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August 22, 2005

Attacks on Catholics Response To Feuding

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News about Ireland & the Irish

SF 08/22/05 Attacks On Catholics Response To Feuding
IO 08/22/05 Loyalist Victim's Father In Death Threats
IO 08/22/05 Loyalist Attack Victim Refuses To Move
IT 08/23/05 Hain Denies Indifference Over UVF Killings
BT 08/22/05 Real IRA Threaten Loyalists Over Attacks
BB 08/22/05 Bombs Thrown In City Disturbance
TO 08/22/05 Kafkaesque World Of Ulster Peace
IT 08/23/05 Honey Used To Treat Effects Of MRSA
IT 08/23/05 Knock Annual Novena Attracts 100,000
IT 08/23/05 Ireland's Heritage To Be Celebrated

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http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/10808

Attacks On Catholics Historic Response To Loyalist Feuding

Published: 22 August, 2005

Sinn Féin Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness MP today said
that incresing attacks on catholics and nationlists was the
traditional loyalist response to internal divisions and
feuding within the ranks of the unionist paramiltaries.

Mr McGuinness said:

" The increasing number of attacks on nationalists in North
Antrim and in North and East Belfast are the result of
orchestrated sectarian violence on the part of unionist
paramilitaries.

" Invariably the response of loyalism to internal
instability and internecine violence is to escalate attacks
on nationalists and Catholics. This is what is happening at
present. The response to this orchestrated and escalating
campaign on the part of unionist leaders has been subdued
and indicates a level of tolerance which is in sharp
contrast to their vocal and obsessive focus on the IRA.

" Even more disgraceful have been the attempts by the PSNI
to downplay this violence by suggesting that it is neither
orchestrated nor wholly sectarian in nature. Nowhere is the
need for fundamental change more obvious than in the PSNI's
attempts to disguise the naked sectarianism which fuels
these attacks." ENDS

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http://www.online.ie/news/viewer.adp?article=3268459

Loyalist Murder Victim's Father In Death Threats Claims

online.ie
2005-08-22 19:50:02+01

New death threats have been issued against the father of a
loyalist paramilitary murder victim, it was claimed
tonight.

Raymond McCord suspects the Ulster Volunteer Force will use
a vicious feud with rival terrorists to try to kill him.

Mr McCord has been an outspoken critic of the paramilitary
organisation, which he blames for murdering his 22-year-old
son, Raymond Jr, in November 1997.

The former RAF operator was battered to death and his body
dumped in a north Belfast quarry.

Allegations that Special Branch blocked an investigation
into the murder because it implicated security force
informers are being investigated by Police Ombudsman Nuala
O'Loan.

As he urged Secretary of State Peter Hain to lock up the
UVF's commander and declare its ceasefire over, Mr McCord
said: "Police came out to see me on Saturday to tell me
they were in receipt of information about a threat to my
physical safety. That was the second time in a week."

Mrs O'Loan's report is expected to be published before
Christmas, while the British Irish Rights Watch, which
studies controversial cases in the North, has sent a
dossier on the case to the United Nations and US Congress.

Amid the growing pressure, the UVF has been locked in a
bloody turf war with the splinter Loyalist

Volunteer Force, shooting dead four men so far.

"The UVF are concentrating on targeting me while this feud
is going on," Mr McCord claimed.

He added that loyalists on motorcycles passed a relative's
house in Belfast four times within hours last week checking
to see whether he was there.

"The (British) government put (former terrorist leader)
Johnny Adair back in jail for directing terrorism," Mr
McCord stressed.

"Why can't they do this with the UVF chief of staff? People
are asking who's next? If you speak to someone in the LVF
or live in the same street does that make you a target?

"I have had friends threatened for socialising with me,
trying to isolate me. But they will not walk away."

The Police Service of Northern Ireland refused to disclose
any information on the death threat allegations.

A spokesman said: "We do not comment on the security of
individuals. However, where we believe anyone's life is at
risk we take steps to inform them."

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http://62.253.251.16/dailyireland/home.tvt?_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News&id=9063&opp=1

Attack Victim Refuses To Move

by Ciarán Barnes

A north Belfast woman whose windows have been smashed for
the sixth time in four years by loyalists has vowed not to
be intimidated out of her home.

The mother-of-two, who is too frightened to be identified,
was in bed yesterday morning when her house on the Ardoyne
Road was attacked with bricks.

Her living room windows were broken as she lay in bed.

Although the woman says she has lost count of the number of
times loyalists have targeted her house, she is determined
not to move.

"I am staying put. There is no way these bully boys and
thugs will force me out," she said. "Even though I am
afraid of losing my life, my resolve is as strong as ever.
I am not going to be forced out of the home I love."

The woman's home is situated on the Ardoyne-Glenbryn
interface and is just metres from Holy Cross Girls' School,
the scene of a loyalist picket in which children had a
blast bomb and urine-filled balloons thrown at them. The
victim moved into her property just weeks before the picket
began in 2001.

Since then, she has been forced to endure a campaign of
hate from her loyalist neighbours.

"I've had to put up with a lot of abuse over the years, but
this latest attack on my home was the most sinister," she
said.

"This was a concentrated attack. The upstairs windows were
pelted with bricks as well as those downstairs. I genuinely
feared for my life."

Local Sinn Féin councillor Margaret McCleneghan called on
unionist politicians to do more to prevent attacks on
Catholic homes in Ardoyne.

"Attacks like this have been going on non-stop over the
last two weeks," she said.

"We've had bricks, bottles and golf balls thrown at
people's houses. Someone is going to be killed unless this
ends.

"Unionist politicians have a responsibility to tell those
in their community who are carrying out these attacks to
knock it on the head."

Shortly after the Ardoyne Road attack, PSNI officers
arrested a man when an unmarked police car was stoned as it
drove into nearby Glenbryn.

CS gas was used to control the man

He was later charged with assaulting police officers,
causing criminal damage and using behaviour likely to cause
a breach of the peace.

He is expected to appear at Laganside Courts in Belfast
today.

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0823/3280085118HM7NIFEUD.html

Hain Denies Indifference Over Spate Of UVF Killings

Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor

The Northern Ireland Office has rejected a claim by SDLP
leader Mark Durkan that Northern Secretary Peter Hain is
adopting an indifferent attitude to recent UVF killings.

Mr Durkan said Mr Hain must "come clean" on the state of
the UVF ceasefire after the loyalist organisation was
blamed for four murders and numerous attacks since the
beginning of July.

Since July 1st four Protestant men were murdered in Belfast
in the reignited UVF-LVF feud. The UVF was blamed for all
of these killings.

The funeral of the fourth person to be killed in the feud,
42-year-old Michael Green, took place yesterday. His family
insisted he had no involvement with the LVF.

The UVF has stated that it will continue attacks on people
allegedly associated with the LVF and will not end the
killing until the LVF is "wiped out" or disbanded.

Some unionist politicians and Protestant clergy have tried
unsuccessfully to mediate in the dispute. Even David
Ervine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, which is
linked to the UVF, has admitted he is powerless to
intervene in the feud.

Mr Durkan, in a hard-hitting statement, said the longer Mr
Hain waited before pronouncing on the state of the UVF
ceasefire the "more the UVF will believe it can get away
with" the killings and attacks.

Waiting for the next Independent Monitoring Commission
report on whether the UVF was engaging in paramilitary
activity, due in October, was not sufficient.

"Yet the Secretary of State is evading making a decision on
this and seems to be shrugging his shoulders and saying
that he will wait to see what the Independent Monitoring
Commission will say," accused Mr Durkan.

"Indeed, the NIO [Northern Ireland Office] is appearing to
treat murders by the UVF as if they are almost par for the
course in the peace process. That is very dangerous." Mr
Durkan added: "In particular I am concerned that there is
an attitude in the NIO that this is a clean-up operation by
the UVF which might be a prelude to positive movement from
them. If so, that is a very dangerous bit of cynicism.

"After all, there has been nothing clean about all of these
murders, which has even left two men dead who were not LVF
members. I hope that it is not the motive for the Secretary
of State's apparent indifference on the UVF ceasefire."

An NIO spokesman said that all paramilitary ceasefires
including that of the UVF were kept under review.

"We reject any suggestion that we are indifferent to what
is happening. The Secretary of State had said from the
outset that the feud is gangsterism masquerading as
loyalism and that his focus is on bringing it to an end.

"The most effective way to do that is through the police
response," he added.

© The Irish Times

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=658071

Real IRA Threaten Loyalists Over Co Antrim Attacks On
Catholics

By Deborah McAleese
22 August 2005

Dissident republicans have threatened retaliatory attacks
against loyalist paramilitaries responsible for a campaign
of intimidation against Catholics in Co Antrim, it was
claimed today.

In a statement to a local newspaper, the Real IRA warned
loyalists that unless the sustained terror attacks are
brought to an end, action will be taken.

A PSNI spokesman said police are aware of the claims and
will be investigating them.

The Real IRA threat will further increase tensions in Co
Antrim after Catholic families were forced to flee from the
village of Ahoghill following attacks on homes, a Catholic
church and a school.

In a statement given to the Daily Ireland newspaper, a
spokesman for the Real IRA said: "The situation in north
Antrim has not gone unnoticed. Although we are reluctant to
go down that road, we are not ruling out that there will
not be action taken.

"If nobody else is going to stand up, we will. This is not
going to be a sectarian campaign. It will be directed
against members of loyalist groups we can identify as being
involved in the campaign against nationalists."

Deputy Chief Constable Paul Leighton recently described the
problem in Ahoghill as "worse than ethnic cleansing" as
there was "real hatred" between communities.

Yesterday the Bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Patrick Walsh,
visited the area to show his support.

He celebrated Mass in St Mary's Church in Ahoghill and the
Church of the Immaculate Conception in Cullybackey.

Both have been targeted by loyalist paint bomb attacks in
recent weeks.

Dr Walsh said it was the duty of the PSNI to bring those
guilty of the attacks to justice.

He said: "That people should speak of two communities or a
divided community in Ahoghill is a sad expression of deep
malaise.

"We all know that the great majority of residents in
Ahoghill wish to live together in a genuine community which
embraces all."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4174522.stm

Bombs Thrown In City Disturbance

Petrol bombs and stones have been thrown close to the
Ardoyne shops in north Belfast, the police have said.

Dozens of officers are having to keep rival groups of
nationalists and loyalists apart.

There is also a stand-off involving about 50 youths in the
Short Strand area in the east of the city.

Earlier on Monday, a senior police officer said children as
young as six have been involved in rioting in north
Belfast.

District Commander Mike Little was speaking as he defended
a charge that officers remained in their Land Rovers during
weekend disturbances.

About 100 loyalist and nationalist youths clashed during
rioting in the Ardoyne Road/Alliance Avenue area on Sunday
night.

Missiles were thrown and windows in a number of homes were
smashed.

Chief Supt Little said the first thing officers wanted to
do was separate both sides.

Officers remained in their vehicles as he and senior
officers spoke to community representatives in an attempt
to calm the situation, he said.

Police action had to be proportionate to the situation and
officers getting out of the Land Rovers could potentially
escalate the problem, said the officer.

"I can assure the residents of north Belfast that we will
continue to work to bring interface violence to an end. I
am asking others with influence to do the same.

"Many of those involved in these disturbances are children,
some as young as six years of age. This is a very difficult
situation for police.

"These young people are causing disorder on the streets of
north Belfast. I am asking parents and local communities to
take responsibility for their young people. This is not a
policing issue alone."

'Riot without consequences'

Sinn Fein councillor Margaret McLenaghan condemned those
responsible for the violence.

Mrs McLenaghan said that whoever the perpetrators were,
they were not representative of the Ardoyne community.

"What they are doing is wrong and they need to stop it
because somebody is going to be killed here," she said.

Ulster Unionist Fred Cobain said the important issue was
that rioters needed to be confronted by the police.

"People can't assume that they can riot without
consequences - and that is what is happening at the moment.

"The operational decisions taken by the police, I think,
are wrong - they need to be far more robust than they are."

Sunday's violence follows clashes between about 400
nationalists and loyalists during several hours of rioting
in east Belfast the previous day.

One man was hurt and up to five shots were heard during
those disturbances.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/08/22 21:58:17 GMT
© BBC MMV

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-1746520,00.html

Kafkaesque World Of Ulster Peace

Dean Godson

Concessions to republicans over policing will come back to
haunt the Government

IMAGINE THE uproar if the Government proposed recruiting
the young militants of Hizb ut-Tahrir into the Metropolitan
Police so as to give Islamic extremists a sense of
"ownership" of the constabulary; then proceeded to divide
up Bradford into predominantly Muslim and non-Muslim areas
and set up local police committees so that the force might
become more accountable to "alienated" communities; and
rounded it off by scrubbing the criminal records of the
shoe-bomber Richard Reid so that he can take his place as a
member of the Metropolitan Police Authority.

The conceit is so absurd that not even George Galloway in
his most fevered moments could dream up such a policy. But
give or take a few details, this is the approach which the
Government is soon to pioneer in Northern Ireland. Eight
years into his premiership, Tony Blair's radicalism in the
affairs of Northern Ireland remains undiminished as he
pursues what he deems the greatest prize of all: republican
endorsement of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. To
that end, he is prepared to go even beyond the terms of the
Patten report of 1999, once deemed to be the gold standard
for nationalist Ireland's acceptance of the constabulary.

The latest round of juicy concessions has been triggered by
the IRA's umpteenth "historic" statement of July 28,
promising to forswear coercion once and for all. In
exchange for a few not very watertight words — ludicrously
deemed by the Government to be tantamount to an "act of
completion" — republicans are already negotiating for
devolution of policing and justice powers to a Northern
Ireland executive in which they will be the senior partners
on the nationalist side. In other words, the PSNI will soon
be part-accountable to them rather than to Westminster. Yet
Patten did not make local control of security a sine qua
non of its work.

Terrorist convictions will cease to be a bar to serving on
local policing committees as non-elected representatives.
Patten said nothing about this. Sinn Fein/IRA are pressing
for the scrubbing of paramilitary criminal records so that
republicans can serve in the regular force and part-time
reserve: the Government says it has "no plans" to do this,
scarcely a reassuring form of words. This is contrary to
the spirit and letter of Patten. Then there is the
negotiation to expand funding of some of the "restorative
justice" programmes — community schemes for bringing
criminals face to face with their victims — that are
effectively run by paramilitaries. Again, nothing about
this in Patten.

Only in the bizarre, Kafkaesque world of the Ulster peace
process could such a settlement be deemed a "prize". After
all, only months ago, the republican movement was described
by Ian Pearson, then one of the Northern Ireland Office
ministers, as perhaps the most sophisticated organised
crime gangs in the world. Two reports produced this year by
the International Monitoring Body show that the IRA is very
much in existence: recruiting, training and intelligence-
gathering.

One of the shrewdest of chief constables, Colin Cramphorn,
of West Yorkshire — previously acting head of the PSNI —
has further noted that far from going out of existence, the
IRA is simply refining its modus operandi. It does not need
a large amount of Semtex any more: the post-9/11 and 7/7
climate precludes a return to full-scale insurgency.
Rather, what republicans need is control of their "own"
areas plus a lot of money to subvert the Republic. To that
end, says Cramphorn, they also sell their skills to the
highest terrorist bidders across the world. In consequence,
Ireland will be united in 15 years — but, Cramphorn
contends, it will become like Sicily, with "self- policing"
by Mafia-style organisations.

Why has the Government acquiesced in this Lord of the Flies
world in Ulster's Catholic ghettoes? It helped to create a
vacuum in law and order by effectively endorsing the
republican critique of the old RUC. Many senior officials
believe, monstrously, that the RUC was rather thuggish. Why
not, then, have republican "heavies" in uniform as well?
After all, the mandarins note that the Provisionals, with
their intelligence-gathering skills, would make "rather
good" policemen. If you cannot beat them, invite them to
join you.

The Prime Minister remains profoundly impressed by Gerry
Adams's commitment to taking republicans down the political
path. At his press conference of July 25 Mr Blair sought to
contrast the Provisionals' campaign favourably with that of
Islamist radicals. He complains that one of the problems
with al-Qaeda is that it has few concrete demands: its
objectives are so airy-fairy. By contrast, republicans have
clear goals that the Government can propitiate. If radical
Muslims shave down their aspirations and simply ask, say,
for a substantial degree of autonomy in their "own"
neighbourhoods based on Sharia — well, who knows what doors
may open?

The policy of recruiting republicans to the police is thus
of a piece with classic late-imperial thinking: everyone
can ultimately be sucked into operating existing
institutions. But are republicans really so biddable? After
all, they are already privately telling their supporters
that they should join the police to subvert it. Omar Bakri
Mohammed — who preached hatred against this country while
collecting £30,000 of taxpayers' money for his people
carrier — proved beyond peradventure that playing the
system does not necessarily mean supporting it.

Dean Godson is author of Himself Alone: David Trimble and
the Ordeal of Unionism

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0823/3673986966HM7BEEONE.html

Bee Congress Told Honey Used By Health Professionals To
Treat Effects Of MRSA

Seán Mac Connell, Agriculture Correspondent

Health professionals and victims of MRSA, the hospital
"superbug", are buying up Irish honey to help cure the
disease or protect them from its effects.

This emerged yesterday at the world bee congress, Apimondia
Ireland, which opened in the Royal Dublin Society and which
is being attended by some 4,000 delegates from almost 100
countries.

Philip McCabe, president of the event, said that Irish
beekeepers have reported a surge in demand for honey to
treat MRSA.

"They are telling me that they are being asked for honey
from healthcare workers and from patients who have caught
the disease.

Honey can be used to heal wounds and we have papers being
delivered on that subject here today by the scientists," Mr
McCabe added.

Mr McCabe, who is a former president of the Federation of
Irish Beekeepers' Associations, said he had received a
number of requests from people saying they wanted it to
cure MRSA.

"Honey is a tried and tested cure for wounds and burns
because it is such a pure product and has not to be
digested.

"If you take honey into your mouth and hold it there, it
will dissolve and go straight into the bloodstream. It does
not have to go through the digestive system."

One of the scientific papers presented to the conference
yesterday was by Ben V Dalby, who is from the Epping Forest
Beekeepers' Association and a board member of the American
Apitheraphy Society.

The lecture centred on the use of honey on open leg wounds.
This involved the treatment of two wounds on the left leg
following a road traffic accident.

A few weeks after the accident, the wounds became infected
and weeping, deepening into the soft tissue.

"It was decided at this point to use honey as a wound
dressing to cleanse the infection and promote rebuilding of
the subcutaneous tissue," Mr Dalby told one of the
sessions.

"Honey was placed in the wound and covered with an
adhesive, mepore (non-stick) gauze dressing. The dressings
were changed daily, with daily reapplications of honey."

He added that the infection was drawn out and within two
weeks it had abated. Daily dressings then continued until a
healing plateau was reached, approximately two months after
the original injury.

Mr Dalby said the upper wound had healed and the one on the
lower shin had not. However it did heal a fortnight after
bee stings were applied at the centre of the remaining
wound in order to stimulate blood supply.

© The Irish Times

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0823/2184680886HM2PANEL.html

Knock Annual Novena Attracts 100,000

More than 100,000 people attended ceremonies at Knock
Shrine in Co Mayo over the nine days of the annual national
novena, which ended last night.

Knock parish priest MsgrJoseph Quinn described the event as
"wonderful, assisted by a great spell of weather. There's
been a huge turnout, as ever, over the past nine days.

"In excess of 100,000 pilgrims have been in attendance and
every guesthouse in the region is full as a result.

"There's a great buzz around the village. The fine weather
was great in allowing us to have the night procession
outdoors each evening.

"August is always the busiest pilgrimage season at Knock
and this year is no exception. We've had a great range of
speakers over the nine days and there's been a great
response," he said.

Knock is one of the country's biggest tourist attractions,
with one and a half million visitors annually.

© The Irish Times

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0823/1836338045HM2HERITAGE.html

Ireland's Heritage To Be Celebrated

Paul Cullen

More than 500 events are planned for Heritage Week, from
September 4th to 11th.

Described as a celebration of "who we are and where we've
come from", the annual event includes guided tours and
lectures, music recitals, historical re-enactments, art
exhibitions and craft demonstrations.

Events are being organised in every county and most
activities are free of charge or offer reduced prices. Many
heritage sites will offer free admission or special
concessions.

Heritage Week is part of European Heritage Days, a Council
of Europe and European Union initiative. In Ireland the
week is co-ordinated by the Heritage Council in conjunction
with the Department of the Environment. In Northern
Ireland, European Heritage Days are being marked with
events on September 10th and 11th.

Over 130 events are being organised in Dublin, including
free tours on Sunday, September 4th, of major visitor
attractions such as Dublin Castle, the Chester Beatty
Library and Kilmainham Gaol.

Saturday, September 10th, is being promoted as Water
Heritage Day, to raise awareness and highlight the
importance of water as part of our heritage. The Heritage
Council has appealed to volunteer groups to help make the
day a success by hosting an event relating to water
heritage, on themes such as wildlife, aquatic habitats,
folklore, industrial heritage and archaeology.

The week will be launched with an O'Carolan harp recital in
Dublin Castle on September 3rd.

Further information is available on www.heritageweek.ie;
from local authorities; the OPW site www.opw.ie; or in
local libraries. There is also a callsave number 1850
200878.

HERITAGE WEEK: some of the highlights around the country

No 9 Merchants Quay, Dublin. Guided tours of conserved
medieval slipway. September 4th-11th.

Tour times will depend on tides. Call (01) 222 2856 for
details.

Guided tour of Bully's Acre and Military Graveyard, the
oldest burial site in Dublin, Royal Hospital, Kilmainham,
Dublin. September 4th, 11am.

Courtyard of Barryscourt Castle, Carrigtwohill, Co Cork.
Re-enactments of military life in Norman times. September
4th, all day.

Garinish Island, Glengarriff, Co Cork. Tour of Italian
garden. September 4th, 12.30pm.

Dungarvan Castle, Co Waterford, tours relating to the
castle's history. September 4th, 12.30pm and 3pm.

International Clann tSuibhne (Sweeney clan) gathering,
Letterkenny, Co Donegal, September 4-10th.

... Connemara National Park visitor centre, Letterfrack, Co
Galway. Guided nature walk. September 5th, 10.30am.

© The Irish Times

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