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)

November 03, 2005

Two More Arrests Over Bank Heist

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

News about Ireland & the Irish

BT 11/03/05 Two More Arrests Over Bank Heist
BT 11/03/05 3rd Under Arrest After Police Swoop In Belfast
IN 11/03/05 Parents Of Detainee Protest His Innocence
IN 11/03/05 Raids New Shock To Relaxed Village
SF 11/03/05 PSNI Operation Driven By RUC Old Guard Agenda
IO 11/03/05 US 'Should Not Curb SF Fundraising'
BB 11/03/05 Ahern To Press For Power-Sharing
DI 11/03/05 Plastic Bullet Report Sent To UN & US Congress
DU 11/03/05 Moutray Warns Gov. About Taking Wrong Approach
SF 11/03/05 Govt Amendment To Reunification Motion 'Absurd'
SF 11/03/05 Unionists Nothing To Fear From A United Ireland
II 11/03/05 Rabbitte: Reconciliation Must Precede Unity
UT 11/03/05 SDLP Warning On Super Council 'Partition'
UU 11/03/05 Outburst Symptomatic Of Deep Divisions In DUP
UU 11/03/05 Britishness Tests Not Appropriate
IO 11/03/05 Family Should Have Been Told About Report
BT 11/03/05 Memories Still Raw At Poyntzpass
BT 11/03/05 Dad's Concerns Aired As Killings Feature On TV
UT 11/03/05 Police Ombudsman Under Fire
BT 11/03/05 Row Over Aid To Loyalist Areas
BB 11/03/05 DUP Proposals Over RIR Battalions
BT 11/03/05 Bomb Hoax 'Could Scupper Investment'
IN 11/03/05 Attack On Bus Injures Four
BT 11/03/05 UUP's Poll Shambles Is Exposed
BT 11/03/05 UUP: How It All Went Wrong
AN 11/03/05 The Nightmare; Dublin Anti-Drugs Campaigns
GI 11/03/05 Man Rescued From Corrib Jump
IN 11/03/05 Coi Priest To Present TG4 Programme

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=667835

Two More Arrests Over Bank Heist

By Jonathan McCambridge
03 November 2005

Police investigating the Northern Bank robbery today
arrested two more men as detectives continue their series
of raids against suspects for the £26.5m heist.

The arrests were made early this morning in Co Tyrone,
indicating that detectives are widening the scope of their
operation against the gang they believe carried out the
world's largest cash bank robbery.

There are now five men being questioned. A 40-year-old man
in Dungannon and a 43-year-old man from Coalisland were
arrested during the latest police swoops.

They have been taken to the Serious Crime Suite at Antrim
Police Station and are being held under the Terrorism Act.

The latest arrests come as police continue to hold three
men arrested earlier this week - two in Kilcoo and one in
Belfast.

Chief Constable Hugh Orde is expected to comment on the
investigation during a public meeting of the Policing Board
today.

The Chief Constable has blamed the IRA for the robbery, an
allegation consistently denied by republicans.

Two men - 23-year-old Dominic McEvoy and 25-year-old Peter
Morgan - were arrested following a planned police operation
in Kilcoo on Tuesday night.

A third man, aged 30 but whose name is not known, was
arrested in Belfast yesterday afternoon.

The men can be held for 48 hours before police have to
apply to the courts for an extension. They can hold them
for 14 days under anti-terrorism legislation.

The arrests follow a huge police investigation into the
December robbery which has seen a team of detectives
spending months carrying out forensic investigations and
gathering evidence.

But the searches in Kilcoo have angered local people. A
group of 30 protesters blocked the main Hilltown to
Castlewellan Road last night as police carried out further
searches.

An SDLP representative has said Catholics could shun the
PSNI because of anger over the Northern Bank raids. The
representative said: "This will have major repercussions
throughout South Down."

But the police officer leading the investigation said
officers had received significant public support.

Detective Chief Superintendent Phil Aiken said: "We are
where we are in no small part due to support and
information provided openly and anonymously by the
community."

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=667772

Third Man Under Arrest After Police Swoop In Belfast

By Debra Douglas
03 November 2005

Detectives probing the £26.5m Northern Bank heist were last
night questioning a third man.

The 30-year-old was arrested in Belfast yesterday afternoon
and taken to the Serious Crime Suite in Antrim where
building contractor Dominic McEvoy (23), and Peter Morgan,
a 24-year-old plasterer and part-time farmer were also
being quizzed.

Following the third arrest, there was disorder on the main
Hilltown to Castlewellan Road as police carried out
searches in the area.

A police spokeswoman said there was a small blockage on the
road for some time. But there were no arrests and by late
last night, calm had been restored.

Police have been carrying out searches in the area
following Tuesday's late night swoops in the homes of
McEvoy and Morgan in Kilcoo, close to Castlewellan.

Chief Constable Hugh Orde has publicly blamed the IRA for
the robbery but McEvoy's mother Irene Carlin has
strenuously denied he had any involvement with the
Provisionals.

"We are a republican family and we have our beliefs, but he
wouldn't be as political as us. Absolutely not," she said.

The family of Morgan have also denied he had any
involvement.

Even though senior IRA men in Belfast were suspected of
involvement in the raid, detectives do not have enough
evidence to charge them.

But last night, the head of the police investigation,
acting Detective Chief Superintendent Phil Aiken, said
police had received significant public support in their
investigation.

He said: "We are where we are in no small part due to the
support and information provided openly and anonymously by
the community."

But he urged those who spoke to the police anonymously to
get in touch again. He added: "We would ask those people to
contact us again either anonymously through Crimestoppers
on 0800 555 111 or by contacting detectives at North Queen
Street."

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams refused to
discuss any potential implications the arrests could have
for the peace process.

But his party's Assembly member for South Down, Willie
Clarke, hit out at the manner in which the arrests were
handled.

"This is just another example of heavy-handed political
policing at its worst," he claimed.
----

Solicitor Kevin Winter, who is representing the three men,
voiced concerns that their names had been made public.

"We are very concerned that the leaking of the names of
these three people is not only prejudicial but also highly
dangerous and is an infringement of their human rights," Mr
Winter said.

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

http://www.irishnews.com/access/daily/current.asp?SID=506741

Parents Of Detainee Protest His Innocence

By Sharon O'Neill Chief Reporter

THE family of one of the first three men arrested over the
£26.5 million Northern Bank robbery protested his innocence
as police continued to question him last night.

Dominic McEvoy (23) and Peter Morgan (25) were detained in
a police swoop on the village of Kilcoo, near Castlewellan,
in Co Down shortly after 11.15pm on Tuesday.

A third man, aged 30 and also believed to be from the
village, was arrested in Belfast yesterday.

Detectives at Antrim police station continued to question
the three men last night.

Despite IRA denials Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde maintains
that the Provisionals were responsible for last December's
robbery.

Last month Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy said cash seized
during searches in Co Cork in February was from the
Northern Bank raid.

Kilcoo is not far from where a bank official's wife was
held hostage while robbers raided the vaults of the
Northern's Belfast city centre headquarters. She was later
dumped in Drumkeeragh Forest Park near Ballynahinch.

Mr McEvoy and Mr Morgan were arrested after returning to
their homes. The items removed for ex-amination included
documents, mo-bile phones, a passport, computer equipment
and clothing.

Police remained at their houses in Mullandra Park and Kirk
Lane yesterday and a nearby alleyway was sealed off.

The family of Mr McEvoy, a builder who has been working in
Dundalk, hit out at the police handling of the operation
and insisted that he was innocent of any wrongdoing.

His cousin Aine McEvoy ran un-successfully as a Sinn Fein
candidate for Down District Council in May's local
government elections.

His mother, Irene Carlin, yesterday said he was neither a
Sinn Fein activist nor a member of the IRA.

He was arrested on suspicion of abduction, membership of
the IRA and in connection with the Northern Bank robbery,
she said.

Mr McEvoy had been in the kitchen making supper when police
called to the family home seeking his arrest.

"I thought it was something about bangers – you know what
young fellas are like," Mrs Carlin said.

"He burst out laughing. He said: 'Don't worry, Ma.'

"He had been working six months up in Dundalk. He leaves at
about 5.30 in the morning and is home at around 7.30 at
night.

"He comes home and goes to his [Gaelic] football. He is a
great footballer. That is Dominic's life."

Mrs Carlin's husband Seamus, her son's stepfather, said:
"They [the police] had five search teams in here last
night, from 11.30pm to 7.30am this morning. They even took
other people's belongings.

"We were sitting at the kitchen table before they even
produced a warrant."

Mrs Carlin said she believed her son had been targeted
because he had been arrested over alleged paramilitary
activity two years ago but released without charge.

She said she was confident that her son had done nothing
wrong.

"Absolutely, I am as sure as heaven," the care worker said.

"They [the police] are just pushing and pushing this
because Dominic was lifted before. We are a republican
family, all of us, and we are quite proud of it.

"He is a great footballer, a hard worker. I said to him
last week I thought he was working too hard, to take it
easy. He said he loves working for himself, being his own
boss.

"It was such a big robbery, hitting the headlines and
everything.

"They are two wee boys... sure they'd be youngsters
compared to them who are going to plan a bloody big bank
robbery.

"If anybody robbed a bank, who'd work who got £26 million?"

Asked whether Mr McEvoy was involved in the IRA, his
stepfather said: "It's total rubbish.

"It [the police operation] just speaks for itself. If you
ask anybody in this area, none of them have a bad word to
say about him.

"It is harassment just gone wild. It is as simple as that."

Asked whether her son was a Sinn Fein member, Mrs Carlin
said: "No, Kilcoo football club.

"I don't want to be connected to this [the bank robbery]."

Police defended the operation, saying: "All police actions
in respect of this investigation are necessary, legal and
proportionate and can be subjected to independent scrutiny.

"The police service are charged with the responsibility of
carrying out this major investigation into serious
organised and paramilitary criminality."

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

http://www.irishnews.com/access/daily/current.asp?SID=506745

Raids New Shock To Relaxed Village

By Sharon O'Neill Chief Reporter

WITHIN just a few days the relatively unknown village of
Kilcoo in south Down has been thrust into the limelight.

But it is not the village's outwardly quaint appeal,
relaxed way of life, nor the beauty of the landscape that
surrounds it, that has caught the eye.

First a former parish priest of Kilcoo, Fr John McCallum
(45), was jailed for downloading child pornography.

Now three residents are the first people to have been
arrested in the hunt for the robbers of last December's
£26.5 million Northern Bank robbery in Belfast.

As in any small place, word spreads quickly – but what the
villagers know, they are keeping to themselves.

"I don't know anything about it. It's news to me," an
elderly resident said.

Another seemed surprised that the security operation
unfolding within the tiny village was connected to the
biggest robbery in Irish and British history.

"It's a big shock," she said.

As Mass was celebrated in St Malachy's Church yesterday
morning a flurry of police activity continued in nearby
Mullandra Park, a small cluster of houses.

The cul-de-sac was flag-free and the only outward sign of
its republican credentials were 10 white crosses on a grass
verge – a memorial to the hunger strikers.

Residents, many watching events from their living room
windows, refused to answer journalists' numerous knocks on
their doors.

But police activity at one of the suspect's houses was
beginning to grate on growingly irate relatives.

"This is harassment," a woman said as she went in.

However, such sights are not unprecedented in Kilcoo.

In 2003 police arrested several people after searches in
the village and nearby Castlewellan in connection with the
murder of Matthew Burns the previous year.

The 26-year-old, reported to have been a suspected drug
dealer, was gunned down in front of his brother when their
car was ambushed outside Castlewellan.

He had been targeted by republicans twice before.

Sinn Fein South Down assembly member Willie Clarke said of
the latest raids: "It has been happening on an ongoing
basis in nationalist areas in the likes of Kilcoo where
there have been raids regularly and heavy-handed policing
since the ceasefire.

"This is another example of it. This is totally farcical.

Mr Clarke said the two men arrested on Tuesday night were
not Sinn Fein activists.

"They are just young hardworking lads," he said.

As Kilcoo continued to dominate news bulletins throughout
the day and as the media presence steadily grew in
Mullandra Park, the scene of one of the raids, one villager
said: "It just hasn't been a good few days."

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

http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/11809

PSNI Operation Driven By RUC Old Guard Agenda

Published: 3 November, 2005

Sinn Féin MP for Fermanagh & South Tyrone Michelle
Gildernew has said that the ongoing PSNI operation against
republicans in the Dungannon area will further undermine
the confidence of the nationalist community in the ability
of the PSNI to deliver impartial and accountable policing.

Ms Gildernew said:

" The PSNI operation against republicans which began
yesterday n South Down and continued overnight in Dungannon
is without doubt driven by the political policing agenda of
the RUC old guard in the Special Branch. Yesterday's
Special Branch briefing of the usual selected sources in
the media and the unprecedented naming of those arrested by
certain media outlets points all of us in that direction.

" I have no doubt that these briefings will continue today
and attempts will be made to smear those arrested through
the media. The operation in Tyrone overnight has been heavy
handed, unwarranted and completely without justification.

" These are not the actions of an accountable and
acceptable policing service. The operation in Tyrone will
further undermine the confidence of the nationalist
community in the ability of the PSNI to deliver impartial,
accountable policing and of course raises very serious
questions for the SDLP who we assume endorse this type of
operation." ENDS

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

http://www.online.ie/News/News.aspx?newsId=111586

US 'Should Not Curb SF Fundraising'

President George Bush's officials would be making a mistake
if they place any restrictions on Gerry Adams' ability to
speak at fundraising events in the US, Washington was
warned today.

Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness expressed
concern at newspaper reports quoting US State Department
sources as saying there could be a visa restriction on the
Sinn Féin leader, who is due to visit New York later this
month for an annual fundraising dinner.

The Mid Ulster MP said Mr Adams would pull out of the visit
if restrictions were placed on him addressing the events.

And he also warned that Irish republicans would resist any
attempt by the Bush administration to link the visa
conditions with Sinn Féin's refusal to endorse the North's
system of policing.

Mr McGuinness said: "These fundraising events allow
supporters of Irish unity to contribute to Sinn Féin's
political programme to achieve this through peaceful and
democratic activity.

"Such support is entirely legitimate and indeed necessary
in demonstrating that politics works.

"The US has played a pivotal role in the creation and
evolution of the peace process.

"An even-handed approach has been the hallmark of success
in this. All parties have been treated equally.

"However, any heavy-handed attempt by the State Department
to try and dictate Sinn Féin policy on policing is
misguided and will do nothing to help in the resolution of
this key issue."

Sinn Fein is the only one of the four largest parties in
the North to refuse its seats on boards designed to hold
the Police Service of Northern Ireland accountable.

Despite Government, rival nationalist SDLP and Catholic
bishops' support for policing, the party has insisted
police reforms in the North do not go far enough.

They want policing and justice powers to be transferred out
of British government hands to a new devolved ministry at
Stormont.

Mr McGuinness said: "Sinn Féin knows what we have to do on
policing. Our position is very clear.

"The British government also knows what it has to do on
policing. It has given a series of commitments on this.

"The upcoming period will provide ample opportunities to
establish whether these commitments have been honoured.

"President Bush's special envoy Mitchell Reiss knows this
and he and the State Department have been fully briefed on
our party's position.

"If Gerry Adams has restrictions imposed on his visa, this
means you would have the ludicrous and unsustainable
situation where he is allowed to travel to the US, but he
would be banned from attending the fundraising event, which
will go ahead in any event.

"If Gerry Adams is banned from addressing US citizens at
fundraising events next week, he will not travel to the
United States. Of course, he and others in the Sinn Féin
leadership will continue to engage with US opinion and he
will travel there as part of that engagement in the time
ahead."

Mr McGuinness said that if the US Government adopted the
policy, it would play into the hands of anti-Good Friday
Agreement unionists and also cause deep anger among Irish-
American supporters of the peace process.

It would also be out of step with the British government's
approach to Sinn Féin, he argued.

"There is no ban on Gerry Adams attending fundraising
events in Britain," the Mid Ulster MP said.

"Inevitably, such a wholly negative approach by the US
would have serious political repercussions and would be
used by anti-Agreement unionists, including the DUP, to
undermine the progress that has been made this year and
damage the hopes for progress in the months ahead.

"It is important that this matter is resolved as speedily
as possible."

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4401690.stm

Ahern To Press For Power-Sharing

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern is expected to press the
case for a return to devolution to Northern Ireland in a
visit to the province.

The taoiseach is to undertake a number of engagements,
including a visit to the Somme Museum in Newtownards.

Mr Ahern is expected to use an address to the Institute of
Directors to call for a return to power-sharing.

The taoiseach is due to visit community projects including
a cross-community youth project, Crosslinks in Poleglass.

Progressive Unionist Party leader David Ervine welcomed Mr
Ahern's visit to the Somme museum.

"The taoiseach's visit, I think, is just a follow-up to
things he's been involved in, in relation to the first
world war," he said.

"The first world war is very much a shared experience and I
think the taoiseach, for some time now, has been involved
in programmes both in Belgium and in Ireland."

BBC Northern Ireland political correspondent Martina Purdy
said Mr Ahern was also expected to "spell out the merits of
cross-border cooperation" in his address to the business
leaders.

"This is a message that other Dublin ministers have
delivered in recent weeks and months - most recently the
Irish finance minister Brian Cowen," she said.

"Bertie Ahern will also talk about the international
economic pressures facing the whole island.

"He is likely to repeat his call for time and space for
loyalists to follow the IRA's latest initiatives on arms.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/11/03 12:12:55 GMT
© BBC MMV

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

http://dailyireland.televisual.co.uk/home.tvt?_ticket=9NTHLXD4YGSGX40OHONDL1Q39LLDPJSGZSSFLPTFHRZDALOL6Z5FURUSJORE9NTHLF8WBHSJ7QRFOSMAAT2DALOLMZJYM6F93Y&_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News&id=13701&opp=1

Plastic Bullet Use Report Is Sent To UN And US Congress

Rights group says army 'unaccountable'

Ciarán Barnes

The British Army's unaccountable use of plastic bullets is
the focus of a new human-rights report sent to the United
Nations and the United States Congress.

The report compiled by the London-based group British-Irish
Rights Watch centres on the lack of independent scrutiny of
plastic bullets fired by soldiers.

PSNI members have to explain to the Police Ombudsman their
reasons for firing every plastic bullet, but no such checks
are in place for rounds fired by the British Army.

Adding to the concern of British-Irish Rights Watch is
that, of the 17 people killed by plastic bullets since
1976, 11 were shot dead by the British Army, the majority
being children.

The British Army is also responsible for firing a quarter
of all plastic bullets in the North since the onset of the
Troubles.

British-Irish Rights Watch director Jane Winter said the
"unwelcome" use of plastic bullets during recent riots in
Belfast had prompted her organisation to produce a report
chronicling their use in the conflict.

She said: "We are particularly concerned by the use of
plastic bullets as a means of crowd control.

"In England and Wales, where they are also deployed, they
are only used in one-on-one situations, as a less lethal
alternative to live ammunition.

"We are also concerned that, in Northern Ireland, a quarter
of all plastic bullets have been fired by the army but,
whereas the Police Ombudsman scrutinises every bullet fired
by the police these days, there is no independent scrutiny
of bullets fired by the army, who also operate under less
rigorous guidelines than the police."

Ms Winter added: "Plastic bullets have not been fired in
Derry for over seven years, despite some serious public
disorder at times, so there is another way.

"Our report, which has been sent to the government, the
United Nations, the American Congress and other relevant
bodies, has called again for a ban on plastic bullets."

The Independent Assessor of Military Complaints has the
power to insist that every member of the British Army who
fires a plastic bullet must fill out a report detailing the
incident.

In addition, the assessor can ask the British Army's plain-
clothes Special Investigations Branch to interview soldiers
who fire plastic bullets.

The assessor is currently preparing a report on the British
Army's use of plastic bullets during loyalist rioting in
September.

However, the army's use of plastic bullets during
nationalist rioting in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast
during July is not being probed.

Other human-rights organisations have called for a ban on
plastic bullets, including Relatives for Justice, the Pat
Finucane Centre and the Committee on the Administration of
Justice.

Relatives for Justice, which works closely with the
families of people killed by plastic bullets, insists that
the weapon is a totally unacceptable form of crowd control.

"Plastic bullets must be banned. No modification of the
guidelines governing their use will provide adequate
protection against abuse," said a Relatives for Justice
report.

"It is incumbent on the authorities, not the critics of the
weapon, to come up with acceptable alternatives."

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

http://www.dup.org.uk/articles.asp?Article_ID=1769

Moutray Warns Gov. About Taking The Wrong Approach

Upper Bann DUP MLA Stephen Moutray has spoken of the
Government's complete lack of understanding as to how
unionists think. Speaking today Mr Moutray said,

"In the space of a week the Government announced a massive
20% increase in rates, an amnesty for so-called On-The-
Runs, and the restoration of SF/IRA expenses. This
Government seems to be of the opinion that if it is
arrogant enough, brazen enough, biased enough and
contemptuous enough of the people, then somehow the DUP
will be forced to abandon our commitment to democratic
principles and the rule of law in the manner of the UUP
before us.

I have to warn the Government – they will be making a
serious mistake if they think such a bullying approach will
work. In fact if the Government wants to ensure that the
DUP is even more resolved to uphold our principles, then it
is going about it in exactly the right manner.

Both the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister have
been made aware of what we require – their job is to
deliver on that. They needn't think that we will be as
pliable as those who went before.

This Government has manifested a complete lack of
understanding as to how unionists think – now would be a
good time for them to begin their education."

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

http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/11816

Government Amendment To Irish Reunification Motion 'Absurd'
Says Morgan

Published: 3 November, 2005

Concluding the Sinn Féin Private Members Business motion
debate on Irish reunification in the Dáil today Sinn Féin
TD for Louth, Arthur Morgan described the Government
amendment to the motion as "absurd" saying it would
effectively make the whole peace process "dependent on the
response of rejectionist unionism."

He said the "Irish Government has a particular
responsibility to commence planning for reunification.
Central to this is the need for the Government to initiate
and sustain a planned programme of all-Ireland social and
economic development, which aims to remove the obstacles
created by partition."

Deputy Morgan said: "An all-Ireland economy would serve
business and would serve the people of Ireland best. This
is recognised by the business community, including by many
unionists.

"There was not one word in it (the Sinn Féin motion) that
any reasonable person could object to, let alone those who
claim to be committed to unity.

"This motion was put forward in the spirit of
constructiveness with the aim of achieving a consensus
among the parties in this House, who avow to support unity.
Why is it that Fianna Fail in particular are running away
from having a constructive debate on Irish Unity? All
reference to unity is absent from the amendment put forward
by the Government.

"I would like to refer for a moment directly to the
government amendment and in particular the following
section: 'Opposes any political move or initiative which
would increase tensions between the two main traditions on
this island'.

"This is an absurd notion that would see the process
stagnate and would make the process dependent on the
response of rejectionist unionism. Arguably to advocate the
restoration of the institutions is enough to increase
tensions among some sections of unionism.

"I challenge grass roots members of Fianna Fáil to step
back and appraise what is actually being done to achieve
their aspirations for a United Ireland; to ask themselves
if they are satisfied with empty rhetoric which is not
matched by actions. Are the PDs going to be allowed to
dump the Taoiseach's proposal for very limited
participation of Six County MPs here? I urge the
Taoiseach, once again, to press ahead with his proposal.

"There is an imperative for us to begin the preparations
for Irish Unity now.

"In conclusion my Sinn Féin colleagues have set out our
vision of an inclusive Ireland, a better Ireland, an
Ireland where diversity is valued and the greatest possible
participation of the people of the island in the civil and
political life of the country is a primary objective. We
are working to create an Irish Republic which vindicates
the rights and entitlements set out in the 1916
proclamation and the Democratic Programme of the First
Dáil." ENDS
----

Full text of Irish contribution by Arthur Morgan TD to Dáil
debate on Irish reunification

It is not often that this House has taken the time to
debate what this state needs to do to prepare politically,
socially and economically for Irish re-unification.

The Irish Government has a particular responsibility to
commence planning for reunification. This is vital if we
are to have a successful transition to the United Ireland
which the majority of parties in this House profess to
support.

As Deputy Ó Caoláin said last night we must strengthen and
build upon the all-Ireland aspects of the Agreement.

Central to this is the need for the Government to initiate
and sustain a planned programme of all-Ireland social and
economic development which aims to remove the obstacles
created by partition.

We need to integrate the economy. An all-Ireland economy
would serve business and would serve the people of Ireland
best. This is recognised by the business community,
including by many unionists. The IBEC-CBI Joint Business
Council are currently promoting 20 key North-South actions
to increase economic co-operation on the island of Ireland.
These moves are to be to welcomed.

The Sinn Féin motion was succinct and straightforward.
There was not one word in it that any reasonable person
could object to, let alone those who claim to be committed
to unity.

This motion was put forward in the spirit of
constructiveness with the aim of achieving a consensus
among the parties in this House, who avow to support unity,
regarding how this state prepares politically, socially and
economically for Irish unification. Why is it that Fianna
Fail in particular are running away from having a
constructive debate on Irish Unity? All reference to unity
is absent from the amendment put forward by the Government.
Taoiseach, when will you live up to the ideals of Padraic
Pearse, whose picture adorns your office wall.

I would like to refer for a moment directly to the
government amendment and in particular the following
section:

"Opposes any political move or initiative which would
increase tensions between the two main traditions on this
island". This is an absurd notion that would see the
process stagnate and would make the process dependent on
the response of rejectionist unionism.

Arguably to advocate the restoration of the institutions is
enough to increase tensions among some sections of
unionism. Who could accept that element of the Government
amendment

Last month Minister Seamus Brennan claimed that Fianna Fáil
should not be ashamed of saying it still wants a united
Ireland and that this should not frighten unionists. From
the contributions last night and the Fianna Fail amendment
he appears to be alone within the parliamentary party in
holding this view.

In the absence of any strategic preparation for Unity the
supposed new found republicanism of the larger government
party rings very hollow. Though plans for an annual
commemoration to commemorate the men and women 1916 are
welcome and long overdue, it would be a greater honour to
their memory if this State was to commence, through the
process of bringing forward a green paper on unity,
identifying steps and measures which can promote and
assist a successful transition to a united Ireland.

I challenge grass roots members of Fianna Fáil to step back
and reappraise whether that party any longer represents
their aspirations for a United Ireland, to ask themselves
if they are satisfied with empty rhetoric which is not
matched by actions. Are the PDs going to be allowed to
dump the Taoiseach's proposal for very limited
participation of Six County MPs here? I urge the
Taoiseach, once again, to press ahead with his proposal.

It seems that for Fine Gael and the PDs to seek to unite
Ireland by peaceful means is inflammatory and will
destabilise unionism. To invite ALL MPs from the North to
participate even in a very limited way in this Oireachtas
will offend unionists. But it seems that it doesn't matter
that the refusal to work for Irish Unity will disappoint
nationalists in the Six Counties. It doesn't matter that
Fine Gael, Labour and the PDs have slammed the door in the
faces of the SDLP and Sinn Féin, the representatives of
nationalist in the North. That is what the opposition of
these parties to the Taoiseach's proposal means. The
sensitivities of nationalists mean nothing to these
parties.

The contributions made by deputies Allen and O'Keefe on
behalf of Fine Gael do not merit response.

I am surprised that the Labour Party which claims to follow
in the footsteps of Connolly is willing to take its policy
lead on this issue from a party such as Fine Gael that has
its routes in the fascist movement and is opposing even
limited northern representation in the Dáil. I know many
members within the Labour party aspire to a United Ireland
and are genuine in their adherence to the ideals of
Connolly who vociferously opposed any partition of Ireland
and warned of the "carnival of reaction" that would follow
the cutting of Ireland to "pieces as a corpse would be cut
upon the dissecting table".

Briefly on the issue of demilitarisation, some progress has
been made but the pace is too slow. The deployment of
foreign troops is occurring in such a way as to be
extremely provocative and totally unnecessary.

I recently attended a conference in the Ti Cuchulan Centre
in Mullaghbán in South Armagh and on my way there I met two
PSNI cops accompanied by more than 20 British troops. This
carry on – this nonsense needs to stop. It is ludicrous
that there is still nearly twice as many British troops in
the north as there are Iraq

There is an imperative for us to begin the preparations for
Irish Unity now. My colleague Deputy Ó Caoláin at the
commencement of this debate outlined the necessity for
bringing forward a green paper on Irish Unity. I hope that
people will come away from this debate with an
understanding of why such a green paper is crucial.

In conclusion my Sinn Féin colleagues have set out our
vision of an inclusive Ireland, a better Ireland, an
Ireland where diversity is valued and the greatest possible
participation of the people of the island in the civil and
political life of the country is a primary objective. My
colleague Deputy Crowe has made clear our commitment and
ongoing work to engage with unionism. We are working to
create an Irish Republic which vindicates the rights and
entitlements set out in the 1916 proclamation and the
Democratic Programme of the First Dáil.

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

http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/11811

Unionists Have Nothing To Fear From A United Ireland -
Crowe

Sinn Féin TD Seán Crowe has has said, "Only on the basis of
real and meaningful engagement can we make progress on
peace, and reconciliation and resolve our differences."

Speaking on the Sinn Féin Private Members Motion on Irish
Unity this morning he said, "Unionists have absolutely
nothing to fear and everything to gain from a united
Ireland.

"Deputy Crowe said, "I believe it is imperative that we are
open in the debate here and in the wider engagement with
all those people that live on, and share space on this
island. Only on the basis of real and meaningful engagement
can we make progress on peace, and reconciliation and
resolve our differences.

"Sinn Fein wants to see all those who say they believe in
Irish unity begin the important work to persuade the
unionist community of the advantages of reunification. I
say this knowing that there is much work ahead of us and I
say this respecting the right of those from the unionist
community to maintain their British identity.

"When Sinn Fein speaks of Irish unity we mean more than the
removal of partition; we mean also, the unity of the people
of Ireland. We seek a process of national reconciliation an
end to sectarianism, a unity of purpose.

"When we say to Unionists that yes we unashamedly advocate
a United Ireland we do so not to antagonize them but
because it makes economic and social sense. And not just
for Republicans but for all the people of Ireland,North and
South East and West, Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter,
Muslim and Jew, Agnostic and Atheist.

"Unionism should not underestimate the political clout they
will have in a united Ireland. They will go from being a
tiny minority to something like 20% of the population.

"Surely a united Ireland would represent a real opportunity
for unionists to exert real control over their destiny.
Those from a Unionist background will be significant
players in any New Ireland which is in stark contrast to
their current position. They will have the ability to
implement coherent social and economic policies on the
basis of Ireland as a whole rather than have them decided
in Westminster where their interests must be negotiated
with Britain.

"Unionists have absolutely nothing to fear and everything
to gain from a united Ireland. It is inevitable and we ask
you to join us as partners in building a New Ireland. Sinn
Fein believes that the practical planning for a united
Ireland should begin now." ENDS
----

Full text of speech follows:

Standing here today I am convinced that we are closer than
we have ever been to Irish re-unification. I have
absolutely no doubts about this. As an active Irish
republican I am of course more interested in what type of
United Ireland will emerge. Will it be an inclusive Ireland
where the natural resources and enormous wealth of the
country will be used for the benefit of people regardless
of their class or creed or where they reside.

Of course there are those who argue that we as advocates of
Irish unity should remain silent about our political
objective.

They claim that even to state such an objective is
unhelpful and would increase tensions as efforts are made
to restore the institutions established under the Good
Friday agreement. I don't agree with this position.

I believe it is imperative that we are open in the debate
here and in the wider engagement with all those people that
live on, and share space on this island. Only on the basis
of real and meaningful engagement can we make progress on
peace, and reconciliation and resolve our differences.

Sinn Fein wants to see all those who say they believe in
Irish unity begin the important work to persuade the
unionist community of the advantages of reunification. I
say this knowing that there is much work ahead of us and I
say this respecting the right of those from the unionist
community to maintain their British identity.

It is obvious that there is a huge gulf of distrust and
mis-understanding on all sides.

More than a decade into the peace process with all the
initiatives taken by republicans and the policy changes
that republicans have made, unionists remain sceptical
about our sincerity.

How much of this has to do with the failure of the leaders
of unionism over the last ten years is of course a matter
for debate. There is no doubt that many unionist leaders
are either opposed to change or are reluctant to embrace
it. They certainly do not encourage dialogue between
communities.

There is also no doubt that many of the people we engage
with are much more open minded about the need for change
and dialogue than their political leaders.

This proves for me the potential there is for change once
real dialogue takes place.

I want to say that while we are committed to developing
dialogue. I am also struck by the fact that there is
unfortunately a blind spot among all shades of unionism
about their role in the conflict.

They seem not to realise the impact on northern catholics
and nationalists of the years between 1920 and 1969 when a
protestant and unionist state was imposed on us and those
who lived through those years, never mind the role of
unionism right up to this very day.

Obviously in our journey towards real equality in the
north, those within unionism who had previously enjoyed and
prospered during the years of discrimination and injustice
will feel threatened.

In some cases this sense of alienation has been exacerbated
the collapse of the traditional unionist industries such as
shipbuilding. But none of this can be an excuse for further
stalling the process of change or delaying the basic rights
and entitlements demanded by the Good Friday Agreement.

In my opinion these are just some of the difficult
realities that we have to deal with. But no matter how
difficult are the obstacles to dialogue they are they need
to be tackled; they need to be overcome.

Republicans know that the task is not easy; indeed it is
formidable. We are trying to unravel centuries of conflict;
centuries of living separately on a very small island.

We republicans know it is going to take time and political
change before we arrive at a satisfactory point where we
can say we have really begun the journey of genuine
national reconciliation.

I want to say from this chamber, to the unionist community
in particular, and ask for your endorsement, that Sinn Fein
is committed to building the peace, promoting national
reconciliation, developing our own party's consciousness
and structures which will enable us to genuinely reach out
to unionists and the broader protestant community.

When Sinn Fein speaks of Irish unity we mean more than the
removal of partition; we mean also, the unity of the people
of Ireland. We seek a process of national reconciliation an
end to sectarianism, a unity of purpose.

When we say to Unionists that yes we unashamedly advocate a
United Ireland we do so not to antagonize them but because
it makes economic and social sense. And not just for
Republicans but for all the people of Ireland, North and
South East and West, Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter,
Muslim and Jew, Agnostic and Atheist.

We have consistently urged an Island wide approach in key
policy areas including the economy, health, education,
employment, agriculture culture, arts and tourism but it
must be allowed to develop in a real and meaningful way
Unionism should not underestimate the political clout they
will have in a united Ireland. They will go from being a
tiny minority to something like 20% of the population.

Surely a united Ireland would represent a real opportunity
for unionists to exert real control over their destiny.
Those from a Unionist background will be significant
players in any New Ireland which is in stark contrast to
their current position. They will have the ability to
implement coherent social and economic policies on the
basis of Ireland as a whole rather than have them decided
in Westminster where their interests must be negotiated
with Britain.

In relation to your cultural identity we would welcome you
into the new Ireland. Your cultural identity would add to
the diversity and vitality of our own. The New Ireland
republicans envision is all-inclusive, it will be a place
where all will be cherished equally both individually and
collectively. And we have shown by our actions that this is
not mere rhetoric.

Alex Maskey in his role as Lord Mayor of Belfast led the
way in reaching out to unionism. Equality for all and
inclusivity were the hallmark of his term in office.

No one was excluded from his office and City Hall was truly
open to everyone. Alex strove to represent all the people
of Belfast, not just Republicans, as his laying of a wreath
at the Cenotaph testifies too.

Civic leaders throughout this island have a role to play
also. Indeed previous Mayors of this city, from the various
parties in Leinster House, have in the past with varying
degrees of success, made real and conscious efforts to
reach out to civic leaders from the unionist persuasion in
the North. This work should be commended by all here today.

In conclusion let me just say this. Unionists have
absolutely nothing to fear and everything to gain from a
united Ireland. It is inevitable and we ask you to join us
as partners in building a New Ireland.

Sinn Fein believes that the practical planning for a united
Ireland should begin now.

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

http://www.unison.ie/breakingnews/index.php3?ca=39&si=81749

Rabbitte Says Reconciliation Must Precede Irish Unity

12:32 Thursday November 3rd 2005

Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte has called on Sinn Fein to
accept that a united Ireland is not achievable in the
foreseeable future.

Mr Rabbitte made the comments during a debate on a Sinn
Fein motion calling on the Government to publish a green
paper discussion document on the issue.

He said he agreed with the Taoiseach's assessment that
Irish politicians would not see a united Ireland within
their lifetimes and called on republicans to also accept
this as a reality.

He said Sinn Fein should instead be focusing on tackling
the real divisions on the island of Ireland - those between
the nationalist and unionist communities in the North.

"If republicans want to unite this country, they must
recognise as a task for them the need to address rather
than exacerbate the structural divisions within Northern
Ireland," he said.

Meanwhile, Government Chief Whip Tom Kitt used the debate
to call on Sinn Fein to co-operate with policing reforms in
the North.

The party is refusing to take its seats on the Policing
Board until the reforms are brought closer into line with
those recommended in the Patten Report.

However, Mr Kitt claimed this was delaying progress in the
North.

"Tremendous progress has been made," he said. "The greatest
risk now is that this progress could be endangered by those
who refuse to put their support behind policing."

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

http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?pt=n&id=66750

SDLP Warning On Super Council 'Partition'

The creation of a small number of super councils in
Northern Ireland could result in a new partition of Ulster,
the British government was warned tonight.

By:Press Association

As the British government prepared to release its plans to
reduce the number of district councils, health and
education boards and quangos under the review of public
administration, nationalist SDLP local government
spokesperson Tommy Gallagher warned if the Government opted
for seven super councils it would only result in a
sectarian carve-up.

The Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA said: "In last week`s
budget the Secretary of State set money aside for a
boundary commission to carve out new local council areas.

"There is a serious danger if this commission delivers the
Government`s favoured option of seven super councils then
it will be paving the way for a repartition of Ulster.

"A quick glance at the map for a seven-council model
confirms that it will break down into three nationalist
councils, three unionist councils and a Belfast City
Council area.

"An arrangement of this kind will only facilitate the
divisive and sectarian politics that have characterised
local government for far too long."

Northern Ireland currently has 26 councils, five education
and four health boards.

The Government wants to streamline local government and is
believed to favour just seven councils with 50 councillors
each.

This would reduce the number of councillors from 580 to
350.

It would also have a knock-on effect on policing, reducing
the number of district policing partnerships which hold
local police commanders to account.

It is also expected to approve one education authority for
the entire country.

Mr Gallagher said the greatest concern for nationalists was
a carve-up of councils would play right into the hands of
unionists who prefer to settle for a new form of partition
rather than take part in the institutions the people of
Ireland have endorsed.


"This intransigent approach is being given further
encouragement by the haste with which NIO ministers and
senior civil servants are proceeding to put back greater
powers into these new councils," he claimed.

"The SDLP is opposed to this ill-thought-out strategy.

"It ignores completely the genuine concerns of many in this
community who know from experience that the elected
representatives on some of these new bodies will not be
having Damascus-like conversions.

"That there are too many councils is accepted by all.

"The present 26 needs to be reduced to something close to
half of that number. Getting the boundaries of these new
councils right is the key to overcoming the division and
ongoing polarisation in our society."

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

http://www.uup.org/media/media_03_11_05_mcfarland.htm

McFarland: Robinson's Outburst Symptomatic Of Deep
Divisions And Insecurity Within The DUP

Responding to attacks last weekend by the DUP Deputy Leader
Peter Robinson, UUP Chief Negotiator Alan McFarland MLA has
said that Mr Robinson's recent outburst is symptomatic of
deep divisions, insecurity and lack of leadership within
the DUP.

In a statement the North Down MLA said,

"The voting public have put the DUP in power, certainly
until the next election. But this confers responsibilities
that they are simply not used to, and they show no signs of
coming up to the mark.

"The DUP promised an end to concessions but since the DUP
took over the concessions to Republicans have accelerated.
The DUP have achieved next to nothing for the pro Union
community and the public are perfectly capable of reaching
their own conclusions on this claim.

"The DUP have shown no leadership. For two years they have
done nothing. The DUP and Sinn Fein's comprehensive
agreement, far from being the fair deal that they promised,
was the Belfast Agreement dressed up in disguise.

"Progress is slowly being made towards the end of all
terrorism, republican and loyalist. So it is vitally
important that the unionist party with most seats in
Stormont plays a decisive role in shaping events to the
advantage of unionism, and in the interest of all the
people of Northern Ireland.

"Direct rule is extremely harmful for the pro – Union
cause. We clearly need devolution, but devolution on a
sustainable equitable basis. Unfortunately the DUP has
shown itself to be at odds with itself and is clearly not
up to this vitally important task."

"Peter Robinson can rant and rave all he likes but his
ranting and raving wont put DUP divisions out of sight or
out of mind. All too often the DUP have attempted to paper
over cracks in the party with slick spin, cheap PR stunts
and attacks on the UUP. However, that approach will no
longer wash."

(November 3rd, 2005)

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

http://www.uup.org/media/media_03_11_05_donaldson.htm

Donaldson: Britishness Tests Not An Appropriate Means To
Determine Loyalty

Newry and Armagh Young Unionists Representative Kenny
Donaldson has questioned the Government's rationale in
introducing compulsory 'Britishness tests' for Foreign
Nationals seeking British Citizenship.

In a statement, Mr Donaldson said: "As a citizen of the
United Kingdom, I believe the test is fundamentally unfair.
The Government are essentially creating two classes of
citizens - those who don't have to know anything about our
traditions/culture because they happen to be born here, and
the other who do have to know because they happen to have
been born somewhere else. I cannot see how the test would
be beneficial for either the applicant or the Government.

"According to the sample questions released yesterday,
willingness to become a citizen is evidenced by a knowledge
of the whereabouts of the Geordie, Scouse and Cockney
accents. Constitutional questions are also touched upon,
with future Britons required to understand the role of the
Queen and describe the function of an MP. "

Mr Donaldson added: "For me, Britishness cannot be
determined through correctly answering obscure questions.
For me, Britishness is about a way of life, it's about
enjoying freedoms, it's about tolerance for diversity, it's
about supporting democracy and its fair application, and
it's about practising loyalty through assuming civic
responsibilities and obligations pertinent to life as a
citizen of our Nation, the United Kingdom." "Instead of
devising half-baked tests what we should be working towards
is increasing the levels of patriotism shown by British
citizens.

"In my view, the indigenous population of a nation or
indeed those seeking citizenship of that nation should
demonstrate that their priorities lie with that Country.
This does not mean that someone should or must reject their
background, but rather they should show that they believe
in and adopt the principles upon which the country, to
which they belong or are seeking to belong, is built. A new
wave of loyal citizens is needed to reinvent British
society."

Mr Donaldson concluded: "The whole idea of a test is wrong.
Tests measure things. If you get 75 per cent does that mean
you are three-quarters British? How British do you have to
be? Instead of a test, perhaps there should be in-depth
debate around a written UK constitution, and people seeking
British citizenship or indeed those currently holding same,
should state that they are committed to it."

(November 3rd, 2005)

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

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=161325942&p=y6y3z6648

Minister: Family Should Have Been Told About Murder Report

03/11/2005 - 12:10:16

The family of 1976 murder victim Seamus Ludlow should have
been properly informed of this afternoon's publication of a
Government report into his death, Justice Minister Michael
McDowell told the Dáil today.

As Opposition parties slammed the shabby treatment of the
forestry worker's relatives, Mr McDowell said he regretted
what happened and confirmed a copy of the inquiry's report
was on its way to the Dundalk family.

The report by Justice Henry Barron Inquiry, which was given
to the Government 14 months ago, will be published this
afternoon by the Oireachtas Justice & Equality Committee.

Mr Ludlow's family today claimed they only heard about the
publication through a telephone call from a journalist at
9.30pm last night.

Mr McDowell today told the Dáil: "It is regrettablethat
they haven't been included in the process as openly as one
would have wished."

Speaking on behalf of the Government during the Order of
Business, he said he had made arrangements for a copy of
the report to be sent to the family immediately.

He added: "I have been assured by the committee's chairman
Sean Ardagh that he will put the family's concerns at the
centre of the committee's work and will deal with the
matter which fully respects their interest in the matter."

Mr McDowell accepted the report was presented to the
Government 14 months ago but said it wasn't published at an
earlier stage because complex issues arose in relation to
it.

He said it had identified a number of people by name, and
one individual had to be given the opportunity to respond
to findings.

"That was done and took some time," he added.

He said short notice was given of the publication of the
report as party whips in the Dail wished to place it in the
public domain as soon as possible.

Ludlow's family have persistently alleged a police cover-up
since the body of the 47-year-old sawmills operator was
discovered on May 2 1976 with three shot wounds to the
chest, dumped over a ditch near his home.

Opposition party leaders in the Dáil today slammed the
shabby treatment of the family in the relation to the
report's publication and called for a full debate on its
content.

"The family are very aggrieved that after a long wait, they
received no notice of the report being published today,"
said Pat Rabbitte, Labour leader.

Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton added that the
murder needed to be fully investigated if the public is to
have full confidence in the security forces north and south
of the border.

Sinn Féin's Dáil leader Caoimhghin O Caolain accused the
Government of gross insensitivity and said it was very
disturbing that the family had to learn of the report's
publication from a member of the media.

Earlier today, the Ludlow family said they would not be
attending the publication of the report as they had not
been properly informed it was going ahead.

Jimmy Sharkey, a nephew of Mr Ludlow, said: "We heard it
second-hand, maybe even third-hand, from someone in the
media who contacted me at around 9.30pm last night to tell
me it was being published today at 2.15pm at a press
conference.

"I was quite angry, I had been told around 4.30pm yesterday
evening by our legal advisor that he received a phone call
from the Taoiseach's Department yesterday saying that it
was going to the Joint Oireachtas today but that it wasn't
being published until tomorrow."

Mr Sharkey said a request by his solicitor to view a copy
of the report was denied.

"I contacted my legal team last night and we were advised
not to go today to this, because if we go to it today we
are going to be asked to comment on the report and we are
not prepared to comment on a report that we don't know what
is in it," he said.

Mr Sharkey said the only way the family were going to get
the full truth was through an independent inquiry.

"A report like this does not have the same clout an
independent inquiryinto this would have," he told RTE
Radio.

Mr Sharkey said the decision by garda headquarters not to
pursue the information on the suspects given by the RUC
raised serious questions for the family and strengthened
the case for an independent inquiry.

The family said bringing the truth out into the open 30
years after the murder was still important as many of his
siblings were still waiting for answers.

"I think we owe it to him, Seamus, that the truth come out
about him, because this is a man who was totally innocent
of anything. He was just picked up by this gang and killed.

"The family is asking for the authorities down here to come
out after 30 years and tell us really what happened here.
That is all we are asking for," he said.

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=667808

Memories Still Raw At Poyntzpass

By Michael McHugh in Poyntzpass
03 November 2005

Memories are still raw in the Co Armagh village of
Poyntzpass seven years after two LVF gunmen burst into the
Railway Bar and shot dead life-long friends Damien Trainor
and Philip Allen.

Ballymoney DUP member Gary Blair has called for the
killers, Stephen McClean and Noel McCready, to be released
following the LVF's announcement to stand down at the
weekend.

Mr Blair is a former prisoner who was released under the
Good Friday Agreement after being jailed over the loyalist
murder of a Sinn Fein election candidate.

His suggestion has been met with horror and opposition in
Poyntzpass and beyond.

Bernadette Cavanagh, the owner of the Railway Bar, was
working the night the shooting happened, said she had vivid
memories of the carnage.

"You try to let it die but it is just something which you
don't forget about. I would be opposed to them getting out
of prison, I could never forgive them for what they did for
no reason to two neighbours," Ms Canavan added.

The victims were Catholic and Protestant friends.

A cousin of Mr Allen, who was in the village at the time of
the shooting, said: "Those two, McCready and McClean, got
out of prison under the Agreement and got their chance and
I think they should now serve their time."

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=667761

Dad's Concerns Aired As Killings Feature On TV

McIlwaine and Robb murders probed

By Chris Thornton
03 November 2005

A grieving dad who took part in a nationwide TV appeal
about a double murder in Armagh says he still has "serious
concerns" about the way police and prosecutors have handled
the case.

Paul McIlwaine, whose 18-year-old son David was brutally
butchered five years ago with another Portadown teenager,
Andrew Robb, said he and his wife Gail took part in last
night's Crimewatch programme "for David's benefit".

He said they hope the TV reconstruction - which reported a
substantial cash reward for help in capturing the killers -
will help bring the culprits to justice.

But he added that he does not want people to mistake the
family's participation as an endorsement of the PSNI
investigation.

The two teenagers were abducted by UVF members and left
dead by a roadside near Tandragee, Co Armagh, in February
2000.

One man was charged with the murders and later released.
Police have twice put forward files on the case to the
Director of Public Prosecutions, but no one has been
brought to trial.

Mr McIlwaine says he is bothered by a number of aspects of
the investigation.

He says police officers told him they had intelligence that
the UVF was planning an attack on the night of the murders,
but the PSNI has not made it clear how that intelligence
was acted upon.

He believes an informer was involved in the killings.

He said he took part in the programme because "as a father,
I wanted to do everything I can legally to bring the
killers to justice".

"People should in no way interpret this as an endorsement
of the police investigation to date," he added.

"We still have very serious concerns. People should fully
understand that we believe that an agent or agents working
for the state were involved in the killing and it's up to
the police to convince us otherwise."

Paul McIlwaine said one of his main reasons for
participating in the programme was in order to convey the
shocking brutality of the murders.

During the making of the programme, he said he and his wife
learned the full extent of the injuries that killed the
boys.

He said the teenagers were nearly decapitated by the knife
attack.

The PSNI officer in charge of the investigation said police
are doing "their utmost to obtain the evidence to put those
responsible before the courts".

DCI Tim Hanley added: "This is very much a live and ongoing
investigation. There are several new lines of inquiry and
tonight we will be asking for people to help us.

"I am appealing to their conscience. Time has moved on,
relationships and allegiances have changed. There are
people out there who can help us catch the killer."

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

http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=66734&pt=n

Police Ombudsman Under Fire

Northern Ireland's Police Ombudsman was today labelled a
waste of money after an Ulster Unionist peer claimed the
office had secured only four successful convictions over
the past four years.

By:Press Association

In an attack on Nuala O`Loan`s investigative team, Lord
Maginnis of Drumglass demanded an inquiry into how her
office operated after a response to a Parliamentary
Question revealed the office received £26.5 million between
2001 and 2005.

Lord Maginnis was also told there had only been four
successful convictions against police officers out of a
total of 475 cases referred to the Director of Public
Prosecutions during that time.

"In effect it works out at over £6.6 million per
conviction," the UUP peer claimed.

"By no criterion could this be described as value for
money.

"In effect the per capita cost of a criminal conviction
arising from complaints investigated by the Office of the
Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland is over 250 times the
equivalent cost of a criminal conviction by the Police
Service of Northern Ireland."

The Police Ombudsman investigates complaints against PSNI
officers and has also probed the work of the PSNI`s
predecessor, the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Lord Maginnis condemned the office for taking an
unsuccessful case against Constable Trevor Purcell for
alleged dangerous driving during a riot.

The peer said not only was it scandalous that a case was
brought against Constable Purcell in the first place but it
was disgraceful that it was adjourned on at least 28
occasions between May 2003 and its dismissal in November
2004.

This, he said, had put Constable Purcell and his family
through a huge amount of unnecessary stress and
uncertainty.

Lord Maginnis said the ombudsman`s office was an expensive
luxury which had only served to hinder the delivery of
effective policing in Northern Ireland.

Urging the Government to instigate a root-and-branch
inquiry into the ombudsman, Lord Maginnis said it needed to
be replaced with a body capable of enjoying the confidence
of both police and public.

He added: "It is the antithesis of justice that the Police
Ombudsman is not accountable or answerable to any person or
any authority including the Commissioner for Justice."

The ombudsman`s office defended its record, insisting it
was unfair to the PSNI, the public and its investigators to
use the prosecution of police as a yardstick for measuring
its success.

A statement said: "In particular, it does not allow for the
possibility that an independent impartial investigation can
come to the conclusion that there is no evidence to support
a given allegation against an officer.

"There are many police officers who have had cause to thank
us for our investigations.

"More importantly, from 2001 to 2005 we sent more than 580
files to the Director of Public Prosecutions. In almost 540
of those, we recommended to the director that there was no
evidence to justify the prosecution of any officer."

The ombudsman`s office said its independent approach was
appreciated by the public.

"We have been able to tell the relatives of seven people
murdered during the Troubles that the police had properly
investigated the deaths of their loved ones. This helped
resolve concerns they had," the statement continued.

"As for not having the confidence of the public, an
independent research project showed that 78% of respondents
were confident that the Police Ombudsman deals with members
the public and police officers impartially, and the same
proportion felt that we help the police do a good job.

"In the past 18 months, more than 3,000 police officers
have attended events organised by this office. This is how
we are addressing police confidence."

The statement challenged Lord Maginnis`s claim that the
ombudsman`s team was not accountable, saying it could think
of at least ten mechanisms which scrutinised its work.

"Last year Parliament, through the Northern Ireland Affairs
Committee, carried out an extensive investigation of the
work of the office which was very positive," the office
said.

"Later this year the Criminal Justice Inspectorate will be
publishing the results of its investigation into our
office. We are also reviewed by the Surveillance
Commissioner, the Interception Commissioner, the Oversight
Commissioner and others.

"As a result of our investigations we have made hundreds of
recommendations for improving policing.

"It is a credit to the service that they have acted upon
these, along with other initiatives, to improve policing
for everyone."

The ombudsman`s office said in the case of Constable
Purcell, it was the decision of the DPP to prosecute the
officer.

"The DPP also handles the prosecution so the delays he
refers to were not in the control of this office," the
statement said.

"We cannot comment further as we are still looking at other
aspects of this matter."

Nationalist SDLP policing spokesman Alex Attwood said Lord
Maginnis`s criticisms of the Ombudsman`s office were
outdated and petty.

"Surveys of opinion in the North (of Ireland) confirm a
very large majority across the community who believe that
the Police Ombudsman`s office will treat issues fairly and
impartially," the West Belfast MLA said.

"This is invaluable in building confidence in policing
which was missing for decades.

"Lord Maginnis may reduce everything to financial costs but
the contribution of the Police Ombudsman to getting
policing right cannot be measured solely in financial
terms.

"Fortunately, Ken Maginnis and others are solitary voices.
Everyone else has moved on and appreciates and acknowledges
the work of the Police Ombudsman."

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=667724

Row Over Aid To Loyalist Areas

By Noel McAdam
02 November 2005

Sinn Fein and the DUP have clashed over Government plans to
tackle deprivation in loyalist and unionist areas.

As a team headed by civil service chief Nigel Hamilton
prepares to implement a special taskforce team report
targeted on Protestant areas, the DUP accused Sinn Fein of
attempting to thwart the programme.

It came after Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams sounded alarm
bells over working-class unionists blaming nationalists for
their communal problems.

Mr Adams said deprivation and poverty had risen in unionist
areas over the years because they had been "abandoned" by
unionist politicians.

And he warned the approach being taken by the Government in
the Shankill area is unlikely to result in any boost to
local socio-economic conditions.

After a meeting with Direct Rule Minister David Hanson, Mr
Adams said: "I am concerned a potentially dangerous
situation is developing where working class unionists blame
working class nationalists for their difficulties and that
the British government might feed into this through the
decisions it takes in the allocation of resources."

DUP Assembly member Diane Dodds hit back however: "The very
fact that Adams is running to the Minister in response to
the representations being made by the political
representatives of loyalist areas demonstrates how
outlandish his claims are in relation to unionist areas
being abandoned by their political representatives.

"The only abandonment has been on the part of Sinn Fein who
never represent the needs of their areas in Parliament."

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4403170.stm

DUP Proposals Over RIR Battalions

A group of DUP MPs has met Defence Secretary John Reid to
discuss the future of the Royal Irish Regiment's home
battalions.

The MPs put forward proposals on a financial package for
members of the regiment, which is to be disbanded.

They also want a locally recruited element to the garrison
in Northern Ireland to be retained.

More than 3,000 jobs look set to go in the security
scaledown, announced after the IRA pledged to end all
violence.

At Thursday's meeting in London, DUP deputy leader Peter
Robinson said it was essential any agreed package be phased
and available as quickly as possible.

"Those who have served in a selfless manner must be treated
with the utmost dignity and respect when it comes to any
financial package. Nothing less will be acceptable," he
said.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/11/03 12:22:57 GMT
© BBC MMV

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=667802

Bomb Hoax 'Could Scupper Investment'

By Claire Regan
03 November 2005

A hoax bomb alert which forced thousands of delegates to
evacuate one of the biggest conferences ever held in
Belfast could endanger new investment, the Secretary of
State warned last night.

Peter Hain spoke of his concerns after the British Council
of Shopping Centres (BCSC) event was forced to abandon the
Waterfront Hall when the telephoned alert was made at about
11.15am yesterday. Around 2,000 delegates were evacuated to
the nearby St George's Market.

"I told the conference on Tuesday Belfast is the best place
in Europe in which to invest," Mr Hain said.

"We have the potential to benefit from multi-million pound
investment and those who threaten investment are trying to
kill jobs and are enemies of everyone working for a better
future."

The three day event, the largest private sector conference
ever held in Belfast, relocated to the Ulster Hall where
Senator George Mitchell presented the final keynote
address.

The alert was cleared by 4pm. A police spokeswoman
confirmed nothing was found.

BCSC conference chairman, Martyn Chase, said: "We carried
on as normal. We have had a wonderful welcome and a great
conference."

Despite these assurances, deputy SDLP leader, Dr Alasdair
McDonnell, said he also fears the alert will have a lasting
impact.

"All the positive potential that this conference held for
Belfast and its future economic and tourism development has
been put at risk as, once again, our old problems came back
to haunt us," he said.

"To see delegates herded out of the Waterfront and onto the
streets because of a bomb scare was disheartening to say
the least. This is not the image of Belfast, and indeed of
Northern Ireland, that we wanted delegates to take away
with them.

"But the stark reality is that this is exactly what will
happen. The one memory that will stand out in the mind of
those 2,000 people is their conference being interrupted by
a bomb scare."

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

http://www.irishnews.com/access/daily/current.asp?SID=506751

Attack On Bus Injures Four

By Catherine Morrison and Barry McCaffrey

FOUR people have been injured after the bus they were
travelling on came under attack from a stone-throwing gang
in west Belfast.

One girl was taken to hospital with a suspected broken jaw
after stones and rocks were thrown at the bus on the
Whiterock Road at about 5.45pm yesterday.

Windows were smashed and people were treated for shock,
cuts and bruises.

Sinn Fein councillor Marie Cush condemned the attack as
"absolutely shameful".

"This attack has left three people injured, one a girl with
head injures, possibly a broken jaw and it is an absolute
disgrace," she added.

"Those who carried out this attack could have easily killed
someone and given the public warnings on such attacks it is
clear that those responsible simply do not care.

"We need to challenge those within our community who think
it is okay injure, maim or kill us for entertainment."

Police last night appealed for witnesses to the incident to
contact them on 0845 600 8000.

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=667852

UUP's Poll Shambles Is Exposed

By Chris Thornton
03 November 2005

A UUP insider has lifted the lid on David Trimble's final
days in power, describing how the party's election campaign
descended into chaos.

Michael Kerr's journal of the shambolic election battle -
which saw the UUP lose all but one of its Westminster seats
last May - describes how party officials watched helplessly
as blow after blow hit the campaign.

Today's Belfast Telegraph features exclusive extracts from
Mr Kerr's book, Transforming Unionism, in which he
describes a tide of setbacks that culminated with the party
sandblasting their own battle bus.

The book reveals how the party's disastrous campaign slogan
- Decent People...Vote Ulster Unionist - became a constant
thorn in their side as they chased votes on the doorsteps.

The campaign worker says the public "bombarded" UUP
headquarters with angry calls after the slogan appeared.
"They aren't people ringing in to congratulate us on
another bright idea," he records.

He says party leader David Trimble turned against the
slogan on the morning of the party's manifesto launch -
after their battle bus had been covered with it.

"Panic stations at dawn," he recorded. "DT bursts into the
war room screaming at us that (David) Burnside will not
turn up for the manifesto launch unless all the 'Decent
People' posters are scrapped from the launch.

"None of our candidates know that the big red Westminster
bus we have hired has 'Decent People ... Vote Ulster
Unionists' plastered all over it!!!

"Campaign diary co-ordinator and bus expert, Barbara Knox,
calls the bus people and tells them to scrape all the
'decency' stickers off - ASAP.

"Call comes in from the bus driver that they have
successfully sand blasted all the stickers off, along with
about five coats of paint! The bus is totally unusable. War
room is in complete pandemonium."

A police raid on council candidate Michael Copeland's
Assembly office is described as a "disaster" - coming
immediately after the party fought a battle over Lord
Molyneaux's apparent support for DUP candidates.

"Back to crisis management and fire-fighting already (how
long had it been - six hours?)," Mr Kerr writes.

Mr Copeland was never accused of wrongdoing, but Mr Kerr
describes how the incident derailed the campaign, along
with another fiasco - a "late night incident" involving a
council candidate in Lisburn.

A UUP spokesman said today that the party has moved on.

"Michael Kerr was a valued member of the team," the
spokesman said. "These are his reflections of his time on
the campaign and his experience of it.

"It was an extremely difficult campaign and a lot of
mistakes were made.

"We've learned our lessons. The issues pertinent at that
time have been dealt with or are being dealt with. The
circumstances were different and those circumstances have
changed in terms of reform, accountability and in terms of
political direction."

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/features/story.jsp?story=667793

How It All Went Wrong

The 2005 General Election left the Ulster Unionist Party
politically decimated in its centenary year with only one
UUP MP returned to Westminster. In a new book, Transforming
Unionism, Michael Kerr who has worked for the party since
1999 and was part of its campaign team in this year's
crucial election, examines what went wrong - and what must
be done to put it right

03 November 2005

In this exclusive extract from the book, entries in a daily
journal he kept in the run-up to polling day reveal the
mounting drama behind the scenes as the campaign was rocked
by a series of setbacks. These included fierce criticism of
the UUP's "Decent People" ad campaign, the revelation that
former party leader Lord Molyneaux was appearing to back
two DUP candidates, the defection of an entire South
Belfast branch, a police search of a Unionist MLA's offices
and Press reports about a "late night incident" involving
another Unionist local government candidate
----

April 14

Media failed to pick up on the fact that none of the
candidates turned up for the poster launch (for the "Decent
People Vote Ulster Unionists" ad campaign.)

They do however point out that the smiling youthful people
on the poster look like they should be in a toothpaste ad
and couldn't vote UUP even if they were decent enough to do
so - they are unmistakably North American!

Today it was third time lucky for Molyneaux. The former UUP
leader finally got it right backing David Burnside in South
Antrim. Having gone over to the Dark Side twice in the last
week - photographed with Splitter Spratt (DUP candidate
Jimmy Spratt) and appearing in his former researcher
Jeffrey Donaldson's election literature - (Yes, hard to
believe it, I know, DUP as well), the UUP man comes up
trumps to back a candidate from his own party! David
Burnside (UUP).

Sighs of relief all around Cunningham House.

It is still three strikes and you're out in here, isn't it?

What Molyneaux actually said today on Talkback was our
line. He seemed to be rowing backwards from what he had
done.

Alex (Benjamin, UUP Communications Director) had been
telling the press that the Spratt photo was just a snap
taken at a Police Federation event.

Molyneaux said he had been in hundreds of photos and they
could not all be taken to be endorsements of this or that.

He actually used our line, but naturally, time has been
called on the story, the damage done, and the media largely
ignored it.
----

April 15

Today we feel the campaign has really begun. DT (David
Trimble) is very unhappy about the impact we are making in
the media and the lack of direction after being knocked off
course by Molyneaux/Smyth. This, however, is a good thing -
we need to step up a gear.

Step it up a gear is exactly what (David) Ford has done. He
has accused DT of trying to bribe him with a seat in the
Lords in return for Alliance standing down in certain
constituencies. I didn't realise DT had any favours left to
give.

Like the Duppers, the only thing that seems to be capable
of getting Ford's party front page news is Trimble.

Office is being bombarded with calls over 'decency' -
someone said it must be a DUP dirty trick. Those sneaky
Duppers.

3.30pm. News breaks that Michael Copeland has had his
offices and home searched by PSNI over alleged links to a
money-laundering investigation involving a Belfast estate
agent.

DISASTER!

Back to crisis management and fire-fighting already (how
long had it been - six hours?).

If there is a silver lining on today's black cloud it is
Molyneaux's endorsement of Trimble on today's 'Talkback'
programme. Well, it was an accident, but an endorsement's
an endorsement, right? - especially during an election.

When asked whether he was supporting UUP candidate
(Burnside) or DUP candidates (Splitter Spratt and
Donaldson) Jim said he was only supporting one candidate
and that was 'David Trimble ... aaahhh ... I mean David
Burnside'.

Thank you Freud.
----

April 18

9am. Campaign team on a major low today - more calls from
the public regarding our 'Decent People ... ' ad, and they
aren't people ringing in to congratulate us on another
bright idea.

Copeland incident has totally knocked us for six. Fire-
fighting the whole weekend instead of getting on with our
positive campaigning.

Tim Lemon and Will Corry came in heavy at this morning's
meeting to try and lift the spirits of some of the younger
members of the War Room team. You could cut the sarcasm in
the air with a knife.

Tim gave his single transferable speech about how people
outside would give their right arm to be inside Cunningham
House fighting this campaign for DT, and standing firm on
the great progress we had made in Northern Ireland. He said
people would be queuing up to do that job. I had averted my
eyes from Alex Benjamin's gaze for as long as I could and
when I finally made eye contact with him we both erupted
into fits of laughter. 'Queuing up outside they are!'
exclaimed Alex, 'and they'll be hammering the bloody doors
down soon if we don't get back to work!'

1pm. Paisley comes out spitting fire at lunchtime. He tells
journalists that any talk of 'dirty tricks' regarding the
Copeland incident were a 'hellish lie'.

But who accused him and how does he know?

Not us any way. We didn't get round to it.

The DUP leader's old rallying slogan: 'If you throw a stone
into a pack of dogs, the one that yelps is the one that's
hit' rings true.

Manifesto launch put back until Wednesday. Alex comes clean
about admitting to the press that we had actually cancelled
our manifesto launch and got it in the neck a bit. I don't
think he feels it there any more though.

We do, however, seem to be doing OK in North Down and South
Belfast. Upper Bann still a worry but DT is getting a very
good response on the doorsteps, as are most of our
candidates.

6pm. We shut up shop early tonight and head into town for a
few desperately needed pints at McHugh's Bar.

Terrible atmosphere, almost comical, the enthusiasm is
running out of everyone. People are asking themselves what
can possibly go wrong next?

Someone upstairs must have been listening in and not
feeling in any way inclined to show mercy.

DISASTER STRIKES BEFORE WE HAVE FINISHED OUR FIRST PINT!

6.45pm. Alex takes a call from the News Letter's Political
Editor, Stephen Dempster, who informs him they are running
a story on UUP Lisburn Councillor David Archer in
tomorrow's paper. David has apparently been involved in a
'late night drinking incident' with a mate at Lisburn's
council offices.

7pm. I call DT, who sounds like he didn't even hear what I
was saying. He responded with 'Oh, OK, fine', before
hanging up. Guess he has his bad news deflector-shield
switched on full beam!

Alex deals with the media gazing out of the dusty window of
McHugh's smoking at least two cigarettes at once.

7.30pm. I finally manage to get Archer on the phone and
thankfully he is not too far away. He agrees to come and
sort things out.

8.30pm. By the time he arrives we have all moved upstairs
to deal with some of the pints we had been addressing
before Dempster interrupted us.

Archer calls to say he is downstairs. I rush down to meet
him and buy him a double Bacardi and Coke. He needs it. He
looks shattered. We chat for a while and then he calms
down. He then turns to me in all seriousness and says, 'Is
it just you here, Mike, yeh?'

Poor David fails to see the funny side of it when I tell
him the whole campaign team is upstairs waiting for his
version of events!

Anyway, after much pandemonium we eventually get things
sorted out and David explains to the News Letter that he
had had quite a few drinks with a friend and then foolishly
used Lisburn's Council Office facilities to have a few more
in the middle of the night. Good timing! Everyone sees the
funny side of it but it's going to look awful in the
papers.

I'm pretty sure he'll have to, well ... do the decent thing
... and ... fall on his sword. Alex suggests that the rest
of us follow suit.

On April 19, as it emerged that North Down's council
offices had also been raided by the PSNI, David Trimble
warned his party to 'cut back the paranoia' over dirty
tricks, and get on with running the general election
campaign.

The following day, with the UUP manifesto launch set to
take place, the papers report that David Archer Junior has
quit the election race amidst an inquiry taking place into
an alleged incident in Lisburn's council offices. The
Council's Chief Executive had written to Archer stating
that he was investigating a 'late night incident' in the
Council's Members' Room, which had been logged by a
security firm.

The same morning, Daily Ireland reported that the UUP's
South Belfast Willowfield branch was disbanding as its 15
members intended to support the DUP's Jimmy Spratt.

This was quickly dismissed by Michael McGimpsey as 'another
one of the DUP's dirty tricks'.

It seemed that no matter which way the party turned, there
was to be no escaping it - scandal had poisoned the
political atmosphere in Cunningham House and drowned out
the party's message ahead of its delayed manifesto launch.
----

April 19

Atmosphere shocking in HQ today - Alex says he's 'demob
happy!'

Geoff (McGimpsey) suggests forming an orderly queue outside
DT's office to collect our machetes and directions for the
leader's paranoia cull.

Archer is not in the papers but after it became apparent
that an 'incident' is under investigation, he issued a
statement saying he intends to resign from the electoral
race and pursue business interests in London. None of us
have any doubt he'll be back ... having done the decent
thing and resigned ... I know ... but there's still mileage
in it ... right?

In our morning meeting I make the suggestion that we should
perhaps take the huge 'Decent People ... Vote' banner off
the side of HQ? Nobody laughs!

Well it would be pretty funny, right, and we'd get a lot of
media coverage for it, and they do say that all publicity
is good publicity ...

They do still say that, don't they?

But seriously, the Copeland/Archer stuff has totally killed
us off in what is supposed to be the beginning of our
campaigning in earnest.

Instead, it's turned into a blow-by-blow nightmare. The DUP
couldn't write the script.

Geoff McGimpsey looked at me in disbelief this morning, and
said, 'Can you imagine two more weeks of this?'

'Yes,' I replied, 'Indeed I can.'
----

April 20

8am. Bad press today as the Archer 'incident' makes front
page of the News Letter's country edition.

9am. Panic stations at dawn. DT bursts into the war room
screaming at us that Burnside will not turn up for the
manifesto launch unless all the 'Decent People' posters are
scrapped from the launch. That is not a problem at the
launch but it certainly is in terms of getting the
candidates there.

None of our candidates know that the big red Westminster
bus we have hired has 'Decent People ... Vote Ulster
Unionists' plastered all over it!!!

9.20am. Campaign diary co-ordinator and bus expert, Barbara
Knox, calls the bus people and tells them to scrape all the
'decency' stickers off the bus - ASAP. That will do
rightly, no one will know any different.

10am. Call comes in from the bus driver that they have
successfully sand blasted all the stickers off, along with
about five coats of paint! The bus is totally unusable.

War room is in complete pandemonium.

10.07am. Joke doing the rounds that DT was seen going into
his office at 9.30 with a shotgun in one hand and a bottle
of vodka in the other. Half an hour later he staggers out
completely drunk and shoots Alex Benjamin.

10.15am. The girls come up with a novel idea - blow up lots
of helium balloons and tie them onto the bus. This will
cover up the huge gaping patches where the 'decency'
stickers have been sand blasted off.

At this stage no one would be surprised if Basil Fawlty
walked into the building with a fire extinguisher in one
hand and a can of red paint in the other.

We simply can't ditch the bus - the media are expecting it,
as are all the candidates.

Barbara calls the driver and tells him to bring the bus
anyway.

10.30am Burnside walks in the back door to find Brian
Crowe, Alison Laird and myself maniacally pumping up helium
balloons. 'Someone having a party?' he quips, smiles, and
walks on.

10.40am. As the candidates begin to arrive, most of the
balloons have been tied onto the bus, with ribbons and tape
affixing them through the windows.

Geoff's dad, West Belfast candidate Chris McGimpsey, turns
up, has one look at the balloons and says to me, 'Whose
bloody idea was that?'

'Geoff's,' I replied.

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

http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=1630

Dealing With The Nightmare; Dublin Anti-Drugs Campaigns

by sovietpop Thursday, Nov 3 2005, 9:54am
sovietpop@hotmail.com

A review of "Pushers Out: The inside story of Dublin's
anti-drugs movement" by Andre Lyder.

Walk five minutes from O'Connell St, Dublin's main
thoroughfare, or five minutes from Christ Church Cathedral,
an important tourist attraction, and you will find yourself
in a very different world from that depicted in the tourist
brochures.

Pushers Out tells the story of how people living in the
North Inner City and the South Inner City (and later the
suburbs, and some small towns) organised to save their
communities from heroin.

Andree Lyder, the author, lived in the south of the city. A
member of a small socialist party and interested in
community politics, he joined the anti-drug group COCAD in
1992, and soon became a committee member. His account of
the Dublin anti-drug movement doesn't pretend to be
objective and is all the better for it. He describes the
complexity and tensions within both of the campaigns, and
while I would not agree with all his conclusions he has
done a great service in dealing with many difficult issues
in a clear and frank manner.

There were two campaigns against drug use in Dublin. The
first known as the 'Concerned Parents against Drugs' began
in1983. It was superseded in many parts of Dublin in 1996
by COCAD.

The Irish ruling class showed utter contempt for the poor
inner city areas of Dublin. Charles Haughey, the corrupt
Taoiseach (prime-mister) famously bought shirts worth five
grand each and stole cobblestones from Dublin streets to
pave the drive at his home, Meanwhile areas of the city
were suffering over 80% unemployment. An epidemic was
ravaging certain parts of the city, destroying lives,
families and communities and the ruling elite were happy to
ignore it. Lyder argues these areas always had a tradition
of using alcohol as an escape from grinding poverty, such
that the way was paved for heroin. He quotes one local

"I used to drink cider on the streets with the gangs I grew
up with. We would buy a few flagons, sit down and have
cider. At that stage they were called cider parties by the
newspapers. Now that would have been around '77. And then
hash became what people started smoking. And all of a
sudden hash turned to heroin you know…. it happened
overnight but no one noticed it happen… I remember it being
given out for free.. but at that stage I was lucky enough
to go into pubs so it didn't bother us….but the generation
that came directly after me … drugs took over from cider.
So drugs was the big out. (p30)".

The campaigns began with meetings in local area called by
residents concerned about the open dealing of heroin and
all that came with that – hallways and greens were littered
with dirty syringes, and those who overdosed lay where they
fell.

A spectrum of strategies were adopted by the Concerned
Parents and COCAD to deal with the problem; mass meetings
would march to a suspected dealers house and tell him or
her to get out of the area. Meetings would forcefully evict
suspected dealers, making a line of people to remove the
furniture so that no one person could be charged with any
offence. Smaller groups of people (often from other areas
to limit the possibility of revenge attacks) would call to
the houses of suspected dealers and tell them they would
have to leave. Posters with the photographs and addresses
of dealers would be posted around the area locally. The
communities would mount permanent vigil at the entry to
their estates, preventing any suspected dealer or addict
from outside the area from entry. These pickets were manned
day and night and became a permanent fixture of inner city
street life.

Lyder also addresses two of the most contentious features
of the anti-drug campaigns, namely the extent to which the
IRA was involved and the extent to which physical violence
was an aspect of the campaigns.

Heroin is big business, and those standing in the way of
that business can be putting themselves in considerable
danger. Des Whelan, an anti drug activist was stabbed to
death as was the fourteen year old son of another activist,
others were shot at but survived. Lyder argued that while
there were Sinn Fein members in the campaign, sometimes in
prominent positions, they did not (as the media argued)
control it or use it as a front. Their presence did,
however, allow the anti-drugs activists to imply that they
were under the protection of the IRA, and it seems, in the
very early days they were

'Throughout the '80s and to a lesser degree for the COCAD
campaign [a deterrent had] been provided by the notion that
the IRA and the anti-drugs campaign were intrinsically
connected and if one attacked the anti-drugs campaign one
was effectively attacking the IRA. Within COCAD we referred
to this as the 'big bluff'. It was a bluff in the sense
that no such intrinsic relationship existed, we had no
guarantees from the IRA about anything and no reason the
IRA would necessarily to feel obliged to respond to any
particular threat to the anti-drugs campaign. Some sort of
commitment was made in the early '80s to the emerging
Concerned Parents and the IRA did respond to the shootings
in St Teresas's Gardens in 1983. This did not however,
assure future response"(290)

However he also suggests that while officially the IRA were
not involved, IRA volunteers on the ground, un-officially
and at times against the command of the IRA, were involved
in killings and attempted killings of drug dealers. In
addition he describes a campaign that operated in parallel
to COCAD (and was never discussed at COCAD meetings). Known
as the 'military campaign' this was made up of groups of
men who had access to weapons and were willing to respond,
like with like, to attacks made by drug dealers. If a drug
dealer parked a fancy car in an estate, it would more than
likely be burnt out.

Few people would have problems with this, however Lyder
also outlines the complications that arise when you have
small groups acting independently of a mass campaign. In
one instance a local man cynically used his association
with the campaign to pressurise a businessman from
involvement in a local taxi company. The businessman lost
his money and once he departed the local man took over
control of the company himself. Lyder argues that such out
and out corruption was exceptional. A much more difficult
case to deal with is the death in May 1996, at the hands of
anti-drugs activists, of heroin user and small time dealer
Josie Dwyer.

Josie Dwyer died from a blow to his spleen following an
encounter with drugs activists on the evening of May the
fourteenth. Lyder attended an anti-drugs meeting on the
night and describes the chaos that ensued, as a proposed
mass march on a drugs dealers home, fractured into small
groups of people confronting suspected dealers. After his
death, the media reported that Dwyer had been the victim of
a frenzied attack that included the use of Iron bars and
lump hammers. Lyder argues that in court the coroner did
not find this to be the case. Josie Dwyer was a sick man
his spleen was abnormally enlarged, Lyder argues that the
blow that killed Josie Dwyer would not have been fatal to a
healthy person. Thus he describes Josie Dwyer's death as
'tragic, if unintentional' but his sympathy remains
squarely with the activists who were subsequently tried and
with those who were convicted. While I understand his
perspective, I have difficulty with this, and no doubt for
this he would consider me a liberal. However, to put it
bluntly if the strategy you adopt includes beating up
junkies with aids, it shouldn't be a surprise if one of
them dies. It is inevitable. In addition a criticism made
frequently about the Concerned Parents (and less so with
COCAD) was that in reality there is little distinction
between being a junkie and a small time dealer and the
Josie Dwyer case seems to provide evidence of this. Nobody
argues that Josie Dwyer was a main player in Dublin Drugs
cartels.

The police were always highly hostile to the anti-drugs
campaigners, many of whom faced serious intimidation; they
were stopped in the street, they were brought in for
questioning, their houses were raided, they were beaten. It
was widely suspected that some police were very close to
major dealers, it is not mentioned in the book, but there
were rumours that heroin appeared on the streets in police
evidence bags. Lyder argues that with Josie Dwyer's death
the police went into overdrive. They were determined to
break the anti-drugs campaign by incarcerating as many
activists as possible (p 138)'. Thirteen were eventually
arrested of which six were convicted and given twenty-month
sentences. It has often been said that the Josie Dwyer's
death caused the anti-drugs campaign to fracture; Lyder
argues that this was only true in the South Inner City.

1996 was also to see an explosion of anti-drug campaigns
though out the city, this time mostly organised under the
COCAD banner. The vigil began with renewed vigour and there
were a number of large anti-drugs marches in the centre of
Dublin. The political climate, changed slightly, with the
defeat of ruling party Fianna Fail and the election of a
coalition government that included the labour party and the
greens. This was the era of social partnership and Lyder is
particularly scathing about the incorporation of community
resistance by 'professional' community workers. Neglect now
has a benign face.

The end of the book details the turn towards electoralism
(Lyder stood unsuccessfully in one general election and
Sinn Fein made significant gains in terms of electoral
politics) and the winding down of the campaign. Strangely
(to my anarchist eyes anyway) no link is made between the
two processes .

What was the end result? Lyder argues that the anti-drugs
campaigned stabilised the extent of heroin users in the
city, they moved drugs up the agenda, secured funding for
treatment services, youth facilities and lead to a growth
of local pride and sense of community. The drug problem
wasn't 'solved' but it was contained (and in this respect,
Lyder is critical of government responses which rely on
methadone maintenance rather than support for
detoxification and rehabilitation).

There is an entire history of the city in this book, a
history that without it would remain mostly hidden. Indeed
one of the most interesting aspects of the campaigns is
mentioned just as a brief aside 'women were the backbone of
the campaign, overwhelming filling the meetings and
marches' (p. 234). Interestingly he also adds, that despite
this women were rarely members of the executive committees.

He touches on many other issues in the book- the media
attacks, the farcical reality of the district courts and
the various approaches to rehabilitation. The story told
here is far from simple, the dilemmas faced difficult. This
is a book that raises as many questions as it answers,
indeed it highlights that many of these questions that
don't have easy answers. Yet as these are questions that
continue to be important to those of us who hope to build a
better world, Lyder has done us a great service in
documenting an important moment of in working class
history, a moment when the people of Dublin organised
themselves and took back control of their communities.

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

http://www.galwayindependent.com/news/5283.html

Man Rescued From Corrib Jump

by Jo Lavelle

A man is believed to be in a stable condition following his
dramatic rescue from the River Corrib yesterday.

At around 2.40pm yesterday (Tuesday) onlookers saw a man
jump into the river at the Quincentennial Bridge.

A passer-by then jumped in after the man and succeeded in
reaching him.

Gardaí subsequently arrived on the scene and the man,
believed to be in his 30s, and his rescuer were brought to
safety with the assistance of a boat.

The man was then taken by ambulance to UCHG, where he was
said to be in a stable condition at the time of going to
press.

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

http://www.irishnews.com/access/daily/current.asp?SID=506752

Coi Priest To Present TG4 Programme

By Staff Reporter

A BELFAST-born Church of Ireland priest is to present a
traditional music programme ro be screened on Irish-
language station TG4 this weekend. Canon Gary Hastings is
rector in Westport, Co Mayo, and a flautist "steeped in the
Fermanagh music tradition".

He will present the episode of Geantrai on Sunday at 10pm
from Matt Molloy's pub in Westport.

Musicians and singers will include renowned flautist Matt
Molloy, Noel O'Grady, Grainne Hambly, Pat Friel, Rita Gill
and Jimmy O Ceannabhain.

A 13-part series, Geantrai returned to screens last month
for its tenth year and each programme is presented by a
local musician.

"Avoiding the dreaded touristy imitation venues, the series
producers seek out genuine traditional music pubs where
musicians come together all year round," according to TG4.

The latest series features pub venues in Counties

Cork, Clare, Waterford, Roscommon, Dublin, Donegal, Galway,
Mayo, Louth and Antrim.

The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 7.30pm.

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

Links to News Sources Frequently Used Here:

(Irish Aires News is not responsible for
content of external internet sites.)

BBC Northern Ireland
Belfast Telegraph
Daily Ireland
Derry Journal
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)
Financial Times
Galway Advertiser
Guardian
Ireland Online
Irish Abroad
Irish Aires News Search
Irish American Magazine
Irish American Information Service
Irish Echo
Irish Emigrant
Irish Examiner
Irish Independent
Irish News (free access in Nov 05)
Irish People
Irish Times
Irish Voice
News Hound
News Letter
Northern Ireland Office
RTE TV News
SDLP News
Sinn Fein News
Sunday Business Post
Sunday Life
Times Online
Ulster Herald
Ulster-TV Headlines
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)
Wild Geese Today
Posted by: Unknown / 7:51 AM
Comments: Post a Comment

<< Home

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