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October 08, 2006

Paisley: Deal or No Deal?

News About Ireland & The Irish

GU 10/08/06 Paisley: Deal Or No Deal?
BN 10/08/06 Adams To Travel To Scotland To Secure Devolution Deal
GU 10/07/06 Politicians Must Seize This Historic Opportunity For Peace
SH 10/08/06 IRA Seems Serious About Peace; So Where Is Ian Paisley?
AP 10/07/06 'Triumph Of Extremes' May Lead To Real Peace In Northern Ireland
SS 10/07/06 Northern Ireland's Protestant Leader Reaching Out To Catholics
BB 10/07/06 Cyprus 5-2 Republic Of Ireland
SA 10/07/06 Connecticut Man Heads To Ireland As New American Ambassador
SH 10/08/06 Cost Of Policing City Centre For Just One Orange Walk: Œ317,000

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http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/story/0,,1890519,00.html
Paisley: Deal Or No Deal?

The DUP leader is the principal player as talks on power-
sharing resume. But the chances that he will seize the
glittering prize in his grasp are slim

Henry McDonald, Ireland editor
Sunday October 8, 2006
The Observer

With his year-round tan, neatly-coiffured hair and dapper
suits, Peter Hain could easily pass as a TV game show host.
Indeed, in the picturesque surroundings of St Andrews later
this week the Northern Ireland Secretary will play host to
a political version of Deal or No Deal, the Channel 4
daytime programme that revived Noel Edmonds's career.

Hain will be hoping for a revival of his own by next
weekend - the resumption of power-sharing in Belfast,
marking the final settlement in the peace process that will
give his boss in 10 Downing Street a place in history as
the man who finally solved the Irish Question.

In reality there is only one contestant participating in
this week's Deal or No Deal contest: the Reverend Ian
Paisley, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party. Like
one of the competitors in Edmonds' show, Paisley comes to
the 'competition' with a big box containing the prize of
the votes of the unionist electorate.

He knows he risks losing the prize if he gambles and
secures a poor deal from the Sinn Fein president, Gerry
Adams. However, he also realises that the ultimate
glittering political prize - becoming Northern Ireland's
First Minister, and the effective end of the IRA - is
within his reach.

It will take more, though, than Hain, Tony Blair or the
embattled Irish Premier Bertie Ahern to persuade Paisley to
shout 'deal!' when Adams makes his offer. The likelihood
that the 81-year-old North Antrim MP will accept the deal
by 24 November, the British and Irish governments' imposed
deadline on the talks, is low. Paisley is no gambler and
regards that particular vice as just as ungodly as alcohol
('the devil's buttermilk') or sex outside marriage.

The man Paisley toppled as leader of unionism, the Nobel
Peace Prize winner David, now Lord, Trimble, does not
believe the DUP founder is going to break the habit of a
lifetime and say yes to a deal with his traditional
enemies. 'The trouble for Paisley is that if he secured a
deal with Sinn Fein at 5pm on Friday, by 7pm there would be
a delegation from his Free Presbyterian Church on his
doorstep urging him to renege on it and he would follow
their lead,' he said.

Trimble knows all about potential splits in unionist
parties. His Ulster Unionists were torn to shreds through
divisions over his decision to enter into government with
Sinn Fein while the IRA was still active. His party was
then massacred at the polls in 2001 as the DUP trumped the
UUP for the first time.

Yet despite a tortured history dealing with republicans,
Trimble says he would still take the deal with Sinn Fein on
offer later this week.

'The supreme irony is that if republicans hadn't messed
about when the last power-sharing government was in place
they would have us, the Ulster Unionists, still as the
leading force in unionism and one that would have done the
deal with them this time. They messed us up and they ended
up with Paisley,' he added.

Paisley's call on 'Deal/No Deal' is not just coloured by
the hard-line stance of many of his religious followers in
the fundamentalist church he founded in the Sixties. There
are many deal sceptics in the party itself, including some
of its most talented members. They include the former QC
and current DUP MEP Jim Allister, known unkindly in some
unionist quarters as 'Paisley's Brain.'

'I do not expect the 24 November deadline to be met,
because I see insufficient sign of Sinn Fein doing enough
to make themselves fit for government,' said Allister this
weekend. 'Proactive support for the police, the rule of law
and the judicial processes should all be pre-requisites for
entry of any party into government, anywhere. Such requires
more than words'.

Allister's caution is in sharp contrast to Gerry Adams, who
predicted this weekend that the framework for a deal is now
in place. The DUP MEP also wants a return of the œ26
million widely believed to have been stolen by the IRA from
the Northern Bank just before Christmas 2004 - a wish that
is unlikely to be granted.

But for those with inside knowledge of Irish republicanism,
the deal on offer at St Andrews marks a significant
achievement for unionism.

Sean O'Callaghan worked for the Irish security forces as an
informer while working his way up the ranks of the IRA in
the Seventies and Eighties. As its southern commander, he
has personal insight into the thinking of leading
republicans like Adams and Martin McGuinness, who served on
the provos' army council.

O'Callaghan, who became a special adviser to Lord Trimble
before and after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, is
convinced unionism should grasp the deal. 'If someone in
the IRA had told me that in a decade the republican
movement would be sitting in a Stormont assembly,
effectively administering British rule, accepting the
principle of no constitutional change without unionist
consent and getting ready to sign up to recognise a
Northern Ireland police force, I would have advised them to
shut up because they risked being shot for treason. Yet all
of that is about to come to pass. Unionists, whoever they
are, would be mad to say no. "Deal or No Deal?" I would say
grab with both hands,' the ex-IRA commander added.

O'Callaghan's benign read of the IRA's intentions was
bolstered last week with the 12th report by the Independent
Monitoring Commission, the international body that oversees
the IRA and loyalist ceasefires. In its most upbeat report
yet, the IMC found that the IRA has wound down its
intelligence and recruitment structures; has ordered its
members to shun any criminal activity and has become fully
committed to politics alone.

Hain, Blair and Ahern point to this scenario as firm
evidence that Sinn Fein is now wedded to peaceful,
democratic politics. On Friday at Chequers, Blair held
talks with Adams and McGuinness. They arrived at the Prime
Minister's country retreat with a shopping list of demands
including the controversial on-the-run issue - an effective
amnesty for IRA fugitives so they can return to Northern
Ireland. The move was shot down in parliament last year
with cross-party opposition. The on-the-run issue is only
one of many conroversies that could prove to be the deal-
breaker at St Andrews, with the DUP promising to oppose any
amnesty for unrepentant fugitive paramilitaries.

More controversy will be injected into the talks this week
when Paisley's son Ian junior raises a touchy subject for
republicans with Blair. He will ask if it is true that
Martin McGuinness is the British agent inside the
republican movement known as 'J118.' The Sinn Fein MP
strenuously denies the allegation, claiming it to be a work
of malevolent DUP faction aimed at undermining him.

However, the claim did not originate with the DUP but
rather the British Army intelligence officer-turned-
whistleblower on the 'Dirty War' in Northern Ireland,
Martin Ingrams. Paisley junior confirmed yesterday that the
DUP delegation would be raising the 'J118' controversy
directly with Blair at St Andrews.

Around the same time as the Sinn Fein leadership were
having elevenses with the Prime Minister, a small but
symbolic section of the unionist community remembered its
fallen in a rain-soaked Belfast. In a highly-charged
ceremony, the Queen honoured the Royal Irish Regiment for
its bravery and sacrifice during more than 30 years of
combating terrorism in Northern Ireland and awarded the
regiment the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, which ranks
second only to the Victoria Cross in importance. With the
terror campaigns over, the home service battalions of the
RIR are marching into history and will be disbanded next
July.

Many of those attending the ceremony were the widows and
children of local soldiers shot dead by the IRA during the
Troubles, and who now form the emotional core of the DUP's
growing support base in unionism. As Paisley contemplates
what is on offer, last Friday's event is a reminder of the
support he has garnered and which is his to lose.

It is highly likely Paisley will glance down at that box
containing the majority of unionist votes and tell Hain,
the talks' show host, that it's no deal for now.

*********************
http://www.breakingnews.ie/2006/10/07/story280015.html
Adams To Travel To Scotland To Secure Devolution Deal

07/10/2006 - 15:27:45

Sinn F‚in's Gerry Adams has said that he will be going to
Scotland next week to "do a deal" on restoring devolved
government in the North by the November 24th deadline.

Mr Adams said his side has no pre-conditions for the
crucial talks aimed at breaking the deadlock over the
stalled political institutions.

Speaking today, the Sinn F‚in leader said all the issues
could be resolved.

Mr Adams, who will meet the Taoiseach on Monday, also says
he believes the concerns of the DUP have been "cleared
away".

*********************
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/story/0,,1890501,00.html
The Politicians Must Seize This Historic Opportunity For Peace

IRA terrorism is officially over, opening the way for a
devolution deal, writes Northern Ireland Secretary Peter
Hain

Sunday October 8, 2006

The Observer

Sitting next to a sergeant from the former Ulster Defence
Regiment at lunch with the Queen present in Belfast on
Friday, I was reminded of the horror of the past and the
hope for the future of Northern Ireland.

As he told me graphic details of shooting his way out to
survive two IRA assassination attempts, he insisted that a
deal must be done to restore devolved government by the 24
November deadline. 'We have to move forward,' he said.

If he can move forward, surely Northern Ireland's elected
politicians can too? That is the decision facing them at
the summit in St Andrews, Scotland, this week.

Last Wednesday the Independent Monitoring Commission, the
body set up by the Irish and British governments to check
the activities of paramilitary organisations, reported a
historic, seismic and irreversible change in the IRA.

The report, which comes 15 months after the historic
statement that ended the IRA's 'armed campaign', concluded
firmly that the organisation had been transformed from the
most 'sophisticated and potentially the most dangerous of
the [paramilitary] groups' to one set firmly 'on a
political strategy, eschewing terrorism and other forms of
crime'. Very significantly, the report went on to say the
organisation had 'disbanded' structures previously
responsible for procurement, bomb-making and training.

On crime, the verdict was that the leadership has not just
'maintained a firm stance against the involvement of
members in criminality' but also taken action against
members who have continued it. In layman's terms, another
2004 Northern Bank robbery is not on the cards.

For close observers of these things the irony of such a
report was evident. The IMC, a complete anathema to Sinn
Fein, which has condemned its members as 'securocrats', now
declaring the IRA was meeting its promises. This leaves
unionists, whose demands led to the creation of the IMC,
with some tough choices to make during the talks in
Scotland.

I will go there feeling cautiously optimistic. The report
has laid the basis for a final settlement to the Northern
Ireland conflict and an end to the political stalemate.

Many people who have been part of this process for the last
four decades must have asked themselves time and again
whether they would ever see the IRA decommissioned, its
paramilitary structures broken up and its criminal
activities ending. Now they have. And people do not have to
take my word for it: this is the analysis of the
independent and objective IMC.

Clearly there are still unresolved issues. I have made it
clear that Sinn Fein has to engage and co-operate with the
Police Service of Northern Ireland and respect the rule of
law. I do not underestimate the challenge this presents
them. But the PSNI is not the RUC. With more than 20 per
cent of its officers drawn from the Catholic community and
the most stringent accountability structures of any police
force in the world, the PSNI deserves the support of the
whole community. I believe from my discussions with Gerry
Adams and Martin McGuinness that republicans want to engage
with policing, and the IMC shares that belief.

On the unionist side, the DUP in particular still has some
work to do to reassure the nationalist community that it
genuinely supports power-sharing and will be willing in the
future to agree to the devolution of policing and justice
to a locally accountable, devolved executive. And we as the
government, working with our partners in Dublin, will
continue to fulfil our side of the bargain.

I'm a passionate believer that an agreement can and should
be reached by the deadline that we have put into law. The
consequences of this not happening should be well known by
now. Stormont will be shut and the assembly will be
dissolved. I take no pleasure in this - it would be a
tragic missed opportunity for Northern Ireland. But we
cannot continue the endless merry-go-round of
prevarication. The assembly has not sat for four years. It
is time it did.

As the UDR veteran said to me: 'It is time for the locally
elected politicians to fulfil their responsibilities and do
the job for which they have continued to be paid.'

The government cannot force the parties to do the deal. But
it is my hope that each party will see the tremendous
opportunity that a devolved power-sharing government
presents for them and for Northern Ireland instead of the
tremendous cost of political failure.

*********************
http://www.sundayherald.com/58376
The IRA Seems Serious About Peace; So Where Does That Leave Ian Paisley?

Ian Bell

There must be times when Ian Paisley prays for his god to
take him before devolved government is restored to the
north of Ireland. A life's purpose is assailed by the
thought of his Democratic Unionists sharing power with the
people he likes to call "Sinn Fein-IRA". Nevertheless, Tony
Blair's famous hand of history is on the old man's
shoulder. He is fast running out of excuses.

It doesn't do to become too optimistic about the Six
Counties and their future, of course. Can it really be
eight long years since the referendum on the Good Friday
agreement gained the support of 71% of voters? As I
remember, the mood in the province was strange that spring.
Paisley's desperate attempts to rouse fear, and a "no"
vote, had not gone down well. Yet general optimism was as
guarded as a high-security cell.

Travelling to Belfast, Derry, Lurgan, Armagh and any number
of smaller places I was asking the same simplistic
question: will it work? After three decades, and upwards of
3000 deaths, could the era of the paramilitary really be
brought to a close? The honest answer was that no-one
really knew. Some, though desperate for peace, had good
reason to doubt. But what was remarkable was the fact that
even sceptics, the DUP, loyalist gangs and fringe
republicans aside, were prepared to give it a try. Often
enough, my question received a question in return: what's
the alternative?

There was none. Both "communities" - the distinction is
crude and a little arbitrary, but workable - were
emotionally exhausted. The British government and its army
had concluded, finally, that terrorism could not be
crushed. The smarter terrorists had worked out - there is a
lesson here for contemporary zealots - that a modern
democratic state cannot be overthrown in any real sense.
Northern Ireland's wars were going nowhere.

Eight years have passed, nevertheless, and the province is
still not fit for self-government. The "peace process" has
achieved its basic aim: terrorist crimes and terrorist
killings are few. But political maturity has been horribly
slow in arriving. Unionists, by instinct, still do not
trust Sinn Fein. Some, such as Paisley, talk of law and
order simply to conceal a visceral contempt for the idea
that Catholics have any right to a place in government.
Republicans, meanwhile, have to cope with history's legacy,
90 years of it, and with their own founding principles.
They have struggled to reunite Ireland. How is that
achieved through devolution within the United Kingdom?

Forces large and small have been at work over eight years,
nevertheless. To an extent unappreciated on this side of
the water, politicians of every stripe in the north of
Ireland are uneasily aware that the Irish Republic has
seized the opportunities offered by the European Union.
They can no longer mock poor, backward, priest-ridden
"Eire". Instead, they are neighbours to an economic
powerhouse and one, moreover, with little interest in
welcoming the troublesome province back to the family. The
republic has left them behind.

Events, equally, have put the IRA on the spot. Irish-
American sentiment was transformed by 9/11. Overnight,
those freedom fighters in the old country began to seem
like just another bunch of terrorists, to be proscribed and
despised. Some loyalists have attempted to identify their
own roots within a distinctive Ulster culture, meanwhile,
but they have had to contend with Northern Ireland's worst-
kept secret: their self-appointed armed defenders have
outdone the Provos in thuggishness at every turn. The UDA,
the UVF and the LVF - the Judean People's Front has nothing
on loyalism - are mere mafia, bigoted criminals dignified
by a few emblems.

Then there was Omagh. The massacre, the worst of them all,
shook the world mere months after the referendum, but it
went to the very heart of republicanism. What struck me,
another of the atrocity tourists masquerading as a
reporter, was the sense that those 29 deaths were
definitive. This was the end. The "Real" IRA had struck at
a country town with no sectarian history whatever, and no-
one, least of all Gerry Adams, was prepared to attempt to
understand or excuse that act. It was over. Omagh rendered
the long war futile in an instant.

Politics has followed slowly, fitfully. By late 1999, Chris
Patten was recommending that the policing of the province
had to be reformed if trust was to be achieved. Yet the
IRA, while beginning to put its arms "beyond use", was
still accused of beatings, intimidation, and racketeering.
By the end of 2004 the latest proposed political deal was
falling apart because unionists insisted on photographic
evidence of decommissioned weapons. In January last year,
Robert McCartney was murdered by IRA "volunteers", killers
protected by their leadership.

This thuggery followed hard on the heels of the œ26.5
million Northern Bank job, the Provos' last pay day. By May
of last year Paisley's unforgiving, eternally suspicious
DUP had become the biggest unionist party. London and
Dublin maintained the rhetoric of reconciliation, but real
progress appeared to be non-existent.

Somehow, nevertheless, the IRA stuck to its new strategy.
Disarmament continued despite everything. Last month, in
fact, weapons inspectors from the Independent Monitoring
Commission (IMC) declared themselves satisfied that the
Provos' stockpiles had been destroyed. Last week, the IMC
stated that the IRA, an organisation that only three years
ago was "the most sophisticated and potentially most
dangerous of the groups", and an organisation, moreover,
"possessed of the largest arsenal of guns and other
materials", was out of the game.

The IMC concluded, in fact, that the Provos no longer have
the desire nor the capability to return to violence. Even
in Irish terms, that counts as somewhat historic. The IRA
could always re-arm - it has done so before after an
abortive truce - but this time they seem to be serious.
Military structures have been dismantled. Republican
dissidents have been confronted. Volunteers have been
"stood down" and potential recruits refused. Provo
"justice" is no longer being dispensed. And Paisley has a
problem.

He splits hairs, still, over republican attitudes towards
the Northern Ireland Police Service, the replacement for
the RUC. He seizes on any evidence of criminality, despite
consistent reports that the IRA leadership has ceased to
tolerate freelance thuggery. He has even taken to claiming
that only DUP obduracy has brought the Provos to this
point. But his excuses for failing to accept a democratic
outcome are wearing thin indeed. Barring a catastrophe -
and no-one should be complacent - Paisley's game is also at
an end.

Ninety years after the Easter rising and all the things
done in the name of that rebellion, you are tempted towards
questions. If Ireland, why not Palestine? If South Africa,
and the agonies of "truth and reconciliation", why not
Iraq? Conflict resolution is a crude, imperfect art. It
relies on factors that cannot be engineered. Exhaustion,
moral and emotional, is one; good faith another; the
absence of partisan interference a third. Above all, there
is a need for clarity of vision, an ability to recognise
when history matters and when it does not.

The election of Hamas to govern the Palestine Authority
should have been welcomed by the world. Instead, those who
claim to wish democracy for the Middle East decided that a
democratic vote, never disputed, was insufficient. Hamas,
like the IRA of old, is defined in terms of terrorism,
irrespective of the wishes of ordinary Palestinians. Yet
the organisation itself is a prisoner of history. Its
refusal to recognise Israel's right to exist is the
equivalent of Paisley's lifelong attitude towards
Catholics. It ignores reality, sets Palestinian against
Palestinian, and threatens a civil war when the real danger
facing a beleaguered people is Israeli militarism.

Iraq's situation is still more dire. The sectarianism
afflicting that country is worse than anything Northern
Ireland ever imagined. But "partisan interference" -
British and American, in this case - has made every
situation worse. Peace will come, a generation from now,
when Iraq falls apart, exhausted, still wondering - an
Irish thought - why versions of one faith could bring such
havoc. History, in the meantime, will have created fresh
hostages to an unknowable future.

Conflict is not inevitable, but neither is peace. Good
faith, of the sort Ian Paisley still struggles to
understand, is required. If his god chose to take the old
man now, no-one would be the worse for it.

08 October 2006

*********************
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149191035055&path=!nationworld&s=
'Triumph Of Extremes' May Lead To Real Peace In Northern Ireland

Talks could produce Protestant-Sinn Fein power-sharing deal

The Associated Press

BELFAST, Northern Ireland - The last time that Ian Paisley
tried to make an impression on a Roman Catholic Church
leader, the Protestant firebrand shouted at the pope: "I
renounce you as the antichrist!"

Paisley, like Northern Ireland itself, seems to be
mellowing with age.

On Monday, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, who
is known for his anti-Catholic inflexibility, plans to
shake hands and chat for the first time with Archbishop
Sean Brady, the leader of Ireland's 4 million Catholics.

Their encounter in Belfast is being billed as a warm-up for
Paisley's potential rapprochement with his archenemy, Gerry
Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein.

Negotiations will start Wednesday in Scotland, which could
include face-to-face talks between the two for the first
time.

If they can reach the deal that both say is within sight,
their parties could be sharing a Cabinet table within weeks
and running Northern Ireland in place of Britain.

Ten years ago, when the Irish Republican Army was bombing
London and Paisley was denouncing Protestants who dared
hint at compromise, the idea of a Democratic Unionist-Sinn
Fein government seemed hopelessly unrealistic. But it could
happen soon because the IRA is finally starting to convince
Protestants that its long war to overthrow Northern Ireland
is over.

Paisley refused to take part in the U.S.-brokered Belfast
negotiations of 1997-98 that brought Sinn Fein in from the
diplomatic cold and produced a Good Friday peace deal with
power-sharing at its heart. He complained that the deal
conceded too much to Sinn Fein and secured nothing from the
IRA in return.

The peace deal proposed a delicate balance of moves:
Britain would free IRA prisoners and reduce its military
forces, Sinn Fein would join Protestants in a power-sharing
administration, and the IRA would fully disarm by mid-2000.

Britain moved quickly on prisoners and military cuts, and
the main Protestant leader of the day, David Trimble, split
his party down the middle by cooperating with Sinn Fein
before the IRA had budged on its arsenal.

The disarmament deadline came and went with nothing. Sinn
Fein leaders argued that the disarmament section of the
Good Friday deal didn't require them to deliver anything.

A power-sharing coalition led by Catholic and Protestant
moderates lurched from crisis to crisis, and collapsed in
2002.

In 2003, an election for the Northern Ireland Assembly
returned strong majorities for the Democratic Unionists on
the British Protestant side and Sinn Fein on the Irish
Catholic side - a triumph of extremes that looked like the
end of power-sharing.

Instead, it awakened realities on both sides that, in turn,
have produced dramatic change.

The Democratic Unionists - long committed to their campaign
slogan "Smash Sinn Fein" - realized that their foes had
grown to be too big to be marginalized.

Sinn Fein, hungry for power, recognized that the days of
milking IRA weapons for concessions had run out.

The scene was set for a convincing IRA renunciation of
violence.

Paisley and Adams came surprisingly close to a deal in late
2004, but the IRA refused Paisley's demand for proof of IRA
disarmament.

Instead, last year the IRA proclaimed a formal end to its
"armed struggle" and surrendered its weapons in secret.

On Wednesday, experts appointed by Britain and Ireland to
analyze IRA behavior published a startling finding.

The IRA had disbanded its key military units: the bomb-
makers and weapons smugglers, and the recruiters and
trainers of the army's next generation.

The old Paisley would have denounced the experts as useful
fools who had been tricked. The new Paisley took credit for
bringing the IRA to heel.

The big remaining hurdle is whether Sinn Fein will accept
the authority of Northern Ireland's police force and, in
exchange, Paisley will accept Sinn Fein as a partner.

*********************
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20061007-1213-nireland-paisleysprogress.html
Northern Ireland's Protestant Leader Reaching Out To Catholics

By Shawn Pogatchnik
Associated Press
12:13 p.m. October 7, 2006

BELFAST, Northern Ireland - The last time Ian Paisley
sought to make an impression on a Roman Catholic Church
leader, the Protestant firebrand shouted at the pope: "I
renounce you as the antichrist!"

Paisley, like Northern Ireland itself, seems to be
mellowing with age. On Monday, the Democratic Unionist
Party leader famous for his anti-Catholic inflexibility
plans to shake hands and chat for the first time with
Archbishop Sean Brady, leader of Ireland's 4 million
Catholics.

Their Belfast encounter is being billed as a warm-up for
Paisley's potential rapprochement with his archenemy, Gerry
Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein. Negotiations will start
Wednesday in Scotland which could include face-to-face
talks between the two for the first time.

If they can reach the deal that both say is within sight,
their parties could be sharing a Cabinet table within weeks
and running Northern Ireland in place of Britain.

A decade ago, when the Irish Republican Army was bombing
London and Paisley was denouncing Protestants who dared
hint at compromise, the idea of a Democratic Unionist-Sinn
Fein government seemed hopelessly unrealistic. But it could
happen soon because the IRA is finally starting to convince
Protestants that its long war to overthrow Northern Ireland
is over.

Paisley refused to take part in the U.S.-brokered Belfast
negotiations of 1997-98 that brought Sinn Fein in from the
diplomatic cold and produced a Good Friday peace deal with
power-sharing at its heart. He complained that the deal
conceded too much to Sinn Fein and secured nothing from the
IRA in return.

The peace deal proposed a delicate balance of moves:
Britain would free IRA prisoners and reduce its military
forces, Sinn Fein would join Protestants in a power-sharing
administration, and the IRA would fully disarm by mid-2000.

Britain moved quickly on prisoners and military cuts, while
the main Protestant leader of the day, David Trimble, split
his party down the middle by cooperating with Sinn Fein
before the IRA had budged on its arsenal.

The disarmament deadline came and went with nothing. Sinn
Fein leaders argued that the disarmament section of the
Good Friday deal didn't require them to deliver anything. A
power-sharing coalition led by Catholic and Protestant
moderates lurched from crisis to crisis, and collapsed in
2002.

In 2003, an election for the Northern Ireland Assembly
returned strong majorities for the Democratic Unionists on
the British Protestant side and Sinn Fein on the Irish
Catholic side - a triumph of extremes that looked like the
end of power-sharing. Instead, it awakened realities on
both sides that, in turn, have produced dramatic change.

The Democratic Unionists - long committed to their campaign
slogan "Smash Sinn Fein" - realized their foes had grown to
be too big to be marginalized. Sinn Fein, hungry for power,
recognized that the days of milking IRA weapons for
concessions had run out. The scene was set for a convincing
IRA renunciation of violence.

Paisley and Adams came surprisingly close to a deal in late
2004, but the IRA refused Paisley's demand for proof of IRA
disarmament. Instead, last year the IRA proclaimed a formal
end to its "armed struggle" and surrendered its weapons in
secret.

On Wednesday, experts appointed by Britain and Ireland to
analyze IRA behavior published a startling finding. The IRA
had disbanded its key military units: the bomb-makers and
weapons smugglers, and the recruiters and trainers of the
army's next generation.

The old Paisley would have denounced the experts as useful
fools who had been tricked. The new Paisley took credit for
bringing the IRA to heel.

The big remaining hurdle is whether Sinn Fein will accept
the authority of Northern Ireland's police force and, in
exchange, Paisley will accept Sinn Fein as a partner.

Editor's note: Shawn Pogatchnik has covered the Northern
Ireland peace process for The Associated Press since 1993.

*********************
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/internationals/5416464.stm
Cyprus 5-2 Republic Of Ireland

By John Haughey

The Republic of Ireland suffered a nightmare night in
Nicosia as Cyprus humiliated Steve Staunton's side in the
Euro 2008 qualifier.

After Stephen Ireland's early strike, goals from Michalis
Constantinou and Alexis Garpozis put Cyprus ahead.

Richard Dunne levelled before half-time but Constantinou's
penalty restored the Cyprus lead on 50 minutes.

Two Constantinos Charalambidis goals plus Richard Dunne's
sending off completed the Republic's awful evening.

News conference: Rep of Ireland boss Steve Staunton

The Republic were minus the likes of Shay Given, Steven
Reid, Graham Kavanagh, Stephen Carr and Kevin Doyle but
that could not excuse a truly shocking performance.

With Staunton watching from the stands because of his
touchline ban, the Republic's defensive frailty did not
take long to be exposed.

In the fifth minute, Steve Finnan's backpass gifted
Constantinou a glorious chance but the striker poked the
effort wide.

Two minutes later, the Republic appeared on their way when
Manchester City youngster Ireland rifled a shot into the
net through a crowd of players after being set up by Aiden
McGeady.

However, Cyprus were on terms within two minutes after Andy
O'Brien's dreadful backpass allowed Constantinou to slide
the ball under Paddy Kenny.

Things went from bad to worse seven minutes later when
keeper Kenny charged out of his goal allowing Alexis
Garpozis to head into the empty net.

At that stage the Republic were reeling, with their defence
in trouble almost every time the Cypriots attacked.

Granted, the Irish defenders were not receiving much
support from the shapeless midfield with the lack of a
central holding player a major problem.

However, the Cypriots' defence looked just as wobbly and
firstly Kilbane and then Morrison had efforts blocked as
the frantic and helter-skelter nature of the contest
continued.

Dunne's booking ensured that he would miss Wednesday's game
against the Czech Republic but the Manchester City defender
then made a positive contribution by heading home Duff's
corner in the 43rd minute.

The Cypriots still had time to rattle the Irish crossbar in
first half injury-time with Kenny getting a vital touch to
dangerman Constantinou's shot.

The Republic were back to square one five minutes after the
break, with O'Brien's horrible evening continuing as he
conceded a penalty for a clumsy challenge on Stathis
Aloneftis.

Constantinou made no mistake from the spot by sending Kenny
the wrong way.

It scarcely seemed possible that it could get any worse for
the Irish but it did on the hour with substitute
Constantinos Charalambidis tapping into the empty net after
more appalling defending.

But amazingly the Nicosia horror-show was still not
complete and Charalambidis slammed in a fifth goal for the
Cypriots in the 75th minute after Kenny had blocked
Constantinou's point-blank header.

To put the icing on the cake, Dunne, booked earlier, was
sent off in the 78th minute after another clumsy challenge
to complete the Republic's worst performance for many
years.

Cyprus: Morfis, Satsias, Lambrou, Louka, Theodotou, Michael
(Charalambidis 46), Garpozis (Charalambous 77), Makrides,
Okkas (Yiasoumi 86), Konstantinou, Aloneftis.

Subs Not Used: Georgallides, Theofilou, Daskalakis, Elia.

Booked: Morfis, Garpozis, Konstantinou, Satsias, Aloneftis.

Goals: Konstantinou 10, Garpozis 16, Konstantinou 50 pen,
Charalambidis 60, 75.

Rep of Ireland: Kenny, Finnan, O'Shea, Andrew O'Brien (Lee
71), Dunne, Kilbane, McGeady (Alan O'Brien 80), Ireland
(Douglas 83), Morrison, Keane, Duff.
Subs Not Used: Henderson, St. Ledger, Foley, Tabb.
Sent Off: Dunne (78).
Booked: Dunne, Keane, O'Shea.
Goals: Ireland 8, Dunne 44.
Ref: Lucilio Cardoso Cortez Batista (Portugal).

Published: 2006/10/07 19:59:51 GMT
c BBC MMVI

*********************
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-07121223.apds.m0954.bc-ct--
Connecticut Man Heads To Ireland As New American Ambassador

Associated Press
Published October 7 2006

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Thomas Foley will arrive in Ireland
next week as much more than a tourist curious about the
land his ancestors fled during the famine 160 years ago.
Now he is the face of America, trying to maintain strong
ties to a suddenly prosperous and peaceful country.

The 54-year-old Greenwich man is the new U.S. ambassador to
Ireland. Foley is chairman of an investment company and a
major fundraiser for President Bush, who nominated him for
ambassador last June after a stint trying to revive Iraq's
economy.

"It's a great honor," Foley said Friday in an interview
with The Associated Press. "It's a great country and great
people. With my Irish roots, it's a particularly good fit
for me and hopefully Ireland."

Foley becomes ambassador to a country that has become
dramatically more peaceful and prosperous after centuries
of strife and poverty that sent millions of Irish
immigrants to the United States. Ireland in recent years
has had one of Europe's fastest-growing economies, while a
peace accord was reached on Good Friday in 1998 to settle
the Northern Ireland conflict.

But Foley takes on the new job at a delicate time. Irish
and British officials are trying to revive a Catholic-
Protestant power-sharing administration in Northern Ireland
that collapsed in 2002 after a dispute over disarming the
Irish Republican Army.

The effort received a boost recently when an independent
panel concluded that the IRA has disbanded units for
weapons making, arms smuggling, recruiting and training.

A negotiating summit this week in Scotland will try to
revive power-sharing. Otherwise, officials say they will
dissolve the Northern Ireland Assembly, a 108-member
legislature with the power to elect a Catholic-Protestant
administration.

"This is a critically important post. And this is a very
important time for the people of the Republic of Ireland,"
said U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who has
long been active in Irish issues. "It is essential that
Ambassador Foley continue to support the implementation of
the Good Friday Accords and maintain the strong ties
between the United States and the Republic of Ireland."

Foley, who was reluctant to discuss policies before he took
on the new post, said his role related to Northern Ireland
will be a supportive one to the U.S. envoy to Northern
Ireland, Mitchell Reiss, and the American ambassador to
Britain.

"Many of the people I talked to are certainly hopeful the
ongoing discussions will result in a devolved government
being formed," Foley said. "It seems highly unlikely no
matter what happens it would return to the type of
unfortunate violence that existed for a number of years."

Foley's main task will be to foster the relationship
between the U.S. and Ireland.

"The Irish are close to Europe and not as close to the
United States as they have been in the past," Foley said,
citing Ireland's economic ties with the European Union.
"One of my primary roles and challenges is to support and
preserve the relationship and all the good will that has
existed between Ireland and the United States for hundreds
of years."

*********************
Http://Www.Sundayherald.Com/58382
Official Cost Of Policing City Centre For Just One Orange Walk: Œ317,000

By Liam McDougall, Home Affairs Editor

THE County Grand Orange Parade, Scotland's biggest annual
Protestant march commemorating the Battle of the Boyne in
1690, costs more than œ317,000 to police, according to
official figures.

The march, held in Glasgow on July 1 and which normally
attracts more than 15,000 band members and tens of
thousands of spectators, has come under scrutiny in recent
years in the wake of concern at the behaviour of a minority
of the parade's so-called "hangers-on" or pavement
followers.

Although the conduct of the marchers and organisers have
garnered praise from Strathclyde Police and Glasgow City
Council, the march in July this year led to 60 arrests, 12
for sectarian-related offences. One was for carrying a
weapon and another possessionof a knife. One other arrest
was made for serious assault.

The previous year, 85 arrests were made by police for
drunkenness and sectarian-related offences.

Following this year's march, Kevin Smith, assistant chief
constable of Strathclyde Police, said that while he had
been "fairly happy" with the conduct of the spectators in
the morning, the police had later witnessed examples of
"pretty horrible" behaviour.

In May, Orange Order leaders had joined with republican
figures and justice minister Cathy Jamieson to sign an
anti-sectarianism pact, under which the lodge promised to
warn thugs away from marches.

The release of the latest figures, which were passed to the
Sunday Herald under freedom of information legislation, has
led to a mixed reaction from politicians, including calls
for organisations such as the Orange Order to contribute to
the policing costs and for forces to set a cap on the
amount of money that the police will spend on regulating
such parades. Others suggested that the scale of the police
presence at the event was needless and was causing an
unneccessary burden on the taxpayer.

Strathclyde Police figures show that, in total, the cost of
policing the event was œ317,842.63. Of that, œ24,131.03 was
needed to cover the duty time of officers, but an
astonishing œ293,711.60 was made in overtime payments to
police on the day.

Last night, Stewart Stevenson, the SNP deputy justice
spokesman, said: "I do think that the freedom to march is
an essential part of democracy but it does seem that the
price of policing here is much higher than anyone had
expected.

"It certainly raises the question as to whether the police
should be paying that amount of money."

He added: "I think we should look at an allowance being
paid by organisations before they march. Perhaps it is also
time for a cap on police expenditure for these kinds of
events, given that we are talking about a third of a
million pounds."

Donald Gorrie, the LibDem MSP and anti-sectarianism
campaigner, also defended the right of organisations to
march, but suggested the policing bill could be lowered if
those who watched parades were better behaved.

Bill Aitken, the Glasgow Tory MSP, called for Strathclyde
to scale back its "unnecessary" police presence. He said:
"This is an exceptionally high sum of money that Glasgow
taxpayers are having to pay for covering a march, which
frankly in recent years has not caused all that much
trouble.

"I suppose the police have to be certain, but I really do
think this is an exceptionally high cost."

Police have warned they will take a zero-tolerance approach
to disorder at marches. Plans are under way to move the
march to Bellahouston Park next year, which may help to
reduce the policing costs.

Robert McLean, executive officer for the Grand Orange Lodge
of Scotland said: "I tend to agree with Bill Aitken in that
it seems to be a very high amount for a march that has
passed peacefully over the past few years.

"The suggestion of having organisations pay will mean only
those who can afford to will have the right to march or the
freedom of assembly. This is a democracy after all."

08 October 2006
Posted by: Unknown / 1:30 AM
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