Conflict

Patricia McKenna, former Green MEP, writes of her suspicions of all military organisations, especially illegal ones, but argues that there are many other forms of injustices that have gone unaddressed throughout the years of the troubles, most notably the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. 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. …

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Tom Kelly sees parallels between British spin in Iraq over prisoners and the current Sinn Fein and IRA crisis. He beleives that Sinn Fein have made a huge mistake in trying to spin it’s way out of danger right from the beginning of the McCartney crisis: “…they ask us to forget the sickening spectacle on the night after the murder when Sinn Féin appeared on our television screens blaming the savage attack on ‘knife culture’ and condemned the PSNI for …

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According to the BBC those arrested and questioned by the PSNI have told the police nothing, which is in apparent contradiction to Gerry Adams’ plea for anyone who knows anything to tell what they know. We’ve also had reports that Brendan Devine, McCartney’s companion on that fateful night, has subsequently withdrawn his orginal intention to offer police his own account. The police ombudsman described the intimidation of witnesses as horrendous. Is the political dilemma for Sinn Fein too painful to …

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Just how dark is the hole sitting underneath the IRA? Angelique Christafis reports that “the family of Mark Robinson, a 22-year-old man who was stabbed and bludgeoned to death with scaffolding poles in an underpass in Derry in April 2001, also blamed IRA members for that killing”. With tabloid journalists now looking in detail into the financial affairs of senior members of Sinn Fein, the party may have a lot of self examination to do before it will see any …

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In Derry, the family of James McGinley are now calling for a similar admission from the IRA that one of their members was responsible for his killing. The man in question is currently serving a three year manslaughter sentence. 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

Looks like Sinn Fein might have found a way round its difficulties with the PSNI, in relation to the McCartney killing at least. Nuala O’Loan has made an unconventional offer to make her office available to eye witnesses to take evidence as to what really happened on that tragic night in and around Magennis’s Bar. Update: See Pete’s piece for the family’s reaction. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet …

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BBC Radio 5 presenter Nicky Campbell did not exactly lead from the moral frontline of journalism this morning when he asked Mitchel McLaughlin whether in the days of the IRA’s offensive campaign Gerry Adams might have been shot as an informer whefor suggesting that people with evidence should give information on the killing of Robert McCartney to the PSNI. Unedifying for journalism certainly. But it may also reflect the party’s dramatic loss of control of the news agenda over the …

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For Alex Kane, one of Unionism’s strongest advocate for rapprochement with physical force Republicanism, the Belfast Agreement is over.By Alex Kane The Good Friday Agreement as we knew it is finished, shredded into a confetti of broken promises and dashed expectations. Matters weren’t helped, either, by the fact that the Secretary of State’s idea of tough sanctions is to withhold allowances from a party which has access to an IRA portfolio worth around £200 million. It was a pathetic and …

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The British government has announced the date of the first inquiry recommended by the Canadian judge Peter Cory, into the circumstances of the killing of lawyer Rosemary Nelson. Others to follow will include Billy Wright, assasinated whilst held in prision, and Robert Hamill who was beaten to death by a Loyalist mob in Portadown. 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 …

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Despite Gerry Adams political reservations about recommending people go to the PSNI, Chris Thornton points out that they are the only ones empowered to instigate a trial. 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 feedback on the session at the LSE on Monday continues with an impressive list mostly cribbed from speaker Sue Charman’s response (who kindly suggests that, amongst others, I should be more directly involved in these offline discussions). Neil McIntosh, from the Guardian was there. David Brake was blogging live (brave thing to do) from the even itself for the LSE Media Group blog. As was journalist blogger Rob Andrews, who has a very useful notation of the detail I’ve …

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Richard Delevan blogs comments from US based Father Sean McManus which implies that the campaign for justice for their murdered brother by the McCartney family is no more than a publicity campaign against Sinn Fein: “If the purpose is to launch a campaign in America against not only the IRA but Sinn Fein, than that campaign is profoundly misguided because it’s going to distract from the issue, and further it’s not going to succeed.” Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of …

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We’ve not yet seen a public statement from the Gardai, but Foreign Affairs minister is convinced that some of the monies lifted in Cork a few weeks back are connected with the Northern Bank robbery. 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

Sinn Fein’s not the only party fuming with anger. All of Northern Ireland’s political representatives have lost out on their annual trip to the Whitehouse for St Patrick’s Day over the antics of whomsoever it was that robbed the Northern Bank. Time for a group shot of all the party leaders outside the gates of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider …

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Malachi O’Doherty believes that Sinn Fein has outrun all the patience of it’s opponents/future partners. It has no where left to go. “The harm is in Gerry Adams not having seen that it matters whether he is surrounded by louts or not. The harm is – and it’s clear now – that he doesn’t actually have the judgement that it takes to complete a peace process. Someone else will do it or it won’t be done”. Mick FealtyMick is founding …

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Alex Maskey has been involved in dialogue with the Presbyterian Church since the late eighties. However on Hearts and Minds last week, he got something of a slap in the face from the current moderator, when the religious liberal, Ken Newell, told him that “the IRA had stolen the wheels of the [peace] process [through the Northern Bank robbery] and that process is now locked in the sand”. He suggests he’s 95% sure that the IRA conducted the robbery. In …

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There’s two issues dominating Northern Ireland at the moment. The Northern Bank, in the which the argument of the two governments (and every significant political interest in the two islands, bar one) will depend on the production of evidence, if they are to be proven. However, in the case of the McCartney killing, the converse may hold. The longer there is an absence of evidence, the greater the vulnerablity of Sinn Fein and the IRA to the accusation that they …

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The BBC leads with last night’s decision in Belfast City Council by Sinn Fein to dissent from a call for witnesses to go to the PSNI. Despite Sinn Fein’s public announcements giving people ‘permission’ to go to the police, no witnesses have as yet come forward. 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 …

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Dermot Ahern’s speech in the Dail last night reads as much as an essay, as a speech. In support of his argument that the Law and the Police are the sole means of getting justice for all victims, he recalls the words of Eammon McCann and Padraig Pearse. He’s makes life uncomfortable for Alex Maskey, when he asks, “Did he not know what we in Dublin already knew?”. NB: He introduces a new frame for future argument: the choice between …

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From a very different prespective, Derry based activist and writer Eammon McCann sees no irony in the concurrence of Bert McCartney’s murder and Bloody Sunday (sound file). 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