they still carry out the activities that they have
always done with the exception of actually going out to kill soldiers, police, civilians, members of
the public,” Mr Orde said in Belfast.

Mr Orde, however, said that it is his view that “the Provisional IRA are not going back to an armed
struggle”.

“That is my current assessment. They have the capability. They have the capacity.

The Chief Constable’s comments come exactly one week before the general and local elections in
the North.

Dismissing Mr Orde’s intervention as “political”, Sinn Féin general secretary Mitchel McLaughlin
said his party “will not allow Hugh Orde, or anyone else, to distract us from our efforts to rebuild
the political process and see the recent initiative by Gerry Adams built upon”.

“At a time when those of us in the leadership of Sinn Féin are concentrating on rebuilding the
political process and following on from confirmation that the IRA have authorised a discussion on
its future direction, nationalists and republicans will view Hugh Orde’s comments as yet another
political intervention from the PSNI,” Mr Laughlin said.

“When Hugh Orde took over the reins of the PSNI he told us that he would not mix policing with
politics.

“Unfortunately on a number of occasions he has insisted on making very overt political
interventions.

“Given the fact that these latest remarks come in the midst of an election campaign and at a time
when the initiative by Gerry Adams offers the prospect of forward movement in the political
process, many questions will be raised about the intentions of the PSNI in the time ahead,” Mr
McLaughlin said.

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

http://www.derryjournal.com/story/6384

SDLP/SF Remove Info In Postal Row

By Joe Doran
Friday 29th April 2005

Sinn Fein and the SDLP in Derry removed their election literature from the city's Royal Mail
sorting office yesterday after a bitter row over its delivery was not resolved.

In the latest development in the three-day pay dispute, the party leaders ordered the action after
insisting they were not prepared to allow their material to be distributed by a private firm.

Election workers from both parties arrived at the office on Great James Street yesterday morning
and removed the leaflets and flyers after Royal Mail said external companies would be brought in
to do the job.

The Socialist Environmental Alliance's Eamon McCann took similar action just hours after the row
broke out earlier this week. The parties now intend delivering the literature themselves.

Postal staff in Derry decided on Monday not to deliver election information to homes across the
city in the run up to polling day after it emerged Royal Mail pays its Belfast workforce twice as
much per item delivered than members of staff working elsewhere in the North.

Postal worker Charlie Kelly, who is also a local representative of the Communication Workers'
Union, said the move by the parties means the local workforce can now turn their attention back
to normal mail deliveries in the city. "We have made our stand and the priority now is to get back
to normal. There is no doubt regular mail deliveries were affected this week when staff were
ordered to deliver election-related material during working hours.

"Now that the parties have taken the literature away there should be no more impact on the
delivery of regular mail as from tomorrow."

Mr. Kelly said he believes the workers' action received widespread support and will force Royal
Mail to strive for a resolution before the next election in the North.

Royal Mail insisted the payments for the delivery of election material were worked out in an
agreement negotiated by the CWU and Royal Mail management for areas in Britain and the North.

Michael Kennedy, general manager for Royal Mail in the North, last night insisted that while it is
committed to ensuring all delivery offices are paid on an equal footing the organisation is bound
by the recent agreement.

He said it was regrettable Royal Mail had to outsource parts of the delivery of election material in
Derry but the action was necessary to honour its contract to ensure the delivery of such items.

Mr. Kennedy said it was regrettable some parties had opted to make their own delivery
arrangements as a result of the pay row in Derry.

He added: "What is most disappointing, however, is the fact that our employees in Derry have
chosen to forego the extra money they stood to gain by going against the national Royal Mail /
CWU agreement."

Sinn FÈin Foyle candidate, Mitchel McLaughlin, said: "Due to the ongoing dispute, Sinn FÈin in
the Foyle Electoral Area has now decided that we will collect the material from the Post Office and
have it delivered through our own party activist structures."

A spokesperson for the SDLP in Foyle confirmed his party took the same action, adding: "The
SDLP is fully committed to workers rights and will not be party to any unfair or inequitable
treatment of workers."

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

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0430/876189922HM8FOYLE.html

SDLP Hopes Of Keeping Hume's Seat Depend On High Turnout

Mark Durkan is called to the microphone "for a few words" in the bar of Derry's City Hotel, one of
the many new structures along the quays of the river which lends its name to this constituency.

It's the jazz festival, and there's a session on here. Van Morrison has just finished at another
venue, and the gossip is that it was some show.

For Durkan this is neither the time nor place for a political speech, but he can hardly refuse.

Cutting a slightly self-conscious figure he opts for brevity and a quick joke which gets warm
appreciation. He's relaxed - surprisingly so given the pressures he faces before May 5th.

Rather like David Trimble in Upper Bann, Durkan as party leader cannot afford to fail. Nor can he
be seen to be the man who lost the seat John Hume won handsomely for 22 years or the man who
consigned his former leader's legacy to history.

Mitchel McLaughlin knows the stakes on his main rival and says he feels for him on a personal
level.

The Sinn Féiner, like the new SDLP leader, had just taken part in a public forum on economic
policy organised by the Federation of Small Business. Five of the six candidates turned up and
talked with some passion about their city's needs.

Throughout 90 minutes of debate there is not one mention of the Belfast Agreement. There is no
clash between unionist and nationalist, and a total outsider would have been unable to distinguish
between the Protestantism of DUP man Willie Hay and Ulster Unionist Earl Storey and the rest of
the panel.

Derry is different like that. These men seem to know and like each other. There is banter and
humour rather than bitterness.

They are Derry men first. It is arguable if any other constituency could have produced candidates
from each of the main parties to debate bread-and-butter economics at a public meeting in the
teeth of what could well be a watershed election here.

Eamonn McCann, trade unionist and journalist, the Socialist Environmental Alliance candidate,
steals the show somewhat with his unique style, wit and passion.

First-past-the-post elections are tough on small parties and independents, and he knows he will
be hard pressed to retain the 2,300 votes he and his colleagues got in the Assembly election.

He campaigns vociferously against water charges, goading the main parties to back his call for a
policy of non-payment. It's like history repeating itself, a 21st-century equivalent of the rent-and-
rates strike of the early civil rights protest in this city nearly 40 years ago.

He views this election as a battle between Sinn Féin and the SDLP "to see who is the champion of
nationalism".

Mitchel McLaughlin diverges more from the McCann terminology than from his thesis.

Talking privately as he canvasses young parents on school runs the next morning, he speaks
warmly of the John Hume "colossus".

But he does so in the past tense and signals a belief that his party will overtake the SDLP in the
same way that party dismissed Eddie McAteer's old Nationalist Party.

He uses the term "second wave" a lot.

"John Hume's retirement means that there is change. My view is that that momentum for change
is with Sinn Féin and not just in Foyle.

"We've turned a 2:1 situation into just a small deficit. It's still a hill to climb because Hume's
legacy is huge."

While Hume built his reputation on equality, on rights and on the need for change, he believes
Sinn Féin is now best placed to deliver on such ideals.

Campaigning against the backdrop of Gerry Adams's call on the IRA to adopt a purely democratic
stance, Mr McLaughlin believes voters on the doorsteps are aware of "the right thing to do".

If he's right then Mark Durkan could face a bigger danger than his party believes. The SDLP holds
this parliamentary seat with a majority of 11,550.

The Assembly election saw this cut to 1,500 courtesy of 10,000 SDLP voters staying at home.

"It's important for them to turn out on May 5th, not just for the future of the SDLP but for the future
of the Agreement and political prospects here," he warns.

"A move to two-party politics, which Peter Robinson has wanted for some time, is all about
undermining both the premise of the agreement and about sharing power in a multiparty
democracy."

The prospect of a Sinn Féin-DUP domination of the North's politics - referred to by Séamus Mallon
as Balkanisation - is " a sterile outlook" which will motivate people to vote, Durkan is convinced.

"It's now 18 years since the first Hume-Adams talks, nearly 12 years since the first IRA ceasefire,
nine years since the Mitchell Principles, seven years since Good Friday and it's only now in the
face of an election that Gerry Adams is calling on the IRA to embrace peaceful and democratic
means."

A big SDLP vote will underpin the accord, guarantee inclusion at Stormont, and will "hold Sinn
Féin to their promise".

Turnout will likely hold the key to victory. If the turnout percentage rises above figures in the low
60s, then SDLP confidence will rise. If not, then a new era will be signalled.

© The Irish Times

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/vote_2005/northern_ireland/4494651.stm

PSNI Probe Vote Fraud Allegation

Police in Dungannon are investigating an allegation of electoral fraud in connection with postal
and proxy voting applications.

It is understood the police probe was launched after concerns were raised by the Electoral Office.

Meanwhile, the Alliance Party has complained to the police about phoney leaflets which bear the
party's colours and urge voters to back the UUP.

The Ulster Unionist Party has distanced itself from the leaflets.

Alliance leader David Ford is blaming a "dirty tricks campaign designed to help the UUP".

"Many people have told us that they have received a leaflet printed in Alliance colours of yellow
and blue, headed 'Thinking of Voting Alliance'," he said.

"It is clearly intended to confuse Alliance supporters."

'Absent votes'

Meanwhile, a record number of voters in Northern Ireland have applied for "absent votes" for the 5
May poll.

More than 33,000 applications have been received from people who claim they cannot vote in
person.

The figure includes both postal and proxy votes and is about 10,000 up on the 2004 European
election and the 2003 assembly election.

Voters can claim an absent vote due to sickness, if they have to be away on business or are going
on holiday.

But the late spring election date of 5 May is well outside Northern Ireland's main holiday season of
June to August.

Despite this, Northern Ireland's electoral authorities are reportedly fairly confident there will be a
low incidence of fraud related to the postal votes.

There has been a wave of concern about fraud in other parts of the UK.

However, the electoral fraud laws enable the authorities in Northern Ireland to scrutinise an
applicant's signature and to check their date of birth and national insurance number against their
database.

Some parties believe there still may be some loopholes.

The SDLP say they have come across cases of people who have given what they believed was a
postal application form to a political party, but have then found the form switched to an
application for a proxy vote, to be cast by another person.

The Electoral Office placed adverts in Northern Ireland's local newspapers on Friday telling
people how to use their postal votes and warning them to keep their papers safe and secret.

Chief Electoral Officer Dennis Stanley said his office strove to ensure that absent voting was not
exploited.

"We are always concerned about fraud," he said.

"We want to keep as vigilant as possible, and we want to make sure every person has the
opportunity to cast their vote in a fair and free way and that no-one interferes with it, so absent
voting is a particular area we pay attention to."

The votes have to be returned by 2200 BST on polling day.

Although there is no breakdown by seat of how many absent votes have been applied for in each
constituency, the counting centres have the following figures:

3,264 between the four Belfast seats
7,692 between Upper Bann, Newry and Armagh, South Down and Lagan Valley
9,819 between West Tyrone and Fermanagh South Tyrone
1,534 between East Antrim and South Antrim
5,350 between North Antrim and Mid-Ulster
4,000 between Foyle and East Londonderry
1,784 between Strangford and North Down.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/04/29 13:18:37 GMT
© BBC MMV

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/vote_2005/northern_ireland/4493425.stm

Republicans Heckle Sinn Fein

Sinn Fein politicians say they have been heckled about the murder of Robert McCartney but this
time by other republicans.

Party president Gerry Adams and East Belfast candidate Alex Maskey were reportedly harangued
whilst canvassing in the Markets area on the edge of Belfast city centre on Tuesday.

During the incident Sinn Fein claims they were verbally abused by people who disagreed with
Gerry Adams' call for people to make statements about the Robert McCartney murder.

The 33-year-old father of two died in hospital after he was stabbed following a row in a Belfast bar
on 30 January.

The case threw republicanism into internal turmoil with the IRA offering at one stage to shoot the
killers as Mr McCartney's family waged a high profile campaign to bring them to justice before the
courts.

Strong feelings

Four members of Sinn Fein resigned following Mr Adams' call for co-operation from anyone who
was in and around Magennis' bar at the time of the killing.

Six other have been suspended until the party's executive meets.

Alex Maskey confirmed details of the incident during the BBC's election 2005 webcast.

He said: "We were challenged yesterday, in fact Gerry Adams was directly challenged by some
relatives of republicans who have been caught up in the events surrounding the terrible murder of
Robert McCartney."

Mr Maskey said the incident proved that strong feelings had been provoked by his party's
attempts to do everything in its power to help the McCartney family in their search for justice.

Mr Adams has also spoken about the fracas.

He said: "I was barracked by some women who obviously disagree with the stand our party has
taken in terms of the murder of Robert McCartney.

"Particularly my call for people to come forward with full and frank statements, and also when I
gave names that were given to me to the Police Ombudsman.

"I can understand their position. The big focus, clearly and quite rightly, is on the murder of
Robert McCartney, but there are lots of families traumatised by the fallout of this and lots of
people feel they have been demonised and their community has been demonised.

"When I went to the Markets it was no great surprise that there would be a protest by some people
there."

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/04/28 11:02:49 GMT
© BBC MMV

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

http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=59691&pt=n

Sinn Fein Leaders Face Fresh Demands Over McCartney Case

Sinn Fein leaders faced a fresh demand from four leading Irish women politicians today to match
words with deeds in helping the family of murdered Belfast father-of-two Robert McCartney
achieve justice.

By:Press Association

Following a meeting with the McCartneys in Belfast, Irish Labour Party deputy leader Liz
McManus, former Fianna Fail deputy leader Senator Mary O`Rourke, Progressive Democrat Liz
O`Donnell and Senator Sheila Terry of Fine Gael praised the dignity, bravery and honour of the
family.

"Their actions are in direct contrast to the cowardice displayed by Robert`s killers," they stated.

"We also believe there has been a conspiracy of silence from both those involved in the murder
and those with knowledge about who was responsible.

"This has frustrated the police investigation and ensured that Robert`s family are no closer to
seeing those who committed this appalling crime brought to justice.

"We appeal specifically to the Sinn Fein leadership, and to all women members of that party, to
match their words with deeds in supporting the McCartney family.

"It is deeply disappointing that many key questions put by Robert`s sisters to the Sinn Fein
leadership have not been answered."

Robert McCartney was drinking with a friend, Brendan Devine, in Magennis`s bar in Belfast city
centre on January 30, when a row broke out with republicans, resulting in violence.

He was stabbed and beaten outside the bar and Mr Devine was also seriously wounded.

The IRA condemned the murder and expelled three members for their involvement in the killing
and Sinn Fein has also dismissed two of its members for failing to follow party leader Gerry
Adams`s call for co-operation with the McCartney family.

The party has also suspended other members.

However Mr McCartney`s partner Bridgeen Hagans and his sisters Paula, Catherine, Claire, Donna
and Gemma have been unhappy with Sinn Fein and the IRA`s handling of the incident.

The family has also been critical of the wall of silence which has developed among the 70 people
who were inside the bar.

Because of Sinn Fein`s refusal to recognise the Police Service of Northern Ireland as the
legitimate police force, the party has urged republicans and other witnesses to pass on
information through their solicitors to the Police Ombudsman, Nuala O`Loan.

However the family believe statements should not be made through solicitors but directly to the
police or the Ombudsman`s team because they have the necessary investigative skills for a case.

It also emerged last month that former Sinn Fein councillor Sean Hayes, ex-Assembly candidate
Cora Groogan, and another member, Deirdre Hargey, were among those drinking in Magennis`s.

Sinn Fein was forced to pull plans to run Ms Hargey and Ms Groogan as local government election
candidates on May 5 following the disclosures.

The four Dublin politicians said they stood squarely behind the family in their campaign for
justice.

"Until these matters are resolved, until criminal proceedings are brought against those
responsible, and until justice is done for Robert`s death, we will continue to work with and
support the McCartney family," they pledged.

During his party`s manifesto launch in Belfast, Gerry Adams insisted Sinn Fein had faced up to its
obligations towards the McCartney family.

"This party has faced up to those small amounts of members who were in the vicinity of the
murder of Robert McCartney and we have dealt with them on the basis as to whether or not they
complied with the direction I gave them," he said.

"I gave a very, very clear direction. So have no doubt that we continue to support the McCartney
family.

"We continue to support them in their resolve to see their brother`s murderers in court but we do
not have the capacity to put those people in court.

"Ask that question to (Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable) Hugh Orde."

Mr Adams also insisted his party had not given up on the cause of resolving the McCartney case.

"I think we have to continue as we do with lots of other victims of conflict," he said.

"In the long term, we have been campaigning on issues of justice - some of us for 20 or 30 years.
So we don`t give up."

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northwest_edition/story.jsp?story=634195

Sectarian Attack On Integrated Pupils

By Geraldine Mulholland
29 April 2005

The principal of Londonderry's only integrated secondary school today said an alleged sectarian
attack on two of her pupils emphasises the importance of integrated education.

Marie Cowan was speaking out after the boys, aged 14 and 16, claimed they were set upon by a
gang of six older teenagers after alighting from their bus in Irish Street on their way home from
school yesterday.

Ms Cowan said: "What can you say really, this just reflects the society we live in.

"It emphasises the reason why integrated schools are so important because they give children a
chance to know each other.

"This kind of attitude shows a lack of understanding and knowledge, the kind of things we need to
be working on.

"I know other schools are also doing their best to tackle this problem."

The Oakgrove students were treated in hospital for cuts and bruises to their faces and bodies.

Speaking on radio, the boys claimed they were approached by two other teenagers who hit one of
them and attempted to hit the other but missed.

One allegedly shouted: "You are dead, you fenian" and other sectarian abuse.

Another four males then appeared and pushed both boys to the ground where they proceeded to
kick them.

The schoolboys say the attack only stopped when two women walking by intervened and
threatened to call the police.

The boys' mothers, however, were critical of the police handling of the incident.

Also speaking on radio this morning, one mother said the police attitude "stank".

Police say they are investigating the incident and are appealing for witnesses to contact officers
in Waterside.

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/vote_2005/northern_ireland/4499063.stm

Durkan Hopes To Foil SF Advance

By Mark Devenport
BBC Northern Ireland political editor

Politicians are famous for kissing babies, but this campaign has been distinguished by them
having babies.

I'm not just thinking of the Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy. Closer to home we have
Sinn Fein's Michelle Gildernew expecting in Fermanagh-South Tyrone.

Her party colleague and Derry City Council candidate Elisha McLaughlin had to hand over her
new-born son Daithi to a carer before she went out canvassing last week.

And the SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, reports that he has to deal with more enquiries about his baby
daughter Dearbhail than about any of the election issues.

The "Sleep Deprived Leader of the Party", as Mr Durkan has styled himself, isn't getting any rest
during the daytime.

He knows that every vote will count in the tight battle which is this year's Foyle constituency
contest.

His leadership of the party and the future shape of nationalism rest on the outcome of this
campaign.

Sinn Fein's Mitchel McLaughlin is snapping at Mr Durkan's heels and no door can be left
unknocked.

The SDLP have to inspire the 10,000 voters who failed to turn out for them in the 2003 assembly
elections, in comparison to John Hume's last election back in 2001.

Sinn Fein put on relatively few votes: only 300 or so. But the slippage in SDLP support put Mr
McLaughlin in contention.

Mr Hume's return to Westminster used to be more of a coronation than an election.

But now the race is considered so tight that even the bookies can't agree who the favourite is.

Sinn Fein is excited by the prospect of representing all the border seats.

Turnout in Foyle will be important: a high turnout may be a sign that the SDLP has gathered up its
stay-away voters.

So will the relatively high number of postal votes. The 2,500 absent votes in Foyle are thought,
according to some local estimates to divide roughly into 900 for the SDLP and most of the 1,600
remaining for Sinn Fein.

Mr Hume has appeared for a couple of photo opportunities but he has not been able to be as
engaged as the SDLP would no doubt have liked.

Instead it was the former leader's wife, Pat, who accompanied Mr Durkan when I went out
canvassing with them on the Strathfoyle estate a few days ago.

The state of the peace process didn't feature on the doorsteps.

Instead people were more keen to ask the politicians about more localised concerns, like the lack
of bus shelters in their area.

Mitchel McLaughlin, known as "Mitch" to people in Shantallow, didn't face any questions about
the Northern Bank or the murder of Robert McCartney.

Instead, he spent all his time explaining the difference between the first-past-the-post
Westminster election and the PR council vote.

They might not be talked about openly, but the questions raised by the recent allegations about
continuing IRA activity are undoubtedly in the mix.

Indeed, some local pranksters have defaced Durkan posters with green paint, leaving his eyes
pointing out of a balaclava with the slogan "IRA - Stronger For Foyle".

SDLP strategists hope that Mr McLaughlin's failure to label the abduction and murder of Jean
McConville as a crime will help remind wavering nationalists what the republican movement
stands for.

Their Sinn Fein counterparts hope Gerry Adams' call for the IRA to embrace politics will help their
candidate overcome the recent adverse publicity.

Either way, Foyle, like Upper Bann, should be a nail-biter.

Finally, an apology. In last week's column, I repeated a line which had appeared in some London
papers that a defeat for David Trimble in Upper Bann would be the first such loss for a party
leader since Ramsay Macdonald in 1918.

As the website Slugger O'Toole correctly pointed out, those who could have a bone to pick with
me about this incorrect line include Harry West, Bob McCartney and Gerry Adams.

Indeed, as a former BBC Spotlight reporter who covered in detail Joe Hendron's capture of West
Belfast in 1992, this was a particularly egregious mistake.

Those who want to watch me put more unforced backhand returns into the net can watch BBC
Northern Ireland's election results coverage on the afternoon of Friday 6 May, when I shall be
joined by my far more reliable doubles partner, Professor Sydney Elliot of Queen's University,
Belfast.

The programme will be on BBC One Northern Ireland and will be streamed on BBC Northern
Ireland's election website.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/04/29 17:10:32 GMT
© BBC MMV

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

http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/opinion/Full_Story/did-sg8g7Vp48Xp42sg0aewFBADppk.asp

Opin: Adams Joins The List Of Leaders Who Use Partition For Their Own Ends

By Ryle Dwyer

THE Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, has suggested that gardaí should serve in the North
as a means of showing up the IRA.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and An Garda Siochána have already signed an
agreement on exchanges and cross-border training, but the garda sergeants and inspectors have
refused to participate because of security and pay concerns.

“The full operation of cross-border exchanges immeasurably strengthened the rule of law on this
island and robs those who are subversive of that rule of law, particularly the Provisional IRA and
dissidents, of credibility in their own communities,” McDowell said. He has already done the
country a real service in helping to expose IRA criminality. Like the IRA, the criminals do not
recognise any border; they just exploit it.

There has obviously been fruitful cooperation between the garda and PSNI in relation to recent
drug busts in both jurisdictions. It is therefore in the public interest that the police forces should
cooperate with each other.

Is Sinn Féin objecting to police co-operation because it threatens the criminal activities of the
republicans? This should have been halted in line with the Good Friday Agreement over seven
years ago. It is ironic that Sinn Féin should object to cross border co-operation.

Over the years people might have come to expect Ian Paisley to go ballistic over such co-
operation, but such objections coming from republicans are an absurdity.

Surely anything that promotes co-operation helps to break down the barriers between nationalism
and unionism, and this ultimately promotes unity. But Sinn Féin is not looking for unity; it wants
domination.

Over the years Ian Paisley made a name for himself by objecting to politicians from the Republic
crossing the border. Has Sinn Féin become so wedded to the criminal culture that its leader sees
nothing wrong with trying to upstage Paisley with his old tactics? This would seem to suggest
that his commitment to ending partition is as a phoney as his republicanism. Paisley made the
headlines by objecting to the meeting between the Northern premier Terence O’Neill and
Taoiseach Sean Lemass on January 14, 1965. People were caught completely by surprise. Next
day Paisley led a protest for the TV cameras. One of the placards read, “No Mass, no Lemass.”
While many trace the Northern troubles back to the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rebellion,
others trace them further back to the Seán Lemass visit. O’Neill was criticised for the secrecy that
surrounded his first meeting with Lemass, so he decided to announce Jack Lynch’s first visit to
Stormont as Taoiseach on December 11, 1967. Paisley predictably exploited that visit, by getting
himself filmed throwing snowballs at Lynch’s car.

Cross-border police co-operation actually became a major issue in the general election campaign
of November 1982. Garret FitzGerald, the Fine Gael leader, was due to make a campaign statement
on Northern Ireland, and Jim Prior, the Northern Secretary, was asked on a visit to the US what
policies he would like to hear the Fine Gael leader advocate. Prior replied he would like Garret to
call again for an all-Ireland police force, which he had suggested the previous May during a
televised lecture.

Prior emphasised that he did not know what policy FitzGerald was going to put forward. “We will
have to wait and see,” he said. But it was mistakenly reported that he said FitzGerald was actually
going to advocate the establishment of an all- Ireland court and police force. This gave the
impression the Fine Gael leader had consulted, or confided in, the Northern Secretary beforehand.

Charlie Haughey immediately pounced on the mistaken report of Prior’s remarks to charge there
was collaboration or collusion between Garret and the British, whom he accused of interfering in
the Irish electoral process.

HAUGHEY contended the British were trying to help FitzGerald “in return for the support he had
given British policy”. He suggested the proposal would undermine Irish independence because it
would mean the RUC would begin operating in the South and unarmed gardaí would be sent into
the North.

“What these foolish men are proposing to us,” Haughey told a campaign gathering, “represents
an insidious and dangerous threat to our future security because, up until now, we were able to
administer our own security police as an independent and sovereign nation.”

What was his idea of unity - that the other side should surrender any say? We might have liked
that, but it was not practical politics to expect others to accept mere subservience. FitzGerald
responded by accusing Haughey of adopting an attitude towards his proposals that was
“indistinguishable from Paisley.” When it comes to the partition issue, all sides have been
prepared to exploit it for their own selfish political ends.

Back in 1922 Eamon de Valera adopted virtually the same attitude towards the Anglo-Irish Treaty
as the unionists. And Haughey would do the same not only in relation to FitzGerald’s call for an
all-Ireland police force but also towards the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985.

Haughey voiced his strongest objections against what he contended were the constitutional
implications of that agreement. He denounced the first article of the agreement affirming “that any
change in the status of Northern Ireland would only come about with the consent of a majority of
the people of Northern Ireland”.

This provision was “in total conflict with the constitution and in particular, Article 2 of the
constitution,” which claimed sovereignty over the whole island, according to Charlie.

“For the first time ever, the legitimacy, which is contrary to unification, has been recognised by an
Irish Government in an international agreement,” he argued. “From our point of view it gives
everything away,” he said. “It confirmed that status of Northern Ireland as an integral part of the
United Kingdom and it confirmed that there would be no change in the status without the consent
of the Northern Unionists.”

FitzGerald had astutely anticipated Haughey’s criticism regarding the constitutionality of the
agreement and had carefully prepared a trap. The clause to which the Fianna Fáil leader took such
extreme exception was taken verbatim from the communiqué which Haughey and Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher had issued following their first summit meeting back in May, 1980. Opposition
politics on the partition issue have traditionally dictated that hypocrisy rules. This applies whether
you are talking about Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, or Fine Gael. When the latter went into opposition in
the 1930s, it actually called itself the United Ireland Party. The strange thing now is Michael
McDowell’s latest proposals in relation to sending gardaí North have gone virtually unnoticed.

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/vote_2005/basics/4401207.stm

Profile: Gerry Adams

By Mark Devenport
BBC Northern Ireland political editor

The inscrutable face behind the beard shows little sign of the strain, but make no mistake, Gerry
Adams the politician - and his party - have been through the wringer.

Adams copes well with pressure.

He says the pressure he has faced since December's Northern Bank robbery, and more
particularly the murder of Belfast man Robert McCartney, is as nothing to the pressure he faced
when people were dying during the Troubles.

But be that as it may, recent events as they have unfolded, were not on his - or Sinn Fein's -
career path.

By now, he may have been the leader of a party of government, the man who did an historic deal
with Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party.

He could have been feted even more in London, Dublin and Washington.

Instead, he finds himself accused by the Irish prime minister, no less, of having prior knowledge
of the UK's biggest bank robbery; of being a member of the IRA's army council and being
snubbed by influential former supporters like US Senator Ted Kennedy.

And once more under scrutiny - possibly like never before - is the relationship between Sinn Fein
and the IRA, and his own influence over republicans apparently defying his orders to give
themselves up and answer for January's murder of Mr McCartney.

Gerry Adams has always provoked sharply different reactions depending on your point of view.

Is he an IRA terrorist implicated in the Bloody Friday bombings in Belfast in 1972? Or is he an
architect of the peace process who should have been awarded the Nobel prize?

Gerry Adams claims to have never been a member of the IRA. Yet at crucial periods he has
spoken with authority about the IRA's intentions

Will he be remembered as a true Irish republican who achieved more than any in undermining
partition?

Or as a traitor to his cause who sold out grass-roots republicans, settling for respectability and a
seat at Stormont?

Virtually mobbed during his visits to the United States, some admirers viewed Gerry Adams as
Belfast's answer to Nelson Mandela.

But for many unionists, he remains the supreme hate figure, an apologist for IRA violence.

Gerry Adams claims to have never been a member of the IRA. Yet at crucial periods he has
spoken with authority about the IRA's intentions.

'Purely a political activist'

Born in October 1948, in his youth he worked as a barman in a Belfast city centre bar where he
was fascinated by the political gossip traded among its clientele of journalists and lawyers.

However, as the civil rights movement gathered pace in the late 1960s, the young Adams did not
spend long pulling pints.

Soon he was out on the streets, involved in the protests of the time.

According to his own account, he was purely a political activist.

But his family was steeped in the traditions of the IRA. His father was jailed in the organisation's
campaign during the Second World War. Security sources insist young Gerry followed suit.

During the prison hunger strikes of the 1980s, he recognised the lessons of Bobby Sands's
election as MP for Fermanagh-South Tyrone.

After the hunger strikes, the IRA did not reduce its commitment to "armed struggle" but its
political wing, Sinn Fein, increasingly looked to the propaganda potential of fighting elections.

Gerry Adams's own election victory in west Belfast in 1983 marked a major achievement for this
dual "Armalite and ballot box" strategy.

Soon afterwards, Adams brushed aside the old southern leadership of Sinn Fein, led by Ruairi O
Bradaigh.

Together with Martin McGuinness, he was now in an unrivalled position to guide republican
strategy.

In December 2004, Gerry Adams broke new ground by meeting Northern Ireland's Chief
Constable Hugh Orde - a clear signal that republicans were considering supporting the police

Sinn Fein's electoral successes unnerved the British and Irish governments. They came up with
the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, partly in an attempt to shore up the constitutional nationalism of
John Hume's SDLP.

However, within three years of the Agreement, John Hume and Gerry Adams held private talks.

The Hume-Adams process eventually delivered the 1994 IRA ceasefire which ultimately provided
the relatively peaceful backdrop against which the Good Friday Agreement was brokered.

In 1986, he dropped Sinn Fein's policy of refusing to sit in the Irish parliament.

In 1998, 90% of the party backed their president in taking seats in the new Northern Ireland
Assembly at Stormont - a remarkable piece of political management given Sinn Fein's "no return
to Stormont" slogan in the 1997 general election campaign.

'Sea changes in policy'

In December 2004, Gerry Adams broke new ground by meeting Northern Ireland's Chief Constable
Hugh Orde - a clear signal that republicans were considering supporting the police who they once
regarded as "legitimate targets".

The meeting came as the IRA offered to destroy its entire arsenal, and pondered requests to allow
this gesture to be photographed for posterity.

All this would be done to usher in a once unthinkable agreement between Gerry Adams and his
bete noire Ian Paisley.

Given the personal and political risks he has taken, Adams's leadership skills in navigating these
sea changes in policy cannot be underestimated.

Historically, disagreements between republicans led to violent feuding, but during the peace
process major splits have largely been avoided.

Gerry Adams is always careful to use close supporters to test controversial ground in advance,
ruthless in isolating and marginalising his opponents and far-sighted in never allowing the swirl
of events to knock the strategic direction of his "project" off course.

He is probably better equipped to ride out the current storms than anyone else.

Certainly better than fellow party members who have been anything but surefooted as they
attempt to deal with the crisis which has enveloped the party since Christmas 2004.

If nothing else he can always wear down opponents with what one commentator calls his "weary
patience" repeating over and over the mantra that the "Peace Process is the only game in town".

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/04/05 11:31:36 GMT
© BBC MMV

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

http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=16411

Nelson Kin Optimistic At Start Of Inquiry

PHOTOCALL Rosemary Nelson's husband, Paul, and their children march behind the slain
lawyer's casket during her funeral in March 1999.

By Anne Cadwallader

acadwallader@irishecho.com

BELFAST - Relatives of murdered County Armagh solicitor Rosemary Nelson have said that they
hope the public inquiry into her killing will uncover the truth of allegations about state collusion
with the loyalists who carried out the bombing.

The inquiry held an opening session on April 19 in Craigavon, about five miles from where Nelson
was killed, before suspending its hearings for a year to draw up a list of witnesses and examine
police and other documents.

Among those present on the first day was New Jersey lawyer Ed Lynch, who had repeatedly
warned the British government and police of death threats against the lawyer's life, many
allegedly emanating from police ranks themselves.

He said he would be back to testify and that he was still saddened by memories of Nelson's death
and angered that not enough had been done to protect her.

Nelson, a prominent human rights lawyer and married mother of three, had testified to a
congressional committee on her fears. She often said she had been inspired by the example of
Pat Finucane, the Belfast lawyer murdered by loyalists also allegedly in collusion with British
state agencies.

Nelson died after a bomb attached to her car exploded on the morning of March 15, 1999. Her
daughter, Sarah, then 7, heard the explosion as she played in a nearby schoolyard.

Although Nelson worked for loyalists as well as nationalists, she rose to public prominence by
representing Garvaghy Road residents in their legal battle over the annual Drumcree Orange
parade.

She also represented the family of a Portadown Catholic man, Robert Hamill, who was kicked to
death by a loyalist mob allegedly within sight of a police patrol on duty to prevent such attacks. A
similar public inquiry is due into his death next month.

Retired Canadian supreme court judge Peter Cory, who last year investigated allegations of
collusion in her murder, found that she had been the subject of escalating death threats from the
RUC since the mid-1990s.

No one has been charged in Nelson's murder, although there are persistent press reports that a
former British soldier and at least one police informant were involved. The murder was claimed by
the Red Hand Defenders, a flag of convenience for the UDA.

The opening day of the inquiry was a largely symbolic event that ended with the adjournment of
proceedings so that an investigative process can begin before public hearings are held in the
spring of 2006.

At the first public session, the three-member inquiry panel gave an insight into the focus of their
inquiries. Nelson's husband, Paul, and other family members sat and listened as the tribunal
began its public work.

Its chairman, retired British High Court judge Sir Michael Morland, read an 18-page opening
statement, saying its task was to seek out the truth. Saying the murder was one of thousands in
Northern Ireland, he added it had "continued to attract interest and concern both here and
abroad."

Paul Nelson and the dead woman's mother, Sheila, as well as the police and the Northern Ireland
Office are among the small number of individuals and groups who have "full participant status"
and are legally represented at the inquiry.

It has the powers to force the surrender of documents and compel witnesses to attend. There are
concerns, however, that only the inquiry's lawyers have an automatic right to ask questions of
witnesses.

With no ruling on anonymity for witnesses, Morland also addressed the issue of criminal
proceedings that may follow. He did not call for an amnesty, but suggested that the inquiry would
benefit from pledges from the British attorney general.

Paul Nelson's lawyer, Barra McGrory, said after the hearing it had been a "long road" for the
family. "We will give every cooperation and we sincerely hope that it will succeed in its clear and
stated intention to get to the truth," he said.

Eunan Magee, Nelson's brother, said he was "cautiously optimistic" and pleased that, unless
otherwise ruled, the inquiry would normally hear evidence from named individuals, not
anonymously.

This story appeared in the issue of April 27-May 3, 2005

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

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0430/3871378308HM8ELECTDIARY.html

Unionists Are Opting For Paisley's Bludgeon

Everyone knows Rudyard Kipling's If, which remains popular despite the author's unfashionable
and politically incorrect image these days. You don't have to subscribe to Kipling's politics to take
on board his poetic advice to "keep your head while all about you are losing theirs and blaming it
on you".

Kipling's views and writings on Africa and The White Man's Burden are well known but hardly
anyone remembers nowadays that he took a keen interest in "The Ulster Question" and even
helped fund the shipment of arms through Larne at the time of the uprising by the Protestant and
unionist people against Home Rule.

Kipling's powerful poem Ulster 1912 was published in the Morning Post newspaper on the eve of
the introduction of the third Home Rule bill that year. Cut out from the newspaper and kept, a copy
of the poem is now framed and hanging on the wall at the Enniskillen office of DUP Westminster
candidate Arlene Foster.

If you are looking for an encapsulation of the feelings of unionists at that time, particularly their
distrust of London, Kipling's lines are hard to beat:

The dark eleventh hour
Draws on and sees us sold
To every evil power
We fought against of old.
Rebellion, rapine, hate,
Oppression, wrong and greed
Are loosed to rule our fate,
By England's act and deed.

Nearly 100 years later, similar fears for the future and distrust of the British government still
reside in the hearts of unionists. Republicans, having waged unrelenting war for a quarter of a
century against the crown, are now regularly received as honoured guests at 10 Downing Street,
the very building they attacked with mortars as recently as 1991.

Those of us who come out of the nationalist tradition need to understand unionist feelings if there
is to be a peaceful and lasting resolution of the conflict. The unease among unionists at the
perceived machinations of the British and Irish governments is accompanied by nagging doubt
about the quality and negotiating skills of their own leadership.

It now looks as if this election is going to see a further weakening and perhaps even the final
demise of the Trimble leadership of Ulster unionism.

The Trimble rapier having apparently failed, unionists are opting for the Paisley bludgeon. The
widespread expectation is that the DUP will emerge with more Westminster seats, while the UUP's
tally will be reduced from five to perhaps two or at most three. Most observers predict a parallel
ascendancy of Sinn Féin on the nationalist side, leading to a highly polarised situation.

Arlene Foster's UUP rival, Tom Elliott, articulated unionist fears of how things could develop if the
Northern Ireland Assembly remains suspended and Direct Rule from London continues.

"It will not be continued direct rule as we in the unionist community know it, it will be direct rule
with very close association with the Irish Government and, if Sinn Féin continue their rise in the
Republic, they could hold the balance of power following the next general election, so you could
have actually a Sinn Féin minister for foreign affairs."

Elliott's timetable may seem a little melodramatic but Thursday's vote in Northern Ireland is
obviously going to mark a turning-point. There will be an awful lot more green on the electoral
map depicting Westminster constituencies and local councils when the results are announced.

It's not as if the unionists have gone away, you know, it's just that they aren't voting in the same
numbers. Apathy is playing its part beneath the surface. Tom Elliott makes the point that there are
more unionists than nationalists living in the greater Belfast area, yet unionists are a minority on
the city council. "We could be left in a few years' time with a majority of unionists in Northern
Ireland, but a majority of nationalists voting."

Elliott believes the comparative peace and stability of recent years has made unionists
complacent. "Less than 50 per cent of the vote at the European election went to unionist
candidates."

But despite these fears, there is no air of crisis in the North, largely due to the suspension of the
IRA campaign and even the prospect that the organisation might disband altogether.

Therefore Kipling's war-cry is hopefully out of date and the generality of unionists are unlikely to
be heard declaring, as he did:

If England drive us forth
We shall not fall alone.

© The Irish Times

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

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0430/1079519338HM3BEWLEYS.html

Work On Bewley's Granted An Exemption By Council

By Frank McDonald, Environment Editor

Dublin City Council said last night it is to exempt the refurbishment of Bewley's cafe in Grafton
Street from planning control following an inspection of the premises yesterday, writes Frank
McDonald, Environment Editor

This is despite a successful application by the landlord, Treasury Holdings, for an interim High
Court injunction to halt the refurbishment work on the basis that planning permission was
required for such alterations to a protected structure. The case is back in the court next Tuesday.

Jay Bourke, the entrepreneur behind the scheme to re-open the cafe in mid-May, was told
yesterday by a senior planning enforcement inspector that an exemption from planning would be
granted under section 57 of the 2000 Planning Act.

One of the principal concerns of the property company, which is controlled by Richard Barrett and
John Ronan, was that it would be liable under law to reinstate the interior at its own expense in
the event that approval for the alterations was refused by city planners.

However, a spokesman for the city council said the matter had been considered following a
lengthy inspection yesterday and it was satisfied that the alterations would not materially affect
the character or fabric of Bewley's.

Treasury is also in dispute with the Campbell Bewley Group over its alleged refusal to supply the
necessary information to enable the landlord to decide whether a sub-lease should be granted to
Mr Bourke's company, Sherland Entertainments.

A spokesman for Treasury said it was "entirely unacceptable" that this information had not been
provided, despite repeated requests.

It was equally unacceptable to Treasury that works would be carried out on the building without
planning permission.

However, Mr Bourke insisted that the only changes being made involved removing additions to
the interior of Bewley's dating from 1996, as well as a large amount of catering equipment.

"Everything else is being kept absolutely as it was," he said.

"Red lino from England is going back down on all the floors, we're bringing in new bentwood
chairs from the Czech Republic and we've ordered hand-painted silk wallpaper with an oriental
theme at huge expense. The lino bill alone comes to €100,000."

Mr Bourke said the cafe's famous Harry Clarke windows were being cleaned and lit more
effectively from behind.

"We haven't changed a single door or a wall in the place, so we didn't need planning permission.
In essence, it's an interior decoration job."

He referred to Sherland's refurbishment of Bewley's in South Great George's Street as Cafe Bar
Deli and said former customers of the Grafton Street premises would not be disappointed when it
re-opened, as planned, on May 16th.

"They [ Treasury Holdings] say we've gutted the place, but we've done nothing of the sort," Mr
Bourke said.

"We've hired an army of people and have been working flat out on this. The last thing we need at
this stage is someone interfering."

Paul O'Brien of Treasury's architects, HJL, said he had no doubt that the scale of the works being
carried out required planning permission.

"Anyone carrying out alterations to a house which is a protected structure wouldn't get away with
it."

But Mr Bourke said he had the Lord Mayor and the people of Dublin on his side. He said
Sherland's track record also needed to be taken into account.

Apart from Cafe Bar Deli, its bars and restaurants include Eden, Odessa, Gubu and the Globe in
Dublin; the Bodega and Savoy in Cork, and the Garavogue in Sligo.

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

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0430/3510170219HM3TSUNAMI.html

Final Irish Tsunami Victim Found

By Paul Cullen

The body of Michael Murphy, the last Irish person missing after the Asian tsunami, has been
identified in Thailand.

Mr Murphy, a 23-year-old science graduate from Ballyconnigar, Co Wexford, was one of four Irish
people killed in the disaster.

He was on Khao Lak in Thailand, one of the worst-affected areas in the wave which struck
countries around the Indian Ocean on December 26th last year.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that the remains of Mr
Murphy had been identified. She said the department was offering all possible assistance to his
family.

She declined to say what arrangements had been made for the return of his body, saying this was
a private matter for the victim's family.

Mr Murphy's body was identified using DNA and dental records brought to Thailand by a team of
gardaí helping in an international effort to identify thousands of foreign nationals. Last week the
remains of another Irish victim, Lucy Coyle, were identified.


A disaster victim identification centre has been in operation in Phuket since early January and is
staffed by an international team of police officers and forensic scientists.

Last month Det Supt John O'Driscoll visited the centre and brought DNA and dental and
fingerprint information provided by the Coyle and Murphy families.

In February he led a team of Garda officers to Thailand to help in the search for both victims.

Officials from the Irish Embassy in Malaysia have also been closely involved in the search.

The bodies of the first two victims, Eilis Finnegan from Ballyfermot, Dublin, and Conor Keightley
from Cookstown, Co Tyrone, were identified in January.

© The Irish Times
Posted by: Unknown / 8:42 PM
Comments: Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?