Security alerts in Londonderry and Belfast

As a BBC report notes, “Security alerts are continuing in Londonderry after the Real IRA said they left four devices in the city”.  Earlier The Guardian described the city’s centre as “paralysed”.  And there’s also a security alert in west Belfast after two masked men reportedly threatened a bus driver and left a suspicious object on board the vehicle.  They’re just keeping faith with the republican past… Adds “Belfast city centre traffic deadlock”. And

Three trains laid on for rugby fans travelling to Dublin on Saturday have been cancelled due to an alert at Newry.

Pete Baker @ 03:51 PM | Comments (9)

“I think that seems a very sensible proposition.”

The administrator of the troubled Presbyterian Mutual Society had applied for a five year extension to his firm’s contract.  But following arguments from lawyers representing some of the shareholders in the PMS - that “Some of them may die, some of them may not have the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their savings” - the application was amended to a period of 12 months. Although whether the property market will have recovered sufficiently by then is another matter…  And the amendment was made “on the understanding that if within that 12-month period there was a need for an extension, and that may arise, we would come back to court and ask for an extension”.

Pete Baker @ 03:32 PM | Comments (1)

Northern Ireland politics in 4 YouTubes…

I met up with John Arovosis and his America Blog colleague Joe Sudbury whilst here in Washington a few nights ago, and we recorded an interview in the street... It was good fun, though I failed miserably to fulfill John’s demands that I briefly explain the history of the whole problem of politics and identity in Northern Ireland… Nonetheless, it was great fun and good to meet up with John on his home beat…

Mick Fealty @ 01:18 PM | Comments (5)

Archbishop Martin: Catholic Church must tell truth…

As Brian notes of the church abuse cases, the state has as many questions as the church to answer about the ‘strangeness’ of their behaviours towards the church. What’s disturbing about the piecemeal way in which the story has been emerging all week is it’s implications for what’s been going on in Archdioceses outside Dublin. Regardless of where this ends up, the Archbishop of Dublin looks like a moral colossus - not simply for his brave words, but for what he has done on his own patch, even as the Cardinal loses stature day by day… Given the problem of child abuse runs so wide and so deep in Irish society (north as well as south - and as Chris points out perhaps a lot further up than that), this piece meal disclosure of dirty back room deals is the opposite of moral leadership… It requires actions from church leaders to clean out their own stables, and follow Martin’s lead. And that’s not to mention something more than pious and given the recent past, rather insincere words from our political leaders... See Matt Cooper’s column on Martin McGuinness and the throwing of 1970s stones:

Mick Fealty @ 12:36 PM | Comments (15)

Six nations final Weekend

Fixtures, all on Saturday:

France v England, 19:45
Ireland v Scotland, 17:00
Wales v Italy, 14:30

Three home wins surely…..
O’Driscoll on the new tackle law interpretation
England an unpalatable mess
Wales need to stop treating players like adults
Gerald Davies on France
Update from Western Mail: The Worse Six Nations in History?

Dewi @ 09:05 AM | Comments (16)

New Brady case doesn’t look like cover up

The Guardian’s veteran political commentator Michael White takes world weariness to new heights by predicting that the Catholic Church has the stamina to sit out the media firestorm.  These things blow themselves out in time, as all Westminster watchers know. In Britain perhaps, where the abuse crisis hasn’t reached the same level but there’s no sign of a firebreak in Ireland and indeed worldwide, where the storm is gaining second wind and is now engulfing the Vatican.  But balance and fairness are essential and never more so than when the cause is just. I see that the Church’s sclerotic spokemen have taken care to spell out that the latest cases under the microscope were reported to the police. This applies to the Bishop Hegarty case . Not for thre first time, the issue here implicates the State which has to answer why a private civil settlement was deemed appropriate for a rape case.  Responsibility seems clearer in a 2001 rape case in Cardinal Brady’s Armagh archdiocese reported by UTV tonight. This came to trial, resulting in acquittal but also a follow up compensation settlement. According to a lengthy statement issued hastily to the Irish Times, the cardinal was not bound by the confidentiality agreement of the civil action and suspended the priest, named only as “Father X”. His identity was at first withheld to protect the victim. Then late tonight the suspended priest was named as Father Joseph Quinn.  While the priest seems to have been named under pressure, making his life difficult beyond the immediate circle of those in the know, the cardinal’s position appears not to have worsened. But the case again puts him under the closest scrutiny. What other cases will come out in the Irish wash? Interestingly the Economist declares that “ removing the Irish primate, who has said he will only go if the pope requests it, could signal that the era of cover-ups is finally over ” a view which I believe fails to rise to the level of events.

Brian Walker @ 08:33 PM | Comments (54)

“reduce the length of time for which the Secretary of State has to be in possession of the report”

According to a BBC report there’s been a slight change of plan in relation to the publication of the “pointless” Saville Inquiry’s report.  Rather than the lawyers checking “for issues of national security and right to life” after the report is handed to the UK government, they’ll do that before the official hand-over. From the BBC report

The report will now remain with Lord Saville until all the issues surrounding its publication have been resolved, which is expected to take about two weeks. It will then go to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Shaun Woodward, who will decide when it will be made public. This may be before the general election.

Or it may not…

A spokesperson for the Inquiry said the revised arrangements would “reduce the length of time for which the Secretary of State has to be in possession of the report before publication”.

Indeed.

Pete Baker @ 04:17 PM | Comments (20)

The perils of polls

I doubt if Bel Tel’s latest snapshot poll will stimulate much more than ritual pressure for a referendum on Unity. The parties have got enough to do just hanging in there for a long time to come. Naturally people will take what they like out of it. What stands out for David McKittrick is the finding that 69% of all Catholics would still vote for Unity, despite the developments of equality and powersharing. I find that less surprising. These are achievements of direct rule the parties have yet to live up to on their own.  By contrast, the supporter of the Conservative fraction Owen Polley sneers at Gerry Adams for daring to talk up Unity at the Paddyfest, because 85% of Prods and 26% of Taigs would split in favour of the Union. However the overall figure of 55% for remaining in the UK is a far from permanently decisive margin, so hopes of Unity remain very much alive.  On the question of political will to hold a referendum however, there’s a paradox.  Unless public opinion or the demographics shift dramatically, the more strident the politics and the wider the gap, the less likely the two governments are to call a border poll.  Althiugh they are derided by partisans, the wide tolerances in political attitudes consistently recorded in the Life and Times surveys make a referendum scenario even cloudier. 

 

Brian Walker @ 03:18 PM | Comments (28)

“On both sides of the Atlantic we are seeing stabilisation of the economy…”

As the Irish Times report points out, and RTÉ also notes, US President Barack Obama made particular mention of the Shannon airport stop-over provided to the US military, and the odd US politician, when pledging to “continue to co-ordinate in international fora as well as bilaterally to see how we can spur investment and private sector growth on both sides of the Atlantic.”  He also received another “lovely” bowl. And the pre-clearance facilities at Shannon Airport are now available for all general aircraft, including private jets.  Irish Eagle identifies the link between those facilities and US tax reforms.

That’s the insurance policy against being tagged as a tax haven. Avoiding tax haven designation is one of the keys to economic recovery.

Pete Baker @ 11:34 AM | Comments (12)

For the Catholic Church. the answer lies in neither bigotry nor public inquries

It has to be a good thing that the Northern political parties aren’t tearing into each other over the paedophile crisis in the Catholic church, as Fionnuala says in her Irish Times column in which she identifies a mood of isolation among northern Catholics. Was Paisley right about the Catholic Church all those years ago?  Well of course he was in part, but was he offering instead a better vision of freedom and fulfilment?  A way through the crisis won’t be found in the old traditions of Catholic anti-clericalism and Protestant bigotry, locked in their hoary old quarrel with the institutions of the Church.  In every European country barring Ireland, there have been numerous clashes between Church and State in the past. The paedophile crisis may be gearing up for another, taking on the worldwide character of a new kulturkampf or struggle between States and the Vatican. This time not even the sacrificial resignation of Cardinal Brady, by all accounts a good man who made a bad mistake, would achieve much. Public inquiries are all very well but as the Church has already changed its procedures over child abuse, more radical reform is needed.

Brian Walker @ 10:15 AM | Comments (80)

Pennies for the guys

The expenses saga at Westminster seems to have lead to ridiculous officiousness at Stormont. The most recent returns from MLAs show some strange claims alongside their claims for tens of thousands (I got bored after the Cs but it does continue)

£1.33 Cathal Boylan
£0.56 Allan Bresland
£0.56 Thomas Buchanan
£0.14 Fred Cobain

Mark McGregor @ 10:41 PM | Comments (26)

“Tendrils of the coldest stuff in our galaxy”

ESA’s cool infrared Herschel observatory sent its first images back in October last year, just after its launch companion, the even cooler Planck observatory achieved first light.  Both are twittering away - Planck and Herschel.  But as the BBC notes Planck scientists have now released “a snapshot of the colossal swathes of cold dust that spread through the Milky Way galaxy.”

Wednesday’s pictures come from Planck’s highest frequency channels and cover about 10% of the sky. They show the great filaments of dust within about 500 light-years of Earth. In the wavelengths it is working, Planck is well tuned to see cold matter. Some of the dust it detects is about minus 261C (12K). “We have the ability to look at very cold emission, essentially dust. We can do unbiased searches over the whole sky for these regions that are very important because they are where stars are forming,” Dr Tauber explained.

Pete Baker @ 08:54 PM | Comments (5)

Va t’e****r e****e?

Saint Patrick n’est pas à l’honneur à Stoneyford

Wow. The village goes French

Mark McGregor @ 08:51 PM | Comments (13)

If you don’t ask you don’t get…

Margaret Ritchie caused a bit if a stir this morning in Washington when shecomplained that only Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness were to meet President Obama, excluding her and Reg Empey. Her pressure paid off and got some time with him on her own. The reaction ismixed here.

Mick Fealty @ 08:10 PM | Comments (21)

Students disappointing journos (so far)

No riot ‘yet’ but from the Gown’s photos you can see plenty of media types hanging around with hope. Maybe later guys, you are building expectations.

Mark McGregor @ 08:00 PM | Comments (37)

Out of the Bog into the Meadows

While the BBC spent St Patrick’s Day afternoon covering a children’s rugby match, TG4 provided coverage of West Belfast’s St Gall’s bringing the Andy Merrigan Cup to Antrim for the first time and during their centenary year no less.

The match finished St Gall’s 0-13 1-5 Kilmurray-Ibrickane.

And for the first time in a long time I find myself 100% agreeing with a Sinn Féin press release from Gerry Adams

Mark McGregor @ 06:06 PM | Comments (42)

Late St Patrick’s day takeover of the Belfast Telegraph?

Speculation is rife about exactly if/when ownership of Independent News and Media UK finally passes to Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev. Robert Peston believes the deal is imminent later today or tomorrow. But not a word about the implications for stablemate the Belfast Telegraph, which has been the nearest thing the Indy had to a cash cow for years. Media guru Roy Greenslade covers the history of the tortuous negotiations but has no fresh information to add.  The whole business is about as transparent as Belfast sleech and a far cry from the cross border, cross channel idealism of the old tycoon Tony O’Reilly. Meanwhile the rest of the Belfast media stays silent. Cowed perhaps by the freemasonry of their own nervous owners? 

Brian Walker @ 02:17 PM | Comments (28)

“I was only doing my duty”

According to an Irish Times report, the Irish Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, “will propose to the Cabinet a constitutional amendment deleting the constitutional prohibition on blasphemy when the children’s rights amendment comes up”.  Game over, then? [Hopefully… - Ed] Although there’s still the other jurisdiction to worry about…  ANYhoo… Atheist Ireland welcomes the commitment and notes an earlier Sunday Times report.

Ahern, who was criticised for increasing the fine for blasphemy to €25,000 last year, said he never regarded the provision in the new Defamation Bill as anything more than a short-term solution. “There was a lot of nonsense about that blasphemy issue and people making me out to be a complete right-winger at the time,” he said. “There was an incredibly sophisticated campaign [against me], mainly on the internet. I was only doing my duty in relation to it, because clearly it is in the constitution. The attorney general said ‘there is this absolute, mandatory thing… it is an offence, punishable by law.” A final decision on a blasphemy referendum rests with the cabinet, but if Ahern remains justice minister after this month’s reshuffle, he is likely to propose that it be added to the autumn list. The government is already committed to referendums on children’s rights and establishing a permanent court of civil appeal.

Once more then, just for fun. [We’ll never shift those beards now… - Ed]

Pete Baker @ 11:06 AM | Comments (5)

Obama’s healthcare deal to pass with a squeak….

One thing is obvious this St Patrick’s Day: very few people in Washington are thinking about Ireland, north or south. Obama’s healthcare bill is the only thing people are talking about. The general perception (ie from both left and right is that Obama has been strangely passive. Past Presidents have be active in writing law and then offering it to Congress to rip up, or disagree with. In this case, President Obama has delegated much of the initial drafting to Congress. The bill before them now has striped out a lot of the more controversial provisions, like the possibility of state funded abortions. But it has annoyed some Democrats that their leadership in Congress has agreed to abandon a public option (meaning all government will flow into the expensive private system) or an expansion of Medicare. Jane Hamsher:

Mick Fealty @ 10:50 AM | Comments (19)

No pope here, nor in Wales

Details have been announced of Emperor Constantine Pope Benedict XVI’s official state visit to the UK Scotland and England. Apparently, it’s got something to do with the way his Empire is administrated…  According to the BBC report - “The theme of the visit will be relations between the Christian Churches and the major faiths.”  But, obviously, not those who “cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called ‘Churches’ in the proper sense.” And, according to Scottish Secretary of State, Jim Murphy, MP, “It is the first ever official Papal visit to our country combining state-to-state discussions and related engagements as well as pastoral events being organised by the Catholic bishops’ conferences of England, Wales and Scotland”.

Pete Baker @ 10:29 AM | Comments (8)

Something stirring in the land of the Saffron as sporting feast awaits

St. Gall’s of Belfast will once again do battle at Croke Park today in a bid to become the All-Ireland club champions for gaelic football (coverage live on RTE.) The Milltown team’s ascent to the status of one of the premier club teams in Ulster and Ireland in recent years was the first visible sign that the footballing fortunes of the Saffron county were finally taking a turn for the better after generations of mediocrity- including going almost two decades without a single victory in the Ulster Senior football Championship.
Today is also the special date for school finals in soccer, rugby and gaelic football, with St. Malachy’s taking on La Salle in the soccer final, BRA facing Ballymena Academy in the rugby decider and St Colman’s (Newry) taking on Omagh CBS in the gaelic football encounter. Good luck to all involved.

Chris Donnelly @ 07:13 AM | Comments (10)

“senior staff at the Housing Executive ensured the letter was withdrawn…”

According to a BBC report, the Housing Executive has asked the police to investigate its inconsistent role in a site at Nelson Street, in north Belfast - which is now owned by the development company, Big Picture Developments - one of whose directors is the chairman of the Policing Board, Barry Gilligan.  From the BBC report

For years, the Housing Executive opposed the commercial scheme, insisting the land was still designated for social housing. But recently it appeared to change its mind and wrote to planners telling them that it was “withdrawing the request for social housing at the scheme”. It is believed this letter will form part of the police investigation. After it was discovered, senior staff at the Housing Executive ensured the letter was withdrawn and its original position of opposition to the development was reinstated.

Pete Baker @ 10:36 PM | Comments (9)

Orange celebrate the green

Stoneyford’s Pride of the Village [sick] seem in full flow.

Cllr Brian Heading (SDLP) informs Slugger that celebrations in the village continued with their early start:

Apparently the band had its weekly practice event last night, a loop hole in the determination is the band walking into a field (Private Property); which is allegedly owned by H*****‘s father. As it is private property they can parade until the cows come home. ..Might be a chance the band could pull a fast one and not parade at all tomorrow night leaving a lot of police resources tied up.

Also, six are apparently “bound over” from previous indiscretions and may not want to chance it.

I spoke to a few members of the orange lodge today and they are not happy with the band or its past behaviour. If the determination is ignored by moving on to private property it will be the two fingered salute to the commission, the police and those hoping to build on good community relations.

 

Mark McGregor @ 09:31 PM | Comments (26)

To “clarify media reporting…”

Will Crawley resists the temptation of pointing out that Northern Ireland deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, speaking in Washington, may be in somewhat of a glasshouse when he suggests that Cardinal Seán Brady “should consider his position” in relation to the Catholic primate’s actions in 1975.  But will the Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, add his considered thoughts on the matter?  Or will we have to wait until after his therapy?

Pete Baker @ 09:14 PM | Comments (21)

Yes boss

When I last looked at Matt Baggott’s comments on armed republicanism it prompted Slugger regular Malcolm to have a few words (I appreciate anyone going to the trouble of adding colours in a response).

Despite this I’ll risk revisiting the issue.

Matt Baggott stated:

“I think to some degree it’s different but it is the same as, for example dealing with street gangs in Brixton”

However the gang soundbite was raised much earlier by none less than Deputy McGuinness:

2.45 pm
As my colleague Martina Anderson said in the House earlier, those people describe themselves as an army. It is not an army that we are dealing with but a gang

Of course I’m not suggesting they compare notes…......

Mark McGregor @ 06:27 PM | Comments (60)