micheailin o'cinnsealach (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} fenian32) wrote,@ 2008-07-11 18:59:00 |
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Irish Republican Information Service (no. 157)
Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: +353-1-872 9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie
Date: 10 Iúil / July 2008
Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom
http://saoirse.info
In this issue:
1. Large turnout at Tom Maguire commemoration
2. Loyalist threat read out on radio
3. RUC/PSNI Chief in bid to block Coroner’s access
4. Sectarian attacks on nationalists in Belfast
5. Nationalists under siege in Stoneyford
6. Loyalist in collusion case seeks legal ban on his identification
7. 200 fined, 60 held at Orange parades
8. Health service union to oppose cuts of £1.2m in North ambulance service
9. Scrap means test for carers
10. Sellafield decommissioning to take over 100 years
11. Belgian foreign minister supports cause of the Miami Five
1. LARGE TURNOUT AT TOM MAGUIRE COMMEMORATION
MORE than 100 people attended the annual Comdt-General Tom Maguire commemoration in Cross, Co Mayo on July 5 last. People from all over Ireland but mainly from Mayo and Galway marched behind a colour party to the grave in Cross Cemetery where proceedings were chaired by Dan Hoban, Newport. The oration was delivered by Des Long, Ard Chomhairle member from Limerick. Following the commemoration many copies of Dílseacht, the story of General Maguire written by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh were sold.
In the course of his oration Des Long said that the declaration by Martin McGuinness that Republicans must pursue a peaceful future was “a breathtaking example of Josef Goebbels-like Nazi propaganda”.
He said that the political hypocrisy of men like McGuinness is an affront to all those who died in the ongoing struggle for Irish freedom.
“Not content with selling out and surrendering to the British Crown, McGuinness and his ilk are now doing the dirty work of the British forces of occupation and felon setting for the police.”
“For Martin McGuinness to condemn Republicans is to be expected because he is now a Crown Minister. His party seem to forget however that being a Crown Minister is incompatible with being a true Republican. So his condemnation of Republicans must be seen in the light of a man who is now serving the interests of the British Crown in Ireland.
“The ideals of the 1916 Proclamation and the aims of the Easter Rising cannot be judged on what he terms community support. The people of Ireland have an age old right to national self-determination and no matter how many former Republicans defect from the cause or are lured by the power and wealth of political office, the fact remains that the ideal of the All Ireland Republic is still alive.
“The ideal is alive thanks today to men like Tom Maguire who took principled stands and resisted the British – they will still be remembered when men like McGuinness will be relegated to the list of traitors to the All Ireland Republic.”
2. LOYALIST THREAT READ OUT ON RADIO
IT was reported on July 10 that loyalists who intimidated a nationalist family out of Stoneyford were believed to be behind a chilling message which was unwittingly read out on BBC Radio Ulster recently.
On the Gerry Anderson show on July 3, hosted by John Toal, the following message was read out: “Can you please shout out a big bye bye to the Braniff family from all the boys in Stoneyford?”
The nationalist Braniff family has been subjected to a long campaign of intimidation by loyalists in Stoneyford. Their home in Stoneyford was attacked on numerous occasions and they received death threats.
Seán Braniff said that he is in no doubt that loyalists were behind the message. He said that although his family has moved out of Stoneyford it is obvious that the intimidation hasn’t stopped. He and his young family fled the village in March while other family members left the village last week after being subjected to intimidation.
A spokesperson for the BBC said that BBC Northern Ireland has been made aware of this issue and is currently looking in to it.
3. RUC/PSNI CHIEF IN BID TO BLOCK CORONER’S ACCESS
RUC/PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde launched a legal challenge to try to block Belfast Coroner John Leckey from gaining access to the police investigation into the shooting of Pearse Jordan, an unarmed nationalist.
Pearse Jordan (21) was shot dead by an undercover RUC unit as he drove a car along the Falls Road in west Belfast in November 1992. Over the last 16 years his parents have fought a legal battle to gain access to the police files surrounding their son’s killing.
In 2007 a British House of Lords ruling ordered the RUC/PSNI to provide Six-County coroners with all relevant police files relating to controversial killings.
As a result John Leckey re-opened the Jordan inquest after an 11-year adjournment. Last month he ordered the chief constable to hand over the senior investigating officer’s report into the Jordan murder by 4.30pm on July 4. However Orde refused to hand over the police investigation report, claiming he was not legally obliged to disclose the murder files to the coroner.
“The investigating police officer’s report, insofar as it consists of matters of opinion, comment, assessment, conclusions and recommendations, does not constitute ‘information’,” a solicitor for the RUC/PSNI said in a legal challenge opposing the handing over of police files.
Resisting the coroner’s request, the solicitor said that “this is a routine document prepared in every case where a crime file is opened and later submitted to the Public Prosecution Service”.
“It contains no primary evidence at all and is a summary of the various witness statements, which were taken at the time, together with a commentary by the investigating officer stating his conclusions and recommendations,” the solicitor said.
However, the Jordan family’s solicitor, Fearghal Shiels of Madden & Finucane, insists that the RUC/PSNI is legally obliged to hand over the files.
“The investigating officer will be giving evidence to this inquest and he bears ultimate responsibility for the conduct of the RUC investigation, which was strongly criticised by the European Court of Human Rights in 2001 for its lack of independence,” he said
“It purports to be an analysis of the evidence and is the cornerstone upon which a decision was taken by the DPP not to prosecute Sergeant A for murdering Pearse Jordan”.
“The information contained in this report and the process whereby that decision was arrived at could not be more relevant.”
4. SECTARIAN ATTACKS ON NATIONALISTS IN BELFAST
DURING the first week in July a number of sectarian attacks took place in Belfast. A 33-year-old man narrowly escaped with his life after being attacked by a 10-strong loyalist gang in Duncairn Avenue, according to the North Belfast News.
An editorial in the paper said that the victim was extremely lucky to escape with his life. “Given that one of the weapons used on him has been described as a ‘spear’, it’s clear that those behind this brutal assault had nothing less than murder in mind.”
The editorial continued: “It wasn’t the only sectarian attack of the week on an innocent Catholic (sic), and as well as the vicious personal assaults, a number of cars were attacked, some with bricks, some – more worryingly – with acid…
“Sectarian attacks are, of course, not being carried out by one section of the community alone and there are many vulnerable Protestant individuals and families who have their tales to tell of attacks. But it is beyond argument that violence and tension ratchet up considerably during the marching season.
“That being the case, the unionist community has a particular responsibility to deal with the myriad social and criminal problems thrown up by their insistence on turning the summer months into a seemingly unending ‘celebration’ of loyalist culture and identity. There are those within the unionist community who are willing to speak out loudly and clearly against sectarian violence, but there is no doubt that, in general, unionist political condemnation of loyalist violence during the summer is at best lukewarm, at worst non-existent.
“If only those who are so quick to don the brolly and take the microphone on the Twelfth would show as much energy when it comes to reining in the wilder elements of the Protestant community, then some progress might be made.”
5. NATIONALISTS UNDER SIEGE IN STONEYFORD
AS the Twelfth approaches, nationalists are increasingly coming under siege in the County Antrim village of Stoneyford.
A nationalist family – who were intimidated from their Stoneyford home – are still facing threats after a chilling message, believed to be from loyalists, was read out unwittingly on a local radio station.
A convicted loyalist rioter is planning to hold a march around Stoneyford village on July 11.
Mark Harbinson wants to lead 45 loyalists through the mixed village.
The RUC/PSNI denied that sectarian attacks were going on in Stoneyford, at a time when nationalists living in the village were being burnt out of their homes.
So-called ‘Community police officers’ told 26-County administration officials in April 2005 that there “are no reasons for concern regarding sectarian activity in the area at the present time.”
6. LOYALIST IN COLLUSION CASE SEEKS LEGAL BAN ON HIS IDENTIFICATION
A TOP loyalist at the centre of a major British state collusion case has launched a legal bid to ban the media from publishing pictures of him or disclosing his whereabouts.
Lawyers for Mark Haddock also revealed that he is attempting to change his name by deed poll as part of preparations for release from prison.
Haddock, who is serving a 10-year sentence for an attack on a nightclub doorman, is due to be freed in January.
His legal representatives sought an interim injunction at the High Court in Belfast on July 8 to stop publication of any future address of him and his partner.
The application also covered recent photographs of them, as well as any other change of identity and appearance.
Mark Farrell, for Haddock, told Mr Justice Weatherup his client was under imminent death threat and claimed the case was similar to that of Freddie Scappaticci, the west Belfast Provo named as the British agent Stakeknife.
The barrister stressed how the north Belfast loyalist survived an assassination attempt while out on bail before being convicted in November 2006 of grievous bodily harm with intent and false imprisonment.
Mark Farrell said the application had to be brought immediately because Haddock would be eligible for pre-release home leave from later in July.
“If he applies for parole and parole is granted there’s an urgency in obtaining a blanket ban against the Northern Ireland media in disclosing his whereabouts, appearance or in fact the change of name he’s attempting to apply for by way of deed poll,” he said.
Haddock, originally from Belfast’s Mount Vernon estate and previously named in court as a leading member of the UVF, was jailed for attacking Trevor Gowdy outside a social club on the northern outskirts of the city in December 2002.
Months before being found guilty he was shot up to six times in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim.
In January last year he was widely reported to have been a paid RUC/PSNI Special Branch agent following the publication of a damning report by the then British police ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan.
Nuala O’Loan’s investigation found that the British Colonial police colluded with a north Belfast UVF unit behind more than a dozen murders in the area.
But even though Mark Farrell said a High Court injunction would assist Haddock’s application for pre-release leave, lawyers for media organisations involved in the case resisted.
John Larkin QC, appearing for the BBC and The Irish News, disputed the urgency in bringing the case at this stage.
“There’s no indication his release is imminent,” John Larkin said. “We know when he will be released in early 2009. There’s plenty of time for these issues to be addressed in term time in the usual way.”
Peter Coll, for the Mirror Group, said Haddock was seeking to put “swingeing restrictions” on the freedom of expression.
“Mr Haddock’s past is notorious. In such circumstances the prison authorities may say he’s not suitable [for pre-release home leave] to protect the public from him and perhaps to protect him from elements of the public,” he said
Adjourning the application until July 10, the judge requested further information from Haddock and ordered that the British attorney-general and Six-County prison service to be put on notice.
7. 200 FINED, 60 HELD AT ORANGE PARADES
MORE than 200 people were fined and 60 arrested at Scotland's biggest Orange Order parades.
Organisers said around 12,000 marchers from all over the UK and Ireland took part in a parade in Glasgow on July 5, with around the same number at Larkhall.
In the city, 182 lodges and 92 bands walked through the city centre to Glasgow Green, where a rally was held.
advertiseme
IIIIn Larkhall 123 lodges and 98 bands took part.
The fixed £40 fines were issued to drunken spectators. Most were for drinking or urinating in public. Five arrests were for sectarian breach of the peace.
8. HEALTH SERVICE UNION TO OPPOSE CUTS OF £1.2M IN NORTH AMBULANCE SERVICE
UNISON, the main Six-County health service union, is opposing cuts of £1.2 million (€1.5 million) in the ‘Northern Ireland Ambulance Service’.
It is also resisting plans to use rapid response vehicles instead of the traditional ambulance service in some cases.
Stormont Minister for Health Michael McGimpsey has denied there are plans to cut funding for ambulance services, claiming instead there are new measures to increase the service’s efficiency.
“After these efficiencies have been achieved, there will be a net increase in investment in ambulance services,” he said.
“Next year will see an increased number of rapid response vehicles which will play a valuable role in responding to emergencies and stabilising patients.”
However, Unison spokeswoman Lily Kerr said reducing the ambulances coverage to increase the rapid response was “bad news” for patients and these rapid response vehicles were not an adequate ambulance cover.
“It’s all very well saying you’re giving a rapid response, but these vehicles can’t take a patient to the hospital. An ambulance would have to be called anyway.”
According to the Department of Health, not less than £2.5 million will be invested this year in rapid response vehicles and in extra coverage at the weekends.
Brian McNeill, director of operations at the Six-County ambulance service, said he was hoping these measures would help to achieve the targets set by the Executive. There are currently five rapid response vehicles in place and Brian McNeill said the ambulance service was planning to invest another £12 million in the fleet, in the next three years.
9. SCRAP MEANS TEST FOR CARERS
THE imposition of a means test to determine the level of payments to people who act as carers for family members is well past its sell by date, a spokesman for Republican Sinn Féin said on July 5.
Joe Lynch of Ballinacurra Weston in Limerick, vice-chairperson of Comhairle na Mumhan (Munster RSF Executive), said that the carers payment is divided into allowance and benefit. The amount a carer receives is dependent on a means test, but this artificial division is a throw back to a bygone age, he said. The reality is that both the allowance and the benefit are totally inadequate.
“A role of a carer is one that is almost unrecognised by the Dublin Administration yet it is an essential service that saves the State untold millions each year. The fact is many carers who look after a family member have to give up jobs and careers and devote all their time to a job that is a great burden.
“The recent study by the Carers Association found that most carers feel overburdened and unappreciated. The removal of the artificial means test to determine a benefit or allowance would demonstrate that it appreciates the role of family carer was appreciated. The fact is the lack of State-funded home services is placing an unfair burden on carers who are left to care twenty four hours a day for their family member.”
10. SELLAFIELD DECOMMISSIONING TO TAKE OVER 100 YEARS
IT will take more than 100 years before the toxic nuclear site at Sellafield is safe, it was revealed on July 10.
A report from the British parliament’s Westminster’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) warned that the cost of decommissioning all nuclear plants was likely to rise because successive British governments and the industry found it easy to push costs on to future taxpayers.
Anti-Sellafield protester and South Down SDLP MP Eddie McGrady said: “The nuclear waste is a time bomb waiting to happen.
“They are not only producing but importing the dirty stuff from the rest of the world, it is incredible.”
Reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel is expected to end by 2020 but it will take years for radioactivity levels inside unused reactors to fall to safe limits. The buildings will have to be demolished and the site readied for possible redevelopment.
The minister's comments following the publication of a study published in May for Friends of the Earth which revealed Sellafield has the world’s largest stockpile of plutonium and uranium, and storage tanks containing radioactive waste “more dangerous” than the Chernobyl reactor.
A spokesman for Sellafield Ltd said: “Sellafield isn’t a place that can just be closed down. It is about the removal of plant and equipment from the building, it is about decontaminating and knocking them down - that takes decades.
“A lot of work has been done but with a site as complex as Sellafield that will take a long time to do carefully and safely, which is the priority and can’t be compromised on.”
He said it would cost £73 billion (€91.3m) to decommission over the next 112 years.
The PAC report said estimates of decommissioning costs across the UK had risen by 41 per cent.
11. BELGIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SUPPORTS CAUSE OF THE MIAMI FIVE
IN the first signs of a shift in the EU position, Belgium has broken the conspiracy of silence that has surrounded the case of the Miami Five at EU level. The Belgian Foreign Minister has declared his support for the findings of a UN committee which declared the Five to be “arbitrarily detained”.
His statement opens the way for further similar statements by other EU Foreign Ministers to be made and Free the Miami Five Campaign calls upon Foreign Minister, Micheál Martin, not to be the last minister to add his name to the list of supporters of the Five.
“As a first step, he should speak to his Belgian colleague, who is a qualified lawyer, to learn how wrong-headed was Minister Martin’s predecessor’s policy of tacit support for the ongoing illegal imprisonment and torture of the Five by the US authorities over the past 10 years.”
Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said that his country endorses the conclusions of a UN working group that in 2005 demanded the release of five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters who remain unjustly imprisoned in the United States since 1998.
In a communiqué, Katrien Demuynck, president of the Belgian Committee and Coordinator of the Campaign for the Release of the Cuban Five in Europe, reports that De Gucht said that his country wants to raise awareness among its European counterparts about the cause of Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino and Fernando Gonzalez, who were arrested in 1998 in the United States for infiltrating anti-Cuba extremist groups in South Florida that were planning and carrying out terrorist actions against Cuba.
According to Prensa Latina news agency, De Gucht pointed out that the recommendation by the UN Group on Arbitrary Detentions in May 2005 clearly stated that the apprehension of the Cuban Five was arbitrary.
The Foreign Minister added that Belgium supports resolutions by UN relevant bodies that ask governments to take into account recommendations by these Working Groups and also ask them to take the necessary measures to rectify the situation of people who have been arbitrarily deprived of their freedom.
ENDS
Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: +353-1-872 9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie
Date: 10 Iúil / July 2008
Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom
http://saoirse.info
In this issue:1. Large turnout at Tom Maguire commemoration
2. Loyalist threat read out on radio
3. RUC/PSNI Chief in bid to block Coroner’s access
4. Sectarian attacks on nationalists in Belfast
5. Nationalists under siege in Stoneyford
6. Loyalist in collusion case seeks legal ban on his identification
7. 200 fined, 60 held at Orange parades
8. Health service union to oppose cuts of £1.2m in North ambulance service
9. Scrap means test for carers
10. Sellafield decommissioning to take over 100 years
11. Belgian foreign minister supports cause of the Miami Five
1. LARGE TURNOUT AT TOM MAGUIRE COMMEMORATION
MORE than 100 people attended the annual Comdt-General Tom Maguire commemoration in Cross, Co Mayo on July 5 last. People from all over Ireland but mainly from Mayo and Galway marched behind a colour party to the grave in Cross Cemetery where proceedings were chaired by Dan Hoban, Newport. The oration was delivered by Des Long, Ard Chomhairle member from Limerick. Following the commemoration many copies of Dílseacht, the story of General Maguire written by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh were sold.
In the course of his oration Des Long said that the declaration by Martin McGuinness that Republicans must pursue a peaceful future was “a breathtaking example of Josef Goebbels-like Nazi propaganda”.
He said that the political hypocrisy of men like McGuinness is an affront to all those who died in the ongoing struggle for Irish freedom.
“Not content with selling out and surrendering to the British Crown, McGuinness and his ilk are now doing the dirty work of the British forces of occupation and felon setting for the police.”
“For Martin McGuinness to condemn Republicans is to be expected because he is now a Crown Minister. His party seem to forget however that being a Crown Minister is incompatible with being a true Republican. So his condemnation of Republicans must be seen in the light of a man who is now serving the interests of the British Crown in Ireland.
“The ideals of the 1916 Proclamation and the aims of the Easter Rising cannot be judged on what he terms community support. The people of Ireland have an age old right to national self-determination and no matter how many former Republicans defect from the cause or are lured by the power and wealth of political office, the fact remains that the ideal of the All Ireland Republic is still alive.
“The ideal is alive thanks today to men like Tom Maguire who took principled stands and resisted the British – they will still be remembered when men like McGuinness will be relegated to the list of traitors to the All Ireland Republic.”
2. LOYALIST THREAT READ OUT ON RADIO
IT was reported on July 10 that loyalists who intimidated a nationalist family out of Stoneyford were believed to be behind a chilling message which was unwittingly read out on BBC Radio Ulster recently.
On the Gerry Anderson show on July 3, hosted by John Toal, the following message was read out: “Can you please shout out a big bye bye to the Braniff family from all the boys in Stoneyford?”
The nationalist Braniff family has been subjected to a long campaign of intimidation by loyalists in Stoneyford. Their home in Stoneyford was attacked on numerous occasions and they received death threats.
Seán Braniff said that he is in no doubt that loyalists were behind the message. He said that although his family has moved out of Stoneyford it is obvious that the intimidation hasn’t stopped. He and his young family fled the village in March while other family members left the village last week after being subjected to intimidation.
A spokesperson for the BBC said that BBC Northern Ireland has been made aware of this issue and is currently looking in to it.
3. RUC/PSNI CHIEF IN BID TO BLOCK CORONER’S ACCESS
RUC/PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde launched a legal challenge to try to block Belfast Coroner John Leckey from gaining access to the police investigation into the shooting of Pearse Jordan, an unarmed nationalist.
Pearse Jordan (21) was shot dead by an undercover RUC unit as he drove a car along the Falls Road in west Belfast in November 1992. Over the last 16 years his parents have fought a legal battle to gain access to the police files surrounding their son’s killing.
In 2007 a British House of Lords ruling ordered the RUC/PSNI to provide Six-County coroners with all relevant police files relating to controversial killings.
As a result John Leckey re-opened the Jordan inquest after an 11-year adjournment. Last month he ordered the chief constable to hand over the senior investigating officer’s report into the Jordan murder by 4.30pm on July 4. However Orde refused to hand over the police investigation report, claiming he was not legally obliged to disclose the murder files to the coroner.
“The investigating police officer’s report, insofar as it consists of matters of opinion, comment, assessment, conclusions and recommendations, does not constitute ‘information’,” a solicitor for the RUC/PSNI said in a legal challenge opposing the handing over of police files.
Resisting the coroner’s request, the solicitor said that “this is a routine document prepared in every case where a crime file is opened and later submitted to the Public Prosecution Service”.
“It contains no primary evidence at all and is a summary of the various witness statements, which were taken at the time, together with a commentary by the investigating officer stating his conclusions and recommendations,” the solicitor said.
However, the Jordan family’s solicitor, Fearghal Shiels of Madden & Finucane, insists that the RUC/PSNI is legally obliged to hand over the files.
“The investigating officer will be giving evidence to this inquest and he bears ultimate responsibility for the conduct of the RUC investigation, which was strongly criticised by the European Court of Human Rights in 2001 for its lack of independence,” he said
“It purports to be an analysis of the evidence and is the cornerstone upon which a decision was taken by the DPP not to prosecute Sergeant A for murdering Pearse Jordan”.
“The information contained in this report and the process whereby that decision was arrived at could not be more relevant.”
4. SECTARIAN ATTACKS ON NATIONALISTS IN BELFAST
DURING the first week in July a number of sectarian attacks took place in Belfast. A 33-year-old man narrowly escaped with his life after being attacked by a 10-strong loyalist gang in Duncairn Avenue, according to the North Belfast News.
An editorial in the paper said that the victim was extremely lucky to escape with his life. “Given that one of the weapons used on him has been described as a ‘spear’, it’s clear that those behind this brutal assault had nothing less than murder in mind.”
The editorial continued: “It wasn’t the only sectarian attack of the week on an innocent Catholic (sic), and as well as the vicious personal assaults, a number of cars were attacked, some with bricks, some – more worryingly – with acid…
“Sectarian attacks are, of course, not being carried out by one section of the community alone and there are many vulnerable Protestant individuals and families who have their tales to tell of attacks. But it is beyond argument that violence and tension ratchet up considerably during the marching season.
“That being the case, the unionist community has a particular responsibility to deal with the myriad social and criminal problems thrown up by their insistence on turning the summer months into a seemingly unending ‘celebration’ of loyalist culture and identity. There are those within the unionist community who are willing to speak out loudly and clearly against sectarian violence, but there is no doubt that, in general, unionist political condemnation of loyalist violence during the summer is at best lukewarm, at worst non-existent.
“If only those who are so quick to don the brolly and take the microphone on the Twelfth would show as much energy when it comes to reining in the wilder elements of the Protestant community, then some progress might be made.”
5. NATIONALISTS UNDER SIEGE IN STONEYFORD
AS the Twelfth approaches, nationalists are increasingly coming under siege in the County Antrim village of Stoneyford.
A nationalist family – who were intimidated from their Stoneyford home – are still facing threats after a chilling message, believed to be from loyalists, was read out unwittingly on a local radio station.
A convicted loyalist rioter is planning to hold a march around Stoneyford village on July 11.
Mark Harbinson wants to lead 45 loyalists through the mixed village.
The RUC/PSNI denied that sectarian attacks were going on in Stoneyford, at a time when nationalists living in the village were being burnt out of their homes.
So-called ‘Community police officers’ told 26-County administration officials in April 2005 that there “are no reasons for concern regarding sectarian activity in the area at the present time.”
6. LOYALIST IN COLLUSION CASE SEEKS LEGAL BAN ON HIS IDENTIFICATION
A TOP loyalist at the centre of a major British state collusion case has launched a legal bid to ban the media from publishing pictures of him or disclosing his whereabouts.
Lawyers for Mark Haddock also revealed that he is attempting to change his name by deed poll as part of preparations for release from prison.
Haddock, who is serving a 10-year sentence for an attack on a nightclub doorman, is due to be freed in January.
His legal representatives sought an interim injunction at the High Court in Belfast on July 8 to stop publication of any future address of him and his partner.
The application also covered recent photographs of them, as well as any other change of identity and appearance.
Mark Farrell, for Haddock, told Mr Justice Weatherup his client was under imminent death threat and claimed the case was similar to that of Freddie Scappaticci, the west Belfast Provo named as the British agent Stakeknife.
The barrister stressed how the north Belfast loyalist survived an assassination attempt while out on bail before being convicted in November 2006 of grievous bodily harm with intent and false imprisonment.
Mark Farrell said the application had to be brought immediately because Haddock would be eligible for pre-release home leave from later in July.
“If he applies for parole and parole is granted there’s an urgency in obtaining a blanket ban against the Northern Ireland media in disclosing his whereabouts, appearance or in fact the change of name he’s attempting to apply for by way of deed poll,” he said.
Haddock, originally from Belfast’s Mount Vernon estate and previously named in court as a leading member of the UVF, was jailed for attacking Trevor Gowdy outside a social club on the northern outskirts of the city in December 2002.
Months before being found guilty he was shot up to six times in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim.
In January last year he was widely reported to have been a paid RUC/PSNI Special Branch agent following the publication of a damning report by the then British police ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan.
Nuala O’Loan’s investigation found that the British Colonial police colluded with a north Belfast UVF unit behind more than a dozen murders in the area.
But even though Mark Farrell said a High Court injunction would assist Haddock’s application for pre-release leave, lawyers for media organisations involved in the case resisted.
John Larkin QC, appearing for the BBC and The Irish News, disputed the urgency in bringing the case at this stage.
“There’s no indication his release is imminent,” John Larkin said. “We know when he will be released in early 2009. There’s plenty of time for these issues to be addressed in term time in the usual way.”
Peter Coll, for the Mirror Group, said Haddock was seeking to put “swingeing restrictions” on the freedom of expression.
“Mr Haddock’s past is notorious. In such circumstances the prison authorities may say he’s not suitable [for pre-release home leave] to protect the public from him and perhaps to protect him from elements of the public,” he said
Adjourning the application until July 10, the judge requested further information from Haddock and ordered that the British attorney-general and Six-County prison service to be put on notice.
7. 200 FINED, 60 HELD AT ORANGE PARADES
MORE than 200 people were fined and 60 arrested at Scotland's biggest Orange Order parades.
Organisers said around 12,000 marchers from all over the UK and Ireland took part in a parade in Glasgow on July 5, with around the same number at Larkhall.
In the city, 182 lodges and 92 bands walked through the city centre to Glasgow Green, where a rally was held.
advertiseme
IIIIn Larkhall 123 lodges and 98 bands took part.
The fixed £40 fines were issued to drunken spectators. Most were for drinking or urinating in public. Five arrests were for sectarian breach of the peace.
8. HEALTH SERVICE UNION TO OPPOSE CUTS OF £1.2M IN NORTH AMBULANCE SERVICE
UNISON, the main Six-County health service union, is opposing cuts of £1.2 million (€1.5 million) in the ‘Northern Ireland Ambulance Service’.
It is also resisting plans to use rapid response vehicles instead of the traditional ambulance service in some cases.
Stormont Minister for Health Michael McGimpsey has denied there are plans to cut funding for ambulance services, claiming instead there are new measures to increase the service’s efficiency.
“After these efficiencies have been achieved, there will be a net increase in investment in ambulance services,” he said.
“Next year will see an increased number of rapid response vehicles which will play a valuable role in responding to emergencies and stabilising patients.”
However, Unison spokeswoman Lily Kerr said reducing the ambulances coverage to increase the rapid response was “bad news” for patients and these rapid response vehicles were not an adequate ambulance cover.
“It’s all very well saying you’re giving a rapid response, but these vehicles can’t take a patient to the hospital. An ambulance would have to be called anyway.”
According to the Department of Health, not less than £2.5 million will be invested this year in rapid response vehicles and in extra coverage at the weekends.
Brian McNeill, director of operations at the Six-County ambulance service, said he was hoping these measures would help to achieve the targets set by the Executive. There are currently five rapid response vehicles in place and Brian McNeill said the ambulance service was planning to invest another £12 million in the fleet, in the next three years.
9. SCRAP MEANS TEST FOR CARERS
THE imposition of a means test to determine the level of payments to people who act as carers for family members is well past its sell by date, a spokesman for Republican Sinn Féin said on July 5.
Joe Lynch of Ballinacurra Weston in Limerick, vice-chairperson of Comhairle na Mumhan (Munster RSF Executive), said that the carers payment is divided into allowance and benefit. The amount a carer receives is dependent on a means test, but this artificial division is a throw back to a bygone age, he said. The reality is that both the allowance and the benefit are totally inadequate.
“A role of a carer is one that is almost unrecognised by the Dublin Administration yet it is an essential service that saves the State untold millions each year. The fact is many carers who look after a family member have to give up jobs and careers and devote all their time to a job that is a great burden.
“The recent study by the Carers Association found that most carers feel overburdened and unappreciated. The removal of the artificial means test to determine a benefit or allowance would demonstrate that it appreciates the role of family carer was appreciated. The fact is the lack of State-funded home services is placing an unfair burden on carers who are left to care twenty four hours a day for their family member.”
10. SELLAFIELD DECOMMISSIONING TO TAKE OVER 100 YEARS
IT will take more than 100 years before the toxic nuclear site at Sellafield is safe, it was revealed on July 10.
A report from the British parliament’s Westminster’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) warned that the cost of decommissioning all nuclear plants was likely to rise because successive British governments and the industry found it easy to push costs on to future taxpayers.
Anti-Sellafield protester and South Down SDLP MP Eddie McGrady said: “The nuclear waste is a time bomb waiting to happen.
“They are not only producing but importing the dirty stuff from the rest of the world, it is incredible.”
Reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel is expected to end by 2020 but it will take years for radioactivity levels inside unused reactors to fall to safe limits. The buildings will have to be demolished and the site readied for possible redevelopment.
The minister's comments following the publication of a study published in May for Friends of the Earth which revealed Sellafield has the world’s largest stockpile of plutonium and uranium, and storage tanks containing radioactive waste “more dangerous” than the Chernobyl reactor.
A spokesman for Sellafield Ltd said: “Sellafield isn’t a place that can just be closed down. It is about the removal of plant and equipment from the building, it is about decontaminating and knocking them down - that takes decades.
“A lot of work has been done but with a site as complex as Sellafield that will take a long time to do carefully and safely, which is the priority and can’t be compromised on.”
He said it would cost £73 billion (€91.3m) to decommission over the next 112 years.
The PAC report said estimates of decommissioning costs across the UK had risen by 41 per cent.
11. BELGIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SUPPORTS CAUSE OF THE MIAMI FIVE
IN the first signs of a shift in the EU position, Belgium has broken the conspiracy of silence that has surrounded the case of the Miami Five at EU level. The Belgian Foreign Minister has declared his support for the findings of a UN committee which declared the Five to be “arbitrarily detained”.
His statement opens the way for further similar statements by other EU Foreign Ministers to be made and Free the Miami Five Campaign calls upon Foreign Minister, Micheál Martin, not to be the last minister to add his name to the list of supporters of the Five.
“As a first step, he should speak to his Belgian colleague, who is a qualified lawyer, to learn how wrong-headed was Minister Martin’s predecessor’s policy of tacit support for the ongoing illegal imprisonment and torture of the Five by the US authorities over the past 10 years.”
Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said that his country endorses the conclusions of a UN working group that in 2005 demanded the release of five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters who remain unjustly imprisoned in the United States since 1998.
In a communiqué, Katrien Demuynck, president of the Belgian Committee and Coordinator of the Campaign for the Release of the Cuban Five in Europe, reports that De Gucht said that his country wants to raise awareness among its European counterparts about the cause of Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino and Fernando Gonzalez, who were arrested in 1998 in the United States for infiltrating anti-Cuba extremist groups in South Florida that were planning and carrying out terrorist actions against Cuba.
According to Prensa Latina news agency, De Gucht pointed out that the recommendation by the UN Group on Arbitrary Detentions in May 2005 clearly stated that the apprehension of the Cuban Five was arbitrary.
The Foreign Minister added that Belgium supports resolutions by UN relevant bodies that ask governments to take into account recommendations by these Working Groups and also ask them to take the necessary measures to rectify the situation of people who have been arbitrarily deprived of their freedom.
ENDS
