MEPs are to discuss ways of funding the McCartney family in taking a civil action against those accused of their brother’s murder. The pressure continues at home. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
Three of the McCartney sisters have been in Brussels to bring Sinn Fein’s behaviour in the wake of the killing of their brother Robert to the attention of MEPs. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
A man has handed himself into the PSNI in connection with the killing of Robert McCartney. Hmmm. Is this news? Not really. That is until someone is actually charged at the very least, and preferably convicted before a public court. Considering the bar was systematically forensically cleansed and the few witnesses who’ve made statements are still saying nothing, this may turn out to be another case of sound and fury signifying nothing. This is shaping up to be a long, …
Looks like Jim Gray, the UDA commander who’s recently been stood down, is another likely target for the Assets Recovery Agency. They’ve been noticably busier of late: almost entirely concentrating on Loyalists. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
Katherine McCartney with a fascinating interview in the New Statesman. She dismisses their status as brave women as media hype, arguing that gender is irrelevant. Indeed she claims that, “Women helped clean the bar that night. So you can have women who believe very much in human rights and others who can very callously clean up the scene of a crime and not come forward to help a family get justice”. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has …
Looks like the UDA appears to be trying to assert some central control over what is believed to be a very decentralised, sometimes chaotic command and control system. Jim ‘Doris Day’ Gray, formerly the ‘Brigadier’ of East Belfast has been expelled. Gray was subject of a gun attack as he was visiting the house of recently killed LVF man, Stephen Warnock. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics …
So says Francis Mackie of the 32 County Sovereignty Committee, an organisation reputedly aligned with the Real IRA.He’s not happy at the prospect: The occupied 6 counties is not a democracy and the PSNI/RUC are not a police service of the people rather they are a force totally integrated into the British intelligence services supported by the British army. It will take more than a few token garda to swap places with former RUC murderers to convince the nationalist people …
The shoe appears to be on the other foot in Derry, where the IRA is itself the subject of calls for openness about its activities. The family of Mark ‘Mousey’ Robinson has asked again for the IRA to publish the details of their internal inquiry into his death, which they allege was carried out by members of the IRA. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the …
North Belfast Sinn Féin councillor Carál Ní Chuilín told an Easter memorial crowd that republicans would resist attempts to criminalise them: The leaders of the 1916 Rising were branded as criminals. The political prisoners in the 1970s and 1980s were branded as criminals, and ten men died to show that republicans are not criminal. We will not allow our struggle to be criminalised by enemies who fear Sinn Féin and our increased vote. That is another reason why people need …
Emer Brennan argues in Daily Ireland that there is no alternative for the British government but to accept the pain of holding a public enquiry into the murders of Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson: The Finucane and Nelson murders were also world news; the fact that they were both lawyers crystallized minds, for if legal representatives cannot operate without threat what chance have the rest of us? Tony Blair’s government wants to see the killers of Robert Mc Cartney brought …
Alisdair McDonnell has accused Sinn Fein of being up to its neck in a cover-up for the murder of Robert McCartney: “While pretending to help the McCartneys, Sinn Fein has been up to its neck in covering up this murder. They give out about manipulation by others but nobody has been more manipulative than they have.” Dr McDonnell said the key questions still unanswered pointed not to a few individuals refusing to hand themselves in “but to a large scale …
We don’t know the detail of this story, other than what Jim Cusack reports. But on the face of it is it quite shocking. It concerns a vendetta killing of a young man in Castlewellan, Matthew Burns. There is no mention of the details in Burns’s dispute with a local IRA OC, although he carries the family’s denial that he had been involved in drug dealling. The rest of the story is becoming depressingly familiar. Adds: The Down Democrat covered …
That’s the charge levelled at the Irish government by Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams. He went on to resist the (increasing popular) formula that the only substantial block on progress is the mere existence of the IRA. He went on to ask, “What about policing? Demilitarisation? Human rights and Equality? The political institutions?” Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular …
Well, I’m not sure how to treat this, but according to an Irish government source, the IRA is ploughing untraceable bank notes from the Northern job into property in Britain. The same report also clais that a large amount of stolen cash was laundered at the recent Cheltenham Festival – despite heightened police surveillance at the time. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media …
Eddie McGrady argues that criminality has long been an integral part of the Sinn Fein and IRA project, suggesting that it differs from Loyalist gangsterism only insofar as it is not open about the nature and the extent of its activities. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
Catherine McCartney believes that attempts to smear her brothers character failed, and that’s why their case got strong media play. She also believes that the IRA’s refusal to endorse people going to the police is a case of deliberately blunting the investigation, because of the potential for embarassment for the organisation. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and …
If the IRA is not going away, neither are the McCartneys. Though they will likely have to wait until someone cracks gives concrete evidence as to what actually went on inside Maginnes’s Bar that night. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
Bertie gets tough tonight: “…in his first considered interview since December,the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern reflects on the fallout from the Northern Bank raid and the McCartney murder. He says there’ll be no formal talks until Sinn Fein come up with a plan for ending IRA criminality”. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the …
The McCartney sisters have decided not to stand in any coming elections saying that they don’t want to be distracted from their campaign to get justice for their murdered brother. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
The Assets Recovery Agency seems to be getting into its stride since restrictions on its purview were lifted recently. Focus so far seems to have been almost exclusively on chasing Loyalist assets. Nigel Dodds comments that “…there is massive amounts being gained through money laundering, fuel laundering, through smuggling, racketeering and so on, on the republican side as well as the loyalist side.” Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet …
