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July 13, 2005

Parade Rioting Leaves 88 Injured

News about Ireland & the Irish

IO 07/13/05 Orange Parade Rioting Leaves 88 Injured
IO 07/13/05 SF Condemns Blast Bomb Attacks On Police
SF 07/13/05 Situation Created By Demands To Dominate
EX 07/13/05 Opin: Applause For Supporters Keeping Cool
BB 07/13/05 House Attacked 'By Republicans'
BB 07/13/05 What The Papers Say
BT 07/13/05 Opin: Democracy Cannot Co-Exist With Terrorism
BT 07/13/05 Opin: Underclass Only Loyal Only To Terrorism
EX 07/13/05 Opin: Free Them And Stop Hiding Behind The Law
BT 07/13/05 Alternative Ulster On The Twelfth
SF 07/13/05 Dublin City Manager Treats Public With Contempt
UT 07/13/05 Bombing: Death Of Ciaran Cassidy Confirmed
BB 07/13/05 Giants Clash In The Antrim Glens
UT 07/13/05 Restoration Project On Adare Castle Underway

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http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=149266050&p=y49
z66756

Orange Parade Rioting Leaves 88 Injured

13/07/2005 - 08:20:18

Nearly 90 people were injured in serious rioting in north
Belfast after a contentious Orange Parade, police said
today.

The Police Service said about 80 officers were hurt, one
seriously, and about seven civilians, including two
journalists.

The Crumlin Road and other streets around the nationalist
Ardoyne area were strewn with the debris of violence today,
after nationalist protesters launched attacks on the
security forces after an Orange Lodge parade had passed by.

Local priest Fr Aidan Troy, who had worked in the community
to try to ensure a peaceful day, said: "I feel a huge
disappointment and a huge sadness.

"I have been out and looked at the streets this morning and
it says failure. It all went so horribly wrong."

He said no one had won and, yet again, there had been "the
betrayal of this community".

The security forces had attempted to hold back nationalist
protesters as hundreds of Orangemen marched along the
Crumlin Road for the return leg of their parade.

Even though senior republicans urged youths not to attack
police and troops, bricks and suspected pipe bombs rained
down from rooftops as the rioting broke out shortly before
8pm. A car was also hijacked and set on fire close to
police lines.

Officers used water cannon and fired several rounds of
sponge-tipped plastic bullets in a bid to quell the
violence.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said: "When the police
moved in what I think was quite a reckless manner, they
took management completely away from the stewards. They
brought the water cannon in too quickly. We should have
been allowed to keep order.

"In a situation where people on the front line like myself,
Gerry Kelly, different MLAs and Fr (Aidan) Troy were
completely soaked on six or seven different occasions."

North Belfast Democratic Unionist MP Nigel Dodds said it
was utterly deplorable that once again a totally peaceful,
lawful parade was attacked by republicans on a main
arterial route.

"The scenes of intense violence which has left so many
police officers and members of the press injured are a
scandal and a disgrace."

He said the use of blast bombs "clearly demonstrates
premeditated, organised violence on the part of republican
paramilitaries".

There had been a number of other attacks on Orangemen and
their bands in North Belfast, said Mr Dodds, adding:
"Either Sinn Féin/IRA cannot control this violence or do
not wish to control it. Either way, it raises serious
questions about the future of the political process."

The Orange Order called on the Parade Commission to ban all
future protests at the Ardoyne.

A spokesman for the order's leadership said the latest
rioting proved that the Commission's policy of "constantly
appeasing" hard-line republican residents by granting them
the right to protest at the Ardoyne, was "threatening the
stability of Northern Ireland and putting the lives of
police officers at risk".

The Order said: "The rioting happens so often that the
Ardoyne has become synonymous with serious, orchestrated
violence. Do we have to wait for people to die before the
Parades Commission acts to put a stop to it?"

The Order said it noted that the latest trouble in both
North Belfast and Derry had broken out after parading
Orangemen, adhering to the Commission's rulings, had left
the scene. "The Twelfth was just an excuse – the truth is
these thugs are addicted to violence."

The Order said was time the Parades Commission and the
Northern Ireland Office recognised "we will not be
blackmailed into abandoning our cultural traditions by
those who have no regard for human rights other than their
own".

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http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=149306998&p=y493x77x4&
n=149307758

SF Condemns Blast Bomb Attacks On Police

13/07/2005 - 12:23:15

Sinn Féin has criticised those responsible for throwing
blast bombs at police officers during riots in north
Belfast last night.

Up to 80 officers and a number of members of the public
were injured during the clashes following a contentious
Orange Order march in the Ardoyne area.

Three blast bombs were thrown at police during the violence
and republican sources have blamed the breakaway Continuity
IRA for the attacks.

Speaking about the matter this morning, Sinn Féin's Gerry
Kelly said: "They're not from the [Provisional] IRA.
They're not supported by the IRA.

"The vast majority of people are very angry about these
attacks. Whoever did it, they're not welcome."

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http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/10409

Ardoyne Situation Created By Orange Demands To Dominate

Published: 13 July, 2005

Sinn Féin Assembly member for North Belfast Gerry Kelly was
today joined at a press conference in Belfast by party
colleagues Alex Maskey, Cathy Stanton and Carol ni Cuilan
to review the aftermath of the Parades Commission decision
to force a Orange Parade through three nationalist areas of
North Belfast.

Mr Kelly said:

"Sinn Féin, local residents, local community activists and
clergymen worked for weeks trying to ensure that this very
difficult situation did not end up in violent conflict on
the streets. The situation was created by the demands of
the Orange Order to march along this route and the Parades
Commission acceding to that demand. Both the morning and
the evening protests were peaceful and this we hoped would
set the tone for the return leg.

" On the return leg there was some minor stone throwing and
insults exchanged between some young people and the
marchers. This was manageable. However the PSNI immediately
intervened with a baton charge and water cannon. This
action disempowered the local residents stewards and for a
time control was lost. This is not what we wanted to see
happen, nor was it what the residents of that area wanted
to see happen.

"However the fundamental problem is being sustained. That
is unionist and loyalist demands to dominate nationalist
neighbourhoods by forcing unwanted sectarian anti-catholic
parades through them.

"The hit and run decisions of the Parades Commission is
part of the problem. Bad decisions which others are left to
manage.

"The consistent rewarding of the Orange Order in North
Belfast for refusing to enter into a process of dialogue
which seeks to resolve this issue is untenable. It is
unacceptable. It is a recipe for ongoing tension,
disharmony and conflict.

"The most remarkable aspect of last nights events in North
Belfast is that lives were not lost. This society cannot
afford to continue with this situation. The Orange Order
need to begin to show some respect for nationalist
residents. They need to engage in genuine and meaningful
dialogue to resolve the issue of contentious marches in
North Belfast and indeed elsewhere." ENDS

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http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/opinion/Full_Story/did-
sgNA3WRUTFto2sgadLjt5C321I.asp

13/07/05

Opin: Applause For Supporters Keeping Cool

APART from a few cross-community areas, the glorious, or
infamous July 12, depending on one's standpoint, was
largely uneventful until last night's inevitable clashes.

Playing a calming role in flash-point areas, Sinn Féin
leaders were on the streets yesterday urging their
supporters to remain "cool". For that they deserve to be
applauded.

Both Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness had a significant
influence in defusing protests and keeping the lid on
potential trouble in flashpoint areas where nationalist and
loyalist communities rub uneasy shoulders.

Times are changing, however, and the demeanour of Orangemen
is no longer as arrogant or the shadowy presence of
militant republicans as ominous. Hopefully, the anticipated
IRA stand down will result in confrontation giving way to
compromise in future.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-
/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4677767.stm

House Attacked 'By Republicans'

A north Belfast man whose house was targeted said it was
the latest in a long line of attacks by republicans.

The man was at home with his wife and pregnant daughter in
Alliance Close when a device smashed through the roof into
the attic.

It happened at about 2330 BST. The man, who did not want to
be identified, said he is considering moving out.

"It terrified me and my young daughter was very terrified,"
the man said.

"She's six months pregnant, she was in hysterics when it
happened."

The man said the family were attacked because they are
Protestants.

"This happend on a regular basis and but for the grace of
God no-one was hurt."

He said the windows of his house had been broken with golf
balls and other missiles in the past.

Remains of the device have been taken away for scientific
examination, and police have appealed for anyone with any
information to contact them.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/07/13 06:27:37 GMT
© BBC MMV

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-
/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4677873.stm

What The Papers Say

Journalist Grania McFadden takes a look at what is making
the headlines in Wednesday's morning papers.

"It's the same old story", says Daily Ireland , above a
picture of a police officer pointing a gun.

As violence erupted in Ardoyne on Tuesday, local editions
carry striking pictures of clashes between police and
protestors.

The News Letter is in no doubt who is to blame.
"Republicans brought disgrace on themselves at the end of a
day when the Orange Order paraded with dignity in the face
of prejudice," it says.

Its editorial says the bomb left on a railway line near
Moira was a "clear attempt to murder people travelling to
Orange celebrations".

The Irish News says Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams and
Holy Cross priest Father Aidan Troy were "blasted with
water as they tried to calm the situation in Ardoyne". Fr
Troy told the paper he was "heartbroken" at the violence.

Daily Ireland believes the Orange Order is the loser after
last nght's trouble.

In a hard-hitting editorial it says: "There was a time when
membership of the Order was a badge of honour. Today it is
a badge of shame... and embarrassment to right-thinking
Protestants and a millstone round the neck of thinking
unionists."

Inquiry

The Irish News says Belfast City Council has called for an
inquiry into how the UVF was allowed to take part in city
hall sponsored event on Monday night.

"Five UVF gunmen fired a volley of shots from a stage as a
masked spokesman read out a statement warning that the UVF
would wipe out the LVF," the paper says.

And violence is writ large in the national papers, too,
after the discovery of what the Irish Independent calls
"the enemy within".

Reports that at least three of the London bombers were
British sends a wave of fear through the country. "This is
the nightmare scenario authorities had feared most,"
according to the Independent .

The Mirror carries pictures of "the ordinary streets in
west Yorkshire where four ordinary British lads who loved
football, cricket and girls grew up to become suicide
bombers".

One was the son of a fish and chip shop owner. Another was
reported missing by his worried parents - "and that phone
call helped police unravel the identities of the bombers".

The Guardian profiles one of the young men. Ten days ago he
was playing cricket in the park with his friends. He had
many friends, says the paper - and he was not interested in
politics.

The ordinary streets in west Yorkshire where four ordinary
British lads who loved football, cricket and girls grew up
to become suicide bombers

The Mirror

The paper's Kevin Toolis says there is no defence against
suicide bombing.

The London Underground "would require a force bigger than
the British Army to search every passenger and check every
bag," he says.

The Sun claims that there are another 200 Britons prepared
to blow themselves up in similar attacks.

But in its editorial, it warns readers that any backlash
against British Muslims would hand Osama Bin Laden a small
victory. "He loathes the idea of a harmonious, multi-
cultural Britain," it says.

Away from the attacks, several papers look ahead to the
publication of the new Harry Potter book.

The Daily Telegraph says the adult edition "will become the
best-selling adult hardback of the year".

But the Guardian reveals that a supermarket in Vancouver in
Canada has already begun selling copies of the book by
mistake.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/07/13 07:55:08 GMT
© BBC MMV

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?st
ory=652300

Opin: Democracy Cannot Co-Exist With Terrorism

By Robert McCartney QC, leader UK Unionist Party

13 July 2005

The horror of the crime against humanity that was executed
by terrorists in the trains and buses of London last week
confirms the principle that democracy cannot survive by
surrendering to terrorism.

The purpose of terror directed towards the peoples and
institutions of a democratic state is twofold. The first is
to induce that state to adopt policies that will realise
the terrorists' political objectives. The second is to
cause social and political instability by promoting
hostility between its communities.

In Northern Ireland, it was to set Protestant unionist
against Catholic nationalists and vice versa; in London,
al-Qaida's aim is to engender a non-Muslim backlash against
ordinary Muslims which will then encourage further
recruitment.

Both Provisional IRA (PIRA) and al-Qaida hoped to terrorise
London to fulfil their political goals. In PIRA's case, it
was to accelerate the British policy of disengagement from
Northern Ireland. For al-Qaida, it was, as in New York and
Washington, to create pressure for the removal of support
for moderate oil-producing states in the Middle East and
for the right of the state of Israel to exist.

What the London atrocities have done is to highlight the
very different attitudes adopted by Tony Blair in relation
to PIRA terror and that perpetrated by al-Qaida and its
associates.

Driven by his support for President Bush's uncompromising
attitude to terrorism, he has endorsed military
intervention in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Both the Taliban
and Saddam Hussein's supporters have been subjected to all-
out military action.

There is no question of either being included in new
democratic institutions, or of democrats being forced to
include them in their administrations while they remain
armed - the policy is: Give no quarter.

In Northern Ireland, British policy has been quite the
reverse. The political representatives of armed terrorists
have been awarded places in government. Murderers and
criminals have been given early release. The RUC, which
prevented a descent into chaos at the cost of over 300 dead
and thousands seriously injured, was first humiliated and
then reformed to meet the requirements of its terrorist
opponents.

In order to square what appears an outrageous contradiction
in approach, the British government has resorted to word
play to create a distinction without a difference. al-Qaida
and co enjoys the special description of 'international or
absolute terrorism' as if there were gradations of
murderous violence.

PIRA violence is deemed capable of more mollifying
treatment because, allegedly, its specific demands form the
basis of negotiation. Yet, for ordinary people who are the
victims of violence, 'terror is terror'.

These quite bizarre categories of terrorism must be scant
comfort to those murdered, maimed, and threatened by
Republican terrorists. The victims must be bemused to learn
that their sufferings are seemingly different from those
experienced by the victims of 'international' terrorists.
The truth is that those blown apart at Enniskillen, Omagh,
and the Shankill, or burnt alive at La Mon are no different
from the victims of the London horrors.

Today communication technology such as the internet has
globalised terror and provided links that make both it, its
structure, its weapons, and its tactics international. The
use of terror as a political weapon of choice, regardless
of the cause it claims to promote, has now become the major
threat to world peace and the democratic process.

To claim that the Provisional IRA is anything but a major
league player in world terrorism is a grave mistake. Its
activities have served as a field manual for political
terrorism worldwide. Its established connection to
international terrorism in Libya, the Middle East,
Columbia, and Spain, afford it an outstanding international
pedigree. Its weaponry has been sourced to Libya and former
Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe. ETA in Spain and FARC
in Columbia have both benefited from its training and
expertise in mortar bombs and explosives.

The scale of the IRA's economic terrorism puts it in the
premier league of world terrorism. The list of the world's
ten most expensive terrorist outrages accords the IRA three
out of the top five - the total of which exceed even the
damage caused by the September 11 outrage in New York and
Washington. The success of the IRA in forcing concessions
from Britain encouraged others to adopt its tactics and
strategy.

The 'IRA car bomb' was the forerunner of the 'al-Qaida
plane bomb'. The strategy of major attacks on the largest
cities of the countries whose policies it wished to change
or control was invented and used by the IRA in London,
Manchester, and Belfast. It has now been employed in New
York, Washington, Madrid, and London, by al-Qaida.

The IRA, like all deadly viruses, is quick to mutate in
changing conditions. Its reaction to the new attitude of
the United States to terrorist violence after September 11
was swift. Gerry Adams attempted an absurd distinction
between the IRA and those terrorist groups like al-Qaida
who might become the target for US retribution.

He compared the IRA's activities to those of George
Washington and Nelson Mandela. In the presence of the US
Ambassador after September 11, he declared that such
attacks "had set back progressive struggles around the
world and were inexcusable and unjustifiable".

It was an attempt to redefine political terrorism in such a
way that excluded so-called 'progressive struggles' such as
he and the IRA were allegedly engaged upon. In the wake of
the London horrors, he has outdone even that canting
hypocrisy by sending a message of sympathy and solidarity
to Mr Blair and his political fellow traveller, Ken
Livingstone. His professed sympathy must seem macabre to
the families of the dead on Bloody Friday and to the
victims of the Shankill bomb, when they recall Adams
carrying the coffin of the man who blew apart their loved
ones.

The distinction between a 'freedom fighter' and a
'terrorist murderer' exposes the hypocrisy of Adams and IRA
apologists in the media and politics. A 'genuine' freedom
fighter opposes a repressive regime which denies the
democratic expression of his cause. His struggle is,
therefore, against the regime, not the civil population.
His aim is to gain equal participation in democratic
government, not to destroy it. Conversely, the terrorist
uses violence to break resistance to his aims by installing
the fear of death, mutilation, or torture upon those who do
not support him.

The naïve mantra that "one man's freedom fighter is another
man's terrorist" ignores the distinction in both their
objectives and their methods. The goal of the freedom
fighter is admittance to the democratic process. The aim of
the terrorist is to distort or destroy a democracy to which
he has access, but is unable by democratic persuasion alone
to gain acceptance of his political objectives by a
majority. Both the IRA and now al-Qaida have bombed London
on this basis.

The same simplistic mantra confuses the methods of the
terrorist with his alleged cause, which may be either a
good one or a bad one. The pursuit of Irish unity through
democratic institutions is entirely legitimate. Despite
access to such institutions Sinn Fein/IRA have continued to
murder, mutilate, intimidate, and exile, in a process of
social and political terror in a way that deserves no other
epithet than 'terrorist'.

The obscene consequence of the confusion of cause and
method is that those few who perpetrate these atrocities
are supported by a legion who support the cause, but who do
not openly wish to acknowledge that someone is killing and
maiming the innocent in a cause which they support.

For this legion pervaded by 'the cause', the activity of
the terrorist and criminal is transmuted into that of the
'freedom fighter' involved in a 'progressive struggle' with
which they are in sympathy. Nothing else can explain the
electoral support which Sinn Fein/IRA receive from the pro-
nationalist community or the indulgence which their leaders
receive from such as Ken Livingstone, and a part of the
media, political and even clerical establishment.

Whatever justifications may be contrived for this type of
violence, none of them apply in a society which allows the
means for peaceful change, whether it be Northern Ireland
or post-war Iraq.

Sociological attempts to come to terms with the motivation
of terrorists and to identify their alleged 'just
grievances' simply enter a moral and political cul-de-sac.
Already, as after September 11, there are sections of media
and political opinion who, while condemning the savagery of
the London bombings, are nevertheless suggesting that
government policy in the Middle East has invited
retaliation.

The argument is that a policy of appeasement and the Blair
line of accommodating terrorism, as in Northern Ireland, is
the route to follow.

Such a policy can only be followed if it is accepted that
democracy can indeed co-exist with terrorism, when it
clearly cannot. Instead, a policy of appeasement in
Northern Ireland has made the IRA a seminal force in world
terrorism and an example of the power of a relatively small
group to threaten and, thus, control the policy of a major
democracy.

The bombs in London have a strong resemblance to the
outrages in Madrid which established the power of terrorism
to break the spirit and will of some of its opponents. A
strong anti-terrorist government in Spain was overturned by
terror and an alliance of democracies weakened by Spain's
subsequent withdrawal from the coalition. Throughout
history, there is no example of political terrorists
ceasing their activity until either their aims are achieved
or they are suppressed by the forces of democracy.

In Britain, the Blair government has adopted policies in
Northern Ireland that have sent out all the wrong messages
to international terrorism. If the IRA obtained a string of
concessions by a bombing campaign on the British mainland,
al-Qaida may well have been influenced to follow suit:
after all, it worked in Spain.

Lest the writer be accused of using hindsight, that
cheapest form of wisdom, I refer to an article in the Daily
Telegraph on June 17, 1996 when I remarked on the
commencement of the inter-party talks chaired by Senator
Mitchell and which led to the Belfast Agreement: "On a
wider scale, the curse of international terrorism will have
received a boost, the principles of democracy will have
been debased and, within the United Kingdom, the blight of
terrorism will remain."

Democracy cannot compromise with terror, either at home or
abroad, for neither can co-exist with the other.

There is, as Winston Churchill once observed, no point of
compromise between the fireman and the arsonist.

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?st
ory=652298

An Underclass Who Are Loyal Only To Terrorism

Lindy McDowell
13 July 2005

The LVF and the UVF are locked in bloody combat. The UDA is
also at war - with itself. The IRA really hates the Real
IRA. The Real IRA continues to hate the Continuity IRA. And
the INLA hates everybody.

And this is before you even get started on the cross
community aspect of paramilitary enmity.

Republicans hate loyalists. Loyalists hate republicans.
That's the accepted wisdom anyway. The paramilitaries it
seems, all want to wipe each other out.

Is this really the case though?

The fact is that paramilitaries can't exist without each
other. One lot bolsters the other. One lot justifies the
other's existence. And I'm not just talking about
paramilitaries on the same side doing the mutually
supportive thing.

I'm talking about loyalist paramilitaries providing an
excuse for the existence of republican paramilitaries and
republican paramilitaries providing the excuse for loyalist
paramilitaries.

These two species are entirely inter-dependent in the pond-
life food chain.

Their trick is to suggest that they exist entirely to
protect "their" side of the community from the other lot.

Is it just coincidence for example, that at a time when P
O'Neill is said to be scratching his head over the wording
of yet another seismic statement of IRA disbandment, that
suddenly trouble flares at the interface?

There is a point to paramilitary violence and those of us
who just get swept away by the sheer horror of it all miss
that point.

The point is about paramilitary self perpetuation.

The latest loyalist feud is part of that trend. It's about
one group attempting to assert supremacy over another in a
community that is already entirely revolted by all their
methods and means.

An example of how removed they are from reality is the
sickening sight of three paramilitary flags - and wreaths -
placed on an Eleventh night bonfire in a gloating display
by the rival murdering gang.

Do they have any idea how normal people recoil from them?

Apparently not. Because the truth is we don't recoil from
them half enough.

To those outside loyalist working class areas it may be
difficult to understand the enormous grip of terror,
paramilitary gangs exert. Leaders of the
Protestant/unionist community need to make this a little
more clear. They also need to make a little more clear the
revulsion of so many people at how these gangsters have
attempted, and in some cases succeeded, in hijacking
aspects of their culture.

It should not just be nationalist politicians who speak out
against the loyalist yobs. Unionist politicians should be
shouting their disgust from the rooftops too. Just as
moderate nationalist politicians should be highlighting the
cynical manipulation of their own community by republican
paramilitary thugs.

We allow paramilitaries to set the agenda in Northern
Ireland - to set, not just one side of the community at the
other's throat but to tear individual communities, streets,
even families apart. Put simply, they know how to wind us
up.

The paramilitaries by unspoken agreement, sustain each
other's existence and excesses.

It's time the rest of us did something similar. That decent
people from all sides formed an alliance against the
paramilitaries - ALL the paramilitaries.

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http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/opinion/Full_Story/did-
sgChK1OZs4HuIsgadLjt5C321I.asp

13/07/05

Opin: Free Them And Stop Hiding Behind The Law

WE Sinn Féin councillors call on the Government to
intervene as a matter of urgency to secure the release of
the five Co Mayo protesters known as the Rossport Five.

The Government bent over backwards to create the situation
where Shell and its associates could have untrammelled
access to the Irish people's natural resource.

All over the world, and particularly in Nigeria, Shell has
shown little concern for human rights in their quest for
enormous profits.

The Government should now, late as it is, stand up for its
citizens and intervene to secure the release of five
Irishmen who are opposing this multinational trampling over
their property.

The Government fashioned the situation where people going
about their ordinary lives find themselves on the wrong
side of the law.

They should stop hiding behind the legal system in order to
give unquestioning support to this multinational
conglomerate and work instead to secure the rights of the
people in Co Mayo.

Toiréasa Ní Fhearáiosa - Mayor, Kerry County Council
Robert Beasley Kerry County Council
Cllr Martin Hallinan Cork County Council
Jonathan O'Brien Cork City Council
Annette Spillane Cork City Council
David Cullinane Waterford City Council
Joe Kelly Waterford City Council
Brendan Mansfield Waterford Co Council
John Desmond Bandon Town Council
Ann O'Leary Bantry Town Council
Liam Walsh Carrick-on-Suir Town Council
Michael Browne Cashel Town Council
Cionnaith Ó Suilleabháin
Clonakilty Town Council
Paul Hayes Clonakilty Town Council
Kieran McCarthy Cobh Town Council
Seamus Coleman Fermoy Town Council
Anthony Curtain Listowel Town Council
Willie O'Regan Mallow Town Council
Gina Hennessy Midleton Town Council
Shamie Morris Nenagh Town Council
Roisín Ó Suilleabháin
Passage West Town Council
Donneaghdha Ó Sé
Skibbereen Town Council
Dave Doran Thurles Town Council
Maisie Houlihan Tralee Town Council
Cathal Foley Tralee Town Council
Sandra McLellan Youghal Town Council.

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=6522
91

Alternative Ulster On The Twelfth

By Lisa Smyth
13 July 2005

Traditionally, July 12 has been a day for Orangemen and
their supporters, but over the past couple of years there
has been a lot more to do than just watch parades or stay
indoors avoiding them.

Yesterday, for instance, saw thousands of people travelling
to shops, restaurants and beauty spots to enjoy an
alternative to the traditional Twelfth celebrations.

An increasing number of businesses are coming to realise
the earning potential of the Twelfth and are also taking
advantage of the public holiday with premises across the
province opening their doors to the public.

With Northern Ireland in the grips of a heatwave, an
estimated 4,000 visitors flocked to Crawfordsburn Country
Park in Co Down to enjoy the stunning scenery and soaring
temperatures.

By mid-morning, motorists were forced to park on the side
of the roads as the car parks were filled to capacity, a
spokeswoman from the park said the area was "absolutely
packed" with people paddling in the sea, sunbathing and
enjoying barbecues with family and friends.

There were similar scenes at coastal locations throughout
Northern Ireland with thousands of people using the public
holiday and quieter roads as an excuse to head to some of
the province's favourite tourist destinations.

And, for the second year in a row, Junction One at Antrim
was open to shoppers looking for a bargain in one of the
High Street giants, designer brands and international
market leaders sited at the complex.

Sporting events taking place also provided an alternative
to the marches and parades taking place in towns throughout
Northern Ireland.

Crowds of people turned out to Bangor to watch hundreds of
boats competing in the Red Green Bangor Week event, being
hosted by Ballyholme Yacht Club and Royal Ulster Yacht
Club, while golf fanatics made their way to Royal Portrush
to enjoy the practice day ahead of the North of Ireland
Golf Amateur Championship being held at the north coast
course - where teenage sensation Rory McIlroy hit a course
record 61 yesterday.

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

http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/10408

Dublin City Manager Treats Public With Contempt

Published: 13 July, 2005

Sinn Féin Councillor Christy Burke has accused Dublin City
Management of treating the people of the city with contempt
after trees at the top of O'Connell Street were removed in
the dead of night.

Councillor Burke said:

"Three years ago Sinn Féin had a motion passed at the City
Council, preventing the City Manager from removing the
trees at the top of O'Connell Street until public
consultation had taken place. In the intervening time, and
as recently as last month, I raised this matter with the
City Manager and was told that the report on the public
consultation would be going to the O'Connell Street
Committee on July 14th.

"It is a disgrace that the trees at the top of O'Connell
Street were removed in the dead of night, just one day
before this report was to be made public. Furthermore
Councillors for the area met yesterday and City Management
never informed them about what was to take place.

"Dublin City Management have treated the people of the City
with contempt."ENDS

Note to editor: O'Connell Street Committee is a group made
up of local public representatives, trade unions, business
community and O'Connell Street's sole resident. Their role
is to monitor the O'Connell Street development.

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

http://www.utvinternet.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=62548&pt
=n

Death Of Ciaran Cassidy Confirmed

Detectives were today piecing together the lives of
Britain's first suicide bombers - four home-grown young men
who brought carnage to London.

By:Press Association and UTV

And they were hunting the plotters and the planners who
sent them to their deaths, amid fears there may be more
volunteers ready to die for their cause.

There was shock and disbelief in West Yorkshire today at
the news that three of the bombers came from the county.

Details of the identities of the men, one of whom was still
a teenager, began to emerge after a series of dramatic
raids on homes in the Leeds area yesterday.

Detectives have also revealed that documents belonging to
the four - aged between 19 and 30 and at least three of
whom were British - were recovered at the scenes of the
four blasts, which left 52 dead.

Shehzad Tanweer, 22, of Beeston, Leeds, the son of a local
fish and chip shop owner, is one of the suicide bombers who
struck the capital last Thursday.

He blew himself up on the Aldgate Tube train.

The cricket-loving sports science graduate is among three
men from West Yorkshire and another, thought to be from
Luton, behind the attacks.

His semi-detached home in the Beeston area, where he had
lived all his life, was sealed off by police yesterday as
inquiries were carried out across West Yorkshire.

Friends claimed he had travelled to Afghanistan and
Pakistan within the last six months, prompting fears he may
have attended an al Qaida training camp.

Hasib Mir Hussain, a 19-year-old from Leeds, is believed to
have blown himself up on the number 30 bus in Tavistock
Square.

It is known that his driving licence and cash cards were
found in the mangled wreckage of the bus on which 13 people
died.

He had told his parents he was going to London with friends
on the day of the attacks and at 10.20pm last Thursday his
mother reported him missing to the police - apparently
fearing he may have been caught in the tragedy.

Hussain lived in the Leeds suburb of Holbeck with his
parents.

Documents belonging to a third suspect, named in reports at
Mohammed Sadique Khan, a 30-year-old from Dewsbury, West
Yorkshire, were found in the debris of the Edgware Road
blast.

He was married with an eight-month-old baby, according to
reports.

All three men were believed to have been friends but not
related.

Scotland Yard confirmed a relative of one of the suspects
was arrested in West Yorkshire yesterday and was being
brought to London to be quizzed by the anti-terrorist
branch.

A fourth bomber is thought to have lived in the Luton area
and the West Yorkshire men are understood to have used hire
cars to travel to Luton last Thursday morning.

Stunned people in Leeds today woke to the news that a
suicide bomber had lived among them.

Residents in Colwyn Road, Beeston, said they were
"horrified" and "stunned" by the disclosure that Shehzad
Tanweer, was one of the London Underground bombers.

Joyce Dalley, 72, a retired factory worker said: "This is
too awful for the community to take in.

"It will do a tremendous amount of damage to the area.

"I think Leeds, and particularly Beeston, will now always
be associated with bombers and murder."

Cab driver Ash Taziq, 25, said: "I have lived here all my
life. I am just horrified, stunned and disgusted that the
bombers come from round here. Beeston has its fair share of
problems but nothing that could warrant this."

Zaher Birawi, chairman of Leeds Grand Mosque, expressed
anger and sadness that three of the bombers appeared to
have come from the city.

"It is nothing to do with Islam at all. The main concern in
the community now is what will happen next, what is the
reaction of the community.

"We hope there will be no more Islamophobic attacks on our
community, especially we have heard more than 400 attacks
being reported to the Muslim safety forum through the
country."

Meanwhile six more victims of the London terror attack were
named today by Scotland Yard - including Shahara Islam, 20,
a devout Muslim from Plaistow, east London, who died on the
bus.

Officers said Shayanuja Parathasangary, 30, of Kensal Rise
was also believed to have died on the bus, as did Miriam
Hyman, 31, of Barnet, and William Wise.

Irish passport holder Ciaran Cassidy, 22, who lived with
his parents in Finsbury Park, died in the Russell Square
Tube bomb.

Mr Cassidy`s mother is orginally from Enniskillen - his
father is from Cavan.

Dental technician Mihaela Otto, 46, known as Michelle, of
Mill Hill, also died on the Piccadilly line between King`s
Cross and Russell Square.

A total of 11 victims of the London bombings have now been
identified.

Prime Minister Tony Blair told the House of Commons that at
least 52 people died during the attacks. The final death
toll is expected to be higher.

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-
/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4672985.stm

Giants Clash In The Antrim Glens

Some of the world's strongest men and women will be
gathering in County Antrim to test their brawn at the Clash
of the Celtic Giants contest.

Now in its sixth year, the event at Glenarm Castle promises
a unique double bill combining the World Highland Games
along with the World Strongwoman Championships.

A crowd of about 40,000 people are expected to turn up to
watch the two-days of competition on 13 and 14 July.

Fireworks are expected in the women's event when current
world strongest woman Aneta Floezyk from Poland meets
former title holder Jill Mills from Texas.

Meanwhile, in the men's event, giant strongman Ryan Vierra
from California is this year's favourite to win the
competition.

Vierra already holds several world records in Highland
games events, however, with fierce competition from
Scotland's Gregor Edmunds and Holland's Wout Zilstra the
result is far from certain.

Trish Porter, a former Ireland's Strongest Woman and past
competitor in the contest, will join BBC presenters Stephen
Watson and Christine Bleakley to provide expert analysis of
the action.

Trish, from Maghera in County Londonderry, also held the
UK's strongest women's title in 2002 and 2003.

Stephen Watson said he was looking forward to seeing the
action getting started.

"This is one of my high points of the year. It's a
competition that gets bigger and better every time and this
year will definitely be the biggest yet," he said.

Highlights from the games will be shown on BBC Northern
Ireland next month.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/07/12 09:06:43 GMT
© BBC MMV

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

http://www.utvinternet.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=62560&pt
=n

Major Restoration Project On Adare Castle Underway

A major restoration project of Adare Castle is underway by
the Office of Public Works.

Junior Minister Tom Parlon visited the site where the
programme of conservation is taking place.

The Anglo-Norman fortress was built on the River Maigue in
the 1100s and it`s hoped the castle will attract more
visitors to the picturesque village when the castle is
fully restored.

Minister Parlon says he`s impressed with the work to date.

"There`s major work going on there by the heritage services
of the OPW and it`s painstakingly slow work. It`s going to
be a fabulous site when it`s finished, work is progressing
very well."
Posted by: Unknown / 7:19 AM
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