Sinn Fein’s last minute pull out from cross party ‘St Pats For All’ video

Controversy in the Republic last night over an old problem for Sinn Fein, the St Patricks Day celebrations in the US, where they do things a little lot differently than they do at home. It concerns this cross parliamentary video supporting the St Pat’s For All parade in NYC… In the US, New York and Boston have continued to ban the participation of LGBT groups. In the case of Boston there’s been substantial progress towards change, but in NYC the …

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#ShinnersList is “a consequence of Sinn Fein’s selfish misdealing…”

Interesting response to the Hain interview this morning from Mark Durkan… “It is no surprise that Peter Hain has now articulated this view. That was clearly his position. Sinn Fein, who have been quoting him in aid this week, know that this was Peter Hain’s view when they were collaborating together to push forward the NI (Offences) Bill in 2005 (which was misnomered as the On The Runs bill). “In the context of the Hain-Adams Bill, which Peter Hain was …

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Gerry Adams letter to Gerry McGeough contradicts his recent comments on OTR`s

Gerry Adams recent press release on the Sinn Fein website states: In recent days there has been deliberate misrepresentation about the OTR issue and the provision of letters by the British government. “Unionist leaders have intentionally engaged in hyperbole and feigned anger over an issue that has been on the political and public agenda since the Good Friday Agreement negotiations. “The fact is that there was no agreement between Sinn Féin and the British government on how to resolve the …

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“Just to confuse matters, some elements of the tale of the On The Runs appear to have been hidden in plain sight.”

BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport with, perhaps, the best description of the mechanism used to address the issue of on-the-runs.  From Mark Devenport’s BBC blog While republicans insist unionists knew all about what was happening to the On The Runs, that is not strictly true. Senior PSNI officers answered some questions posed by Northern Ireland Policing Board members and the scheme got a glancing reference in the voluminous Eames-Bradley report on dealing with the legacy of the Troubles. But when former …

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Fine Gael to consider contesting elections in the North #fgaf14

Interesting development from the Fine Gael Ard Fheis this weekend as the party’s delegates have passed a motion to set up a working group to consider the possibility of contesting elections in the North. The motion that was passed only states contesting elections at Local, European and Assembly elections but it will be interesting to see if this group has legs and goes somewhere. To be honest, I wasn’t even aware that this issue was on the radar for the …

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If the DUP overdo their anti-OTR campaign, they risk losing more face

Now where are we? On the basis of Mick’s posts and other comment let’s try to find out. On the face of it the terms of the inquiry are broadly drawn. The aim of the inquiry is to: To produce a full public account of the operation and extent of the      administrative scheme for ‘On the Runs’ (OTRs) To determine whether any letters sent through the scheme contained errors To make  recommendations as necessary on this or related matters that are …

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Rationale for the #ShinnersList: “Preferential treatment of IRA men regarding their potential criminal liability…”

On Facebook yesterday, I saw a query from an old schoolfriend (from P1, as it happens). He’s about as apolitical it is possible to be, but his curiosity was clearly piqued and he asked a question about how on earth the NIO managed to get all those letters out to the OTRs. The answer as we now know was via Sinn Fein. We’ll have to await the outcome of the Review to see just how rigorous the processes were. But …

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David Cameron: “We will appoint an independent judge to produce a full public account of the operation of this administrative scheme…”

The BBC reports that the Prime Minister David Cameron has announced a judicial review of the operation of the controversial administrative scheme to deal with so-called “on the runs” which was highlighted in the recent collapse of the John Downey case.  From the BBC report Mr Cameron told a Downing Street press conference: “I agree with the first minister of Northern Ireland that after the terrible error of the Downey case it is right to get to the bottom of what happened. …

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How the system of “comfort letters” developed. Secrecy was important, Hain admits

Much of the ammunition Peter Robinson needs is already in Mr Justice Sweeney’s lengthy judgment in the Downey case. Key points in this Belfast Telegraph summary. The administrative scheme began in 2000 to rectify the anomaly because as on the runs, they weren’t eligible for the early release scheme. The overall picture is of Gerry Kelly as Sinn Fein’s point man  with the British government on the issue,   coming forward regularly with new names and the legal authorities  led by successive …

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More than ever, the “crisis” shows the need to face up honestly to the end of Troubles prosecutions

Fair enough. There are genuine grounds for shock and anger but there is a good deal of grandstanding too. The pity of it is, the growing recognition among unionists of the case for limited immunity tied to truth recovery will be set back. Taking the optimistic view (somebody has to), the full extent of de facto amnesty will emerge a lot more clearly and can no longer be denied. The pretence should end, that “ justice”  is attainable were it …

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#ShinnersList and the unravelling Chamber of Secrets…

On the principle of blog what you know, publish learn more and then blog more, here’s as much sense as I can currently squeeze out of this OTR business. I’m sure more will emerge over time. 1 After a day of talking up two divergent matters (Hain’s controversial administrative deal with SF, and the general issue of OTRs) and the ongoing issue of the OTRs, it finally became clear from Gerry Kelly last night that Peter Robinson was never let …

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If you want an excuse to bring the house down, you’ve got one now

It’s too much to hope for that politicians should act with restraint over the Downey debacle. It gives them a heaven sent opportunity to jump up and down.  Look,  at one level  the Downey case is an obvious anomaly. He was wanted. He wasn’t not wanted. Unless you think that the 180 letters were a cynical ploy to let any old warriors off the hook at random. Why stop at 180 republicans? But the core problem is not the one exposed …

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“The Government communicated back the response to Sinn Fein via a letter from the Northern Ireland Office…”

Via the Guardian politics live-blog.  Worth noting the written ministerial statement from the NI Secretary of State, dated yesterday, which details the mechanism of the on-the-runs administrative scheme [added emphasis throughout] The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mrs Theresa Villiers): On 21 February, Mr Justice Sweeney ruled that an abuse of process had taken place in the prosecution of John Downey for offences relating to the Hyde Park bombing which took place on 20 July 1982. Mr Downey was part …

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Belfast’s Big Tweet Up – Thursday 13 March at 7:30pm

Please do come along to this event for some drinks, political chat and a good warm up before the St Patrick’s Day weekend. Guest will be the Lord Mayor, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir Picture is by Brian John Spencer. David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You can follow him on twitter @dmcbfs

McCann meets…@LADFLEG Part 2

Pints nicely topped up, we began round two of our interview. I began by putting to them the criticism they get most that they are one sided and only go after Loyalists. Ron responded that there are plenty of occasions where LAD has criticised Sinn Fein citing the imagery they created when Gerry Kelly stepped in front a PSNI land rover last year. I followed up by asking them if they feel that they have ever stepped over the mark …

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McCann meets…LAD Part 1

On Wednesday night I met up with three of the brains behind Loyalist Against Democracy (LAD) for a few pints beside City Hall for their first sit down interview. Billy, Rab and Ron talked with me for the well over an hour and no topics were off limits. My first impressions of them were-not at all what I expected; they are smart, professional and have built up a well-read blog and a solid following on Twitter. I began by asking …

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Cunningham changes plea on Northern Bank robbery money-laundering charges

65-year-old Cork-based financier Ted Cunningham has re-joined the list of those convicted as a result of “Operation Phoenix”, a huge cross-border investigation into the December 2004 Northern Bank robbery – “involving anti-terrorist units, fraud squads and the Criminal Assets Bureau.”  His original 2009 convictions, and his 10 year sentence, were overturned on appeal in 2012, after the Irish Supreme Court ruled that certain search warrants used had been unconstitutional.  As an Irish Independent report noted at the time The three-judge [Court of Criminal Appeal] quashed …

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Green ‘dismissal’: “There are no policy issues, because the people you are talking about remain in the party”

Liam Clarke has been asking some useful questions around Sinn Fein’s silent dropping of Leo Green: Green said he had renewed his membership of Sinn Fein on January 24 and that he had not left over any single issue. We are none the wiser except that this man, who cut his political teeth under IRA army discipline, is not about to break ranks with his comrades and speak his mind. The rumour is that, among other issues, he felt the …

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Cartoon – Hanging by a thread

Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/

Sinn Fein and the south-where do they go from here? #SFAF

In September, I wrote a post about the rise of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland not being all that it seemed. So, I thought with the party’s Ard Fheis being this weekend I would take a quick scan of the party’s electoral performance in the Irish Republic. (There are no in-depth databases on Irish elections as the main website is currently down so bits of this are patchy) While I was critical of the party’s rise being based on fundamentally …

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