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November 08, 2005

Lawyer's Support Boosts McBride Campaign

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News about Ireland & the Irish

DI 11/08/05 Lawyer's Support Boosts McBride Campaign
SF 11/08/05 McGuinness Speech To Magill Launch In Dublin
DU 11/08/05 DUP Discusses Parading With NIO Minister
IO 11/08/05 SF TD Suspended From Dáil
IO 11/08/05 Paramilitary Chief And Mother Held In Raids
IO 11/08/05 Northern Bank Raid Probe: Third Man Charged
DI 11/08/05 Adams Refuses To Go To US With Visa Curbs
IO 11/08/05 Shot Republican Freed From Jail Last Year
IO 11/08/05 Hain: No Handover Of Policing To Paramilitaries
IO 11/08/05 Britain Accused Over Runaway Terror Suspects
GU 11/08/05 How Mowlam Disarmed The Tough Guys Of Congress
RA 11/08/05 The New Battle Of The Boyne?

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http://dailyireland.televisual.co.uk/home.tvt?_ticket=PFN162Z1BHSJ53J94NNAD02F9LLDNVP5TRRIVQNAFOUEJMNAJLTFURUQC609ANWRBLPEBHSJ5LE1HONDNMTEGPKACN1FURUQWG&_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News&id=14116&opp=1

Lawyer's Support Boosts McBride Campaign

Phil Shiner, who is representing families of Iraqi
nationals, wants to see legal loophole closed "They [the
McBride family] have won the legal battle, they have won
the moral battle, but Wright and Fisher remain in the
military - one has been promoted" - Ken Livingstone

Connla Young

The campaign to have the British soldiers who murdered
Belfast teenager Peter McBride kicked out of the British
Army received a boost last night when a top English lawyer
added his support.

Birmingham lawyer Phil Shiner was joined by political
representatives, bereaved families, human rights groups and
the Mayor of London Ken Livingston at a meeting in the
British House of Commons last night. The meeting was
organised to launch the Article Seven Immunity Campaign
which aims to close a loophole in the law which allows
convicted criminals to continue serving in the British
Army.

The issue was brought to light in 1998 when the killers of
Peter McBride, James Fisher and Mark Wright were accepted
into the British Army after serving three years each of a
life sentence for the 1992 murder.

Mr Shiner, who currently represents the families of Iraqi
nationals alleged to have been tortured by British
soldiers, said the loophole must be closed.

"If soldiers were convicted of murder in Basra, sentenced
to life imprisonment, released early and then posted to
Belfast, people there would be outraged. This is
essentially what has happened in reverse in this case. We
must end impunity. The Ministry of Defence dismisses
soldiers who fail a drugs test but not those who murder
another human being. This is quite simply unacceptable".

The families of British Army recruits who have died in
controversial circumstances have also given their support
to the McBride family and the Article Seven Immunity
Campaign.

Speaking at last night's meeting SDLP leader Mark Durkan
said public confidence had to be maintained. "Four years
ago, Jean McBride invited me to her house. Sitting in her
living room, she explained all the facts of her case - its
rights and its wrongs. Then she produced something and lay
it on the table in front of me. Peter's sneakers. The ones
he wore that day. And she broke down in tears. It was a
reminder that she was not fighting for some abstract
principle.

"This was not some high minded cause. She wanted only that
the dignity taken away from Peter the day he died be
returned to her. That his death be honestly and openly
accepted as a wrong. That is the simple modest request at
the heart of this campaign. It deserves the support of us
all".

London Mayor Ken Livingstone threw his weight behind the
campaign to have Wright and Fisher kicked out of the
British Army.

"They [the McBride family] have won the legal battle, they
have won the moral battle, but Wright and Fisher remain in
the military - one has been promoted. It has always been
our argument that if you send, as they did, two soldiers to
Basra and they are convicted of murder in Belfast, in a
European city, that sends a very clear message to other
soldiers serving with them in Basra and that fosters a
culture of immunity and impunity."

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http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/11856

Martin McGuinness Speech To Magill Launch In Dublin

Published: 8 November, 2005

Speaking at the launch of this years publication from the
Magill Summer School, 'Managing Ireland's Future 2005 -
2030' at the Merrion Hotel, Dublin this evening, Martin
McGuinness said,

"The Magill Summer is unique in its ability to draw
together in a small rural village in the hills of Donegal
the most important and influential political, social and
economic thinkers in Ireland. Just as importantly it is
open to the public giving the discussions an immediate and
at times compelling relevance.

"This book, recording the contributions at this year's
summer school, covers a wide range of issues and identifies
some of the very real difficulties that we, as a people,
must face in the period ahead. It is essential that we
ensure that the growing wealth of the nation is shared
among all of the people, that it is used to tackle
disadvantage and to provide support for the less able in
our society.

"Over the last 25 years we have witnessed unimaginable
change here in Ireland and globally. The next 25 years will
probably see that process of change accelerate. I have no
doubt that the Ireland of 2030 will be a much better place
for all of its people, just as the Ireland of today is a
much better place than the Ireland of 1981. In that year
the uneven struggle between naked political prisoners and
the British state was convulsing the body politic of
Ireland, north and south. Who could have imagined the
enormous progress that we have seen towards a peaceful
Ireland and I am confidant that that progress will continue
in the time ahead. I welcome the presence of the
representatives of unionism in Glenties. Their presence is
a clear acknowledgment that the isolation of north from
south that partition caused is nonsense and that the future
lies in engagement, dialogue and agreement.

"The DUP in particular have moved a long way from the
politics of no surrender and not an inch. They regularly
meet with the Taoiseach, and I welcome that. They accept
the architecture of the Good Friday Agreement and I welcome
that also. But the process of bringing the peace process to
a successful conclusion will be accelerated enormously if
they act on the logic of this position and move quickly to
re-establish the political institutions.

"As the violent events of this summer have shown, the
unionist community needs confident and positive leadership.
They need politicians who can deliver for them. There is no
way to do this other than through the institutions of the
Good Friday Agreement. That is the challenge that the DUP
faces, I hope that their response is positive and forward-
looking.

"The future holds challenges and demands for all of us. We
do have many problems to face in the time ahead. Most of
them are identified and addressed in this book but I firmly
believe that we can face into the resolution of these
issues in a spirit of confidence and optimism. I know that
the Magill Summer School will continue to make an important
contribute to this process of progressive change." ENDS

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http://www.dup.org.uk/

DUP Discusses Parading With NIO Minister

A Democratic Unionist Party delegation comprising Deputy
Leader Peter Robinson MP MLA, Nigel Dodds MP MLA and David
Simpson MP MLA, has today met with the Security Minister
Shaun Woodward to discuss issues surrounding parades and
the Parades Commission. Speaking after the meeting at
Stormont Castle, Peter Robinson said,

"There can be few people in Northern Ireland who believe
that the Parades Commission is not part of the problem in
parading and is certainly not the solution. This unelected
and unaccountable quango has made inconsistent
determinations, punished those who obey the law by banning
their parades and thus reward those who engage in violence
and has encouraged dialogue and then thrown it back in
people's faces. The Parades Commission does not and never
will enjoy the support of the majority of people in
Northern Ireland."

Nigel Dodds added,

"Solving the parades problem is key to establishing
stability in our society and making political progress.
This issue must be comprehensively resolved in a
satisfactory fashion immediately. It is no good tinkering
around the edges. Fundamental root and branch reform is
what is required. Today we made this perfectly clear to
the Government."

David Simpson concluded,

"The performance of the Parades Commissions has left it
totally discredited and it cannot form the basis of a way
forward on parading. Tinkering around the edges will not
achieve the sort of changes that are required to resolve
this most important problem."

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http://www.online.ie/News/News.aspx?newsId=117271

SF TD Suspended From Dáil

Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris was tonight suspended from the
Dáil for repeatedly trying to raise a constituency matter
during the Order of Business.

The North Kerry representative was attempting to ask
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern about funding for Tralee General
Hospital when he was ruled out of order by Ceann Comhairle
Rory O'Hanlon.

After several warnings, Mr O'Hanlon suspended Mr Ferris
from the House until next week for being disorderly.

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http://www.online.ie/News/News.aspx?newsId=117301

Paramilitary Chief And Mother Held In Raids

A loyalist paramilitary chief and his mother were both
being questioned by police in Northern Ireland tonight
after detectives launched a major operation against
organised crime.

Andre Shoukri, leader of the Ulster Defence Association in
north Belfast, was held when officers launched a series of
swoops on homes across the city.

Three other men - at least one of them another senior UDA
man - and Shoukri's mother were also detained.

A senior security source confirmed: "This is an extremely
significant operation."

It is understood that a decision to hold another person
under the police's witness protection scheme was linked to
the arrests, which involved officers from the Police
Service of Northern Ireland's organised crime branch.

Houses in the Westlands estate in north Belfast as well as
the Castlereagh area of east Belfast were searched.

During a visit to the loyalist Kilcooley housing estate in
Bangor, Co Down, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said
he did not think the arrests were specifically aimed at
loyalists but were an attempt to tackle criminality and
paramilitary activity.

"That doesn't equate to loyalism," he said.

"People shouldn't be acting in a violent or criminal
fashion. I understand that the arrests have been designed
to stop that happening."

Mr Hain added that it was vital that anyone involved in
criminal or paramilitary activity, whether they were
republican or loyalist, knew that the police would come
after them.

"They have been doing that this morning and they will
continue to do it, and they have my absolute 100% support."

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http://www.online.ie/News/News.aspx?newsId=117460

Northern Bank Raid Probe: Third Man Charged

A third man was tonight charged in connection with the
£26.5m (€39.23m) Northern Bank robbery in Belfast last
Christmas.

The 30-year-old will appear Belfast magistrates tomorrow
morning on two charges, said a Police Service of Northern
Ireland spokesman.

He is the third person to face charges linked to the
robbery since last Friday.

Three other men including a 40-year-old detained in the
Waterside area of Londonderry earlier today and a 39-year-
old arrested in Belfast on Monday remain in custody being
questioned.

The man due in Belfast Magistrates' Court in the morning
has been charged with collecting and making a record of
information likely to be of use to terrorists.

He is also charged with possessing documentation and
records containing information likely to be of use to
terrorists.

Since police started arresting suspects last week eight men
have been detained two released without charge.

On Friday, a 23-year-old Co Down man was remanded in
custody when he appeared in court to deny involvement in
the robbery. Yesterday, a 42-year-old from Co Tyrone was
granted bail when he appeared in court denying a charge of
giving false police statements.

The robbery took place at the Northern Bank headquarters in
Belfast's Donegall Square West just before last Christmas.

A quantity of cash seized in Co Cork early in the year was
linked to the robbery but the bulk remains missing. The
bank has, however, changed its notes. It is a move which
police say rendered the bulk of the haul worthless.

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http://dailyireland.televisual.co.uk/home.tvt?_ticket=PFN162Z1BHSJ53J94NNAD02F9LLDNVP5TRRIVQNAFOUEJMNAJLTFURUQC609ANWRBLPEBHSJ5LE1HONDNMTEGPKACN1FURUQWG&_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News&id=14105&opp=1

Adams Refuses To Go To US With Visa Curbs

Zoë Tunney

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams last night described as
"absurd" restrictions placed on a visa allowing him to
enter the United States.

Mr Adams was granted a visa to attend the annual Friends of
Sinn Féin dinner in New York this week.

US officials have placed restrictions on the permit, which
would prevent him from fundraising for the party while he
is in the county.

When he learned of the restrictions yesterday, Mr Adams
decided not to travel.

It is thought the restrictions were enforced because of
Sinn Féin's position on policing and the party's refusal to
engage in the district policing partnerships.

All camps acknowledge that essential party fundraising will
happen regardless of whether Mr Adams travels to the
States.

Sinn Féin has called on US policy-makers to recognise IRA
decommissioning and the end of the group's armed campaign.

Mr Adams told Daily Ireland last night that this latest
move by the US administration was "amateurish".

"It is really absurd. They are attempting to shoehorn us
into a position on policing, an issue which we and the
British government are in agreement on at the moment," he
said.

Mr Adams said Sinn Féin would honour its agreement with the
British government to address the entire issue of policing
in the coming months.

"If the British government delivers on its promises, we
will be discussing the policing issue at the Sinn Féin Ard-
Fheis," he said.

The Sinn Féin leader said he was not prepared to travel to
the United States under the terms of his visa. However, he
said the move would not damage fundraising efforts.

"I have been robbed of the opportunity to give a briefing
to party supporters at the annual event in New York but the
fundraising will go on regardless.

"Irish-Americans have been faithful. There is increasing
support for Sinn Féin and our strategy for a lasting peace
process, so this won't put any of them off. It may increase
support for the party."

The Irish American Unity Conference in Washington called on
the US Department of State to lift the fundraising ban.

Group president Robert C Linnon said: "It seems the US
government might use fundraising issues as leverage on Sinn
Féin to join the Policing Board.

"An attempt to strong-arm Gerry Adams into signing up to
the PSNI would be both ill-advised and counterproductive.

"The United States should be rewarding those who have built
on peace. In that regard, Gerry Adams has delivered in
spades."

Mr Adams said he travelled to the United States three or
four times a year. He has no plans to make another trip
until next year, he added.

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http://www.online.ie/News/News.aspx?newsId=117207

Shot Republican Freed From Jail Last Year

A dissident republican shot and killed in south Armagh had
been freed from jail in the Republic of Ireland last year,
it emerged today.

Martin Conlon, 35, was abducted and then hit several times
in the head before his body was dumped on a roadside near
the village of Keady.

Detectives believe he was the victim of a fall-out with
former associates who may have been linked to the Real IRA,
the organisation which bombed Omagh in August 1998 killing
29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

He lived at Railway Street, Armagh, and was found
unconscious just outside the neighbouring village of Keady
before he died in Craigavon Area hospital later.

Conlon was one of six men jailed at the Special Criminal
Court in Dublin in March 2001 after he pleaded guilty to
training people in the use of firearms.

It followed a special security operation when armed police
surrounded a field at Strathmullen, Co Meath, and a farm in
Co Louth which was being used as a Real IRA training camp.

He served a four-year sentence in Portlaoise Prison and was
released last year.

His body was discovered at Farnaloy Road, close to the
Madden estate outside Keady, and about a mile and a half
from where his car, a silver Volkswagen Passat was later
found burned out.

Forensic experts also examined a second car as part of
their investigation.

SDLP councillor Gerald Mallon said: "This has hallmarks of
a paramilitary murder. This was a horrific murder and no
family should ever have to face what his family are
facing."

Ulster Unionist Newry and Armagh member of the suspended
Northern Ireland Assembly Danny Kennedy said he too
believed there was a republican paramilitary link. He would
await the outcome of the police investigations before
reaching any definite conclusions.

He added: "I am certain that most would agree with me when
I say I thought the days of discovering bodies dumped at
the side of south Armagh roads were gone, never to return."

Meanwhile the area's Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy called for
an end to to dissident republican violence.

He said: "It has absolutely no strategy towards achieving
any political objective. I think more and more in recent
times it has been shown to be drifting towards outright
gangsterism."

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http://www.online.ie/News/News.aspx?newsId=117124

Hain: No Complete Handover Of Policing To Paramilitaries

Paramilitaries in Northern Ireland will not be given a free
licence to police their neighbourhoods through community
restorative justice schemes, Peter Hain said today.

After he met members of a community justice scheme
operating on a loyalist housing estate in Bangor, the
Northern Ireland Secretary said all community justice
schemes would have to involve the Police Service of
Northern Ireland.

Mr Hain said during a visit to the Kilcooley Community
Centre: "There will be community restorative justice
guidelines published by my deputy, David Hanson, at the end
of the month.

"They have been extensively consulted over and they will
make it crystal clear that any CRJ schemes have to work
with the criminal justice system and with the police, as
this one is doing here.

"I think it is very important that we learn the lessons of
that.

"This is not a licence to hand over community safety and
policing to local paramilitaries or ex-paramilitaries.

"It is a way of binding the community together with the
police and the community justice system, supervising
everything."

Last week Northern Ireland Office Minister David Hanson
moved to reassure political opponents at Westminster and
Northern Ireland parties that the PSNI would have a role in
any community restorative justice programme that receive
British government approval.

The Northern Ireland Policing Board, unionists and the SDLP
have all expressed concern that republicans could use the
schemes as an alternative police force, with stop and
search powers.

Sinn Féin has denied the schemes, which already operate in
Belfast, Derry and other parts of Northern Ireland are
intended as an alternative to the PSNI.

Mr Hain said after his meeting with members of IMPACT
(Initiative Making People Accountable for Community
Trouble) in Bangor that it was the kind of model of
community restorative justice that the government wished to
see.

"Obviously I have been briefed a bit by those involved and
the fact that the police are involved, working hand in hand
with the local CRJ scheme is an important part of one of
the principles that we are committed to," he said.

"That is exactly what the scheme does. I am not aware of
all of the detail, so I wouldn't necessarily say that this
is a model which has to be replicated elsewhere but the
principles involved here of police involvement and the
criminal justice system in the background providing an
umbrella over the whole scheme, that must be fundamental to
any successful CRJ scheme."

IMPACT representative, Jim Rea, whose scheme has been
operating on the Kilcooley Estate for two and a half years,
said there were concerns that republicans were holding back
community restorative justice because of their refusal to
involve the PSNI in schemes.

"I thanked Mr Hain for coming to Kilcooley today. The
question I put to him was we come under the umbrella of
Northern Ireland Alternative Restorative Justice programme
and we're set up to tackle low level crime and anti-social
behaviour, We're ready to sign the protocols that the
government is talking about, but are we being held back?

"We have been running for two and a half years. Low level
crime and anti-social behaviour has dropped on this, the
third largest housing estate in Northern Ireland.

"We think it sends out the right message. There are critics
of restorative justice schemes but at the end of the day,
what are they doing to stop punishment beatings or
expulsions?"

Mr Rea said members of the PSNI sat on his organisation's
advisory committee which they were happy to have.

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http://www.online.ie/News/News.aspx?newsId=117302

Britain Accused Over Runaway Terror Suspects

The British government was tonight accused of having an
inconsistent approach to terrorism as it prepared to
introduce legislation allowing some of Northern Ireland's
most infamous on-the-run terror suspects to return home.

As speculation intensified that the government will
introduce on-the-run legislation in Westminster tomorrow,
Opposition parties contrasted the plan with British Prime
Minister Tony Blair's tough stance in the Terrorism Bill.

Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson said: "Today we
are debating the introduction of legislation which, the
Government claim, will strengthen their hand in the fight
against global terrorism.

"However, at the very same time they are getting ready to
introduce legislation which will grant an amnesty to on-
the-run terrorists from Northern Ireland.

"By granting amnesties, this government has shown that they
have no consideration for the grief, pain or misery which
these cold-blooded-killers inflicted on their innocent
victims.

"After this most recent concession to terrorism in Northern
Ireland many are left asking the question if there is there
a difference between terrorism in Northern Ireland and
terrorism in London? In the eyes of the Government there
seems to good terrorists and bad terrorists."

Sinn Féin has lobbied Prime Minister Tony Blair for IRA
members who fled Northern Ireland during the Troubles to be
allowed to return without being imprisoned.

Among those who could qualify would be former Sinn Fein MP
Owen Carron and Liam Averill who escaped from the Maze
prison dressed as a woman in December 1997,

The government has insisted, however, the legislation will
not amount to an amnesty.

In a bid to allay unionist concerns, Northern Ireland
Secretary Peter Hain has insisted on-the-run terror
suspects who qualify for the scheme will have face a
judicial process.

The government's plan was, however, labelled farcical today
by the Conservatives' Northern Ireland spokesman David
Lidington.

The Aylesbury MP said: "At the same time as the Government
proposes detaining terrorist suspects for 90 days without
charge, it will allow convicted terrorists, and those
wanted in connection with the most heinous terrorist
atrocities, to return to Northern Ireland without ever
having to appear before a court and account for themselves
in the normal way.

"The government claims that its plans include a judicial
process.

"In reality what is proposed is a judicial farce.

"Once again the government has simply caved in to Sinn
Féin's demands by making a unlateral concession on an issue
that formed no part of the Belfast Agreement."

During a visit to the loyalist Kilcooley housing estate in
Bangor, Mr Hain acknowledged the government faced a tough
challenge in trying to steer the legislation through the
House of Lords.

The minister also insisted there was no question of members
of the security forces suspected of offences before the
Good Friday Agreement being treated differently from on-
the-run paramilitaries.

"Any member of the security forces who might find
themselves charged of crimes pre-1998, should not suffer
any discrimination compared with those involved in
paramilitary activity, loyalist or republican, who benefit
from the scheme and come through out on licence," he said.

"This is a proper judicial scheme and members of the
security forces should at least be treated equally."

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1637357,00.html

How Mowlam Disarmed The Tough Guys Of Congress

Sir Christopher Meyer
Wednesday November 9, 2005
The Guardian

Mo Mowlam reached the zenith of her powers as secretary of
state for Northern Ireland just as I arrived in America.
She was an inspired choice for the job. Nobody could have
been better suited to the task of winning a fair hearing in
Washington for what Tony Blair was trying to do.

She had been treated for a brain tumour, which had left her
bald, and she had the disconcerting habit of adjusting her
wig or taking it off when you least expected it. The first
thing she did when we met was to test me either by doing
the wig number or belching, I forget which. It was clear
what was going through her mind: "Is this a pinstriped twit
or what?"

We got on quite well at that first meeting, and ended up
good friends. But her visits to Washington were never easy.
There was no escaping a hard day on Capitol Hill, facing
Congress's powerful Irish lobby to rebut the latest crop of
republican allegations against us.

The senators and congressmen would be primed by Sinn Féin,
and if not on top of all the detail themselves, they had
staff whispering in their ears who were.

Mo handled this well. Her combination of candour, lack of
pomposity, and tough-talking earned her respect and
credibility on the Hill and in the administration. It
helped also to be a woman in a wig.

Mo's great gift was that she could 'speak' American.
Europeans divide into those who can 'speak' American and
those who cannot. This is not a narrow linguistic point. It
means having the ability to slip naturally into the
American idiom.

Peter Mandelson, Mo's successor as Northern Ireland
secretary, could never do it, for all his intellectual
brilliance. He managed profoundly to irritate the Irish-
Americans of Capitol Hill, who are ultra-sensitive to any
hint of being patronised by snooty Brits.

Mo's finest hour was just before the Good Friday deal in
1998. As guest of honour at the embassy's St Patrick's Day
celebrations, she was greeted by roaring applause and feted
by all. It was heady stuff. Clinton paid her particular
attention over lunch next day.

At the White House reception that evening we ran into
Michael Flatley, who was at the height of his Riverdance
fame. One of Mo's staff had a camera. Flatley assumed that
she would want to be photographed with him.

To his mystification she handed him the camera and asked
him to take a photo of our group. Flatley did so. Mo took
back the camera, thanked him, and walked off, leaving
Flatley mouthing like a goldfish.

Mo blazed like a comet across the firmament, but her light
was as transitory as it was brilliant. She mentioned to me
that her poll ratings were higher than Blair's. When he
mentioned her in his party conference speech, Mo won a
standing ovation.

"This spells trouble for her," my wife and I said to each
other. It did.

In truth her star was already burning out. There was
briefing against her in British newspapers. She suspected
the hand of Downing Street

Clinton never again gave her the same level of attention,
and her visit to Washington for the 1999 St Patrick's Day
celebrations was not a happy affair. It is a cruel city for
those perceived to be in political decline.

Towards the end of the Clinton years, I began to detect a
resentment in the White House towards visiting Ulster
politicians: so ready to take the lavish hospitality
offered, so ready to return to ancient feuds once they were
home.

I also saw, behind the masks of bonhomie, the single-
mindedness of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness in pursuit
of political advantage. They moved through Washington as
smoothly as sharks in warm water. Whatever else they were,
or had been, they were politicians to their fingertips,
wholly at ease in their surroundings.

It helped, of course, to have powerful friends at court. By
contrast, there was something terribly awkward and
admirable about the likes of Trimble, Mallon, Alderdyce and
the others who were Sinn Féin's political opponents.

After a lunch in March 2001, attended by George Bush and
figures from both sides of the Irish divide, I stood at the
top of the Capitol steps with the other guests to bid
farewell to the president.

As Bush headed down the steps to get into his car, I saw
that Adams had somehow managed to insert himself into the
small knot of American politicians who were escorting the
president.

He had a brief, smiling exchange with Bush. Cameras were
flashing and rolling. What a photo opportunity for Adams
and Sinn Féin! What a coup!

I whispered to the other Northern Ireland party leaders,
standing gauche and uncomfortable alongside me: "For
Christ's sake, get down the bloody steps before it's too
late!" It was too late.

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http://www.radio.com.pl/polonia/article.asp?tId=29426&j=2

The New Battle Of The Boyne?

Since the expansion of the EU last May, thousands of Poles
have gone to Northern Ireland to find work. Some of them,
however, have been met with sectarian abuse and even
physical attack.

Called Derry by Catholics and Londonderry by protestants,
it is a picturesque city of 100 thousand inhabitants
located 50 miles west of Belfast. Divided by the Foyle
river it is inhabited by protestants and Catholics living
on each side of the river.

It is also home to about 500 Poles as well as a large group
of Latvians and Lithuanians They are said to be good
workers who blend in well but were visibly brought to the
attention of the protestant minority in the region after
the death of Pope John Paul II. In the Foyle Meats Factory
in the suburbs of Derry, Poles became victims of racist and
sectarian attacks for their catholic beliefs. From April to
August of this year there have been 11 incidents in Derry.
Local resident are aware of them and the fact that Ireland
being the country torn with internal conflict does not
welcome foreigners who are subject to racist and sectarian
attacks. The origin of the attacks is obvious – explains
David Wilson, journalist with the "Irish News".

Irlandia 1

The problem has long been recognized by local authorities.
Police from the Foyle Region prepared a special partnership
protocol aimed at identifying problems connected with
migrant workers. Local politicians also joined the
campaign. Mark Durken is a local MP and leader of the
Social Democratic and Labor Party in Northern Ireland. His
party has also been involved in fighting migrant workers
abuse in workplaces.

Irlandia 2

One of possible ways of increasing awareness of the issue
of migrants is event called "Anti-Racist Workplace Week" –
a campaign recently launched in Northern Ireland. Among its
organizers are the Northern Ireland Trade Unions Movement,
the Police Service and the Department of Justice, Equality
and Law Reform. Their aim is to educate the local community
on how migrant workers contribute to the economy and that
they should be given exactly the same rights as everyone
else in Northern Ireland.

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