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August 22, 2006

Loyalists Breached Parade Body Ruling

News About Ireland & The Irish

NH 08/22/06 Loyalist March 'Breached' Ruling By Parades Body
IN 08/22/06 McCartneys ‘Distressed’ As Bar Linked To Killing Reopens
IN 08/22/06 DUP Hits Out Over ‘Show Of Strength’
NY 08/22/06 Mayor Heads For Ireland, Like Kennedy
IN 08/22/06 Cliff Plunge Girl (17) Remains In ‘Critical’ Condition

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http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/irish_news/arts2006/aug21_Loyalist_march_breached_ruling.php

Loyalist March 'Breached' Ruling By Parades Body

(Maeve Connolly, Irish News)

Sinn Féin has claimed that a loyalist band parade in Co
Antrim breached Parades Commission guidelines by displaying
paramilitary paraphernalia and intimidating nationalist
protesters.

Thirty-five bands, some with UDA and UVF connections, and
more than 1,000 supporters marched through the
predominantly nationalist village of Rasharkin on Friday
night.

The commission had not imposed any restrictions on the
parade – organised by the Ballymaconnelly Sons of
Conquerors Flute Band – other than its code of conduct for
contentious parades which includes respectful behaviour
from band members and supporters.

"There should be no excessively loud drumming," the code
states.

"Participants should refrain from conduct, words, music or
behaviour which could reasonably be perceived as
intentionally sectarian, provocative threatening, abusive,
insulting or lewd."

It also prohibits displays of flags or other paraphernalia
belonging to proscribed groups.

Ballymoney councillor Daithi McKay claimed by not placing
restrictions on the parade the commission had given "the
green light for intimidation, loyalist paramilitary
displays and other inexcusable behaviour without any
repercussions whatsoever".

He said loyalist tunes were played by bandsmen as they
passed a group of protesters, while UVF, UDA, UFF, YCV and
UYM flags were carried.

One band had a flag commemorating a UDA member killed by
his own pipe bomb and another remembered a UVF man, he
said.

One resident, who did not wish to be named, claimed a
bandsman exposed himself after noticing her filming the
parade from a window in her house.

"He saw me filming and started waving, then got out his
phone and started videoing me," she said.

"Another fella beside him started doing the same. Then he
exposed himself to me."

Mr McKay claimed the DUP's support of the contentious
parade was "indicative" of its attitude to loyalist
paramilitaries in north Antrim.

"The DUP position of supporting this parade whilst turning
a blind eye to the UDA and UVF involvement is an untenable
one," he said.

No-one from the DUP was available for comment last night
(Sunday).

The Sinn Féin councillor also said he intended making a
complaint to the Police Ombudsman about "aggressive"
policing and claimed to have been injured by an officer.

A police spokeswoman said anyone who was unhappy with
policing should contact the ombudsman.

"Residents in the village are now in the process of
collating the evidence of breaches of the commission
decision and code of conduct," Mr McKay said.

"And in the absence of any meaningful dialogue over the
next year, this parade clearly needs to be heavily
restricted."

Nationalist residents had applied to hold a counter protest
of 200 people, but the commission restricted numbers to
100.

Residents are angry that parade organisers will not meet
them to discuss their concerns.

Last year they also submitted a dossier of alleged breaches
of the code of conduct to the commission.

August 22, 2006

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http://www.irishnews.com/

McCartneys ‘Distressed’ As Bar Linked To Killing Reopens

News
By Sharon O’Neill Chief Reporter

THE Belfast bar outside which Robert McCartney was murdered
will reopen today. Despite its link to the brutal killing
the new owners of Magennis’s pub in the city centre hope it
can shed the stigma of what happened in January last year.

Mr McCartney, a father-of-two, was beaten and fatally
stabbed outside Magennis’s, just after leaving the bar
where his friend’s throat was slashed.

Mr McCartney, pictured, had tried to intervene in a dispute
inside the pub.

Last night his family objected to the reopening of the bar
which comes just weeks before the trial is due to start in
nearby Laganside Courthouse of the man accused of his
murder.

Poor custom in the wake of the killing, which was blamed on
members of the IRA, forced the bar’s closure for almost a
year.

But it has changed hands and only time will tell whether it
can recover from the link to one of the most high-profile
murders in recent years.

Reports of a facelift inside are unfounded, little has
changed.

Danny Morton, the father of the new owner, said: “I really
don’t want to be doing anything at all that upsets the
McCartneys.

“Incidents have happened in bars all over Northern Ireland.
Most of them have opened again.

“It is unfortunate that the incident happened in the first
place. We just took the opportunity, with the change in
circumstances in Belfast and changed times, to re-open this
bar, to put it back on a better footing than it was.”

Mr Morton said he had owned the Devenish Bar in Belfast in
which one man had been shot dead by the UFF and others
injured.

“Other bars in Belfast, people have been injured and killed
in over the years and they are all still going.

“People will gradually come back. The standard of security
at any bar in the town will be applied here.”

However, Mr McCartney’s sister Paula said: “I don’t see why
it needed to be opened again as a pub.

“I know it is a listed building and could not be torn down.

“It just adds more undue distress to a family already in
distress. These people have no consideration.”

Recently the McCartneys told of their disappointment that
an attempted murder charge against a man accused of
attacking the victim’s friend in Magennis’s had been
withdrawn.

James McCormick (37), from south Belfast, faces the new
charge of affray.

In the aftermath of the murder the McCartneys accused Sinn
Fein of shielding those responsible and the party later
suspended several members.

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http://www.irishnews.com/

DUP Hits Out Over ‘Show Of Strength’

By David Wilson

THE DUP in Derry has reacted angrily to a paramilitary show
of strength during an event to commemorate an INLA hunger
striker.

Masked men fired a volley of shots in the Brandywell area
of the city on Sunday at the unveiling of a plaque to mark
the 25th anniversary of Mickey Devine’s death while on
hunger strike in Long Kesh.

DUP assembly member William Hay accused Sinn Fein of
sending out mixed messages after assembly members Martin
McGuinness and Raymond McCartney attended the event.

Mr Hay said only two days earlier Sinn Fein pledged their
support to a Stormont agreement demanding the disbandment
of all paramilitary groups.

“That now seems like double standards. On one hand they
call for an end to paramilitarism and on the other we see
them attending events were shots are fired and weapons
used,” he said.

A spokesman for Sinn Fein yesterday said the party had
“nothing to apologise for”.

“Sinn Fein had no part in the organisation of the event. We
attended as members of Sinn Fein to commemorate a hunger
striker,” he said.

Mr Hay also said the PSNI had questions to answer in
relation to the paramilitary show of strength.

“We need assurances from the police that these people will
be identified and brought before the courts,” he said.

A police spokesman said enquiries were continuing.

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http://www.nysun.com/article/38345

Mayor Heads For Ireland, Like Kennedy

By Russell Berman - Staff Reporter of the Sun
August 22, 2006

Mayor Bloomberg will arrive in Ireland today on a trip that
is short on time — he'll be there for less than half a day
— but heavy on symbolism.

The official purpose of the trip is to dedicate a monument
in Ballymote to New York's "Fighting 69th," a traditionally
Irish brigade of the National Guard that fought for America
in several wars and is said to have been among the first
responders to reach the World Trade Center on September 11,
2001. The monument in Ballymote contains a steel beam
recovered from the twin towers.

But the subtext is an opportunity for Mr. Bloomberg to
underscore his proimmigrant policy positions, appear on the
international stage, and cement his relationship with
Irish-Americans as he considers the possibility of a
presidential run. Mr. Bloomberg has traveled to Israel as
mayor and went to Italy for the funeral of Pope John Paul
II, so in visiting Ireland he is making it to the third and
final of the traditional three "I"s of New York politics.

Mr. Bloomberg yesterday noted that he was following in the
footsteps of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan in visiting
Ireland. "One was a Democrat, one was a Republican. To the
best of my knowledge, we've never had an independent
candidate," he said.

The trip comes less than a month after the mayor abruptly
canceled a scheduled trip to Ireland so that he could stay
in New York and oversee the city's response to a heat
emergency and potential energy crisis.

Mr. Bloomberg said he was "embarrassed and sad" that he had
to postpone the earlier trip but that in retrospect, it was
the right decision.

An Irish member of parliament and the chief organizer of
the ceremony, John Perry predicted Mr. Bloomberg would
receive "a thousand welcomes" from the Irish people. "The
mayor is such a true friend of the Irish community," he
said.

Irish leaders in New York lauded the trip and said they
expected Mr. Bloomberg to be treated well. "He's very
popular with the Irish, particularly because of his support
of immigration reform," the publisher of the Irish Voice,
Niall O'Dowd, said. Mr. O'Dowd is also the chairman of the
Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, a pro-immigration
group.

The Irish government estimates that about 25,000 illegal
immigrants from Ireland live in New York, and it has
supported the mayor's statements in support of allowing
them a path to legal residency in America.

"The Irish, by themselves, are one of the most hospitable
nations on Earth," the owner of the River Café in Brooklyn
and the Water Club in Manhattan, Michael "Buzzy" O'Keeffe,
said." At the same time, they are very political."

Taking his own plane, the mayor is traveling in a
delegation that includes a former member of the Fighting
69th, key advisers, and family members of victims of the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A senior adviser, Shea Fink,
helped plan the trip, and Mr. Bloomberg's former
communications director, William Cunningham, also
participated in the planning and is attending. Also
attending is Jack Lynch, the father of a Bronx firefighter
who died on September 11. Mr. Lynch helped obtain the steel
beam from the Twin Towers that is being incorporated in the
Ballymote monument. A deputy mayor who has been
spearheading Mr. Bloomberg's presidential explorations,
Kevin Sheekey, is also making the trip.

The mayor was scheduled to arrive in Sligo early this
morning and planned to leave immediately following the
events, returning to New York this afternoon. A spokesman,
Stuart Loeser, said Mr. Bloomberg planned to listen to
Spanish on his iPod and catch up on sleep on the plane.

The rescheduled trip does not include a stop in Dublin,
where Mr. Bloomberg had initially planned to meet with
Irish cabinet members. The consul general of Ireland in New
York, Timothy O'Connor, expressed disappointment at the
lack of formal talks, but said the mayor met with Irish
officials on an ongoing basis.The Irish minister of
justice, equality, and law reform is scheduled to come to
New York next month and plans to meet with the mayor, Mr.
O'Connor said.

One prominent New Yorker not traveling to Ireland today is
the first Irish-American speaker of the City Council,
Christine Quinn. Mr. O'Connor expressed pride in Ms.
Quinn's election earlier this year and said he looked
forward to her own visit to Ireland. As for the mayor,
"we're still looking for Mike Bloomberg's roots in
Ireland," Mr. O'Connor joked. "We're convinced there's a
McBloomberg out there somewhere."

A protest is planned by two groups opposed to Mr.
Bloomberg's support of Israel and of Senator Lieberman, who
was defeated in the Democratic primary in Connecticut by a
challenger who criticized his support for the war in Iraq.

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http://www.irishnews.com/

Cliff Plunge Girl (17) Remains In ‘Critical’ Condition

North West News
By Staff Reporter

A TEENAGER injured in a Co Donegal cliff fall, in which a
19-year-old man died, remains in a critical condition.

Amanda Kaye (17), from Coventry, was injured after falling
down steps at Sandyport beach, on the outskirts of Malin
Head, at around 1am last Wednesday.

The teenager, whose mother comes from Donegal, was
initially taken to Derry’s Altnagelvin Hospital but has
since been transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in
Belfast where she remains in a critical condition.

Nineteen-year-old Brian Glackin was killed in the fall.

Mr Glackin, who came from the area, was buried last Friday.

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