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July 13, 2006

Adams: Voters, Not DUP, Decides Who Is In Govt

hNews About Ireland & The Irish

BN 07/13/06 Adams Says Voters, Not DUP, Decide Who Is Fit For Govt
UT 07/13/06 Paisley Promises No Compromise
DI 07/13/06 Twelfth Of July Address By Ian Paisley
EE 07/13/06 Tricolour Insulting Murder Victim Placed On Bonfire
TO 07/13/06 Extradition Treaty: One-Way Street
IE 07/13/06 Immigration:How Long Is Too Long?
UT 07/13/06 Hopes Raised After Peaceful Parades
UT 07/13/06 Ahern To Meet Loyalist Group
BT 07/13/06 Dialogue Wins The Day And Keeps Peace At Ulster Parades
BT 07/13/06 Ardoyne Keeps Lid On Violence
IE 07/13/06 IAUC Gives Low Marks To Hain
BB 07/13/06 Dissidents 'Behind Hoax Package'
BT 07/13/06 New Efforts To Recover Bodies Of Disappeared
UT 07/13/06 Loyalist Killed Over £140 Drug Debt
DI 07/13/06 Opin: Founded On And Fuelled By Bigotry
BT 07/13/06 Opin: Should The Orange Order End Its Annual Marches?
BT 07/13/06 Opin: Orangemen Play It Smart For Twelfth
DI 07/13/06 Opin: Hello, Anyone At Home?
CT 07/13/06 Bernard Hughes, Aged 90, RIP
HC 07/13/06 Inflation In Ireland Steady At 3.9 Percent

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http://www.breakingnews.ie/2006/07/13/story267562.html

Adams Says Voters, Not DUP, Decide Who Is Fit For Govt

13/07/2006 - 07:48:27

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has dismissed comments made
by DUP leader Ian Paisley during his speech at a loyalist
parade in Co Antrim yesterday.

Dr Paisley told those attending the Independent Orange
Lodge march in Portrush that his party would never share
power with Sinn Féin, whom he said were not fit to be in
partnership with "decent people".

He said republicans would only get into government in the
North "over our dead bodies".

Mr Adams has responded by saying Dr Paisley has no right to
dictate who can be in government as this is the exclusive
right of the voters.

"What makes Sinn Féin fit for government is the same thing
which makes Ian Paisley fit for government and that's our
mandate," he said.

"I may have a view that other political parties are not fit
for government, but I'm not the arbitrator in this.

"It's the voter who decides and that's what unionism has to
wake up to."

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http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=75123&pt=n

Paisley Promises No Compromise

The British government got a verbal battering when
thousands of Orangemen rallied in Northern Ireland for
their traditional July 12 parades.

By:Press Association

There was calm on the streets but hard-line messages to
those in authority in London.

The Rev Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist
Party, made clear unionists would be no push-over as the
Government sought a political breakthrough in Northern
Ireland.

His `no surrender` message was delivered at a gathering of
Orangemen in Portrush, Co Antrim.

He told members of the Independent Orange Order:
"Compromise, accommodation and the least surrender are the
roads to final and irreversible disaster. There can be no
compromise."

The leader of the largest political party in Northern
Ireland added: "There can be no accommodation, there can be
no surrender."

He said there could be no weakness, toleration and no
capitulation.

There was no place for Sinn Fein in the Government of
Northern Ireland. "It will be over our dead bodies.

"Ulster has surely learned that weak, pushover unionism is
a halfway house to republicanism."

His hard-line message to the Government was echoed by party
colleague and fellow MP Nigel Dodds who said devolution
would only happen in Northern Ireland on the right terms.

He told the Orange Order gathering in Broughshane, Co
Antrim that unionists would no longer be browbeaten, bribed
or bullied into any arrangements which were not in the best
interests of them and also nationalists.

Rejecting the Government`s November 24 deadline for a
devolution restoring deal, he said: "For true unionists the
test is not on some date plucked out of the air by a
discredited government."

The Grand Master of the Orange Order, Robert Saulters,
carried on the hard-line message, accusing the Government
of pandering to paramilitaries.

But in the same breath he welcomed the Government agreement
decision to provide the Orange Order in Belfast with more
than £100,000 to pay for a development officer tasked with
transforming the annual event in the city into a tourist-
attracting `Orangefest`.

He accused Sinn Fein of having "milked the system for long
enough" and said if they could employ one development
officer it was no bad thing.

But while the talking was tough, July 12 2006 was more
relaxed than the event has been for years.

However, Government hope that the funding for Orangemen
would turn the annual event into a tourist attraction may
take some time to materialise.

Tourists have become a regular sight on the streets of
Belfast of late, but shops, bars and restaurants closed for
the day left many puzzled as they wandered the city centre
streets.

For the first time since 1970 the Police Service decided it
could cope with security in Belfast without the back-up of
the army.

The decision came amid appeals for calm from Sinn Fein and
the SDLP as well as unionist leaders and police.

Flash-point parades in north Belfast and Dunloy, Co Antrim,
were given light policing and passed off without incident.

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http://www.dailyireland.com/home.tvt?_ticket=9NTHLXD4YGSGX4SGLNNADY7BZKLAFUUGUXRMJRPBCRXH9LLDN32STRRIVON9ANVRBNKACJ5J9QRFK11M9NTGNXT9CHUT71QFIRY4S0SEAOYFBHSJ5LE1HONDNMTEGPKACN1FURUQBB5XQBKWXC&_scope=DailyIreland/Content/Comment&id=9460&opp=1
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URUQBB5XQBKWXC&_scope=DailyIreland/Content/Comment&id=9460&
opp=1

Twelfth Of July Address By Ian Paisley

Twelfth of July address to the Independent Orange Order,
Portrush, Co Antrim, by Ian Paisley

13/07/2006

"The 1st July this year, the ninetieth anniversary of the
Battle of the Somme, was a beautiful morning. The sunshine
and the birdsong were plentiful, just as they were on the
morning when our gallant boys and men went over the top for
King and Country.

Their slaughter was outrageous but their gallantry was
unparalleled in the history of war. They were Britain’s
gallant soldiers for too short a time, but they became
Britain’s gallant dead forever.

The cemeteries of the Somme Valley are uncanny and
mystical. There is an atmosphere which cannot be defined,
but which is felt by everyone with a heart of flesh.

The mystery of ten thousand times ten thousand deaths is
the solemn environment of this valley of death into which
our heroes ran. Here the last enemy of mankind fell on
its prey. Mercy was not pleaded for and mercy was not
given.

Irrespective of age, colour, class or creed, the king of
terrors and the terror of kings cut its devastating sward.
The ancient scythe-master was at his deadly work. How sharp
the scythe! How excruciating the wounds! How indescribable
the sorrow! How terrifying the cries! How everlasting the
separation!

Lives never again to be lived! Limbs, organs and faculties
never again to function! Homes never again to be united!
Tomorrows never again to resemble the past todays!

Tragedy unmendable and unendable! Man’s inhumanity to man –
what darkness! Man’s gallantry to man – what light!

There was enacted at the Somme a history of gallantry at
its highest and best. There were thousands of heroes who
will be forever unnamed and unsung. Only the recipients of
their bravery and sacrifice could sing their fearlessness
and feeling, but alas, they abode not on earth to chronicle
it.

The largest ever contingent from Ulster took part in the
90th Anniversary Commemorations. From all walks of Ulster’s
life they came to pay tribute to Ulster’s gallant dead, and
stand on the sacred soil of France, which reached out on
that grievous battle-day and embraced our dead in its
bosom. No wonder the poppies were refreshed with showers of
loving tears.

Here young boys and able-bodied men, here mingled all
classes, from the aristocracy to the lowest in the social
measurement of man. All colours, all classes, all creeds,
all beliefs and none, thronged together in that valley of
slaughter. No country, suffered more than this whole island
of Ireland, and no locality of any country in the world
suffered like loyal Ulster.

The cream of a whole generation was skimmed off by cruel
war, leaving a vacuum, which could never be filled.

There are some lessons we in Ulster need to learn again
about this world-shaking, century-shattering event.

I. Liberty can only be obtained at a stupendous price

That price is the irreplaceable coin of human bodies and
blood.

Liberty cannot ever be bought cheaply. The price is high
because the commodity is the most precious thing in all the
earth.

The maze of history is a path that leads us past these
marked places where humanity paid the highest price for
their liberties. Let cowards and traitors be silent, and
let the gallant purchasers of liberty stand forth.

That text of Holy Writ from the very lips of our Saviour
Himself is most appropriate here. ‘Greater love hath no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends.’

The liberty which Ulster enjoys was bought by the men of
the 1st July 1916. It was a heavy price indeed. The price
was nothing less and nothing more than the supreme
sacrifice itself.

II. Liberty has to be maintained by paying the same awful
price

The blood of dedication and sacrifice alone can maintain
and retain for us the liberty, which the heroes of the
Somme won for us and our children and our children’s
children.

The liberty obtained must be maintained. That can only be
if we walk the way our fathers walked. Compromise,
accommodation, and the least surrender are the road to
final and irreversible disaster.

A continuing cost must be maintained. There can be no
weakness, toleration, or capitulation. There is only one
way we can walk, and it is the safe path of No Surrender to
the enemy.

Ulster has surely learned that weak, pushover unionism is a
half-way house to republicanism. There is no discharge in
this war.

III. Finally, liberty must be retained

Our grip on liberty must be strong indeed. What we have we
hold. To lessen our allegiance to our fathers’ faith is not
only a betrayal of the past but also a betrayal of the
future.

Our fathers’ sacrifices must be honoured, not diminished,
and our children’s future must be strengthened, not
weakened.

Let the trumpet be sounded! Let us all determine to do our
duty, and with God’s help I will seek at all times to
maintain the Union and the Faith of our fathers.

We will not be slaves to our ancient enemies. The collar of
the slave and the manacles of the oppressed we will never
wear. What we want for ourselves we will not deny to
others. Ulster shall remain free. Its breath will be
liberty and its crown will be peace.

God will indeed defend the right, and our right shall be
our future.

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http://www.eveningecho.ie/news/bstory.asp?j=230791227&p=z3x79zx9x&n=230792170

Tricolour Insulting Murder Victim Placed On Bonfire

12/07/2006 - 10:59:52 AM

An Irish tricolour insulting a Northern Irish sectarian
murder victim has been placed on top of a bonfire in Co
Antrim.

The name of 15-year-old Catholic murder victim Michael
McIlveen was on a flag due to be burned at the Eleventh
night loyalist bonfire in Ahoghill.

The message said: “F*** Mickey Bo”, the dead teenager’s
nickname.

Police and Sinn Féin North Antrim Assemblyman Philip
McGuigan branded the display a disgrace.

Mr McGuigan said: “The family of this young man have gone
through enough this year already without having to hear
about these sectarian displays of hatred directed toward
their son.

“How could these flags have been permitted to be put up in
the Ballymena area?”

Michael was beaten to death by a gang which pursued him
through Ballymena last May.

His death sparked heightened community tensions and saw
sectarian taunts posted on internet site Bebo.com as well
as death threats against two of five Ballymena teenagers
charged with his murder.

A police spokesman said they had liaised with community
representatives in an effort to have the flag at Ahoghill
taken down.

“Police and others in Ballymena District Command Unit are
working to reduce sectarianism in the community. This type
of disgraceful display only undermines the good work that
is being done.”

Hundreds attended Michael’s emotional funeral and there
have been appeals for calm as the marching season reaches
its height today.

Co Antrim Orange Grand Master Robert McIlroy said: “Within
the institution of Co Antrim we have a situation where we
want tolerance and we want respect of each other’s cultures
and traditions.

“Certainly for the Orange Order in Co Antrim there’s no
place for sectarianism or bigotry.”

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

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,542-2267375,00.html

One-Way Street

The extradition treaty with the US needs explaining and
ratifying

It is four years since the Commons last held an emergency
debate. That the House again cleared all scheduled business
yesterday to spend three hours discussing the UK-US
extradition treaty underlines the growing unease not only
among the Liberal Democrats, who requested the debate, but
among Conservative and Labour MPs. The debate followed a
vote in the House of Lords to suspend the 2003 treaty which
was denounced as grossly unfair because it was unratified
by the US Senate.

Yesterday’s “emergency” debate was prompted by the
extradition, due today, of three NatWest bankers wanted in
America to face fraud char-ges in connection with the Enron
scandal. It is extremely unusual for Parliament to alter
its schedule or to devote time to three fairly routine
individual criminal charges. It is too late to halt the
men’s extradition, which has already been subject to
judicial review and an unsuccessful appeal to the High
Court. But the NatWest Three, as they have become known,
have become a cause célèbre, which has taken on some wider,
and frankly ugly, overtones. Critics want to use it to
damage the Prime Minister, citing it as an example of his
concessions to Washington and the lack of recipro-city in
the relationship with President Bush. There is more than a
whiff of crude anti-Americanism in the uproar.

Several beliefs have now gained currency that are simply
wrong. The first is that the three men would not have been
extradited had the 2003 treaty not been signed. That is
untrue: as Tony Blair told the Commons at Prime Ministers’
Questions yesterday, the case was first brought under the
old arrangement, and there is a fair presumption that
extradition would have been granted under those rules.
Secondly, it is alleged that the men should not be charged
because they have not been first investigated in Britain.
That is irrelevant: the alleged wrongdoing clearly related
to the United States and not to activities in Britain.
Thirdly, the US is accused of not presenting a prima facie
case against the three in a British court. But it has no
need to do so. There does not have to be a first hearing of
a full trial before an extradition court: the presentation
of “probable cause” was sufficient in the old system as
well as now.

These misunderstandings, however, are the fault of the
British and US governments. Mr Blair has realised, only
belatedly, that the business community has been unsettled,
especially by the prospect of bankers being denied bail,
held in a high-security prison for up to two years and not
easily able to access their lawyers. It was only this week
that Mr Blair revealed that the Government has sought
assurances from Washington that the men would not be denied
bail.

Washington did not expect the passion and the
sophistication of the trio’s spin operation. President Bush
has claimed that he wants the treaty to be ratified but has
made no visible effort to cajole the Senate. Robert Tuttle,
the US Ambassador, this week wrote a forceful piece
explaining the US position. But it comes months too late.
The Senate’s failure to ratify is due to a lack of focus
and to opposition from Irish-Americans to what they see as
the pursuit of “ political” cases — ie, IRA suspects. Any
treaty must be balanced, bilateral and ratified by its
signatories. The United States has a justice system, but
justice must be seen to be done in the United Kingdom.

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http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=18012

How Long Is Too Long?

Long hot summer beckons as pols talk ... and talk

By Ray O'Hanlon
rohanlon@irishecho.com

How long is too long? That's the question that the
undocumented Irish are asking themselves this week as
opposing sides in the congressional immigration debate
conduct a series of hearings around the country.

Committees from both the Senate and House of
Representatives are planning further hearings over the
coming weeks.

Senate hearings that have already taken place in both
Philadelphia and Miami were attended by members of the
Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform while a Senate Judiciary
Committee session, scheduled for Washington today, will be
addressed by various reform advocates including ILIR
chairman Niall O'Dowd.

The hearings are designed to bolster two sharply
contrasting bills, the Senate's bipartisan immigration
reform version that includes a path to earned legalization
and the House bill, which focuses entirely on border
security and does not offer relief to illegals.

But while the talking goes on, advocates for the
undocumented Irish are increasingly worried that the lack
of an agreed bill from Congress is going to mean more Irish
giving up on their American dream and quitting the country.

"People are doing a lot of soul searching and looking for a
silver lining. But in the current situation it is a very
tough search," said Siobhan Dennehy, executive director of
Emerald Isle Immigration Center in Queens.

There were indications last week that President Bush was
prepared to be flexible with regard to his desire for a
temporary worker visa program and a path to earned
legalization for some undocumented.

The intention behind the president's willingness to give
ground would be to secure an agreed immigration bill before
midterm elections in November.

But the widely viewed implication was that the president
would have to concede ground to House Republicans who are
forcefully arguing for full control of the nation's
borders, and for the departure from the U.S. of millions of
undocumented and illegal immigrants before any of them have
a chance of becoming eligible to apply for legal residence.

Various newspaper reports stated that it would take at
least two years before House critics of reform would be
satisfied that the borders were secure.

That would be two years too long for many undocumented
Irish, some of whom have been living in the shadows for a
decade or more.

The Senate hearings, meanwhile, have reflected the pro-
reform position. The first was convened in Philadelphia
last week by Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter and
was attended by Senator Edward Kennedy, a stanch proponent
of earned legalization, and New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg.

Bloomberg told the hearing that New York's economy would
collapse if undocumented and illegal immigrants were
deported in large numbers.

"The same holds true for the nation," Bloomberg, who is to
visit Ireland at the end of this month, said.

The Philadelphia hearing was attended by locally based
Irish reform advocates as well as ILIR representatives from
New York dressed in the now familiar Legalize the Irish t-
shirts.

An ILIR delegation also attended a hearing in Miami Monday
convened by the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The hearing, designed to highlight the contribution of
immigrants to the U.S. military, heard testimony from
General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
and whose father was an Italian immigrant.

Pace was not the only soldier in the room with strong
immigrant credentials.

Dubliner Michael Corridan served with the U.S. Marines in
the first Gulf War, Somalia and Yugoslavia.

Now his uniform of choice is a Legalize the Irish.Org t-
shirt.

Corridan, who secured legality in America by way of a
Donnelly visa, described the Miami meeting as very
positive.

"General Pace got very emotional and the looks on the faces
of some of the senators was priceless," said Corridan.

The senators in the room included Democrat Ted Kennedy and
Republican John McCain, prime movers behind the Senate
bill.

Tom, an undocumented immigrant from Tipperary, and who
lives in New York, also attended the Miami hearing.

"It went very well. We gave out a lot of our t-shirts and
flyers and McCain thanked us for being there, Tom, who was
planning to attend today's Washington hearing, told the
Echo.

Lisa Handley, a Morrison visa winner who became a U.S.
citizen some years ago and who is the ILIR organizer in
Florida, said that some of the t-shirt clad Irish arrived
late at the hearing, but this turned out positively.

"They were locked outside but the press started asking them
questions and they were able to explain that the Irish are
among the undocumented too," Handley, who is from Dublin,
said.

Handley said that she was attempting to attract more legal
Irish to the ILIR campaign.

"We need more green card holders on board," she said.

Handley's reasoning was simple. Many Irish in Florida were
unable to travel long distances to attend ILIR rallies or
congressional hearings.

"It's because they are undocumented and afraid to fly," she
said.

This story appeared in the issue of July 12 - 18, 2006

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http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=75131&pt=n

Hopes Raised After Peaceful Parades

Hopes are rising that peaceful Orange Order parades in
Northern Ireland could indicate a change of mindsets,
leading to durable peace and tolerance.

By:Press Association

Democratic Unionist MP Gregory Campbell welcomed the
largely peaceful Twelfth of July demonstrations across
Northern Ireland.

Nationalists and loyalists had been concerned in the run up
to yesterday`s parades about the potential for rioting,
particularly in Belfast`s Ardoyne area.

However, marshals on both sides of the community ensured
that the return parade in Ardoyne yesterday morning passed
off without any major violence.

Among those who worked to keep nationalist residents calm
were Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and his Assembly
colleague Gerry Kelly.

The peaceful conclusion was also welcomed by Democratic
Unionist MP Nigel Dodds, Assistant Chief Constable Duncan
McCausland, Northern Ireland Office Security Minister Paul
Goggins and Ardoyne priest Father Aidan Troy.

While an Orange Hall was destroyed in an arson attack near
Armoy, and there were clashes between youths and the police
in Londonderry, the violence was nowhere on the scale of
previous sectarian confrontations in Northern Ireland
around July 12.

Mr Campbell observed: "The July 12 demonstrations would
appear to have passed off peacefully in large measure and
that is how it ought to be every year.

"It was most unfortunate that in Londonderry some chose to
engage in vandalism on the evening of the parade while in
County Antrim those of a like mind destroyed an Orange Hall
just 24 hours earlier.

"It was also deeply regrettable that there was criticism of
a government grant of £104,000 to the Orange Order to
develop Orange festivals also."

Mr Campbell said festivals in republican areas in Northern
Ireland had received government grants worth millions of
pounds.

The government was now belatedly responding to relentless
pressure to fund what Mr Campbell described as a peaceful
and legitimate festival.

This, he said, should not anger nationalists.

Nevertheless the DUP MP was hopeful that yesterday`s
peaceful parade could be debated for long-term progress in
Northern Ireland.

"Despite the minor setbacks it is just possible that July
2006 might start to change mindsets that will help in the
longer term the goal of durable peace and real tolerance in
Northern Ireland," the former Stormont Regional Development
Minister said.

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http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=75121&pt=n

Ahern To Meet Loyalist Group

The Irish prime minister is to hold talks in Dublin with a
group allied to loyalist paramilitaries in Northern
Ireland.

By:Press Association

Today, Bertie Ahern will meet the Ulster Political Research
Group, which provides political analysis to the Ulster
Defence Association.

The meeting comes a day after July 12 Orange Order marches
and amid growing pressure on loyalist paramilitaries to
move away from violence and focus on developing their
communities through social and economic initiatives.

A spokesman for the Taoiseach said he saw the meeting as
positive and hopeful and as part of the Irish Government`s
inclusive approach towards all representative groups in
Northern Ireland.

Discussions will focus on current political initiatives to
restore power-sharing by the stated final deadline of
November 24.

Mr Ahern, who has met the UPRG on at least one previous
occasion, will be joined at the meeting at Government
Buildings by foreign affairs minister Dermot Ahern.

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=698537

Dialogue Wins The Day And Keeps Peace At Ulster Parades

Hard work by both sides proved successful, says Security
Minister

By Debra Douglas
13 July 2006

Orangemen and nationalist residents have been praised for
one of the most peaceful Twelfth celebrations in years.

Despite a few minor stone-throwing incidents in south and
east Belfast and some trouble in Co Londonderry, most of
yesterday's parades passed off peacefully.

Welcoming the success, Security Minister Paul Goggins said
it was "a culmination of hard work" by people from both
sides of the community and the Parades Commission.

"The commitment demonstrated by those involved should be an
example to everyone," he said.

"It shows that dialogue works. I hope that local
communities will continue to work together in the coming
weeks to ensure that the rest of the summer passes off
peacefully.

"The PSNI has again done a tremendous job and I commend the
professionalism of all the PSNI officers involved."

Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland also praised
community activists on the republican and loyalist sides.
"This is the first time in more than 35 years that the Army
were not deployed on the ground in Belfast during the
Twelfth of July parade," he said.

"We welcome this move towards a more normal society and
will continue to respond positively to the goodwill shown
by those involved in either peaceful parades or protests."

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, who observed the parade in
the contenious Ardoyne area, also welcomed the relative
calm.

"Let's see this as a Twelfth in which there was a lot of
hard work and effort put in and it has gone peacefully so
far," the West Belfast MP said.

And Ardoyne priest Father Aidan Troy said he was relieved.

"I would sum it up by saying there were three winners
tonight," he said. "There was the loyal order, the
nationalists and the police."

He said people in both communities had worked hard to
ensure a peaceful outcome, and added that continuing
dissatisfaction would have to be tackled.

"I was so proud of this community, and indeed the loyalist
community. I just think it is wonderful," he added.

North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds said: "The outcome of events
are due in no small measure to the efforts of the North and
West Parades Forum and the Orange Order who have worked to
ensure things passed off peacefully."

Incidents that took place included an widely condemned
arson attack which destroyed an Orange hall in Lavin, Co
Antrim.

Two fireworks, a paint bomb and a number of bottles were
thrown at bandsmen and marchers as a parade passed through
the Ardoyne area.

And in Co Londonderry, a car was hijacked, petrol bombs
were thrown at police and disturbances flared in the
Bogside area of Londonderry.

DUP Policing Board member William Hay said that, despite
the violence, it had actually been one of the quietest
celebrations in the city.

But he added: "One of the things that did disappoint us was
that once again the Cenotaph where we had laid a wreath
last Sunday had been desecrated with paint and we had to
relay the wreath at the Diamond which was also destroyed.

"It is sad to see that because we talk about creating a
shared space and a shared future and this monument
commemorates people in both communities who made the
supreme sacrifice by giving their lives.

"Nevertheless today was a good day, as it was right across
Northern Ireland."

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=698524

Ardoyne Keeps Lid On Violence

By Lesley-Anne Henry
13 July 2006

Last night's return leg of the Twelfth parade past Ardoyne
shops in north Belfast was the most peaceful for years.

Two fireworks, a paint bomb and a number of bottles were
thrown at bandsmen and marchers but fears of widespread
violence did not materialise.

The Army was not deployed, there were no security screens
and police Land Rovers did not divide the two sides.

Instead, police in riot gear flanked the three bands and
four Orange lodges as they marched along Woodvale Road past
the nationalist Ardoyne area and onto Hesketh Road.

A crowd of about 500 people gathered at the shop fronts as
the parade passed by. However, a ring of marshals, and
senior republicans including Gerry Adams and North Belfast
MLA Gerry Kelly looked on to keep things calm.

In compliance with a Parades Commission ruling supporters
agreed to be bussed along the contentious part of the route
past the shops.

Parish priest Fr Aiden Troy said there had been a more
relaxed atmosphere than in previous years.

He told the Belfast Telegraph: "It is very different from
last year and that has to be welcomed. It is much more
relaxed and I think the absence of screens has defused
tensions. The marshals were doing a good job and the Army
had been kept in reserve."

He paid tribute to the work of community groups behind the
scenes to develop diversionary activities for local
children.

He said: "I have never seen as much work done behind the
scenes. There was a football tournament from Monday to
Friday, a boxing tournament and a DJ-ing event and busloads
have gone to Dublin for the day."

Mr Adams said that a huge monitoring project had helped to
keep things calm.

"People have been very disciplined. This is a particularly
sensitive parade and it all argues for the loyal orders to
come and talk to people."

He criticised the DUP for not playing a positive role in
the dialogue process. "The DUP have played no positive role
whatsoever."

SDLP MLA Alban McGuinness, who was among the crowd, said:
"I think it went very well indeed. The situation was well
controlled and most people acted with restraint on both
sides. It harbours well for the future."

Party colleague Alex Attwood added: "I think the community
in Ardoyne is to be given every recognition because they
have behaved properly and peacefully."

On resident, who declined to be named, said: "If that's all
that's happened it was a great success. It has to be handed
to them."

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http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=18015

IAUC Gives Low Marks To Hain

The Irish American Unity Conference has lost confidence in
Northern Secretary Peter Hain's ability to "fairly manage"
the peace process.

"A series of controversial decisions by Peter Hain, which
have been clearly and unashamedly designed to bolster
unionism and disadvantage nationalism, have undermined his
authority and standing in Irish America," IAUC National
president Bob Linnon said.

"Mr. Hain has become a team player for the DUP and not a
referee, making it impossible for him to bring the pressure
to bear on Dr. Paisley's party which is needed if the
political logjam is to be broken," Linnon added.

Linnon highlighted five areas where Hain had made decisions
that, in his view, harkened back to the days of unionist
rule at Stormont "rather than the era of fair play
supposedly ushered in by the Good Friday agreement."

The IAUC leader cited Hain for bending the rules of Parades
Commission appointments to put "two obviously biased
Orangemen" on the commission while making no effort to have
the views of nationalist residents represented.

Other transgressions highlighted by Linnon were:

? Appointing a head of the Victims' Commission after
consulting only with the DUP.

? Blocking demands for a full investigation of British
security force collusion in the case of murdered human
rights attorney Pat Finucane and seeking to frustrate
attempts by nationalists to uncover the truth about past
killings by the British security forces.

? Refusing start-up assistance and advertising to the pro-
United Ireland newspaper Daily Ireland.

? The imprisonment of republican Sean Kelly in June, 2005
showed, according to the IAUC, that Hain was "more
interested in pandering to the DUP than pushing forward the
peace process."

This story appeared in the issue of July 12 - 18, 2006

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/5175582.stm

Dissidents 'Behind Hoax Package'

An SDLP assembly member and his family are back in their
home after Army experts carried out a controlled explosion
on a suspect device.

The police have described it as an elaborate hoax and they
suspect dissident republicans were responsible.

About a dozen neighbouring families also had to be moved.
It is the 14th such incident at Pat Ramsey's home in the
Bogside area of Londonderry.

A controlled explosion was carried out on the suspicious
object.

Mr Ramsey, who lives in Meenan Drive, said a suspicious
object was discovered by his daughter.

Earlier on Thursday, the former mayor of Derry said he
thought it had been a hoax device.

"It certainly looks like the real thing," he said.

"There is always something very distinctive about these.

"This time round there is an electrical apparatus screwed
onto it with various types of wiring coming from both ends.

"While it probably is a hoax, it doesn't look like one -
it's awful and I don't know where it is going to end."

In November last year, two devices - which turned out to be
hoaxes - were left outside his home over a two day period.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/07/13 11:24:03 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=698478

New Efforts To Recover Bodies Of Disappeared

By Chris Thornton
13 July 2006

Relatives of the Disappeared are due to be briefed later
this month on proposals for renewed efforts to find the
remaining bodies of missing Troubles victims.

The families will be given a detailed rundown of
recommendations from a British forensic expert engaged last
year to take a new look at the remaining cases.

Sources close to the cases say, while there are no
guarantees the bodies will be found, there are reasons to
expect positive developments in all outstanding cases -
including ones the IRA has previously refused to accept
responsibility for, like the 1981 murder of south Armagh
man Charlie Armstrong.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams revealed earlier this week
that the IRA has met the forensic expert seven times.

The unnamed expert completed a report for the British and
Irish governments last February. The Dublin Cabinet is
expected to review his findings this month and approve new
searches.

Mr Adams said the cases were violations of human rights.

"Over a 10-month period, the IRA accompanied the forensics
expert seven times to five different sites. Specific
information was provided at each site visit to the expert,"
he said.

"In some cases individuals with primary knowledge
accompanied him, although that does not exist in all five
cases."

Mr Adams indicated the "individuals with primary knowledge"
were IRA members involved in the killings or disposing of
the bodies.

In 1999, the IRA admitted being behind nine of the
Disappeared cases.

Four bodies have been recovered, but searches for the
others have been unsuccessful: Seamus Wright and Kevin
McKee, disappeared in 1972; Columba McVeigh, abducted in
1975; Brendan Megraw, killed in 1978; and Danny McIlhone,
not seen since 1981.

However, several other cases that have never been
acknowledged, including Charlie Armstrong, who disappeared
on his way to church in 1981, and Crossmaglen man Gerard
Evans, who went missing in March 1979.

There may also be a French search for the body of INLA
victim Seamus Ruddy, who disappeared in Paris on May 9,
1985.

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http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=75128&pt=n

Loyalist Killed Over £140 Drug Debt

A former loyalist commander was stabbed to death over a
drug debt of £140, a court has heard.

Lindsay Robb, 38, once a senior figure in the UVF, was
repeatedly knifed in the head and body as he sat in his car
on Hogmanay in Glasgow`s tough Ruchazie housing estate.

Brian Tollett, 29, attacked the former paramilitary
gunrunner over money he owed to a friend, the trial heard.

Tollett denies murder and claims he acted in self-defence.

David Evans, 20, told the High Court in Glasgow that he had
given £140 to Robb six months before his death to get him
some cannabis but never received the drugs or his money
back.

Several days before the alleged murder last December 31,
Tollett rang Evans to ask him about the debt, the court
heard.

Evans said: "I told him (Tollett) that he (Robb) owed me
money. He (Tollett) told me he was going to get the money
back for me to help me."

The court heard that the witness met the accused on the
night of the alleged murder and later told police in a
statement that Tollett "had done it".

Advocate-depute Alex Prentice read out the statement in
which Evans is reported by police as saying: "When I met
Brian, he had a lump on his face, it looked fresh. He said
`Did you hear what happened?`.

"I said `No, what happened?`. He told me he had done it.

"I was devastated. I asked him was this because of me? I
told him I`d only wanted him to have a word with him. He
told me it wasn`t just to do with that. He said something
like `Wrong place, wrong time`."

Jobless Mr Evans told the court he did not mean in his
statement that Tollett had stabbed Robb but that the
accused had fought with the deceased.

Bill Ferguson, who was employed by Robb as a labourer
during landscaping work, denied seeing the ex-paramilitary
rolling about on the ground fighting with another person on
the night of the alleged murder.

Mr Ferguson who was returning from work with Robb, formerly
of Kennilworth Drive, Airdrie, that evening, made three
police statements in which he said he had witnessed such a
struggle outside the shops on Gartloch Road in Ruchazie.

Solicitor-advocate Desmond Finnieston put it to Mr Ferguson
that he had "scarpered" after spotting Tollett coming down
the road.

But the witness denied this and the defence counsel`s
suggestion that Robb was a drug dealer who was owed money
by Tollett.

Mr Finnieston said: "You saw Brian Tollett coming towards
the shop and you went the other way, you got off your mark.

"You knew there would be trouble because he (Robb) was
looking for Brian. He (Robb) was armed, he had a lockback
(knife) and a machete in the car."

Mr Ferguson denied this.

The trial continues.

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Opin: Founded On And Fuelled By Bigotry

Jude Collins
13/07/2006

There are at least three ways of looking at yesterday’s
Twelfth celebrations.

The first is that espoused by DUP MLA Norah Beare. Norah
says: “It’s great to see families coming together and
spending time with each other in this cause.” She figures
that with all the antisocial behaviour about these days,
nothing could be better than the sight of young and old
washing their faces and combing their hair and marching in
a disciplined manner to enjoyable music.

Nora is a persuasive woman and her perspective on the
Twelfth is one widely promoted. In this Mr Magoo version of
the big day, decent Orangemen swell with pride as young
William or Norman is inducted into the Order and another
link in the father-to-son tradition is forged. Silver-
haired gents reverently lift the bowler hat and white
gloves that’ve been wrapped in tissue paper for 12 months
and go out to meet old colleagues. Next day newspapers
carry snaps of honest faces licking ice creams and red-
faced men snoozing on warm hillsides. Could anything be
more harmless? Aren’t those opposed to such a community
festival hopelessly bigoted?

A second view, held by people like those living in Dunloy
or along the Garvaghy Road, is that there’s no problem with
Orangemen celebrating the Twelfth, but they shouldn’t
attempt to do so by marching into areas where they are
obviously not welcome. The thousands of non-contentious
marches are a valid expression of Protestant and unionist
culture and have every right to occur. The problem lies
with a small number of disputed marches, and these could be
resolved if marchers would sit down and negotiate with
residents’ groups.

The third view is that the Orange Order is anti-Catholic to
the bone and all Orange marches and demonstrations are a
blot on the landscape, regardless of where they occur.
Given the organisation’s nature, history and record up to
contemporary times, the wonder is that anyone committed to
tolerance and reconciliation would attempt to defend Orange
marches, regardless of where they occur.

Such a view appears unthinkable for Orangemen, be they
backwoodsmen or enlightened liberal. In his book The Orange
Order – A Tradition Betrayed, the Rev Brian Kennaway argues
that the honourable name of the Order has in recent times
been dragged in the gutter by ruffians and no-goods, and
true Orangemen should rally to restore its moral integrity.
Like Norah Beare, Brian Kennaway is a persuasive advocate.
When you remember the viciousness of disturbances in
Belfast last year or recall the Drumcree dispute at its
height, normal Twelfth celebrations can look good-natured
and cheerful.

But an organisation that is truly good-natured doesn’t have
anti-Catholic rules and a record which is consistently
shameful.

Here’s a Protestant historian describing the actions of
Orange militia in the weeks leading up to the 1798
rebellion.

“Houses were plundered and burnt, women outraged, and
children brutally ill-treated and murdered. They were
flogged, picketed and half-hung, to extort confessions as
to concealed arms. They were hunted down and sabred.
Villages and whole districts were devasted, and the
inhabitants turned out of their homes into the ditch.”

Thirty-two years later, in 1836, the Edinburgh Review
carried a report of its study of evidence regarding the
Orange Order laid before the Parliamentary Select
Committees the previous year. Not noted for its pro-
Catholic sympathies, the magazine concluded. “There can be
no doubt that Orangeism has been and continues to be
hurtful to the very cause and principles it professes to
support. By it annual processions and commemorations of
epochs of party triumph, it has exasperated and transmitted
ancient feuds, which has led to riots, with loss of
property and life.”

And writing around the same time, here’s an Orangeman, Sir
Jonah Barrington.

“Could his Majesty King William of Orange learn in the
other world that he has been the cause of more broken heads
and drunken men since his departure than all his
predecessors, he must be the proudest ghost and most
conceited skelton that ever entered the gardens of
Elysium”.

What was that about a proud tradition?

And in 1858 Lord Palmerston (yes, that one) had this to say
of the Orange Order.

“Is it an organisation which belongs to the age in which we
live? Is it not rather one that is suited to the Middle
Ages – to those periods of society when anarchy has
prevailed. I can but repeat that nothing could be more
desirable for the real interests of Ireland than the
complete abandonment of the association. There is nothing
they could do which would more materially contribute to the
peace of Ireland and to the obliteration of ancient
prejudices.”

You get the picture. Since its inception and up to today,
the Orange Order has helped sour neighbour against
neighbour. The good relations that exist between Catholics
and Protestants in many areas suffer real damage each time
the Twelfth rolls around.

In the face of the historical facts and present-day
realities, the attempts of such as Brian Kennaway to
present the Orange Order as an institution embodying
traditional Protestant virtues, or of Norah Beare to
project it as a kind of rosary for Protestant families,
holding them together, are unconvincing to the point of
absurdity.

Those who can, get as far away as possible from the Twelfth
and the thousands of mini-Twelfths that precede and follow
it.

I’m hoping to visit Boston in the coming weeks, so I’ve
been reading a political history called The Boston Irish.
Interesting stuff. Among other things it charts the rise of
the American Protective Association (APA), an organisation
established in Iowa in 1887. The association spread
rapidly. Its members pledging never to vote for a Catholic,
never to hire one and to oppose Catholic parochial schools
at every point.

In 1895, the APA sought permission to march in East
Boston’s Fourth of July parade. They were turned down when
the authorities heard they planned to carry anti-Catholic
symbols in the parade. The APA appealed to the governor and
the decision was overturned. The march went off peacefully.
Afterwards, when taunted by protestors, APA members drew
guns and fired into the crowd, killing a Catholic man. They
then held an “indignation meeting”, claiming the APA
marchers had been attacked by “a murderous gang of thugs”.
Two APA marchers were arrested on suspicion of murder but
were both discharged.

Sound familiar? Sure why wouldn’t it. In Massachusetts at
the time, the APA was made up in large measure of Orangemen
from the north of Ireland.

In the early twentieth century, the APA had the good sense
to die out.

Here we are in the twenty-first century and the Orange
Order, founded on and fuelled by bigotry, marches on.

http://www.judecollins.net/

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/features/story.jsp?story=698545

Opin: Should The Orange Order End Its Annual Marches?

By David McKittrick
13 July 2006

Why is the question being raised?

Because yesterday was the climax of the Orange marching
season in Northern Ireland. As happens each year, the place
came to a virtual standstill as hundreds of Protestant
parades converged on Belfast and other locations.

Each year, tens of thousands of people, Protestant as well
as Catholic, flock across the border or go abroad to avoid
12 July.

This has so far been the least eventful marching season for
years, though everyone is nervously aware that trouble can
al-waysflare up. Last year, the banning of an Orange march
in Belfast led to days of rioting, with 60 injuries to
police and millions of pounds of damage.

Who hopes to change things?

The authorities, who have just put up £100,000 so the Order
can appoint a development officer. His job will be “to
promote ‘Orangefest’ as a fully inclusive, family friendly
event, improve community relations, promote Belfast in a
positive light, and encourage visitors to watch the
parade”.

The government explained: “It is disappointing that during
the marching season the city centre and some of the main
arterial routes either close down or are abandoned by those
who do not feel comfortable with the parades. The time is
right to see whether the Orange Order can achieve a broader
understanding and acceptance of Orange culture and
tradition across the community.”

Will the initiative achieve much?

Clearly a hundred grand is not going to overcome centuries-
old problems. But it is part of a larger approach by the
authorities to tackle the serious problem of alienation in
working-class Protestant communities, particularly Belfast.

The aim is to improve the grim Protestant backstreets which
suffer from deprivation, drug use, paramilitarism and low
communal self- esteem. While many Catholic areas have
noticeably improved in recent years, Protestant districts
such as the Shankill are charac-terised by apathy and near-
despair. This can detonate into violence, such as that seen
last year. The authorities are aiming to improve housing,
educa-cotion and other services, sending the message that
Orangemen and others should not resort to violence.

How have nationalists reacted?

With a mixture of incredulity and indignation. One letter-
writer spluttered: “Does the clown who handed £100,000 to
the bowler-hatted bigots honestly expect us nationalists to
wave flags, whistle, sing and do cartwheels of joy as the
sectarian mobs march by?”

Sinn Fein has condemned the funding, saying Orange marches
“represent domination and sectarian violence”. Even the
more moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour
Party condemned “the whole ugly atmosphere of intimidation
and triumphalism”, while one SDLP politician described the
festooning of local streets with flags as “an atmosphere
that is less carnival and more Ku Klux Klan”.

What’s Bonfire Night?

That’s the 11th of July, when scores of bonfires are lit in
working-class Protestant areas. Though not formally
organised by the Orange Order, they are an intrinsic part
of the marching season. Young loyalists gather “trophies”
from Republican areas, such as portraits of IRA hunger
strikers, to toss on to the fires. In Ballymena, Co Antrim,
yesterday, the name of Michael McIlveen, a Catholic youth
killed in a sectarian incident inMay, was reportedly
written on flags which were burnt.

So is the Orange Order all bad?

No. It has many decent, God-fearing, law-abiding members,
including ministers of religion, who value its spiritual
and social dimensions and celebrate their Protestantism.
Each year it holds thousands of marches, only a few of
which lead to trouble.

But these elements have always existed with others who are
forever spoiling for a fight. Within decades of its
foundation in 1795, its marches often boiled over into
melees: the Order’s leaders may not set out to cause
violence, but time after time it has followed their
parades. In the past decade, its determination to march
through former Protestant areas led to convulsive disorder.

Does the Order condemn violence?

Sometimes it does, sometimes not. Remarkably, even when
loyalist gunmen open fire on police in post-parade
disorders, the Order’s leaders say it is the authorities
and the security forces who are to blame, generally because
its marches have been banned or re-routed.

Does it have many friends?

Very few, since hardly anyone in the outside world
supported its metronomic determination to march through or
past hostile Catholic areas, which so often produced
serious disturbances.

Can this initiative work?

That is, to coin a phrase, a tall order. It will not work
in the sense of bringing to an end the Orange propensity to
produce violence and ill-feeling. The Order’s image is so
bad that even an army of spin doctors could not put it
right; yet the Orange tradition is so long and so strong
that it will remain an important element of the Northern
Ireland scene.

The wistful hope that its marches may someday evolve into a
harmless folk pageant will not be realised since its most
contentious marches have a pro-foundly political purpose,
and its activities reflect Belfast’s deep divisions. Yet
they not only reflect those divisions but also exacerbate
them; and the character of the parades means they can
trigger riots. In some ways, the £100,000 grant has a
quixotic aspect, but in others it represents a tentative
outreach to an isolated and alienated part of society.

Those who disapprove may reflect that, a decade and a half
ago, the idea of reaching out to Sinn Fein and the IRA drew
similar condemnation, yet today Republican violence is at
an all-time low. It will take many years to see whether the
Orange Order is susceptible to a similar approach: but
then, the longest march begins with but a single step.

Can the Orange Order leave confrontation and forget past
enmities?

Yes...

- The IRA seems to be disappearing from the scene, perhaps
paving the way for a new and more peaceful era.

- Many in the Order may be open to persuasion that
disruption and disturbance are bad for business, tourism
and general progress.

- Orange leaders have opened tentative talks with moderate
nationalists and indeed senior figures in the Catholic
Church.

No...

- The Order has centuries of historical precedents for its
members and supporters clashing with the authorities.

- Militant loyalists have poor relations with the police,
and need little encouragement to come into open conflict
with them.

- The peace process has reduced violence, but republicans
seem to be prospering politically, keeping Protestant
suspicions high.

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=698489

Opin: Orangemen Play It Smart For Twelfth

13 July 2006

Small but significant changes could be detected this year
in attitudes to the Twelfth parades which augur well for
the future. They are still a long way from being regarded
as a multi-cultural festival, as the tourist people would
wish, but there was far less fear and much more enjoyment
than in previous years, despite the weather.

An uneventful Drumcree march, last Sunday, was a decided
plus, coming soon after the 90th anniversary of the Somme
underlined the all-Ireland nature of the tragedy. When the
British and Irish governments, and their heads of state,
find common cause in mourning the dead, it ill behoves
anyone to resurrect political differences.

The absence of the Army, yesterday, from its usual back-up
role at trouble-spots was another indication of the more
relaxed atmosphere surrounding the Orange celebrations. For
the first time since 1970 - a full 36 troubled years - the
police were considered capable of handling any friction
between marchers and protesters.

Slowly but surely, the rulings of the Parades Commission on
the few contentious parades are being accepted for what
they are - the considered opinion of people of experience
who want to minimise the potential trouble where loyalties
and cultures clash. There will always be a small minority
who seek confrontation, but nowadays they are outnumbered
by those who work tirelessly, behind the scenes, for a
commonsense approach.

While some insist on their right to walk traditional
routes, most have learned from experience that nothing is
gained - and much damage is done - if rival factions end up
clashing in front of the TV cameras. The Commission's
judgements provide both sides with an honourable
compromise, toning down the music or the numbers involved,
and making sure that an enjoyable day out for the many
isn't ruined by the few. Lessons are being learned, from
year to year, and the Orange Order now knows that every
Twelfth it must be on its best behaviour.

To outsiders, it may seem strange that, despite the
political stalemate - and deplorable attacks on rural
Orange halls -sectarian tensions this year are at their
lowest ebb. At least the politicians are still talking, in
the Assembly, and no decisions have yet been taken on the
way forward that could alarm either side.

The most important difference, between this year and last,
is that the menace of an armed and active IRA has gone
away, to the satisfaction of the British and Irish
governments, at least. If the marching season ends quietly,
and continuing pressure on the loyalist paramilitaries
achieves a similar climbdown, the scene could be set for a
politically interesting autumn.

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Opin: Hello, Anyone At Home?

13/07/2006

DUP leader Ian Paisley was in sparkling form yesterday at
the field. His address to the fundamentalist Orange
faithful in the seaside resort of Portrush was part-homage
to the dead of the Somme, part-warning to the living over
any thoughts of compromise.

“No unionist who is a unionist will go into partnership
with IRA-Sinn Féin,” he told the independent Orange Order
he created in his own image. “They are not fit to be in
partnership with decent people. They are not fit to be in
the government of Northern Ireland and it will be over our
dead bodies if they ever get there.”

Signs of a mellowing attitude there, then?

Hardly, but perhaps the most optimistic reader can see some
chink of daylight in his address which, in the interests of
dialogue, we publish over. Keen readers who see any light
getting to the darker recesses of the DUP mentality should
contact Messrs Hain, Blair and Ahern who believe Dr
Paisley, who gets his political direction from on high,
will receive a different messge from God before November
24.

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http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/state/15027904.htm

Bernard Hughes, Aged 90, RIP

Award-winning actor Hughes shone at comedy

By Dennis McLellan
Los Angeles Times

Barnard Hughes, who won a Tony Award for his starring role
on Broadway as the cantankerous Irish father in "Da" and
starred in the television series "Doc," "Mr. Merlin" and
"The Cavanaughs," has died. He was 90.

Hughes died Tuesday in a hospital in New York City after a
brief illness, his family said.

In an acting career that began on stage in New York in
1934, Hughes amassed a long list of Broadway credits,
including "A Majority of One," "Advise and Consent,"
"Nobody Loves an Albatross," the Richard Burton revival of
"Hamlet," "How Now Dow Jones," "Abelard and Heloise," "The
Good Doctor," "Angels Fall" and "Prelude to a Kiss."

He received a Tony nomination for featured actor in 1973
for his performance as Dogberry in the New York Shakespeare
Festival's revival of "Much Ado About Nothing."

On television he starred in the short-lived situation
comedies "Doc" (1975-76), "Mr. Merlin" (1981-82) and "The
Cavanaughs" (1986-89), and he was a regular on the sitcom
"Blossom" in the 1990s.

Hughes, who received an Emmy Award in 1978 for a guest
appearance on "Lou Grant," began appearing on television in
the 1950s -- in shows such as "Kraft Television Theater"
and "The U.S. Steel Hour" -- and he later had stints on the
soap operas "The Guiding Light," "The Secret Storm" and "As
the World Turns."

Among his film credits are "Midnight Cowboy," "The
Hospital," "Where's Poppa?," "Oh, God!," "First Monday in
October," "Tron," "Doc Hollywood," "Sister Act 2" and
"Cradle Will Rock."

"He was a great actor and a lovely human being," said
Norman Lear, who cast Hughes as the town surgeon with a
four-pack-a-day cigarette habit in his 1971 comedy "Cold
Turkey" and as a Catholic priest in three episodes of "All
in the Family."

"There are comics and then there are actors who can do
comedy," said Lear. "That's a rare and glorious breed, and
he epitomized that."

Hughes may have achieved his greatest fame playing the
title role in "Da," Hugh Leonard's bittersweet play about a
poor gardener who dies in his 80s but continues to haunt
his foster son. Hughes reprised his role in the 1988 film
version with Martin Sheen playing the son.

"I love it," Hughes said with great relish of his star
status in the play. "I like coming out last on the curtain
call. I love standing alone and taking a bow. I'm sure
there are times when I appear to be enjoying myself
inordinately on that stage. If that's so, it's because it
is so."

Hughes, an Irish-American, was born July 16, 1915, in
Bedford Hills, N.Y. Although he was interested in the
theater as a student at Manhattan College, it took a
friend's dare before he went on his first audition -- for
the Shakespeare Fellowship Repertory Company.

"They gave me a job in 'Taming of the Shrew,' and I found
myself an actor at 19," Hughes once said.

After serving in the Army during World War II, he met
actress Helen Stenborg, whom he married in 1950.

"We did everything during those years -- Shaw, Shakespeare,
Chekov, O'Neill, Wilde," he said in the 1980 interview.
"That's where I developed as an actor."

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his children,
Doug and Laura; and a grandson.

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

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4044053.html

Inflation In Ireland Steady At 3.9 Percent

© 2006 The Associated Press

DUBLIN, Ireland — Annual inflation in the Republic of
Ireland remained last month at 3.9 percent, matching a
three-year high, because of the surging cost of housing,
fuel and utilities, the government's Central Statistics
Office reported Thursday.

The inflation rate, which reached 3.9 percent in May,
remained there chiefly because of a 13.8 percent gain over
the past year in the average cost of housing, electricity,
gas and other fuels.

The report said the cost of public transportation rose 5.3
percent, education 4.7 percent, and health services 4.5
percent in this rapidly expanding country of 4.1 million.
The cost of clothing dropped 1.2 percent over the year.

Average inflation within the 12-nation zone that uses the
euro common currency stands at 2.5 percent. Within the
euro-zone, Ireland has the second-highest rate of inflation
behind Spain's 4.1 percent. Ireland and Spain are the two
fastest-growing economies within the euro-zone, which is
dominated by the sluggish economies of France and Germany.

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