News Letter

07 June 2007

THE DUP again condemned Sinn Fein's call for ex-paramilitary prisoners to have their record wiped clean of "political offences", as Home Secretary John Reid announced his plan for terrorists convicts to actually be registered in a similar way to sex-offenders, when leaving jail.
MP and MLA Gregory Campbell criticised Martina Anderson for her call to redeem inmates.

He suggested former paramilitaries should be providing restitution to victims, and worrying less about themselves.

“That might be a tangible example of the fact that they have turned their backs on their campaigns,” Mr Campbell said.

“Rather than saying ‘we were involved in a dirty war in which everyone got hurt and now is the time to expunge our records and try and make people believe that none of this never really happened’.

“What I am hearing from Martina Anderson is we have been in conflict and we are now moving on, therefore clear the records of paramilitaries who have inflicted great hurt on people and let them get on with their lives,” he said.

“I would be willing to sit down with Martina Anderson if Sinn Fein was to make a genuine restitution to the victims of IRA violence.

“I want to see the colour of their money.

“If they are saying we do recognise what we were involved in caused massive hurt and hardship and if they have tangible proposals in terms of restitution, then I would be prepared to look at it.”

Ms Anderson said it was important that the records were cleared as part of the process of moving Northern Ireland from its troubled past.

The Foyle MLA, a former IRA prisoner, said: “At the minute, ex-political prisoners face a number of obstacles. They cannot have a PVC licence, they have difficulty getting insurance and getting mortgages and also getting jobs
because of their record.”

But, by way of contrast, Mr Reid told the House of Commons yesterday that the Government wanted to see stiffer measures to combat terrorism, including closer tracking after release.

The Home Secretary said he planned to introduce a new counter terrorism Bill later this year.

But instead of fast-tracking the legislation through Parliament he planned to hold cross-party talks and discussions with police and civil liberty groups before moving ahead.

In a statement to MPs, Mr Reid indicated the plans included:

--Extending the detention limits for terror suspects beyond 28 days.

--Allowing terrorist suspects to be questioned after charge.

--Introducing a sex offenders-style register to keep track of convicted terrorists.

--Tougher sentences for those found guilty of terror offences.

--Holding a review of the possible use of intercept evidence.

BBC

Johnny Caldwell

Sex offenders' membership of the Orange Order will be automatically terminated under a new policy.

"The last time we updated our internal discipline procedures there was no such thing as the Sex Offenders' Register," said Grand Secretary Drew Nelson.

"Our new policy with regards to sex offenders should be in place within a year."

It will mean that anyone on the Sex Offenders' Register will effectively bar themselves from membership.

Mr Nelson said: "I don't think this will be a bigger issue for the Orange Order than anyone else, but it's definitely something that has to be addressed and it's one of a number of issues we're currently working on."

In the past the organisation has come in for criticism over members who were convicted of terrorism-related offences remaining within its ranks.

Addressing this issue, Mr Nelson said: "Our discipline review will look at members with any kind of serious conviction."

Looking forward to the summer, which sees the highlight of the Orange calendar, 12 July, Mr Nelson said: "It should hopefully be peaceful and successful.

"I think those opposed to our parades on principle, if you like, are becoming increasingly isolated."

The origins of the Orange Order date from the 17th century battle for supremacy between Protestantism and Catholicism.

Belfast Telegraph

By Emily Moulton
Monday, June 11, 2007

An Assembly member has described Northern Ireland Railways as a 'third world service' after it emerged part of the Belfast to Derry rail track buckled under the weekend's heat.

East Londonderry MLA John Dallat made the harsh comment after hundreds of train passengers were forced to board buses after a section of rail line near Culleybackey buckled in the high temperature on Saturday.

Services along the route were cancelled and the section remained closed all weekend.

And while the weekend's glorious weather may have been too hot for some, Mr Dallat said the 25C heat should not have caused the track to buckle and described the incident as a 'scandal'.

"This is a third world service," he said. "What this tells you is that the line has not been upgraded at all. We have been told that this section would be re-laid with a continuous line, but the department has failed to invest money into improving the service. In short, it is a scandal. "

A spokesperson from Translink confirmed the section of track had buckled under the hot weather.

"We can confirm that due to the effects of the extremely hot weather a section of the Londonderry line had to be closed over the weekend at Broughdone, while necessary repairs were carried out," the spokesperson said. "A bus substitution was operated to ensure passengers reached their destinations.

"NI Railways would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to our passengers."

Mr Dallat said he would be calling for Translink and the Department for Regional Development to investigate seeking EU funding to upgrade the route and for making the upgrade of the long route a priority.

The line reopened as normal this morning.
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An Phoblacht

By LAURA FRIEL
07 June 2007

UVF killer Brian Robinson and his Catholic victim Patrick McKenna “were sacrificed to make the British security forces look good,” according to a senior UVF source.

The information confirms the suspicions of Patrick McKenna’s family, who believe collusion between unionist paramilitaries and the British Government played a role in the killing. Patrick McKenna (43) was shot dead as he walked along the Crumlin Road on 2 September 1989.

Photo: The scene of the killing of Patrick McKenna

The source claimed that up to three British agents working within the UVF had prior knowledge of the gang’s intention to carry out a sectarian murder, but the decision was taken by their British handlers not to stop the killing. He named the three agents as Trevor King and Colin Craig, both shot dead in June 1994, and a third man described as the most senior UVF figure in the North.
According to the source, British fears that their systematic collusion with unionist paramilitaries had become too obvious prompted a decision to set up a sectarian killing and subsequent execution of the UVF killers by a covert unit within the British army.
“The [British] army was shooting IRA men dead all over the place, so they had to be seen to target loyalists as well. The decision was made to take out Brian Robinson and Davy McCullough. King and his boss would have known about it,” said the source.
According to the source, just hours before the McKenna murder, Robinson and McCullough were told they would be carrying out the attack on a motorcycle instead of using a car.
“The lads were surprised by this but went along with it. I am in no doubt now that the vehicle was changed to make it easier for the [British] army to kill Brian and Davy,” said the source.
Brian Robinson was shot first in the back, then in the wrist and finally twice in the head. According to civilian witnesses the soldier had stood over the injured UVF man before firing more shots as Robinson lay on the ground. A pathologist testified the fatal shots had been fired at close range, confirming the witness statements.
At the coalface of the British Government’s collusion strategy was the covert British army unit, the FRU. The FRU’s direct involvement in killings left it the most exposed within the British collusion strategy.
It isn’t clear who made the decision to cover FRU tracks by ordering an operation involving the targeting of a random Catholic victim and subsequent execution of the killer by the FRU. It may have been the FRU or their political masters in MI5.
Patrick McKenna was shot 11 times by the UVF just a short distance from his home. The gunmen opened fire from a motorcycle at close range. One of the attackers, Brian Robinson, was shot dead minutes later by an undercover British army unit. The second UVF gunman, Davy McCullough, was injured in the ambush, arrested at the scene and subsequently convicted.
Robinson was shot dead by a female member of the FRU, known as the Angel of Death and believed to be Margaret Walshall. Walshall, a close associate of the head of FRU, Gordon Kerr, was known as ‘Captain M’. She was a key player in the collusion strategy and as Brian Nelson’s first handler would have played a significant role in the reorganisation and rearming of unionist paramilitaries.

An Phoblacht

07 June 2007

Following the vote in Dáil Éireann on the Treaty in January 1922 there were many efforts to find agreement between the pro and anti-Treaty sides and to avoid armed conflict. These efforts culminated in late May and early June with the Collins-de-Valera Pact which was to be the final effort to prevent Civil War.
While de Valera and the anti-Treaty deputies had withdrawn from the Dáil after the vote on the Treaty, they subsequently returned and attended sessions up until June 1922. Throughout May peace efforts continued and at a meeting of the Dáil on 20 May it was announced that Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins had agreed an approach. This was greeted with applause by both sides in the Dáil.
The agreement centred on the forthcoming General Election. Republicans had argued that this should be postponed as the register was out of date. They also argued that the pro and anti-Treaty sides should not divide the electorate on the basis of the Treaty but should try to present a united front while they continued to seek a way forward after the election. De Valera and Collins agreed that the election should go ahead but that it would proceed on the basis of unity.
The Pact provided that the election should not be taken as deciding for or against the Treaty but should be for a National Coalition Government. A united Sinn Féin panel of candidates was to be put forward, made up of 66 nominated by the pro-Treaty party and 58 by the anti-Treaty party. This was to reflect the current strength of each side in the Dáil. The crucial difference would be that the new Government would represent both sides. It was agreed by Collins and de Valera that the new Government would consist of four anti-Treaty and five pro-Treaty Ministers, the President elected by the Dáil and a Minister for Defence elected by the army. As the election was to be held in the 26 Counties only it was provided that the constituencies in the Six Counties would continue to be represented by their current TDs in the new Dáil.
The Pact stated that the “national position requires the entrusting of the Government of the country into the joint hands of those who have been the strength of the national situation during the last few years, without prejudice to their present respective positions”. This was endorsed by the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis on 23 May and it seemed that unity was now possible.
The British government was enraged at the Pact. In the House of Commons Winston Churchill threatened a renewal of war if Republicans became members of a new Irish government without signing a declaration in support of the Treaty.
Parallel with the Pact and the election, the draft Constitution for the Free State was being drawn up. Collins made genuine efforts to stretch the text beyond the bounds of the Treaty so as to make it acceptable to all sides in the Dáil. The text was brought to London by a committee headed by Arthur Griffith. Again the British government set its face against the draft Constitution and Lloyd George had it re-drafted. The new text was strictly in line with the Treaty, preserving all the aspects most repugnant to Republicans, including the Oath of Alleigance to be taken by all TDs, the King as head of state, the British-appointed Governor-General and Partition.
Meanwhile the reality of Partition was seen in Belfast with renewed pogroms against nationalists. Many were killed and injured during May and June 1922 and refugees poured into Dublin as Unionist leader James Craig declared: “We are prepared to do all we can to make Ulster, the oldest of Britain’s colonies, a model of administration.”
Under pressure from the British and from those on the pro-Treaty side, such as Griffith, who wanted to plough on with the Treaty against all opposition, Collins gave way. On 15 June, the day before polling, Collins broke the Pact when he made a speech in Cork urging people to vote for pro-Treaty candidates. The Free State Constitution, dictated by the British government, was deliberately withheld from publication until the very day of the election so that most voters did not have the opportunity to assess it.
The Second Dáil held it last meeting before the ‘Pact election’ on 8 June, 1922, 85 years ago this week

An Phoblacht

31 May 2007

The Special ‘Criminal’ Court in Dublin, established on 31 May 1972, has been used for the past 35 years to railroad hundreds of republican activists into jail on trumped up charges without the benefit of a jury or credible evidence. For three-and-a-half decades the Green Street court has opereated basically as a 26 County version of the North’s Diplock courts.
For many decades, the Southern state has relied on special courts, military tribunals and draconian legislation in its attempt to crush the Republican Movement. In 1936, de Valera’s Fianna Fáil government introduced special courts to imprison republicans and three years later, in August 1939, during the IRA’s campaign in England, established special military tribunals which were empowered to return only one sentence – the death sentence – from which there was no appeal.
During the early 1940s, hundreds of republicans were interned and sentenced to long periods of imprisonment by special courts. Six IRA Volunteers – Paddy McGrath, Thomas Harte, Richie Goss, George Plant, Maurice O’Neill and Charlie Kerins – were tried by military tribunals, found guilty and executed.
With the outbreak of conflict in the Six Counties and the upsurge in support for the republican struggle, the 26 County government, under Jack Lynch, invoked Part Five of the Offences Against the State Act 1939 and in May 1972 set up the Special Criminal Court in Green Street in Dublin, the venue of many famous trials during the years 1798 to 1883.
The reason given by Des O’Malley, the then Fianna Fáil Justice Minister, for establishing the no jury Special Court was that jurors were being intimidated. When pressed to produce evidence of this, he failed to cite one example where it had happened.
One of the most outspoken critics of the establishment of the Special Court at one stage was Paddy Cooney, who declared “There is a limit to the measures a democracy is entitled to adapt in order to protect itself.” During the following years however, Cooney, as Justice Minister in the Fine Gael/Labour Coalition government, was to introduce some of the most repressive legislation since the Cumann na nGaedheal era of the 1920s.
Thousands of republicans have appeared before the Special Criminal Court since its establishment in 1972, 75% of whom have been convicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment in Portlaoise, Limerick and Mountjoy jails.
What was in theory, to be a temporary use of the emergency legislation was, in practice, the setting up of a permanent jury-less court. Although the Special Criminal Court was introduced to smash the republican struggle, the past 35 years and the current strength of republicanism throughout Ireland clearly demonstrates its failure.
With the IRA cessation, the Good Friday Agreement and a new political dispensation in the North, many people believed that the Special Court would be abolished, and the Offences Against the State Acts which allow for its use would be scrapped. But the current government has failed to do so and instead has defended its continued existence. New provisions to the Offences Against the State Acts, introduced in 1998, were renewed by the Dáil only last month.
The draconian nature of the Offences Against the State Acts (OASA) and the Special Court, was demonstrated recently by the conviction of Cork man Don Bullman for IRA membership purely on the word of a Garda and by the four year sentence imposed upon him.
Following last week’s general election, the incoming Irish Government, whatever its composition, has a serious responsibility to live up to its obligations under the Good Friday Agreement to deliver security normalisation. Scrapping the Offences Against the State Acts and abolishing the Special Court is an indispensable part of this. The Special Court has no place in the future of Ireland.
The Special ‘Criminal’ Court was established on 31 May 1972, 35 years ago.
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BBC

The Northern Ireland Assembly has ruled out the future privatisation of water and sewerage services.

The announcement was made by Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy who said an independent panel would review the issue of water charges.

A review of domestic rates will also be carried out. Finance Minister Peter Robinson said it would last 12 weeks.

Meanwhile, First Minister Ian Paisley took questions from assembly members for the first time on Monday.

Mr Paisley's first question time featured jibes at the Ulster Unionists, and at Sinn Fein over its poor performance in the Irish Republic's election.

He also faced questions from the SDLP's Delores Kelly on recent remarks made by his son Ian Paisley Jnr about homosexuals.

However, Mr Paisley said his office was totally committed to promoting equality of human rights.

Questions to the first and deputy first ministers will be held once a fortnight and other devolved ministers will face questions once a month.

Assembly members had to table their enquiries by the end of last month.
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Belfast Telegraph

By Brendan McDaid
Monday, June 11, 2007

The Ulster boy who is the only person in the world known to have been born without a chin today told the Belfast Telegraph of his joy as he prepared to undergo a life-changing operation in America.

Alan Doherty from Letterkenny, Co Donegal said he was excited despite knowing the gruelling 10-hour surgery will cause him weeks of discomfort.

Alan was this afternoon due to undergo the pioneering surgery at the Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, New York.

The 17-year-old was born with an extremely rare maxillofacial disorder called octocephaly, which means he has no lower jaw or chin.

The bone for his jaw and mouth will be moulded from Alan's hip or fibia bone in a complicated procedure never before tried by doctors anywhere.

A second major operation will be carried out later this year with a series of follow-ups.

Alan and his parents Danny and Bernie flew from Dublin over a week ago to prepare for the surgery, as the campaign to raise the 250,000 euro (£169,000) needed to pay for a series of operations continued to gather pace in Ireland.

Alan who cannot breath unaided, eat normally or talk without the aid of his light writer keyboard wrote today: "I am enjoying New York since we came out. Everything is going well over here.

"Weather is nice. I am looking forward to Monday despite the pain I'll go through when the op's finished."

He added: "Everything went well yesterday. I got a small device into my mouth since yesterday's check-up.

"The device will be to widen my teeth apart from side to side until September or October."

The life-changing opportunity came about after Alan took part in the New York State 4D Games for the Physically Disabled and won 11 medals last year.

The USA team director Bill Broadwick - touched by Alan's request for a " perfect chin" when asked what he would like - set up an appointment with experts the next day.

Alan now looks set for a reunion with his former sporting rivals. He said: " May see my friends next week (after my operation) that I went to New York with last summer."

Paul McBride, who is helping co-ordinate the Friends of Alan Doherty Fund, said today: "He is in good spirits. He had his pre-op stuff on Friday and everything has gone well. They also held a press conference."

Donations from Northern Ireland can be sent by cheque to the Friends Of Alan Doherty fundraising account no: 15038040; sort code 937347.

The postal address is AIB Bank, Lower Main Street, Letterkenny, Co Donegal.

Belfast Telegraph

'Their anger is with how they were treated by Government'

By Chris Thornton
Monday, June 11, 2007

Ian Paisley says his decision to share power with Sinn Fein has been supported in "scores of messages" from victims of the Troubles.

In the second part of an exclusive Belfast Telegraph TV interview, the First Minister claimed some of the most vocal criticism against him has come from people "who never suffered in these Troubles".

"I attended more funerals in this country than any other living man at the time of the Troubles," he told Editor-in-Chief Ed Curran in the interview. Extracts are printed in today's newspaper and the interview in full can be viewed on our website at www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Mr Paisley, whose office is now responsible for victims' issues, said people who suffered in the Troubles are a source of "great wonderment to me" .

"I was received in all of those homes, and they know, people know that Ian Paisley was broken-hearted," he added.

"I followed many of my dearest friends to the cemetery and wept over them. The majority of victims I think are angry, with the fact the way the British Government treated them. I think that is where their anger is."

The First Minister indicates that he has no regrets over his own behaviour during the conflict.

"I may have said things in a way that hurt people, but I think they needed to be said in that way, for if I hadn't have said them in that way no-one would have listened," he said.

And he also described his continuing astonishment at being in the First Minister's office after years of opposition.

Mr Paisley was today facing his first Question Time in the Assembly on a range of issues including strengthened links with other parts of the UK, the costs of segregation and the role of junior ministers, which could see him asked about the remarks of his son Ian Jnr on homosexuality.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness faces his turn in a fortnight.