Belfast Gonzo THE IRA statement is now out, giving volunteers an order to dump arms – which we expected a number of years ago. The rest is the usual IRA-style statement – you could have written it yourself, it’s so predictable. As we’re watching the breaking news on Sky, there’s a collective shrug in this office. Frankly, no-one really cares what the republican movement says any more, because no-one believes it – it’s what it does that counts from here on in.UPDATE: …
THE IRA statement could be on the An Phoblacht presses already. The choreography has already started with the release of Sean Kelly, helping smooth the way for the immiment transition to the Adams’ “alternative”. Events are fairly predictable. It will not be enough for the DUP – they can afford to wait and see if actions meet words (but what level will they set the bar? For how long?) Ahern and Adams will back it as the “key to unlocking …
THE Auditor General has found significant financial control failures in the Ulster-Scots Agency and the Irish language body, Foras na Gaeilge. The report is somewhat overdue, since it refers to the first year of the two bodies’ operation, 2000.David Gordon reported: Their key points include: • An internal audit of the Ulster Scots Agency in 2001 found that internal controls were “largely non-existent” and “even the basics of regularity and propriety were absent”. Mr Dowdall and Mr Purcell express “concern” …
THE DUP has been taking quite an interest in the new Anti-Terrorism Bill. Jeffrey Donaldson wants phone tap evidence to be made admissible as evidence in court. But Jim Shannon has other concerns. He believes that “laws to be rushed through by the Government in the wake of the London bombings could effectively outlaw open-air evangelism“. Could anti-terror laws really mean the end for the manic street preachers that do our heads in? God only knows how many lost souls …
REPUBLICANS are to stage their first ever parade in the staunchly unionist town of Ballymena, to commemorate the introduction of internment. Unionists are not amused, and the Parades Commission could yet re-route the march. The town was a topic of discussion on Talkback today, after its Wikipedia description noted that it “is also believed to have the worst per capita heroin problem in Europe. This is largely due to the pervasive influence in the town of unionist paramilitary groups who …
MICK has pointed out the danger of inadvertantly becoming an internet figure of fun (remember the Star Wars Kid too?) – but maybe you already are! Overheard In Dublin is best read in a broad Dublin accent.Three recent posts: Customer Service from Dublin Bus! A few years back I was getting on the 19A bus in town and heading home with my mother. The number on front of the bus said 19A but the number on the side of the …
A FUTURISTIC coach built in Ballymena has been turning heads in Wales this week, as the latest Wright bus hits the streets. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
A RESIDENT Magistrate who wanted to send five football hooligan rioters to jail yesterday felt he couldn’t – as a previous rioter had successfully appealed against the two-month term the same magistrate had handed down. You’d almost wonder why the Government bothered introducing stiffer sentences. Magistrate Desmond Perry said he imagined the lack of an immediate sentence wouldn’t please the two football clubs involved. Really? We’ll see if Linfield or Glentoran ban any convicted rioters from their grounds – but …
YESTERDAY, former Assembly Public Accounts Committee chairman Billy Bell complained strongly about the “callous penny pinching and indifference shown towards the elderly” by the Government. Bell is furious that it refuses to pay the full economic cost of caring for the elderly – fair enough. But one wonders why Bell voted AGAINST free personal care for older people when he was a member of the devolved government at Stormont in June 2002. Alliance’s Kieran McCarthy takes Bell to task for …
TWO workers at a Co Antrim MoT vehicle testing centre have been suspended in a probe into “irregularities”. This is not the first time I’ve heard of “irregularities” involving the Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency. The DVTA promises impartial testing, but with stories surfacing about the manner in which some tests have been conducted, it begins to raise questions about the agency’s ability to retain public confidence. If you have an MoT horror story, publish it in the comments – …
INVEST NI’s aim is to “role is to change Northern Ireland into a high growth economy driven by innovation and enterprise”. For Invest NI, that seems to include investing £4 million of your money in companies linked to the board members of Invest NI. Conflict of interest? No – apparently “the transactions “were all conducted at arms length” and “were subject to normal project and programme rules and tendering procedures, where appropriate”.” Quite…The Tele reported that the Invest NI accounts …
DAVID Gordon continues to expose the lack of accountability in Northern Ireland’s quangocracy and government agencies. Today, it was revealed how the Water Service hasn’t recovered a single penny of £100,000 in a dispute about overpayments to a pipelaying contractor – eight years after the event. Naturally, the whistleblower was treated shabbily, rather than the alleged fraudsters, and it seems clear to me that the Water Service is tip-toeing warily around the issue – rather than actually dealing with it …
CONGRATULATIONS to Slugger contributor Rebecca Black, who has been appointed by Sir Red Empey to be an assistant to the UUP’s new education spokesman, David McNarry, who had previously contended for the party leadership. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
EAMONN McCann isn’t convinced that the two governments really want the IRA to go away completely, and cites recent statements by NIO ministers as evidence. He suggests that a modern-day version of the Broy Harriers could be on the cards. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
THE UVF ceasefire has, once again, been called into question by all sides after the murder of Craig McCausland. And once again, it is innocent people with no connection to the feud or paramilitarism who are paying with their lives. Four days after McCausland’s horrific murder (his mother had also been murdered by the UDA aged 23), the family had yet to see a unionist politician darken their doorstep or phone to offer sympathy – their excuses rang pitifully hollow …
AFTER 80 PSNI officers were injured at the intense Ardoyne riot on the 12th, (best pic by AFP?!) the Police Federation said officers’ lives were being placed in danger because they could not fire plastic bullets soon enough. Red tape has been blamed for the delay in obtaining permission to fire. Continuity IRA later admitted to the blast bomb attacks on the police that prompted the first plastic bullets to be fired in three years. But despite two SDLP politicians …
CHRIS Thornton continues to track the heated argument within Orangism concerning the recent parade negotiations in Derry involving Orangemen and republican community representatives. Rev Brian Kennaway has said members of Grand Lodge, the Order’s central leadership, “had already approved of and encouraged” the talks with residents’ groups in Londonderry and Belfast – even though the talks were later criticised by the Order’s Grand Master.The Tele reported: In their July 1 statement, Mr [Robert] Saulters [the Orange Grand Master] and Mr …
BELFAST City Council is coming under fire for sponsoring two loyalist bonfires which have been lambasted by nationalists. At one, loyalist gunmen fired a volley of shots in the air and there was an obvious paramilitary presence. At the other, Daily Ireland reported: “But there is something rotten there, too, when on a bonfire in north Belfast a placard can be hoisted rejoicing in the suicide epidemic that has claimed the lives of so many young Catholic men in that …
A MAN charged with attempted murder walked free from a Belfast court today after the prosecution dropped the charge. This is apparently because the key witness was shot dead last week. It’s not just republicans that have to put the guns away, you know. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
A GENEROUS response in the Andytown News to the news that Belfast City Council is to support the St Patrick’s Day carnival. There is also an acknowledgement that nationalists “will be reasonable and magnanimous when it comes to those aspects of the St Patrick’s Day celebrations that many unionists genuinely have trouble with”. For non-nationalists, that would, in many cases, include the flying of the Irish flag. Just recently, Dr John Nagle of Queen’s University’s Institute of Irish Studies examined …
