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July 10, 2005

Arson Attack Was Sectarian

News about Ireland & the Irish

BB 07/10/05 Arson Attack On Home 'Sectarian'
DI 07/10/05 Loyalists Force Woman To Flee Home Of 50 Years
BB 07/10/05 Drumcree Parade Passes Peacefully
DI 07/10/05 Orangemen Merely Go Through The Motions
UT 07/10/05 Rector In Drumcree Talks Call
DI 07/10/05 Ex-Shell Worker Speaks Out In Support Of Jailed Men
IO 07/10/05 Policewoman Dies After Car Crash
IO 07/10/05 Leaders Honour Ireland's Military Heroes
SL 07/10/05 Orange Sash To Porn Stash
IT 07/11/05 Kilkenny The Republic's Hot Spot
IT 07/11/05 'Peace Boat' Arrives In Dublin Port

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-
/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4668947.stm

Arson Attack On Home 'Sectarian'

The owner of a north Belfast house targeted by arsonists said
he believed the attack was sectarian.

A window of the house on the Crumlin Road was broken just
before 0400 BST, and a quantity of petrol was poured in and set
alight.

A couple sleeping upstairs discovered a blaze in the living
room and used a fire extinguisher and wet tea towels to try to
dampen the flames.

One person was later treated for the effects of breathing
smoke.

Michael Ferguson of Sinn Fein said the attack was "attempted
murder".

"This kind of attack is synonymous of the 12th celebrations for
Catholics and nationalists in north Belfast," he said.

"The family who lives here is very lucky to be alive."

The family said it was not the first time the house had been
attacked, but this incident had caused the most damage.

The family have appealed for no retaliation.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/07/10 15:51:45 GMT
© BBC MMV

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http://62.253.251.16/dailyireland/home.tvt?_ticket=PXSEAOWM4BEF
URUSJOO9ANWPOIA9CHVTWRRKIVOBAVXMFNKACK3AC4QFIR0BARXDALOL64EFURU
SHONGEMTEGUKACK3YL9JU6I8&_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News&id=66
17&opp=1

Loyalists Force Woman To Flee Home Of 50 Years

By Conor McMorrow

A woman was yesterday forced to leave the house where she was
born and has lived for more than 50 years after a series of
sectarian attacks on her home.

Kathleen McCaughey, a Catholic, left her home in Ahoghill, Co
Antrim, after a threatening phone call was made to the Housing
Executive saying that her house would be set on fire if she
didn't move out of the area.

On Thursday night, a number of youths entered Mrs McCaughey's
garden in the predominantly unionist Brookfield Gardens area
playing a Lambeg drum and flutes.

The incidents were the latest in a wrath of sectarian abuse
directed at Mrs McCaughey in her home since Easter.

"I have been getting abuse for the past few months but the
final straw came when they started to threaten the Housing
Executive as well," she said.

"They started telling the Housing Executive that they would
burn my house and all the houses attached to it, even the
houses with children if I didn't move out.

"I was born and reared in Ahoghill and I have lived in
Brookfield all my life. I was so upset leaving the house that I
had to get a doctor to come and attend to me.

"I had a lot of good neighbours in Ahoghill and it is only
about six families that have been involved in the intimidation.

"None of the unionist politicians in the area did anything to
stop these familes intimidating me."

The Housing Executive have provided a new house for Mrs
McCaughey and yesterday, she turned her back on the building
she was born in to move to the nearby village of Portglenone.

She vowed that she would never move back to Ahoghill.

"My brother is also moving from Ahoghill to Portglenone because
of intimidation."

Philip McGuigan, SInn Féin MLA for North Antrim, said: "The
sectarian abuse against Mrs McCaughey has been allowed to
continue for so long without any unionist intervention. People
that have responsibility in Ahoghill need to take a long look
at the message they are sending out to Catholics in the area,"
he said.

A Housing Executive spokesman said: "We can confirm that a
resident in Ahoghill has been found alternative accommodation
as a result of intimidation."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-
/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4667093.stm

Drumcree Parade Passes Peacefully

The annual Orange Order parade at Drumcree, County Armagh, has
passed off peacefully.

It followed a low key security operation to enforce a decision
to bar Orangemen from passing down the mainly nationalist
Garvaghy Road in Portadown.

In the last two years, the parade has passed off peacefully.
But, in the past, there has been serious violence.

District Secretary David Jones said Portadown Orangemen felt
"disgust and disappointment" at the ban.

He addressed the senior police officer on duty and said the
resolve of Orangemen remained "as strong as ever".

Mr Jones made the comments after several hundred Orangemen and
women walked the short distance from Drumcree church to the
security barrier.

After a brief religious service, the Orange lodges were
addressed by the District Master, David Burrows, who criticised
the Parades Commission ruling.

Mr Burrows said the protest would continue until Orangemen were
once again allowed to follow their route.

"We are not going to walk away, we will continue to protest
every Sunday until our rights are restored," he said.

A major security operation has accompanied the march in recent
years, but it was scaled down last year.

This year, a gate and several crush barriers blocked the road
below the church and a light-weight barbed wire fence was
strung across a nearby field.

Soldiers and police officers, who were not in riot gear, were
at the barrier. However, there were fewer than in previous
years.

The main part of the barrier remained opened throughout the
Orange Order protest on Sunday, with only crush barriers
preventing the marchers from moving forwards.

Police Land Rovers were parked at potential flashpoints, such
as the top of the Garvaghy Road, and water cannon were on
standby.

Chief Superintendent Drew Harris said he was satisfied with the
way things had gone.

"This is the third year in which we have had little or no
disorder," he said.

He said the greatly reduced security operation was commensurate
with how police had measured any threat of violence.

Mr Harris added: "It has been significantly scaled down and
normal life in the whole of Portadown has been allowed to
continue pretty much uninterrupted."

The route along the Garvaghy Road was last used by the
Orangemen in 1997.

Each July, the Portadown Orange Lodge attends a service at
Drumcree church to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of
the Somme.

Since 1998, their homeward route has been blocked by the
security forces, following a ruling by the Parades Commission.

The Parades Commission was set up in 1997 to make decisions on
whether controversial parades should be restricted.

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said he hopes the main
marches on 12 July will pass off peacefully.

"I really appeal to people to do all they can to avoid
conflict, we know how easy it is to have conflict but we
really, really ask people to do their utmost and I know
political leaders will be doing that," Mr Ahern said.

"We have a lot of people on the ground in Northern Ireland this
week, a lot of our officials are working. We will do everything
we can, but at the end of the day it will come down to the good
sense of decent and ordinary people."

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/07/10 17:27:16 GMT
© BBC MMV

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0711/2578160538HM
6DRUMCOLOUR.html

Orangemen Merely Go Through The Motions

Dan Keenan in Portadown

As the men and women of Portadown Loyal Orange Lodge stepped
out, only the buzz of the police helicopter broke the
tranquillity of a perfect Sunday.

Some Orangemen set out along these streets as if they owned
them - perhaps they once did. Headed for the church on Drumcree
hill to remember the fallen of the first World War, they cited
the qualities of dignity and defiance.

However, the mood that hung over the town centre told a
different tale. If the 300 men of the 36th Ulster Division
killed on the first day of the Somme were expecting the worst,
so too did those who commemorated them yesterday.

Edgarstown Accordion Band struck up a jaunty version of Abide
with Me, but it could not ease the sense of fatalism.

They marched out past "The Tunnel" and Obins Street, the scenes
of defeat of 20 years ago and on towards the true blue
heartlands of Corcrain. Past the towering 11th night pyre,
still under construction, the marchers approached a few hundred
loyalist supporters.

Some in the crowd tried to whip up some fervour by applauding
loudly in the hope that the ripple would build into a wave. But
it never caught on.

Police officers wore shirt sleeves for the heat and the
obviously reduced threat. How could there be trouble when
everyone knew this battle was already lost? At the top end of
an empty, flagless Garvaghy Road beside the Catholic church,
the odd teenager in a Celtic shirt or the orange of Armagh GAA
looked on without reaction.

As the bricks of Portadown's estates gave way to the hedgerows,
the marchers, many sweating uncomfortably in their
paraphernalia, made their way to the iconic church on the hill.

Inside, the Rev John Pickering, rector of Drumcree, referred to
the obvious downbeat mood.

"As we meet this morning, perhaps feeling somewhat
disillusioned with life, let us remember that God always gives
us confidence for the future." If so, many Orangemen are still
waiting. God's name does not appear among the membership of the
Parades Commission.

"Vision," intoned the Rev Pickering with passion. "That's
what's needed."

He bravely cited the decision by Orangemen in Derry to talk to
residents there and the resulting agreement to stage a march on
the Twelfth.

"Why not elsewhere?" asked the rector. "Why not here?" He may
well ask.

Down at the barrier blocking the return route by Garvaghy Road
were just seven officers and a superintendent. More prayers,
more denouncement of the Parades Commission and a lamentable
rendering of God Save The Queen and that was it.

A decade after Paisley and Trimble danced in triumph, most
marchers about-turned and went home.

© The Irish Times

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http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=62455&pt=n

Rector In Drumcree Talks Call

Portadown Orangemen were urged today to hold talks with the
nationalist residents of the Garvaghy Road in a bid to end the
long running Drumcree parade dispute.

By:Press Association

The annual parade passed off without incident for the third
year running today with Orangemen staging a token protest at
being prevented from marching their traditional route along the
Garvaghy Road.

In a minor act of defiance they remained on Drumcree Hill a
little after the 2.30pm dispersal time the Parades Commission
had ordered.

During the church service at Drumcree, Rector the Reverend John
Pickering suggested the Orangemen got into dialogue with the
nationalist residents to try to solve the long running dispute.

He said similar dialogue had worked in Derry recently and it
was "an example to be followed elsewhere".

There was a hugely reduced security operation compared to
previous years, reflecting the diminished threat of trouble.

The Orange Order had urged troublemakers to stay away and they
did - in fact there were little more than 100 supporters at the
church compared to thousands a few years ago. There also
appeared to be less Orangemen actually parading than in past
years.

The parade from the centre of Portadown to Drumcree passed the
top of the Garvaghy Road and as it did so bands stopped
playing. Only the single beat of a drum could be heard.

Less than a dozen nationalist residents stood to watch and
there was no dialogue between the two sides.

New much smaller gates were put on the bridge at the bottom of
Drumcree Hill to stop the parade and they were not even shut.
Five police officers, with a double crush barrier in front of
them stopped the parade when it made its token efforts to
follow the traditional route.

Speaking during a brief protest rally, Orange Order District
Master David Burrows insisted the protest would continue until
they were once again allowed to follow their route.

"We are not going to walk away, we will continue to protest
every Sunday until our rights are restored," he said.

Police Service Divisional Commander, chief superintendent Drew
Harris, declared himself satisfied with the way things had
gone.

"This is the third year in which we have had little or no
disorder." He said the greatly reduced security operation was
commensurate with what police thought the threat of violence
was.

He said: "It has been significantly scaled down and normal life
in the whole of Portadown has been allowed to continue pretty
much uninterrupted."

He said it was a successful operation achieved in partnership
with those who didn`t want the parade to take place and those
taking part.

However, he said it was still a substantial operation and his
officers would be better employed tackling violent or drug
crime.

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http://62.253.251.16/dailyireland/home.tvt?_ticket=PXSEAOWM4BEF
URUSJOO9ANWPOIA9CHVTWRRKIVOBAVXMFNKACK3AC4QFIR0BARXDALOL64EFURU
SHONGEMTEGUKACK3YL9JU6I8&_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News&id=66
19&opp=1

Ex-Shell Worker Speaks Out In Support Of Jailed Men

BY Anton McCabe

A former Shell worker yesterday spoke of why he had resigned in
support of the Rossport Five.

Until last week, Fergus Sweeney was a security guard protecting
Shell's pipeline and terminal sites in Mayo. Now he is one of
the protesters blockading the Bellanaboy terminal.

He walked out of his job last week in protest at the jailing of
the Rossport Five.

"I walked out because five people were arrested and because
Shell are not informing the people of the implications of the
terminal and the truth. I'm not an anarchist. I just don't
think it's right," he said.

Two weeks ago, Mr Sweeney was posted on night shift to guard a
lorry carrying pipes. Protesters in Rossport had set up a
blockade against such lorries.

"When I arrived there, I thought the best thing if I was to
spend the night there was to introduce myself to the people.

"From then on, I was up and down all night talking to the
people, asking them how they felt about going to jail," Mr
Sweeney said.

"That was a big turning point, meeting them. I was talking to
Willie Corduff, who is now in jail. He said it wasn't about
money — no amount of money would get him to move."

Mr Sweeney has discussed the issue with other security guards.
"They don't want it. They think it's an awful thing these men
had to go to jail," he said. "If things escalate, they may
decide to walk out."

Twenty-five-year-old Mr Sweeney, from Blacksod, about 55
kilometres from Rossport, was one of the few locals working on
the project. Nearly all were security guards like himself or
general operatives.

He got €6.84 (£4.68) an hour doing 12-hour shifts with Gilmore
Security, with no premium for working weekends.

"Management told us, if there were protesters at the gate, we
were to contact management, not engage in conversation, record
movements with a video or a still camera, and file a report.

"As far as I know, the reports were faxed to Gilmore Security
and to Shell in Bangor Erris.

"They were used to identify protesters for possible legal
action," he said.

Last Sunday, Mr Sweeney addressed the huge protest rally in
Castlebar.

When he called on his fellow workers to down tools, there was a
huge cheer.

"I don't want them to leave their jobs, just to show support,"
he said.

Last night, a series of protests was held throughout Ireland in
support of the Rossport Five.

The protests were organised by Sinn Féin and took place at
Shell and Statoil garages in a number of areas, including Cork,
Dublin, Galway, Kerry and Waterford.

Speaking prior to the protests, Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris
said: "It is not good enough for the government to wash their
hands of the Corrib Gas debacle and allow Shell to ride
roughshod over the people of Rossport."

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http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=148991416&p=y4899zyzz&n=14
8992176

Policewoman Dies After Car Crash

10/07/2005 - 21:10:17

A policewoman has died after her armoured Land Rover patrol
vehicle crashed in the North today.

She died in hospital several hours after the accident outside
Desertmartin in Co Derry in which four colleagues were also
injured.

They were travelling in convoy with several other Police
Service Land Rovers along the Desertmartin to Moneymore road
when the accident occurred.

None of the other vehicles were understood to be involved in
the crash, said a police spokesman.

Three other officers are in serious conditions in hospital and
a fifth escaped with minor injuries, said the spokesman.

Meanwhile, an ex-police officer died when he crashed his car
while being pursued by a police car in Co Antrim.

The BMW driver slammed into a tree before crashing into a field
outside Ballymoney.

He was named by the Police Service as Trevor Barr, 50, from the
Drumnamallaght area of Ballymoney.

At the time of the accident Mr Barr was being "followed" by
police after failing to stop, said a Police Service spokesman.

The crash has been referred to the Northern Ireland Police
Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan , for investigation.

Anyone who witnessed the crash or who has information about it
has been asked to contact the Ombudsman.

In another unrelated accident a woman was killed and two other
people injured when two cars collided on the Hillhead Road
outside Ballyclare, Co Antrim.

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http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=78912504&p=789yz878&n=7891
2975

Leaders Honour Ireland's Military Heroes

10/07/2005 - 13:41:18

President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern joined
hundreds of people today at a service for Irish soldiers who
died in war or on peacekeeping duty with the United Nations.

At the commemoration service in hot sunshine in the courtyard
of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, ex-servicemen and women from
across the island of Ireland, serving regiments, senior
politicians and members of the public gathered to remember the
nation's war dead.

The Taoiseach told the congregation that it was fitting they
remembered all of the Irishmen and women who had died on active
service.

Prayers were led by leaders of the Catholic, Orthodox, Church
of Ireland and Presbyterian churches and by the Chief Rabbi of
Ireland Doctor Yaakov Pearlman and Muslim cleric Doctor Ali
Qirbi.

The Archbishop of Dublin Doctor Diamuid Martin said the
congregation was gathered to honour all the Irishmen and women
who had given their lives in war or for the UN.

"We pray also for peace, for a future where enmity, injustice
and division are healed and needless suffering is ended," he
said.

He also led the congregation in prayers for the victims of last
Thursday's bomb attacks in London.

Doctor Ali Qirbi recited an Islamic prayer calling for faith,
peace, safety and security to prevail in the world.

"Help the world shun war and destruction and guide the leaders
and chiefs to what is beneficial to all human beings," he said.

The President laid a wreath at the commemorative plaques, which
was followed by a minute's silence and sounding of the Last
Post.

The national flag was then raised from half to full mast and
the congregation sang the National Anthem which was followed by
an air corps flyby.

Following the service, Michael Thompson, a member of the UN
Veterans Association, from Portlaoise, who served in Kosovo and
Lebanon, said: "It's very moving, honouring all our ex-defence
service people that have served overseas in the cause of
peace."

Colonel Leo Callow of the Royal Irish Regiment, who is from
Dublin but based in Northern Ireland, said it was a great
honour to attend the service. "This is a real brotherhood in
arms," he said.

Roy Walker, regimental secretary of the Royal Ulster Rifles and
the Royal Irish Rangers, had travelled down from Belfast for
today's service.

He said it meant an awful lot to him to attend the
commemoration and said it was terribly important to honour all
the Irish servicemen and women, including many who had fought
in his own regiment.

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http://www.sundaylife.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=652021

Orange Sash To Porn Stash

By Ciaran McGuigan
10 July 2005

KINKY lawyer Richard Monteith will this morning don an Orange
sash - rather than the fetish gear worn in the porno mags he
likes - as he prepares to lead LOL 107 Ballygargan to the Hill
at Drumcree.

At home, he will leave his estranged wife Rosmund Evans, who
claims that he assaulted her and subjected her to a campaign of
"mental, physical and verbal abuse" since their two-year
marriage disintegrated earlier this year.

Rosmund has now branded him a "Jekyll and Hyde" figure, who
puts on a public front that is very different from his porn-
loving home life.

The legal eagle is no stranger to controversy, having hit the
headlines numerous times before.

In 1999, he was convicted in connection to the Drumcree dispute
the previous year.

Mr Monteith was fined for obstructing traffic after he and nine
others chopped down a tree to block the Gilford Road in Lurgan
during protests in July 1998.

And, in July 2000, he hit the headlines again after firing his
legally-held firearm during a fracas in the grounds of Brownlow
House - the Orange Order's Lurgan HQ.

A local businessman was being attacked by a drunken mob
following a Royal Black Preceptory demonstration, and Mr
Monteith fired his personal protection weapon into the air to
scatter the thugs.

He has also legally represented some of the province's most
notorious killers.

Among his clients was Robin 'The Jackal' Jackson, who was
believed to have been involved in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan
bombings, and was the leader of a ruthless UVF gang operating
in mid-Ulster that was behind numerous bombings and shootings.

He also represented convicted killer Clifford McKeown, who is
currently serving life for the brutal murder of Catholic taxi-
driver Michael McGoldrick at the height of the Drumcree dispute
in 1996.

Other notorious cases he has been involved with included that
of Norman Coopey, the loyalist killer of Catholic schoolboy
James Morgan.

He also represented one of the men accused of killing Robert
Hamill.

Mr Monteith was also involved in the case of Ulster Resistance
members who were held on weapons charges in France.

More recently, he wrote to a number of newspapers threatening
legal action after investigative journalist Steven Moore made
startling revelations about leading DUP member Paul Berry's
private life.

The DUP last week suspended Mr Berry - an MLA for Newry and
Armagh - pending an internal inquiry.

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0711/48589669HM6W
EATHER.html

Kilkenny The Republic's Hot Spot

James Fitzgerald

Some of the year's highest temperatures were recorded in the
State yesterday and today could be even hotter as a large area
of high pressure passes slowly over Ireland.

The highest recorded temperature yesterday was 27.4 degrees
(81F) in Kilkenny, according to Met Éireann, with several
inland weather stations logging similar values.

In the midlands, temperatures may climb as high as 29 degrees
(84F) today with most parts of the Republic basking in the mid-
20s (mid 70sF). An easterly sea breeze will cool things down a
little for coastal regions.

"The good weather looks likely to continue although there is a
danger on Tuesday that there could be a couple of thunder
storms as the humidity builds," said Aidan Nulty of Met
Éireann. "Temperatures will return to more normal levels after
that but it should still be nice, summery weather towards the
end of the week and into the weekend."

With people flocking out into the sunshine, it was a busy
weekend for the coastguard services with around 40 incidents
recorded. Most related to motor boats breaking down near the
coast, with several vessels having to be towed ashore.

A couple who got stuck on cliffs near Malin Head, Co Donegal,
were rescued yesterday evening, and although other minor
incidents were reported there were no serious injuries.

"For people who get into trouble on the water, the life-jacket
is the key," said a spokesman for Valentia Coastguard last
night. No matter how strong a swimmer you think you are, you
should always wear a lifejacket," he said.

© The Irish Times

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0711/3902534765HM
5PEACESHIP.html

'Peace Boat' Arrives In Dublin Port

Jeananne Craig

A Japan-based "floating peace village" docked in Dublin this
weekend. The 30,000-ton 'peace boat' is halfway through a
three-month educational voyage.

The ship left Tokyo last month to sail to the convention of
Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict
(GPPAC), in New York in August.

Some 1,000 passengers from Japan, Germany, Iraq and the Middle
East have embarked on the journey, to learn about peace
building, improve their language skills and attend lectures.

When the Peace Boat organisation acquired the ship, it housed a
large casino. This was replaced with educational facilities,
including a library, computer offices and two large lecture
theatres.

Seán O'Boyle of the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation, Co
Wicklow, boarded the ship in France to educate passengers about
Ireland's peace process.

© The Irish Times

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