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)

February 12, 2006

UVF's War Is Over, But No Decommissioning

To Index of Monthly Archives
To February 2006 Index
To receive this news via email, click HERE.
No Message is necessary.
To Get RSS Feed for Irish Aires News click HERE
(Paste http://irishaires.blogspot.com/atom.xml into a News Reader)
----

News About Ireland & the Irish

GU 02/11/06 UVF Says The War Is Over But Won’t Decommission
SF 02/11/06 Commemorate 1916 By Preparing To Re-Unification
BT 02/11/06 Adams Faces A Torrid Time On Visit To US
DI 02/11/06 SF & SDLP Reach New Level Of Consensus
SF 02/11/06 Irish Must Demand Brits End Securocrat Veto
DI 02/11/06 SF May Gain From Berry
BB 02/11/06 Concern Over MI5 Policing Plan
SF 02/11/06 Annvrsry Of Death Of Hunger Striker Frank Stagg
BB 02/11/06 Appeal For Calm After New Attack
BB 02/11/06 Baroness Gets Listeners' Vote
BB 02/11/06 Feb 12, 1989: Belfast Lawyer Finucane Murdered
IT 02/11/06 Opin: Going Beyond The Myths Of 1916
II 02/11/06 GAA Fury At Mail's Slur Over Sam Maguire Parade

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

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1708038,00.html

UVF Says The War Is Over At Last

Loyalist group is to wind down its paramilitary operations
but will not surrender its arsenal

Henry McDonald, Ireland editor
Sunday February 12, 2006
The Observer

Ireland's oldest terror group, the Ulster Volunteer Force,
is dissolving, The Observer has learnt, marking a major
development in the Northern Ireland peace process.

A UVF leader said yesterday: 'The UVF is going out of
business because there is no need for it any more. The
IRA's war is over, republicans have accepted the principle
of consent. It doesn't make sense to go on. If we are not
being attacked by armed republicanism any more, then there
is no point in having a UVF.'

The UVF leader confirmed that the organisation plans to
wind up all its paramilitary units and command structures.
However, the UVF would not follow the IRA and decommission
an arsenal that could arm up to two infantry battalions, he
said. 'The UVF and its political allies would have nothing
to gain from decommissioning. The weapons will be put into
deep freeze as a reassurance for those worried about future
events.

'But the UVF as an organisation will be no more. Members
have three choices: they can go into full-time politics in
the Progressive Unionist Party; they can go into community
work in their areas; or they can simply leave and get on
with the rest of their lives,' he said.

The dissolution of the UVF, almost exactly 40 years after
it was reconstituted, is a major boost for the peace
process. Originally formed in 1912 by Sir Edward Carson in
order to oppose Home Rule, the reborn UVF of 1966 fired the
first shots of the Troubles.

UVF commanders have spent the past six months discussing
its future with several thousand of its rank and file
across the north of Ireland. Its leadership estimates that
it will be able to stand down all units by the end of the
year.

The pace of change within the organisation has quickened
since the demise of its smaller rival, the Loyalist
Volunteer Force. Last year, the UVF carried out a war of
annihilation against the LVF, killing several of its
leading activists in the Greater Belfast area.

The UVF leader said: 'The loyalist dissidents are gone, the
republican dissidents are in disarray and heavily
infiltrated by the state. And when you realise that even
the IRA was penetrated from the top, it only confirms what
we have been thinking: the UVF as an army should no longer
exist. There will be no more military parades, no firing
over bonfires on 11 July, no more displays of arms and
militaria.'

The UVF commander said that it was not collaborating
directly with the other loyalist movement, the Ulster
Defence Association, to end all loyalist terrorist
activity. He dismissed claims that both organisations had
re-formed the Combined Loyalist Military Command, the
umbrella body that helped to bring about the 1994 loyalist
ceasefires.

'We are acting on our own, but I am certain the UDA is
thinking on the same lines. The UVF leadership is relieved
that it's going this way. After 40 years, it's time to go
out of business,' he added.

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

http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/13040

Best Way To Commemorate 90th Anniversary Of 1916 Is To
Begin Preparations For Irish Re-Unification

Published: 11 February, 2006

Sinn Féin Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness MP speaking to
party activists from across Dublin this afternoon said the
best way for the Irish government to commemorate the 90th
anniversary of the 1916 Rising is to begin preparations for
Irish re-unification.

Mr. McGuinness said:

“The Irish government’s decision to commemorate the 90th
anniversary of the 1916 Rising is welcome. The 1916 Rising
was for all the people of Ireland and we would like to see
events take place not just in the capital city but in every
county in Ireland. For our part, in marking this 90th
anniversary, Sinn Féin will focus on the unfinished
business of the men and women of 1916 – the need to end
partition and to create a society that truly cherishes all
the children of the nation equally. We will be leading the
campaign to get the Irish government to mark the year by
beginning preparations for Irish re-unification.”

Commenting on the beginning of talks to restore the
political institutions Mr. McGuinness said:

“The next few months will be the most challenging and
crucial since the Good Friday Agreement was signed.
Political talks have finally begun and will continue this
week and it is crucial that there is speedy progress. The
DUP cannot be allowed to stall things any longer. The
Irish and British governments need to make it clear to the
DUP that they intend to get the institutions back up and
running before the loyalist marching season begins in
April. They need to make it clear that it is they who are
in charge and not Ian Paisley.”ENDS

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=678818

Adams Faces A Torrid Time On Visit To US

SF under pressure over 'IRA murder'

From Mark Hilliard IN NEW YORK
11 February 2006

Gerry Adams will face a barrage of criticism here next
month over the alleged IRA murder of Dubliner Joe Rafferty.

Senior political figures have indicated that Sinn Fein is
at its lowest ebb in the US in the light of ongoing
accusations of IRA criminality.

Congressmen and senators who met Mr Rafferty's family in
Washington DC this week are appalled at the stance of Sinn
Fein and determined to put the party under pressure during
Mr Adams' visit.

The recent campaign tour of the Rafferty family and the
publication of the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC)
report has further tarnished the reputation of Sinn Fein.

Mr Adams and Martin McGuinness will both be in Washington
DC next month along with leaders of the other Northern
Ireland parties.

Dominic Nguyen, legislative assistant to Congressman
Patrick J Kennedy, said there is a lot of frustration in
Washington with the republican movement.

"There are some diehards who have lived a life of violence
and so the transition to peace is a difficult one," he
said.

In criticising republican elements who have not completely
turned their backs on criminality, he compared the
situation to Afghanistan and the West Bank.

"There are some members (of Congress) who are frustrated
about the IRA getting involved in criminal activity," Mr
Nguyen told the Rafferty family.

Washington sources have indicated that despite the negative
perception of Sinn Fein that exists in the Senate and in
Congress, all Ulster politicians will receive invitations
in order to maximise the Irish vote in the US mid-term
elections.

Although Mr Bush is a staunch opponent of anything relating
to terrorist or criminal activity, it is believed he cannot
afford to omit Mr Adams or the other leaders again.

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

http://dailyireland.televisual.co.uk/home.tvt?_ticket=SAIDA
LOLO9M2TRRIVQNA9NTHLZIZBHSJ7TRFOOPBCOWIAPU9CHVRG13EIOQNANSE
ANYAIGSGW4WQHONCN2WDALNNFIRGUT4MPNNADYNWNKLAFUTGYVQFIRY4X9S
EAOY9CHYKTRRLRNNADY3RN9XUO&_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News
&id=20528&opp=1

SF And SDLP Reach New Level Of Consensus Over Developing
All-Ireland Agenda

By Eamonn Houston
11/02/2006

The North’s two main nationalist parties are closer than
ever to agreement on expanding all-Ireland co-operation, a
senior Sinn Féin figure said last night.

Mitchel McLaughlin, the party’s general secretary, made the
claim as the SDLP leadership prepared to unveil what it
described as a “major all-Ireland” policy document in
Dublin and Belfast on Monday.

The SDLP is to launch a policy document detailing 100 ideas
aimed at cementing cross-border co-operation.

Party leader Mark Durkan and senior negotiator Seán Farren
will oversee the unveiling of the document.

Mr McLaughlin said last night that the two parties were
approaching consensus on building areas of North-South co-
operation.

He was speaking in the wake of a conference on all-island
infrastructure held in Dundalk, Co Louth.

At the conference, foreign minister, Dermot Ahern, claimed
that political parties in the North had lost focus on the
issue of all-Ireland economic and social co-operation.

“In my time as minister for foreign affairs, I have engaged
intensely with the British government and with the Northern
Ireland parties working towards full restoration of the
institutions of the Good Friday Agreement,” he said.

“But do you know what I haven’t had? I have had few
conversations with politicians of any Northern Ireland
party on the economic and social wellbeing of the people on
this island. Today, I call on the Northern Ireland parties
to engage more actively on the economic agenda. I encourage
them to talk to one another about the economic future of
Northern Ireland.”

Mr McLaughlin responded by saying that the Democratic
Unionist Party had frustrated progress in the North. He
said Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Irish and British
governments should press ahead on developing cross-border
links.

“I agree with Mr Ahern that it would be better to have
local ministers here in the North dealing with these issues
and we should continue to strive for such a situation.

“But until such time as the DUP accepts this necessity, the
two governments must pro-actively proceed with the
implementation and expansion of this programme of all-
Ireland development.”

Mr McLaughlin said North-South “harmonisation” should
involve agencies and representatives from across the
island. He said the policy gaps between the SDLP and his
party had narrowed.

“Two years ago, Sinn Féin published its paper on the
‘expansion of all-Ireland institutions and areas of work’
as part of the review process.

“On many of the issues we addressed, there is a clear
consensus between ourselves and the SDLP. This is very
important. It means that, together and with the two
governments, we can work to achieve progress.”

The SDLP’s 24-page document contains 100 proposals on how
to expand cross-border co-operation.

Mr Farren last night said: “We have all witnessed and
wondered at the extraordinary transformation of the
Republic over the last 15 years. But the changes in the
next 15 will be even greater, and we in the North can share
in that development. We must share in it, for our own sake
and because proper, balanced development in the Republic
actually requires it,” he added.

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

http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/13039

Irish Government Must Demand That British End Securocrat
Veto On Truth About Collusion

Published: 11 February, 2006

Sinn Féin Dáil Group Leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD
speaking at the AGM of Sinn Féin in the Six Counties this
morning said:

“With our increased mandate comes increased responsibility
and we take our responsibilities very seriously. We have an
obligation to advance the peace process and in talks which
commenced on Monday last we made clear our determination to
see the Good Friday Agreement restored in full. We are not
in the business of renegotiating the Agreement. The DUP
must face reality and share power with Sinn Féin. The
British government must face down the securocrats and
rejectionists and fulfil its obligations to the Irish peace
process. Both governments must set a deadline for the
conclusion of talks and there can be only one acceptable
outcome to those talks – the full restoration of the
Agreement in all its aspects.

“The Irish Government must face up to its responsibility.
It is not good enough, for example, for Bertie Ahern simply
to state, as he did during the week, that he does not
expect that the British Government will change its mind on
the Pat Finucane inquiry. The Taoiseach should be going to
Downing Street specifically to demand an end to the
securocrat veto on the truth about collusion. He should
demand a special summit with Tony Blair devoted exclusively
to this subject. It is not just another item on the agenda.
These are the same securocrats who have thwarted efforts to
find the truth about the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of
1974 which claimed 33 lives, or any of the instances of
collusion or direct British attacks in the 26 Counties
which claimed 47 lives in all. If the securocrats are not
faced down on collusion how can they be faced down over
their obstruction of the peace process in general?"

During his address Deputy Ó Caoláin said:

“We are presenting the only real alternative to the
policies of the Fianna Fáil-PD government which has been in
power since 1997. This is a government which has been in
office during the most prosperous period economically in
the history of the 26-County state but which presides over
one of the most unequal societies in Europe. A report
issued this week confirms that the top 20% of wage-earners
in the 26 Counties earn 12 times more than the lowest 20%.
One in seven children live in poverty. Our two-tier public-
private health service is grossly inequitable and limps
from crisis to crisis. On this small island lavish wealth
lives side by side with avoidable poverty.

“We are out to change all that, North and South. Change
will not be delivered by the other so-called Opposition
parties in Leinster House - Fine Gael and Labour. They
cannot even agree on basic issues such as the privatisation
of State assets, Irish neutrality and the EU services
directive which threatens jobs, wages and conditions in
Ireland. For that reason we have christened them the
Coalition of the Confused.

“There has been much discussion about whether Sinn Féin
would enter a Coalition in the 26 Counties. If we believe
that such an arrangement would advance our agenda including
Irish reunification and our social and economic policy
platform then we should take the option seriously. But it
will be decided by the party membership at a special Ard
Fheis if and when the need arises. But we will have no
options to consider if we do not first of all increase our
political strength and that means at least doubling the
number of Sinn Féin TDs in Leinster House in the General
Election which could come at any time in the next 17
months.”ENDS

Full Text

Is mór an áthas atá orm chun labhairt anseo ag cruinniú
cinn bliana Chúige na Sé Chontae. Tagaimíd le chéile mar
eagras láidir aontaithe atá ag forbairt agus ag fás ar fud
na tíre. Táimíd anseo chun pleanáil don bhliain seo
romhainn agus do na céimeanna eile i dtreo ár gcuspóir –
Poblacht na hÉireann.

I am honoured to be asked to deliver this address to the
Annual General Meeting of Cúige na Sé Chontae Shinn Féin.
The year since your last AGM has been a momentous one for
Irish republicans, a year in which, unquestionably, our
struggle has advanced.

It is easy to lose sight of it now, but the 5th of May 2005
will, in time to come, be remembered as one of the most
significant dates in the history of Sinn Féin. On that date
Sinn Féin achieved its largest ever vote in a Westminster
election in the Six Counties and elected five Republican
Teachtaí Dála – Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Michelle
Gildernew, Conor Murphy and Pat Doherty. Our position as
the foremost nationalist party in the Six Counties and the
largest pro-Agreement party was consolidated and advanced.

Victories in five parliamentary constituencies in the Six-
County area came less than a year after an All-Ireland vote
in the EU elections that saw us win the support of 342,256
voters across the 32 Counties.

If you want a quick explanation for the waves of reaction
from the usual suspects that we have also seen in the past
year, then you only have to look at those electoral
successes. It has nothing to do with criminality or weapons
or agents or any of the 101 diversions our opponents have
tried to create. It has everything to do with the fact that
well over a third of a million people on this small island
look to Sinn Féin for political leadership. Irish
republicanism is growing as an electoral and political
force and our opponents will do anything to stop that
growth. But I believe they understand neither the depth of
our support nor the strength of our resolve.

For the same reason many of our opponents do not understand
the meaning of the other huge event of the past year – the
decision of the IRA to formally end its armed campaign and
to put its weapons beyond use. Like the cessation of 1994
this decision was, I believe, taken from a position of
strength. It was a vote of confidence in the ability of
Irish republicans to take our struggle forward. It was done
in the knowledge that republicans are changing the
political landscape in Ireland and have the potential to
bring about much more fundamental change. Above all it was
based on the firm conviction that the republican analysis
is correct and that we go forward undiminished in our
determination to reach our goal of Irish unity and freedom.

The peace strategy has seen the republican electoral
mandate greatly increased, as I have described. With our
increased mandate comes increased responsibility and we
take our responsibilities very seriously. We have an
obligation to advance the peace process and in talks which
commenced on Monday last we made clear our determination to
see the Good Friday Agreement restored in full. We are not
in the business of renegotiating the Agreement. The DUP
must face reality and share power with Sinn Féin. The
British government must face down the securocrats and
rejectionists and fulfil its obligations to the Irish peace
process. Both governments must set a deadline for the
conclusion of talks and there can be only one acceptable
outcome to those talks – the full restoration of the
Agreement in all its aspects.

The pivotal role of the Irish Government in all of this
cannot be under-estimated. Yet that Government’s
performance, again and again, has fallen far short of what
is required. Our negotiators have observed it at first
hand. As the sole Sinn Féin TD from 1997 to 2002, and as
leader of our TDs in the Dáil since 2002, I have also seen
this at first hand in Leinster House.

When the Peace Process and the Six Counties are debated in
Leinster House the so-called opposition parties of Fine
Gael and Labour see it primarily as an opportunity to
pursue their anti-republican agenda. For its part the
Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats government vacillates
between the political imperative of the peace process and
its own party political interests. Fianna Fáil has been
content to allow the Minister for Injustice and Inequality
Michael McDowell to make the running. They hope to benefit
from his attacks on Sinn Féin while skulking in the
background to avoid the political flak.

McDowell’s 21st century McCarthyism extends to anyone he
sees fit to target and his witch-hunt against the Centre
for Public Inquiry and Frank Connolly is a case in point.
Let it not be forgotten that he was fully backed by the
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and by his other Cabinet colleagues
in that affair, despite his gross abuse of his position as
minister. Not a single Fianna Fáil member of the Oireachtas
had the courage to speak out.

At the start of the peace process when Sinn Féin’s
electoral support in the 26 Counties was less significant
than it is now our political advance was seen as a purely
Six-County affair. There was a brief thaw in our relations
with Fianna Fáil. But as soon as it became a matter of
votes and seats being contested - and, God help us,
actually won by Sinn Féin in the 26 Counties - the mood
changed. Now we were showing that we really were capable of
changing the political landscape North and South and
challenging the old failed politics, not only on the
national question but on social and economic issues as
well.

From around the time of the first Nice Treaty referendum in
2001 the anti-Sinn Féin bandwagon began to roll again. And
this went beyond the normal cut and thrust of party
politics. We are used to that and expect it. The political
establishment in the 26 Counties began to mirror unionism
in its refusal to respect the Sinn Féin mandate and in
putting up obstacles to progress in the peace process. Sinn
Féin played a key role in defeating the first Nice Treaty
referendum, a victory for democracy that was a severe
embarrassment to Bertie Ahern. Then in the run up to the
2002 General Election McDowell devoted his entire speech at
his own selection convention to an all-out attack on Sinn
Féin and Irish republicanism. The renewed effort to
criminalise Irish republicans in general, and Sinn Féin in
particular, had begun. And don’t forget, McDowell’s is just
the loudest voice. Others are just as culpable. This has
been like manna from heaven to the DUP who could always
point to the guff emanating from political and media
sources in Dublin to justify their intransigence.

All this must change. The Irish Government must face up to
its responsibility. It is not good enough, for example, for
Bertie Ahern simply to state, as he did during the week,
that he does not expect that the British Government will
change its mind on the Pat Finucane inquiry. As you know
the Finucane family is refusing to co-operate with any
inquiry held under the terms of the Inquiries Bill which
gives British ministers and British intelligence agencies
the controlling hand and would effectively gag an inquiry.
The Taoiseach should be going to Downing Street
specifically to demand an end to the securocrat veto on the
truth about collusion. He should demand a special summit
with Tony Blair devoted exclusively to this subject. It is
not just another item on the agenda. These are the same
securocrats who have thwarted efforts to find the truth
about the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974 which
claimed 33 lives, or any of the instances of collusion or
direct British attacks in the 26 Counties which claimed 47
lives in all. If the securocrats are not faced down on
collusion how can they be faced down over their obstruction
of the peace process in general? The Dáil has actually
voted in support of a full inquiry into the Pat Finucane
murder, yet the British government, at the behest of
military and intelligence forces, is still stonewalling on
the issue.

The Irish Government has weakened its own authority to
challenge Britain on these issues because elements in its
own State also sought to close down investigations of
collusion. The Irish government further undermined the
national position when it co-operated in the establishment
of the now totally discredited so-called Independent
Monitoring Commission. That legislation was opposed all the
way by Sinn Féin – but only two other TDs supported us in
voting against it in the Dáil. Since that vote in December
2003 the taxpayer in the 26 Counties has been footing the
bill for this mouthpiece of British intelligence to the
tune of €1.5 million per year.

The pressure of public opinion must be brought to bear on
the Irish government, especially from within the 26
Counties. This is why it is vital that the political
strength of Sinn Féin is increased on a national basis.

We made a significant breakthrough and secured five Dáil
seats in 2002. We are five among 166 TDs but I have no
hesitation in saying that on all fronts we punch above our
weight and I am very proud of the representation and the
leadership given by the Sinn Féin team in Leinster House.
That includes not only the five TDs but also the other
full-time activists who work in that site of struggle. Each
of our TDs has several policy portfolios which entails
speaking for the party on those issues in the media and in
the Dáil, as well as helping to develop party policy,
linking up with NGOs and spearheading party campaigns.

We are presenting the only real alternative to the policies
of the Fianna Fáil-PD government which has been in power
since 1997. This is a government which has been in office
during the most prosperous period economically in the
history of the 26-County state but which presides over one
of the most unequal societies in Europe. A report issued
this week confirms that the top 20% of wage-earners in the
26 Counties earn 12 times more than the lowest 20%. One in
seven children live in poverty. Our two-tier public-private
health service is grossly inequitable and limps from crisis
to crisis. On this small island lavish wealth lives side by
side with avoidable poverty.

We are out to change all that, North and South. Change will
not be delivered by the other so-called Opposition parties
in Leinster House - Fine Gael and Labour. They cannot even
agree on basic issues such as the privatisation of State
assets, Irish neutrality and the EU services directive
which threatens jobs, wages and conditions in Ireland. For
that reason we have christened them the Coalition of the
Confused.

There has been much discussion about whether Sinn Féin
would enter a Coalition in the 26 Counties. If we believe
that such an arrangement would advance our agenda including
Irish reunification and our social and economic policy
platform then we should take the option seriously. But it
will be decided by the party membership at a special Ard
Fheis if and when the need arises. But we will have no
options to consider if we do not first of all increase our
political strength and that means at least doubling the
number of Sinn Féin TDs in Leinster House in the General
Election which could come at any time in the next 17
months. Like all the elections we have fought in recent
years that will be an All-Ireland election for Sinn Féin. I
look forward to comrades from all parts of the Six Counties
participating across the constituencies as we prepare to
send a greatly strengthened Sinn Féin team back to Leinster
House. And in so doing we will also advance the demand for
people in the Six Counties to have their MPs, their
Teachtai Dála, participating in Leinster House.

That said, we do not rely and cannot rely solely on elected
forums to bring about change. Real change, the type of
national, economic, social and cultural change we want will
only come about through empowerment, through people the
length and breadth of this country claiming their rights.
In the past three years we have seen people power in action
in the massive anti-war movement in 2003 and in the
campaigns in support of the Rossport Five and the Irish
Ferries workers last year. The media and political
establishment would like to think that such campaigns are a
thing of the past, that people are depoliticised and
demotivated and will not take to the streets. But they were
proven wrong and in all of these campaigns Sinn Féin has
been to the fore.

Why we need to campaign, why we need people power is best
summed up in the words of the Proclamation of the Irish
Republic which “declares the right of the people of Ireland
to the ownership of Ireland to be sovereign and
indefeasible”. That means Ireland owned by its people – not
by the British government, Shell Oil, Tony O’Reilly or any
golden circle of wealth and power. This year we mark the
90th anniversary of that Proclamation and the 1916 Rising.
We welcome the fact that the Irish government has ended its
embarrassed silence on the Rising. For our part, in marking
this 90th anniversary, we will focus on the unfinished
business of the men and women of 1916 – the need to end
partition and to create a society that truly cherishes all
the children of the nation equally.

30 years ago tomorrow in Wakefield Prison in England
Prionsias Stagg died on hunger strike. The Fine Gael-Labour
government hijacked his body and buried him under concrete
in his native County Mayo. They hoped to bury the sprit of
Irish republicanism with him. A few weeks later the British
government opened a new prison at Long Kesh and for five
years they tried to bury Irish republicanism in the
concrete tomb of the H-Blocks. That too failed. The ten
hunger strikers of 1981 smashed the criminalisation
strategy and began a new phase of struggle. Like the men
and women of 1916 they inspired freedom-loving people all
over the world. The 25th anniversary of the hunger strikes
is an opportunity for us to educate, debate, organize,
recruit and plan ahead. Advancing closer to our ultimate
goal in 2006 is the best way to commemorate the hunger
strikers.

1916 leader James Connolly once addressed the British
government in these words:

"If you strike at, imprison, or kill us, out of our prisons
or graves, we will evoke a spirit that will thwart you, and
perhaps, raise a force that will destroy you! We defy you!
Do your worst!"

They have done all of those things to republicans in the
past 90 years.

They did their worst.

We defied them.

Here we are, stronger than ever.

We have not been defeated. But that is not enough. We want
to win.

Let us plan and work for success and let us succeed.

Ar aghaidh linn le chéile

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

http://dailyireland.televisual.co.uk/home.tvt?_ticket=SAIDA
LOLO9M2TRRIVQNA9NTHLZIZBHSJ7TRFOOPBCOWIAPU9CHVRG13EIOQNANSE
ANYAIGSGW4WQHONCN2WDALNNFIRGUT4MPNNADYNWNKLAFUTGYVQFIRY4X9S
EAOY9CHYKTRRLRNNADY3RN9XUO&_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News
&id=20531&opp=1

SF May Gain From Berry

11/02/2006

Sinn Féin could be the surprise beneficiaries from former
DUP man Paul Berry’s decision to resign from the party
yesterday amid claims about his private life.

Mr Berry’s political future hangs in the balance following
newspaper allegations of a hotel room encounter with a gay
masseur during the last general election.

Mr Berry (29) has vowed to continue in politics after
dropping a High Court bid to halt the DUP leadership taking
disciplinary action.

However, the implications of Mr Berry’s decision to resign
from the DUP could have repercussions for his former party.
The Policing Board is due to be reconstituted on April 1.
At present, the UUP have four seats on the board, with the
SDLP and the DUP three seats each.

However, following the 2003 assembly election, the DUP was
set to gain an extra seat on the Policing Board in April,
bringing their number to four, with the UUP and the SDLP
dropping to two representatives each.

This would have left two seats being set aside, with the
British government hopeful that Sinn Féin would take up
their offer for the party to join the Board. Ironically,
with Berry’s resignation from the DUP yesterday the party’s
representation could now revert to three and Sinn Féin
could be offered three seats.

Last night, former colleagues were coming to terms with the
latest twist in the Paul Berry story, claiming that his
electoral support would collapse.

One of those closest to the married Newry and Armagh MLA,
as he rose through the party ranks, suggested he might
begin a new life overseas.

Mr Berry has been locked in a legal battle with the DUP
hierarchy since his suspension last July.

The party’s officers took action over his alleged meeting
with the male masseur at a Belfast hotel during the last
general election.

Mr Berry, a gospel singer and a regular, with his wife,
Lorna, at the Free Presbyterian Church in Tandragee, Co
Armagh, denied any sexual encounter took place. The MLA
insisted he arranged only to receive treatment for a sports
injury.

But he relented in his legal challenge at the Northern
Ireland High Court yesterday, where it is understood phone
records were due to be produced.

Barry Macdonald QC told the five-minute hearing his client
had decided to drop the action and agreed to pay £3,000
(€4,380) towards the party’s costs. Mr Berry was not in
court for yesterday’s hearing.

In a statement issued through his solicitors Madden and
Finucane, however, he announced his resignation from the
DUP.

“The past number of months has been a particularly
stressful time for my wife, family and myself and we want
closure on this matter,” he said.

“We have come to the conclusion that there is no future for
me within the DUP and, on that basis, we have decided it is
best for me to resign.”

He stressed that the injunction proceedings were brought
with great reluctance because of his long-standing
associations with the party.

The DUP expressed regret that the case had been taken. Its
solicitor, John McBurney, said: “The party regrets that the
action was commenced, but is content that it has ended in
the way it has this morning.”

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-
/1/hi/northern_ireland/4703560.stm

'Concern' Over MI5 Policing Plan

Government plans to give MI5 a bigger say over police
intelligence in Northern Ireland are cause for concern,
SDLP leader Mark Durkan has said.

Mr Durkan said he was worried this would lead to a lack of
scrutiny.

He said if this happened police intelligence would be
unaccountable to the Policing Board or any future devolved
administration.

The government is to publish a bill dealing with the
proposed devolution of policing and justice powers next
week.

"We worked a long time to ensure we ended the force within
a force, which was the old special branch, and get
intelligence policing on a completely new basis," he told
BBC Radio Ulster's Inside Politics show.

"That would be bypassed and undermined if we had an
ulterior intelligence policing operation continuing in a
completely unaccountable way."

The Northern Ireland Bill, due to be published on 16
February, is understood to cover policing and some other
matters, such as electricity deregulation.

The bill could also be amended in April to make other rule
changes.

These changes concern voting procedures at Stormont and the
accountability of ministers.

Devolved government at Stormont was suspended in 2003
following allegations of a republican spy ring at the
Northern Ireland Office.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external
internet sites

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/02/11 11:00:38 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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

http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/13029

Republicans To Mark The 30th Anniversary Of The Death Of
Hunger Striker Frank Stagg

Published: 10 February, 2006

This weekend marks the 30th Anniversary of the death of
Republican PoW Frank Stagg on Hunger Strike in Wakefield
Prison. A series of events will be taking place to mark
this important republican event.

On Saturday republicans will assemble outside Wakefield
Prison for a short commemoration which will be addressed by
former Republican PoW Roseana Browne.

On Sunday former Hunger Striker and Republican prisoner
Gerry Kelly will speak at a commemoration at Frank Stagg’s
graveside in Ballina, County Mayo at 11.30am

Also on Sunday in Belfast a mural on Dunville Street
marking the 30th Anniversary of Frank Stagg’s death and the
25th Anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strike will be unveiled
by Sinn Féin Councillor and former political prisoner Paul
Butler at 3pm.

On Monday at 11am in the Edinburgh Suite in the Europa
Hotel in Belfast , Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams will be
joined by other Sinn Fein leaders along with former Hunger
Strikers from Long Kesh, Armagh and English Jails to launch
the programme of events to commemorate the 25th Anniversary
of the 1981 Hunger Strike when 10 republicans PoWs lost
their lives. A exhibition will be on display and the media
are invited to attend.

Speaking today in advance of these events former IRA O/C in
Long Kesh Brendan McFarlane said:

“This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the 1981 Hunger
Strike when ten of our comrades died confronting British
attempts to criminalise us and the entire republican
struggle. We will also in the coming year remember with
pride Frank Stagg and Michael Gaughan who died on Hunger
Strike in the 1970s in British prisons.

“The National Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee has put
together a series of events, commemorations and debates
throughout the island and beyond as we remember the events
of 1981 and the British government policy which led to
them.

“Republicans are rightly proud of the sacrifices made in
the past and in particular in the prison struggle. We are
also looking to the future and are as determined now as we
were 25 years ago to press ahead in the coming years to
deliver on our republican objectives and goals of Irish
unity and independence.” ENDS

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-
/1/hi/northern_ireland/4704332.stm

Appeal For Calm After New Attack

A Sinn Fein assembly member has appealed for calm in a
troubled area of west Belfast following a petrol bomb
attack on a woman's home.

It happened at about midnight in the Divismore area of
Ballymurphy.

The living room and the kitchen were scorch damaged in the
attack. The woman escaped injury.

Sinn Fein MLA Michael Ferguson said tensions had been
running high in the area since the killing of father-of-six
Gerard Devlin on 3 February.

"Under no circumstances is it acceptable to attack anyone
in their home in this way," he said.

"The Devlin family, like myself, for a full week now have
been calling for people not to be taking this sort of
action or getting involved, but to allow them to bury their
loved one with peace and dignity."

Trouble has been continuing in the Ballymurphy area since
the death of Mr Devlin, including a number of petrol bomb
attacks.

Four men appeared in court earlier this week charged over
the killing.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/02/11 14:14:54 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-
/1/hi/northern_ireland/4700992.stm

Baroness Gets Listeners' Vote

A west Belfast community worker who now sits in the House
of Lords has been declared "The greatest woman in Ulster".

Baroness May Blood was given the accolade by listeners of
BBC Radio Ulster's Talk Back programme.

During the past week, listeners were asked to vote for the
person who most deserved the title.

There were a host of nominations, from politicians and
careworkers to stay-at-home mums.

But there was only one winner - and she was very gracious
in accepting the honour.

"I am accepting it today on behalf of all the women in
Northern Ireland," said the baroness during a special
ceremony at Belfast City Hall.

"We don't very often get this amount of publicity and
everyone that was nominated and those that weren't
nominated have done a brilliant job."

Baroness Blood has been involved in cross-community and
trade union work for more than 40 years - the last 10 in
the greater Shankill area of Belfast.

In 1996, she was awarded an MBE for her work in labour
relations and now holds honorary doctorates from the
University of Ulster, the Open University, and Queen's
University, Belfast.

Baroness Blood is a founder and former member of the
Women's Coalition Party and in 1999, she became the first
woman in Northern Ireland to be given a life peerage.

Raising a glass to her latest accolade, Talk Back presenter
David Dunseith said it had been a "great week for voting in
Ulster".

"Talk Back's had the highest ever listening figures in its
20-year history and the votes for our greatest woman have
been cast in droves," he said.

"Baroness Blood can now claim to be the only democratically
elected politician in the House of Lords."

Other front-runners in the Talk Back poll were Irish
President Mary McAleese - who is from north Belfast -
former Mid-Ulster MP Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and Eileen
Paisley, the wife of the DUP leader, Ian Paisley.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/02/10 15:00:23 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/1
2/newsid_2540000/2540849.stm

1989: Belfast Lawyer Finucane Murdered

Leading solicitor Pat Finucane has been shot dead at his
home in north Belfast.

The killers burst in as he was eating his Sunday dinner
with his wife and three children.

Two gunmen showered him with 14 bullets and shot his wife
in the ankle.

Mrs Finucane is being treated in hospital for gunshot
wounds to her legs.

The hijacked taxi the gunmen escaped in has been found in
the Protestant Shankhill Road area.

A tragic and wicked killing

Tom King, Northern Ireland Secretary

Belfast lawyers have been deeply shocked by the murder of
their high profile colleague.

The Northern Ireland Law Society reacted swiftly with
"disbelief".

Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politicians have
blamed junior Home Office minister Douglas Hogg for his
remarks last month about some lawyers in northern Ireland
being "unduly sympathetic" to the IRA.

'Wicked killing'

Mr Hogg issued a statement condemning the shooting hours
after it happened.

"This is clearly, like so many others a tragic and wicked
killing. As to its cause, that must be a matter for the
RUC.

"I very much hope those people responsible will be
arrested, and sentenced to extremely long terms of
imprisonment," he said.

Northern Ireland Secretary Tom King said: "No civilised
society can tolerate murder."

Most recently Pat Finucane had been involved in the defence
cases for 23 men involved with the murder of two British
soldiers during an IRA funeral last summer.

His most famous client was republican hunger striker Bobby
Sands.
----

In Context

Loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Freedom Fighters
admitted the killing the next day.

However, no individual was charged with the murder until
May 2003, when loyalist paramilitary Ken Barrett was
arrested.

Initially, he denied the charges, but then confessed during
his trial at Belfast Crown Court in September 2004.

He was sentenced to 22 years in prison, but is likely to
qualify for early release under the Good Friday Agreement.

An inquiry into the murder by Metropolitan Police deputy
commissioner John Stevens (later Commissioner Sir John
Stevens), was published in April 2003.

It found there had been collusion by "rogue elements" of
the police in Northern Ireland to help loyalist
paramilitaries to murder Catholics in the late 1980s. It
also concluded that there was such collusion in the murder
of Pat Finucane, and that the killing could have been
prevented.

The majority of the Stevens report, however, was withheld
because of potential prosecutions in the future.

The report was dismissed by the Finucane family, who are
continuing to campaign for a full independent public
inquiry into the killing.

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

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2006/0211/68433196
6OPLEA1916.html

Opin: Going Beyond The Myths Of 1916

"Enjoy the conference and the rows it will surely rise,"
President Mary McAleese urged at the conclusion of her
recent speech on the 1916 Rising in UCC. She cannot have
been disappointed by the subsequent rows; whether she or
anyone else should "enjoy" them is another matter. Until
recently, people were being killed on this island in its
name and others were - still are - willing to die to fulfil
their interpretation of its goals.

The Easter Rising clearly still has a potent power 90 years
on. It is not merely an academic or historical issue or a
debate to be simply enjoyed. It is still a live political
issue, not just in terms of whether Fianna Fáil or Sinn
Féin can best claim its mantle - a debate from which
President McAleese should stand clear - but also in terms
of this country's view of itself and of its values.

One can agree easily with the President's view of the 1916
Proclamation as a document that was ahead of its time in
terms of universal suffrage and inclusivity. Unfortunately,
she used that fact to launch a surprisingly crude piece of
myth-making, breathtaking in its revisionism of recent
history. Giving the Proclamation credit for the largely
liberal society, stable democracy, prosperity and
opportunities we have today is a gross rewriting of the
history of the past 20 years. Not alone does it studiously
ignore intervening decades - when Irish nationalism proved
itself capable of being every bit as narrow in social,
cultural and economic terms as its critics claimed - it
turns on its head the fact that most of Ireland's recent
changes grew out of a reaction against the narrowness of
the vision that developed from the Rising.

We should ponder, the President suggested, the extent to
which "today's freedoms, values, ambitions and success rest
on that perilous and militarily doomed undertaking of nine
decades ago and on the words of that Proclamation". Yes, we
can find inspiration for these attributes in the words of
the Proclamation; we could also find them, should we care
to look, in the so-called Glorious Revolution, the American
Declaration of Independence and the French Revolution. To
suggest that the liberal democracy that we have in Ireland
now stems only from Easter 1916 - as the President implied
but did not say - is ridiculous.

Major strains of the movements that took their inspiration
from the Rising included those who derided democracy on the
basis that the people had no right to do wrong; Anglophobia
(still sadly evident in the President's jibes at Britain);
and sickening sectarianism that was all too pervasive in
the Northern conflict in spite of the rhetoric of the likes
of the Provisional IRA.

Our history is what it is, neither wholly heroic nor
totally ignoble. We need to know it in all its complexities
to be able to learn from it, and to rise above it. We do
not need to relive it. We need to fashion our own values
from the best of our own past and from the experiences of
other countries and in the light of what we want for our
own and our children's futures.

We need tolerance, openness and inclusivity - not
characteristics truly associated with the Rising and its
legacy, whatever about the fine words of its Proclamation.
What we do not need for the 21st century is another series
of myths woven from 19th century visions of nationalism.
Let the debate continue.

© The Irish Times

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

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si
=1560936&issue_id=13674

GAA Fury At Mail's Slur Over Sam Maguire Parade

THE GAA has described as "disgraceful" an article in
Ireland on Sunday's parent title the Mail on Sunday, which
said that the recent parading of the Sam Maguire trophy at
Celtic's football ground demonstrated links between the
club's fans and the IRA.

The article, which was kept out of the Mail's Irish
editions, claimed the club was "at the centre of the storm
after agreeing to allow a football trophy named after an
IRA intelligence chief to be paraded around Celtic Park
despite the club's insistence that it 'condemns' support
for paramilitary organisations".

The attack on one of Ireland's most revered and iconic
sporting trophies was published after All-Ireland champions
Tyrone were allowed to take the Sam Maguire Cup on a
special lap of honour of the ground before the SPL match
with Dundee United on January 28.

The Mail on Sunday, which shares much of its content with
Ireland on Sunday and whose parent company last week
launched the Irish Daily Mail, said Sam Maguire's role in
the IRA around the time of the Easter Rising in 1916 was a
"major embarrassment for Celtic CEO Peter Lawwell".

The Mail has a long history of virulent anti-Irishness, but
even seasoned observers were surprised by the tone of the
story. A GAA spokesman said that Celtic had forwarded the
article to the GAA but the two organisations agreed it was
so "laughable" they intend to take no further action.

He added: "The Sam Maguire Cup was named in honour of the
man's sterling work as secretary of the London County
Board, and not for anything he did for the cause of
national independence - however worthy. In short, I
consider this a disgraceful piece."

----
To receive this news via email, click HERE.
No Message is necessary.
To Get RSS Feed for Irish Aires News click HERE
(Paste http://irishaires.blogspot.com/atom.xml into a News Reader)
To February 2006 Index
To Index of Monthly Archives
Posted by: Unknown / 12:31 AM
Comments: Post a Comment

<< Home

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