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August 18, 2006

Parade Body: No Talk, No Walk

News About Ireland & The Irish

IN 08/18/06 No Talk, No Walk: Parades Body
SF 08/18/06 Catholics Move Out As Loyalists Take Over Rasharkin
BB 08/18/06 Family Told UVF Killed Teenager
MN 08/18/06 US Immigration Policies Arbitrary (Irish Welcome)
KC 08/18/06 Foreign Policy Often Dominates U.S. Immigration Policy
BT 08/18/06 Opin: Viewpoint: Police Need Power To Control Violence
BT 08/18/06 Opin: Seven Days That Proved Tribalism Is Still With Us
BT 08/18/06 Opin: Taxi Reform Heralds New Era For Transport
BB 08/18/06 City Honours VC Winner's Heroism
BT 08/18/06 Pardoned Soldier's Family In City Memorial Battle
IN 08/18/06 Playwright Welcomes Cowardice Pardons
IM 08/18/06 Rotunda Plaque For IRA Volunteers
BT 08/18/06 So What's Your Favourite View In The Province?
BT 08/18/06 We Love Your Beautiful Belfast, Say The Tourists

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http://www.irishnews.com/

No Talk, No Walk: Parades Body

By Barry McCaffrey

The Parades Commission has said it will no longer accept
any group refusing to engage in dialogue over contentious
marches.

The ultimatum is seen as a warning to the Orange Order and
Royal Black Institution who refuse to talk either to
nationalist residents or the commission.

In what is being seen as a hardening of his position,
commission chairman Roger Poole warned: “From this autumn
onwards we will be seeking an increased drive towards
meaningful, local dialogue and accommodation throughout
Northern Ireland.

“Where it is clear to us that one side, for whatever
reason, is not prepared to engage in dialogue with all
protagonists to a particular dispute, that is a factor
which will weigh heavily in our consideration of disputed
parades going forward.”

An Orange Order spokesman reacted angrily to Mr Poole’s
warning.

“We will not be blackmailed into anything by an unelected
and discredited quango,” he said.

“The order will review our position as we do every year but
we certainly won’t be pushed around by anyone.”

Nationalist residents’ spokesman Brendan Mac Cionnaith was
sceptical about whether the commission would follow through
on its warning.

“Throughout the marching season the loyal orders refused to
engage in dialogue over dozens of contentious marches but
were still allowed parades,” he said.

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

http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/15549

Catholic Residents Move Out As Loyalists Take Over Rasharkin For Night

Published: 18 August, 2006

The Parades Commission has agreed to allow nearly 2,000
loyalists to assemble in the nationalist village of
Rasharkin tonight which will result in many Catholic
families being forced to leave their homes for the evening.
The Parades Commission have put no restrictions on the
parade which has been passed to include 40 bands and over
1,200 loyalist supporters.

This time last year there were 3 attacks on properties in
the village in an effort to try and intimidate residents
away from protesting against the Ballymaconnelly Parade
through the village. This year many residents are again
being forced to leave their homes, especially in the wake
of some of the intimidation that occured from loyalist
supporters in the south of the village last year.

Sinn Féin Councillor Daithí McKay said this morning :"This
is a totally unacceptable situation. The violent actions of
loyalists at this parade in the past two years, including
an assault on a Catholic woman, have clearly been ignored
to the amazement of local residents.

"The Parades Commission have decided instead to hem
protesting residents behind barriers whilst other residents
will have to sit in their houses and watch as many loyalist
paramilitaries wade through the area. It is clear that
loyalist paramilitaries are involved, indeed some of the
bands are quite open about their connections with both the
UDA and UVF.

"There is no doubt that this Parades Commission decision
has not taken into account the right of residents to live
free from sectarian harassment and it is a very concerning
development when residents here are subject to restrictions
whilst loyalist paramilitaries have not."

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/5262370.stm

Family Told UVF Killed Teenager

The family of a murdered County Donegal teenager has said
they have waited 33 years to find out who killed him.

Henry Cunningham, 16, was shot in a motorway ambush as he
travelled home from work outside Belfast.

His brother, Robert, said the PSNI Historical Enquiries
Team have told them the loyalist paramilitary Ulster
Volunteer Force was responsible.

He claimed the police knew at the time. "We knew the area
that it happened in, it had to be loyalists," he said.

Mr Cunningham added: "They picked up five men. One of them
was carrying a gun, and it was the gun that murdered Henry.

"That's what they told us. Five years down the road, in
'78, they picked up two boys and questioned them and they
opened the files and checked the files.

"That was the first time we knew this, 33 years later. They
also told us, as well, they said they didn't know who was
behind it, until the 16th of August, that year in '73.

"We now feel that's not right, they knew that evening. But
we didn't know where we were."

Unsolved killings

The teenager had been travelling home from work in
Glengormley on 9 August 1973 when the van he was in with
three of his brothers and his brother-in-law was ambushed.

The shooting happened at Dunwilly Bridge, near
Templepatrick, on the M2.

The murder is now one of the cases being looked at by the
Historical Enquiries Team, which was set up to examine
unsolved killings during Northern Ireland's Troubles.

Its function is to assist families with any unanswered
questions, and to ensure that all remaining investigative
opportunities are examined and fully exploited.

Mr Cunnningham told the Irish News newspaper that the Irish
government "did not inquire" into the teenager's murder
despite the family's pleas for help.

"They (Historical Enquiries Team) told us that our
government made no effort to look into it," he said.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/08/18 09:16:42 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060818/NEWS07/608180462/1009

U.S. Immigration Policies Arbitrary, Unevenly Favoring, Shunning Groups

Salvadorans, Cubans, Irish are welcomed

By Tim Funk And Danica Coto
McClatchy Newspapers
August 18, 2006

In a national debate fixated on Mexicans sneaking across
the border, there's been barely a peep about how arbitrary
and political U.S. immigration law can be.

Congress, the White House and U.S. immigration agencies
have developed over the years a complex patchwork system
that favors some groups and nationalities over others.

• 220,000 Salvadorans can legally stay and work because the
Bush administration has offered them temporary protected
status for the past five years.

• Irish-American members of Congress were able to set aside
thousands of green cards, a path of eventual citizenship,
for thousands of Irish immigrants.

• Cubans who make it to U.S. soil can legally stay and
apply a year and a day later for permanent residency. Those
fleeing the Castro regime are probably the biggest winners
in the U.S. immigration game.

Most Cubans who leave make the dangerous 100-mile trip by
boat. But in October 2004, Jocelyn Honorate did what a
growing number of Cubans do: She flew to Mexico, then
headed for the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Hidalgo,
Texas.

"I'm Cuban," she told the guard.

A few days later, she was released, leaving behind clothing
for Haitians, Guatemalans and others -- who eventually
would be sent back home.

"It was hard talking with them," remembers Honorate, now 26
and a legal U.S. resident who works for a Charlotte, N.C.,
architectural firm. "They were people without hope."

By contrast, Honorate and 40 other Cubans got this greeting
by speakerphone: "Congratulations! You've all been
approved. Welcome to the United States!"

That legal break dates to the Cold War.

Cuban exiles show clout

Hoping to strike a blow against Fidel Castro, Congress
passed the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act.

No such blanket welcome exists in U.S. law for those who
would like to emigrate from other communist countries --
China, North Korea and Vietnam. One reason: None of those
countries has an exile community with the political clout
of Cuban Americans in South Florida.

After Castro's recent decision to cede power to his
brother, Raul, the Bush administration announced plans to
speed up family visas to make it even easier for some
Cubans to come.

That latest step "has more to do with a handful of
political races in Florida in November than with rebuilding
Cuba," charged the Federation for American Immigration
Reform, a group that wants tougher immigration laws.

Angela Kelly of the National Immigration Forum, which wants
more welcoming laws for immigrants, agreed.

"You can't deny the high degree of influence by the Cuban
lobby."

Irish Americans pull strings

Ditto the Irish lobby, which has long had pull with
powerful Irish-American politicians in Congress.

In the late 1980s, Rep. Brian Donnelly, D-Mass., added
amendments that enabled more than 10,000 illegal Irish
immigrants to get legal status. And in 1990, Rep. Brian
Morrison, D-Conn., was able to set aside 40% of 40,000 so-
called diversity visas for natives of Ireland and Northern
Ireland.

One of Morrison's allies is Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.,
whose office said his efforts were aimed at the unintended
consequences of a 1965 law that made it harder for Irish
people to come to the United States because most no longer
had immediate family here.

"He wants to help the Irish and others who don't have
family connections and have no other way to emigrate," said
Kennedy spokeswoman Laura Capps.

Protection unevenly granted

El Salvador became a temporary protected status (TPS)
country in 2001, following two earthquakes that killed
1,000 people and destroyed more than 200,000 homes.

After lobbying by the Salvadoran government, the TPS was
just extended for another 12 months. That means Salvadorans
who were living in the United States in 2001 -- many of
them illegally -- can stay and work for another year. TPS
comes up for renewal or termination every 12 to 18 months.

TPS is designed to aid countries facing a natural disaster,
civil war or other destabilizing situation. But nations
that qualify have been denied.

Pakistan had 80,000 people die in an earthquake last year.
It doesn't have TPS even though 50 groups and 34 members of
Congress have asked for it.

The government of Colombia also has asked for TPS, to no
avail, even though the South American country is plagued by
guerilla conflict and narco-terrorists.

And why has Haiti's request for TPS been denied? With
poverty, violence and unstable governments, "what nation
has suffered more?" asked Joan Friedland of the National
Immigration Law Center, which promotes the rights of low-
income immigrants.

Meanwhile, some of the seven TPS-designated countries get
extensions though their disasters happened long ago.
Christopher Bentley of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services says assessments and studies help decide whether
to extend TPS and whether holders can return safely home.

But some experts see politics in the process, saying
President George W. Bush is using TPS to boost the pro-
American government in El Salvador, as other Latin American
countries -- such as Venezuela and Bolivia -- flirt with
anti-Americanism.

Salvadoran President Antonio Saca sent 400 troops to Iraq.
And El Salvador was the first nation to implement Bush's
Central American Fair Trade Agreement.

Salvadorans in the United States send home $2.5 billion
every year -- $250 million of it from TPS holders. Keeping
those remittances flowing to voting families in El Salvador
is a political plus for Saca and his conservative party.

Allies don't all gain entry

Being pro-American and sending troops to Iraq are no
guarantees of winning the immigration game, however.

Poland, which also ordered troops to Iraq, would like
better immigration benefits. Polish citizens who want to
visit the United States are irked that they have to get
tourist visas. They want to be part of the United States'
visa waiver program, along with 27 other U.S. allies.
Citizens of those nations need only a passport to visit.

This year, the U.S. Senate approved an amendment to its
immigration reform package that would exempt Poles from the
visa requirement. Among the sponsors: Sen. Barbara
Mikulski, D-Md., the great-granddaughter of Polish
immigrants.

But it's not law yet, and there's also the pesky truth that
many Poles who do come to the United States don't return
home, making them illegal immigrants.

Still, U.S. politicians who visit the former Soviet bloc
country say the Poles feel like second-class friends.

Fairness not required

Fairness has never been a requirement or a tradition in
fashioning U.S. immigration law. Since 1875, when the
Supreme Court ruled that immigration is a federal matter,
Congress has felt free to discriminate.

"Immigration law is so wide-open that Congress could,
theoretically, pass a law saying only 6-foot-tall, blue-
eyed Norwegians can come," said Dan Kowalski of Bender's
Immigration Bulletin, an online guide to U.S. immigration
news.

It's never gone that far, but Congress did vote in 1882 to
ban Chinese immigration -- a law that wasn't repealed until
1943.

From the 1920s until the 1960s, immigration quotas also
gave preference to white northern Europeans.

Since then, a host of factors ranging from foreign policy
to political clout have shaped laws and rules about who can
come legally and who can't.

"U.S. immigration officials can cite reasons," said Josh
Bernstein, director of federal policy at the National
Immigration Law Center.

But, he added, the system is unfair at the individual
level.

"Immigration policy is a hodgepodge of measures and
standards that are always made in a compromise of policy
and politics."

Copyright © 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.

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

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/15270132.htm

Foreign Policy Often Dominates U.S. Immigration Policy

By Tim Funk and Danica Coto - McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - In a national debate fixated on Mexicans
sneaking across the border, there's been barely a peep
about how arbitrary and political U.S. immigration law can
be.

Congress, the White House and U.S. immigration agencies
have developed over the years a complex patchwork system
that favors some groups and nationalities over others.

Did you know that:

220,000 Salvadorans - many of them illegal immigrants now
living in the Carolinas - can legally stay and work because
the Bush administration has offered them "temporary
protected status" for the past five years?

Irish-American members of Congress - including Sen. Edward
Kennedy, D-Mass. - were able to set aside thousands of
"green cards," a path of eventual citizenship, for
thousands of Irish immigrants?

Cubans who make it to U.S. soil can legally stay and apply
a year and a day later for permanent residency? Those
fleeing the communist Castro regime are probably the
biggest winners in the U.S. immigration game.

Most Cubans who leave make the dangerous 100-mile trip by
boat. But in October 2004, Charlotte's Jocelyn Honorate did
what a growing number of Cubans do: She flew to Mexico,
then headed for the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in
Hidalgo, Texas.

"I'm Cuban," she told the guard.

A few days later, she was released, leaving behind clothing
for other detainees - Haitians, Guatemalans and others -
who eventually would be sent back home.

"It was hard talking with them," remembers Honorate, now 26
and a legal U.S. resident who works for a Charlotte
architectural firm. "They were people without hope."

By contrast, Honorate and 40 other Cubans got this greeting
by speakerphone: "Congratulations! You've all been
approved. Welcome to the United States!"

That legal break dates to the Cold War.

Hoping to strike a blow against Fidel Castro, Congress
passed the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act.

No such blanket welcome exists in U.S. law for those who'd
like to emigrate from other Communist countries - China,
North Korea, Vietnam. One reason: None of those countries
have an exile community with the political clout of Cuban
Americans in South Florida.

After Castro's decision to cede power, the Bush
administration announced plans to speed up family visas to
make it even easier for some Cubans to come.

That latest step "has more to do with a handful of
political races in Florida in November than with rebuilding
Cuba," charged the Federal for American Immigration Reform,
a group that wants tougher immigration laws.

Angela Kelly of the National Immigration Forum, which wants
more welcoming laws for immigrants, agrees: "You can't deny
the high degree of influence by the Cuban lobby."

Ditto the Irish lobby, which has long had pull with
powerful Irish-American politicians in Congress.

In the late 1980s, Rep. Brian Donnelly, D-Mass., added
amendments that enabled more than 10,000 illegal Irish
immigrants to get legal status. And in 1990, Rep. Brian
Morrison, D-Conn, was able to set aside 40 percent of
40,000 so-called "diversity visas" for natives of Ireland
and Northern Ireland.

One of Morrison's allies: Sen. Kennedy, whose office said
his efforts were aimed at the unintended consequences of a
1965 law that made it harder for Irish to come because most
no longer had immediate family here.

"He wants to help the Irish and others who don't have
family connections and have no other way to emigrate," said
Kennedy spokeswoman Laura Capps.

The lesson: It never hurts to have a U.S. senator on your
side.

Or a U.S. president.

El Salvador became a "temporary protected status" (TPS)
country in 2001, following two earthquakes that killed
1,000 people and destroyed more than 200,000 homes.

After intense lobbying by the Salvadoran government, the
TPS was just extended for another 12 months. That means
Salvadorans who were living in the United States in 2001 -
many of them illegally - can stay and work for another
year. TPS comes up for renewal or termination every 12 to
18 months.

TPS is designed to aid countries reeling from a natural
disaster, civil war or other destabilizing situation. But
nations that qualify have been denied.

Pakistan had 80,000 people die in an earthquake last year.
It doesn't have TPS even though 50 groups and 34 members of
Congress have asked for it.

The government of Colombia has also asked for TPS, to no
avail, even though the South American country is plagued by
guerilla conflict and narco-terrorists.

And why has Haiti's request for TPS been denied? With
poverty, violence and unstable governments, "what nation
has suffered more?" asks Joan Friedland of the National
Immigration Law Center, which promotes the rights of low-
income immigrants.

Meanwhile, some of the seven TPS-designated countries get
extensions though their disasters happened long ago.
Christopher Bentley of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services says "assessments" and "studies" help decide
whether to extend TPS and whether holders can return safely
home.

But some experts see politics in the process, saying
President Bush is using TPS to boost the pro-American
government in El Salvador, as other Latin American
countries such as Venezuela and Bolivia flirt with anti-
Americanism.

Salvadoran President Antonio Saca sent 400 troops to Iraq.
And El Salvador was the first nation to implement CAFTA -
Bush's trade pact with Central American countries.

Salvadorans in the United States send home $2.5 billion
every year - $250 million of it from TPS holders. Keeping
those "remittances" flowing to voting families in El
Salvador is a political plus for Saca and his conservative
party.

El Salvador's TPS designation "has to be political," says
Charlotte immigration attorney Phillip Turtletaub, who
represents some local TPS holders. "Those (earthquakes)
happened years ago. Come on!"

Being pro-American and sending troops to Iraq are no
guarantees of winning the immigration game, however.

Poland, which ordered troops to Iraq too, would like better
immigration benefits. Polish citizens who want to visit the
United States are irked that they have to get tourist
visas. They want to be part of America's "visa waiver"
program, along with 27 other staunch U.S. allies. Citizens
of those countries need only a passport to visit the United
States.

This year, the U.S. Senate approved an amendment to its
immigration reform package that would exempt Poles from the
visa requirement. Among the sponsors: Sen. Barbara
Mikulski, the great-granddaughter of Polish immigrants.

But it's not law yet, and there's also the pesky truth that
many Poles who do come to the U.S. don't return home,
making them illegal immigrants.

Still, U.S. politicians who visit the ex-Soviet block
country say the Poles feel like second-class friends.

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., says he was peppered with the
same question: "Why don't you treat us the same?"

Fairness has never been a requirement or a tradition in
fashioning U.S. immigration law. Since 1875, when the
Supreme Court ruled that immigration is a federal matter,
Congress has felt free to discriminate.

"Immigration law is so wide open that Congress could,
theoretically, pass a law saying only 6-foot-tall, blue-
eyed Norwegians can come," says Dan Kowalski of Bender's
Immigration Bulletin, an online guide to U.S. immigration
news.

It's never gotten that wacky, but Congress did vote in 1882
to ban Chinese immigration - a law that wasn't repealed
until 1943.

From the 1920s until the 1960s, immigration quotas also
gave preference to white Northern Europeans.

Since then, a host of factors ranging from foreign policy
to political clout have shaped laws and rules about who can
come legally and who can't.

U.S. immigration officials can cite reasons," says Josh
Bernstein, director of federal policy at the National
Immigration Law Center.

But, he adds, "at the individual level, (the system) is
unfair. Immigration policy is a hodgepodge of measures and
standards that are always made in a compromise of policy
and politics."

Making special cases for some nations' immigrants has its
defenders.

Honorate, the Cuban woman who moved to Charlotte, says
living under communism is something not even the poorest
Mexicans have had to endure. She still gets angry about
government policies and the suffering in Cuba. She
remembers authorities removing air conditioning from a
family car so everyone "could be equal."

Also grateful: Jose Romero, a 31-year-old Charlotte
construction worker who now earns three times what he did
in his native El Salvador.

He got TPS five years ago after living in the U.S.
illegally for five years.

Romero told his fellow construction workers, most of them
Mexican, about his TPS. They were happy for him, but
jealous.

"They're never going to give us anything," he said the
Mexicans told him.

Now Romero has peace of mind.

"You're free and you're happy," he said. "It's the freedom
of having a piece of paper that everyone wants."

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=702911

Opin: Viewpoint: Police Need Power To Control Violence

18 August 2006

When almost 100 incidents of violent crime happen every day
in Northern Ireland, something is badly amiss not only in
society as a whole, but in the means of dealing with it.
Not a day goes by without some serious assault, often
involving drink or drugs and the use of a lethal weapon
like a knife.

Just recently, a man was gravely injured after a party in
east Belfast, and in broad daylight, on the busy Ormeau
Road, a security guard was stabbed in a bank robbery. Few
were surprised to learn that police dealt with 8,800
violent crimes in a three-month period to June this year,
representing a nearly 9% increase on last year. Nowadays
there are 97 cases a day, compared to 59, two-thirds less,
in 1998.

Police can explain that new recording standards were
introduced in 2002, to include low-level anti-social
behaviour, but virtually all the graphs show increases.
Offences against the person were up 8.8%, sexual offences
up 4.6% and robberies up 14.2%. Total recorded crime for
the three-month period was nearly 31,000, a 3.6% increase.

The police attribute the rise in violent crime in the city
centre, compared to a drop elsewhere, to the increase in
the "night-time economy". With more people using new
licensed premises, assaults can happen on any night, as
well as weekends. Most involve 18-25-year-old men drinking
to excess.

If too many people are drunk and getting into fights, what
is the strategy for dealing with them? One controversial
means is the Government plan to let pubs open later, so
that young people won't all be put on the streets at the
same time.

Whether this will result in more civilised drinking, or
extra consumption, remains to be seen, but there must be a
deeper reason behind the shocking rise in violence figures
than greater availability of alcohol. Young people, brought
up during the terrorist years, with violence constantly on
view, are far quicker than their elders to use fists and
feet, or worse, rather than words.

The only deterrent, in a world that is increasingly
dangerous for old people, is a police presence, ready on
call. But everyone knows that since the scaling down of the
PSNI, in recognition of the lower security threat, there
are fewer police to go round. Only 18% of the total
offences, between April and June, have been cleared,
leaving the vast majority unsolved.

If police numbers cannot be increased, then they must be
given more powers to deal with persistent offenders, as
chief constables in Britain have urged. Why has the ASBO
system failed miserably here, where police are so often
attacked, and what alternatives are proposed?

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=702895

Opin: Seven Days That Proved Tribalism Is Still With Us

By Eric Waugh
18 August 2006

The lunatic vandalism on the railway line to Dublin, the
firing of the Newry stores, the bomb in Lord Ballyedmond's
new house on the border near Forkhill, the over-the-top
republican rally at Casement Park in west Belfast and our
rigidly apartheid schools system which compels the
spreading of inadequate funds over too many half-empty
classrooms - each and all have a common motive force.

At all costs the tribe must be protected, even if undiluted
tribalism means separatism, separatism breeds ignorance and
ignorance breeds prejudice.

The grudge the republican vandals have against the railway
enshrines the supreme irony; for it is one of the ancient
physical links uniting this divided island. You would think
the loud champions of unity would be for it.

During the Second World War, when the border really
counted, it marked off this part of the island, because it
was very much at war, with 20,000 sailors based on the
Foyle for the Atlantic U-boat battle and Harland & Wolff
building 140 warships and 10% of the British merchant
fleet.

On the other side was the neutral south, and Dublin, where
the German Embassy was linked to Berlin in a thriving Nazi
espionage effort.

Neither part of the island had any petrol for private
motoring, but the railway kept going throughout, sole link
between the two states, carrying home travellers from the
north, laden with the meats, butter and eggs, chocolates
and tobacco filling the Dublin shop windows.

And now they would blow it up!

There is no more to say about the firing of the Newry
stores, beyond the obvious; that the fire-raisers cut off
their nose to spite their face. It is they who are doomed
to live among the ashes.

As for Lord Ballyedmond, he began as Eddie Haughey in
Dundalk and a Fianna Failer, but has since, in the eyes of
some, committed the sin of becoming a rich man, providing
1,000 citizens of Newry and thereabouts with good jobs and
espousing the conviction that Northern Ireland, after hard-
headed reflection, is well-advised to remain part of the
United Kingdom.

This, of course, is a perilous step: for the noble Lord has
broken free from the tribal prison! To say nothing about
his temerity in accepting honours from the old enemy.

Then we come to Casement Park. They should not have done
it, of course, if only because the head men of the Gaelic
Athletic Association in Dublin, who own it, said they
should not.

But the local committee, defiantly, decided to let it go
ahead, on the excuse that Dublin had only given them two
weeks' notice of the ban. A pity, not only because the
hunger-strike commemoration was rather over the top, but
because much of the momentum of the GAA's laudable bid to
shed its sectarian image in these parts has - at a stroke -
been lost.

The repeal of the ancient rule barring police and
servicemen and women from participating in GAA games has
gone. So, more recently, has the ban on soccer and rugby
being played at Croke Park, the Association's splendid
stadium in Dublin.

But this has proved a stony road. When they voted on the
soccer and rugby issue 16 months ago, they needed a two-
thirds majority to pass the motion. In the event, the vote
(227 for and 97 against) meant that, had a mere 12 votes
gone the other way, the bid would have been lost.

Now, with figures in the region of €2m (£1.38m) being aired
for starters, the soccer and rugby men are worrying lest
they will not be able to afford the rent! But this is only
an opening position. A percentage of the gate instead?

Finally, the disclosure that the Commissioners appointed
last month to run the rebellious South-Eastern Education
Board have been examining the viability of its schools
across south Belfast and north Down, with the implication
that many more might be shut, points up once more the sheer
economic lunacy of our separatist education system.

There is no doubt that, given the will, a more sensible
system could be devised. It would allow separation for
religious affairs, but also for united classes for
everything else. Need one say it again? In this land above
all others, we need apartheid in the schools like we need a
hole in the head.

The brutal, economic facts of life and a falling birth rate
may be seeking to teach us a lesson. Our current masters in
the Northern Ireland Office should seize the opportunity to
embrace it. Tribal walls would be breached as a result. Is
that why the will elsewhere is lacking?

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=702785

Opin: Taxi Reform Heralds New Era For Transport

17 August 2006

At last Northern Ireland may be about to join the rest of
the world in allowing people to hail a taxi in the street.
The government's proposals for regulating the taxi industry
will mean the greatest shake-up in its history, bringing us
into line with virtually every other country.

Tourists are always amazed that in Belfast, a capital city,
they have to find a taxi rank or book by phone, instead of
being able to wave down a vacant taxi.

The relaxation of this rule, alone, should revolutionise
the taxi trade, at times when there is sufficient demand,
but the reforms cover every aspect of the business.

If the plans, which are out for consultation until November
7, are approved, every taxi company will have to be
licensed. All taxis would have meters, as most do, and new
drivers would be required to take a driving test, as well
as instruction in customer service - presumably so that
minimum standards of courtesy would be met.

In an apparent reference to the black taxi service, some
taxis would be allowed to operate "shared services",
permitting them to charge individual passengers separate,
cheaper-than-normal fares.

How they would be able to use meters, in multi-occupancy
vehicles, is unclear, and the operators and the 5 million
passengers they carry every year, will need answers.

The idea behind the black taxis, which are a vital
supplement to the public transport system, is to offer low
fares for the maximum number of people. They are such a
fixture, on both sides of the Belfast peace line, that some
means must be found to both accommodate and regulate them.

The general public will be especially interested in the
proposal to set maximum fare rates, so that charges will be
less random than they appear to be. Environment Minister
David Cairns will have to make clear who will decide these
rates and how they may be altered, to take account of
increased costs. At present, the taxi companies fix their
own prices on the meters.

One of the main objectives of the new regime, which began
with the green licence plates, is to eliminate the
unlicensed, unregulated and often uninsured taxi operators.
They are a public menace, as the TV ads say, and any means
of preventing them exploiting a growing taxi market will be
welcome.

As keeping a car on the road becomes more expensive, and
checks on drink driving more frequent, people will need
taxis more and more. It is a shame that local politicians
are not in the driving seat, deciding the issues, but
future negotiations between the NIO and the taxi operators
must be as open and transparent as possible.

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/5261594.stm

City Honours VC Winner's Heroism

Belfast is to honour the achievements of the only person
from the city to win a Victoria Cross during WWII.

Seaman James Magennis took part in the midget submarine
attack on the Japanese warship, Takao, in 1945.

In 1999, Belfast City Council erected a stone and bronze
memorial to Magennis in the grounds of the City Hall.

On Friday, the council and the Northern Ireland branch of
the Submariners Association will co-host a dinner to honour
Magennis's heroic actions.

The dinner will be attended by former and serving
submariners from all over the British Isles, and will be
followed the next morning by a wreath laying ceremony at
the Magennis Memorial in the grounds of City Hall.

The Takao, badly crippled in an earlier torpedo attack, was
guarding the entrance to Singapore harbour, and stood in
the way of the Allied bid to reclaim the city.

During the daring mission to sink it, Magennis had to leave
the submarine to clean the hull of the ship so the limpet
mines would attach and then manually release one of the
mines which would not detach from their craft, the X23.

The mines and high explosives detonated as planned and
Takao settled upright on the bottom of the harbour.

This was the first time a naval diver had successfully
exited and re-entered an X craft not just once but three
times.

Magennis was awarded the Victoria Cross for his role in the
attack.

Lieutenant Ian Frazer, who commanded the vessel, also won
the VC for his part and the other two members of the crew
received lesser awards.

This was not the first dangerous attack in which Magennis
had taken part, as he already had a Mention in Dispatches
for his part in the attack on the German battleship Tirpitz
earlier in the war.

When asked why he did the things that he had done, his
modest reply was that he was only doing the job he had
trained for.

At Saturday's ceremony Magennis's son, Paul, will lead the
proceedings by laying the first wreath.

Lord Mayor Pat McCarthy also will lay a wreath on behalf of
the people of Belfast.

A display of memorial artefacts relating to J.J. Magennis
also will be on show inside the City Hall during the day,
and members of the Submarine Association, and Magennis`
biographer, George Fleming, will be on hand to answer any
questions.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/08/18 05:50:11 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=702982

Pardoned Soldier's Family In City Memorial Battle

By Brendan McDaid and William Allen
18 August 2006

The Dean of Derry today said it was unlikely that the name
of a Londonderry man who has been pardoned 90 years after
he was executed for desertion during the First World War
would be added to the war memorial in St Columb's
Cathedral.

The Rev William Morton said that a number of factors had to
be taken into consideration after Bernard McGeehan's family
yesterday vowed to fight for his name to be inscribed
alongside those of other soldiers with local connections.

Defence Secretary Des Browne announced yesterday that he is
to seek a group pardon for the 306 British and Irish
soldiers executed for alleged cowardice and desertion
during the First World War.

Bernard McGeehan, from Moat Street, faced the firing squad
in Poperinghe in November 1916 after he turned up looking
for his regiment six days after going missing from the
front line of the trenches.

Bernard (28), who had been a messenger boy for the post
office in Derry around 1902, was shot within hours and the
cell where he spent his final hours was later discovered to
have the word 'Derry' roughly inscribed on it.

John McGeehan said yesterday he would now be contacting
Dean Morton to ensure his cousin's name is added to the
roll of honour and monument at the Cathedral as well as the
Cenotaph at the Diamond.

Mr Morton, however, responded yesterday: "I understand the
importance and significance of this announcement for
Bernard McGeehan's family and in particular for his cousin
John McGeehan, who has been pursuing this for many years.

"As far as the war memorial in the Diamond, I have no
responsibility for that.

"Also the names inscribed on the monument in the cathedral
would be people directly connected with the cathedral.
There would have to be some connection.

"There is also the problem of how do we undo a war
memorial, which is a historical monument.

"Or if you put up a separate plaque is that going to be the
first of many? Is it going to be practicable?"

The Dean, however, said Bernard's name and details would be
placed in an insertion and added to the eight volumes of
soldiers' names housed in the cathedral.

"It is not that we are shutting the door," Dean Morton
said.

Meanwhile, the Derry-based founder of a peace school on
WWI's killing fields today vowed to keep fighting to have
the names of Irish and British soldiers shot for mutiny
added to cenotaphs throughout the British Isles.

Glen Barr, chief executive of the International School for
Peace Studies at Messines, has welcomed the Government's U-
turn on pardoning the soldiers shot for desertion in the
trenches.

Mr Barr, who last year received letters from Prime Minister
Tony Blair and the Ministry of Defence insisting there
would be no pardons, said: "We are delighted this has
happened and we will now start to campaign for their names
to be added to the cenotaphs both in Ireland and the UK."

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

http://www.irishnews.com/

Playwright Welcomes Cowardice Pardons

By Claire Simpson

Hundreds of First World War soldiers have been granted
posthumous pardons 90 years after being shot for cowardice.
Playwright Martin Lynch speaks to Claire Simpson about his
grandfather’s experience of the conflict

More than 90 years after the outbreak of the First World
War the British government has agreed to grant pardons to
the hundreds of soldiers shot for cowardice or desertion.

The war was one of the bloodiest in the history of human
conflict with four years of brutal trench warfare.

The soldiers were shot at dawn for a number of offences
including refusing to go ‘over the top’ to face enemy fire.

Of the 306 soldiers shot 10 of them came from northern
counties in Ireland.

Among them were Peter Sands (27) from the Falls Road in
Belfast and 18-year-old James Crozier (18) from the nearby
Shankill Road.

Playwright Martin Lynch has been interested in the fate of
the men shot for ‘military offences’ since he was a child.

Mr Lynch’s grandfather was, as an arresting officer,
handcuffed to one of the condemned men for four days.

Although he never spoke about the experience to his
grandson Mr Lynch’s uncle told him the details of the story
which he has used as the basis for his new play, Holding
Hands at Paschendale.

“We think he bluffed his age at the time so he would have
only been about 20 himself,” he said.

“He was standing in a trench when another man refused to go
over the top.

“Just because my grandfather was beside him he was ordered
to arrest him.”

He said the men had very good reasons for not obeying
orders.

“Whenever they charged over the top 30 per cent of the men
would have been killed or wounded,” he said.

“But young men love to fight. Most of the men who cracked
up in the end – something happened to them at a particular
level.”

Mr Lynch said that many soldiers from both communities in
Ireland were content to join the British army.

“The last 30 years has coloured us all,” he said.

“The idea of a kid from the Falls joining the British army
seems ridiculous now but it wasn’t ridiculous when I was a
kid and it wasn’t ridiculous when my grandfather was
young.”

Mr Lynch said he was glad that the pardons had been
granted, righting “a great historic wrong”.

“Hopefully my play will give audiences an insight into what
the tremendous cost was for these men and their families in
human terms,” he said.

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

http://www.imt.ie/displayarticle.asp?AID=11454&NS=1&SID=1&CAT=18

Rotunda Plaque For IRA Volunteers

By Ian McGuinness

A plaque commemorating Irish Republic Army volunteers, who
were held prisoner on the site of the Rotunda Hospital
immediately after the 1916 rebellion, is due to be unveiled
next month.

A plaque commemorating Irish Republic Army volunteers, who
were held prisoner on the site of the Rotunda Hospital
immediately after the 1916 rebellion, is due to be unveiled
next month.

Mr Matt Doyle of the National Graves Association (NGA)
which maintains the graves of, and memorials to, Irish
patriots, said the plan is to unveil it officially on 7
September.

The NGA is hoping that representatives of the Association
and the Rotunda will be able to attend the official
ceremony.

Mr Doyle said the plaque was erected at the hospital site
about a month ago, but has been covered up until the
official unveiling ceremony.

Mr Fintan Fagan, General Manager of the Rotunda, confirmed
that the unveiling date has been set for 7 September.

He said it would be “a pretty discrete unveiling ceremony
because that is what we have agreed with the National
Graves Association”.

Irish Medical Times previously reported the Association
initially wanted to erect the plaque in time for the 90th
anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising this year.

Between 400 and 500 volunteers were held prisoner overnight
on the hospital’s front grounds by British forces
immediately after the rebellion.

The Association applied last year for planning permission
to erect the plaque on a stone base at the front of the car
park on the Parnell Street side of the hospital.

The application stated the inscription would be in English
and Irish and would include four Easter lilies.

According to the application, the plaque would read: “Every
nation has a right to sovereignty and independence, every
citizen of every nation, the right to freedom.

The surrendered few who fought to assert these rights for
all the people of Ireland were held captive on this
Forecourt Saturday 29th – 30th April 1916. Their gallant
efforts inspired the freedom of millions”.

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=702922

So What's Your Favourite View In The Province?

By Maureen Coleman
18 August 2006

The search is on for Ulster's most spectacular view.

Whether it's where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to
the sea or the breathtaking seaviews from Mussenden Temple,
we want to hear about your favourite view.

Wine company Jacob's Creek is putting together a list of
the 50 best views in the world for its new "The View Is
Best From....." campaign.

And the Belfast Telegraph wants to hear about yours.

We asked a few well-known celebrities to share the secrets
of their special landscape or seascape in Ulster.

UTV's Pamela Ballantine reckons Portrush on a cold, dark
day is the most calming place to be.

"My favourite view is from the top road as you sweep into
Portrush past the hotel looking down on Royal Portrush Golf
Club - the stunning sand dunes, waves crashing on the long,
sandy beaches and no matter what the weather is doing, in
fact the view is most stunning on a cold, black day, it
just brings on a feeling of calm."

Singer Katie Melua, who spent much of her childhood in
Belfast, has fond memories of the Giant's Causeway.

"I love it as it give me such happy memories of being
younger. My parents used to take my brother and I there
when we lived in Northern Ireland," she said.

"It was freezing cold, but when we walked up to the top,
the view was always worth it and the distance you'd walked
always meant you warmed up. It's spectacular."

Radio Ulster presenter Ralph McLean is another fan of the
Causeway Coast.

"I love the view of Portstewart strand that you get when
you come off the Nun's Walk in the town," he said.

"It's spectacular all year round. The beach sweeps round,
the hills look beautiful and nothing wakes you up quicker
than a lung full of North-West coastal air. I went to
university in that part of the world and I love to go back
now and again to relive those student days.

U105 host Maurice Jay likes the view of Belfast
International Airport fading into the distance as he heads
off to sunnier climes.

"Closer to home, it's Pollen Beach in Donegal on a stormy
day. Having spent some lovely weekends in a hotel right on
the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, I seem to like it best when
it's blowing a gale."

Northern Ireland football legend Gerry Armstrong - a
regular traveller - always knows he's home when he sees the
Crawfordsburn coastline.

"That view from the air, the coastline from Crawfordsburn
stretching into Belfast, that's my favourite.

"That stretch of land, taking in Holywood and Helen's Bay,
is wonderful from the sky as we're flying into Belfast."

Former D:Ream frontman Peter Cunnah is originally from
Derry but now lives in London.

His favourite view reminds him of his childhood at home.

"I love the view of Derry from the Waterside, looking
towards the Cathedral," he said.

"When I was a kid, my dad used to stop the car and we'd
look across the Foyle at the city. I still love doing that
even now coming home to Derry."

Across The Line presenter Donna Legge favours the view from
the Castlereagh Hills.

"There's a few steep roads up there that give you stunning
views of the whole of Belfast Lough spread out in front of
you," she said.

"On a clear day, you can see right across the lough and can
see all of the Belfast landmarks, including the cranes,
which always make me feel at home.

"At night, it's even more spectacular, when the lights of
the city make the whole place look like it's been covered
in fairy lights."

Please send us your favourite view in Northern Ireland. E-
mail newseditor@belfasttelegraph.co.uk.

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=702920

We Love Your Beautiful Belfast, Say The Tourists

City an international hot-spot as number of visitors
increases five-fold

By Lesley-Anne Henry
18 August 2006

Belfast is back in the headlines - but for all the right
reasons.

The number of tourists visiting Ulster's biggest city has
increased five-fold since the first IRA ceasefire in 1994,
figures from the Belfast Visitor Convention Bureau (BCVB)
have revealed.

And, with growing numbers from all five continents giving
good old 'Norn Iron' the thumbs up, the city is set to
become even more cosmopolitan.

What was once a European no-go city whose only foreign
visitors were journalists is now an international hot-spot
for tourists from all four corners of the globe.

And this summer that trend continued, with many of
Belfast's main tourist venues attracting a host of
different nationalities.

So what's the attraction?

Anita Mathur from San Francisco said she would recommend
Belfast to anyone when she returns to the US.

"I think it is fantastic. We are here for three days. We
took a hop-on, hop-off bus tour earlier.

"It's nice to have something like that available so you can
learn a bit about the history of the area and understand a
bit better what went on.

"I would recommend Belfast to anyone, it is beautiful," she
said.

Heather Boyd from Ottowa in Canada was on a day trip from
Scotland.

She said: "This is the most beautiful city centre I have
ever seen."

The Italian Pagano family were in town for five days and
also liked what they saw. They were particularly impressed
by Belfast City Hall.

Son Alessandro Pagano told the Belfast Telegraph: "We have
just arrived and we like Belfast.

"It is a very nice city and the people are great too. We
like it very much."

Canadian couple James and Deborah Bonthron were taking a
tour of Belfast City Hall.

The pair from Toronto were particularly impressed with the
regeneration of the Waterfront area.

Said Deborah: "We like Belfast. We are here for eight days
and thought we would get to see a bit more, but we like
Belfast so much, we are so impressed with it, we want to
stay here longer and do all the tours.

"My grandmother was from the Templemore Avenue area of east
Belfast and her two brothers were riveters on the Titanic
which is exciting.

"We took the Titanic Trail which is a really neat audio
visual tour that was only £10 for two - it was a really
good deal.

"We are having a great time."

German backpackers Katharina Von Sohlern and Tobias Bottger
both 19, were on a whistle-stop visit. The Munich duo said
they would liked to have stayed longer in Belfast.

"We have a good impression of the city so far.

"We are only here for five hours and will be getting the
boat to Stranraer, but we have a good impression. It is a
very beautiful city."

Andre and Myrene Delas from La Cote St Andre in France were
also visiting Belfast for the first time and gave the city
10 out of 10.

Spanish couple Joseph and Briginia Johnston said Belfast
was a "beautiful place".

"It is a nice city, we are here for one week. We think it
is beautiful," said Joseph.

Mark and Zoe Bailey were visiting Belfast for the first
time from England and also had a good first impression.

"It is bigger than I thought. We haven't seen too much of
it yet but we like what we see. We probably would come
back," said Mark.

Londoner Heather Loving took her five children to Belfast
for the day.

She said: "We are staying in Dumfries in Scotland and
thought we would take a day trip to Belfast. I have never
been here before.

"I am impressed so far, I am just looking for all the
designer shops that they keep telling me about."

Lisa McMurray, director of communications at the BVCB said
numbers of tourists topped a million last year.

"In 1994 we had 200,000 staying tourists in Northern
Ireland. In 2005 there were over one million. I think the
figures speak for themselves. They come to see Belfast - to
take tours of the city and for the nightlife.

"They also use Belfast as a gateway to explore other parts
of the province including the Causeway and other parts of
the north of Ireland."

Meanwhile, July was the busiest month at the BVCB's
Donegall Place outlet.

Staff dealt with 41,500 enquiries - up 26,500 since 2001
when the Welcome Centre first opened its doors and a 5%
rise on last year. And Thursday, July 20, was the busiest
ever with 2,300 visitors through the door.

The positive news comes on the back of a National Lottery
survey which said people living in Belfast were more
satisfied with life and more hopeful than in other UK
cities.

Another survey revealed that the quality of life was better
in Belfast than the rest of Britain.

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