News about the Irish & Irish American culture, music, news, sports. This is hosted by the Irish Aires radio show on KPFT-FM 90.1 in Houston, Texas (a Pacifica community radio station)

October 17, 2005

Ervine: Loyalists Need Time

To Index of Monthly Archives
To October 2005 Index
To receive this news via email, click HERE.
No Message is necessary.
----

News about Ireland & the Irish

UT 10/17/05 Ervine: Loyalists Need Time After IRA Moves
IO 10/17/05 Dissident Republicans Abandoned Bombs In Hedge
EX 10/17/05 Ferris: We Believe MPs Should Address The Dáil
EX 10/17/05 Dingle Or An Daingean? Only A Third To Decide
UT 10/17/05 Police Board Chief's Plea To Attackers
DI 10/17/05 Collins Has Been 'Airburshed Out Of History'

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

http://www.utvinternet.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=66112&pt=n

Loyalist 'Need Time' After IRA Peace Process Moves

Loyalists need to be given time and space to sort out their
future direction following recent peace process moves by
the IRA, Progressive Unionist leader David Ervine said
today.

By:Press Association

The Belfast Assembly member, who will meet Northern Ireland
Office Security Minister Shaun Woodward, was speaking after
his party voted to keep its link with the Ulster Volunteer
Force which has been engaged in violence this year against
the rival Loyalist Volunteer Force.

The UVF has also since January been debating its future in
anticipation of recent IRA moves declaring an end to the
Provisional`s armed campaign and completing disarmament.

Mr Ervine said: "The PUP sees a substantial opportunity for
moving things forward which we would like to see accessed.

"It is for this reason that we have sought a meeting with
the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern) and with
the Secretary of State (for Northern Ireland Peter Hain).

"It is why we are meeting Mr Woodward tomorrow."

Mr Ervine welcomed comments by Mr Ahern yesterday that
loyalists needed time to work through their own future
plans.

"The Taoiseach` s comments are in stark relief to the
comments of the SDLP in recent times," the east Belfast
MLA.

"Time has to be given to this project and that is instantly
more preferable than just finger-waving."

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

http://www.online.ie/news/viewer.adp?article=3285959

'Dissident Republicans' Abandoned Bombs In Hedge

online.ie
2005-10-17 17:20:03+01

Dissident republicans abandoned bombs in a hedge near a
police sports club in Belfast, security sources said
tonight.

Homes were evacuated along Newforge Lane in the south of
the city for a second time as military experts dealt with a
new alert.

Soldiers moved in again after a device was found close to
where a crude pipe bomb was discovered hours earlier.

A security source close to the investigation confirmed
dissident republican terrorists were the main suspects.

The bombs were located on a leafy avenue that leads to
Newforge Country Club where the Police Service of Northern
Ireland hosts sporting and social events.

But detectives were uncertain if those who stashed the
devices planned an attack on the premises.

"They were just about 30 yards into Newforge Lane, stuck in
a hedge," one said.

"It seems they were just dumped and a major concern was
that the first device was just a come-on to lure us to
something bigger. But that's not the case."

The operation began on Sunday night with an anonymous
telephoned bomb warning.

A controlled explosion was carried out on the first device,
described as viable, after surrounding houses were cleared.

Residents were taken to Newforge Country Club, but were all
later allowed to return home.

Although a helicopter with a spotlight was used to search
the area during darkness, it was only when daylight broke
that the second discovery was made.

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

http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/opinion/Full_Story/did-sgNbEp7a-669Q.asp

We Believe Northern Mps Should Be Entitled To Address The
Dáil

YOUR columnist Noel Whelan's dismissive attitude in
relation to Northern representation in the Dáil underlines
a curious reality that is emerging from among prominent
members of the political establishment in the 26-Counties
in recent times (Irish Examiner, October 6).

As Sinn Féin continues to promote and champion the idea of
allowing representatives of all Irish people living in the
Six Counties to have a role in discussions in the Houses of
the Oireachtas on issues that directly affect their lives,
it would appear that certain sections of the establishment
have hardened their attitudes against such a proposition.

Noel Whelan attempts to confuse matters by claiming that it
would be unconstitutional and that it wouldn't be permitted
by the courts. However, the reality is that facilitating
Northern representation in the Dáil or Seanad is a matter
of political will and ultimately a matter to be decided in
the Houses of the Oireachtas.

In that regard it should be pointed out that following the
signing of the Good Friday Agreement, it was Taoiseach
Bertie Ahern who requested the All-Party Oireachtas
Committee on the Constitution to examine the issue of
Northern representation. In 2002, the committee recommended
that MPs from the Six Counties should have "a limited right
of audience within the Dáil".

While we have some reservations about the committee's
report, we believe it provides a basis for progress.

It should be noted also that the Taoiseach, when commenting
on the report of the all-party committee, said: "I agree
with its view that it would be valuable, from time to time,
to have the expertise, experience and insight of Northern
Irish politicians in specific and appropriate debates in
the Oireachtas."

He went on to say: "The Government supports making the
necessary procedural arrangements to allow MPs elected in
Northern Ireland constituencies to speak in periodic
debates on Northern Ireland, particularly on matters
relating to the Good Friday Agreement."

So far from being either hype or hope, as Mr Whelan
suggests, this issue is something which all the political
parties in Leinster House agreed to, despite some
backtracking and u-turns of late, and it is something that
Sinn Féin will seek to have implemented and built upon as
soon as possible.

And we firmly believe it is something that the majority of
Irish people would agree to.

Martin Ferris TD
Leinster House
Kildare Street
Dublin 2

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

http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/ireland/Full_Story/did-sgVLtSTvxNB36sgTbBP-2fa91M.asp

Dingle Or An Daingean? Only A Third To Decide

By Donal Hickey

ONLY about a third of people living in Dingle will be able
to vote in a plebiscite to change the official name of the
town, now An Daingean.

Kerry County Council yesterday decided by 18-1 to hold the
plebiscite, which is to be confined to Dingle townland,
mainly the business area with a population of around 600.

Councillors complained this was unfair but accepted they
had no choice.

County manager Martin Riordan explained that the Local
Government Act 1946 clearly specified that the vote should
be confined to a townland.

Since Easter, following an order under the Official
Languages Act 2003 by Community, Rural and Gaeltacht
Affairs Minister Eamon Ó Cuiv, Dingle is officially known
as An Daingean.

The order has divided the area, with tourism interests, in
particular, demanding the name of Dingle be retained on
bilingual road signage outside Gaeltacht areas.

On the proposal of Dingle Fine Gael councillor Seamus Cosaí
Fitzgerald, people will now be asked whether they want An
Daingean to be replaced by Dingle/Daingean Uí Chuís.

"People are angry and they won't forget about it. The only
way is to have a plebiscite and then ask the Government to
change the name," he said.

Should a majority decide on a name change, the Government
will be requested to make an order to comply with their
wishes.

Under the Act, however, the Government is not obliged to go
along with the result of the plebiscite.

As well as residents of Dingle townland, people with
rateable properties inside the townland boundaries can
vote. A majority of the electorate in the townland not just
a simple majority of those that actually vote will be
needed.

Mayor Toireasa Ferris, of Sinn Féin, he only councillor to
vote against the plebiscite, believed the entire Dingle
area and the Gaeltacht should be included.

"I don't think it's right less than a third of the people
should determine the future of Dingle," she said.

Mayor Ferris also said a dual, bilingual name for Dingle
might not be acceptable under the Act and could be legally
challenged.

Dingle FF councillor Breandan MacGearailt, who abstained in
the vote, said he hoped a compromise could be reached.

"I'm hoping some representatives of those who have a
difficulty with the change will meet the minister shortly
and maybe agreement can be reached," he said.

A fear in the area is that if that if the name Dingle
continues to be used, Dingle could be excluded from the
Gaeltacht in a boundaries review due in 2007. That would
mean the loss of valuable state grants.

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

http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=66102&pt=n

Police Board Chief's Plea To Attackers

Northern Ireland Policing Board chief Denis Bradley today
urged the dissident republicans who brutally assaulted him
to disband.

By:Press Association

Mr Bradley also confirmed he will be quitting the authority
that holds Chief Constable Hugh Orde`s reformed force to
account next April.

But the vice chairman stressed his decision to stand down
was taken long before a teenage thug battered him over the
head with a baseball bat.

The former priest, who helped broker secret peace talks
between the IRA and the British government, was left with
serious injuries after being attacked in a Derry bar last
month as he watched a football match alongside his son.

With his face still scarred from the no warning beating, Mr
Bradley admitted he could have been killed if the blow had
struck another part of his head.

But he insisted: "I`m not a very bitter person. I suppose
forgiveness is the sentiment that comes to mind before
anything else.

"I just get sad that a 16-year-old is full of anger or
bitterness or whatever he`s full of.

"I know that exists within our community and I`m not
unrealistic either.

"If the police get him they get him, but it`s from the
point of view of stopping it happening to someone else.

"I would be far more content if the Real IRA or whoever was
involved came out tomorrow morning and said their campaign
was over.

"That would be a greater victory to me than anything else."

Mr Bradley has endured a campaign of threats and
intimidation from republican paramilitaries opposed to the
Northern Ireland peace process and his involvement with an
authority set up under the Patten blueprint for overhauling
the staunchly Protestant police service.

He had already decided to stand down from the board next
April as part of plans for a major shake-up of the 19-
member scrutinising body drawn from both political and
independent representatives.

"I have been clear about that for some time and I say that
for a number of reasons," he said.

"I`m getting old and I think the board should have new
blood.

"It needs new people coming in with new ideas, a new
dynamic and new energy. I don`t think people should sit on
boards for too long.

"For all those reasons I`m not going to put myself forward
after April, but I intend to be very active between now and
April."

Police have yet to hunt down the teenager who attacked Mr
Bradley inside Mailey`s Bar in Derry`s Brandywell district,
and the victim accepted that, as he had not spotted him,
few others were likely to have witnessed the assault.

But he agreed with the assessment of Sinn Fein chief
negotiator Martin McGuinness that dissidents had seized an
advantage to strike while he was vulnerable.

In a direct message to those who have targeted him, Mr
Bradley said: "The time has come for dissidents to wrap up
their tent and go away.

"I also had a message from an old-time republican I used to
know years ago who became kind of a dissident and sent me a
message of concern and also sent a message saying the time
had come for this to end.

"The difficulty is if you continue a struggle beyond its
natural life it goes into chaos and anarchy rather than
anything else. That message is beginning to penetrate
people and I hope those who attacked me or attacked anyone
else hear that, understand that and come to that sensible
and wise conclusion."

Mr Bradley refused to accept that parts of his home city
were now no-go areas.

"Why would the Brandywell be off limits to me?" he asked.

"I have a particular regard for that part of the city. It`s
where I worked for part of my adulthood, and all of my
priesthood I spent in the Brandywell. I have a high regard
for it and a high regard for its people."

"I have no intention of staying away from the Brandywell.
If other people have a difficulty with that, come and tell
me. But don`t get a 16-year-old to use a baseball bat to
hit me or anyone else."

Mr Bradley, who said he would like to talk with his
attacker if the opportunity ever arose, said the beating
happened in a matter of seconds.

"I didn`t see anything at all," he said. "I was watching TV
in the corner and the next thing I remember was staggering
around the bar with the blood coming."

His son was coping well after their ordeal, the vice
chairman said.

He praised him for attempting to intervene as the thug
struck.

"From what I`m told, he tried to stop the blow," Mr Bradley
said.

"Somebody took a photograph of me that night. Someone also
took the camera and scrubbed it.

"I don`t think any child should see his father being hit,
but many children have seen much worse than he saw."

Mr Bradley expressed his hope that the motive had not been
to kill him, but he conceded: "If he had hit me on a
different part of the head, it would have killed me.

"One medic told me, had it been at the back of the head as
opposed to the front, it would have killed me."

Still suffering bouts of fatigue, he plans to take another
few weeks off before returning to his duties on the
Policing Board.

By then, he hopes the wound to his forehead will have
healed further and the stitches to his lip that have
slightly impaired his speech will have been removed.

In a final, self-deprecating note, he declared: "My Paul
Newman good looks have been slightly interfered with."

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

http://dailyireland.televisual.co.uk/home.tvt?_ticket=RMTEDWX263RGUU4NQNNADY7BZKLAFUUGUWSFJWOBDQUI9LLDNBATTRRIVPNEEMTEDWFXYGSGX4QFIUR9ANZN9LLDNV9ALCPQCF&_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News&id=12508&opp=1

Claim Collins Has Been 'Airburshed Out Of History'

Michael Brennan

The revolutionary leader Michael Collins has been
airbrushed out of history, it was claimed yesterday.

A new society, Collins 22, has been set up to publicise the
achievements of the west Cork native on the 115th
anniversary of his birth on October 16, 1890.

Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins spoke at the launch of the
society. He said not enough recognition had been given to
Collins' role as a leader in the War of Independence.

"We're here to recognise the fact that a man of dedication,
vision and unquestionable leadership qualities has been
airbrushed from Irish history for far too long," he said.

He said Collins had built up a complex network of spies
that had penetrated Dublin Castle, the nerve centre of
British rule in Ireland, and had used innovative military
tactics during the war.

"He recognised that you couldn't get rid of the British
with conventional warfare methods. He devised a whole new
structure, the ambush guerrilla tactics," Mr Higgins said.

Collins had been head of the provisional government when he
was killed in an ambush in Béal na Bláth in Cork in 1922
during the Civil War.

Mr Higgins said the tantalising question of what would have
happened if Collins had lived could never be easily
answered.

The MEP for the Northwest constituency said he believed
that Collins would have not ignored the discrimination
against nationalists in the North and would have put a
process in train that would have prevented the outbreak of
the Troubles.

Although Collins was never a member of Fine Gael, the party
claims a link with him because of his association with the
members of the provisional government who went on to form
Cumann na nGaedheal and later Fine Gael.

Fine Gael members accounted for five of the seven speakers
at the Collins 22 launch in the historic round room of the
Mansion House, where the first Dáil met in 1921.

They included party leader Enda Kenny and former justice
minister Nora Owen, a grandniece of Michael Collins. The
former MEP Mary Banotti, another grandniece, also attended.

Collins 22 organiser Bill Martin said: "We have people from
all parties but essentially it's a Fine Gael-led and
supported society."

He said the society would campaign to put Michael Collins
at the centre of Irish history.

"All we want to do is have the man honoured. America
honoured George Washington. We became independent from
England in 1921 when they signed the treaty, so why isn't
there a statue of Michael Collins outside the Dáil?" he
asked.

A statue of Michael Collins has been erected in Clonakilty.
His life was the subject of a Neil Jordan film in 1996.

----
To receive this news via email, click HERE.
No Message is necessary.
To October 2005 Index
To Index of Monthly Archives
Posted by: Unknown / 10:17 PM
Comments: Post a Comment

<< Home

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