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November 28, 2006

Blair Stays Upbeat On Devolution

News About Ireland & The Irish

BT 11/28/06 Blair Stays Upbeat On Prospect Of Devolution
UT 11/28/06 Paisley: 'Time For SF To Deliver'
BT 11/28/06 Sir Reg Now Seeks Clarification Of 'Deal'
BT 11/28/06 Hain Under Fire After 'Overruling' Committee
BT 11/28/06 DUP Chairman Defends Controversial Statement
BT 11/28/06 Paisley Rejects Rift Over Power-Sharing With SF
SF 11/28/06 Spec Crim Crt Must Follow Diplock Into Extinction
SF 11/28/06 Kelly Meets On Diplock & Other Justice Issues
SF 11/28/06 EU Highlights Irish In Illegal Rendition Program
BB 11/28/06 Court Order Over Stone TV Footage
UT 11/28/06 SDLP Slam Stone's Former Bosses
BB 11/28/06 UDA Distances Itself From Stone
BT 11/28/06 Stone Joins List Of Killers Who Blew Freedom
BB 11/28/06 SF Takes Role On Dublin Policing Board
PN 11/28/06 Stone Aimed To Kill Loyalist He Thought Was Gay
BT 11/28/06 Adair's Do-Good 'Conversion' Ridiculed
AP 11/28/06 Sup Crt Declines Case Of Asylum Seeker & Chldrn
IT 11/28/06 Appeal Over IRA Convictions Rejected
UT 11/28/06 More Honours For Trimble & Hume
BT 11/28/06 Opin: Perplexing Issues Surround Paisley Stance
BB 11/28/06 Hain's Wife Injured In M4 Crash
BB 11/28/06 Orange Approval For Boyne Centre
BN 11/28/06 Conradh Seeks Prominence For Irish Road Signs
BT 11/28/06 Folk Star Tommy Makem Defiant After Cancer Blow
ST 11/28/06 Study Abroad: Plan For Scholarships In N IRL
BT 11/28/06 Qust: Are Apologies For Hist Events Worthwhile?
UT 11/28/06 Irish Car Hire Prices Double Over Christmas

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=716498

Blair Stays Upbeat On Prospect Of Devolution

By Mark Hookham
28 November 2006

Tony Blair yesterday delivered an upbeat assessment on the
chances of breaking Ulster's political deadlock.

The Prime Minister insisted that the position of both the
DUP and Sinn Fein "is clear and is the same" but it is
being clouded by a "massive amount of obfuscation".

The main political players agree that should Sinn Fein meet
the precondition of supporting policing, then a deal can be
done, he said.

"It's very, very simple - provided the condition of support
for policing is met and the institutions that carry out the
rule of law, then there will be a power-sharing executive,"
he said.

Mr Blair made his remarks at a Westminster lunch attended
by regional newspaper journalists.

He said: "I think the position of both parties is clear and
is the same.

"There is a massive amount, for want of a better word, of
obfuscation going on around it.

"The position is absolutely clear - without everybody
agreeing to the institutions of the rule of law, and that
includes policing as done by the PSNI, we can't get the
institutions back up and running.

"And I think part of the trouble is, the process that's
happening today is in a sense a conditional process.

"It is necessarily that because over the coming months it
has got to become clear, and obviously the sooner this
happens the better, that there is agreement to support
policing, as done by the PSNI, and power-sharing.

"Now, I think people actually agree that.

"The difficulty you get into is that one side says: 'There
is no formal nomination' - and that is true because it is
conditional - and the other side says: 'Actually, provided
that the condition is met there will be a nomination of Dr
Paisley and Martin McGuinness.'"

Asked what he was most proud of during his stint in Downing
Street, he listed Northern Ireland along with education and
health reforms, among others.

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http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=78193&pt=n

Paisley: 'Time For SF To Deliver'

Sinn Fein must play its part now in delivering power
sharing in Northern Ireland, the Rev Ian Paisley has
insisted.

By:Press Association

The Democratic Unionist leader told republicans the St
Andrews plan for reviving devolved government was not a
one-way street, requiring them to move on supporting the
Police Service of Northern Ireland.

The North Antrim MP declared: "The IRA/Sinn Fein must now
deliver what the St Andrews Agreement demands - full
conformity to the laws of our country and active support
for the police and law enforcement.

"Such support must be maintained.

"I spoke to the Prime Minister yesterday and pressed him on
this point. The day of delaying, putting off and refusing
to act must end once and for all. Now is the time for
action to take place.

"The St Andrews Agreement is not a one-way street.

"There is a part of that street that Sinn Fein must walk.
If they fail to do so, it will be manifest that they intend
to cling to their lawlessness rather than their duty to
lawfulness. The people of Ulster will give them their
answer if that is the case."

After last Friday`s controversial meeting of the Assembly,
the North Antrim MP made clear outside the debating chamber
that he will put his name forward as First Minister in a
power sharing executive, provided Sinn Fein signs up to
policing and provided the electorate makes the DUP the
largest party at the next Stormont election.

The DUP wants Sinn Fein to declare support publicly for the
PSNI and the courts, and to swear republicans will uphold
the rule of law in return for power sharing.

Sinn Fein leaders insist their party cannot move on
policing without securing agreement from the DUP first on a
date for the transfer of policing and justice powers from
Westminster to a future Stormont administration.

They also want the DUP to agree to the type of government
department that will handle the powers at Stormont.

Republicans have been alarmed by suggestions from DUP
deputy leader Peter Robinson and North Belfast MP Nigel
Dodds that it could be a lifetime or several political
lifetimes before unionists could give their assent to
policing and justice powers for devolved ministers.

Mr Paisley has also been at pains to stress in recent days
that there is no rift within his party over the St Andrews
plan for power sharing.

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain had expected the DUP
leader to indicate during last Friday`s meeting of the
Assembly that he would be prepared to serve as Stormont
first minister alongside Sinn Fein`s Martin McGuinness as
deputy first minister in the event of the St Andrews plan
being fully implemented.

There was uproar in the House when the North Antrim MP made
no such comment.

After the Assembly session was aborted because of a
security scare, 12 DUP Assembly members, including four
MPs, issued their own statement insisting the party had not
taken part in any process which created a first minister or
deputy first minister designate.

The statement was interpreted as a challenge to Mr
Paisley`s authority because it had not been issued through
the normal party structures.

Within minutes, Mr Paisley issued a statement to the Press
Association making it clear that he would become first
minister next year if republicans met all their
obligations.

The DUP leader insisted yesterday his party was not
divided.

Today he focused on the need for republicans to move the
peace process forward.

"It is certainly over to Sinn Fein now for delivering," he
said.

"There will be no executive with those who refuse to
support the police, the courts and the rule of law in both
word and deed."

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=716568

Sir Reg Now Seeks Clarification Of 'Deal'

By Noel McAdam
28 November 2006

The Assembly's business committee was today on a potential
collision course with Secretary of State Peter Hain over
who runs Stormont.

And Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said he would be
using this afternoon's meeting to attempt to clarify the
sequence of events last Friday.

Sir Reg said he had a number of questions he wanted to put
to Assembly speaker Eileen Bell who chairs the all-party
business committee.

"I am seeking clarification from the Speaker as to what was
agreed on Friday. From what the Speaker said it appears
that a deal was done between Sinn Fein, the DUP and both
Governments as to what was being said in advance of
Friday's session.

"This obviously put a totally different complexion to the
mess that was presented to the public on Friday."

His comments came as the Belfast Telegraph learned Mr Hain
ruled that Sinn Fein senior negotiator Martin McGuinness
should be allowed to address the Assembly on designation
day last Friday.

His direction overturned a decision by the Assembly's
business committee, which has been promised more
independence in the transitional set-up.

The all-party committee had agreed that neither Mr
McGuinness nor DUP leader Ian Paisley should address the
Assembly after their expected nominations.

But Mr Hain's instruction was sent directly to speaker
Eileen Bell. Mr Hain turned down a number of requests from
the business committee for debates including the
controversial review of public administration and attacks
on health service workers.

Mrs Bell said yesterday she did not have time to contact
MLAs after receiving Mr Hain's instruction, following the
meeting of the business committee on Friday.

She said the transitional Assembly would not have the
autonomy which a fully-restored legislature would enjoy.

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=716497

Hain Under Fire After 'Overruling' Committee

By Noel McAdam
28 November 2006

Assembly members were on a collision course with Secretary
of State Peter Hain last night over who runs Stormont.

The growing row came as the Belfast Telegraph learned Mr
Hain ruled that Sinn Fein senior negotiator Martin
McGuinness should have been allowed to address the Assembly
on designation day last Friday.

His direction overturned a decision by the Assembly's
business committee, which has been promised more
independence in the transitional set-up.

The all-party committee had agreed that neither Mr
McGuinness or DUP leader Ian Paisley should address the
Assembly after their expected nominations.

But Mr Hain's instruction was sent directly to speaker
Eileen Bell and will be raised when the business committee
meets at Stormont later today.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey said he had
concerns over how the business committee was being allowed
to conduct its affairs, after several months of
confrontation under what has become known as the 'Hain
Assembly'.

Mr Hain turned down a number of requests from the business
committee for debates including the controversial review of
public administration and attacks on health service
workers.

Mrs Bell said yesterday she did not have time to contact
MLAs after receiving Mr Hain's instruction, following the
meeting of the business committee on Friday.

She said the transitional Assembly would not have the
autonomy or independence which a fully-restored legislature
would enjoy.

Sir Reg has also raised questions over the extent to which
the DUP, Sinn Fein and the governments knew what DUP leader
Ian Paisley was going to say last Friday.

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=716569

I've no regrets: Morrow

DUP Chairman Defends Controversial Statement

By Noel McAdam
28 November 2006

DUP chairman Lord Morrow today insisted he had "no regrets"
over the controversial statement insisting party leader Ian
Paisley had not been nominated as First Minister-designate.

And he confirmed that the statement had been initially
drawn up as a point of order which he would have put in the
Assembly had it not been suspended after loyalist Michael
Stone's attack.

His comments came after Mr Paisley indicated two or three
of those involved in the statement signed by 12 MLAs, four
of them MPs, had since had "second thoughts".

In a round of interviews, the DUP leader said there was the
"odd squabble" in the party but it was now cleared up.

Lord Morrow said today: "I have no regrets about putting my
name to the statement by the 12.

"I have not been asked to withdraw my name from that
statement and if I was asked, I would not do so."

The DUP leader yesterday appeared to ameliorate statements
from several senior party figures, including deputy leader
Peter Robinson and secretary Nigel Dodds, that the
devolution of policing and justice might not happen for at
least a political lifetime.


"If Gerry Adams brings about the conditions by his actions
that will cause the Protestant population to trust him,
then doing that can very much deal with the timeframe," Mr
Paisley said.

Asked about becoming First Minister, with Martin McGuinness
as co-equal Deputy First Minister, a relaxed and jocular Mr
Paisley said: "I am not sure if I want it or not but I will
accept it."

In the statement issued last Friday without the knowledge
of the party's press office, the four MPs - Mr Dodds,
Gregory Campbell, William McCrea and David Simpson - and
eight other MLAs said: "Nothing that we have said or done
today can be taken by the Government as an indication that
they can imply Shadow, Designate or any other status to
anyone in relation to the Office of First and Deputy First
Minister."

Apart from Lord Morrow, it was also signed by Diane Dodds,
Jim Wells, Stephen Moutray, Mervyn Storey, Paul Girvan,
Nelson McCausland and Tom Buchanan.

Later on Friday Mr Paisley told PA: "Everyone already knows
that in those circumstances after they are delivered I
would accept the First Minister's nomination provided the
election results are favourable."

Then came another statement from the entire DUP Assembly
Group in the name of Lord Morrow urging Sinn Fein to move
soon on publicly declaring support for the Police Service
of Northern Ireland.

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=716499

Paisley Rejects Claims Of Party Rift Over Power-Sharing With Sinn Fein

By Noel McAdam
28 November 2006

DUP leader Ian Paisley has rejected claims his party is
split over power-sharing with republicans.

After an Assembly attack on his party yesterday by
independent unionist Robert McCartney, Dr Paisley rebuffed
speculation that his leadership control is slipping.

"The DUP are a very independent party," the North Antrim MP
said. "Everybody has their viewpoints and I think our party
has now got over this, it is better and we have better
understanding among ourselves of where we are going."

Mr Paisley also ignored Mr McCartney's demand to repeat his
public statement made late last Friday on the position of
First Minister in the Assembly.

Mr McCartney however told the DUP it was inviting the
"plague of internal dissent" which MP Jeffrey Donaldson
once brought to the Ulster Unionist Party.

In the only full address made at yesterday's resumed
Assembly gathering, Mr McCartney argued that Mr Paisley had
consented to accepting the designation as First Minister by
his silence.

Mr McCartney said that when Speaker Eileen Bell had deemed
Mr Paisley's response as an acceptance, he could, there and
then, have denied that it was - but he did not.

"Subsequently, he publicly accepted the nomination outside
this Chamber. I submit that such an acceptance is invalid
and requires to be repeated as a matter of record within
this Chamber and he should now be invited to do so."

Mr McCartney said only DUP pragmatists pretended the St
Andrews Agreement was anything but a "sugared version" of
the Belfast Agreement and still required enforced coalition
with Sinn Fein.

"The DUP acceptance of these terms makes it a 'born-again'
pro-Agreement party with policies essentially
indistinguishable from those of the Ulster Unionists -
policies which brought electoral disaster upon the UUP," he
said.

"The core of (David) Trimble's policies was power-sharing
with Sinn Fein (and) attempts by the DUP pragmatists to
disguise the stench of that U-turn from the party's grass
roots has failed."

Meanwhile, amid reports that Sinn Fein is set to call an
ard fheis in January to change its policy on policing,
Gerry Adams hit out at Peter Hain over demands for his
party to clarify its position on policing.

"We are not about playing politics with policing. We are
about depoliticising policing. I don't think anyone would
expect us to take responsibility for policing without there
being executive authority," he said.

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http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/16923

Special Criminal Court Must Follow Diplock Courts Into Extinction

Published: 28 November, 2006

Sinn Féin Justice spokesperson Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD
speaking following signals that the British Government are
to legislate to bring about an end to non-jury Diplock
courts in the Six Counties has called on the Dublin
Government to follow suit and get rid of the Special
Criminal Court and the Offences Against the State Act.

Speaking today Deputy Ó Snodaigh said, "Non jury Diplock in
the Six Counties were a repressive measure designed to
fast-track the imprisonment of republicans in a conveyor
belt manner. I welcome the signals today that the British
Government are finally going to legislate to bring them to
an end.

"The special Criminal Court in the Twenty-Six Counties was
set up in much the same manner as the Diplock Courts in the
North. However, Justice Minister Michael McDowell has been
moving in the opposite direction to the British. He has
consistently supported the broadening of the use of the
Special Criminal Court despite the UN twice calling for an
end to its existence.

"Repressive legislation has no place in a democratic state
in the 21st century and certainly not in Ireland 12 years
into the peace process, 9 years into a continuous cessation
by the Irish Republican Army, 8 years after the conclusion
of the Good Friday Agreement, and more than a year after
the IRA took the courageous and unprecedented step in
formally ending their armed campaign and putting their arms
beyond use.

"The ending of the Special Criminal Court and the repeal of
the Offences Against the State Act are required under
strand three of the Good Friday Agreement which was
endorsed by the vast majority of people on this Island.
Michael McDowell must act on this endorsement." ENDS

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http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/16919

Kelly To Meet Lord Carlisle On Diplock And Other Justice Issues

Published: 28 November, 2006

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Justice issues Gerry Kelly today
said that he was satisfied that the British Government were
now finally legislating to bring about an end to the
Diplock Court system in the North. Mr Kelly's comments

come as he prepared to meet Lord Carlisle, the Independent
Reviewer of repressive legislation, in Stormont.

Mr Kelly said:

"Non jury Diplock courts in the Six Counties were a
repressive measure designed to fast-track the imprisonment
of republicans in a conveyor belt manner. Ending the use of
repressive measures like Diplock Courts has been a

key objective of Sinn Féin in our negotiations with the
British government over many years.

"Sinn Féin secured a commitment from the British government
to end the use of Diplock Courts and we are satisfied that
the British government are now legislating to honour this
commitment . We met the British Minister responsible for
the consultation into this legislation David Hansen in
early September, we again raised the issue at St. Andrews
and we will be meeting with the Lord Carlisle today in
Stormont to discuss this and other related

issues.

"Nationalists and republicans, who have in the past been
the victims of a repressive justice system need to have
confidence that things have changed and changed for good.
Sinn Féin remain committed to ensuring that we see a

complete transformation in the Justice system and we remain
engaged with the British government on this issue." ENDS

Editors Note: Gerry Kelly will meet Lord Carlisle in
Stormont Buildings today. Lord Carlisle is the Independent
Reviewer of repressive legislation.

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http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/16922

EU Report To Highlight Irish Complicity In US Illegal Rendition Programme

Published: 28 November, 2006

Sinn Féin International Affairs spokesperson Aengus Ó
Snodaigh TD has again called on the Government to refuse
the use of Irish airports and airspace to all planes
associated with the United States' rendition programme.
Deputy Ó Snodaigh was speaking today before the publication
of a report from a European Union Committee which is
expected to expose Ireland as the third most culpable EU
state having hosted 147 secret CIA flights.

He said, "According to the report from the EU Committee
established to report on the role played by EU states in
illegal CIA extraordinary renditions Ireland lies behind
just England and Germany as the third most culpable state
having hosted 147 secret CIA flights. This is a complete
compromise of our neutrality, it is illegal and it is
absolutely unacceptable.

"Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern is appearing before this
committee on Thursday and it will be interesting to see how
he explains this away. He would be better to admit that he
and his Government were wrong when they tried to convince
us that this state was not facilitating the United States'
illegal rendition programme.

"This report confirms the concerns raised by myself and
many other human rights campaigners long ago. The
government must explain why it failed to insist on a
capacity for the Gardaí to inspect the planes landing at
Shannon Airport and the Taoiseach must give a direct,
personal guarantee that in future no US military planes or
flights associated with United States intelligence agencies
will be allowed use Irish Airports or Airspace." ENDS

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/6191226.stm

Court Order Over Stone TV Footage

Television film of the Michael Stone incident at Stormont
must be handed over to the police, a judge has ruled.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland applied for an order
at Belfast Recorder's Court on Tuesday compelling the BBC,
UTV and RTE to hand over film.

A police officer said he also wanted footage in a BBC
camera left running after it was abandoned in Parliament
Buildings last Friday.

The judge granted the order which was sought under the
Terrorism Act.

Judge Tom Burgess said he was satisfied that various film
clips would be of value in the public interest. He said the
order included the film in the abandoned camera which was
recovered by bomb disposal experts as they checked out the
building.

It was put in a sealed bag and handed over to police but
has not been seen by anyone.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/11/28 11:34:29 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=78188&pt=n

SDLP Slam Stone's Former Bosses

Loyalist killer Michael Stone's former paramilitary bosses
must bear some of the blame for his bomb attack on
Stormont, it has been claimed.

By:Press Association

The Ulster Defence Association has denied having any
advance warning of the Milltown Cemetery killer`s
astonishing solo strike on Parliament Buildings in Belfast.

As the terror organisation distanced itself from one of the
most dangerous and notorious paramilitaries ever to join
its ranks, the UDA branded him an estranged recluse.

But Alban Maginness, a senior member of the nationalist
SDLP, insisted his ex-associates cannot wash their hands of
responsibility.

He said: "Stone was clearly inept and may well have acted
alone, but he had a number of explosive devices on him.

"Until otherwise is proven we can only assume that the
explosives came out of arms dumps."

In a statement the UDA also rejected reports that it
despatched four carloads of its men to intercept, arrest or
shoot Stone, 51, on Friday as he travelled to Stormont,
allegedly carrying a bag of home-made explosives for an
assassination attempt on Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and
Martin McGuinness.

It said: "The Ulster Defence Association had no prior
knowledge of Stone`s intention and it is becoming
increasingly clear that he acted alone."

The loyalist, who was freed early under the Good Friday
Agreement from his life sentences for killing three
mourners at an IRA funeral in west Belfast in 1988, is back
in jail after being remanded on attempted murder charges
brought after he was overpowered and arrested at the front
door of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The UDA said he had been accepted and supported by its ex-
prisoner community after he was freed from the Maze Prison.
It offered him what limited resources were available to
them at the time, the statement said.

It added: "He was content for a period to work within this
reintegration process.

"But for the past two years he became estranged, wishing to
pursue issues of truth and reconciliation, engaging with
(Archbishop) Desmond Tutu and wishing to engage with other
ex-combatants in the republican community.

"This organisation was not ready for this type of
development and Michael has since become more reclusive and
withdrawn.

"Due to the lack of resources available to ex-prisoners`
groups they were unable to deliver a comprehensive
programme that could help people like Michael."

But Mr Maginness insisted the UDA`s failure to decommission
any of its weapons should not be overlooked.

"The UDA trained and nurtured Michael Stone and made him
what he is. When it suited them, they basked in the
publicity he generated," he added.

"The UDA has never been known for clear thinking or
discipline. In such a fractious criminal organisation there
may well be many more Michael Stones on the fringes, people
with a poor grip on reality whose sense of importance
depends crucially on their access to weapons and
explosives. Only real and total decommissioning can reduce
this danger and it should be done without delay."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/6190326.stm

UDA Distances Itself From Stone

The Ulster Defence Association has denied having any prior
knowledge about Michael Stone's attack at Stormont.

The loyalist paramilitary group refuted claims that it sent
out teams to intercept or shoot Stone before the security
alert on Friday.

Police have ended their search of a house on the outskirts
of east Belfast in connection with the incident.

They said the search at a bungalow on Grahamsbridge Road,
Dundonald, was part of an investigation into serious crime.

It is understood that the house belongs to a former
girlfriend of the loyalist killer.

There were no arrests.

Stone, 51, faces a total of five charges of attempted
murder following a major security incident at Stormont on
Friday during an assembly sitting.

He was also charged with possession of articles for
terrorist purposes and possession of explosives.

Prison

He was returned to jail after his early release from jail
under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement was suspended.

Stone was sentenced to almost 700 years in jail for six
murders, three of which were committed during a lone gun
and grenade attack on an IRA funeral in Belfast in 1988.

He was released in 2000 after serving 12 years in prison.

Newspaper reports claimed the UDA sent out four teams to
intercept and, if necessary, shoot Michael Stone before the
attack at Stormont.

However, the paramilitary group's leadership issued a
statement on Monday describing the reports as "completely
untrue."

This was reiterated by Frankie Gallagher of the UDA's
political wing, the Ulster Political Research Group.

"The Ulster Defence Association has had absolutely no prior
knowledge of what Michael was doing," he said.

"That is becoming increasingly clear as time shows that he
acted alone."

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/11/28 07:21:25 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=716558

Stone Joins List Of Killers Who Blew Chance Of Freedom

By Sarah Brett
28 November 2006

Michael Stone is the third convicted killer this year to
have blown their chance of freedom under the Good Friday
Agreement.

He is one of 15 killers to go back behind bars since early
release schemes started six years ago.

Two of those have been released again, one died in custody,
and a further two were denied the chance of getting out on
licence because they were arrested while on a parole
scheme.

In the last 12 months alone two men have breached the rules
of their licences by committing a crime or coming to the
attention of police through their behaviour.

Former UDR man Andrew Neville Browne (42) had his licence
suspended after an alleged assault in England late last
year.

Before the Good Friday Agreement the Lisburn man was
serving two life sentences for the murders of Catholics
Liam McKee and Loughlin Maginn in 1989, cases which first
brought to a head allegations of collusion between the
security forces and loyalist paramilitaries.

Another convicted murderer had his licence suspended in May
this year but cannot be named as legal proceedings are
ongoing.

In total, ten killers released on licence - nine loyalists
and one republican - are today back in prison. Six of them,
including Stone, have had their licences suspended pending
a review while the other four have had their licences
revoked permanently.

Two others - Poyntzpass killers Stephen McClean and Noel
McCready - are also still serving life sentences after
being arrested while on a parole scheme prior to their
release under the Agreement.

Shankill bomber Sean Kelly and loyalist double killer
Darren Larmour were released again in recent years.

Kelly was controversially freed in July last year by
Secretary of State Peter Hain just before the IRA statement
pledging to end all activity.

Larmour was freed on compassionate grounds because he has
an incurable brain disease.

Meanwhile, John Hugh Marsden, who was jailed for the UVF
murder of two Catholics in Belfast in 1994, died in
Maghaberry prison last year. His death is one of six in
custody currently being investigated by the Prisoner
Ombudsman.

Before Stone, the most high profile killer to go back to
prison was Greysteel gunman Stephen Irwin, who was jailed
again in October last year for slashing a football fan's
leg.

He was later told by the Court of Appeal that he would have
to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Another sent back for a new offence was Christopher
McMillan, who murdered Norman Harley at Belfast Waterworks
in November 1995. He was reincarcerated after assaulting an
ex-girlfriend in England.

Others returned to prison for fresh crimes include George
Armstrong who was jailed in 1990 for his part in the murder
of James Hamilton at his home in Belfast.

After being freed he was jailed in England for false
imprisonment of a man he accused of being an undercover SAS
officer.

Armstrong and McMillan's licences have been revoked.

Only two others have had their licences revoked - loyalist
Victor Graham who was jailed for two murders, and
republican John Brady, who was given a life sentence for
the 1989 murder of Reserve Constable David Black in
Strabane.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/6190438.stm

SF Takes Role On Dublin Policing Board

A Sinn Fein politician has taken an official role on a
policing board in the Irish Republic for the first time.

Dublin councillor Larry O'Toole has become vice-chair of
the city's joint policing committee.

However, he said his appointment should not be taken as an
indication of the party's position on the PSNI.

Meanwhile, a public meeting in west Belfast on Monday night
to debate the policing issue was largely opposed to
republicans supporting it.

It was attended by some Sinn Fein members and two leading
figures from the 32 County Sovereignty committee, a group
which has links with the Real IRA.

Sinn Fein's policing spokesman Gerry Kelly said he thought
it was a good debate.

"We are dealing with real people here, we are dealing with
real issues and the people who spoke, you have to be clear
about it - it wasn't just the issue of policing - they were
absolutely against the Sinn Fein strategy in its entirety,"
he said.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/11/28 08:57:27 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-3115.html

Stone Aimed To Kill Loyalist He Thought Was Gay

28-November-2006
PinkNews.co.uk writer

Loyalist hitman Michael Stone has been described as a
“lunatic” by one of his targets.

Stone, now facing charges for the attempted murder of Gerry
Adams and Martin McGuiness at a Stormont meeting last week,
is reported to have warned a newspaper of the planned
attack and also a desire to murder fellow Loyalist Johnny
"Mad Dog" Adair.

Adair has in the past been accused of being gay by Stone,
he told the Daily Express: "Michael is mentally unstable
and I kind of feel sorry for him. What was he going to
shoot me with, the plastic gun he had at Stormont?

"He has repeatedly said his war was over, so why did he go
to Stormont? He's a headcase and just lives for publicity.
He always has to create his own publicity.

"If Loyalists are laughing at him, what must Republicans be
thinking? The man is a total headcase and I have been
proved right."

He described Stone as a "a lunatic who should be
sectioned".

Stone will be remanded in custody in solitary confinement
until December 22.

He was stopped by security guards on Friday morning after
attempting to enter the Northern Ireland Assembly with a
gun and nail bombs.

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=716496

Adair's Do-Good 'Conversion' Ridiculed

By Deborah McAlesse
28 November 2006

Ulster terrorist Johnny Adair's claimed conversion from
brutal killer to do-good charity worker has been met with
ridicule.

The exiled UDA leader has claimed he is teaming up with a
German neo-Nazi bomber to travel to Africa to help build an
orphanage.

His pledge to fund the project in Uganda along with Nick
Greger, a notorious far-right skinhead who is barred from
the UK, has been branded as nothing more than a publicity
stunt and an insult to his victims.

"I have serious doubts that this project will ever get
under way and believe it is more about publicity for Johnny
Adair than any willingness on his behalf to do some good,"
DUP MLA Robin Newton said.

And he added: "If he is eager to make amends for his evil
deeds, which many will be sceptical about, then he could
start by apologising for his reign of terror in the lower
Shankill and the lives he has destroyed in Northern
Ireland."

Mr Newton said Adair's claims were made even more absurd by
his friendship with Greger.

"His association with extreme right organisations in this
project throws added doubts on his about-face," he said.

Adair's relationship with Greger is to be chronicled in a
documentary on Channel 5 tonight.

Presenter Donal MacIntyre, who spoke about the programme in
yesterday's Belfast Telegraph, interviewed Greger in
Dresden prison where he was being held on explosives and
incitement charges.

Adair's "conversion" has also been ridiculed by Johnston
Brown, the detective sergeant who built the case that first
imprisoned Adair on charges of directing terrorism.

"There is absolutely no chance of Adair having a change of
heart," said Mr Brown.

"He has nothing to offer but violence, death and
destruction."

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http://1010wins.com/pages/133884.php?contentType=4&contentId=248107

Supreme Court Declines Case Of N.J. Asylum Seeker, Children

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An asylum seeker found to have engaged
in terrorist activities in Northern Ireland before moving
to New Jersey lost his battle Monday to have the Supreme
Court review his lawsuit.

Lawyers told the justices that Malachy McAllister and his
children Nicola and Sean face the likelihood of persecution
if they are returned to Northern Ireland, the province of
the United Kingdom from which they fled 18 years ago after
their home was attacked by paramilitary forces.

McAllister, who settled in Wallington, N.J., and works as a
stone mason, said his only hope now is special legislation
introduced by Rep. Steven Rothman, D-N.J., which is
pending.

"It's been a long, long process of disappointments and
heartache,'' said McAllister, 49.

His lawyer, Eamonn Seamus Dornan, said legal options have
been exhausted.

"Hopefully there is still a political solution,'' Dornan
said.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld immigration
rulings to remove McAllister and to dismiss the petition by
his children to remain in the United States as moot because
their mother died two years ago.

McAllister wanted to challenge the provision in asylum law
that denies protection to a person who has engaged in
terrorist activities. And in regard to the children's
asylum claims and the death of their mother, the family
pointed to a Supreme Court ruling that says a case is not
rendered moot when a live issue or controversy remains.

In the early 1980s, McAllister became involved in the Irish
National Liberation Army, a splinter group of the Irish
Republican Army. He served time in prison for acting as an
armed lookout in the shooting of a police officer and for
conspiring to shoot another officer.

After his release from prison, his home was raked with
gunfire and his wife was thrown out of a moving vehicle
while she was pregnant, his lawyers said in petitioning the
Supreme Court for review.

The case is McAllister v. attorney general of the United
States, 06-385.

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

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2006/1128/breaking50.htm

Appeal Over IRA Convictions Rejected

An appeal by two Sinn Féin members against their
convictions for IRA membership has been dismissed by the
Court of Criminal Appeal.

Niall Binéad, of Crumlin, and Kenneth Donohoe, of Tallaght,
were sentenced to four years each in prison by the Special
Criminal Court in November 2004 over an incident in Bray
where Garda uniforms and other items were found in the back
of a van

Binéad was a former branch secretary with Sinn Féin and
also a key election worker for Dublin South Central TD
Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

The men were arrested after gardaí arrested five other men
following suspicious activity around three vehicles in
Corke Abbey, Bray, Co Wicklow, on October 10th, 2002.

Inside a transit van, gardaí found four men as well as a
sledgehammer, two pick axe handles, eight bags of ties,
radios, a black balaclava, rubber gloves and a yellow
fluorescent jacket with the word "Garda" on it.

© 2006 ireland.com

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

http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=78190&pt=n

More Honours For Trimble & Hume

Nobel Peace Prize laureates John Hume and Lord Trimble have
picked up another honour for their contribution to the
Northern Ireland peace process.

By:Press Association

The Political Studies Association in London presented the
former nationalist SDLP and Ulster Unionist leaders with
lifetime achievement awards at a ceremony in London.

Conservative leader David Cameron was also named Politician
of the Year.

The PSA, which draws its membership from politics
professors, lecturers and researchers, said Mr Hume had
made an exceptional contribution to peace in Northern
Ireland.

Their citation said: "Much of his political thinking was
incorporated into the Good Friday Agreement, a visionary
deal which embodied John Hume`s commitments to peace,
power-sharing and political pluralism.

"Ever since the days of the civil rights movement, John
Hume has offered unswerving fidelity to the principles of
non-violence and justice.

"His Nobel Peace Prize speaks volumes for what he achieved,
but the judges felt it important that the British political
science community also formally recognised John Hume`s
magnificent contribution to peace and justice in Northern
Ireland."

They also said Lord Trimble had made an extraordinary
contribution to peace in Northern Ireland, at personal and
political risk to himself.

"In signing the Good Friday Agreement, the framework of
which endures as the template for a revival of devolved
government in the province, David Trimble took political
and personal risks," they acknowledged.

"David Trimble articulated the need for a forward-thinking
unionism; secured the Union and offered a pluralist vision
of politics in Northern Ireland which offered hope for
future generations.

"David Trimble`s Nobel Peace Prize speaks volumes for what
he achieved and it is evident that any re-negotiated or
reworked political deal in Northern Ireland will contain
much of the brave and imaginative input he offered in the
1998 version."

Mr Hume and Lord Trimble were the joint recipients for the
1998 Nobel Peace Prize following the Good Friday Agreement.

The former SDLP leader, whose talks with Sinn Fein leader
Gerry Adams are credited with helping kickstart efforts to
move republicans away from paramilitarism, is also a former
winner of the Martin Luther King Award and the Ghandi Peace
Prize.

The former MP and Assembly member for Foyle, who was also
an MEP until 2004, has also received a host of honorary
degrees around the world.

Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey was elevated to the House of
Lords this year as a working peer after losing his House of
Commons seat to the Democratic Unionist MP David Simpson in
Upper Bann during last year`s General Election.

He was the First Minister of the last power sharing
executive at Stormont from 1998 until its collapse in 2002.

The emergence of the Rev Ian Paisley`s DUP in the November
2003 Assembly Election as Northern Ireland`s largest party
and an even more crushing defeat at the polls in last
year`s Westminster election forced him to quit as Ulster
Unionist leader after 10 years in charge.

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=716507

Opin: Perplexing Issues That Surround Paisley Stance

Barry White
28 November 2006

So everything's clear now. According to Ian Paisley, if
Sinn Fein deliver on "policing and all outstanding issues"
he will accept the nomination of First Minister, with
Martin McGuinness as his co-equal Deputy First Minister,
"provided the election results are favourable".

Here's where that famous old phrase, "the devil is in the
detail" comes into its own. What precisely does "all
outstanding issues" mean and who will judge if the election
results, next March, are favourable?

Paisley gave a few hints in his original statement in the
Assembly, when briefly we thought he was going to propose
and conditionally accept the First Minister job himself.
(Nothing he does surprises, though Sinn Fein had the wit to
let Gerry Adams nominate Martin McGuinness, acting a little
more democratically.)

There could only be an agreement involving Sinn Fein,
Paisley had said, when there had been delivery by the
republican movement, "tested and proved over a credible
period in terms of support for the PSNI, the courts, the
rule of law, a complete end to paramilitary and criminal
activity and the removal of terrorist structures".

So full power-sharing depends on delivery not only on the
police and the courts, but the virtual disbandment of the
IRA.

Can that be done before next March, when the election is
due? And if the vote for the DUP or Sinn Fein goes down,
indicating divisions in the ranks, would Paisley back off?
Sounds like it.

I try to visualise what kind of an election it will be, in
three months' time, if there is no resolution to the
policing issue and the two parties are still where they are
today, laying down incompatible conditions.

Trust us not to surrender, they'll be saying, while their
opponents in the UUP and SDLP are bound to be accusing them
of dragging out the process and deceiving their
electorates.

Although we have not yet embraced the difficult concept of
fundamentalist unionists trying to govern alongside
resolutely anti-partitionist republicans, maybe we've taken
the first, few faltering steps in that direction.

While Ian Paisley couldn't bring himself to say it in his
Assembly speech, he certainly did a few hours later,
declaring that he would accept the nomination provided all
the St Andrews conditions were met.

He's learning that leaders have to lead, not simply
complain, and that means making an accommodation with your
enemies.

It was far easier destroying all the compromisers who have
gone before, from Terence O'Neill to Chichester-Clark,
Faulkner and, latterly, Molyneaux and Trimble.

Now Paisley's in charge, and he has to show that if
republicans live up to their promises - always in doubt,
and late - he can do business with them on the eminently
practical business of government like water tax, rates and
the 11-plus.

Naturally, there is dissension in the ranks, both among the
MLAs and the Free Presbyterians. People who have always
wanted things done their way, or no way, have to get used
to accepting something less. They do it all the time, in
local government, but only because it happens on minor
matters, behind the scenes, not at Stormont level.

So the future of power-sharing, and probably Northern
Ireland itself, depends on Paisley pulling off this amazing
feat of reassuring his party and Church diehards that
governing with republicans, and Dublin, doesn't mean sell-
out. He can do what Trimble and all the others couldn't -
because they had Paisley to contend with - and both defend
the union and work in partnership with nationalists.

He won't have to do it for long, before his retirement, but
he and Peter Robinson must begin to condition their voters
far more effectively than they have for the Big Event, when
power-sharing could become a reality, in March.

He'll want to have as many concessions in the bag, before
facing the voters, so he'll be almost a permanent resident
in Downing Street, along with Gerry Adams.

That's the optimistic scenario, with Big Ian facing down
the doubters and being flexible enough to make the Good
Friday institutions, ruled by consensus, work in the way
they were intended. No statesman in the world would choose
them, and no one knows if they can work, but they're his
lot, and ours. The alternative, as we know, is a future
devoid of local politics, with Hain-type figures deciding
things on a whim, in conjunction with Dublin, and with a
population growing increasingly frustrated and
discontented.

No one who has devoted so much of his life to politics
could possibly want to see Northern Ireland go that way
without trying to do something about it. I believe Paisley
and his party will do their best, although they are
constrained by their past, but Sinn Fein have yet to
convince me that they will make things sufficiently easy
for him.

Their agenda will always be different and suspect, but as
long as it is confined to politics alone, a process that
has been dominated by drifting deadlines should be allowed
to proceed at its own quiet pace. If Paisleyism is
undergoing radical transformation, like Sinn Fein,
governments shouldn't try to rush it.

In the frame

Now let's see, I'm going to put a stop to this Stormont
sell-out. There should be cameras here, so I'll write a bit
of grafitti. They'll see me and then I'll be stopped,
surely. Hope I look good in the pictures...

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/wales/6191368.stm

Hain's Wife Injured In M4 Crash

The wife of Welsh and Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain
has broken her for foot in a car crash in heavy weather on
the M4 near Bridgend in south Wales.

Businesswoman Elizabeth Haywood was driving her husband's
BMW when she crashed on Monday night.

No-other vehicle was involved, but a spokesman for Mr Hain
said Dr Haywood had escaped through the windscreen and the
car was a write-off.

The minister is with his wife at the Princess of Wales
Hospital in Bridgend.

His spokesman said Mr Hain had cleared his diary to be with
his wife.

He said Dr Haywood was "shaken up and bruised, but other
than that she is fine".

Cancelled engagements

Mr Hain was still hoping to address the Welsh Assembly on
the implications for Wales in the Queen's Speech during
Tuesday afternoon's plenary session.

However, he has cancelled other engagements including
addressing the Welsh assembly's Labour group.

His spokesman added the minister and was intending to
accompany his wife to their home in his Neath constituency.

The spokesman said: "He was going to take her home and then
make an assessment about whether she could be left."

Dr Haywood, a former Welsh regional director of the
Confederation of British Industry, now runs a Cardiff-based
recruitment and head-hunting firm, KMC International.

The couple who married in June 2003 do not have any
children together.

Mr Hain, a candidate for Labour's deputy leadership, has
two grown-up sons from a previous marriage.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/11/28 12:38:03 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/6189972.stm

Orange Approval For Boyne Centre

An interpretive centre on the Battle of the Boyne site will
prove a magnet for Orange tourism, the head of the loyal
order has predicted.

Grand Master Robert Saulters headed a delegation from the
order who visited the site near Drogheda.

The site of the iconic battle is being turned into a multi-
million euro historical and interpretive facility by the
Irish government.

Mr Saulters said the Irish government "deserve great
credit" for their work.

The battle was fought between William of Orange and
Catholic King James II in 1690. The Protestant Orange Order
celebrate William's victory on 12 July.

Last year, the Irish government announced it would spend
15m euro to fund a museum and interpretive centre at the
site.

A small visitors' centre is already operating and attracted
25,000 visitors last year.

Plans for the future include an extended centre with maps,
models and graphics depicting the battle.

There will also be a display of replica 17th Century
artillery and a series of audio-visual displays.

The battle was the largest number of troops ever deployed
on an Irish battlefield, with both kings commanding their
forces in person - 36,000 on the Williamite side and 25,000
on the Jacobite side.

At stake were the English throne, French dominance in
Europe and the balance of power in Ireland.

The work should be completed by the summer of 2008.

A walled garden at the rear of Oldbridge House will be
restored and horses will be kept in a number of new
stables.

It is believed that more than 5,000 horses were involved in
the battle and it is hoped that the horses will give
people, particularly children, a sense of what happened.

A new entrance is being built for the site and there will
be extensive new car parking. Guided tours will be
available to take people around the battlefield and explain
the crucial actions on the day.

Mr Saulters said it was fascinating to see the work that
was being done at the Boyne.

"At the moment it is a bit like a construction site but the
plans we were shown were impressive," he said.

"I believe that this will be a major tourist attraction for
people from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
and much further afield," he said.

"Already many of our Orange brethren visit the site but
when it is completed I am sure the numbers will increase
dramatically.

"The work being done by the Irish Government to preserve
this important site brings a very important legitimacy to
the celebrations of the Orange Order and they deserve great
credit for everything they are doing."

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/11/28 06:39:52 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/?jp=CWIDGBSNMHEY&rss=yes

Conradh Seeks Greater Prominence For Irish On Road Signs

28/11/2006 - 12:49:01

Conradh na Gaeilge is holding a series of protests around
the country today in a bid to persuade the Government to
give the Irish language greater prominence on road signs.

The organisation wants all signs to be made fully bi-
lingual and says this would promote the language as well as
benefit the tourist industry.

Conradh says road signs are a form of branding for the
country and a part of Ireland's self image and greater
prominence for Irish placenames would send a message that
the language is part of the country's identity.

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=716488

Folk Star Tommy Makem Defiant After Cancer Blow

By Eddie McIlwaine
28 November 2006

Tommy Makem, the first folk superstar, has said that he is
refusing to give in to cancer.

"It's not a death sentence anymore," said the 74-year-old
man from Keady who began his career with the Clancy
Brothers before going solo.

And he is pressing ahead with plans for an Irish Christmas
show at the Imperial Theatre in St John's New Brunswick,
Canada, which opens on Sunday, December 10.

Makem, who lives in Dover, New Hampshire, lost his wife
Mary to cancer five years ago, but even though doctors
advised him not to travel back to his native Northern
Ireland on an autumn tour he is pressing ahead with plans
for a working cruise to Honolulu in the New Year.

Tommy, famous for ballads like Gentle Annie, Four Green
Fields and Farewell to Carlingford, has been diagnosed with
lung cancer, but is fighting back especially after being
told by medical experts that surgery is not required.

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http://www.stthomas.edu/bulletin/news/200648/Tuesday/StudyAbroad11_28_06.cfm

University of St. Thomas, Minnesota USA

Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Bulletin Today home

Study Abroad: Plan Ahead For Scholarships In N Ireland

Thinking about studying in Northern Ireland? Consider
applying for a scholarship through the Irish-American
Scholars Program. Each year, St. Thomas nominates two
undergraduate students to this program, which offers full-
tuition scholarships to study for a semester or year at a
university in Northern Ireland.

The application deadline for the 2007-2008 academic year is
Jan. 10, 2007.

For more information, call Catherine Spaeth in
International Education, (651) 962-6448, or visit the
International Education Web site.

http://www.stthomas.edu/studyabroad/

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/features/story.jsp?story=716578

The Big Question: Are Apologies For Historical Events
Worthwhile Or Just Empty Gestures?

By Paul Vallely
28 November 2006

So what's the latest one?

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has just been holding forth
about "how profoundly shameful the slave trade was", in the
run-up to the 200th anniversary next year of the outlawing
of the practice on British ships. He didn't just praise
those who fought for its abolition, but also expressed "our
deep sorrow that it ever happened".

That's not exactly an apology

No, it's more an expression of regret. These
historical/political apologies often are. Part of the
problem is that, philosophically speaking, you can only
properly apologise for something you have done. And these
public statements are often on behalf of people other than
the speaker, or even those he - and it's usually a bloke -
represents. Mr Blair's last big public expression of regret
was for English indifference to the plight of the Irish
people during the potato famine of the 1840s.

No saying sorry over Iraq, then?

You're missing the point. Look at Bill Clinton. When he
went to Africa he apologised for the world's inaction
during the genocide in Rwanda. Not just his inaction, or
Washington's, but that of the whole world. Sorry is not
that hard to say when you're apologising for something
someone else did. It's when we're to blame ourselves that
the words tend to stick. "I did have a relationship with
Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate" and it was "a
personal failure on my part". Indeed.

Where does this fashion for apology come from?

The last Pope was the real trendsetter. John Paul II
apologised for no fewer than 94 things - from the Crusades,
to the Inquisition, to the church's scientific obscurantism
over Galileo, its oppression of women and the Holocaust. He
did it throughout the 1980s and 1990s as a preparation for
the new millennium. You can't heal the present, he
insisted, without making amends for the past.

Everyone caught the bug. F W de Klerk apologised to the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission for apartheid, or at
least for the "many unacceptable things that occurred
during the government of the National Party". Jacques
Chirac apologised for the help the Vichy government gave
the Nazis in deporting French Jews to death camps. The
Japanese Prime Minister has apologised for the whole of the
Second World War. And Boris Yeltsin apologised for the
mistakes of the Bolshevik Revolution on its 80th
anniversary in 1997.

Aren't they all just weasel words?

There is undoubtedly, shall we say, a wide range of
motivation at work here. Some, such as George Bush's
statements on the torture of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib
- "what took place in that prison does not represent the
America that I know" - may sound like an apology but they
are actually a defence dressed up as condolences.

Others, like Mr Blair's latest on slavery, may well be a
pre-emtive strike. By offering empathy rather than any
suggestion of inherited guilt, the Prime Minister gets his
retaliation in first against any attempt to suggest that
Britain ought next year to be paying compensation to some
group. "When we blame ourselves," as Oscar Wilde noted, "we
feel that no one else has the right to blame us." Less
cynically, one might observe, strategic apologies may be
motivated by the speaker's attempt to change how others
perceive them, or keep relationships intact.

So political apologies are just exercises in damage
limitation?

They certainly risk being perceived as that. When Pope John
Paul II in 1998 formally apologised for centuries of
Catholic anti-Semitism and its failure to combat Nazi
persecution of the Jews, many people felt he had not said
enough. He made no mention of the silence of the 1940s
pope, Pius XII, on the Holocaust.

Others are more forgiving. When John Paul II visited
Judaism's holiest site, the Western Wall, he placed a piece
of paper between the stones of the temple, as devout Jews
do, which stated: "We are deeply saddened by the behaviour
of those who in the course of history have caused these
children of yours to suffer." No actual apology, some noted
grumpily. But to many Jews, the symbolic power of the
Pope's presence in that place was a more effective apology
than words could ever be.

Have there been any other good apologies?

Yes, even when they didn't sound much. Often you find they
are part of a process. The early apologies to the
Aborigines by figures of in the Australian establishment
began weakly but increased in strength over the years, and
have been accompanied by some reparative actions.

You have to allow people time. In 1984 Japan's Emperor
Hirohito alluded to the Second World War as "an unfortunate
period in this century". It was the first step. In 1991, on
the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbour, the Japanese
parliament considered apologising for the attack (but then
decided not to do so).

But two years later the country's prime minister, Morihiro
Hosokawa, declared the war had been "a mistake" and spoke
of "a feeling of deep remorse and apologies for the fact
that our country's past acts of aggression and colonial
rule caused unbearable suffering and sorrow for so many
people".

In Britain, too, Tony Blair's much-derided remarks on the
Irish potato famine were followed, a year later, by him
apologising for Bloody Sunday, in which 19 civilians were
massacred in 1972 by the British Army. Not long after, the
IRA made an unprecedented apology for the civilians killed
in its 30 year "armed struggle". Peace dropping slowly.

How can you say sorry for something someone else did?

Many people think you can't. A lot of people in the Vatican
didn't like Pope John Paul II's excessive breast-beating.
One group lobbied the man who was then Rome's doctrinal
watchdog, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, declaring that "you
cannot apply a modern mentality to the actions of past
centuries". Many historians agree; judging the past by the
standards of the present is intellectually dishonest. We
are all children of our time.

But a reluctance to square up to the wrongs of the past is
often political. Many of John Paul II's critics feared that
all his admissions that the church had been wrong in the
past would give ammunition to critics who think it is wrong
about a lot today. "As regards the sins of history," said
Cardinal "Barmy" Biffi of Bologna, "would it not be better
for all of us to wait for the Last Judgement?" Most people
think that is a little too long a wait.

Are politicians' apologies a waste of time? Yes...

• They never apologise for things they've actually got
wrong, only the mistakes of dead people, who can't answer
back

• You can't judge the moral culpability of the past by the
very different standards of the present

• Many politicians use apologies about the past as an
excuse for inaction in the present

No...

• They are part of a long, slow process of public healing
that may begin with words and end with actions

• Change in the real world can be a long journey and the
apologies can be the milestones

• Sometimes even politicians tell the truth, and from time
to time they may feel genuinely sorry for the mistakes of
their predecessors

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

http://www.utvinternet.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=78185&pt=n

Irish Car Hire Prices Set To Double Over Christmas

Car hire companies in the Republic of Ireland are to hike
up their prices over the busy Christmas period.

An annual survey by The Consumers Association of Ireland
has found that the cost of car hire is to double from
December 23 to January 5.

The CAI says these increases bring no additional benefit to
the customer and have a negative effect on tourism.

In many other countries the increase in cost is far less,
and in Paris for example there is no rise at all in price.

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Posted by: Unknown / 10:10 AM
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