Belfast man sentenced in Germany for 1996 Provisional IRA attack on army barracks

A timely lesson from the German authorities on dealing with Northern Ireland legacy issues…  Having successfully extradited 48-year-old James Anthony Oliver Corry from the Republic of Ireland in December last year, the Belfast man has now been convicted and sentenced for his role in the Provisional IRA mortar attack on a British army barracks near Osnabrück, Germany, in June 1996. From the Irish Times report A Northern Ireland man has been convicted in Germany of attempted murder for participating in an IRA attack on a British army barracks in the …

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Extradited Suspect Admits Role in 1996 Provisional IRA Mortar Attack in Germany

Unencumbered by the Belfast Agreement, ‘comfort’ letters, or any proposals on legacy issues, German authorities sought and, last year, secured the extradition of  a suspect in the Provisional IRA mortar attack on a British army barracks near Osnabrück, Germany, in June 1996. James Anthony Oliver Albert Corry, from north Belfast, had been arrested in Killorglin, Co Kerry, in October 2015, on foot of a European Arrest Warrant issued by German authorities. At the start of his trial today in a court in the city …

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Dáil’s Committee to test the boundaries of Parliamentary privilege over Daly case

This is one to keep an eye on, not least because of how it relates to a matter that’s already a matter of controversy, ie Dail Privilege. Clare Daly used her privilege to express annoyance that a circuit court judge treated her in court, claiming she’d been singled out because she was a TD. In fairness to the Deputy, the judge’s language does seem to have been a little melodramatic. But under the separation of powers between the judiciary and parliament, the …

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A wrong turn in Constitutional Law…

On Friday, I called the High Court Ruling a constitutional nicety. Could be I was wrong about that. Carl Gardner is about as sober a legal commentator as it gets on the London beat. And he has serious concerns about the future implications of this ruling: Hmmm… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, …

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Referring Brexit to Parliament is a quaint constitutional nicety, not a (fecking) crisis…

Well, it looks like a sizeable chunk of England (well, the political chatterati bit) has, as we like to say in Belfast, went nuts. It’s a shame Brian’s sage advice was not heeded by the editors of the Mail and, my own old manor, the Daily Telegraph. So here’s hree brief thoughts. Firstly, on the 50%+1 rule the Remain side lost. Nothing that happens in Parliament can ‘fix’ the result in favour of the 48%. Secondly, having been so soundly beaten in …

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Compensation for inquest delays underlines the need for dealing with the past

Yesterday’s landmark  compensation awards of £7500 each to the families of six men killed by the security forces means that  the logjam of inquests is beginning  to cost  the state money  – money the justice system says it hasn’t got and never will have,  to pay for optimum  legal accountability for the Troubles. As the Guardian reports: The high court in Belfast ruled on Tuesday that the damages were awarded due to the “frustration, distress and anxiety” suffered by the …

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Abortion turndown is a constitutional issue

The ruling in the English High Court against free abortions for Northern Ireland women in England comes as no surprise. Have campaigners legally examined the situation in Scotland? This now seems like a case for  the Supreme Court where the issue would be: Are devolution powers superior to  UK  equal citizens’  rights? An aspect of the judge’s comments intrigued me: He ruled that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s duty to promote a comprehensive health service in England “is a duty in relation to the physical and mental …

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“a challenging project for which there is no agreed international framework…”

Despite having agreed “a detailed timetable” at a North South Ministerial Council in October 2012 “to bring in new laws for the mutual recognition of penalty points in both jurisdictions” The Ministers agreed the detailed timetable for the drafting, passage and enactment of parallel legislation, north and south, by 31st December 2014 to allow the mutual recognition of penalty points across Ireland. The timetable was agreed at today’s North South Ministerial Council Transport Meeting in Armagh, where Minister Varadkar met with the …

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Road Traffic Accidents: Accidents not crimes

A few weeks ago I noted the slight rise in road deaths in NI during 2013. I also noted the worrying tendency to regard all accidents as someone’s fault: often criminally someone’s fault. Hence the inappropriate change in routine terminology from Road Traffic Accident to Road Traffic Collision. A couple of tragic cases have recently pointed to the overenthusiasm of the authorities to prosecute those involved in accidents and in one case the good sense of the general public (and …

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“There have been times on our own island when the guilty have gone free.”

Or haven’t even been brought to trial in the first place…  As Fionola Meredith pointed out in yesterday’s Irish Times There is a lingering idea among Irish people that, because of our own past sufferings, we have a particularly sensitive moral antenna, highly attuned to instances of injustice and exploitation. That does not always bear out in reality. Perhaps we’re just more hypocritical: witness the Irish red carpet for red China, rolled out earlier this year. Tiananmen Square? Is that …

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“I think it might be part of a wider fraud organised by certain political elements…”

The Irish Times reports from Ennis Circuit Court where a 33-year-old sub-contractor has been jailed for six years, with the final year suspended, after a jury convicted him of a €680,000 VAT fraud between January 2001 and October 2003.  From the Irish Times report Retired Revenue official Michael Downey said yesterday an estimated €15 million went through Floyd’s bank account between July 2001 and June 2004, with almost €7 million lost to the State through VAT payments of €1.6 million and €5.25 …

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$cientology loses appeal against fraud ruling

The Irish Times reports from France, where the inheritors of L Ron Hubbard’s greedy and manipulative anti-science cult of scientology have lost their appeal against a 2009 ruling that “two French branches of the US-based organisation were guilty of “organised fraud” and gave four of its leaders suspended jail sentences of up to two years.”  A Huffington Post report notes During the appeals process, the prosecution had asked for the church to be fined at least euro1 million ($1.3 million) and …

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Boston College: A glimpse of the archive…

Let’s keep the dialogue ‘hinged’ this time.  With Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre aiming to try to head the US Government off at the pass, the legal battle over each ruling along the way continues in the PSNI/HET’s attempt to access some of the material in the Boston College Belfast Project archive. In the meantime, however, Boston-based lawyer, Ted Folkman has been following the legal arguments.  And he’ll be live-blogging today’s hearing [7pm GMT – Added link]. He’s already noted …

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Sean Quinn Declared Bankrupt in Ireland

Having succeeded in having Sean Quinn’s bankruptcy status in the UK annulled, the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBCR), formerly Anglo Irish Bank, today applied to have Mr Quinn declared bankrupt in Dublin High Court.  Mr Quinn did not oppose the application. On Friday evening there was another attack on Mr Quinn’s former business headquarters.  That occurred just days after the UK bankruptcy annulment and one day after it was reported that Quinn Wind Energy Ltd had also been placed into administration. And the Irish …

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Last supergrass trial was, um, actually just four years ago…

JUST watching the BBC and it’s constantly reporting that today marks the start of the “first ‘supergrass’ trial in Belfast for 25 years”. It’s not. No-one seems to remember that just four years ago, this happened – and it wasn’t exactly a roaring success. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

Norris abandons Irish presidency bid

Having more than survived the re-emergence of controversial comments in a ten-year-old interview, independent Senator David Norris’ presidential hopes were scuppered when his campaign team resigned after being surprised by a 1997 letter to the Israeli courts pleading for clemency for his former partner and friend, Ezra Nawi, who was awaiting sentence for the statutory rape of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy in Israel in 1992. Having failed to secure the backing of local councils, and with three TDs withdrawing their support, leaving him even further away from …

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Denis Donaldson inquest adjourned again – redux – redux

Previously adjourned, for the fifth time, in August last year, the Irish News reports that the inquest into the 2006 death of former senior Sinn Féin figure Denis Donaldson has been adjourned again – a further pre-inquest hearing will be held on May 5.  From the Irish News report It is understood a key witness in the investigation has been taken into protective custody after allegedly revealing where the gun used to kill Mr Donaldson was buried. The coroner told [Garda Superintendent Michael …

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Retrial of Gerard Mackin collapses

The BBC reports that the prosecution counsel in the retrial of Gerard Mackin for the murder of 36-year-old Edward Burns, who was shot dead in west Belfast in March 2007, has told the Special Criminal Court in Dublin that the state would not be proceeding with the charges. The retrial was ordered in July 2010 when the Appeal Court in Dublin ruled that evidence taken in a Belfast court, including that of the chief prosecution witness, Mr Damien O’Neill, had not …

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7/7 ruling sets wider disclosure limits for MI5. What’s left of secrecy?

MI5 officers are now appearing in court almost as matter of course,  if sometimes behind screens. The courts are becoming less and less impressed by the claims of secrecy. What criteria are judges applying in striking a balance between the competing  needs of security and disclosure? Where will it all end? Isn’t some of statement of principles needed? Lady Justice Hallett, the judge sitting as a corner at the victims’ inquest, rejected an attempt by lawyers for MI5 to hold …

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