Month: October 2002

An article in the paper version of today’s Sunday Independent, the Assembly is likely to be suspended this Thursday, when David Trimble will cite this intelligence gathering activity at Stormont by Sinn Fein as sufficient reason for withdrawing from the Executive. Henry McDonald describes how it would happen. Though it seems clear that Tony Blair will not allow that to happen, without a major initiative coming before then. David Lister provides more detail on the raid in and those arrested. …

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For one Republican view, see Paul Dunne’s verdict. And Gerry Adams. For the other side: a purely anti terrorist operation! Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

A man was arrested this morning, as the plot thickens. Sinn Fein themselves clearly believe this is a politically motivated move to support the First Minister David Trimble. Gerry Kelly: “It’s about blackening Sinn Fein to let David Trimble off the hook – it is politically unbelievable.” The First Minister himslef did little to dispel such a notion: “David Trimble said it would have ‘grave implications’ for the future of the power-sharing government at Stormont. He said he suspected IRA …

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Interesting article by James Crabtree of Vox Politics on the phenomenon of blogging which suggests that commentators of the right have cornered the market in the US, creating large networks of compelling knowledge, which by and large goes poltically unchallenged. I’m not sure Letter to Slugger O’Toole actually fits into neat categories of Left and Right, any more than the politics of Ulster in general does (see here and here for context). But there is a wider world of weblogging …

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Three men, believed to be intimately connected with the IRA, face the judge today in Colombia charged with giving aid to the leftist guerilla organisation FARC. Apparent inconsistencies in two separate forensic tests will be at the heart of the three men’s defence. Rosie Cowan outlines the evidence for and against: Prosecution: evidence of explosives residue on the three men’s clothing; a Farc defector, the former driver of one of the Marxist guerrilla group’s leaders, says that the three were …

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David Gordon has been running a series of articles this week, focused on the Loyalist paramilitaries. On Wednesday he focused on the charismatic figure of Johnny Adair. Newshound reproduces an article from last Sunday’s People newspaper suggesting that Adair is planning to move his operations over to Glasgow. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

This may have nothing much to do with Northern Ireland politics but it’s an interesting exercise, even if you have done it before. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

The Real IRA may be preparing to declare a ceasefire, though it’s not likely to happen without some serious internal dissention. Tom Brady reports: “The ceasefire option is being strongly mooted by Michael McKevitt, who is due to face trial next January on charges of directing a terrorist organisation. Opponents to the plan are led by the group’s director of operations, Liam Campbell, who has now been forced out of the Real IRA wing at Portlaoise prison.” “Prison authorities were …

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Duncan Shipley Dalton is not happy with the UUP’s threat to withdraw from the Policing Board: “Unionists do not have sole political autonomy and our influence is constrained by political reality. If we continue down this self-obsessed path of boycott, resignation and abstentionism then we may simply find that the Policing Board and the rest of the government of Northern Ireland will simply go on without unionist influence. But, it (the government) will most surely go on.” Slugger O'TooleA general …

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The Newsletter makes a passionate plea for Blair’s Labour Party to organise in Ulster: “We cannot vote for the Labour Party and we cannot vote against it. Instead, we have to accept the jurisdiction of a party which promotes political inclusiveness in these six counties of the UK yet deliberately excludes the good people of this Province from its affairs. There have been knowing nods and winks in the past from people in high places about righting this obvious injustice …

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Has got to be Tory quits for Paisley’s party in today’s Daily Telegraph (thanks to Newshound). Whatever you make of his political viewpoint, there is no doubt that Mr Hunter has a passion for Northern Ireland politics. It may be this rather than any disquiet with Ian Duncan Smith’s leadership that has prompted this most unusual twist in the convention career path of a Tory politician. He has been on the House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee since …

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Steven King asks how some of the revelations in the Moloney book will go down with Sinn Fein’s wealthy backers in the US, highlighting in particular the emotive issue of human bombs and the leftward swing in Republican poltics immediately after Gerry Adams asumed leadership in 1986. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

One MP would like to see it happen. More from Eric Waugh, who claims: “Some 50 Labour MPs now support an end to the Northern Ireland boycott, a group led by Kate Hoey and Harry Barnes, and supported by Frank Field, Gwyneth Dunwoody and Nick Raynsford– and, of course, Lord Fitt.” Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

With the news that the Claudy bombing case is to be re-opened, Gary Kent’s verdict on the idea that a series of enquiries be opened up into atrocities and injustices in Northern Ireland. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

The controversy over this book trundles on and is likely to do so for some time. The focus of a lot of the initial press interest is Gerry Adams and his alleged role in the disappearance and death of widowed mother of ten, Jean McConville. Professor Paul Bew reviews it within a wider historical, even though he begins by suggesting that Adams emerges from the pages of the book smelling of “rotten cabbage”, primarily because of the accusations around Mrs …

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With the focus of media largely playing on the main protagonists at Stormont, it is easy to forget there are many other views beyond the tight (and not so tight) choreography inside and outside the Assembly chamber. Thanks to Badgers Radio for this transcript of a speech by Des Dalton published on the Republican Sinn Fein website. It outlines the classic revolutionary Republican case against partition: “…it put in place a state, whose foundations were naked sectarianism, discrimination and bigotry, …

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About 15 years ago I spoke to a member of the RUC who was then based on the Loyalist Shankill Road. He said his job fell into two distinct roles. In Nationalist Ardoyne, he was a soldier; frequently lying flat out in someone’s front garden dodging bullets. Whereas on the loyalist Shankill, he could be found conducting traffic and helping little old ladies across the road. Things have changed. The police no longer play the role of soldier in nationlist …

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The book that most people have been awaiting all summer has finally arrived. We first picked up on it back in July when the author was interviewed by Jack Holland. Ed Moloney’s book aims to be the definative work, hoping to displace Tim Pat Coogan’s The IRA from that role. It remains to be seen if that will happen, but early signs are that this gets deeper and asks more searching questions of the organisation than any previous work. Reviews …

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At the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1998 the paramilitary’s political representatives were some of its staunchest supporters. So, David Gordon asks, what happened? Includes good coverage of the three main groupings; UDA, UVF and the LVF. BTW thanks to Airstrip One for the mention for the Letter. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.