Policing
End now the old pretence that we want to deal with the past
Tweet Another conference, another raking over old ground? Perhaps – but the DPP Barra McGrory made an interesting speech at the well-cast transitional justice conference in Belfast. “I think society has got to make a choice. Either it decides now to go down the route, the very difficult route, of determining that we are going [...] more »
Sinn Féin: Hyde Park bomb charges “vindictive, unnecessary and unhelpful”
Tweet Reports that John Anthony Downey, 61, from County Donegal, has been charged with the murder of four members of the Royal Household Cavalry in the 1982 Provisional IRA bombing in Hyde Park, London – he was arrested on Sunday at Gatwick Airport - has prompted a statement from Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly, MLA and member of the Northern Ireland [...] more »
Micheál Martin “there is a grave danger that policing in the North will be compromised because of this activity”
Tweet I’ve alluded to this in a post earlier in the week, but the Oireachtas record gives Deputy Gerry Adams a voice not captured on the Dail video. The exchange between himself and the leader of Fianna Fail is very instructive, not least as we face into another summer of discontent… The relevant section begins [...] more »
PSNI: “if the NCA is unable to operate fully in Northern Ireland, this will have a detrimental impact on our ability to keep people safe”
Tweet With continued political deadlock here over the new UK National Crime Agency (NCA) the PSNI have issued a statement warning of potential problems ahead, and proposing a suggested solution to complaints about accountability. From the PSNI statement Criminality has no respect for boundaries. It is therefore vitally important that the PSNI can access both [...] more »
Canning pleads guilty on 2011 Easter Monday charges
Tweet The BBC has a report on the on-going trial of one of the three Londonderry men charged, along with Marian Price, in relation to a 32 County Sovereignty Movement Easter Monday parade in the city in 2011 – the charge is of managing a meeting in support of a proscribed organisation, the IRA. And we [...] more »
“The department of justice said discussions about the precise source of funding for the HET are continuing…”
Tweet The issue of funding the ongoing work of the Historical Enquiries Team, as well as its perceived independence, may be about to become a matter of political disagreement… As the BBC NI home affairs correspondent, Vincent Kearney, reports Hundreds of families have co-operated with the team on the basis that it was acting independently. Many [...] more »
Seven years after their last raid, Police came back to Slab Murphy’s farm…
Tweet That was Gerry Adams talking about Slab Murphy back in 2006. Last week Gerry was singing from a slightly different hymnbook… “Last Friday Sinn Féin Councillors Edel Corrigan and Jim Loughran, and I met senior Garda for North Louth in Dundalk. The meeting discussed a range of matters including fuel laundering by criminal gangs [...] more »
“processing it through their stunted, trivial prism of partisan loyalty…”
Tweet At the Guardian, Glenn Greenwald makes a number of important points about the reaction to US Senator Rand Paul’s 13-hour filibuster against John Brennan’s nomination as head of the CIA. From Glenn Greenwald at Comment is Free Last week’s 13-hour filibuster of John Brennan’s confirmation as CIA director by GOP Sen. Rand Paul was [...] more »
The judges are right to speak out against coat trailing politicians
Tweet The sequence of empty complaints led by Peter Robinson about the “perceptions” of partiality in the granting of bail only risks creating more trouble for the police and the courts to deal with, witness Glengormley last night. The gurning is unlikely to have the slightest effect on the PSNI and the judiciary. This is not [...] more »
The political vacuum is compromising the standing of the PSNI
Tweet When criticism is made from both directions it’s often said that the subject of the criticism must be doing something right. I suspect that’s what Matt Baggott is thinking now over the rows about recent arrests on both sides of the divide. There is an alternative view of course; he may be getting it [...] more »
“Our job is to express the concerns as we hear them in the community…”
Tweet If it’s not Sinn Féin complaining about ‘political policing’, it’s the DUP. Mr Robinson said that trust needed to be rebuilt. “It’s important that the police gain the confidence of the unionist community, or regain the confidence of that section of the unionist community who have lost confidence in the police, by showing that his [...] more »
Willie Frazer detained at his home this morning…
Tweet UTV reporting that Willie Frazer has been arrested... A 52-year-old man was detained at a house in the Tandragee Road area of Markethill, Co Armagh, just before 9am on Wednesday. He is currently in police custody being questioned on suspicion of public order offences linked to the Union flags protests. more »
“after some people made it clear they were not prepared to make witness statements to investigating officers”
Tweet An Irish Times hosted PA report adds some interesting detail to the story of the arrest, questioning, and subsequent unconditional release – after being in custody for 36 hours - of Shankill bomber Sean Kelly following the apparent punishment shooting of an 18-year-old in Ardoyne. From the Irish Times report It is understood detectives had been [...] more »
“Items not detected included drugs, mobile phone batteries, scissors and a knife.”
Tweet The BBC NI home affairs correspondent Vincent Kearney seems to have gotten hold of a prison service evaluation report of the three month trial of electronic body scanners at Magilligan prison and Hydebank Wood - as a suggested alternative to full-body searches. The Assembly’s Justice Committee is due to discuss the report tomorrow [Thursday]. From the [...] more »
“Regulation of the internet is not an issue that falls within my responsibility or, indeed, that of any part of our devolved Executive.”
Tweet For which, I think, we should be very grateful indeed. Not that such constitutional technicalities prevented MLAs, of all parties, from enthusiastically debating a Sinn Féin motion last week calling for the Northern Ireland Justice Minister “to explore the introduction of better regulation of [social networking websites]“. Here’s Newton Emerson’s response in Saturday’s Irish News [...] more »
Irish Agriculture Minister: “Somebody is selling rogue product and somebody knows about it and is responsible.”
Tweet Still early days in the investigation into the discovery of more beef horse meat at a number of meat processing plants – and note Mick’s update here. However, the cause of the trace amounts of pork DNA and equine DNA in some ’beef’ products is still likely to be different. But there are a few quotes [...] more »
National Crime Agency: What’s in a name?
Tweet The local row over the UK’s new National Crime Agency (NCA) isn’t going away. But let’s try to address the issue in a less hysterical manner… Firstly, the body that the NCA needs to be compared with, in terms of the powers to be available to it here, is the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). From [...] more »
#Flegs Protest: Blocking the highway is only one way you can be convicted…
Tweet For me this was the most straightforward and relevant contribution on last night’s Nolan. Peaceful protest is fine this audience member says, but who is informing the young people who are getting involved about what is and what is not legal. Obstructing the highway has been a focus (because it is probably the most [...] more »
Police Ombudsman to re-investigate misconduct allegations in Denis Donaldson case
Tweet As far as I can tell, an inquest has yet to be held into the death of former senior Sinn Féin member, and informer, Denis Donaldson in 2006 – responsibility for which was claimed by the Real IRA. But, despite a previous NI Police Ombudsman‘s finding that there had been no police misconduct here, the new incumbent has [...] more »
Adams apology worse than no apology at all…
Tweet Aside from the obvious tragedy involved, it’s interesting to witness the contrast between how north and south treat the killing of a policeman on active duty, and the importance of national colours. Every official building in Dublin had the tricolour flying at half mast. By all accounts, the atmosphere in the Dail was pretty [...] more »
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Books
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Against Remembrance – Seminar & Book by David Rieff
Tweet Is the best way to overcome the legacy of conflict simply to forget about it? Author and journalist David Rieff spoke on this subject last week in a seminar at the Institute for International Integration Studies (IIIS) at Trinity College Dublin. Rieff has recently written a book titled, Against Remembrance (published in Ireland by [...] read our review »
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Turas, by Colin Neill – a story of strangers in a strange land
Tweet Colin Neill’s first novel Turas peeks into a world in which many Ulster Protestants feel uncomfortable. It’s 2020 and the Irish unification that unionists and loyalists confidently predicted would never happen has become a reality. President Adams is ensconced in Phoenix Park. The newsreader reported that … a short ceremony at Stormont had confirmed [...] read our review »
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Titanic: was it all right when it left here?
Tweet Not according to metallurgists Tim Foecke and Jennifer Hooper McCarty whose research has suggested that dodgy Harland and Wolff rivets were at fault for allowing the Titanic’s hull to be ripped apart by the pressure of the iceberg impact. With six of the hull’s chambers exposed to the Atlantic waters, the “unsinkable” ship lasted [...] read our review »
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