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September 20, 2006

Ignore DUP Power Sharing Demands Says SDLP

News About Ireland & The Irish

EE 09/20/06 Ignore DUP Power Sharing Demands SDLP
IH 09/20/06 Irish Diplomat Flees Death Threat From Loyalist Extremists
SF 09/20/06 Threat To Diplomat Exposes Folly Of DUP Position
SF 09/20/06 Commission Abdicates Responsibility Over Drumcree Rally
SF 09/20/06 Sinn Féin Renews Call For Ban On Plastic Bullets
BT 09/20/06 Deal On Policing Possible, Says SF
BT 09/20/06 Republicans Move Closer To Playing A Role In Policing
UT 09/20/06 Latest On Rosemary Nelson Inquiry
UT 09/20/06 McAleese Hails 'The Rule Of Law'
BB 09/20/06 Families View Omagh Case By Video
SF 09/20/06 SF To Discuss Equality Concerns With NYC Comptroller
GI 09/20/06 Sinn Fein Commemoration
EE 09/20/06 Teen Charged With Rioting At Love Ulster Rally
BT 09/20/06 Opin: Loyalists Must Show Ability To Reform
IT 09/21/06 Opin: Blair May Be Liability In Search For North Deal
IT 09/21/06 Opin: Muslims Could Learn From Orange Order
BT 09/20/06 Ulster Bracing Itself As Tropical Storm Looming
BN 09/20/06 Irish Childcare Costs 'Driving Women From Workforce'

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http://www.eveningecho.ie/news/bstory.asp?j=196013134&p=y96xy384x&n=196013894

Ignore DUP Power Sharing Demands SDLP

20/09/2006 - 6:16:00 PM

The Irish and British governments were urged today to call
time on the Democratic Unionist Party's list of
preconditions ahead of the November 24 deadline for power
sharing in the North.

While visiting New York, nationalist SDLP leader Mark
Durkan likened the DUP's approach to the political process
to a pub crawl of preconditions and accused the British
government of indulging them.

The Foyle MP, who was attending the Clinton Global
Initiative in New York, claimed: "The DUP are trying to add
precondition after precondition for restoration - like the
scrapping of the Parades Commission and undoing the
Agreement's protections.

"Instead of ruling these preconditions out, the British
Government has indulged them - even promising new
legislation to undermine the Agreement.

"So it's no surprise to see that Ian Paisley now raising
the bar even higher.

"Paisley demands IRA disbandment. But the key issue is not
disbandment. It is that all paramilitary groups cease to
act as armies or militias, as police forces, political
intelligence services or as crime gangs. That is what
really matters.''

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and prime minister Tony Blair have
given the Northern Ireland Assembly parties until November
24 to agree to a power sharing executive.

However, despite intensive talks being pencilled in for
October 11-13 for St Andrew's in Scotland, there is not a
lot of confidence among the North's parties that the
deadline will be met.

After a meeting with the four member Independent Monitoring
Commission (IMC) in Belfast yesterday, which will produce a
crucial report on paramilitary activity ahead of the St
Andrew's talks, Ian Paisley insisted the DUP were expecting
the IRA to disband.

Senior DUP figures have also stressed Sinn Féin must
publicly endorse the police if they are to credibly take
part in a government.

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http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/20/europe/EU_GEN_NIreland_Death_Threat.php

Irish Diplomat Flees Belfast Death Threat From Anti-Catholic Extremists

The Associated Press
Published: September 20, 2006

DUBLIN, Ireland An Irish diplomat has been forced to flee
Northern Ireland because of death threats from anti-
Catholic extremists, the government said Wednesday.

Aine de Baroid was helping to build Irish government links
with members of outlawed groups in Northern Ireland,
particularly so-called "loyalist" paramilitary gangs rooted
in the most impoverished Protestant districts of Belfast.

She fled Belfast in August after receiving death threats
from members of the Ulster Defense Association, the largest
paramilitary group in Northern Ireland with an estimated
3,000 members.

De Baroid was involved in developing contacts between the
UDA and Irish President Mary McAleese, a Belfast-born
Catholic who has made outreach to Northern Ireland's
Protestant majority a central theme of her presidency.
McAleese and her husband, Martin, have publicly befriended
a senior UDA commander, Jackie McDonald, in hopes of
encouraging the UDA to disarm and embrace politics as part
of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord.

But such Irish overtures are rejected by many UDA members.
The feud-prone organization runs a wide range of criminal
rackets and controls some parts of Belfast, but it attracts
no formal electoral support and is consequently excluded
from normal political life.

While many Protestant politicians remain opposed to Irish
government involvement in Northern Ireland, which is part
of the United Kingdom, the Irish have based low-profile
diplomats in Belfast for the past two decades with little
difficulty until now.

"By all accounts, Ms. de Baroid has worked hard within
communities in Northern Ireland to the goal of
reconciliation. Her commitment to the latter is something
that should be applauded, but unfortunately it has been
used by some as reason to threaten her life," said Desmond
Rea, the Protestant chairman of the Northern Ireland
Policing Board, which oversees the province's police force.

"Her work, and the work of Dr. McAleese, had been going so
well, and that is what makes me so sad," said the Rev.
Aidan Troy, a Catholic priest in Belfast who met the
diplomat last year.

"It is sad that her efforts to bring elements of loyalism
into the wider political and peace process should have led
to intimidation from other loyalist elements. ... This work
of bringing everyone into the democratic process must go
on, so that we can end all intimidation for ever," said
Sean Farren, of the Social Democratic and Labour Party,
which represents moderate Catholics in Northern Ireland.

Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army-linked party that
represents most Catholics, said the episode demonstrated
that the UDA and other anti-Catholic gangs posed a much
greater threat than the IRA, which last year disarmed and
formally ended its campaign to overthrow Northern Ireland
by force.

A prominent Sinn Fein official in Belfast, Alex Maskey,
credited de Baroid with "much good work within working-
class unionist (British Protestant) areas, and the threat
to her life is disgraceful."

DUBLIN, Ireland An Irish diplomat has been forced to flee
Northern Ireland because of death threats from anti-
Catholic extremists, the government said Wednesday.

Aine de Baroid was helping to build Irish government links
with members of outlawed groups in Northern Ireland,
particularly so-called "loyalist" paramilitary gangs rooted
in the most impoverished Protestant districts of Belfast.

She fled Belfast in August after receiving death threats
from members of the Ulster Defense Association, the largest
paramilitary group in Northern Ireland with an estimated
3,000 members.

De Baroid was involved in developing contacts between the
UDA and Irish President Mary McAleese, a Belfast-born
Catholic who has made outreach to Northern Ireland's
Protestant majority a central theme of her presidency.
McAleese and her husband, Martin, have publicly befriended
a senior UDA commander, Jackie McDonald, in hopes of
encouraging the UDA to disarm and embrace politics as part
of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord.

But such Irish overtures are rejected by many UDA members.
The feud-prone organization runs a wide range of criminal
rackets and controls some parts of Belfast, but it attracts
no formal electoral support and is consequently excluded
from normal political life.

While many Protestant politicians remain opposed to Irish
government involvement in Northern Ireland, which is part
of the United Kingdom, the Irish have based low-profile
diplomats in Belfast for the past two decades with little
difficulty until now.

"By all accounts, Ms. de Baroid has worked hard within
communities in Northern Ireland to the goal of
reconciliation. Her commitment to the latter is something
that should be applauded, but unfortunately it has been
used by some as reason to threaten her life," said Desmond
Rea, the Protestant chairman of the Northern Ireland
Policing Board, which oversees the province's police force.

"Her work, and the work of Dr. McAleese, had been going so
well, and that is what makes me so sad," said the Rev.
Aidan Troy, a Catholic priest in Belfast who met the
diplomat last year.

"It is sad that her efforts to bring elements of loyalism
into the wider political and peace process should have led
to intimidation from other loyalist elements. ... This work
of bringing everyone into the democratic process must go
on, so that we can end all intimidation for ever," said
Sean Farren, of the Social Democratic and Labour Party,
which represents moderate Catholics in Northern Ireland.

Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army-linked party that
represents most Catholics, said the episode demonstrated
that the UDA and other anti-Catholic gangs posed a much
greater threat than the IRA, which last year disarmed and
formally ended its campaign to overthrow Northern Ireland
by force.

A prominent Sinn Fein official in Belfast, Alex Maskey,
credited de Baroid with "much good work within working-
class unionist (British Protestant) areas, and the threat
to her life is disgraceful."

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

http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/16004

Threat To Diplomat Exposes Folly Of DUP Position

Published: 20 September, 2006

Sinn Féin Assembly member for South Belfast Alex Maskey
branded a threat made by unionist paramilitaries against an
Irish diplomat as "disgraceful". Mr Maskey also said that
the threat exposed the folly of the current DUP position of
attempting to create excuses not to move forward because of
an IRA which has ended its campaign while on the other hand
turning a blind eye to the activities of unionist
paramilitary gangs.

Mr Maskey said:

"This threat is clearly being taken seriously by the Irish
government given the fact that all of the main unionist
paramilitary gangs remain highly active and have given no
indication that they are prepared to end their anti-
Catholic campaigns.

"This individual is credited for doing much good work
within working class unionist areas and the threat to her
life is disgraceful. At a wider political level what it
does is expose the folly of the current DUP position of
attempting to create excuses not to move forward because of
an IRA which has ended its campaign while on the other hand
turning a blind eye to the activities of unionist
paramilitary gangs.

"The DUP as the lead unionist party have a clear
responsibility to address and tackle the issue of unionist
paramilitary violence. Despite the denials there is enough
evidence out there showing DUP links to these gangs yet
little seems to have been done by Ian Paisley to ensure
that their violent campaigns against Catholics are brought
to an end." ENDS

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http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/16011

Parades Commission Abdicate Responsibility Over Drumcree Rally

Published: 20 September, 2006

Sinn Féin Assembly member for Upper Bann John O'Dowd has
this afternoon been informed by the Parades Commission that
they have rejected his request that they issue a
determination in respect of this weekends loyalist rally at
Drumcree.

Mr O'Dowd said:

"When this Commission was cobbled together by Peter Hain
last year we expressed serious reservations about its make
up and balance. Many of these fears were seen to be
justified throughout the summer months in Belfast,
Castlederg, Maghera and elsewhere.

"In the past week the Parades Commission has reached an
entirely new level. Just how the Commission can determine
that a loyalist parade and rally at Drumcree is not
contentious is simply beyond comprehension. The request
Sinn Féin made for a review of the original decision not to
issue a determination gave the Parades Commission an
opportunity to see sense and diffuse the tension and anger
within the nationalist community in Portadown at the way in
which this application has been handled.

"The situation as it now stands is that the Orange Order
have been given a green light to behave in exactly whatever
fashion they decide this Saturday night. The PSNI have been
handed the power over parades, exactly the role which the
Parades Commission have been tasked to do. They have
abdicated their responsibility. Given the history of
intimidation and violence which is associated with the
Orange Order at Drumcree nationalists in Portadown are
rightly apprehensive at this turn of events." ENDS

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http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/16012

Sinn Féin Renews Call For Ban On Plastic Bullets

Published: 20 September, 2006

Sinn Féin MLA Raymond McCartney has said that the report
issued today by the NIO research group on alternatives to
plastic bullets will do nothing to dampen demands for
plastic bullets to be banned.

"Since this research programme commenced, the Policing
Board, including the SDLP, has approved the purchase of ten
of thousands of plastic bullets. It has bought the PSNI CS
spray which is being used with zeal in nationalist areas.
They have also bought new water cannon and are considering
a request to buy TASER electro-shock weapons. Instead of an
end to plastic bullets, as we expected after the Patten
report, we have witnessed a proliferation of weaponry for
the PSNI."

"Sinn Féin recently met with the NIO Minister for Policing
Paul Goggins and reiterated our opposition to the PSNI‚s
proposal to procure 12 new TASER weapons. In the evidence
session this week on policing and justice, Sinn Féin also
questioned British Secretary of state Peter Hain about
powers to ban plastic bullets and other new dangerous
weaponry."

"Sinn Féin will continue to fight the campaign to end the
use of plastic bullets and similar lethal types of weapons.
Plastic bullets kill that is the bottom line. They are
lethal devices and have no place in an acceptable policing
service." ENDS

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=707102

Deal On Policing Possible, Says SF

By Brian Rowan
20 September 2006

A historic decision by Sinn Fein to participate in policing
could come within weeks of a time frame being agreed for
the transfer of powers to local politicians.

With crucial negotiations in Scotland getting closer, Gerry
Kelly has acknowledged "massive changes" since the days of
the old RUC.

In the event of republicans endorsing policing, the senior
Sinn Fein negotiator said their involvement would not be
"half- hearted" but "full-bodied".

"You are talking about the full package. You are talking
about having achieved a new beginning to policing, then
being full-bodied behind it," the party's policing and
justice spokesman told the Belfast Telegraph.

"I think that we have proved ourselves in the past, that
when we have said we will do something, and we achieve that
goal, then we go for it," he continued.

But he stressed that the "full package" of police reforms
had yet to be delivered.

Working institutions at Stormont, including agreement on a
new Policing and Justice Department and the powers to be
transferred as well as a time frame for achieving this, are
all crucial if republican participation is to be achieved.

"Clearly in those circumstances we will be going (to a
special Ard Fheis) with a leadership proposal," Mr Kelly
said.

And on the time frame for that, he suggested it could be
"weeks rather than months".

This, he said, was the "biggie". "Some people have
described it (as being) as big as the Good Friday Agreement
in republican terms," the North Belfast MLA said.

And what would republican participation in policing mean?

"I think once you go to that point, you're in the full
package," he said. "I want Sinn Fein to be involved in the
justice process and be involved in any Ministry of Justice
. . . you wouldn't be able to go to an Ard Fheis and say,
'Well, we think somebody should be a justice minister, but
not (be) on the (Policing) Board'."

And how difficult would it be for him and other Sinn Fein
leaders to encourage young republicans to join the police?

"Well I think if you are convinced, and remember we are
"futuring" here, if you make a decision and you believe
that it is the right political decision to make, then you
have to stand over it.

"There's no point going in half measures and I won't go at
it in half measures," the senior party negotiator said.

He emphasised that policing had to be got right, adding: "I
think we are close to it."

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=707095

Republicans Move Closer To Playing A Role In Policing

The debate about when, indeed, if Sinn Fein will ever fully
endorse the PSNI has been a major political issue in recent
years. But, as Brian Rowan reports, a breakthrough on the
issue may be possible sooner rather than later.

20 September 2006

The 'p' words of the peace process can be heard in pretty
much every political sentence.

There is little talk now of decommissioning or
demilitarisation. These are more or less dead issues -
things that have been dealt with, things of the process's
past.

The political focus now is on Paisley and power-sharing,
and the 'Provos' and policing.

This is the agenda between now and the November 24 deadline
- it is the business to be settled and sorted in the
October talks in Scotland, and in whatever negotiations
might follow.

So, how close is Sinn Fein to taking its biggest step in
this long process, the step that brings it from outside to
inside policing - inside a future ministry at Stormont,
into the Board and, for young republicans, into the PSNI.

We may be closer than many people ever believed possible -
closer because republicans want and need policing in their
communities - but the circumstances that will make that
happen have yet to be achieved.

In the waiting, change is acknowledged.

"We haven't achieved the full package (of reforms) yet, and
I think the full package is very necessary."

Gerry Kelly was speaking to me in Sinn Fein's Falls Road
offices yesterday. He is one of his party's senior
negotiators - the policing and justice spokesman.

"I've never taken the position that everyone - even in the
RUC - was bad, neither do I accept that there was only a
few bad apples," he told me.

"I think you had a systemised approach," he continued. "It
(the RUC) was certainly the frontline troops of unionist
rule, and I think that we have made massive changes to
that. I think we have some way (still) to go."

But you sense that wherever it is that republicans need
this process of policing change to go - in order to achieve
their participation - then eventually that can and will be
worked, not easily, but, yes, it can be done.

The policing stepping-stones that somehow have to be
arranged to allow republicans to cautiously tiptoe into
this process have long been identified.

They are in the shape of working political institutions,
agreement on a new and shared policing and justice
department at Stormont, the transfer of powers to local
politicians and an agreed timeframe for achieving this.

Republicans will also want to see and read the changes in
legislation.

And, if it can be achieved, how quickly then will the Sinn
Fein leadership call that special Ard Fheis - or party
conference - to open the door for republicans into the
world of policing?

"You are talking weeks rather than months is probably the
best way to put it," Gerry Kelly told me.

"Clearly in those circumstances we will be going with a
leadership proposal," he continued.

That proposal can only be written one way if the overall
political project is to be successful.

It is a proposal that has to be about republican
participation - yes, maybe a critical, questioning,
participation in policing, but the Sinn Fein leadership
will have to direct its supporters and community towards
something they have long been suspicious of.

That requires preparation, and a lot of that work has
already been done in small and big meetings on both sides
of the border.

Gerry Kelly and other senior and significant republicans
have already been talking in a structured process to the
grassroots.

Some of this has been about exorcising the policing myths
in the places where republicans meet and talk, and about
introducing new thoughts and the new possibility of a place
in policing.

And what will that mean?

It will mean everything from a hoped for involvement in a
new policing and justice department at Stormont, to being
on the Policing Board, to encouraging young republicans and
nationalists to join the police.

It is what Gerry Kelly calls a "full-bodied" participation,
if the circumstances can be created.

"I want Sinn Fein to be involved in the justice process and
be involved in any Ministry of Justice," he told me.

"You wouldn't be able to go to an Ard Fheis and say, 'Well,
we think somebody should be a justice minister but not (be)
on the (Policing) Board'."

There are, of course, concerns - big concerns - not least
around the decision to transfer responsibility for national
security matters to MI5.

"If a person is a member of the PSNI, then that person, at
all times, needs to be accountable to the accountability
mechanisms connected with policing," Gerry Kelly argues.

"(They) cannot be separately accountable to MI5.

"They cannot become an MI5 operative and therefore not tell
about that part of their duty," he continued.

"And this is crucial and this is something which needs to
be sorted out."

The reading between the lines in all of this is that there
is a preparation, circumstances allowing, for the next big
republican step in this process.

Gerry Kelly, who in an IRA role had an active part in a
long "war", is now part of the Sinn Fein management team
that is moving republicans in a new and different
direction.

It is a further confirmation that the IRA war is over -
that the shooting of police officers or anyone else is
finished, and that is what is so hugely significant about
this possible - even probable - next step.

"We are very, very, aware that this (policing) is the
biggest obstacle that we will have to overcome in our peace
strategy and our political strategy," Gerry Kelly says.

But republicans are getting ready to climb over that
obstacle.

It depends on Ian Paisley and power sharing and on an
agreement with the DUP on a policing process and future
that could do more for peace than the ceasefires and all of
the decommissioning and all of the words of the IRA a year
ago.

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http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=76833&pt=n

Latest On Rosemary Nelson Inquiry

The Security Service will have full legal representation at
the public inquiry into the murder of a top Northern
Ireland human rights lawyer whose death has been surrounded
by allegations of state collusion.

By:Press Association

The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry panel today announced they had
agreed to an application from MI5 for the status of Full
Participant at the public hearings.

The inquiry, chaired by Sir Michael Morland, said they had
agreed on grounds put to them by the Security Service -that
they will have assumed lead responsibility for national
security intelligence work in Northern Ireland by the time
the inquiry makes its recommendations.

MI5 argued to Sir Michael that it therefore needed to be
able to make representations and to understand fully the
evidence behind, and reasons for, any recommendations.

It also said it wanted full legal representation because
the inquiry may wish to consider intelligence material in
the course of its proceedings.

Mrs Nelson, a 40-year-old solicitor from Lurgan, County
Armagh died when a booby trap bomb exploded under her BMW
moments after she drove away from her home in March 1999.

Despite an extensive police investigation nobody has ever
been charged with the murder which was blamed on loyalist
paramilitaries.

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http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=76834&pt=n

McAleese Hails 'The Rule Of Law'

The rule of law is a potent weapon in the fight against
terrorism, Irish President Mary McAleese has said.

By:Press Association

The legal system, combined with robust security measures,
are two pillars in a structured response to the evil, she
told a conference of the Law Society of England and Wales.

Ms McAleese said legal professionals had the choice to be
courageous champions of a rule of law and stand in the role
of vindicator, judge or advocate for the despised, or
simply be operators of whatever the system decides, like
the death camp soldiers.

She added that both they and the courts had to help
safeguard public confidence.

Ms McAleese, a trained barrister, was speaking out at the
conference, Lawyers Independence: The Rule Of Law And
National Security - Striking The Balance, in London.

She said some lawyers have paid a cruel personal price for
maintaining their independence and for insisting that
respect for even the most calumnified defendant`s human and
civil rights is a signature value, while terrorism does
exactly the opposite.

"Terrorists value their own cause so highly that the rights
and suffering of the individual are of no emotional or
moral consequence to them except as a means to their own
ends," she said.

"We are rightly aghast at their easy contempt for the men,
women and children from whom they so cruelly take life,
health and peace of mind."

She said London had its own harrowing stories to tell, with
its professional and people having their lives directly
affected by changes in laws, practices and procedures
driven by enhanced security consciousness and a desire to
close down the space in which terrorists can easily
operate.

Although the public are expected to express fear and
outrage, she said, the legal and political systems will
respond in a more collected and considered way.

"It is into that tight spot between the noisy clamouring
world, the world of an understandably angry public and the
more reflective confines of the courtroom that an
independent legal profession performs, well or badly,
probably its noblest role," said Ms McAleese.

"As the rule of law stretches and strains under pressure to
respond to terrorism, the greatest victory for the
terrorist would be if the rule of law were itself to
collapse the carefully constructed, hard-won rights and
freedoms of the individual which are the very seed-bed of
its legitimacy and the air that true justice, true freedom,
breathes."

Ms McAleese was first called to the Northern Ireland Bar in
1974 but spent much of her career involved in the
professional formation of solicitors as Director of the
Institute of Professional Legal Studies, at Queen`s
University in Belfast.

The President paid tribute to human rights lawyers Rosemary
Nelson - killed in a car bomb attack in March 1999 by
loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland - and Patrick
Finucane, who had been been killed 10 years previously.

She said the two defence solicitors believed passionately
in the rule of law and were brutally murdered in
circumstances yet to be fully clarified.

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/5364726.stm

Families View Omagh Case By Video

The families of Omagh bomb victims will be able to follow
the trial on a video link between Belfast Crown Court and
Omagh College, it has emerged.

The trial of Sean Gerard Hoey, 37, of Molly Road,
Jonesborough, Armagh, is due to resume on Monday after
being adjourned earlier this month.

He denies involvement in the bombing in August 1998 in
which 29 people died including a woman pregnant with twins.

The video link was set up at the request of a relatives'
support group.

It will operate between Laganside Courts in Belfast and
Omagh College and will be available for the duration of the
trial.

Disappointment

Michael Gallagher, chairman of the Omagh Victims' Group,
welcomed the move.

He said: "It is the first time every in Northern Ireland
that there has been a video link.

"We think it is important that the families who are
directly affected can go into Omagh and they don't need to
travel a round trip of 150 miles.

"So it's relieving them of a terrible burden of having to
be away from seven o'clock in the morning and probably not
home till seven o'clock at night."

Relatives had expressed disappointment when the trial was
adjourned minutes after opening on 6 September.

The case was stopped after a defence lawyer said he was
unwell.

Mr Hoey faces 58 charges including five other bombings,
four bomb conspiracies, and six murder conspiracies.

The only person to be charged with murder in connection
with the bombing, the accused has been in custody for about
three years.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/09/20 16:17:19 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/16008

Sinn Féin To Discuss Equality Concerns With New York City Comptroller

Published: 20 September, 2006

A Sinn Féin delegation led by Conor Murphy MP and including
Caitriona Ruane MLA and Cllr. Carál Ní Chuilín will meet
with the New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson tomorrow
in Belfast. The meeting will take place at 12.45pm in the
Europa Hotel.

Speaking today in advance of the meeting Mr Mu said:

"Since the days of the campaign to link the MacBride
principles on fair employment practices to investment here
the Office of the New York City Comptroller has been a
useful tool for those seeking to ensure that inequality and
discrimination are tackled and eradicated. We will be
urging Mr Thompson to adopt an equally robust approach to
tackling current levels of inequality and disadvantage.

"Tomorrows meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss
with Mr Thompson a range of areas of concern which we have
relating to what the recently published CAJ report
identified as a clawing back of the equality agenda across
a range of areas including employment, housing,
infrastructure and investment opportunities.

"We will be presenting to the meeting details of the
current difficulties in these specific areas and the wider
problem of turning the equality demands of the Good Friday
Agreement and natural justice into decisive action on the
ground which will effectively eradicate the inequality and
disadvantage which currently still exists." ENDS

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http://www.galwayindependent.com/news/8613.html

Sinn Fein Commemoration

The Connacht Branch of Sinn Fein is organising a
Commemoration on Sunday, 24 September, at Donaghpatrick
Cemetery in memory of those who died on hunger strike.

The commemoration recalls the 1981 hunger strike in Long
Kesh, as well as Mayo man Jack McNeela and Tony Darcy from
Headford.

The commemoration leaves Quelly's Cross, Caherlistrane at
2pm and will make its way to the Republican Plot in
Donaghpatrick. The main speaker on the day will be Martin
McGuinness.

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http://www.eveningecho.ie/news/bstory.asp?j=242061968&p=z4zx6z84x&n=242062846

Teen Charged With Rioting At Love Ulster Rally

20/09/2006 - 1:05:58 PM

A teenager has been charged for rioting, looting and
indecent exposure during the violence that erupted at the
Orange Order’s Love Ulster rally in Dublin last February.

The 17-year-old boy appeared before the Dublin Children’s
Court today facing two charges for engaging in violent
disorder with other unknown persons, putting fear in
another’s safety at O’Connell St and O’Connell Bridge, on
February 25 last.

He also faces one charge for burglary of the Schuh shop
that was ransacked during the riots and a fourth for
exposing his penis, at O’Connell St, in connection with the
same incidents.

In an outline of the prosecution’s evidence Garda Brian
Amerlynck of the Bridewell Station told Judge Patrick Brady
it was alleged that the north Dublin teenager threw steel
barriers at a Garda public order unit, on O’Connell Bridge.

“At O’Connell Street, it is alleged he pushed over a
wheelie bin that was on fire, threw a plastic barrier at
gardaí. He kicked over a moped then revved its engine while
it was on fire.”

“It’s alleged he threw missiles, 16 in total and mostly
glass bottles, at gardaí.”

The Garda also added that it was alleged that the boy
entered the Schuh Shop on O’Connell St twice, while it was
being looted, with intent to commit a burglary.

Judge Brady refused jurisdiction to hear the case in the
Children’s Court and held that instead the case was
suitable to be dealt with in the Dublin Circuit Criminal
Court.

The teenager, who was accompanied to court by his father,
was remanded on continuing bail until November when he is
to be served with the book of evidence in the case and
returned for trial to the higher court.

The teen is the fourth juvenile to come before the courts
over incidents during the Love Ulster rally.

One homeless 16-year-old boy was given the probation act
for the burglary of a shoe shop on O’Connell St during the
riots after the Children’s Court accepted that he had acted
in an opportunistic way.

A teenage asylum seeker, from Georgia, is currently facing
sentence in the Children’s Court for taking part in looting
during the same riots.

A similar charge was brought against a north inner city
Dublin teenager but was later withdrawn.

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=707053

Opin: Loyalists Must Show Ability To Reform

20 September 2006

Peter Hain has taken a considerable gamble with taxpayers'
money by investing an initial £135,000 in loyalist areas to
end the influence of paramilitaries and their criminality.
If there is evidence that progress is being made, it is
clear that much more money will be available. If not,
everyone, including himself, will lose.

It is only a drop in the ocean, so far, but most people
will understand the Secretary of State's reasoning. Moving
out of conflict, as loyalists say they are doing, is a time
when everything should be done to help the positive forces
in every community to develop new ways of thinking and
acting.

Left to their own devices, paramilitaries will always find
a reason for their existence and their weapons - against
perceived enemies, on either side of the community. In
recent years, both the UDA and UVF have largely been
involved in internal disputes and have shown too little
sign of the politicisation that has transformed attitudes
in republican areas.

If forward-thinking leaders can be promoted, through public
funding of reliable community organisations, no one should
complain. There has always been a lack of cohesion within
unionism, partly due to the individualism within
Protestantism, and it is certainly worth investing seed
money to devise better means of encouraging self-belief and
self-esteem. Whether it can be done convincingly, while
unionists and republicans are struggling to form a power-
sharing executive, is an open question.

The government's hope must be that the new generation of
loyalist paramilitary leaders, and their political advisers
in the UPRG and PUP, will find new ways of representing
their communities' aspirations that consign violence to the
past. It will take time, as Mr Hain concedes, to succeed,
but now that the IRA is virtually out of the picture,
except as an unarmed background presence, there is nowhere
for loyalist paramilitaries to go.

Although the wider community is bound to be sceptical about
the effectiveness of this minor concession to loyalists, it
will be watching with more than usual interest, and judging
by results. Every pound that is spent - unlike some
previous peace money - will have to be accounted for, and
the paramilitaries must know they are on trial, to see if
they are open to transformation.

The best outcome, of course, would be re-engagement with
the decommissioning body and eventually a clean bill of
health from the Independent Monitoring Commission. Then the
world would have no cause to contrast the apparent reform
of the IRA with the intransigence of loyalist
paramilitaries. They, too, must demonstrate their ability
to transform themselves, as political strategies emerge.

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

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2006/0921/1158590846022.html

Opin: Blair May Now Be A Liability In Search For North Deal

What would Tony Blair's departure mean to the Northern
Ireland peace process, asks Frank Millar

Does Tony Blair really offer the last chance (at least for
more years than we dare risk) of a political settlement in
Northern Ireland? Or - whisper it gently - might the
departing British prime minister actually now pose an
obstacle to the DUP/Sinn Féin deal he and Taoiseach Bertie
Ahern insist must be in place by their November 24th
deadline?

The dreary steeples have witnessed a number of significant
departures since the peace process took root. When "pan-
nationalism" was at its height, the loss of US President
Bill Clinton (not to mention the arrival of President Bush)
might have seemed more than the process could bear.

'Yet it proved otherwise.

With equal regret and realism, Sinn Féin had likewise to
rationalise the fall of the once-pivotal Albert Reynolds.
Many informed outsiders greeted the end of John Hume's
career, the eclipse of the SDLP and Sinn Féin's ascendancy
in the North, as a necessary sacrifice for the greater
cause of peace.

The suspicion remains widespread, meanwhile, that the
republican movement deliberately engineered the political
death of David Trimble and the collapse of the Ulster
Unionist Party. Similarly, pragmatic officials in London
and Dublin greeted the emergence of the DUP as majority
unionist party as a predictable (indeed probably
inevitable) step toward securing an agreement that would
finally stick.

And while Blair and Ahern pray the Rev Ian Paisley really
does want to play out his final days as First Minister,
realists in both systems (as well as in Sinn Féin) allow
privately they may actually have to wait for Peter
Robinson.

In other words, it is never quite the end of history. And
in fairness Northern Secretary Peter Hain stopped short of
making that claim in Dundalk last week.

However, he is adamant that history will certainly be put
on hold if Paisley and the DUP do not deliver this autumn -
"because the world will move on". Blair's official
spokesman echoes the same message - implicitly warning the
DUP against "waiting for Gordo" - insisting next month's
talks in Scotland represent "a unique window of
opportunity". And just in case anyone still has not got the
point, Northern Ireland Office Minister David Hanson
suggests the consequences of not taking it could be "dire".

Hanson's warning is as over-the-top and counter-productive
as Dermot Ahern's assertion that refusal to share power now
will see Northern Ireland's politicians reduced to a world
of "virtual" politics.

That said, Ahern and Hain are clearly right to question
whether any other two leaders would bring the personal
commitment with which the Taoiseach and British prime
minister have sustained this process.

Respected insiders say Bertie Ahern is a brilliant
negotiator who never leaves a meeting without preserving,
if not enhancing, the process, even in times of difficulty.

And while many mocked, nationalist Ireland in particular
had cause to celebrate Blair's determined relationship with
"the hand of history".

Certainly nobody in Dublin expected such a consistent
hands-on approach from Blair, even as they eagerly awaited
the ejection of the Major government and his arrival in
Downing Street in 1997.

Despite his own high hopes of serving as deputy Labour
leader in a Gordon Brown administration, however, Hain
makes plain we cannot expect the same order of priorities
as a new regime seeks to renew itself in office ahead of
the next British general election.

Nor should we conclude this for reasons to be deduced from
the virulent attacks seeking to make Brown's character an
issue in the upcoming leadership contest.Indeed some might
think the chancellor's alleged failings - as a socially
dysfunctional, uncollegiate control freak, easily bored,
unwilling to schmooze and intolerant of people who disagree
with him - might make him rather at home among politicians
on all sides in the North.

Three rather more serious points are made by people with an
inside track in Whitehall. First that, despite his
determination to extend his treasury control over almost
every government department, Brown has shown little
interest in Northern Ireland.

Second, that Hain's view probably approximates with Brown's
own, that the North's political class ("really, for the
most part, at lower council level," as one source puts it)
is pampered and over-indulged.

And third, that the cautious Brown believes Blair has
invested too much in the North for too little return, and
to the neglect of Labour's real "domestic" priorities.

DUP chief whip Nigel Dodds is one of many who dismisses the
anti-Brown line and thinks it "more driven by the need to
get some kind of legacy for Tony than anything else".

Once installed in Number 10, Dodds predicts, "Brown will be
interested in all the things a prime minister has to be
interested in".

Even if the interest is of a different order, many others
think it would be no bad thing for a new prime minister to
revert to traditional mode and let his Secretary of State
carry the burden.

Indeed some senior NIO officials think Brown's chief
critic, Charles Clarke, would be ideal for the role. While
acknowledging that the same personal commitment will
probably not be there - and officially observing the
"absolute" nature of the November 24th deadline - official
sources with long experience also privately admit "it's
probably not needed".

And this, they say, is because "everybody knows where
agreement lies" and because the political reality - that
the process is only driven by a successful Anglo-Irish
partnership - "has been internalised on both sides all the
way back to Sunningdale".

To which might be added the further thought that if there
is no agreement in November, any resultant interregnum can
hardly be blamed on Brown as prime minister (if indeed he
does succeed), since it is the outcome preordained by Blair
and the Taoiseach.

What neither of them yet knows is whether the DUP will
gamble on delay. Key Blair aides say that would be "at the
very least a risky bet". And the Robinson wing of the DUP
sees little virtue in delay for its own sake since, as one
"moderniser" puts it, "the deal will be the same whether
it's Tony Blair, Gordon Brown or David Cameron".

Others close to Dr Paisley, however, take the harsher view
- shared incidentally at the highest levels of the SDLP -
that Brown could hardly do a worse job given what they see
as Blair's total inability ever to face-down Sinn Féin.

It seems these conflicting assessments will inform an
internal DUP debate as to whether all their terms must be
met before a decision to enter government with Sinn Féin,
or whether the vexed question of policing might be better
pushed into the long grass.


However, the DUP's calculations will be further complicated
by the view of some senior figures that - even if the right
terms can be had - the passage of time and change of
personnel would make it easier for people (that is
unionists) to see what emerges as being "different" from
the Belfast Agreement.

As one of their number puts it (emphatically off the
record): "It really might be better to break with all the
paraphernalia, baggage and spin of Blair."

Irish negotiators would find this a highly superficial
approach, while Blair's admirers might think it poor reward
for his labours.

But in the harsh world of politics the DUP - kept in the
cold while Trimble and the UUP prevailed - might figure
they owe him nothing.

And if the "anybody but Blair" tendency prevails, then it
might be the wrong prime minister travelling to Scotland
next month.

© The Irish Times

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

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2006/0921/1158590846012.html

Opin: Muslims Could Learn From Orange Order

Newton's Optic Newton Emerson

Orange Order spokesman Will March has condemned the
international Islamic community for its reaction to Pope
Benedict's recent remarks.

"What a bunch of amateurs," Mr March told reporters
yesterday. "Call that a burning effigy? My kids could do
better."

Mr March believes that Muslims must look to modernisers
within their own faith if they want their victimhood to be
taken seriously.

"Getting all worked up over a 14th century theological
argument is completely ridiculous in this day and age," he
said. "You should get worked up over a 17th century
theological argument, like a normal person."

Mr March was also critical of media statements by prominent
Muslim leaders. "There's no point moaning about how 'hurt
and offended' they are either," he warned. "That just makes
them sound like a bunch of Fenians."

Initial hopes that Pope Benedict's apology would resolve
the crisis were dashed on Sunday when the Vatican called
for "frank dialogue". This was widely taken as a reference
to the crusades. The 11th century invasion of the Holy Land
remains a sensitive issue for many Muslims, who feel that
it unfairly overshadows their own 7th century invasion of
the Holy Land. Iranian clerics have now called for a Day of
Anger, followed by two Days of Inadequacy and a Fortnight
of Self-Pity.

With nearly 300 years of anti-papal protesting under its
sash, the Orange Order feels qualified to offer some advice
on the subject, although Mr March admits that not all of
this knowledge is transferable.

"I appreciate that the term 'anti-Christ' might actually be
seen as a compliment by the followers of Muhammad," he
said. "Restrictions on music, alcohol and half-naked women
also go against the Orange tradition. However, Islam can
call on plenty of young Turks and that's what really
counts."

Mr March advised angry Muslims to confront the western
liberal establishment by using its own language against it.

"This is a lesson we've only learnt ourselves in recent
years," he explained. "Always demand your own rights when
attacking the rights of others. Deliberately confuse
respect for belief with respect for freedom of belief.
Finally, if anyone calls your bluff, scream 'Free speech
not hate speech', then set fire to a flag. I'm telling you,
boy, it works every time."

The Orange Order also feels that last week's series of
street protests should become an annual event.

"We'd like to see the Pope burnt in effigy every year
across the Muslim world," Mr March said. "No doubt
Islamophobes will portray this as some sort of anti-
Catholic thing, but we hope that in time it will be seen as
more of a community cultural festival, celebrating the rich
and diverse heritage of everyone who hates that funny-hat
wearing heathen idolater."

Ideas for the new event, provisionally dubbed "Camelfest",
include halal burger vans, bouncy mosques and stalls
selling T-shirts marked "I'm Taking the Hump". The British
government has promised £30 million of funding under a
special scheme to justify all its other schemes.

Muslim reaction to the Orange Order's offer of help has
been mixed.

"Many imams are very angry with the Pope," one Islamic
scholar declared by e-Fatwah yesterday. "Others were angry
but have accepted his apology. Still others were never
angry but now they feel patronised, and some just find the
whole thing totally absurd.


"It's all terribly confusing. If only God would send us
some sort of representative on Earth. . ."

© The Irish Times

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=707056

Ulster Bracing Itself As Tropical Storm Looming

By Debra Douglas
20 September 2006

Ulster was today warned to batten down the hatches as the
tail end of Hurricane Gordon hurtles towards the province.

Hurricane Gordon, which is expected to weaken into a
tropical storm, is on course to hit Northern Ireland
tomorrow, bringing winds with gusts of 70-80mph.

A PA WeatherCentre spokesman said: "There is still a bit of
uncertainty with Hurricane Gordon as to its precise track
and it will have been downgraded from hurricane status
before it reaches Northern Ireland but we're expecting
strong winds and unsettled weather.

"It's still open to debate what exactly will happen but it
looks as though it will hit south west Ireland at lunchtime
on Thursday before it moves across to the north, hitting
Northern Ireland later in the afternoon or early evening.

"We'll have a better indication of what is in store later
today but it looks as though winds will reach at least
70mph.

"The wet weather today is a precursor of what is to come
with heavy rain showers and thunder storms a possibility on
Thursday. But because the storm is warm air moving north
within the system, it will be warm even though there will
be nasty weather."

But while it looks as though Northern Ireland will bear the
brunt of the storm, it will be a brief encounter.

"The good news is it is fast moving so it should't be here
for too long," the spokesman explained.

"But as it is September and most of the trees still have
their leaves, there is a risk of falling branches and other
dangers so we would advise people to be careful."

Hurricane Gordon became the first major hurricane of the
June-November Atlantic storm season last week and has seen
speeds of 137km an hour in Bermuda.

It is not uncommon for the remains of tropical storms to
have an effect on European weather, particularly this
weekend as it marks the autumnal equinox, when the sun is
directly over the equator.

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

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2006/09/20/story277534.html

Irish Childcare Costs 'Driving Women From Workforce'

20/09/2006 - 08:21:05

A new international study has reportedly found that
childcare costs in Ireland are driving women out of the
workforce.

Reports this morning say the OECD research had found that
the cost of childcare was taking up 30% of the average
family's disposable income.

Irish costs are among the highest in Europe and rising
significantly faster than inflation.

Average costs range from €200 to €350 each week and the
OECD says this is driving women from the workforce,
particularly when they have a second child.

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