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Latest News 1st February 2012 |
James Connolly writing on
Theobald Wolfe Tone, from Workers' Republic, 13th August
1898
Rehiring of
retired officers hits confidence - Conall McDevitt The SDLP has warned that the issue of the PSNI's rehiring of retired police officers is undermining nationalist confidence in the police. It wants the PSNI to reveal how many former members of Special Branch have been rehired, and in what roles. The Policing Board was told last month that there are currently 304 retired police officers back working for the PSNI on temporary contracts. The BBC revealed 63 of them have been rehired by the intelligence branch. However, there is no breakdown of their precise duties. SDLP Policing Board member Conall McDevitt said the police must provide those details and provide assurance about the role of former officers rehired as civilians. "The question that's on very many people's minds is this, are there or have there been former members of Special Branch rehired as agency or associate staff and have any of those individuals been set then to work in investigating the past activities of Special Branch? "This question needs answered and it needs answered to restore confidence in the new beginning to policing," he said. The rehiring of retired officers will be discussed by the Policing Board on Thursday. In a statement, the PSNI said
it was asked by members of the board not to discuss the issue with
the media before that meeting.
London
launch of Setting The Truth Free: The Inside Story of the Bloody
Sunday Justice Campaign by Julieann Campbell This Friday leading Human Rights lawyer Gareth Peirce will launch Setting the Truth Free: The Inside Story of the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign in Bookmarks Bookshop, Bloomsbury, London, as part of events commemorating the 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Author, and Derry Journal journalist, Juileann Campbell, was not only the Press Officer for the Bloody Sunday Trust during the campaign and the publication of the Saville Inquiry, but is also the niece of Jackie Duddy, who was the first murder victim in Derry on 30th January 1972. An intelligent and emotive inside account of the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign, Setting the Truth Free records the personal stories of the campaigners, the relatives and the wounded themselves, right up to the Saville Report publication in June 2010. “Setting the Truth Free is a wonderful book because it documents eloquently events that go to the heart of the struggle for justice and freedom…the inspiration is universal.” John Pilger Launch details:
McCartney
calls for Bloody Sunday Paras to be stripped of their decorations Commenting following the Honours Forfeiture Committee decision to strip Former RBS Chief Executive Fred Goodwin of his Knighthood in light of the banking collapse, Sinn Féin Justice Spokesperson, Raymond McCartney has called for those members of the British Paratroop Regiment who were decorated by the their Queen in the aftermath of the Bloody Sunday Massacre to be likewise stripped of their so-called honours. Raymond McCartney said: "The British government has acted relatively swiftly to remove Fred Goodwin from the ranks of the British elitist Honours System because of the part played by RBS in the financial collapse and for which taxpayers are now paying the price. "If there is any honour in this system then the British government must now act to correct the insult that was added to the grief of the families of the Bloody Sunday dead and injured when Queen Elizabeth decorated those responsible for the murder of fourteen Civil Rights marchers and the wounding of fourteen more on the streets of Derry on January 30th 1972. "British Prime Minister, David Cameron on publication of the Saville Report accepted that all of those killed and injured were totally innocent and that the actions of the Paras on that day were both 'unjust and unjustifiable' in other words he was acknowledging that the Bloody Sunday dead were murdered. "If Mr Cameron does not now
move to have the paratroopers stripped of their decorations then he
will once more confirm that a perceived financial crime against the
British perople should be dealt with more severely than state murder
of Irish civilians on their own streets."
Collusion
report calls for inquiry New report demands inquiry and apology 20 years after Ormeau bookies’ massacre A report by a victims’ support group detailing collusion in the Sean Graham’s massacre will call for an independent inquiry into the UFF slaughter which saw five people murdered and seven others wounded 20 years ago this week. The 70-page Relatives for Justice (RFJ) report, will be presented to families of those killed tomorrow (Thursday) and calls on British Prime Minister David Cameron to commission an independent inquiry into the slaughter in the Lower Ormeau bookies on February 5, 1992. The report details security force collusion in the murders of the five Catholic victims – Jack Duffin (66); Willie McManus (54); Christy Doherty (52); Peter Magee (18) and James Kennedy (15) – who were gunned down by the loyalist murder gang in broad daylight. Collusion has long been claimed in the indiscriminate killings of the victims. In September 2010 an investigation by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) revealed UDA informer William Stobie had handed the Browning pistol used in the attack over to RUC officers, only for them to return it to the loyalist group. The Browning pistol and an AK-47 used in the Sean Graham’s attack were both part of a consignment imported from South Africa in 1987 by UDA double agent Brian Nelson that was not stopped by his British army handlers. Mark Sykes from RFJ, who was shot in the attack which claimed the life of his 18-year-old brother-in-law, Peter Magee said the new report not only highlighted the extent of collusion but also seeks justice for the dead. “It is asking David Cameron to make a full apology to those bereaved and injured. We also want information from him around the weapons coming into the country because British military intelligence knew about them through Brian Nelson. “The British have a responsibility to tell the families the truth. The HET report stated there was no new forensic or prosecutorial evidence that would convict anybody but we don’t believe that to be the case. We have studied every aspect of this and there is a multitude of failures on behalf of the RUC, PSNI and HET. Somebody needs to be held to account.” Mark said the collusion aspect was evident “immediately” following the attack, with eyewitnesses claiming a UDR jeep stationed opposite the bookmakers moved only minutes before the murders took place, allowing the killers to drive in. “Within a week people were asking for the ballistics report and the RUC refused to release it. But the Cory Report in 2004 into Pat Finucane’s death mentions the guns used in both attacks. The information was deleted as it was seen as ‘a risk to national security’ but we wondered what there was to hide. We found out about the Stobie information after that.” Despite Dundonald man Mark Rice being found guilty of possession of the assault rifle used in the attack in 1993, he was eventually cleared of the five murders. It was widely believed leading Annadale loyalists Joe Bratty and Raymond Elder, who were shot dead by the IRA on the Ormeau Road in 1994, were behind the attack. Mark said the 20th anniversary of the Sean Grahams attack would bring fresh impetus to the campaign for the truth to be revealed. “We want the Public Prosecution Service to bring a fresh investigation using all the information and evidence available, including that contained in the RFJ report. “There are children and grandchildren who weren’t even born at the time taking up the baton to get to the truth. Another generation of family members will always be there to fight for this, no matter how long it takes.” A new memorial to the victims of Sean Graham’s will be unveiled in place of the current plaque at 2.25pm on Sunday (February 5), 20 years to the day since the attack. It will be preceded by an anniversary Mass at 11.30am the same day in St Malachy’s Church. The massacre is also detailed
in a new graphic novel that is now available to see at the RFJ offices
on the Fall Road. It contains drawings of Troubles killings that had
elements of collusion including Sean Graham’s, Pat Finucane
and the McGurk’s Bar bombing.
Scottish
split a ridiculous non-starter Letters Imagine the situation. Some 75% of Scots vote for independence. The Edinburgh and Borders region, however, votes mainly pro-union. Determined to remain in the UK, the unionists insist on partitioning Scotland so they can remain with England. A new border is drawn to incorporate as much territory as possible, while maintaining a suitable unionist majority. Two new countries are created - Scotland and Southern Scotland. This leads to a lot of disgruntled Scottish nationalists in both parts and possible trouble for the future. Of course, such a ridiculous scenario could never happen... S Martin
‘Paras
are war criminals’ – families The paratroopers who shot and killed innocent civilians on the streets of Derry on Bloody Sunday are “war criminals” and “must be prosecuted,” those attending the 40th anniversary commemoration at the Rossville Street monument were told on Sunday morning. Geraldine Doherty, niece of Gerard Donaghey, made the remarks during the commemoration at the Bloody Sunday monument on Rossville Street, just yards from where a number of those killed on January 30th 1972 were shot. She also repeated her determination to continue campaigning to have her uncle’s name cleared. In his report published in June 2010 Lord Saville said that Gerard Donaghey was innocent but added that he may have been carrying nail bombs when he was shot. His family, and many others, including doctors who attempted to treat the wounded teenager, have always rejected claims that he was carrying nailbombs and have claimed they were planted by the security forces. Around 1,000 people attended the ceremony on Sunday, including relatives of all of those killed on Bloody Sunday and a number of the wounded. Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, Nobel Laureatte John Hume, and former civil rights leader Ivan Cooper also attended the service. An interdenominational church service was also held led by Fr Michael Canny, adm, Glendermott, First Derry Presbyterian Minister, Rev David Latimer, and, Church of England clergyman, Rev David Jennings. Rev Latimer said the Bloody Sunday families have shown what can be achieved when people stand together. “We do not have every answer and there are questions yet unasked, but of this much we can be certain – together we can make a difference. Therefore let us as Catholics, Protestants, Nationalists, Unionists, Republicans and Loyalists willingly stand alongside each other, to restate and reaffirm our commitment to peace and to working in partnership with each other,” he said. The choir from St Mary’s Church, Creggan, sang a number of hymns at the service. Wreaths were laid by relatives at the monument on behalf of the families and by the deputy mayor, councillor Kevin Campbell on behalf of Derry City Council. Kieran Dowling from the Department of Foreign Affairs also laid a wreath on behalf of the Irish government. Maureen Coleman, a spokesperson for the families of those killed in the Loughinisland massacre in 1994 when six people were killed by loyalist gunmen, siad that the Bloody Sunday families’ campaign for justice is an ongoing “inspiration” to all relatives who are seeking the truth about the deaths of their loved ones. Emmett McConomy, brother of Stephen McConomy, an eleven year-old schoolboy was shot and killed by a plastic bullet fired by a British soldier close to Fahan Street in April 1982, also addressed the crowd and announced that a large commemoration will be held this year to mark the 30th anniversary of his brother’s death. Kay Green, sister of Jackie Duddy, read out the names of all those killed on Bloody Sunday, as well as those of the wounded who have since died. She also paid tribute to the wounded who are still alive. A minutes silence was also held. The commemoration service was
brought to a close by Danika Breslin who sang ‘Something inside
so strong.’
Family
sue police over Shankill butchers A woman who lost her father at the hands of the savage Shankill butchers 35 years ago is suing police because she believes the killers could have been stopped much sooner, UTV can reveal. Charlotte Morrissey's dad Joseph was one of around 30 victims believed to have been tortured and killed in north Belfast by the gang during the 1970s. Led by Lenny Murphy, they stalked the streets at night and preyed on those who were alone and vulnerable - both Catholics and Protestants. In February 1977, Joseph Morrissey became one of the last of their targets when he was dragged into the back of a car as he walked home along the Antrim Road. His battered body was later found dumped near a community centre on the Forthriver Road, after he suffered the most horrific death. But Charlotte, who was 21 at the time, believes her father's murder could have been prevented, and she has taken her case to the High Court. Now she is suing police because she thinks the killers could have been stopped much sooner. "Today is a very big day for our family," she told UTV, "because we are issuing a legal writ against the Chief Constable.
By the time Joseph Morrissey was killed, ringleader Murphy was in jail on weapons charges but was still telling his henchmen what to do. It was at the height of the Troubles and police resources were stretched to their limits. In May 1977 officers finally got a breakthrough. A survivor was able to identify his attackers and 11 loyalists were given life sentences - almost 2,000 years between them. But Murphy, who was later murdered, and two other players were never prosecuted. Detective Chief Inspector Jimmy Nesbitt, who was charged with catching those responsible, insists police did all they could to catch the butchers sooner. "I worked with a team of totally professional detectives and we did absolutely everything in our power to catch these people," Mr Nesbitt told UTV. "I am confident there are no failings in our investigation. "We had patrols out but if they saw anyone they would abandon their mission and they only operated when there were no witnesses. "We had looked at all possible suspects but we had no idea who was carrying out these crimes." But Charlotte Morrissey isn't convinced. The writ issued against the police alleges missed opportunities that could have prevented the killings - that they knew as early as 1973 that Lenny Murphy was a murderer, and that police failed to act when Murphy was handing out instructions from his prison cell. Now Charlotte feels it is time for closure and has vowed to fight for answers. She said: "When the details came through of what had happened to him that was when - while dad had been a victim of this psychopathic gang, when he died we became the victims. "I will fight on for as long as it takes for justice to be done, for the Chief Constable to explain to me why when daddy's death was so preventable, why was it not prevented?" Detective Chief Inspector Jimmy
Nesbitt says he is willing to speak to the family.
McGuinness
'ready to watch' NI team Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness has told UTV he's willing to go to a Northern Ireland football match, in a bid to reciprocate the gesture made by DUP leader Peter Robinson in attending a GAA game. "It would present no difficulty for me whatsoever - I probably would know more about soccer than Peter would know about Gaelic football," the deputy First Minister said. It's a claim that Mr Robinson may not be able to dispute, having admitted he might not have caught "all the finer points of the game" when he attended Saturday's McKenna Cup final.
But in travelling to Armagh for the clash between Derry and Tyrone, he did become the first DUP leader to go to a GAA match - a step branded "a little bit of history" by Mr McGuinness. "All of us recognise that people do look at these situations and they make judgements about your broad-mindedness, your openness and your willingness to reach out ..." the Sinn Féin politician said. "On the basis of whether or not you're prepared to show people in our entire community that you're prepared to respect what they love and what they represent." According to Mr McGuinness, the trick is to reach out without compromising political ideals. "Peter, when he went to the game in Armagh, did so without compromising his political views and opinions," he said. "And that would be absolutely the same for me." Speaking exclusively to UTV's Political Editor Ken Reid, Mr McGuinness also revealed that he intends to fight the next Westminster and Assembly elections. "If I have the health to do it and if the party wants to do it and, more importantly, if the people want me to do it, then absolutely," he said. "I am still in good health and I am still as energized as I ever was. "Building the peace process was of huge importance to me - as is trying to achieve my primary political objective of the reunification of Ireland by purely peaceful and democratic means." Video and analysis here
New Conservative
party for NI to be based in Bangor The Conservative party have announced the formation of a new political party in Northern Ireland. The Conservative and Unionist Party of Northern Ireland will be based at new headquarters in Bangor, County Down. The party's co-chairman Andrew Feldman said that the party would have significant powers within the UK Conservative Party The Conservatives had previously established an electoral alliance with the Ulster Unionist Party. Despite fielding joint candidates at the 2010 general election, the Ulster Conservative and Unionist New Force (UCUNF) failed to win any seats. Lord Feldman had previously written to Ulster Unionist leader Tom Elliott in November 2011 suggesting the UUP disband and merge with the new Conservative-led formation, but the offer was rejected. Announcing the new party, Lord Feldman said: "For too long, politics in Northern Ireland have been built around sectarianism and division. "We want to move past the politics of the peace process to a more normal state of affairs where everyone in Northern Ireland has the opportunity to vote for a modern, centre-right, pro-Union party." The party will have its own chairman, and an observer's seat on the Conservatives' main board. It expects to appoint a leader
in 2012.
Supergrass
judgement reserved Judgement has been reserved in the supergrass trial of alleged UVF leader Mark Haddock and 11 other defendents, 21 weeks since the case began. The Diplock court has sat at Belfast Crown Court for a total of 71 days and over 200 exhibits shown since it began on 6 September. Final submissions lasted less than an hour as lawyers for both prosecution and defence relied on skeleton arguments lodged with judge Mr Justice Gillen. The 35 charges faced by the 13 defendants are exclusively based on the evidence of supergrass brothers David and Ian Stewart who confessed to a litany of UVF crimes and received massively reduced jail terms in exchange for their evidence. The brothers, who between them spent almost the entirety of the trial in the witness box, claim nine defendants were involved in the murder of rival UDA chief Tommy English who was gunned down in front of his wife and kids in his Ballyduff home at Hallowe'en in 2000. They allege the other four were involved in assisting offenders, perverting justice and handing out beatings. On Tuesday a lawyer for one of the men labelled the Stewart brothers as "utterly unreliable", motivated not by remorse as they claimed but by "deceit and self-interest" and whose lives were filled with "gratuitous violence". He described the pair as "proven liars" in many instances, not least when they claimed Bond had driven them to and from numerous UVF meetings during 1999 and 2000 despite jail records proving that he was in custody at the time. When the trial began Robert 'Lanky' Stewart was first to take the witness box, constantly flanked by armed police, a position he would remain in for seven weeks until his brother Ian Stewart took the stand. In return for their evidence, the brothers were given massively reduced life sentences of three years after they pleaded to involvement in the murder of Tommy English and a litany of other crimes committed during their 14 year UVF careers. They claimed that alleged special branch informer Haddock was commander of Mount Vernon UVF, Moore and Millar were second in command at different times and that Wood was in charge of New Mossley UVF. With their testimonies interrupted with illness and breaks, the Stewart brothers claimed they were in a flat in New Mossley when a plan was hatched to murder a "hair bear", euphemism for a UDA member. They claimed as the nine alleged UVF terrorists munched on crisps and coke, a plan was made to hijack a taxi which would take four gunmen to English's home in Ballyduff. Robert Stewart said he drove Haddock and Moore on a "reccy" of English's house and alleged that as Haddock left the flat with the weapons handed out and the plan formed, he told them: "Try not to shoot the kids but make sure you get the f*****", adding that the alleged murder team were "laughing" while Bond told them "good luck lads". Under cross examination from the many lawyers involved in the case, the brothers denied they had received the "deal of the century" but had only wanted to "do the right thing" when they handed themselves into cops in 2009, claiming they "could not live" with the guilt of the murder any longer. Each of the men said in terms that they were telling the truth but any inconsistencies in their accounts were down to drugs, drink and trying to remember the catalogue of crimes committed many years beforehand. Tommy English's widow Doreen English also gave evidence of how her husband had been letting off fireworks with his kids in the front garden and had come inside for a cup of tea to get warmed up when the gunmen burst into their kitchen. Although she tried to stop the gang from forcing their way into her Ballyfore Gardens home, her husband was gunned down in the front hallway in front of Mrs English and the couples' children. Mr Justice Gillen and many of the barristers involved in the trial also visited the scene of the shooting and the loyalist strongholds of New Mossley and Carnmoney. At the end of the Crown case earlier this month, barristers filed direction applications for the case to be thrown out of court, urging the judge to acquit the defendants of all charges as the Stewart brothers were "totally and completely unworthy of belief". They argued that based on the inconsistencies of the brothers' evidence the judge could never be convinced or satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the guilt of the men. Delivering his judgement a week later, Mr Justice Gillen acquitted the men of two charges of wounding with intent in relation to an attack on Keith Caskey in January 1996 and an attack on Alan Webster in December 1996. On Tuesday, the judge said he was "extremely grateful" to all counsel for their helpful submissions throughout the trial. Promising to deliver his final
judgement "as soon as I can," Mr Justice Gillen said he
had to read through "a great deal of evidence" and that
everyone would get "proper notice" when it would be handed
down.
McGuinness
Irish unity comments ‘unrealistic’ Comments made by Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness on a possible united Ireland referendum within the next five years have been described as “unrealistic”. DUP MLA Peter Weir said he believed that people will be able to celebrate the centenary of Northern Ireland in 2021 with the promise of another century within the United Kingdom. “It is not surprising that Sinn Fein continues to campaign for a united Ireland but it is high time they realised that their campaign is unrealistic and failing to make progress,” said Mr Weir. “Northern Ireland’s position in the Union has never been more secure. “More and more people who would have been traditionally republican or nationalist voters now recognise that our economy is better served in the United Kingdom rather than in a united Ireland. “Indeed, their economic policies are more aligned to the DUP than any of the nationalist parties.” He said the province has been shielded from “some of the global downturn by being part of the fifth largest economy in the world”. “I am confident that in 2021 Northern Ireland will celebrate its 100th anniversary as a State and will be setting ambitious plans for our next 100 years.” In an interview with the Irish Examiner newspapers, Martin McGuinness said he would like to see a referendum held after the next election for Northern Ireland’s assembly, which is likely to happen either in 2015 or 2016. “It could take place anytime
between 2016 and 2020/21. I don’t see any reason whatsoever
why that should not be considered,” the Mid Ulster MP said.
Lord
Saville: Bloody Sunday was Derry's 'most terrible day' Lord Saville, who chaired the Bloody Sunday inquiry, has said the shootings were Londonderry's "most terrible day". In a BBC interview he said his report seemed "to have achieved a lessening of tensions and possibly a degree of moving on". He also defended the £195m cost of the 12-year inquiry, saying it would have been a "disaster" if not done properly. On 30 January 1972, a civil rights march in Derry ended with the shooting dead of 13 people by the British army. The Saville Report, published on 15 June 2010, was heavily critical of the Army and found that soldiers fired the first shot. Speaking before Parliament, Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "deeply sorry" and that the findings of the report were "shocking". A huge cheer erupted in Guildhall Square in Derry as Mr Cameron delivered the findings which unequivocally blamed the Army for one of the most controversial days in Northern Ireland's history. Widgery Report Lord Saville was appointed in 1998 by then Prime Minister Tony Blair to look into the events of Bloody Sunday. It followed an earlier official inquiry in 1972, led by the Lord Chief Justice Lord Widgery, which was described as a "whitewash" by the families of the victims and their supporters. Lord Saville said he had the impression that people in Derry were as upset by the Widgery Report as they have been by the events of the day. "But, of course, whether they were right to be upset by the Widgery Report at the beginning we had no idea, because we had no preconceptions," he said. "We started with a clean slate and on the evidence we received and the research we did, we came to the conclusions we did which differed from those of Lord Widgery." "I'm happy with the reception the report received, but I must stress, we didn't write the report with a view to what reception it might receive. "We wrote the report in an attempt to find out what had happened on Bloody Sunday. "It does seem to have advanced the cause of peace of Northern Ireland." While most of the families of those killed on Bloody Sunday welcomed the Saville Report, one has questioned its findings. The inquiry found that one of the victims, 17-year-old Gerald Donaghey was probably armed with nail bombs when he was shot by Soldier G. However, it went on to say that he was not preparing to throw them at the time when he was shot, nor was he shot because he was carrying them. The Donaghey family have argued that the nail bombs were planted on Gerald. Lord Saville said the inquiry had looked at the killing at "considerable length". "The chapter on Gerald Donaghey and the nail bombs is more than 100 pages long, and it really came down to two possibilities," he said. "We couldn't exclude the possibility that the nail bombs had been planted on him. "But we came to the conclusion that the balance of probabilities of those two possibilities lay in the conclusion that he probably had the nail bombs on him when he was shot, not sure about it, but it was probably the case." 'Gratified and pleased' Lord Saville was not in Derry on the day the report was published, he was writing up another judgement for the Supreme Court, but did watch some of the events in the city unfold on television. "My counsel team did go over there and they told me it was one of the most emotional occasions they'd ever been to," he said. "It did seem to get a good reception and the city that day did seem to be happy, so I was gratified and pleased. "He (David Cameron) did adopt the absolutely correct response to a report of this kind and from what I saw on the television about the reception in Derry, he achieved a remarkable result. "I never thought I would see an audience outside the Guildhall in Derry actually applaud a Conservative prime minister." On a role that took up so much of his life, Lord Saville said they were on a "search for the truth and we wanted everyone to help us find the truth if we possibly could". "Christopher Clarke in his opening statement said: 'Not the truth as people would like it to be, but the truth pure and simple. However complex, painful or unacceptable to whom so ever that truth may be.' "It was simply another, and by far the longest and biggest, judgement of my judicial career and as a judge you do your best to reach the answer you think is best and it's for others to judge whether you have done so or not. "It was a job that I tried to do carefully. "It took a lot of time, cost a lot of money, we received a lot of criticism for spending so much time and so much money, but we felt that had to be done in order to do not only a thorough job but also a fair job," he said. More of the interview with Lord
Saville can be seen on BBC
Newsline in Northern Ireland at 31 January at 18:30 GMT.
'Dark
side' of policing still a concern for republicans Five years after voting to support the PSNI, Sinn Fein has unfinished business with the Chief Constable Matt Baggott, says Brian Rowan Exactly five years ago, the IRA was meeting in secret session before a critical Sinn Fein vote on policing at a special ard fheis. And this, arguably, was the biggest republican decision of the peace process; a moment about trying to end an enemy relationship. The IRA and the RUC were part of a decades-long war and the Sinn Fein vote was about support for the PSNI and the new policing structure, including the Policing Board. And, in a wider frame, that weekend at the end of January 2007 stretched into the political negotiations; it removed the biggest barrier in the way of a Paisley- McGuinness deal at Stormont. The IRA had ended its armed campaign and put weapons beyond use, but had it set its face against an endorsement of new-policing, it would have put McGuinness and Adams in an impossible corner. And, so, the events and positive vote that weekend five years ago said louder than anything else that the war was really over. This is the context and the importance of that moment. Sinn Fein was about to take its places on the Policing Board and, by May 2007, Paisley and McGuinness shared a Stormont stage with Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern to cheer on this new day and new era in our politics. At that Sinn Fein ard fheis just a few months earlier, Gerry Kelly had argued that republicans could not leave "this fundamental arena" of policing to be "dominated by unionists"; "We especially cannot exclude ourselves," he argued. Now, Kelly is on the inside, as a member of the Policing Board. But it does not mean the policing argument and debate is closed. It is not. Today's republican relationship with policing has been defined in the sentence: "Sinn Fein unambiguously supports the PSNI, but its support is not unconditional." That position has been articulated by the party's national chair, Declan Kearney, in the Belfast Telegraph by Kelly and then, a few days ago, by Jim Gibney in his weekly Irish News column. The sentence tells us that something is wrong and points to urgent and unfinished business. Kearney, Kelly and Gibney have all described a policing 'dark side' - residual traces of the past they fear could contaminate the present. Their concerns are about intelligence and 'securocrat' practices; about the 'abuse and misuse' of agent-recruitment and use. This is the stuff of an unseen world, part of which is occupied by MI5 in Holywood's Palace Barracks; a base and a presence that tells us that not all the wars are over. And there is another problem issue: that of retired officers being rehired and the question of their accountability, or lack of it, within the new structures. Five years later, these are today's battles. It is not an unravelling of republican support for policing, more a public articulation of the problem areas. And the commentary of Kearney, Kelly and Gibney is an attempt to draw Chief Constable Matt Baggott and his top team into a serious dialogue on these issues. The dissident threat means a continuing intelligence need. But explanation is required when suspected agents are seen at play in republican communities. At play in terms of articulating the thinking and strategy of armed dissidents, including those behind the killing of Constable Ronan Kerr. And at play pulling the strings in riotous confrontations with the PSNI. This is a read-back into the so-called 'dirty war'. And inside the republican community, it leaves Sinn Fein vulnerable to those who will argue: I told you so. So, this is not a row for the
sake of being awkward. It is a serious attempt to engage Matt Baggott
sooner rather than later.
Senior
PSNI officer sees battle with dissident republican violence as being
a long haul Interview: Policing methods and a hearts-and-minds strategy will be employed in tandem Drew Harris, the assistant chief constable with one of the most challenging posts in the PSNI, says the battle against dissident republicans will continue relentlessly and will go on for a long time. It has been an up-and-down period for Harris, who as head of PSNI crime operations is charged with combating the threat from the dissidents. Just over a week ago the Massereene murders trial concluded with the conviction of Brian Shivers for the killings of British soldiers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey. Lurgan republican Colin Duffy was acquitted of the killings. The trial of former Sinn Féin councillor Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton for the Continuity IRA murder in Craigavon, Co Armagh, of Constable Stephen Carroll two days after the Massereene murders in March 2009 continues at the Crown Court in Laganside in Belfast. Nobody has been charged with the murder of Constable Ronan Kerr, who died in an under-car bomb attack in Omagh in April last year. His killing is still being actively investigated, according to police, as are the murders of Constable Carroll and those of the two soldiers. These are the most high-profile relatively recent murders that dissidents have admitted. But they have also been involved in other killings, numerous bomb and gun attacks, including recently in Belfast and Derry, and in so-called punishment shootings. The threat level from the dissidents, as measured by MI5, remains “severe”: that is, an attack from them is “highly likely”. In terms of dealing with that real and present threat and tackling all that purist republican crime and putting people in prison, the buck stops with Harris. He is a quiet, reflective individual who started as a constable in the RUC in 1983 and rose steadily through the ranks. He views the dissidents as “near fascist”, a group “whose mindset is absolutely certain of the validity of their argument, so certain they feel they have the right to inflict violence on others”. In a time when there is political stability and a political dispensation supported by the overwhelming majority of people in Northern Ireland, what they are doing “defies logic”, he says, in an interview at police headquarters at Knock in east Belfast, given ahead of the Massereene judgment. But he knows too that it is their narrow view that makes them dangerous and unpredictable. The policing and intelligence strategy is to hit them with everything they can, he explains, and at community level to win the battle for hearts and minds. And that battle will run just as long as the dissidents run. It is a multi-pronged approach of community and criminal policing; in the latter case dealing with the actual paramilitary threat but also targeting dissidents for more common forms of criminality such as drug-dealing, smuggling, drink-driving, fuel-laundering, petty criminality and “for whatever vulnerabilities there are in their lifestyle”. If known or suspected dissidents are seen to be living beyond their means, then the Criminal Assets Bureau in the South and the Serious Organised Crime Agency in the North will target them, Harris explains. If there are suspected tax issues, then the tax authorities are brought in. “We have been going solid at this for two years now,” he says. It is a quiet war of attrition, most of which does not make big news. The PSNI, Garda and MI5 and their dissident opponents are braced for a long conflict. “I think they themselves see it as a long-term project that they are engaged in. I don’t think they particularly see success in terms of weeks or months but they look at this in terms of years. We need to put our own timescale against this as well,” says Harris. He says the dissidents can be resisted and does not believe the support systems or “emotional drivers” are present to allow for anything approaching a successful campaign of violence over the coming years. Harris adds that garnering support on the ground to resist the dissidents is also crucial. The symbolism of GAA members carrying the coffin of Constable Kerr last year was powerful and still resonates in demonstrating the now extensive endorsement of the Belfast Agreement and the new policing and justice arrangements. The successful visit of Queen Elizabeth to the Republic also contributed. “These things are important. It keeps the agenda moving forward of a society at peace with itself as opposed to a society at conflict with itself.” Harris recalls how after the 1998 Real IRA Omagh bombing, which killed 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins, there was a “weight of public opinion” against the dissidents. “We need to keep mobilising that weight of public opinion. Together with our Garda colleagues we can chip away at them, lock them up, but the long-term thing that will erode them is if there is no public support for their actions. What happened in terms of the response to Ronan Kerr was very important in driving that message home to them.” He says the dissidents have an “insidious” and “medieval” way of developing a support base. “For instance shooting people for what they term anti-social behaviour, or shooting people facing sexual assault or indecency offences. They’ll say, ‘if you are concerned about sex offenders in your area don’t worry we’ll shoot them’ – that sort of thing.” Harris adds that that is why developing
and improving community policing, particularly in “hard-to-reach
communities”, must be a constant focus for the PSNI. “Our
major aim is to make sure of a good-quality police presence on the
ground. It’s about developing a counter-narrative to the rubbish
that they spout.”
Eamonn
McCann resigns as Bloody Sunday Trust chairman The veteran journalist, Eamonn McCann, has stepped down as chairman of the Bloody Sunday Trust. He said that he had taken his decision for a number of reasons. "It was a suitable moment for a parting of the ways," he said. "It has been more time and energy consuming than might appear." He said that he and other members of the Trust had disagreed over a number of issues, but stressed that he parted on good terms. Mr McCann also said that "on balance", he felt that a controversial march to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march should have been included in the official programme of events. Thousands of people attended the event on Sunday, which was organised by some of the families of those who died on Bloody Sunday. The majority of the families said they did not want to take part after what they considered to be the final march last year, following the publication of the findings of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. "I think it would have been reasonable to include it," he said. "But it is also reasonable to say, of course, that the organisers of the week were entitled to decide what should go into the programme and to decide what should go into it whether I or anyone else disagrees with it." Jean Hegarty, whose brother Kevin McElhinney was shot dead on Bloody Sunday, paid tribute to Eamonn McCann for his contribution over many years. "If he has decided to step down I can only respect that decision," she said. "His contribution has just
been so enormous over all these years, and he's been an enormous asset
in the campaign."
SDLP
MLA Pat Ramsey critical of Marian Price detention The continued detainment of alleged dissident republican Marian Price has "unintentionally provided a recruiting tool" for dissident republicans, an SDLP MLA told the assembly on Monday. Pat Ramsey tabled a motion calling on Justice Minister David Ford to liaise with the Secretary of State to review the conditions of her detention. Price has been in custody in Maghaberry prison since May 2011, when Mr Paterson revoked the release from prison on licence of the Old Bailey bomber. "This action provided the dissidents the opportunity again to rouse the long-held suspicion of the British justice system imposing its role on the people across Northern Ireland," Mr Ramsey said. Ms Price, also known as Marian McGlinchey, had been charged with encouraging support for an illegal organisation, the IRA, following a dissident republican rally in Londonderry on Easter Sunday. The judge granted her bail on that charge, although her licence was later revoked. Internment Speaking at the time, Mr Paterson said he made the decision because the threat posed by Price had "significantly increased". Before members discussed the motion, Speaker Willie Hay warned that nothing could be said which would jeopardise the current prosecutions with the courts. Sinn Fein's Jennifer McCann said her party had attempted to get an amendment to the motion to acknowledge republican prisoner Martin Corry. She said she saw Price's case as "tantamount to internment without trial". The DUP's Paul Givan, who is also chair of the justice committee, said the motion was "irresponsibly tabled by the SDLP". "Mr Ramsey not once commented on Marian Price's history and why her licence has been revoked," he said. He added that the secretary of state had a "duty to protect the wider interests of society". Price was jailed for the IRA bombing
of the Old Bailey in London in 1973. She was released on compassionate
grounds in 1980.
Carroll
accused’s DNA ‘in getaway car’ DNA found in a getaway car belonged to the man accused of murdering Constable Stephen Carroll, a judge heard on Monday. Forensic scientist Faye Southam told Belfast Crown Court that she recovered Brendan McConville's DNA profile on three separate sites on a brown jacket found in the boot of John Paul Wootton's Citroen Saxo. Wootton, 20, also stands accused of murdering the 48-year-old policeman in Lurgan in March 2009. Former Sinn Féin councillor McConville, 40, said he did not own the jacket, but Ms Southam said in her opinion "the findings are more likely to be obtained if he was the regular wearer of the jacket". She described how McConville's DNA was found on both cuffs and on the inside of the collar, adding that the chances of the profiles coming from an unknown male, unrelated to McConville were one in a billion. McConville, from Aldervale, Tullygally and Wootton, from Collindale, Lurgan deny the gun attack on Constable Carroll. Sharon Wootton, also from Collindale, Lurgan, charge of perverting the course of justice on dates between 8 March 2009 and 20 October 2009 in that she allegedly gave false information to police and "removed a computer or computers from her home address believing her home address might be searched and the said computer or computers seized by police". Constable Carroll, a 48-year-old married man and grandfather with 24 years service in the police, was nearing the end of his 12-hour shift when he was sent to a 999 call-out in Lismore Manor, Craigavon where a gunman was lying in wait 50 metres away. According to a prosecuting QC's opening statement, trial judge Lord Justice Girvan, sitting without a jury, will hear evidence that a tracking device had been planted in Wootton's Saxo car that was parked close to the scene of the killing and left within minutes of the shooting. The trial continues.
Ex-RUC
officers' jobs: senior police call for audit office probe Two former senior police officers want the audit office to investigate the PSNI's rehiring of ex-RUC officers who got generous redundancy packages. They said the current process lacked transparency and jobs should be publicly advertised. They want the government spending watchdog to investigate the rehiring of those who left with Patten packages. However, the Deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie said it was a temporary measure. The PSNI currently uses the services of more than 300 former RUC officers on temporary contracts. They are hired through an employment agency. Mrs Gillespie defended the practice, adding that she would welcome external scrutiny which would "finally put the matter to bed". "I think it's important to recognise the scale of change that has been delivered and to set in context the 300 ex-officers who we are now employing in short term positions," she said. "It was never, ever envisaged to be a long term solution and throughout the change programme a number of officers have been deployed on a short term contract basis - coming into the service to do short term contracts and then moving out again." The PSNI said the policy was in line with current employment law and offered value for money. The two former senior officers who want the audit office investigation are Alan McQuillan, a former assistant chief constable who retired in 2003 and Norman Baxter, who was one of the PSNI's most senior detectives when he retired in 2008. More than three quarters of civilian staff employed by the PSNI on temporary contracts are former RUC officers who retired under the Patten redundancy scheme. Nearly half of them are employed in the most sensitive areas of policing, including intelligence. Legislation in 2003 stated anyone who left the police with an enhanced Patten package would have to pay back their lump sum if re-employed as a police officer within five years. But the prohibition did not apply to anyone rehired in a civilian capacity. The issue is due to be discussed
at a meeting of the policing board on Thursday.
‘Police
threatened to ruin my life’ – claim A Derry man has claimed the PSNI attempted to recruit him as an informer against dissident republicans or “ruin his life” if he refused. Father of four Paul Ward also accuses the PSNI of pursuing a five year campaign of intimidation against him. Mr. Ward told the Journal that he was stopped on the Coshquin Road at 10pm on Tuesday night where officers offered him “everything to co-operate.” Explaining what happened, Mr Ward said: “I was driving home along the Coshquin Road, near Whitehouse on Tuesday, when suddenly a policeman stepped out of nowhere and pulled over my van. Two plain clothes officers then got into the vehicle. They told me they’d been following me all night as they wanted my help informing them on dissident republicans in Derry. “They accused me of running armed gangs in Creggan. I’m not involved in anything illegal nevermind gangs. They told me that they’d search my house until they found something. My family home has been raided four times in the last year and they haven’t found anything illegal. We can’t rest in our beds at night for fear the police are going to put our door in.” Mr Ward’s solicitor Paddy McGurk described the saga as; “A crazy situation, in which the PSNI is causing horrendous distress to Paul and the Ward family for a number of years now. They are picking his home life apart. “The important point is that in five years of searches they have never found anything connecting him to illegal activity.” In order to clear his name and “live in peace” Mr. Ward, his solicitor and a number of local community and political leaders such as Sinn Fein’s Billy Page are calling for a meeting with the PSNI. Mr. Ward said: “”It is all intimidation, my wife is just recovering from cancer but isn’t even allowed to rest in her own house.” Mr. Ward claimed that the CID officers offered to “Buy me a new van, pay me well and give me as many holidays as I could take. They basically said I could have anything I wanted if I helped them. “When I declined the officers said I had two choices, help them or they would make the rest of my life a misery. “I honestly thought I would be killed on that road. They were armed to the teeth and I thought, ‘No one knows I am here.’” Mr Ward then exited the vehicle and walked home. Mr. Ward first clashed with the police when his son was arrested near their Ballymagroarty home. During that 2007 incident he, his son who has learning difficulties and a neighbour all claim they were sprayed in the face with CS spray while handcuffed. Ten public order charges against them were thrown out at the local Magistrate’s Court. Mysteriously the CS spray canister disappeared from evidence during the case. Mr. Ward filed a civil action against the officers involved but was ultimately unsuccessful. “That is when they started this campaign of harrasment,” he said. Since then Mr. Ward’s home has been raided several times, in the last two months PSNI officers telephoned him twice to instruct him they had received a bomb warning for his home address. The police even asked Mr. Ward to check under his own car and initially refused to send officers to investigate the threat. “It was ridiculous, they asked me to go looking for a bomb. I’m at breaking point with all this. “I am asking the PSNI to meet me. I’m an innocent man and have done nothing wrong but I feel like going to the bridge with all of this. It is going to kill me one way or another. “The police certainly know where I live, they know my solicitor, I have previously requested a meeting with them, there is no need to be stopping me on back roads in the dark of night.” Sinn Fein representative and personal friend of Mr. Ward said: “I can categorically state that this man is not connected to any political party or group. The PSNI are harrassing an innocent man. These PSNI actions are setting community policing back years in Ballymagroarty. The dogs in the street see what the police are doing to the Ward family. “My main concern is for Paul’s safety. The pressure the PSNI are putting this man, his family and his health under mean he is at breaking point. I thought we’d moved away from this type of policing, tactics and pressure. “I am calling on Strand Road police to justify these actions.” Mr. Paddy McGurk confirmed he has filed another complaint to the Police Ombudsman on behalf of Mr Ward and is examining the possibility of further legal action against the PSNI for harrasment. “I also want the PSNI to agree to a meeting to discuss the case,” he stated. When asked to comment on the allegations a spokeseperson for the PSNI said only: “We do not comment on intelligence matters and no inference should be drawn from this. However, in line with all other police services across the UK the PSNI’s policy in relation to the use of Covert Human Intelligence Sources is strictly governed by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and is fully compliant with Human Rights legislation. “Anyone with a genuine complaint to make regarding police action should contact the Police Ombudsman.” A spokesperson for the Ombudsman’s
Office said: “We’ve received a complaint about an incident
which is alleged to have happened after a man’s car was stopped
by police in Derry on Tuesday night. We are currently dealing with
the complaint.”
North
in ‘united Ireland vote by 2016’ The North should hold a referendum on joining the Republic as early as 2016, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness has said. In the party’s most explicit outlining of a vote timetable yet, the North’s deputy first minister says it is his ambition to see the referendum held during the next term of the Belfast Assembly. "It just seems to me to be a sensible timing. It would be on the question of whether or not the people of the Six Counties wish to retain the link with what is described as the United Kingdom, or be part of a united Ireland. It could take place anytime between 2016 or 2020-21," he said. "I don’t see any reason whatsoever why that should not be considered. "I think, in all probability, the people who have got the power to put that in place won’t even contemplate it this side of the next Assembly elections, which conceivably could be 2015 or 2016." The deputy first minister believes the Democratic Unionist Party can be persuaded to agree to such a dramatic move. Under the Good Friday Agreement, the final say on when a referendum on the future of the North would be held rests with the British secretary of state. The Nationalist government in Edinburgh has provoked a furious row with Downing St over its plans to hold a vote on Scotland leaving the UK in 2014. Mr McGuinness does not think the financial and economic crash experienced by the Republic would put Northerners off voting to leave the UK. "It’s a mistake to think people are going to decide their future on what has been a particularly disastrous period of the handling of the economy by the government in Dublin. "People will make a decision on the potential that the reunification of Ireland can bring for them in terms of political stability and in terms of having economic levers in their own hands." Though population experts predict people from a Catholic background will form the majority in the North within a generation, Mr McGuinness said it was "too sectarian" to expect people to vote on strictly religious lines. In a revealing and wide-ranging interview with the Irish Examiner, Mr McGuinness appears to downplay the significance of Bertie Ahern in the peace process, instead insisting Tony Blair was key to the Good Friday Agreement. The Sinn Féin chief also markedly softens his stance towards Queen Elizabeth II, who he says has invited him to Buckingham Palace garden parties six times. He says her speech in Dublin Castle in May, when she stated that there were some things "we would wish had been done differently, or not at all" was a direct reference to the Bloody Sunday massacre, the 40th anniversary of which was marked yesterday. Despite a sympathetic portrayal of the IRA’s ultimate hate figure, Margaret Thatcher, he says he hopes Meryl Streep wins an Oscar for her portrayal of the Iron Lady, as the actress was very "down to earth" when she visited the North. And continuing his role as a peacemaker,
Mr McGuinness accompanied First Minister Peter Robinson to the DUP
leader’s first GAA match on Saturday, the Dr McKenna Cup football
final between Tyrone and Derry.
Robinson
set trap for naive – McCrea Peter Robinson has set a trap for the politically naive by suggesting that the DUP and UUP come together, Ulster Unionist Assemblyman Basil McCrea told a Sinn Fein conference on Saturday. Addressing a Sinn Fein ‘uniting Ireland’ conference in Londonderry, Mr McCrea said that he was wary of warm words from both the first minister and Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams. Mr McCrea said that the event — whose speakers included former senior civil servant Sir George Quigley — had seen a “positive and frank engagement” with the audience. He told the News Letter: “There were hard questions from the audience and in my view this is a more genuine engagement than tokenism. “Arguing the case of the Union should be a very important part of being a unionist.” Speaking on Saturday afternoon, Mr McCrea said that he had insisted on making “a formal speech at what is intended to be an informal setting” as “the informal sofa environment sends out a message that we are all at ease with one another”. “In truth I am not at that point. I do not feel entirely comfortable speaking in this forum and nor do I agree with the central premise of this meeting but I am prepared to engage and it is important that the imagery does not overpower the message,” he said. “I suspect we are all more comfortable talking to people who share our cultural background, whether we agree with them or not, because communication is so much more effective than with strangers.” He said that it was crucial to have trust and added: “When I was on Radio Foyle on Thursday with Gerry Adams, I kept wondering does he mean what he is saying? “Those honeyed tones that you are all so familiar with … are they a trap for naive and unsuspecting unionists? “Actually, I could ask a similar question of Peter Robinson, but in his case because I am familiar with the cultural background, I am pretty certain that he is indeed laying a trap for the unwary and the politically naive.” The Lagan Valley Assemblyman emphasised the scale of Great Britain’s economic support for Northern Ireland and told his audience that only £12 billion of the £21 billion spent on public services in Northern Ireland in 2009 was raised through tax in the Province. “This year our expenditure will drop to £18.885 billion, a reduction of some £3 billion. The effect on our economy will be profound,” he said. “There will be redundancies, there will be cuts in essential services but before you leap in fury at the Westminster government consider this: this month the United Kingdom debt hit £1 trillion and it is still rising, but despite that the Government continues to spend more per head of population in Northern Ireland than in any other part of the UK, but even this is not enough.” He said that at present there was no way that the Republic of Ireland would be able to match such a vast financial contribution if the Province was to leave the UK. Concluding his speech, Mr McCrea said: “You cannot build a better future by insisting that we do it your way and only your way. “Unionists will not wake up one morning and discover they have made a mistake. Sinn Fein must show that they are serious about reconciliation. “Nor can they ignore economic reality. A new republic without a viable economic model is a pipe dream. “The goodwill of the British
public is essential for our trade and tourism industries. The economic
dimension of the Union is colossal.”
Bloody
Sunday anniversary marked Justice Delayed was the theme of yesterday’s annual commemoration march in Derry to mark the 40th anniversary of the killings in the Bogside area of the city on January 30th, 1972. On that day, British paratroopers killed 13 civil rights marchers. A 14th person died later from injuries. Internal divisions among the relatives of the dead dominated the run-up to the march, which was attended by almost 3,000 people. A majority of the families decided not to participate as a result of the conclusions of the Saville report into the Bloody Sunday killings which was published in June 2010. It exonerated all of the victims with the exception of teenager Gerard Donaghey, who the report controversially concluded was probably armed with nail bombs when he was shot dead. Members of Sinn Féin as well as members of the SDLP attended yesterday’s march and rally alongside members of the dissident republican group the 32 County Sovereignty Movement. Also in attendance was Kieran Dowling, the Irish Government’s joint head of the British-Irish secretariat in Belfast. Michael Bridge, one of the Bloody Sunday wounded, took his place at the front of the march for the first time to highlight what he called the unfinished business of the Saville inquiry. “I was one of the lucky ones. I was one of the 27 people shot on that day and, unlike 13 others, I survived. I have missed only two of these commemorative marches since then and today I’m marching at the front of the parade for the first time. I’m doing so to make the point that justice for the victims is still outstanding. The unfinished business can only be ended when the soldiers involved in that nightmare day are charged and prosecuted for their actions. Until that happens, this campaign for justice for me goes on,” he said. Kate Nash, whose brother William (19) was shot dead on the day and whose father Alexander was wounded, said she has no dispute with the family members of the victims who opted not to march. “I haven’t fallen out with any of the families who are not with us today. I respect their decision not to attend and I’m sure they in turn respect my decision to march. My hope is that this march will continue to highlight many other injustices perpetrated against innocent people whoever they might be and wherever they might be. They too are entitled to justice for their loved ones,” she said. Michael McKinney, whose brother William was one of the 13 victims, said there had been differences of opinion among the Bloody Sunday families for some time. “I am speaking personally, not for anyone else. I believe this march should continue until justice is truly seen to be done for all the victims. “We have had the publication
of the Saville report in June 2010 but its conclusions will be illogical
without the prosecution of the soldiers who killed and wounded so
many unarmed and innocent people on these streets 40 years ago,”
he said.
Temporary
staff was seen a 'short-term fix', former senior police say The PSNI started rehiring retired officers shortly after it replaced the RUC as part of the Patten reforms of policing. Generous redundancy packages resulted in many of the most experienced officers leaving over a short period of time, creating a serious skills gap. Eleven years on, the PSNI says it has had no alternative but to rehire former officers on temporary contracts because they have the skills and experience it needs to investigate crime and combat terrorism. For years, the PSNI claimed it could not provide a detailed breakdown of the number of officers re-employed after retiring under the Patten scheme. But that changed earlier this month. The PSNI revealed that, from a total of 399 agency staff it currently employs, 304 of them are former members of the RUC who left with generous redundancy packages. That represents more than three quarters of agency staff. Sinn Fein and the SDLP have criticised the policy, while the DUP and Ulster Unionists support the PSNI argument that it needs the experience and skills of these former officers. Now two former senior officers have entered the debate and spoken exclusively to the BBC about their concerns about the process. Alan McQuillan spent almost all of his 27 years in the police as a member of the RUC and rose to the rank of Assistant Chief Constable. Short-term fix He is currently a member of the independent panel assessing the salaries of members of the assembly, and a member of the Boundary Commission in England. Norman Baxter was one of the PSNI's most senior detectives when he retired in 2008. He was involved in some of its most high profile cases, including the Omagh bomb investigation. Both are highly respected within policing, and their comments will cause concern for the police. Alan McQuillan said he accepts that the recruitment of temporary staff was needed in the immediate aftermath of the Patten reforms. He said it was supposed to be a short-term fix to fill a skills gap created when large numbers of experienced officers retired under the Patten redundancy scheme. "I never recall it being seen as a long term solution, but it seems to have morphed into a permanent way of doing business," he said. "I don't know any other police force that uses this sort of approach in the long term. It has a number of major management problems, above all, major cost problems." Alan McQuillan accepted that retired officers could have a role to play because of the skills and experience they possess. However, he said police skills are not essential for many of the temporary jobs the PSNI needs to fill. He wants the process to be more open to all, not just a closed pool of former officers who have registered with an employment agency. "I think for the vast majority of these posts this should be subject to some sort of open competition," he said. "It's not just about a short term fix, it's about building a police service with the skills base for the future. "Unless you start to build up the skills base within the organisation, in 5 or ten years time you will have exactly the same problem." The former Assistant Chief Constable says he believes the government's spending watchdog, the audit office, should investigate the process. Terrorist threat So too does Norman Baxter. He said the Patten redundancy scheme damaged policing because it encouraged too many senior officers to leave over a short period of time. "The Patten process created serious problems for policing as it stripped out most of the senior detectives within the investigations branch and the intelligence branch and that created difficulties in managing investigations and addressing the terrorist threat," he said. "At that stage the only way to fill those gaps was to bring people many on temporary contracts." But he has a number of concerns about the way the process has been implemented. This includes, what he said was a lack of transparency, and suggestions that some officers knew before they retired with large redundancy payments that they were to be brought back very shortly afterwards. "One of the biggest issues is transparency and the fact that there doesn't seem to be an open competition for some of these roles," he added. "It also strikes me that to get some of these roles there has to be knowledge that there is a vacancy and knowledge of the person who is appointing the individual. "There are some indications that some, particularly senior staff within the PSNI, could influence the creation of positions that they themselves subsequently were able to fill after they retired," he said. Mr Baxter said the audit office should investigate the practice, to separate myth from reality and determine whether best practice had been followed. "I think it would be a very positive move if the audit office were to, at this stage, look at the policy and how it is being implemented to provide reassurance to the public that the use of agency staff has been proper and value for money," he said. The PSNI said all recruitment was in accordance with European and UK employment law. It said it needs the skills and
experience of former officers who have retired and that the most cost
effective way is to hire them in on temporary contracts from an employment
agency.
Bloody
Sunday victims remembered Relatives of those killed in Bloody Sunday have gathered in Londonderry to pay tribute to those killed 40 years ago. A memorial service was held at a monument in the Bogside on Sunday and afterwards some families took part in a march. Around 3,000 people took part in the parade, which retraced the route taken by civil rights marchers on January 30 1972, where British paratroopers killed 14 people. The Saville Report, published in 2010, declared all the victims to be innocent and Prime Minister David Cameron apologised in the House of Commons. At the time, most of the families decided to end the annual march they had taken part in for 39 years, saying they had been vindicated by Saville's findings. However some families who are pressing for the prosecution of the soldiers involved, said they would continue to march. Kate and Linda Nash's brother William was one of those killed on Bloody Sunday. Kate Nash said the march should remain an annual event to help lobby for other bereaved families seeking justice. "I am delighted with the turnout," she said. "But even if it had just been myself and my sister, we would still have a right to march. That is democracy. "We are going to continue to march for prosecutions, but beyond that, this is a unique march and it should continue for all those who are seeking justice. Video here
Ford
urged to end strip searches in NI prisons The justice minister has been urged to end strip searching at Maghaberry prison and use modern hi-tech scanners. Prison reform campaigners have argued that full body searches are fuelling support for dissident republicans. Raymond McCartney, Sinn Fein, who is deputy chair of the Stormont justice committee, said David Ford should give the go-ahead for the new body scanners. His call follows dirty protests and hunger strikes by some republican prisoners at the County Antrim jail. Mr Ford said he understood the concerns of prison reform campaigners, but needed more time. The minister said security and safety came first. "There is traction for dissident support groups because of the prisons issue," he told the Sunday Politics Show. "The reality is that I cannot move in a way that would compromise the security and safety of prisoners and prison staff and the prisons in general. I am keen that we find alternatives to full body searching but that cannot be done at the expensive of security and safety." Mr McCartney, a former prisoner, was speaking on the Sunday Politics Show. "We are saying to him very clearly that if there is technology there, he should do it in a way that he is not seen to be dragging his feet," Mr McCartney said. "I think we have given him
time and space, now is the time to act."
Boston
College tapes 'should be handed over' The daughter of Belfast woman Jean McConville, who was kidnapped and murdered by the IRA in 1972, has said interviews given to researchers at Boston College regarding her mother's death should be handed over to the PSNI. Helen McKendry was 15 when her mother Jean McConville was taken from her home at the Divis Street Flats in Belfast before being murdered and her body buried close to a County Louth beach. This week during a court case relating to the release of the interviews given by former republican and loyalist paramilitaries, it emerged that six of the interviewees in the archive made reference to the murder and disappearance of Ms McConville. Judge William Young said that two of the interviews he had listened to contained information responsive to a subpoena by the British Authorities which requested interviews from the archive relating to the murder of Ms McConville. Judge Young said that some of the interviews contained references to the death but it was not possible to say whether the interviewees were repeating stories they had heard or had actual knowledge of the event. The judge also revealed in Court that two interviewees made reference to what he called a "shadowy sub-organisation" within the IRA which was operating in Belfast. The two men who conducted interviews and oversaw the project, Anthony McIntyre and Ed Maloney, are trying to block the release of the interviews. They say assurances given to those who partook in the project that the interviews would not be released until after their death should not be broken. In an interview with RTÉ's This Week programme Ms McKendry said that she "wants to know" what people had to say about her mother in the interviews. She said "there might be someone on the tapes telling the full story, who was actually there". She said that not knowing what happened was "torture". Ms McKendry has written to the US Attorney General on the issue and has appealed for him to see the family's side of the story and hand over the interviews to British Authorities as requested. She argues that the release of the material will actually enhance the peace process and not threaten it as has been argued by those trying to block the release of the controversial archive. Ms McKendry revealed how her house was under 24-hour police surveillance and her children constantly subjected to abuse by people telling them their grandmother was an informer. She says she wants to clear her
mother's name and hopes the release of the archive might confirm that
the IRA got it wrong when it shot her because it was thought she was
an informer who was co-operating with British Authorities.
Peter
Robinson attends first Gaelic football match First Minister Peter Robinson has attended his first Gaelic football match. The DUP leader was a guest of the Ulster Council for the final of the Dr McKenna Cup between Derry and Tyrone in Armagh on Saturday night. Gaelic games are traditionally played and watched by the nationalist community in Northern Ireland. Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness was also at the game. Mr Robinson got a "warm reception", he said. He said that Mr Robinson's attendance was evidence of his "inclusive approach" and was "another little piece of history." "Peter got a very warm reception from everyone he met at the game. It was wonderful to have him there," Mr McGuinness added. During the Troubles, many unionists mistrusted the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), which banned members of the security forces from being members. That rule was lifted eleven years ago. BBC Northern Ireland sports reporter Mark Sidebottom said that Mr Robinson had taken his seat just after the throw-in. He added that security was low-key for the First Minister's visit and that his attendance caused "barely a ripple" among the crowd. Four years ago, Mr Robinson's party colleague Edwin Poots was the first DUP politician to attend a GAA game in an official capacity when he also went to a Dr McKenna Cup game. And last year, the Queen went
to the headquarters of the GAA, Croke Park in Dublin, during her historic
first visit to Ireland.
Derry
to host Fleadh 2013 Derry will host the All-Ireland Fleadh in 2013, bringing the traditional music festival to Northern Ireland for the first time. The organisation of the Fleadh will coincide with Derry's stint as UK City of Culture next year. The city saw off for rival bids from Sligo and Ennis in the Irish Republic. It was awarded the event at an Ard Comhairle meting in Dublin on Saturday, where the decision was announced after a secret ballot. It follows a dramatic u-turn by the Ulster Council, which initially refused to back Derry's bid following ongoing attacks from dissident republicans. The council reversed its controversial decision earlier this week, allowing Comhaltas Dhoire to be a contender. On Monday, the PSNI said any security concerns in Northern Ireland should not prevent the Fleadh taking place in Derry next year. The bid also received the backing of First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. It is believed the 10-day event
could attract 300,000 people to the North West and could generate
up to £40m.
Bloody
Sunday helped reconcile Southern nationalists to partition By Eamon McCann Bloody Sunday, whose 40th anniversary occurs on Monday, unleashed a wave of nationalism that engulfed the Republic, and the IRA found greater acceptance among the general population. In dealing with the North, governments had to take heed of higher levels of anti-British feeling. There is some truth in this but, particularly as far as the political elite is concerned, not a lot. The three days after the Derry massacre were marked by work stoppages and demonstrations in villages, towns and cities across the State. Walk-outs and marches were called by trades councils in Dublin, Cork, Dundalk, Waterford, Galway, Sligo and Letterkenny. The protests drew in large numbers of non-trade unionists and were the biggest union-led demonstrations for many years – perhaps ever. The nature of the protests was clear in reports of marches arriving at the British embassy in Merrion Square in Dublin two days after the atrocity to hand in letters of protest or parade with placards. The most common demand was for British withdrawal from the North. The Irish Times described 500 workers arriving from the Hammond Lane Group in the Bluebell Industrial Estate; the entire workforce, it was claimed, from Beamish and Crawford in the Liberties; “hundreds” from Murphy’s Structural Engineers in Santry behind the banner of the Electrical and Engineering Union; 120 from the Agricultural Institute; “several hundred” from Aspro Nicholas in Walkinstown; a contingent from Booth Poole and Co, Islandbridge; 500 students from the UCD department of agriculture. And so on and on. On the third day, as 12 of the 13 dead were being buried in Derry, the embassy was burned to the ground. Dick Walsh described the crowd in Merrion Square as “the biggest demonstration the Republic has seen in a generation”. It took an hour for marchers en route to the embassy – many again in workplace contingents – to cross O’Connell Bridge in driving rain and bitter winds. Elsewhere, too, the numbers exceeded the previous day’s turnout. Very few shops, offices, schools or factories opened. Buses and trains stood still. No Aer Lingus aircraft took off. The leader of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers’ Union, Matt Merrigan, later suggested that, relative to population, this had been the biggest general strike in Europe since the second World War. This is not the way the event is remembered, partly at least because the government, on the previous day, noting the mood across the country, had declared a “national day of mourning”, a recharacterisation that suited a wide range of interests and that has stuck. For a moment, though, sentiment on the streets was reflected, or so it seemed, at government level. Ten limousines crossed the Border at Bridgend, Donegal, in convoy, bringing ministers to the funerals at St Mary’s in the Creggan estate. The Derry Journal listed among the attendance President de Valera’s aide-de-camp; 14 members of the government; 32 other TDs, including Garret FitzGerald, Conor Cruise O’Brien, Ray MacSharry and Charlie Haughey; the mayors of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Kilkenny, Galway, Waterford, Drogheda, Wexford, Clonmel and Sligo; the general secretary of the Ictu; the president of the GAA; an archbishop; six bishops; and an estimated 200 priests. Hundreds of local people, including members of the families of the victims, were unable to gain entry to the church. Never before or since has there been such a sense in the South of oneness with the North. Almost unnoticed at the time was a single-column story in this newspaper on the day before the funerals: “The Army Chief-of-Staff, Major General TL O’Carroll, said yesterday that the force was well-equipped to deal with internal security and likened the morale in the country to that of the 1940 period when 40,000 men were recruited very quickly.” The report didn’t spell out the nature of the perceived security threat nor expand on the reference to morale in the country, but clearly indicated nervousness about the course the feelings aroused by Bloody Sunday might take. Opening the Dáil debate on the massacre on the day after the cavalcade to Derry, taoiseach Jack Lynch declared that: “Groups proclaiming themselves to be members of illegal organisations have gone about intimidating people, seeking to give the impression that these organisations are now to have a free hand . . . “The institutions of this State will be upheld without fear or favour. The laws will continue to be enforced. Those who seek to usurp the functions of government will meet with no toleration.” Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Richie Ryan suggested that the government had only lately woken up to the extent of the threat to the State. “The anarchists know that if they could get sufficient numbers behind them they could do untold damage.” The following week, justice minister Des O’Malley introduced a Bill authorising recruitment of 600 extra gardaí. Fine Gael spokesman Tom Fitzpatrick responded that “at least 2,000” more officers were needed. As well, “any outstanding pay claims” by gardaí should be conceded. Government backbencher Seán Moore went further: “Any legitimate grievance under which the force laboured should also be removed.” At the Fianna Fáil ardfheis in the RDS a fortnight later, O’Malley announced “to prolonged applause” that he had given instructions that a number of Northerners recently acquitted by a district court on arms charges should be rearrested and tried on the same charges before judge and jury. “If the new measures were not sufficient,” he declared, the government “would not rule out special courts”. Irish Times political correspondent Michael McInerney described Lynch’s presidential address as “remarkable for its absence of attacks on Britain or the unionists and for its appeal for an end to emotional reaction”. In his ardfheis sketch, John Healy referred to “the absolute absence of any feeling that the men of the North belong in the moral community of Fianna Fáil . . . Sitting there listening to the speeches, you get the feeling that the North is nothing more than a functional historical claim: a thing so long reduced to standard cliches like our fourth green field that it isn’t real any more.” The North had seemed as never before to have become a visceral reality in the South. But literally within days, alarmed at the appalling vista suddenly revealed in the mood and scale and class composition of the demonstrations, in the burning of the embassy and the strut in the step of republican paramilitaries, the main parties of nationalism emotionally and intellectually disengaged from the North and resolved to come down hard on any elements that in the name of the North dared challenge the integrity of the Southern State. The main effect of Bloody Sunday
on nationalism in the South was to reconcile it to partition.
'Waterboard'
torture claims heard A convicted murderer's bid to clear his name has been put back amid claims that he was subjected to waterboarding torture techniques. Liam Holden, the last man sentenced to death in Northern Ireland, alleges that the controversial military interrogation method was used to extract a confession for the murder of a British soldier 40 years ago. Holden, from Ballymurphy, west Belfast, was due to hang after being found guilty of shooting Private Frank Bell in September 1972. His death sentence, however, was commuted to life imprisonment and he served 17 years in jail before applying to an independent body set up to examine alleged miscarriages of justice. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) referred his conviction back to the Court of Appeal on the basis that it may have been unsafe. The move followed an examination of new evidence and the admissibility and reliability of confessions. Holden's appeal was set to be heard next month, but his barrister revealed on Friday that fresh material has been received in relation to alleged ill-treatment. Barry Macdonald QC told the court: "That concerns the allegation of a technique used that is now known as waterboarding." The alleged method is believed to involve a towel being placed over Holden's face before water was poured over it to give the impression he was drowning. His solicitor was said to have carried out extensive research to obtain any evidence to back up the claim. Mr Macdonald added: "Just this week we have received three lever arch files full of material concerning that particular issue of waterboarding." He requested more time to study the information before deciding whether to seek to admit fresh evidence. Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan agreed to put the appeal back to a later date. "In the circumstances we
have no option but to take the case out," he said.
Kerry
reaches out on Northern Ireland "Troubles" records
BOSTON (Reuters) - Senator John Kerry said on Friday he had contacted British officials, hoping to end their quest to subpoena confidential interviews of Irish Republican Army (IRA) veterans kept under seal at Boston College in Massachusetts. Kerry, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a leading voice on U.S. policy toward Ireland, said the probe risks upsetting the 1998 peace deal that ended fighting in Northern Ireland if it leads to prosecutions of current political leaders. "If you start now to chase after some of those people who are governing, you wind up creating a whole set of retro-tensions that are contrary to this reconciliation," Kerry said in a telephone interview with Reuters. The interviews are part of an oral history project on Northern Ireland and include talks with IRA figures and veterans of the Ulster Volunteer Force. Many were subpoenaed at the request of Northern Ireland's police by the Justice Department last year. British authorities want the records to help solve one of the most notorious killings of Ireland's so-called sectarian "Troubles," the death of Jean McConville. A widowed mother of 10, McConville was abducted and murdered in 1972 by the IRA on suspicion of being a government informer - something her family has denied. Her body was recovered in 2003. The case got new attention in 2010 following interviews of IRA members who connected Sinn Fein party leader Gerry Adams to McConville's death. Adams has always denied being part of the IRA or that he had anything to do with McConville's case. One of the IRA members, Brendan Hughes, died in 2008, freeing researchers affiliated with Boston College to publish the interviews Hughes had granted as part of what is known as the "Belfast Project." The details from Hughes and another IRA member led to new interest in the collection, and eventually the subpoenas filed by the U.S. Justice Department at the request of British authorities under international criminal treaties. 'Legal resposibility' In a statement on Friday, The Police Service of Northern Ireland said that "Detectives have a legal responsibility to investigate all murders and pursue any and all lines of inquiry - for the victims, for the next-of-kin and for justice. As a result, detectives from the PSNI'S serious crime branch have asked for all the material held by Boston College." Asked about Kerry's views, a spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office referred questions about the case to other ministries, who were not immediately available to comment on Friday evening in London. The subpoenas are now the subject of an ongoing battle in U.S. courts over how far the college and researchers can go to protect the materials, and exactly what promises of confidentiality and control the college allowed the researchers to make to the interviewees. On January 20 U.S. District Court Judge William Young ordered the school to turn over material from a half-dozen or so interviewees, but the order has been stayed pending an appeal on which a hearing is expected in March. Hoping to defuse tensions, Kerry said he is "reaching out at the highest levels" to British officials, who he declined to specify, and may meet with some soon about the case. In a January 23 letter to the U.S. State Department about the subpoenas, Kerry said "it would be a tragedy if this process were to upset the delicate balance that has kept the peace and allowed for so much progress in the past fourteen years" since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 that became the basis for peace in Northern Ireland. One weakness of the peace deal is that it lacked a formal process for airing out all the details of the country's violent past, as have been set up in other war-torn nations like South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Kerry said such a process might be possible in Northern Ireland some day, but not just yet. "I don't think things are far enough along as far as resolving some of the issues," he said. The work of such a commission,
Kerry said, "would be a little raw right now."
Conflict
over ‘Prime Time’ apology Miriam O’Callaghan apologised to the wife and daughters of Martin McGuinness for her "behaviour" when she questioned him over his involvement in murder, the Sinn Féin candidate in last year’s Presidential election has told the Irish Examiner — a claim rejected by the Prime Time presenter. Mr McGuinness, the North’s deputy first minister, said Ms O’Callaghan offered the apology at the presidential vote centre in Dublin Castle following the pair’s dramatic clash in a live TV debate. In one of the most electrifying moments of a turbulent campaign, Ms O’Callaghan had asked: "How do you square, Martin McGuinness, with your God the fact that you were involved in the murder of so many people?" In an interview to be published in full in Monday’s Irish Examiner, Mr McGuinness says Ms O’Callaghan apologised on count night. "Miriam came off the stage after she had spoken to RTÉ and went to my wife and two children, two daughters, and apologised for her performance on the show [the Prime Time debate]," he said. Pressed on whether Ms O’Callaghan apologised specifically for the murder question, he said: "Well, as far as I was concerned she apologised for her behaviour, and that, as far as I’m concerned, was the end of it. Miriam didn’t apologise to me — she apologised to my wife and two daughters," he said. Ms O’Callaghan stressed she had "enormous respect" for Mr McGuinness, but had not apologised for asking such a question. "I remember he asked me to come over and meet his wife and daughters in Dublin Castle, and I do remember apologising to them for any stress caused to them during the presidential campaign — as I am always very conscious that families and loved ones have to endure a lot during election campaigns, particularly very tough ones. "I would never, however, have apologised for asking that question. That is just not something I would do. "It’s my job to ask tough questions. I will never apologise for that. I am just doing my job. "I think the very tense and stressful forum of a presidential debate though made it more pointed. "Mr McGuinness has played a major role in making the peace process work," she said. After the Prime Time debate, Mr McGuinness demanded to see Ms O’Callaghan to complain in person about the nature of the question. Mr McGuinness, who finished third in the presidential race with 13% of the vote, remains angry about the way he feels he was treated by the Republic’s media during the campaign. "During the course of the question she described me as a murderer — on what basis was she making that allegation? "Because you are a member of the IRA? And there are many people who have been members of the IRA who haven’t killed anybody, so I think it wasn’t a legitimate question," he said. Mr McGuinness also complained
he had been unfairly treated in a TV3 debate by Vincent Browne.
Extradition
application refused but judge refers case to DPP GARLAND JUDGMENT: The Director of Public Prosecutions should consider whether to prosecute Seán Garland for his alleged involvement in the distribution of counterfeit US dollars, the High Court has ruled. Giving his reasons for refusing to extradite Mr Garland to the US to face trial there, Mr Justice John Edwards said that the alleged offence would have been harmful, either directly or indirectly, to the interests of the State and the Irish courts should be entitled to assert jurisdiction over the alleged conspiracy. He referred the matter to the DPP. However, a prosecution of the 77-year-old, who suffers from cancer, diabetes and a heart condition, will require an investigation and the preparation of a file by the Garda into the events at the heart of the extradition application. Such an investigation has not so far been carried out in this jurisdiction. In an affidavit to the High Court supporting the extradition application, assistant US attorney Brenda Johnson said the US authorities discovered counterfeit $100 bills, known as supernotes, were in circulation from the late 1980s until at least July 2000. They originated in North Korea, she said. “This case involved a long-standing and large-scale supernotes distribution network (the Garland organisation) based in the Republic of Ireland and headed by Seán Garland, a senior officer in the Irish Workers’ Party,” she said. Ms Johnson said one of Mr Garland’s alleged co-conspirators, Hugh Todd, later told investigators he purchased more than $250,000 in supernotes from “the Garland organisation” which were redistributed through currency exchanges across Europe. He maintained that he first met the Irishman in the Radisson Hotel, Moscow, in April 1998, where Mr Garland emptied a leather bag packed with approximately $80,000 of counterfeit notes on to a bed for $30,000 dollars in genuine notes. Two months later, the pair met in the Savoy Hotel in Moscow, where between $160,000 and $180,000 of counterfeit US currency was handed over, it is claimed. Records with Scandinavian Airlines prove Mr Garland was in Russia on both occasions, she added. Ms Johnson’s affidavit states Mr Garland knew the notes were counterfeit, that he travelled circuitous routes and met with conspirators to discuss the supernotes operation and engage in transactions. “Some members who were apprehended in possession of or passing notes have admitted that Mr Garland was the source and leader of an illegal supernote distribution organisation and that [Christopher] Corcoran was his direct contact, communicator and negotiator,” she said. “Their statements are substantiated by documentary evidence, physical and electronic surveillance and other witness accounts.” In 2002, David Levin of Birmingham and London, Terry Silcock and Mark Adderley, both from Birmingham, were jailed for nine, six and four years respectively for what police said was the largest counterfeit dollar operation seen in Britain. Silcock alone handled $4.2 million in counterfeit money, the court heard, and the entire operation was worth $29 million. Mr Garland, of Beldonstown, Brownstown, Navan, Co Meath, was an IRA leader in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was a key figure in securing the official IRA ceasefire of May 1972. He was initially arrested by the Police Service of Northern Ireland on foot of an extradition warrant by the US authorities in October 2005 at the Workers’ Party annual conference in Belfast. He fled to the Republic when released on bail. He was later arrested outside the Workers’ Party offices in Dublin in January 2009 and released on strict bail conditions, which included surrendering the title deeds to his family home. Yesterday these conditions were discharged. Opposing the extradition, Dr Michael Forde SC had argued during the case that his client had been accused of a complex, sophisticated transnational conspiracy, but that the charge fell under Ireland’s forgery or money-laundering laws. “The rationale is very simple,” said Dr Forde. “If the offence was committed against Irish law, and a substantial part committed in the State, then the State should prosecute.” Mr Justice Edwards said that Mr Garland, who is Irish, was living in Ireland at all material times, and was alleged to have been a leading party in the conspiracy. As far as the objective of making money was concerned, it was alleged he was doing so for the Official IRA, a proscribed organisation. “It would be wrong to conclude that acts as were allegedly committed here were, in the circumstances of the particular case, merely incidental to a conspiracy, the principal or main object of which was to commit a crime or crimes abroad,” he said. View Garland should be tried in Ireland at heart of ruling ANALYSIS: While many arguments were put forward why former Workers’ Party president Seán Garland should not be extradited to the US, the High Court only considered one – that he should be prosecuted in Ireland instead. The conclusion of the High Court reflects Mr Justice John Edwards’s view that in this age of modern communications, where much serious fraud is transnational, the common law must evolve to reflect the need to be able to prosecute in the jurisdiction where a substantial portion of the crime is committed. This could be necessary to defeat a procedural argument, for example, that because the money at the centre of fraud allegations ended up in a bank account abroad, that is where the alleged offence occurred and it should not be prosecuted where some or all the deception took place. Counsel for Garland had argued his extradition was prohibited under section 15 of the 1965 Extradition Act, which states: “Extradition shall not be granted where the offence for which it is requested is regarded under the law of the State as having been committed in the State.” Mr Justice Edwards found that Garland lived in Ireland while the alleged conspiracy was being conducted, many of the alleged transactions took place in Ireland, non-Irish alleged co-conspirators travelled to Ireland, and one of the alleged objectives of the conspiracy was to make money for the Official IRA, a proscribed organisation in Ireland. Therefore the alleged offence for which extradition was sought was committed in Ireland and would be prosecutable here. The US authorities had argued the conspiracy was against the integrity of its currency, which was not disputed. This illustrates the fact that crimes involving currency, and financial transactions in general, are increasingly transnational. A deception can take place in one country with the funds withdrawn in another. In his judgment Mr Justice Edwards drew heavily on English judgments that are grappling with this new reality. “Questions of jurisdiction, although involving substantive law, contain a strong procedural element and the court must recognise the need to adopt its approach to such questions in the light of developing and advancing communications technology,” he said. “The Irish courts should, as a matter of good sense in the times in which we live, be entitled to assert jurisdiction in respect of a conspiracy formed in Ireland to effect harm by means of an unlawful act or acts to be committed principally in, or against, another state, where it can be reasonably asserted that the conspiracy, if carried into effect, would be harmful, or potentially harmful, either directly or indirectly, to the interests of this State,” he said. In opposing the extradition, Seán Garland’s counsel, Michael Forde SC, argued that his fundamental rights would be violated in that he would be imprisoned with little prospect of bail, exposed to a harsh prison regime and treated as an enemy alien; that the alleged offences were political offences arising from the partition of Korea and its consequences, and therefore not extraditable; that the relevant article of the extradition treaty was void, in that it did not require the establishment of a prima facie case against the accused; and that he had been prejudiced by excessive delay. In the event the judge did not rule on these arguments, which now remain to be considered another day. Ex-republican leader who never wavered in protesting innocence The former Workers’ Party president has always protested his innocence and his lawyers said the allegations had been in the public domain for years. The 77-year-old Dubliner was a republican leader of the 1960s and 1970s. Mr Garland joined the IRA in 1953, aged 19, and was involved in the 1950s Border campaign, also spending time as a training officer. He was imprisoned in 1957 in Mountjoy and in November that year, while still in prison, stood in the Dublin North Central byelection for Sinn Féin. He was then interned in the Curragh, but released in 1959. Mr Garland was subsequently jailed for four years in Crumlin Road prison in Belfast. After the IRA split in 1969 he joined the official wing, becoming a prominent figure in Official Sinn Féin who supported the move to end abstentionism and helped deliver an Official IRA ceasefire in 1972. In 1975 he was injured in an INLA attack but was later a key mover in changing the party’s name to Sinn Féin the Workers’ Party and finally the Workers’ Party. He became general secretary of each and later treasurer. But in a bitter split in the party he sided with the late Tomás MacGiolla against Proinsias De Rossa, who left with a substantial majority of the membership to form Democratic Left in 1982. During his career with the Workers’
Party he travelled to North Korea and Moscow on a number of occasions
and unsuccessfully sought funding from the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union. He became party president in 2000 and campaigned against
the Nice treaty in the EU and was active on issues such as opposition
to the Iraq war.
Rev Ian
Paisley ends 60 years of full-time ministry There was standing-room only at Martyrs' Memorial Church in Belfast at a farewell service for the Rev Ian Paisley. More than 3,000 people gathered to hear him preach. Now aged 85, the service marked the official end of his six decades of full-time ministry. The former DUP leader and Stormont First Minister stepped down from elected politics last year, and intends concentrating on writing his memoirs. Now known as Lord Bannside, speaking before the service, he said: "I am exceedingly happy that I've had the privilege of being the preacher here for 65 years, and that's a long time. "We have seen a miraculous work done, and we have seen a great change in our city in many ways. We've seen a change spiritually by people having respect for the bible." Among those at the service was the Stormont Health Minister Edwin Poots and DUP MP William McCrea, who sang a solo. One of those who spoke was the Rev Paisley's son, Kyle, who is also an ordained minister. He described his father as "a doer, an achiever and a great dad". The Rev Paisley preached his first sermon at the age of 16. He was ordained at the age of 20, just after the Second World War. Even when his political career took off, he kept preaching - three times a week, including twice on a Sunday. He formed his own fundamentalist Protestant denomination, the Free Presbyterian Church. Loved by some, loathed by others, he was accused of blatant sectarianism when he interrupted the Pope's speech to the European parliament in 1988. Although he is leaving full-time ministry, Friday night's sermon was not expected to be his final time in a pulpit. He is likely to accept occasional
invitations to preach in Northern Ireland and abroad.
Duffy:
‘It’s the H-Blocks again’ Lurgan republican Colin Duffy says current conditions on Maghaberry prisons Roe House wing “could be equated to the harshness of what took place in the late 70s and early 80s” in the notorious H-Blocks. He was speaking exclusively to the Andersonstown News just days after he was acquitted at Antrim Crown Court of the murder of British soldiers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar at Massereene Barracks in March 2009. Up until his acquittal and subsequent release from Maghaberry, Mr Duffy, 44, had been taking part in the no-wash protest by republicans in the jail’s Roe House wing in protest at the continued use of forced full body strip-searching by prison authorities in defiance of an agreement painstakingly worked out in August 2010. The agreement, which was reached between the republican prisoners and prison authorities with the help of independent facilitators, was supposed to do away with full body strip-searching in the prison in favour of the BOSS chair scanner and other technology. The agreement also allowed for a gradual reduction of controlled movement for republicans within the Roe House wing. However, the agreement was to break down after only a month when prison bosses claimed it did not cover strip-searching in the reception area of the facility and after demands from the Northern Ireland Prison Service that the humiliating practice was “essential” for security reasons. Mr Duffy, who had been held in custody at the prison since 2009, said he was forcibly strip-searched on 76 occasions after the collapse of the Roe House agreement – an agreement which he was instrumental in bringing about as a leading negotiator for republican prisoners. Speaking to the Andersonstown News in his Lurgan home this week, Mr Duffy described one particular full body strip-search during which guards tried to force a prison-issue jumper on him. “It was the first strip-search that I got and I remember it quite vividly as I was going out to court,” he said. “I took my coat off and I remember standing in the cell. They asked me if I was going to strip and I said no, I wasn’t, and that I wasn’t going to offer any resistance to them doing it. Between four and six of them then came in in full riot gear – helmets, shields, padded gear, the whole lot – and welted me against the wall straight away with the shields. “They didn’t even try to take the top half of my clothing off, they just got the scissors out and cut it off me. They had my wrists in locks and they cut the clothes off me. They then went through the rest of the process, which was stripping me entirely naked. Afterwards they put the bottom half back on but obviously I had no top clothes on as it had just been cut off. This was quite deliberate, as it transpired, because they went and got a prison jumper for me, and we all know what the connotations are for a republican prisoner in relation to the prison uniform and what happened in the blanket, the no-wash and the hunger strike era. “It was entirely palpable to me, the sense of elation from the people who were putting it on me. I was shouting to them to send over to the wing to get my other clothes over but they were just going ahead and forcing the prison jumper on me. I remember shouting, ‘Get this trash off my back!’ and they were smirking and smiling, as they knew fully the symbolic nature of what was taking place right there and then. They then moved me over to the reception area for me to go to court and took the cuffs off me. I immediately threw off the jumper and hurled it to the ground. I had no top on, so I put the coat on and ended up going to court like that.” Mr Duffy said the searches are designed to break the prisoners’ will. “They are physically hard on you straight away and drag you to the ground, put you in all sorts of headlocks, wristlocks and armlocks,” he said. “They are deliberately inflicting as much pain as possible on you even though you’re shouting throughout, ‘I’m not resisting this, there’s no need for this’ etcetera. It didn’t matter to them, their policy was to go in hard and physically break you. Throughout the actual searches they will be whispering to you that you’re filth, you’re scum and this is all while they are inflicting all sorts of pain and you’re lying there with your genitalia on the floor. They just don’t care. Full body strip-searching is not necessary and it’s designed to humiliate and degrade people. In my opinion there isn’t any need for it.” He reiterated claims made in the January 14 edition of the Andersonstown News by representatives of the campaign group Family and Friends of Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry that long-serving prison staff members were the main instigators of the strip-searching. “The guards who are connected to the personal aspect of actually stripping you, some of them are screws that I would have encountered years ago and, in my opinion, the bitterness is just hanging out of them,” he said. “They can’t disguise it and so they don’t even try to disguise it. Some of them have been there a long time and some of them are new, younger screws going about their business in the old-school way – they aren’t all of the old guard but they are of that mentality.” Mr Duffy described the current regime in Maghaberry as similar to that at Crumlin Road Gaol at the time of the segregation protests of the early- to mid-nineties. “I was in Crumlin Road Gaol in that period and also prior to the segregation protests which was around the time you had the bomb exploding in the jail,” he said, referring to the 1992 IRA bomb in the prison canteen that killed two loyalist prisoners. “I moved down to the H Blocks in 1995/96 and it was relaxed enough at that stage of the game. There’s no parallel to how Maghaberry operates nowadays in comparison to the H-Blocks of that period when you had political status. But when I went back into prison in 2009, into Maghaberry, there wasn’t any continuation to the system that was in the H-Block. “Now, in fact, you could equate that to the harshness of what took place in the H-Blocks around the time of the late-70s and early-80s, that’s the type of scenario we’re talking about there in Maghaberry. “When you are coming from that H-Block environment down to Maghaberry now and you see the attitude of the screws and the prison administration now and how they view people who class themselves as political prisoners, you do sort of say to yourself, ‘Here, listen, what happened to all that was won in relation to achieving what was in the H-Blocks?’ They’ve obviously tried to erode it away.” Speaking about the negotiations on the Roe House agreement in the run-up to August 2010, Mr Duffy said the key issues that the prisoners wanted addressed – strip-searching and controlled movement – were in reality not “major things”. “We weren’t asking for big, major things and they are not big, major things to resolve,” he said. “We were quite open to letting them [the prison authorities] phase it all in, even though some of our people wanted it all done there and then. We were reasonable. But within days of the agreement being signed there was a decision taken somewhere to start trying to claw back what had been agreed. “Even the facilitators to this day say their interpretation of what was agreed is the prisoners’ interpretation. I remember Peter Bunting [Irish Congress of Trade Unions] saying to me, ‘That’s it, you have achieved what you set out to achieve, there will not be another republican prisoner strip-searched anywhere in this jail again.’ But the whole agreement isn’t being implemented and it didn’t even begin to be implemented because of the prison trying to renege on it.” Mr Duffy believes that more needs to be done politically to resolve the prison issue. “Some of these people [Sinn Féin MLAs] would have been directly involved in the blanket and no-wash, hunger strike era of the H-Block,” he said. “As a republican, you do expect that given their more intimate knowledge of what took place then, and what has taken place in Maghaberry now, they could be putting more effort into resolving it. “We have met delegations from Sinn Féin, the SDLP, the Justice Department, the Justice Committee, and we have impressed upon them each and every time our position in relation to what needs to be done to resolve the situation, but there’s just nothing happening.” Mr Duffy accepted that support on the streets for the current no-wash protest was significantly lower than for similar protests in previous years. He thinks that’s due to perceptions of the prisoners involved and their affiliations to various groups. “Obviously the public support is not comparable to the amount of street protest that went on years ago in relation to that protest,” he said. “But that doesn’t take away from the striking similarities to what is actually taking place in the jail today. “I don’t think you can divorce what went on in the jails years ago in relation to the criminalisation strategy the British had from the criminalisation policy that’s happening now. “It might be subtler now, but I think it’s there and it’s behind a lot of the thinking in relation to the decision makers and the people who have the power to resolve this issue. “It’s a case of them not wanting to accept that there are republican prisoners in jail still to this day when they want to portray the North of Ireland as a done deal.” Mr Duffy said it was now up to the prisoners to decide if the no-wash protest should be escalated. “No-one wants to be living in that situation long-term, so tactically they will debate and discuss amongst themselves as to what’s the best way forward,” he said. “If they agree to bring the BOSS chair into the reception area and agree to withdraw controlled movement gradually, that’s how to resolve it. I don’t think that anyone would agree that locking people up for 23 hours a day is a regime that should be in any jail.” The Lurgan man added that he now intended to campaign as a free man for the full implementation of the Roe House agreement. “I’m a republican and a political activist and I don’t intend to stop being that,” he said. “Obviously there are issues that are still there and still relevant, so I will be involved in the Family and Friends group campaign. “I’ll be supporting
them no matter what.”
IRA convictions
'to be quashed' A husband and wife jailed for offences connected to the IRA interrogation and murder of a police informer appear set to have their convictions overturned. The Court of Appeal was told on Friday that the prosecution now accepts the guilty verdicts against James Martin and Veronica Ryan should be quashed. The couple, from west Belfast, were both convicted of the false imprisonment of Joe Fenton, a Special Branch agent shot dead after being lured to a house in the city in February 1989. Mr Martin, who was also found guilty of making property available for terrorism, was later sentenced to four years imprisonment. His wife, formerly known as Veronica Martin, was jailed for six months. Similar false imprisonment counts against the couple over the abduction of another informer, Sandy Lynch, in 1990 were overturned three years ago. In an unprecedented move, the Criminal Cases Review Commission decided to refer separate convictions relating to the Fenton incident back to the Court of Appeal. The body, set up to examine potential miscarriages of justice, refused to disclose the reasons for its decision. On Friday, in court, senior counsel for the prosecution confirmed its new position. Gerry Simpson QC said: "The prosecution accepts that the convictions of these appellants should be quashed. "One reason given was that all relevant material was not made available to the Director of Public Prosecutions, preventing him from properly considering whether Mr Martin and Ms Ryan should have faced charges. Mr Simpson added: "The fact that such material was withheld from the Director during the proceedings prevented the Director from discharging the prosecution's duty of disclosure, which had the capacity to effect the continuation or outcome of the proceedings." Although the court has not yet formally quashed the convictions, legal sources said the announcement by the prosecution meant it was only a matter of time. A further hearing next month is expected to deal with any further disclosure being sought in the case. Outside court Mr Martin and Ms Ryan's solicitor, Kevin Winters, said they must now be given a full explanation. "We welcome this second such decision. It is unprecedented that two separate cases like this stand to be dismissed on the same basis," he said."The appellants are now entitled to know the reasons why they were subjected to what we say was a contrived prosecution." Mr Winters also vowed to press
ahead with further proceedings, including compensation claims, following
the developments.
Weekend
of events planned for anniversary A son of one of those murdered on Bloody Sunday has said the cross community memorial service at the Rossville Street monument will be the main event to mark the 40th anniversary of the massacre. The service, which will be held at the monument close to where many of those killed on Bloody Sunday were shot, will be held at 1pm on Sunday. It will be attended by a Church leaders from different denominations, including First Presbyterian minister, Rev David Latimer. It is one a series of events which will be held across the city this weekend to mark the 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Tony Doherty, whose father, Patrick, was among those shot dead by British army paratroopers, said the event is open to everyone and encouraged as many people as possible to attend. “The main event for the families will be at the monument with the service of remembrance,” he said. “This is a public event and we are asking the people of the city to come along at 1pm and remember all the victims of Bloody Sunday, and indeed everyone who lost their lives during the Troubles,” he added. Mr Doherty explained that the service will be ecumenical and will be led by the various clergymen. “It is an inclusive event and we are hoping that as many people as possible will come along,” he said. A range of other events have also been organised as part of the Bloody Sunday Weekend Committee’s programme of events. Local author and ‘Derry Journal’ reporter Julieann Campbell will be in Eason’s, Foyleside, tomorrow afternoon at 2pm to sign copies of her book, ‘Setting the Truth Free,’ which tells the story of the Bloody Sunday families’ long campaign for justice. A Uniting Ireland conference will also be held in the Millennium Forum tomorrow afternoon and will feature contributions from Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, Ulster Unionist MLA Basil McCrea, senior civil servant George Quigley, among others. The conference will be held from 2-4pm. On Saturday evening the annual Bloody Sunday lecture will be delivered by leading barrister Michael Mansfield in the Millennium Forum at 7.30pm. He will be introduced on the evening by Geraldine Finucane. Admission is by donation. On Sunday, the case of Gerard Donaghey and the ongoing attempts to clear his name will be highlighted in An Chultúrlann through drama and a panel discussion involving Eamonn McCann, Jane Winters, and members of the Donaghey family. The event will begin at 2pm. On Monday afternoon a minute’s silence will be held at the Bloody Sunday monument on Rossville Street at 4pm to mark the anniversary of the killings. The ‘March for Justice,’ which has been organised by the relatives of a number of those killed on Bloody Sunday will take place on Sunday. The march will assemble at Central Drive, Creggan, at 2.30pm and follow the traditional route to Free Derry Corner. It will stop at the Bloody Sunday monument where a wreath will be laid and then move on to Free Derry Corner where speeches will be made. Darren O’Reilly will chair the platform party, which will include Linda Nash and Liam Wray. Kate Nash will deliver the main speech and Paddy Nash will sing ‘We shall overcome.’ A presentation will then be made to civil rights veteran, Ivan Cooper, who, health permitting, is planning to attend. Meanwhile the Bloody Sunday Memrial Concert, which was due to have featured Frances Black, has been cancelled due to unforseen circumstances. Anyone who has bought tickets
can get a full refund from the Museum of Free Derry or An Chultúrlann.
Family
vow to clear Bloody Sunday victim's name The family of a teenager shot dead on Bloody Sunday have said they are angry he is still being labelled a nail bomber. The Saville report found that Gerald Donaghy was "probably armed with nail bombs but was not a threat at the time that he was shot". The 17-year-old was a member of the IRA's youth wing, but witnesses said he did not have any bombs on him. His family said they will fight to clear his name. The Bloody Sunday families have planned a series of events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to mark the fortieth anniversary of the shootings. Thirteen people were shot dead when soldiers opened fire on marchers during a civil rights march in Londonderry on 30 January, 1972. Another man died five months later. Gerald Donaghy's niece Geraldine Doherty said her family are unable to move on. "For us, it's still not finished. We have to keep fighting on and do whatever we have to do to get Gerald's name cleared," she said. "I'll highlight Gerald's case at every opportunity. If it takes another 38 years, I'll do it. We're not going away." A man who treated the teenager in his living room after he was shot said he was angry. Raymond Brogan said Lord Saville's work was not finished. "Lord Saville has done a lot in easing the concerns and fears of people about the reptutations of their loves ones, but he never finished the job," he said. "I know for definite that
that young man Gerald Donaghy was not carrying any bombs."
Commissioner
'should oversee PPS' A Police Ombudsman-style commissioner should oversee the Public Prosecution Service (PPS), it has been claimed. Families of victims are left frustrated because decisions not to prosecute or to accept a plea bargain and lesser sentence are often not fully explained and the authority is perceived as unaccountable, Ulster Unionist MLA Basil McCrea added. The review of outgoing Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson's office follows failings identified by earlier reports. Mr McCrea said: "I would favour oversight of the PPS. The problem is that they cannot tell people what is going on for fear of breaking confidentiality but people are very dissatisfied with a lot of sentences." He added: "We have had a number of cases where the PPS takes decisions not to prosecute and subsequently they have been found to be wanting in that area." Teenager Thomas Devlin was stabbed to death in north Belfast and two men were later sentenced despite an initial PPS decision not to bring murder charges against those accused of killing Mr Devlin. The schoolboy's parents have called for a review of the PPS. A separate Police Ombudsman report was carried out by the Criminal Justice Inspectorate amid concerns about the independence of the office, the resignation of a former chief executive and poor staff relations. Stormont's Justice Committee took
evidence from officials involved in the review of the Police Ombudsman.
Security
services making a killing from the Troubles By Eamonn McCann From the dusty wastelands of Afghanistan to Desertcreat in Co Tyrone, the G-men keep the memory of the B-men alive. The B Specials provided a sizeable percentage of the first recruits to RUC Special Branch. Now the FBI is sending its own recruits over here to learn from the Branch's experience. The first wave of G-men and G-women anxious to access local expertise gained in the battle against terrorism is expected to arrive at the £140m emergency services college near Cookstown in spring 2015. "We have a real product to sell here," said PSNI deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie last month. Facilities on the 250-acre Desertcreat site will be "world class", she promised. "The FBI and other international law-enforcement agencies are interested in using the facilities for anti-terrorism and public order training". Counter-terrorism lore from the fight against the IRA and other paramilitary organisations will be passed on to FBI operatives in state-of-the-art surroundings, including a mock-up prison where conflict between staff and inmates can be re-enacted and a street complex where US law-enforcers can draw on Northern Ireland experience to practice and perfect their crowd control tactics. What the paranoid schizophrenic cross-dressing closet queen J Edgar Hoover would have made of it all we can but guess. Irish subversives were by no means top of his target list during 48 years as FBI director. The Reds, the Mob and uppity blacks took priority. But files released four years after his death, in 1976, contained 2,871 pages recording warrantless wiretapping, electronic eavesdropping and so forth directed against suspected IRA fundraisers and gunrunners. Some local veterans sharing their knowledge of conflict at Desertcreat seminars may find the students well ahead of them. Experience in subverting republican and loyalist paramilitaries is also proving a valuable commodity elsewhere in the war against miscreants trying to subvert the new world order. Charismatic Iraq war rhetorician Tim Collins' New Century group last year won a $45m (£29m) Pentagon contract to train the Afghan army and police how to "find and cultivate informants among the Taliban". The Intelligence Online website reports that "most of the instructors are not US, but Northern Irish, former members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, which for many years was in the frontline of Britain's combat with the IRA." The biography for Collins issued by New Century refers only in passing to his Iraq involvement, highlighting instead his experience as "opera- tions officer of 22 SAS and subsequently commander of the Royal Irish Regiment in east Tyrone (Northern Ireland) . . . has worked closely with the Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Branch . . . assumed command of 1R[oyal] Irish in Jan[uary] 2001, where he led the battalion on operations again in Northern Ireland, for which he was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service." Three years ago, Collins wrote in the Daily Mail that, "the PSNI . . . is so riddled with political correctness that many good, old-fashioned coppers - who were expert in terrorism and the communities they worked in - have simply been sidelined." He will have had in mind such old-fashioned coppers as retired chief superintendant Norman Baxter, formerly chief liaison officer between Special Branch and MI5, now New Century's director of doctrine, standards, audit and training. Mark Cochrane, consultant programme manager (training and compliance) served for 28 years in the RUC/PSNI. "For over 20 years, he was employed in counter-terrorism duties . . . was the officer in charge of covert police training within the PSNI." Human resources manager Steve Smith is a former commando who has "served on eight operational tours in Northern Ireland in support of the RUC/PSNI in areas as diverse as south Armagh and west Belfast". New Century's training co-ordinator in Afghanistan is Mike Wilkins who, from September 2006 to September 2010, was based in Belfast as senior investigating officer with the Historical Enquiries Team (HET). The company's roster of political advisers is headed by Nancy Soderberg, her intelligence credentials apparently established during her stint as Bill Clinton's point-woman on the north. The $45m success of New Century shows what a tradable commodity experience gained in the fight against the IRA and other paramilitaries has become. Now DCC Gillespie is bringing it all back home and making it available, at competitive rates no doubt, to the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies worldwide. The two main parties, which together have spearheaded the drive for the Desertcreat facility, will be chuffed at how favourable the auguries now seem. Gives the lie to begrudgers who
claim that the struggle wasn't worth it and brought nothing worthwhile.
Ulster’s
troubles ‘could flare again’ if Scots vote for independence
Independence for Scotland risks re-igniting conflict in Northern Ireland, a former first minister of the province has warned. Lord Empey, leader of the Ulster Unionists from 2005 to 2010, said that if Scotland broke away from the United Kingdom, people in Northern Ireland would have “a foreign country on one side of us and a foreign country on the other side of us”. He told peers during debate on the Scotland Bill: “We would end up like West Pakistan. We are all hewn from the same rock. Just imagine the situation we would be placed in. “We have just spent decades overcoming nationalist terrorism and we gradually, after years and years and years, managed to settle down our community. “I don’t wish to exaggerate, but if the Scottish Nationalists were to succeed, it could possibly re-ignite the difficulties we have just managed to overcome. I do not say that lightly.” His comments came as Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, a former Tory Scottish secretary, questioned why the coalition government was going ahead with the bill, which gives additional powers to Scotland, when two consultations were under way on an independence referendum and the Scottish Parliament had yet to signal its consent to the legislation. He accused First Minister Alex Salmond of proposing, in his consultation published on Wednesday, to a “rigged” referendum. He also compared him to the leaders of North Korea and Cuba. He said if Scotland went ahead with a referendum without consent from Westminster, it would have no practical effect and be merely the “most expensive opinion poll in history”. But Lord Empey, who was first minister for a brief spell in 2001 after David Trimble quit, told peers to “forget” about Mr Salmond and focus on what would happen if the UK split up. Lord Forsyth, who put forward and later withdrew a motion to hold up the bill’s committee stage, called on the government to legislate to bring in a referendum that delivered a “clear and decisive” result. And he hit out at the way Mr Salmond was preparing to set up a referendum. He said: “The First Minister, looking at this consultation paper, has betrayed the trust that has been put in him as First Minister and appears to be putting his party’s interest in front of his country’s interest, while posing as a champion of national interest. “We have a rigged question, a rigged role for the regulator, a rigged expenses system and, on top of that, the question that there should be rigged franchise. “He wants to give the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds. My researches tell me that there are only nine countries in the world that give the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds, two of which are North Korea and Cuba – both of which also have leaders with a high opinion of themselves.”
Counsel
claims Garda didn't act on intelligence The Garda had intelligence reports that members of the force were implicated in IRA activity before and in the aftermath of the murders of two RUC officers, the Smithwick Tribunal in Dublin was told yesterday. Counsel for the tribunal Mary Laverty said, however, the Garda had not acted on their own intelligence reports. “It seems that wasn’t done,” she told Judge Peter Smithwick. There had been no investigation into the allegations against any garda, she added. Outlining the intelligence reports, Ms Laverty said RUC fears that a named garda in Dundalk had inappropriate connections with the Provisional IRA were conveyed to former assistant commissioner Eugene Crowley in Dublin by supt Tom Curran of Monaghan, prior to the murders of two RUC officers in 1989. The two officers, chief supt Harry Breen and supt Bob Buchanan, were killed in an IRA ambush minutes after leaving a meeting in Dundalk Garda station. The tribunal is inquiring into suggestions that members of the Garda in Dundalk colluded with the IRA in the murders. In addition to the concern relayed to Mr Crowley before the RUC officers were killed, Ms Laverty said the Garda compiled three separate reports after the murders, which, “on the face of it”, implicated a member or members of the force either in the murders or in intimidation of a witness. The first intelligence report alleged unnamed members of the Garda were implicated in the 1987 murders of Lord Justice Gibson and his wife. The second document alleged unnamed members of the Garda provided “short notice” information on the movements of the murdered RUC men. The third document alleged the Provisional IRA had intimidated a witness in a case in which then det sgt Owen Corrigan of Dundalk was a defendant. The witness in the Corrigan case never gave evidence and the case collapsed. Ms Laverty also asserted that an internal Garda review of its intelligence documents, carried out in 2000 after allegations of Garda-IRA collusion emerged in the media, made no reference to the key intelligence reports. The review, conducted by the late chief supt Seán Camon, aided by then det insp, now Supt, Peter Kirwan, concluded there was no evidence of Garda-IRA collusion. Former Garda assistant commissioner Dermot Jennings told Ms Laverty he had provided every assistance required and full access to Garda intelligence documents to Mr Camon and he would be “astounded” if the three reports were not seen by Mr Camon in advance of the officer’s report. “I have no doubt that was examined by Seán Camon and his team at the time,” he said. Mr Jennings said the documents certainly “had the potential” to be high-grade intelligence but would have had to be subject to rigorous examination. He said he had not been in crime and security when the intelligence had come in, nor had he been aware of it while serving in the division. He said he was aware of the documents since engaging with the tribunal and could say there had been substantial surveillance on the IRA person named in the intelligence documents. He agreed with Ms Laverty the
intelligence report that the Provisional IRA had intimidated a witness
in the case against Mr Corrigan should have been sent to the investigating
officer in that case.
SF man
to challenge gun licence snub A Sinn Féin member denied a gun licence due to alleged criminality has won High Court permission to challenge the decision. On Friday, Michael Toner was granted leave to seek a judicial review of the refusal of his application for a firearms certificate. A judge was told he has never been arrested and has received a character reference from Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. His barrister, Sean Devine, claimed the decision was unfair and based on secret information. He said: "There is an acute sense of injustice on his part. "As a result of the lack of disclosure given he is utterly unable to penetrate the thinking of the authorities in refusing him a firearms licence." Mr Toner's age, address or his reasons for wanting a gun were not disclosed during the hearing. The decision by police to refuse him a certificate was upheld on appeal to the Secretary of State last year. According to Mr Devine the only reason given was that his client was allegedly involved in criminal activity. He stressed that Mr Toner has led a completely lawful life. "The only remotely exotic aspect of his life is that he is a member of Sinn Féin," the barrister said. Mr Devine referred to "some sort of security issue in the background". He revealed that Mr McGuinness took time out during his campaign to be elected Irish President to give Mr Toner a reference. "In circumstances where there is a Sinn Féin involvement I would ask the court to bear in mind this would have been a carefully considered decision," he contended. "There was no need to do it. He was running for one of the highest offices on this island. "If there were issues on the ground would he have been inclined to provide such a reference?" The barrister added: "There is real scope here for police to simply refuse such licences in circumstances where they don't like the cut of your jib, or your face doesn't fit." Counsel for the respondent authorities in the case argued that no-one has an automatic right to carry a gun, and that public safety must be ensured. Adrian Colmer also contended that the application was properly dealt with. "The two competing positions are opposite ends of the spectrum," he said. "All that the Northern Ireland Office is required to do in giving the gist is to put forward the simple proposition that Mr Toner is involved in criminal activity." The judge hearing the challenge, Mr Justice Treacy, held that an arguable case had been established. Granting leave to seek a judicial review, he said: "I consider that there are issues that this case raises which merit further consideration." A full hearing will now take place
in April.
Split
over Bloody Sunday march plan Relatives of the victims of Bloody Sunday are divided over plans for a march to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the massacre in Derry. The majority have said they will not take part in the march planned to retrace the route of the ill-fated demonstration where British paratroopers murdered 14 civil rights marchers in January 1972. A public inquiry by Lord Saville declared all the victims to be innocent, prompting an apology from British Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010. While pressure has continued for the prosecution of the British army murderers, the Saville findings led a majority of the families to call for an end to the annual commemoration march that they had held for 39 years. Both sets of families deny a split over the issue and will attend a memorial service at a monument to the victims in Derry's Bogside prior to Sunday's march. John Kelly, brother of 17-year-old Bloody Sunday victim Michael Kelly, said: "There is a difference of opinion but the vast majority of families decided last year to end the march." The prominent campaigner said a small number had decided to stage a march. "That's entirely up to them," he said, though he added there would be no repeat of the image of earlier years when large numbers of relatives walked at the head of the event. Kate Nash, whose teenage brother William was also murdered by the British army on Bloody Sunday and who backs this year's march, said she was pleased with aspects of the Saville report but believed it should have gone further, especially in regards to the role of the British army’s leaders. She added: "David Cameron's apology, I was so excited about that. I thought there would be prosecutions, but nothing really happened." Ms Nash said the march would help press for prosecutions but she added that the annual event had also taken on significance for other victims of British state murder and had become an international beacon for those seeking justice. "It is unique," she
said. "And it belongs to the people of Derry."
Hooded
Men Declare Support for Bloody Sunday March The Hooded Men were a group of internees selected by the British military in 1971 for sensory deprivation experiments so that British forces could develop their methods of psychological torture. Below we carry a statement from several of the surviving Hooded Men on the subject on the 40th anniversary Bloody Sunday march, to take place in Derry on Sunday 29th January. Forty years ago the Stormont government banned the Civil Rights march scheduled to take place in Derry on January 30th 1972. The ban was unsuccessful, but the British Tory government followed through its counter-insurgency strategy, which began with the introduction of internment in 1971, by shooting down peaceful marchers who came out on the streets in defiance of state terror. Today, another Tory government and its middle-management in Stormont denies human and civil rights by upholding internment while also trying, by some rather desperate means, to prevent people from marching again in defence of these rights. On January 29th, we, as former Long Kesh internees, will join the march that will mark the fortieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Derry. We will march under a banner calling for an end to internment in 2012, and our numbers will include survivors of the ‘hooded treatment’, who were tortured in August 1971. We now call on every ex-internee and ex-prisoner who reads this letter to join us and help carry our banner. People are now being held without trial in the six counties at the whim of an English Secretary of State. This present-day internment is the same in all but name as that introduced in August 1971, and is the same type of repression that people marched against so bravely in January 1972. We oppose internment no matter how the British decide to implement it – whether via the ‘suspension of license’, the denial of pardons, the use of non-jury courts and the gamut of other repressive legislation at their disposal. We will march in defence of human rights, in protest against present-day internment and in opposition to the torture that continues to be practiced by the British state in Ireland and abroad. In doing so, we will salute the memory of the brave men, women and children who once marched for our freedom and who were murdered, wounded and brutalised by the British army on the streets of Derry forty years ago. We will also remember our friends who died prematurely as a result of the torture - Pat Shivers from Toomebridge, Mickey Montgomery from Derry and Seán McKenna from Newry. The march that took place on January 30th, 1972, was a protest against internment and torture – crimes that were employed by the British state to terrorise the population of the six counties. All of the demands raised by the popular Civil Rights Movement, which the Bloody Sunday massacre was designed to destroy, remain unfulfilled. Today, the right to decent housing and jobs is denied to young people across Ireland, while the uninhibited use of stop and search powers targets not just adults but even children on their way to and from school. Along with widespread PSNI brutality during arrests, raids and other, more ‘routine’ incidences of harassment, these abuses underline the six counties’ enduring status and notoriety as a police state. The order to commit mass murder was issued in Derry just as it was to deal with every other popular anti-colonial insurgency against British rule. These repressive policies remain central to British state strategy today: internment is still taking place in Ireland, while prisoners in Maghaberry jail are, on a daily basis, subjected to strip-search torture. These human rights abuses do not end here: through their army and intelligence agencies, the British continue to torture prisoners abroad, both in British-occupied territory and on behalf of dictator-clients like Muammar Gadaffi via practices such as ‘rendition’, abduction and outright murder. Let no individual or political party imagine that they are the exclusive owners of the Bloody Sunday march. The people of Derry mobilised in January 1972 in a courageous, brilliant and popular protest against internment, and in defence of universal human rights. Their bravery continues to inspire people across the world, and their example will always have a truly global resonance; therefore, we believe that the fortieth anniversary Bloody Sunday march should take place, because human rights and civil rights are still being denied by the British state and its agents in Stormont. We call on everybody who believes in these basic and universal rights to join the march and show their opposition to the continuation of repression, internment and torture, wherever it may occur. In doing so, we will all mark the fortieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday and inspire the world again by declaring that no apology from any British government will ever be acceptable while they and their allies continue to terrorise those who stand up against oppression and believe in freedom. By coming on this march, we will help build a great and enduring monument to the memory of all of those who died protesting against internment and defending all of our civil rights. Michael Donnelly, Derry
McCartney
calls again for prisoners release Sinn Féin MLA Raymond McCartney has again called for the release of Marian Price and Martin Corry from Maghaberry prison. Both are being held after the British Secretary of State revoked their licences. Raymond McCartney said: “Both Martin Corry and Marian Price are being held following the revoking of their license by the British secretary of state. This is unacceptable. “If there is evidence against someone it should be presented and tested in a court of law. Sinn Féin have continuously raised this matter with the British Government and the Department of Justice including at meetings this week. “We will also be making
representations to the Life Sentence Review Commission when they come
to examine both these cases in the coming weeks.”
No Oscars
for Margaret Thatcher’s Irish legacy By Gerry Adams The recent publication of British government papers from 1981 have reminded many people of the negative role played by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at that time. The papers were published coincidentally at the same as a Hollywood movie about Thatcher. I haven’t seen the film but I do remember the Thatcher years and the great hurt she did to the British people, and also to the people of this island. Thatcher’s right-wing conservative social and economic politics – often labeled Thatcherism – were a source of considerable division in Britain. Along with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, she championed the deregulation of the financial institutions, cuts in public services and was vehemently anti-trade union. The current crisis in the banking institutions and the economic recession owe much to these policies. Thatcher also went to war in the Malvinas pursuing Britain’s age-old colonial interests, opposed sanctions against apartheid South Africa, and supported the Khmer Rouge and the Chilean dictator Pinochet. Thatcher inherited a British counter-insurgency strategy in Ireland from the Labor government. Its goal was to politically defeat Irish republicanism. The Thatcher government embraced this strategy. It believed that the criminalization of the republican prisoners would break the republican struggle. It was not interested in a resolution. This much is evident in the government papers. For example, a report of a meeting at Chequers on May 27th, after the deaths of Bobby Sands, Francie Hughes, Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O’Hara, describes Thatcher commenting that “the Government must be ‘rock solid’ against any concessions to the hunger strikers or PIRA.” The following day, on a visit to Belfast, Thatcher declared that the hunger strike “may well be their [the IRA's] last card.” At a later meeting on July 3rd a paper notes that: “The PM said that she felt that no concession could be made to the hunger strikers in any way…The Government’s main aim should be to demonstrate that the blame for the hunger strike lay with the strikers themselves, rather than with the alleged inflexibility of the Government.” At the same time, as she was publicly engaged in the trenchant rhetoric that characterized her term in office, the “iron lady” was also involved in secret discussions through a Derry based back-channel – code-named “Soon” – with the Sinn Féin leadership. It was a cumbersome process of contact and one open to abuse. The British state papers raise serious questions about the motivation of the British and the relationship between London and “Soon.” In a paper dated July 21st, the British state: “The use of the channel has ensured that the Provisionals have been left in no doubt that our public statements are our true position, and not a negotiating gambit . . . The channel has also been a source of additional intelligence about the Provisionals’ attitude which we could not get in any other way . . .” Outside the H-Blocks, Thatcher’s intransigence saw an escalation in conflict in the summer of 1981 with almost 50 people killed on the streets. The electoral intervention of H-Block prisoners in the June general election saw Paddy Agnew and hunger striker Kieran Doherty elected as TDs. Since that election, no single party has been able to form a government. The events of that awful summer of ’81 polarized Irish society, north and south. The Thatcher government policy during the 1980s was little more than a war policy. All of the strategies issuing from that policy were aimed at defeating or isolating republicanism. This included the shallow and ineffectual 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, which was about creating a political alliance involving the Dublin establishment, the SDLP, and the British, to defeat Irish republicanism. Margaret Thatcher was a prime mover in all of this. Under her direction, collusion between British state forces and unionist death squads increased. In 1982 the Force Research Unit (FRU) was established. FRU ran British agents inside the various loyalist paramilitary groups and provided information on nationalists and republicans to be murdered. FRU and British intelligence also facilitated the importation of weapons for the UDA, UVF and Ulster Resistance via the apartheid regime in South Africa in early 1988. In the three years prior to receiving these weapons, loyalists killed 34 people; in the three years after the shipment, they killed 224. Among those to die was human rights lawyer Pat Finucane. On January 17th 1989 one of Thatcher’s ministers, Douglas Hogg, told the British House of Commons that some solicitors in the North were “unduly sympathetic to the cause of the IRA.” Three weeks later, Pat Finucane was shot dead by a UDA squad made up entirely of Special Branch and British agents. Shoot-to-kill actions by British forces also significantly increased. This was most evident in the shooting dead of three unarmed IRA activists in Gibraltar in March 1988. It is my view that Thatcher authorized the killings at Gibraltar. Later, when the BBC and the IBA (Independent Broadcasting Authority) scheduled two programs about Gibraltar, Thatcher tried to stop them. She was “outraged” when the programs went ahead. Later that year she introduced the broadcasting ban on Sinn Féin. Three years later, Thatcher authorized the then British Secretary of State, Peter Brooke, to reopen the back-channel with republicans. We were wary of this. However, for almost a decade Sinn Féin had been patiently trying to build a peace process and unfolding events on the world stage – including the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, the reunification of Germany, and the release of Nelson Mandela – were evidence that governments, and apparently intractable situations, could change. So we agreed to reactivate the back channel. But for Thatcher it all ended several months later in November 1990 when she was forced to resign by her party who perceived her to be no longer an electoral asset. She was evicted from Downing Street with all the ruthlessness, treachery and warped humanity of what passes for high politics. Thatcher’s 12 years of dictating
British policy in Ireland was a legacy of bitterness and entrenched
division.
Tasers
continued use will lead to someone being killed - Pat Sheehan Commenting on the report issued today by the Police Ombudsman into the use of Tasers by the PSNI, Sinn Féin MLA and Policing Board member Pat Sheehan said that Tasers are a lethal weapon and continued use by the PSNI will inevitably lead to someone being killed. Mr Sheehan said: “People will be rightly sceptical of any reports conducted by the Police Ombudsman’s Office under the leadership of Al Hutchinson. There is no community confidence in his ability to do this important job and he should go without further foot dragging. “On the issue of Tasers it cannot be disputed that they are a lethal weapon and their continued use by the PSNI will inevitably lead to someone being killed. “The PSNI need to be able to deal with public order incidents without resorting to lethal force, be it Tasers or plastic bullets. “An acceptance of their
use will see them used as an alternative to restraint and that is
unacceptable. Those firing them do not know if the person they are
targeting has a heart problem or any other illness which could heighten
the chance of it being fatal.”
20 Taser
deployments 'justified' Investigations into the firing of police Tasers in Northern Ireland have found that the weapon was deployed proportionately on each occasion. Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson said the actions of the PSNI were compliant with guidelines in the 20 incidents he has examined since the electric stun-gun was introduced three years ago. Every time an officer discharges the controversial weapon the action is referred to the ombudsman to independently review whether its use was justified. From January 2008 to September last year there were 29 incidents when specially trained officers fired a Taser at an individual. Mr Hutchinson has completed investigations into 20 of these episodes. He said each time the weapon was fired a member of the public was in danger of harming themselves or others. "I am aware that the introduction of Tasers to Northern Ireland was and remains a contentious issue," said the ombudsman. "Our role is to independently investigate each of these individual incidents based on the available evidence." The ombudsman's office has published a report analysing Taser discharge in the last three years. Among the trends identified was that the majority of the 29 incidents were at a domestic residence and most took place in the early hours of the morning. "Our purpose in publishing this document has been to make available accurate information which can inform public thinking," explained Mr Hutchinson. "In each of the 20 instances investigated so far, the actions of police were proportionate to the threat being presented. There was a clear risk that a member of the public was going to harm themselves or others. "While the officer's actions in each of these events were correct, it is important that this office continues to investigate each use of Taser," he said. The ombudsman made a number of
recommendations about how police may improve their practices in this
area. He suggested that officers trained to use the weapon be distributed
between rural and city areas to minimise any delay in them getting
to the scene of an incident.
U-turn
by Ulster Council on Derry fleadh welcomed The u-turn by the Ulster Council of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Éireann on its decision not to support Derry's bid for the all-Ireland fleadh next year was widely welcomed yesterday. The 31-member central executive of Comhaltas will now meet in Dublin on Saturday to decide between Derry, Sligo and Ennis who will get the fleadh, which attracts up to 300,000 visitors and is worth €40 million to the host venue. The fleadh has never been north of the Border. Derry, which will be UK City of Culture 2013, was viewed as having a good chance of being selected to stage the all-Ireland fleadh next year. However, some Comhaltas members in Ulster opposed the fleadh going to the city as they did not want it linked to a year-long cultural festival that has "UK" in its title. The issue of the dissident republican threat also featured in some arguments. The Ulster Council of Comhaltas met on Sunday and ruled that it "would be impossible to support or recommend the Derry 2013 fleadh bid due to the recent dissident threats". This was a reference to dissident bomb attacks in Derry last week and to other dissident incidents in the city. The decision caused consternation among Derry Comhaltas members, as well as among local politicians, with Sinn Féin and the SDLP deploring the decision. The head of Comhaltas, Labhrás Ó Murchú, also expressed dismay. First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness issued a joint statement expressing "astonishment and disappointment". The PSNI said it had already discussed the matter with relevant local groups, adding that "any security concerns that exist in Northern Ireland should not prevent the fleadh taking place in Derry". On Tuesday the Ulster Council switched position and unanimously decided to support the Derry bid. Mr Ó Murchú said
he was "absolutely delighted with the good news", saying
he also welcomed the positive lobbying from the police, Mr Robinson,
Mr McGuinness and other political and civic leaders. "That was
important because it shows a whole community interest in the fleadh."
Army's
smuggling report 'exaggerated' A Colonel in the British army may have exaggerated a report on cross-Border smuggling, thereby kicking off a chain of events which led to two RUC officers – Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan – being killed in an IRA ambush, the Smithwick Tribunal has been told. The tribunal was told the colonel – who was not named but said to be attached to the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers based in Armagh – had delivered a verbal report on cross-Border smuggling to then secretary of state for Northern Ireland Tom King over dinner in Stormont Castle. Also said to be at the dinner, which took place on March 6th, 1989, were Chief Supt Breen and then chief constable Sir John Hermon. However, Chief Supt Breen’s deputy at the time yesterday told the tribunal that the chief superintendent had said the colonel’s report had been exaggerated. Identified only as Witness 39 and giving evidence from behind a screen, the deputy – himself a former senior RUC officer – said Chief Supt Breen had been disappointed about the colonel’s report. Witness 39 said in the days immediately following the dinner with the chief constable and secretary of state, “a direction” was issued from RUC headquarters for a crackdown on smuggling, particularly the alleged operations of well-known republican Thomas “Slab” Murphy. Witness 39 said the direction had carried an explicit “requirement” for Chief Supt Breen to have a face-to-face meeting with Dundalk gardaí to secure their co-operation in the crackdown. The witness also said Chief Supt Breen was “down” about the issue because he had not known the colonel was going to make such a report and did not think it was an accurate assessment of smuggling in the area. He also said Chief Supt Breen was “not particularly happy” about going south of the Border. The witness told Judge Peter Smithwick he had known a visit to the Republic was required. “I assumed the meeting was going to take place on the Monday.” Chief Supt Breen and Supt Buchanan were killed in an IRA ambush on the Edenappa Road in south Armagh minutes after leaving a meeting in Dundalk Garda station, two weeks after the Stormont dinner. |
