Bloody Sunday: Once again, politics trumped truth….

Derry has more than its fair share of unfinished business viz a viz the troubles. Earlier today Eamonn McCann gave the Annual Lecture at the St Patrick’s Festival, Coatbridge, Glasgow. The following is an extract in which he argues that political processes has obscured the outcome of the Saville Inquiry:

Mick Fealty @ 10:22 PM | Comments (14)

Conservatives: Hatfield was about promoting political stability…

Being in the States for the last few days, I’ve been a little behind the times.  My apologies to the Conservative party for the tardiness in getting this statement to press, which comes in response to Eamonn’s story yesterday. A party spokesman writes:

Mick Fealty @ 11:33 AM | Comments (53)

Tohill kidnapper remanded in custody at Belfast Crown Court

Presumably when the BBC report that Henry Joseph [Harry] Fitzsimmons has been remanded in custody at the Belfast Crown Court after being “arrested in Aughnacloy on Thursday”, what they mean is that he’s been transferred from the custody of the Irish authorities.  Right?  He was being held on remand on a European Arrest Warrant.  And, before going on the run in May 2006, he had already pleaded guilty to attempting to kidnap dissenting republican Bobby Tohill on 20th February 2004.  Fitzsimmons is now due to be sentenced next month.  Two of the four men who went on the run at the time were re-arrested and sentenced in February 2007 - Gerard McCrory received seven years in prison and Thomas Tolan was given a six-and-a-half-year term.  Police have still not released a likeness or even a basic description of the fourth wanted man, Liam Rainey, from New Barnsley Crescent, Belfast.

Pete Baker @ 06:31 PM | Comments (1)

“underpinning the devolution of policing and justice matters”

Worth noting that among the items the NI Assembly voted to remain reserved today is the “politically motivated” Serious Organised Crime Agency [SOCA].  Meanwhile, the Assembly and Executive Review Committee has published its second report on devolution of policing and justice [volume 1 here, volume 2 here].  Included in Appendix 4 are the “Agreements, Concordats, Protocols and Memoranda of Understanding underpinning the devolution of policing and justice matters”.  Of particular interest, the national security protocols which NI Secretary of State Shaun Woodward had, for some time, resisted providing to the committee.  You need to scroll down from here to find the relevant section - “Handling Arrangements for National Security Related Matters after Devolution of Policing and Justice to the Northern Ireland Executive”.

1. After devolution of policing and justice, the Northern Ireland Minister of Justice (hereafter referred to as the Minister of Justice) will be responsible for policing and criminal justice policy[1].The Secretary of State remains responsible for national security matters. The Transfer of Functions Orders set out in more detail what this means in practice in terms of the full range of functions which will devolve and the small number of functions which will remain with the Secretary of State.

2. It is recognised that national security related issues may touch on the responsibilities of the Minister of Justice. This protocol sets out arrangements for managing this issue so as to ensure that the NI Executive and the UK Government can each carry out their respective responsibilities effectively and that national security issues are properly protected.

Pete Baker @ 07:26 PM | Comments (20)

Seven arrested in Ireland in investigation into a conspiracy to murder cartoonist Lars Viks

The BBC pick up on an RTÉ report that “Gardaí have arrested five people in Waterford and two others in Cork in connection with an investigation into a conspiracy to murder a Swedish cartoonist”, Lars Vilks.  According to the BBC report all seven arrested are Muslims, while RTÉ adds - “Those in custody are originally from Morocco and Yemen, but it is understood they all have refugee status and are legally in the country.”  From the RTÉ report

A garda spokesman said the operation was part of an investigation into a conspiracy to murder an individual in another jurisdiction. Members of the Garda National Support Services and the Special Detective Unit were also involved in this morning’s operation. Gardaí say they are working closely with police forces in a number of other European countries and in the US. The seven people arrested this morning range in age from their mid-20s to their late-40s.

Update from today’s Irish Times

Detectives in Ireland have been working on the case since late last year with their counterparts in the US and Europe, including Sweden. Those arrested yesterday are from Algeria, Croatia, Palestine, Libya and the US. They are aged in their mid-20s to late-40s. The Irish Times understands the suspects were taken into custody on the basis of information supplied to the Garda by the FBI that came to light after surveillance of the suspects’ communications, including e-mails.

Pete Baker @ 03:27 PM | Comments (9)

Such a parcel of rogues…

We’ve now had former US President George Bush Jnr [reportedly at the instigation of US economic envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly], and Ian Paisley Snr join in the campaign by, amongst others, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness and the NIO and NI Secretary of State Shaun Woodward, to try to pressurise the UUP into toe-ing the DUP/SF party line on tomorrow’s vote on devolving policing and justice powers.  Nice to see old comrades working together again…  To, apparently, little effect…

The Ulster Unionist executive has endorsed the party’s decision to vote against the devolution of policing and justice powers to Northern Ireland.

Pete Baker @ 09:38 PM | Comments (53)

More statistics…

Is the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers’ commissioned poll [At what cost? - Ed] any more rigorous than the NIO’s?  Who knows?  The questions certainly don’t appear to be.  As spotted by “thedissenter” in the comments zone here, the polling company chosen, Red Circle Communications, was set up in 2007 by former head of communications for the Scottish Labour Party, Steven Lawther.  The polling report, dated 4th March, is here [pdf file].  BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport finds something of value in it.

That said there is some interesting stuff in the OFMDFM survey about people’s desire for the First and Deputy First to work together, and the gap between this aspiration and how well people think the Executive is doing its job. Additionally less than half those interviewed felt well informed about what the Executive is doing (maybe that’s my fault!)

Heh.

Pete Baker @ 06:35 PM | Comments (10)

“directing British policy and directing the occupation of Ireland”.

Ahead of tomorrow’s vote in the Northern Ireland Assembly on devolving policing and justice powers, The Guardian’s Henry McDonald has been speaking to the vice-president of Republican Sinn Féin, Geraldine Taylor, at the party’s Falls Road headquarters.  From The Guardian report

But Geraldine Taylor, the veteran west Belfast republican and vice-president of RSF, said whoever got elected to the post would be “directing British policy and directing the occupation of Ireland”.

At the party’s Falls Road headquarters, flanked by a number of young republicans from the North Armagh area where the CIRA has a growing base, Taylor said a new justice minister would be “part and parcel of the British crown”.

Asked how the new minister would be regarded by what she called the “Republican Movement” (the umbrella term encompassing RSF and CIRA), Taylor replied: “They would be an enemy of the Irish people in just the same way as a British soldier or police officer serving in the PSNI/RUC.”

Pete Baker @ 03:28 PM | Comments (28)

“This poll shows that overwhelming community confidence has been firmly established..”

As Brian has mentioned, the NIO, and Northern Ireland Secretary of State Shaun Woodward, have weighed in to the campaign against the UUP with another of their famous surveys.  But is it 75%? 73%? Or, as the BBC reports, 68% in favour?  And was there a timescale involved for that support?  And is it the case that “In terms of overall support for the agreement to transfer policing and justice powers to the Executive at Stormont, 67% were in support and 13% opposed.” I could point out that their last published survey indicated 74% in favour of that transfer at some time.  Not that we can compare the findings to any of their previous offerings propaganda because, to date, there’s even fewer details on this poll than any of the others.  Where, for example, are the figures for the other parties?  Will we see the figures for those who indicated their support for the DUP?  Wouldn’t it be interesting to see how many of those surveyed indicated support for the TUV?  Was anyone asked?  A margin of error would be nice, Shaun… Adds See also the post on the OFMDFM poll.

Pete Baker @ 10:25 AM | Comments (36)

“the current Executive must be capable of exercising its existing powers…”

In Scotland and in Wales the people are to be asked directly before any more power is gifted to local politicians.  Here, the two main parties in the mandatory four party coalition go into a huddle behind closed doors and produce a less than transparent “agreement”.  Then those same two parties engage in a campaign against anyone expressing doubts based on the actual performance of the dysfunctional Northern Ireland Executive to date.  Then there’s the reported interest of unnamed US congressmen [Adds now named as the usual suspects congressmen Peter King, Richard Neal, Joseph Crowley and Tim Murphy].  Not that the other parties in the NI Executive can actually vote down any proposal supported by those two parties - and in a cross community vote the Alliance Party’s votes still don’t count.  And, after thanking the US Secretary of State for her kind phone call, the UUP leader Reg Empey issued a statement.  As reported here

Empey said he appreciated the call from Mrs Clinton, but stressed that his party still intended to vote ’no’ on the proposal to transfer law and order responsibilities from London to Belfast in April. “She (Mrs Clinton) has always taken a very keen interest in Northern Ireland and I thanked her for the call,” he said. “She’s obviously very anxious to see a successful resolution but I explained the situation we faced. She was very pleasant and helpful and I think she understands our view that we should have been more involved (in the Hillsborough talks).” Empey said “nothing substantive” had developed over the weekend to address any of his party’s concerns over the wide-ranging agreement on justice devolution and parades that was hammered out after 10 days of round-the-clock talks between Sinn Féin and the DUP at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down last month.

Perhaps this situation is also considered to be “good enough”... Adds We know why it’s “good enough” for one of those party. [*Cuckoo* *Cuckoo* - Ed] Now, we’ve put that US ‘imperialism’ behind us…

Pete Baker @ 10:37 PM | Comments (1)

“If anyone knows the whereabouts of the vehicle or has knowledge of its disposal…”

The BBC report notes that 20 minutes after the recent car bomb at the courthouse in Newry police received reports of a vehicle on fire in Drumintee, south Armagh.  And as the iol report notes - “while the Police Service of Northern Ireland received reports of the burning car 20 minutes after the blast in Newry, 48 hours later it was removed from the site without their knowledge by unknown persons.”  The report quotes a PSNI spokeswoman

“Police received a report of a vehicle on fire in the area of Drumintee just before 11pm on Monday February 22,” said a PSNI spokeswoman. “During Tuesday, officers made inquiries to establish if the vehicle was linked to the bomb attack at Newry courthouse. However, due to concerns that the vehicle may have been a lure to attack police, officers were unable to respond as fully or as quickly as they would have wished. On Wednesday morning police learned that the vehicle had been removed.”

Update According to UTV

On Sunday, a PSNI spokesman said the vehicle, which could hold vital forensic clues as to the car bombers’ identity, had now been located again. “A vehicle which police, at this stage, believe was the car set on fire in the area of Drumintee just before 11pm on Monday 22 February, was subsequently recovered for further investigation,” he said. The police would give no further details where the car was found, but it is understood it was recovered days after it went missing.

Pete Baker @ 03:02 PM | Comments (43)

“There is no doubt in my mind that the DUP and Sinn Fein have the numbers to pass this resolution”

According to the BBC’s report, and the UTV one, Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness has said that the UUP have “three days to sort themselves out” over the issue of policing and justice [and OFMDFM’s less than transparent approach on other issues? - Ed].  An “ultimatum”, no less.  Or else what, Martin?  Who, exactly, is “threatening the political institutions” over this issue?  And what would your collapsing of your best only evidence of Sinn Fein’s “ability to deliver” tell the electorate in Ireland? After all, Sinn Féin and the DUP can carry the vote on Tuesday, alone.

Pete Baker @ 10:20 PM | Comments (28)

“and there’s not a parliament to publish the report…”

According to a BBC report, Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward, speaking in Londonderry, said that he hopes to be in a position to publish Lord Saville’s [pointless] report into Bloody Sunday “within days of receiving it.”  Except that, as the BBC previously reported, he told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster on Wednesday that “he would only take about two weeks to consider the mammoth document but added that nobody knew when Prime Minister Gordon Brown would call the election.”

He told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of MPs the election raised security concerns about possible leaks and added people’s lives could be endangered if highly sensitive personal details were released. “Where it is the case that the report is delivered and there’s not a parliament to publish the report, it then sits in electronic and in physical form in a warehouse for what might be weeks so I am genuinely concerned,” he said. “But I am also concerned, not just about legitimate leaks but those leaks which actually of course are not based on the report at all but are wild speculation dressed up as leaks.” He said such speculation would cause anxiety but “it will be impossible to give any response” at that time.

Pete Baker @ 10:44 AM | Comments (13)

“with as much transparency as is possible to achieve without compromising our operations”

The BBC reports that the SDLP’s Alex Attwood is complaining that proposed security protocols mean that MI5 will remain accountable only to senior UK Ministers, Parliament and the judiciary, however limited that may be, and not to a local Northern Ireland Justice Minister - just as it is in the rest of the UK.  From the BBC report

The DUP’s Ian Paisley Jnr said the SDLP needed to accept the fact that issues concerning national security would not be devolved. “The local justice minister will have responsibility to deal with local justice issues in terms of courts, prison service and the general holding to account of the police service,” he said. “No local justice minister is having their fingers near the national security of the UK.”

Pete Baker @ 09:06 PM | Comments (25)

“Yes, I read about them in the papers”.

As an iol report noted this morning, the European Arrest Warrant for Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams’ brother Liam was endorsed by Dublin’s High Court yesterday.  RTÉ reports that at 2.10 this afternoon Liam Adams arrived at Bridewell Garda Station by appointment with his solicitor.  He was arrested and escorted to the High Court where he “told the court that he did not want to go back to Northern Ireland because he believed he would not get a fair trial there.”  He has been released on bail of 15,000 euros and is due to appear before a criminal court in Dublin next Wednesday.  And according to the Guardian report

The Guardian has learned that Liam Adams’s legal team will argue that their client has a right to have the case against heard in the Irish Republic, where they will contend he will get a fairer trial than in Northern Ireland.

Pete Baker @ 06:26 PM | Comments (43)

“Venezuelan government’s co-operation in the illicit collaboration” between Eta and Farc”

With a number of convicted, and suspected, former ETA terrorists washing up on these shores there’s a notable report of interest from the Irish Times.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez denied the allegations. Typically, he blamed an “international Yankee plot”, describing it as “a sad remnant of Spain’s colonial past”. It is not the first time Mr Chavez has had strong words for Spain. His repeated interruptions of Mr Zapatero at the Ibero-American summit in Chile two years ago caused King Juan Carlos to shout: “Why don’t you shut up?”

Words of a more conciliatory tone came from Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan foreign minister. In a telephone call with his Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos, he promised he would investigate the allegations and keep Mr Moratinos informed.

Pete Baker @ 10:59 PM | Comments (10)

“Saville is pointless (so is any question on it)”

Someone has mischievously leaked an email from the putative Northern Ireland Justice Minister David Ford to the Liberal Democrats dating from last November.  The BBC report highlights the relevant line

In the email leaked to the BBC, entitled ‘Northern Ireland Questions’, Mr Ford states “Saville is pointless”, adding in brackets and “so is any question on it”.

Adds In the comments zone, [Alliance Party member] “Sammy Morse” points to an earlier reference to the email by Mark Devenport - although Saville doesn’t get a mention.

Pete Baker @ 08:44 PM | Comments (161)

Non-jury trials “an essential option to ensure fair trials”

According to the current Criminal Justice Minister Paul Goggins, MP, the provision for non-jury trials, which was renewed in June 2009, will be subject to “a comprehensive review [], including a full public consultation, before it next falls to be renewed in July 2011.”  By which time it may fall to the NI Assembly to decide whether to renew that [or similar] legislation.  Do the parties here have an agreed position?

Pete Baker @ 03:12 PM | Comments (25)

McFarlane takes Ireland to European Court of Human Rights

The Irish Times informs us that “Ireland makes a rare appearance before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg today to face allegations of violating the rights of Maze escapee Brendan McFarlane.”  The complaint followed the collapse of the trial of the prominent Provisional IRA member on charges relating to the kidnapping of businessman Don Tidey in 1983.  From the Irish Times report

In this case, Mr McFarlane is asking the court for a ruling that the State deprived him of a fair trial in not charging him with offences related to the 1983 kidnapping until 1998, and to further delay in that this trial did not eventually take place until 2008.

He is making a separate complaint that his judicial review proceedings challenging the delay, which began in November 1999, were not concluded until March 2006, and that there were further delays while he litigated residual issues before the courts between November 2006 and March 2008.

Concerns about The Process™ are unlikely to be considered a valid defence…

Pete Baker @ 11:41 AM | Comments (3)

“My understanding at the time was that they wanted him out of circulation”

Via Newshound, in the Sunday Times Ed Moloney added more detail to Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams’ less than transparent accounting of his brother Liam’s movements.  This time pre-1987.  From the transcribed article.

In the tangled and disconcerting story of Liam Adams, one feature provides an uncomfortable parallel between his alleged paedophilia and the scandal of Catholic clerical abuse, as highlighted in last November’s Murphy report. That was the practice of moving alleged abusers around Ireland to avoid the demands for action once their activities became known.

Liam Adams made at least six moves within and outside Ireland from the time that he ceased allegedly abusing his daughter Áine until the scandal broke. It is these moves, with Gerry Adams’s perceived reluctance to take decisive action against his brother, that led some to conclude that there had been a cover-up.

The New York episode, which has not come to light until now, shows powerful figures in the Provisional movement wanted Liam out of Ireland after his marriage collapsed. So in 1984 arrangements were made for him to be smuggled to America, given a false identity, and looked after until it was safe for him to return. He stayed in New York for eight months, presumably until the reason for his exile ceased to be a problem.

Pete Baker @ 03:10 PM | Comments (48)

Translink withdraws buses during “general unrest” in west Belfast

The BBC are reporting that Translink have withdrawn its buses from an area of west Belfast after one of its buses was attacked during what a company spokesperson described as “general unrest”. From the BBC report

The police have been unable to confirm reports of trouble on the Springfield Road but Translink said it has withdrawn its buses from the area. The trouble was reportedly focused around the Mackie’s factory site. The Translink spokesperson said that she understood youths had attempted to set fire to the road.

Adds In a prompt update to the BBC report we are now informed that petrol bombs were thrown and that “Police have said they have dispersed the crowd and the area is now quiet.”

Pete Baker @ 09:22 PM | Comments (13)

Belfast Court orders extradition of de Juana Chaos to Spain

I mentioned recently that convicted ETA killer José Ignacio (Iñaki) de Juana Chaos was still fighting extradition proceedings on charges of glorifying terrorism in Spain.  Today the BBC reports that Belfast Recorder Tom Burgess has ordered that the extradition of de Juana Chaos should proceed.

Judge Burgess said there was no evidence that he would not receive a fair trial, and he could seek bail from the courts in Spain. He recognised the potential impact if he were to be sent back to jail, especially if put in solitary confinement, but added that if he engaged with the Spanish judicial system, arguments could be advanced for why he should be granted bail. He said questions about his mental state should be left to the Spanish authorities.

Pete Baker @ 03:27 PM | Comments (85)

“because clearly their capability is growing.”

The Irish Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, has been speaking to RTÉ about the threat from still-violent republican groups.  The Irish Times has some of the quotes.

“There seems to be an effort in recent months to bring them closer together,” Mr Ahern said yesterday of the Real IRA and Continuity IRA. “There seems to be cross-fertilisation; it may be more to do with acquaintances or family membership than ideology. But nonetheless it is a more worrying trend because clearly their capability is growing.” While the two main groups were co-operating it also appeared a wider dissident coalition was emerging. This included a number of small splinter groups and a handful of republicans who had up until recently been committed to the political process.

Mr Ahern said the Real IRA and Continuity IRA both have “significant pockets” of membership in the Republic. However, the terrorist attacks witnessed in the North in recent months appeared to have been organised there. “The threat here I believe on this island is as dangerous as it was at any time during the Troubles,” said Mr Ahern

Pete Baker @ 02:20 PM | Comments (35)

“Should we eschew any cause or proposal…”?

Interesting point raised by former South African Minister Kader Asmal in the Irish Times report on his inaugural lecture at Trinity College’s Centre for Post-Conflict Justice.

“The question that must be answered is whether the most important political consideration is the need to maintain the unity of the power-sharing executive? Should we eschew any cause or proposal, even the proposal for a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland . . . that may lead to inter-communal differences in the executive?”

Is that “the most important political consideration”?  Certainly seems to be… And not just by the political parties/governments.  The other question for the “Centre for Post-Conflict Justice” is, is it already too late?

Pete Baker @ 10:46 AM | Comments (8)

“Our society has a tragic history of violence.”

Mark asked “Why?” Kieran Doherty, aged 31, was reportedly bound, stripped and shot on the outskirts of Londonderry on Wednesday.  Because they can would seem to be the simple answer.  After all, that’s all the reasoning others previously required.  And they can all still, apparently, “look back on their IRA involvement with pride.”  The BBC has some additional background

In November 2009 Mr Doherty gave an interview to the Derry Journal newspaper in which he claimed he had been approached by the security service MI5 while trying to set up a cigarette manufacturing company. According to the paper, he was repeatedly turned down for a licence by Revenue and Customs and was then approached by an MI5 agent. “I think the whole thing is a set up in order to try and recruit informers,” he told the newspaper. In January this year, Mr Doherty again contacted the same newspaper after the PSNI searched his home. The search came after 500,000 euros worth of cannabis was found in a house in County Donegal. Mr Doherty told the newspaper that he had no involvement with the drugs and that the house belonged to a Republican prisoner whom he had met in Portlaoise prison. It is understood that Mr Doherty was jailed on a robbery charge.

On UTV Live the Sunday Tribune’s Northern Editor, Suzanne Breen, stated that she had met Kieran Doherty in 2003 when he was “O/C Real IRA prisoners” in Portlaoise Prison and that it was her understanding that he had remained an “active republican” on his release.  Suzanne Breen also identified the “Republican prisoner” who owned the house in Donegal as Seamus McGreevy - who recently committed suicide while fighting extradition to Lithuania on attempted arms smuggling charges as the result of a sting operation involving MI5, the garda, and Lithuanian police.

Pete Baker @ 09:26 PM | Comments (34)