Provisional IRA
“this device may have been here for some considerable time, possibly many years…”
There’s good news, and there’s bad news, as a 36 hour security alert in Kinawley, County Fermanagh, ends with two controlled explosions by the British Army’s bomb disposal team and the removal of a viable device “for further forensic examination”. From the BBC report Police have said that a bomb found in a field in County [...] more »
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, [...] more »
Twentieth anniversary of Teebane
Almost any date in Northern Ireland is the anniversary of a death from the Troubles. Often the less iconic are forgotten about. As such marking one event may be unfair to the relatives of the less well known about deaths. Sometimes, however, the anniversary is such that is should be marked. This is the 20th [...] more »
“and ‘Soon’ would have known this”
Perhaps the most interesting [and least covered? - Ed] response to the release of UK National Archive files from 1981 was that of the Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, TD. An edited version of his blog post appeared at the Guardian. The interesting part is not his declaration of “Another myth busted”. That particular ”war of words”, as Brian [...] more »
Boston College to hand over Dolours Price interviews
According to Kevin Cullen, reporting for the Irish Times, US district court judge William Young is continuing his in camera review of the Boston College archive material. And he has already ordered the college to hand over the recorded interviews of former Provisional IRA member Dolours Price. From the Irish Times report College officials said [...] more »
Boston College Ruling: “These are serious allegations, and they weigh strongly in favor of disclosing the confidential information.”
Via Newshound. The Boston Globe reports the long awaited US court ruling on the release of the Boston College archive material. And it’s something of a half-way house. For now. From the Boston Globe report A federal judge rejected yesterday a motion by the trustees of Boston College to quash subpoenas that order them to turn [...] more »
“Maybe your client is understating his importance.”
Yesterday Dublin High Court rejected an application by Freddie Scappaticci, who denies he was a British army agent within the Provisional IRA known as “Stakeknife”, for a judicial review of the Smithwick Tribunal’s decision to allow witness Kevin Fulton to give evidence from behind a screen – and for a halt in the hearing of that evidence until [...] more »
“be careful what you wish for…”
In the Belfast Telegraph, Henry McDonald picks up on the recent reports of the Historical Enquiries Team’s findings, and how they undermine the “changing narrative [that] has become mainstream republican orthodoxy”. From the Belfast Telegraph article The HET’s conclusions over the Enniskillen massacre paints those responsible as, at the very least, guilty of callous disregard [...] more »
“accept the tragedy of what happened in those wasted years without indulging in double think…”
Via Newshound. As Liam Clarke notes on the political reaction to his report on the Historical Enquiries Team’s findings on Loughgall The past is often treated like a political football. Politicians take sides and blame the referee if he does not agree with them. The Historical Enquiries Team is a case in point. Up to [...] more »
Former Assistant Garda Commissioner Kevin Carty fails to turn up at Smithwick Tribunal. Again.
The latest updates on proceedings at the Smithwick Tribunal in the BBC and the RTÉ reports both lead with news that the tribunal is to relocate to the Special Criminal Court for Monday’s appearance by convicted Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt. But the bulk of both reports concern the [repeated] non-appearance of former Assistant Garda Commissioner Kevin Carty. [...] more »
Martin McGuinness: “but I don’t recall saying that.”
During the campaign to become President of Ireland, the Sinn Féin candidate, Martin McGuinness, MP, MLA, has repeatedly claimed that “As a republican leader I have never and would never stand over attacks on the Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces” In a report today, he’s again quoted as saying “I would not support anybody [...] more »
“There are sometimes occasions when frank disagreements arise between states…”
After meeting with the Finucane family to discuss the UK government’s decision “to conduct an independent review to produce a full public account of any state involvement in the murder”, rather than open an inquiry under the 2005 Inquiries Act, UTV reports Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore’s comments Speaking after a meeting with the [...] more »
“It was only since the presidential campaign got under way…”
As RTÉ reported on Monday, the Sinn Féin candidate in the Irish Presidential race, Martin McGuinness, MP, MLA, found himself confronted, and called “a liar”, by the son of a member of the Irish Army who was killed in Ballinamore in 1983 by the Provisional IRA gang who were holding the kidnapped businessman Don Tidey. The full RTÉ video clip is [...] more »
Judge Smithwick: “I therefore anticipate that I will be able to submit my final report by the end of May 2012.”
Having expressed his concern at the 30 November ‘deadline’ initially imposed by the Irish Government, Judge Peter Smithwick has now formally requested a 6 month extension for the tribunal he chairs. From the Irish Times report The tribunal, now six years in existence, began its public hearings only in June this year. Judge Smithwick stated in [...] more »
Martin McGuinness: “but it bears all kinds of sinister connotations…”
There was a bizarre interruption in the Irish Times interview with the Sinn Fein candidate in the Irish Presidential race, Martin McGuinness, MP, MLA. From the Irish Times report TEN MINUTES into our interview, Martin McGuinness is beginning to set out how he’s been around a long time, when a shadow falls across the table. [...] more »
“McKee — booted out of the IRA in 2004…”
The BBC reported yesterday on the sentencing, for four and a half years each, of three men, Paul Braniff, Michael Kearney and Eugene McKee, after they pleaded guilty to a single count of blackmail. They were part of a gang which had threatened the businessman with releasing a video of a “personal nature” to the press. The [...] more »
Martin McGuinness: “I wasn’t a member of the IRA when that happened…”
Sinn Féin’s candidate in the Irish Presidential election, Martin McGuinness, MP, MLA, told RTÉ’s This Week programme yesterday that “If people want to examine my record, let them examine my record. I stand on my record.” But not before McGuinness declined the invitation by Colm O’Mongain for full disclosure of his role in the Provisional IRA, [...] more »
Kingsmills and why Northern Ireland did not end up like Bosnia
The Kingsmills families have had a number of meetings recently in their attempts to get justice for their relatives murdered by the IRA in 1976. They met David Ford who has apparently promised to press for closer cooperation with the RoI government over the matter. Danny Kennedy who has been involved in the campaign said: [...] more »
The IRA campaign: not left wing but sectarian struggle
There has been a significant amount written about whether or not Sinn Fein is or was a truly left wing political party. In general those within republicanism who have opposed the current policies of SF have accused them of moving away from the political left. The problem is that neither Sinn Fein nor the IRA [...] more »
Judge Smithwick: “I take a very, very strong view if he doesn’t [appear].”
The Irish government’s deadline target date for the Smithwick tribunal’s final report is unlikely to be met if former assistant Garda commissioners ignore the tribunal. From the RTÉ report Senior Counsel for the tribunal, Mary Laverty, said she was at a loss to explain why Mr Carty had not turned up. She said she was [...] more »
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Books
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Debating the Churches’ Role in the Peace in Northern Ireland
This morning’s Sunday Sequence featured a substantial debate (about 35 minutes into the recorded programme) on a new book,Religion, Civil Society and Peace in Northern Ireland (Oxford University Press 2011), written by sociologists John Brewer, Gareth Higgins and Francis Teeney. The debate was framed in an opening vignette by presenter William Crawley in uncompromising terms, [...] read our review » -
Stay out of Libya: counterinsurgency doesn’t work
A moment of some significance in journalism perhaps, as the New York Times reviews the current talked about book, The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan by Bing West. The author is no bleeding heart but a former assistant Defense Secretary from the Reagan era who stomped his way round the Afghan [...] read our review »
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Spare us a phoney row about racism, we’ve got enough on
A silly media row about racism just had to figure in the riots’ post mortem. Was the Tudor history expert David Starkey racist on Newsnight when he said: The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic, gangster culture has become the fashion. And black and white, boy and girl, operate in [...] read our review »
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