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IRA2

Car rammings 'fantasy' says SF

(Catherine Morrison, Irish News)

A Sinn Féin assembly member has described recent reports of cars
ramming police checkpoints in south Armagh as "fantasy".

In the last two months, police have recorded four incidents involving
vehicles smashing through checkpoints near Crossmaglen.

In one of the most serious incidents, a police officer was taken to
hospital with serious head injuries after he was struck by a blue
Peugeot 406 while manning a joint police and army checkpoint outside
the village.

Speaking last night (Monday) as the British army launched an
investigation after yet another incident, Newry and South Armagh
assembly member Conor Murphy said local people were openly
questioning whether these reported incidents had taken place.

"At a time when Sinn Féin have placed the issue of British army
demilitarisation at the heart of the political agenda many local
people are questioning the validity of reports, all of which emanate
from the British Army or PSNI press operations, about a number of
cars breaking through checkpoints in the Crossmaglen area,'' he said.

"It seems strange that there have been more of these incidents
reported in the last three months than in the previous 10 years.''

Mr Murphy said the latest report of a car failing to stop at a
checkpoint south of Crossmaglen in the early hours of Saturday
morning, was being used as justification for the firing of live
rounds at a "passing car".

"There is a feeling locally that many of these stories about British
soldiers diving into hedges or receiving injuries from passing cars
are fantasy and part of a very clear agenda to justify the continuing
presence of the British military in south Armagh,'' he added.

A British army spokesman rejected the assembly member's comments
as "flippant remarks".

"I sincerely hope these suggestions are not representative of the
views of a political party claiming to hold a democratic mandate in a
society where law and order will prevail,'' he said.

"Police and soldiers have been perilously close to serious injury or
worse as a result of dangerous driving by individuals bent on
avoiding – for whatever reason – vehicle checkpoints.

"Checkpoints are set up to maintain law and order and will continue
for as long as it necessary to ensure the rule of law.''

He added that the reason there had been increased media coverage of
such incidents in recent months was because the police and army
were "no longer prepared'' to let the incidents go unreported.

December 15, 2004

BBC

Irish trio sentenced in Colombia


Arrest warrants have been issued for the three men

Three Irishmen initially acquitted of training Marxist rebels in Colombia have now been sentenced to 17 years following an appeal.

The prosecution successfully appealed the acquittal of Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan.

Arrest warrants have been issued for the three men, who have remained on bail in Colombia.

The three, who had been accused of being IRA members, were found guilty of travelling on false passports.

They were acquitted of the more serious offences by a lower court earlier this year, but the Colombian Attorney General has now successfully appealed against that decision.

Sinn Fein MLA Catriona Ruane of the Bring them Home campaign said Thursday's verdict was "military justice" which would be fought.

Detained

A judge had ordered them to remain in the country pending an appeal by the prosecution against their not guilty verdict on training Farc guerillas.

McCauley, 41, is from Lurgan in County Armagh, Monaghan, 58, is from County Donegal and Connolly, 38, is from Dublin.

The three had been detained at Bogota's El Dorado airport in August 2001 as they were about to board a flight out of the country.

Their arrest led to speculation that Irish republicans had formed links with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

The main charge against them was that they had been teaching the rebels the techniques of urban terrorism.

The Irishmen strenuously denied this, saying they were in the area to monitor the fledgling peace process as well as being eco-tourists.

Sinn Féin News

Prison visits, a driver's tale: BY LAURA FRIEL

As part of An Phoblacht's new 'Living History' series, exploring the lives and experiences of republicans involved in or touched by the conflict, An Phoblacht's LAURA FRIEL talks to THOMAS McGUIGAN, from the Short Strand in Belfast, who drove the families and friends of republican prisoners to and from jails throughout Ireland for over a quarter of a century.

Without the handful of dedicated drivers who over many years manned minibuses in all the major nationalist cities and towns, in Belfast, Derry, Lurgan and Armagh, many families would never have been able to attend the jails regularly and give their sons, daughters, husbands and wives the support they needed.

"I guess I started around 1976 and finished when the Kesh closed and the prisoners were released as part of the Good Friday Agreement," says Thomas.

"I offered to drive the bus to Armagh jail initially because my niece Ellen was a POW there," says Thomas. "She became active after the death of my only sister, who was killed by loyalists."

Thomas drove families to Crumlin Road, Long Kesh, Armagh and Portlaoise. "In Belfast, there were six minibuses and we'd drive families to the Kesh two or three times a day. Sometimes the demand was very high. After the first group of families arrived at the jail, we'd return to fill the buses again and drive back to the jail, picking up families returning from visits in the interim. It was very busy."

Each minibus held around 14 passengers and in the early days, the vehicles had been pretty ropey. "It was a challenge to keep the buses on the road," says Thomas. "They were constantly breaking down and some were so leaky that if it rained during the journey the passengers put up their umbrellas inside to keep dry." But as time went on, the quality and reliability of the vehicles improved.

By 1986, Thomas had become a full time driver for the jail runs. "I got to know all the families and watched many of the children growing up. Despite the many hardships faced by prisoners' families on the bus, at least there was always a bit of craic," says Thomas.

"I remember one woman in particular because she had five children and they'd all be standing patiently waiting for the Portlaoise bus at six thirty in the morning outside the Sinn Féin centre on the Falls. She must have been up so early to have all those children washed, dressed and fed in time. Many women visiting the jails had two or three children."

And the journey of three and a half hours from Belfast to Portlaoise was long enough, made even more so by constant Crown force harassment. "We were always stopped and searched, sometimes by the RUC, other times the UDR and the British Army," says Thomas. And it made no difference which jail they were visiting.

"We could be held at a checkpoint or pulled over to the side of the road for as long as two hours. It was very hard on the children. It was freezing in winter and too hot in summer," says Thomas.

Thomas remembers the visits to Portlaoise as the worst. "The visiting room was like a long corridor with a bench partitioned into cubicles. In front of the prisoner there was a wire grill from floor to ceiling and in front of that a Perspex barrier and then another grill in front of the visitors," says Thomas. "It was tough on the families, particularly those with children. Later, the visiting conditions improved."

John Davey, in the days before he was elected as a Sinn Féin councillor, drove the Lurgan bus and Thomas remembers John describing a particular incident on the way to the Kesh.

"The Brits stopped the bus and told John to pull the vehicle to the side of the road. The soldiers were waving the other traffic on and John suddenly saw red. He threw the bus across the road, blocking all the traffic and when a soldier demanded the ignition keys he threw the keys into a field," says Thomas.

"I asked John if he was afraid he'd be stuck there for hours with the keys lost," says Thomas. 'Don't be daft,' said John, 'I had a spare set in my trouser pocket'."

Fra Toner from Ballymurphy organised the minibuses. He was also a driver. One afternoon a loyalist sniper set up an ambush.

"It was just past the West Circular Road, outside the Orange Hall. Fra always drove past around 2pm so he was an easy target. The gunman opened fire and shot Fra several times at the wheel. He survived but one bullet was lodged too close to his spine to be removed. He was always in pain after then, never the same, and he died a few years later."

In another incident, women and children waiting to be picked up outside the centre were threatened by loyalists in a passing car. "After that, I always picked families up at their homes," says Thomas. "In a more serious incident, the Armagh bus came under fire and a number of women and children were injured. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt."

Thomas remembers driving the bus to the Kesh during the no wash protests and hunger strikes. "The visitors always tried to keep their spirits up with a chat but the atmosphere was different. You could feel the tension and the worry on their faces."

But it was all smiles on the day republican prisoners were freed under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Thomas and some of the other drivers drove to the Kesh, just in case anyone needed a lift home. "All the families organised cars, so the minibuses weren't needed. It was a glorious morning, just right for the occasion. I knew all the families and it was wonderful to watch their faces as their fathers, husband and sons were released," says Thomas.

IOL

DUP claim the IRA may be about to decommission

15/12/2004 - 20:05:56

The DUP leader Ian Paisley has revealed that confidential sources which have been accurate in the past have told him the IRA may be about to go ahead and decommission its weapons.

Mr Paisley has said however that unless this happens with independent witnesses and photographs, the rest of the two governments proposals that his party has signed up to will be at risk.

He was speaking at Hillsborough, County Down after talks with the Northern Secretary and Minister for Foreign Affairs.

“I want to make it clear that if the IRA does not perform it’s obligation as envisaged in the comprehensive agreement then it's refusal to meet these terms will have very serous consequence in respect of the DUP’s attitude to other elements of the comprehensive agreement.”

Irish Independent

US visa violators are not being helped, says TD

THE Government was accused last night of not doing enough to help Irish people arrested in the US for visa violations.

Fine Gael TD John Deasy made the charge as attempts were being made to secure the release of two men being held for the past six weeks in a top security Denver prison since being picked up for overstaying on their holiday visas.

The men, cousins Alan and Cliff Whelan, both 23, from Waterford city, are being locked up 23 hours a day, according to their families.

The men say that during their transfer by bus from Montana, where they were arrested, they were shackled and chained with 16 other prisoners and accompanied by heavily armed guards.

The cousins were arrested at the beginning of November by four policemen carrying out spot checks on a Seattle-bound train. Since then, they have been allowed one three-minute phone call a week.

According to new figures Mr Deasy has obtained, 290 Irish people have been deported from the US in the past five years. He plans to raise the men's detention with the US ambassador.

Frank Khan

BBC

Arms move 'must be visual'

An IRA arms move without photographic evidence would have "very serious consequences" for the peace process, DUP leader Ian Paisley has warned.

He said negotiations had been "in the context of complete verifiable and transparent decommissioning".

Mr Paisley was speaking on Wednesday after the DUP and other parties held talks with British and Irish officials in Hillsborough, County Down.

They are aimed at resurrecting a deal on power-sharing.

Three previous republican arms moves have been witnessed by members of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD).

Speaking after meeting Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy and Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern, Mr Paisley insisted there must be a "visual aspect" to decommissioning.

"There is an indication that the IRA may be considering proceeding to decommission its weapons under the original IICD scheme, leaving out the additional elements relating to transparency included in the draft statement from the IICD which formed part of our comprehensive agreement," he said.

"We want to make it clear that if the IRA does not fulfil its obligations as envisaged in the comprehensive agreement, then its refusal to meet these terms would have very serious consequences in respect of the DUP's attitude to other elements of the comprehensive agreement."

After the meeting, Mr Murphy said both governments would welcome decommissioning, but it would have to be done in such a way that it would bring confidence in the community.

He added that any arms move in itself would not produce a "political settlement, however good decommissioning would be".

Proposals published jointly by the two governments last week included a plan for the IRA to allow photographs to be taken of its weapons being put beyond use in the presence of independent witnesses.

The DUP argued that this was necessary to ensure that there was confidence in the act of decommissioning.

But Sinn Fein said the IRA would "not submit to a process of humiliation".

The political institutions in Northern Ireland have been suspended since October 2002 amid allegations of IRA intelligence gathering at the Northern Ireland Office.

The DUP and Sinn Fein became the largest unionist and nationalist parties after assembly elections in November 2003.

However, the two parties have not been able to reach a deal which would allow a power-sharing executive to be formed, and Northern Ireland continues to be governed by direct rule from Westminster.

Belfast Telegraph

Photos still on agenda
Ahern spells out weapons views to heal rift with DUP

By Chris Thornton and Brian Walker
15 December 2004

Photographs of IRA decommissioning remain part of the British and Irish governments' plan for restoring Stormont, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dail today.

Clarifying his views on photographic proof in order to defuse a row with the DUP, Mr Ahern said that London and Dublin knew the demand for pictures of decommissioning would be difficult but said they had been led to believe it would be addressed.

"In the context of an overall package, it was our understanding that this proposal would be considered by them," he said,

"They have, of course, since said that they are unable to agree to it."

Mr Ahern also rejected republican claims that photographs amounted to humiliating them - saying humiliation "did not play any party in the governments' proposals".

He also said the IRA had not made the necessary commitment on ending criminality that his government wants to see.

"Clarification is required that the IRA's commitment is, indeed, to a complete ending of paramilitarism and other illegal activity," he said.

"We are duty-bound to satisfy ourselves on this point. This whole initiative is based on this vital premise."

It was not immediately clear if Mr Ahern's remarks did enough to restore contact between his government and the DUP, but he came under further pressure from opposition leader Enda Kenny over the proposed release of Garda Jerry McCabe's killers.

The Fine Gael leader accused Mr Ahern of breaking his word and diminishing his office by agreeing to release the killers - including Strabane man Pearse McCauley - if a political deal is completed.

"Right thinking people are also outraged that the Taoiseach of this sovereign state chose to capitulate to a terrorist organisation who apparently refused to fulfil any of their commitments under the Good Friday Agreement unless his solemn word was broken, and broken in secret," Mr Kenny said.

The Dublin debate further reduced expectation of an early resolution to the political stand-off.

As US envoy Mitchell Reiss joined the efforts to pick up the pieces from last week's stalled peace deal, Sinn Fein and the DUP made it clear they were refusing to budge from their positions on photographic proof of decommissioning.

Sinn Fein held up direct talks with the DUP as one possible way of resolving the deadlock.

West Tyrone MP Pat Doherty said it is "time for direct dialogue".

"If Ian Paisley is really interested in finding a solution to the problems then he should talk directly with Gerry Adams," he said.

Yahoo News

BNP leader held in race hate probe

By Gideon Long



LONDON (Reuters) - Police have arrested the leader of the far-right British National Party after he was secretly filmed calling Islam "a wicked, vicious faith".

The arrest of Nick Griffin, one-time host of French National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, was warmly welcomed by Muslims, some of whom said the government should ban the BNP altogether.

Police arrested Griffin, 45, at his family farmhouse in Wales and took him to West Yorkshire, where officers are conducting a major probe into the activities of BNP members.

Griffin, later released on bail until next March, told reporters on Tuesday: "This is an electoral scam to get the Muslim block vote back for the Labour Party."

Prime Minister Tony Blair's popularity plunged and his trust ratings plummeted after he took the country to war in Iraq.

Griffin's arrest came two days after police detained the party's 70-year-old founding chairman John Tyndall.

They have now arrested 12 people on suspicion of incitement to commit racial hatred since the investigation began five months ago. None has been charged.

The police probe was triggered by a BBC documentary, broadcast in July, which included footage of Griffin giving a speech in the northern town of Keighley in which he railed against Islam and its holy book, the Koran.

"This wicked, vicious faith has expanded through a handful of cranky lunatics about 1,300 years ago until it's now sweeping country after country," he said.

"BLOW UP MOSQUES"

Other footage in "The Secret Agent" documentary -- watched by some 4 million viewers -- shows another BNP member expressing a wish to blow up mosques with a rocket launcher and machine-gun worshippers with "about a million bullets."

Another member told how he put dog faeces through an Asian shop's letterbox, while a third described how he beat up a Muslim man. "I'm kicking away...it was fantastic," he said.

Muslims were jubilant at news of Griffin's arrest.

"At last!" said Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, which has long urged the government to outlaw the BNP. "This is extremely important."

"It should have been done long ago. There is no place in British society for the bigots of the BNP," he told Reuters.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the biggest lobby group for the country's 1.8 million Muslims, also welcomed the arrests, saying it hoped police would now press charges.

"The BNP has been trying to develop a more polished image and a more sophisticated discourse but the BBC documentary showed that behind that facade, the ugly reality is still the same," said MCB spokesman Inayat Bunglawala.

The party's anti-immigration stance has won it a handful of local council seats, mainly in poorer areas with large ethnic populations, but it remains on the fringe of politics.

It has nothing like the clout, for example, of the French far-right of Le Pen, who accepted an invite from Griffin to attend a BNP fund-raising dinner in northern England in April.

BBC

**More photos on site

France shows off tallest bridge


The bridge is 23 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower

The world's highest road bridge has been inaugurated in southern France by President Jacques Chirac.

The Millau bridge over the River Tarn in the Massif Central mountains is more than 300m (984ft) high - taller even than the country's Eiffel Tower.

The bridge, which opens to traffic on Thursday, was built to clear summer traffic jams around the town.

The BBC's Paris correspondent, Caroline Wyatt, says the bridge is one of the most breathtaking ever built.

She says that with its concrete and steel pillars soaring high above the morning fog in the Tarn Valley, the construction makes a spectacular sight.

'Delicacy of a butterfly'

Seven slender piers support the roadway, rising into seven graceful pylons bound to the bridge with what look like cobwebs of steel, our correspondent says.

"The bridge is just on the clouds," Millau Mayor Jacques Godfrain told the BBC's World Today programme.

"The architect, Norman Foster, gave us a model of art."

TALL ORDER
Cost: 394m euros (£272m; $524m)
Highest point: 343m (1,125ft)
Vehicle height: 270m (885ft)

"A work of man must fuse with nature. The pillars had to look almost organic, like they had grown from the earth," the world-renowned British architect said in an interview with regional daily newspaper Midi Libre.

Like Concorde and the Channel Tunnel, the bridge is Franco-British.

French construction group Eiffage - that built the Eiffel Tower - financed the project in return for the right to collect receipts from a bridge toll for 75 years.

The bridge is now a source of pride for Millau, which believes many more tourists will come to admire one of the engineering wonders of the 21st Century, our correspondent says.

The construction also removes a bottleneck at the town, completing a new motorway link between Paris and the Mediterranean.

The construction of the steel bridge - now weighing about 36,000 tonnes - began in December 2001, using innovative techniques.

From the north and south sides of the valley, the metal sections of the structure were assembled, lifted slightly and then carefully slotted into place on each of the supporting pillars.

Motorists are expected to pay 4.6 euros (£3.18; $5.60) for a trip across the bridge.

BBC

'No release' for Finucane killer


Ken Barrett was convicted of the murder in September

The loyalist convicted of murdering Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane has been told he does not qualify for early release under the Good Friday Agreement.

Ken Barrett was sentenced to 22 years in September after pleading guilty to the 1989 murder, but it was thought at the time he could be freed by March.

But he has now been told he does not qualify because he is not serving his sentence in Northern Ireland.

His solicitor says his client is appealing against the decision.

Behind bars

Mr Finucane was shot dead by the loyalist Ulster Defence Association.

The killing was one of the most controversial of the 30 years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, mainly because of the allegations of collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and members of the security forces.

After conviction, Barrett, 42, was transferred to London's Belmarsh Prison because of threats against him.

The decision by the Sentence Review Commission which runs the release programme means he may be forced to serve the minimum 22 years behind bars recommended when he pleaded guilty to murder.

His solicitor Joe Rice claimed that the body had made an error.

"They misdirected themselves in law and effectively didn't give him an opportunity to have his application fully and properly considered," he said.


Pat Finucane was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries

"Ken Barrett continues to be a sentenced prisoner under the regime applicable to Northern Ireland.

"He's still very much part and parcel of the Northern Ireland criminal process.

"We now have instructions from him by telephone that he wishes to appeal this decision."

It is expected that a three-member panel from the Commission will be asked to review the decision.

Under the early release programme, terrorists convicted before the April 1998 Good Friday Agreement who had served at least two years in prison were considered for release.

The scheme, which saw some of Northern Ireland's most notorious killers walk free, is one of the most controversial strands of the peace process.

Belfast Telegraph

Finucane killer to appeal for early release

By Mary Fitzgerald
14 December 2004

The loyalist jailed for murdering Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane is to appeal a decision to refuse him early release under the Good Friday Agreement, it emerged today.

Ken Barrett was sentenced to life imprisonment in September after he pleaded guilty to the 1989 murder.

The sentence came with a recommendation that Barrett serve no less than 22 years.

However, it is understood Barrett decided to plead guilty because he believed he qualified for the early release scheme and expected to be eligible for release by March of next year.

Shortly after he was convicted, the 42-year-old loyalist was moved from Maghaberry to Belmarsh prison in London. It is understood he was transferred because of concerns for his safety.

The Sentence Review Commission informed Barrett earlier this month that he is not eligible for early release because he is not serving his sentence in Northern Ireland.

Barrett's solicitor, Joe Rice, said his client will now appeal the decision through the commission's appeal process and if that should fail, he will pursue the issue through the courts.

"Mr Barrett was transferred to Belmarsh under a restricted transfer order. He therefore continues to be a prisoner under the regime applicable in Northern Ireland," Mr Rice said.

"We believe the commission has wrongly interpreted the legislation."

A spokesman for the commission dismissed the charge that it had misinterpreted the legislation.

"The commission feels that the advice it received is correct," the spokesman said.

RTE News

Hoax alert at Holy Cross school in Belfast

14 December 2004 09:29

A security alert at Holy Cross primary school in north Belfast ended early today after a suspect object found in the grounds was declared to be a hoax.

Police say the alert followed a bomb warning which had been telephoned to a local newsroom at around 11.30pm last night.

British army bomb experts were called in to examine the object but declared it to be a hoax.

A number of items were taken away for further examination.

Police have appealed for information about any suspicious activity noticed in the Ardoyne Road, Wheatfield or Glenbryn areas at around 11pm last night.

BBC

Teenage girl beaten with sticks

A 15-year-old girl is recovering after an attack by two men with sticks in north Belfast.

Her family said she was punched to the ground and knocked unconscious after being chased by a car on Monday night.

Laura Cleary was walking to her Serpentine Road home with a friend shortly after 2200 GMT when they were chased by a car.

The occupants got out and, after grabbing her, punched her to the ground.

Her teenage friend managed to escape and raise the alarm.

Laura's father Martin said his daughter suffered a terrifying ordeal.

"A car drove up the street and started shouting abuse at them and they ran away," he said.

"The car chased them - they got out and there were three men and a woman in it - they got out and caught my daughter.

"The other girl escaped and ran back down to my house - when they caught my wee girl, one of them banged her head off the ground and knocked her out and hit her a big kick on the ribs.

"She was unconscious for five or 10 minutes."

The police said they are investigating an allegation that two 15-year-old girls were attacked by two men carrying sticks.

They believe the men were in a white four door car and have appealed for witnesses to come forward.

Detectives investigating the attack said they were examining CCTV footage of the area.

Laura was taken to hospital, but is now recovering at home.

Irish Examiner

Taoiseach apologises in bid to save peace process

The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has apologised to Ian Paisley in a bid to halt a new row over IRA disarmament turning into a political crisis, it was claimed tonight.

Mr Ahern telephoned the Democratic Unionist leader after he said all contact with the Dublin Government was being severed, party officials said.

Mr Paisley’s move came after the Taoiseach appeared to concede photographic evidence of weapons destruction – a critical DUP demand in the Northern Ireland peace negotiations – was not possible.

The DUP chief was livid with Mr Ahern’s remarks following talks with Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.

He declared: “We have cut off from today, all connections with the southern government in talks.

“As far as we are concerned, he is a man that can’t be trusted.”

The break-off briefly threatened attempts to stop the devolution plan nearly agreed last week from unravelling.

But a DUP spokesman said tonight: “The Taoiseach contacted Dr Paisley around tea-time to apologise for the situation and how it had developed and reiterated that the photographs continued to be a part of the package.

“We are satisfied with the outcome of the telephone conversation.”

Earlier, after a one-hour meeting with Sinn Féin leaders, Mr Ahern said it would be “insanity” at this stage not to find a way of settling all the issues.

“We were happy with (decommissioning chief) John de Chastelain,” he said.

“Then there was the issue of further witnesses, we were happy with that.

“We had the issue of photographs and that’s not workable so we have to try to find some other way.”

Mr Paisley had insisted the Taoiseach never before suggested photographing decommissioning was not possible during weeks of negotiations.

“From day one until now Mr Ahern never opposed photographs.

“Suddenly he meets two IRA/Sinn Féiners and he comes out and says ’it is not workable’.

“So, anything that the IRA says is not workable he will bow to.”

In a reference to the wife of murdered Garda Jerry McCabe, who is distraught at the prospect of his IRA killers’ being freed under the deal, the North Antrim MP added: “He double-crossed Mrs McCabe, he will not double-cross us. That’s the end of the matter.”

Mr Ahern also stressed that decommissioning was ready to happen but no progress would be made unless there was a comprehensive deal.

Both the British and Irish would have been satisfied with the deal as it was laid on the table to the DUP and Sinn Féin last week.

He said the issues regarding criminality and paramilitary activity were “not that much different” to those set out last October.

Hopes of reaching an agreement to revive the political institutions were shattered last week when the deal unravelled.

Mr Ahern said: “We were very close last Wednesday. There are one or two issues that have to be resolved and we believe it’s possible to resolve these.”

Irelandclick.com

We Say--

Who will save the Doc from himself?

Did Ian Paisley really make his blood and thunder speech at Ballymena because he wanted to sabotage the deal in the making?

That’s not very likely because under his leadership the DUP was set to seal a historic deal.

The party which made its name in lording it over Catholics and vowing to smash Sinn Féin was on course to make the mother of all U-turns by joining republicans in a powersharing government.

The peace train came off the rails not because Paisley or his lieutenants changed their minds but because the Doc couldn’t help himself from spewing out more bile and vitriol against the ‘Barbarians at the gate’. After 40-plus years of castigating Catholics, it was just beyond the DUP leader to keep his considerable trap closed for a few more days.

Thus came the rabble-rousing speech. The fault didn’t lie with the architects of the new agreement but with Paisley’s lack of experience in peacemaking. After all, this is a chief negotiator who hasn’t yet brought himself to shake hands with Bertie Ahern yet never mind discuss demilitarisation with Martin McGuinness.

And did the IRA only refuse to have photos taken of the final act of decommissioning because of the Big Man’s demand for humiliation? Not so, though he certainly vindicated their stance. The reality is that the IRA had long ago ruled out gifting Paisley photos he could have reproduced on every election-time t-shirt just below the word ‘SURRENDER’ and above the legend, ‘Vote DUP’.

The makings of a breathtakingly comprehensive deal are still there. If someone in the DUP can gag the DUP leader between now and the weekend, we could still make a momentous breakthrough.

Irelandclick.com

Collusion vigil disrupted by ‘off-duty PSNI men’

A candlelit vigil by the An Fhírinne group to highlight the issue of collusion was disrupted last Friday night by a group of men who claimed to be off-duty members of the PSNI.

Over 100 members of teh group gathered at the City Hall to demand the truth behind British Government collusion with loyalist death squads. During the vigil l a group of men — who claimed they were off-duty cops — abused those taking part.

“The actions of these men were totally insensitive,” says An Fhírinne spokesman and loyalist victim Mark Sykes.

“It was totally insensitive and upsetting for drunken PSNI officers to abuse members of the families of those killed through collusion,” said Mark.

“They approached Tom Hartley and at first asked him questions about An Fhírinne, what it meant, and he explained that it meant ‘The Truth’.

“But when they asked was this all not meant to be in the past and should it not all be forgotten about, and they were told that the families of those who’d been murdered needed closure on the loss of their loved ones, they started to poke one of the pictures on the posters and ask what about the 300 or so RUC families who’d lost people.

“And then they became abusive and were totally insensitive to the families.
“It was very upsetting for the family members who were there and it was uncalled for that a peaceful vigil be disrupted in this way.”

Councillor Tom Hartley said “the minor incident” shouldn’t detract from the focus of the evening. “We shouldn’t let the actions of a few overshadow the significance of the vigil which is part of the campaign to highlight the pain and hurt experienced by relatives, and the need for them to know the truth behind their loved ones’ deaths,” he added.

“The relatives at the vigil, in a dignified way, maintained a sense of themselves and we should support them in their efforts to have the truth told.”

* A Special Remembrance Mass for all those killed through collusion, and their families, will be held at Clonard Monastery on Wednesday evening, December 15, at 8pm, and all are welcome to attend.

Journalist:: Ciara McGuigan

Irelandclick.com

Political fall out continues

The SDLP has launched a bitter attack on Sinn Féin following the publication last Wednesday of the proposals by the British and Irish governments for a comprehensive agreement.

In a scathing verbal volley, SDLP party leader Mark Durkan claimed that Sinn Féin has compromised "Irish national democratic interests".

"I have no political ego. But what I absolutely resent is when the Irish national democratic interest is compromised and when people pretend that there have not been changes to the Agreement and worse yet to come,” he said.

"Sinn Féin’s priority has been about the self-image of the IRA, not the proper democratic interest of the nationalist people. That’s what I am annoyed about," blasted Mr Durkan.

Repudiating the criticisms, Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy said that the SDLP "is in no position to lecture Sinn Féin about the defence of the Agreement".

"While the SDLP have been unhelpfully sniping from the sidelines Sinn Féin have been defending the rights of nationalists, the equality agenda and the all-Ireland architecture against the objective of the DUP to achieve a veto.
"The approach of the SDLP to a relatively small number of key issues demonstrates that they are increasingly directionless," said Conor Murphy.

Sinn Féin highlighted a range of issues to support their criticism. According to the party, these are: the SDLP’s decision to rubber-stamp the purchase of plastic bullets on the Policing Board; the SDLP’s support for the Independent Monitoring Commission (which even IMC members admit is outside the terms of the Good Friday Agreement); the SDLP’s demand for the introduction of electoral fraud legislation which has led to 200,000 voters being wiped off the voting register; and the SDLP’s decision to support, then oppose, then abstain, when the so-called Mandelson Police Bill was going through Westminster.

Reacting to Sinn Féin’s comments, the SDLP leader Mark Durkan accused Mr Murphy of relying on "spin and untruths".

Meanwhile the prospect of positive political progress has been left open by the IRA leadership, after the organisation issued its first public comment on recent political developments.

In a statement issued to An Phoblacht last Thursday the IRA restated its commitment to the peace process.

"For his part, Ian Paisley demanded that our contribution be photographed, and reduced to an act of humiliation,” the statement from P O’Neill said.
"This was never possible. Knowing this, he made this demand publicly as the excuse for his rejection of an overall agreement to create a political context with the potential to remove the causes of conflict.

"As the IRA leadership has said before, this is a context in which Irish republicans and unionists can, as equals, pursue our respective political objectives peacefully.

"We restate our commitment to the peace process. But we will not submit to a process of humiliation," said the IRA.

Journalist:: Jarlath Kearney