Human Rights – Page 39 – Slugger O'Toole

“A police spokeswoman declined to say if foul play was suspected..”

Pete Baker on January 12, 2008, 6:17 pm

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The Irish News today identifies the man whose body was found on the Creagh Road, Toomebridge near Lough Neagh on the 9 January as 53-year-old Gerard Hampson from Northland Road in Londonderry. According to the BBC report he’s been missing since the 7 December and the Irish News reports that he was wanted for questioning about the abduction of a couple from Mullingar, County Westmeath, and the shooting of the man who was found on the edge of the Creggan …

“Personal [and public] protection can be both fashionable and functionable”

Pete Baker on January 12, 2008, 1:23 am

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Mick had noted Newton Emerson’s hope that the deployment of Tasers “shocks our elected politicians out of their entrenched positions” – and on the same day that the Belfast Telegraph’s Chris Thornton reported that the Chief Constable “has received legal advice that says he has the power to deploy tasers [] in a matter of days” [Next week apparently – Ed]. Now, whilst I wouldn’t dream of thinking I could tell the police what to do on every single issue.. …

“The gardai need the public’s help if they are to succeed..”

Pete Baker on January 10, 2008, 11:05 pm

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The Quinn Support Group held another public meeting last night, this time in Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan, close to where Paul Quinn was killed. A report from last night notes that Scores of people from the region attended the meeting in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, where gardai also handed out leaflets appealing to the community for help in bringing the killers to justice. And the BBC report, and this Belfast Telegraph report, reference requests for information on a white van. Meanwhile the …

Murphy sent for trial in Special Criminal Court

Pete Baker on January 10, 2008, 6:13 pm

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Confirmation today that, as requested, Thomas Murphy, the “good republican” previously named as both the UK’s richest smuggler and a former Provisional IRA Chief of Staff, is to be tried in the Republic of Ireland’s Special Criminal Court on charges of “failing to furnish a return of his income, profits or gains or the sources of his income, profits or gains to the Collector General or the Inspector of Taxes for the tax years from 1996/97 to 2004.” The RTÉ …

Why Northern Ireland needs a Bill of Rights

Mick Fealty on January 8, 2008, 8:01 pm

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Given we’ve had quite a few pieces on Slugger arguing the case against the need for a Bill of Rights, we have a piece from Chris Sidoti, independent Chair of the Northern Ireland Bill of Rights Forum, in which he lays out five reasons why we do need a separate Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. From Chris Sidoti Almost ten years ago, the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement of 1998 foreshadowed a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. It was …

“What would that achieve..”

Pete Baker on January 8, 2008, 1:10 am

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The BBC’s Vincent Kearney with a brief run-down of some of the suggested proposals being aired by anonymous sources close to the consultative group. Pete Baker

“to own up to their crimes in return for an amnesty..”

Pete Baker on January 7, 2008, 11:33 pm

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The actual report from the Eames/Bradley-chaired consultative group won’t be published until this summer, if it’s on time, but ahead of tonight’s public meeting it looks like the same anonymous sources close to that group have briefed the BBC’s Mark Devenport, UTV’s Ken Reid and the Press Association’s Dan McGinn on what they’ve been considering and the feedback so far. Whether it’s just to generate more publicity, to worry interested parties, or to prepare the public for those recommendations, isn’t …

Transitory body meets public..

Pete Baker on January 7, 2008, 7:27 pm

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The Eames/Bradley-chaired consultative group is to meet with the Northern Ireland Secretary, Shaun Woodward, ahead of tonight’s first of seven public meetings on how to counsel the public over deal with the “huge and complex matter” of the past – or those parts not being examined by the Police Ombudsman et al. They’ve already met with other interested parties privately.. some of those parties have issues with the consultative group, as well as issues with their own past.. ANYhoo.. Denis …

“should make every thinking person in Northern Ireland reflect..”

Pete Baker on January 1, 2008, 8:23 pm

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When Mick mentioned some University of Ulster figures on the migration of the Protestant population of Londonderry away from the west bank of the Foyle – a decline of 83.4% between 1971 and 1991 – it generated a heated, as in more heat than light, discussion of the reasons why.. although, some time later, Mick also noted the renewed optimism of some churches. So the report in the Belfast Telegraph of an Open Reel Productions documentary – the company responsible …

“It is for the parties to decide when the time is right..”

Pete Baker on December 30, 2007, 12:30 am

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With all the coverage of the New Year message from the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward, MP, it’s worth pointing to the one key line on devolving policing and justice powers to the Assembly – full statement here “It is for the parties to decide when the time is right, but the Government will be ready to make the transfer of powers next May as envisaged in the St Andrews Agreement.” [added emphasis] It is something he has …

“He rang our house and was looking to speak to me..”

Pete Baker on December 22, 2007, 12:23 am

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After meeting with the Republic of Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, and then with Justice Minister, Brian Lenihan, and briefly with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, and apparently securing some movement from their earlier statements, the parents of Paul Quinn met today with the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward, and they emerged to claim that the British government also shared the view that Paul Quinn was not a criminal. But, as Mark Devenport notes, the reports also revealed …

“the only way we will see a successful prosecution in a criminal court..”

Pete Baker on December 21, 2007, 11:32 pm

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He may have been reading Mark Devenport’s blog, or perhaps Mick’s Comment is Free post, but Chief Constable Hugh Orde commented today on yesterday’s judgement by Mr Justice Weir and, after referring to the original investigation by the RUC as an “imperfect product”, he also made a point about the prosecution’s reliance on forensic evidence alone. [Hugh Orde] said: “People out there know who did this. There is a lot of intelligence but intelligence is not evidence. In my judgment, …

“and every other right-thinking member of the Northern Ireland community..”

Pete Baker on December 21, 2007, 2:30 am

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Some of the reaction to today’s judgement in the case against Sean Hoey – As recorded here and here and here and some of the families’ reaction here. Also worth noting is Mark Devenport’s impression of the police’s immediate reaction outside the courts. The judgement by Mr Justice Weir is available here. [65] I am acutely aware that the stricken people of Omagh and every other right-thinking member of the Northern Ireland community would very much wish to see whoever …

“no information is available to me from the Garda Commissioner..”

Pete Baker on December 20, 2007, 1:04 am

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As one “good republican” waits for 10 January, and the prospect of the Special Criminal Court, the parents of Paul Quinn have met with the Republic of Ireland’s Minster for Justice [new link] Brian Lenihan and, as requested in their meeting on Monday with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern joined them briefly. According to reports, Taoiseach Bertie reiterated what he had told the Dáil yesterday [subs req] “I am glad to state what the Minister told the …

DPP requests Special Criminal Court for Murphy tax evasion charges

Pete Baker on December 19, 2007, 7:37 pm

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As Mick noted at the time on Comment is Free, Thomas Murphy has previously been named as both the UK’s richest smuggler and a former Provisional IRA Chief of Staff – a claim which led to a failed libel action by Murphy against the Sunday Times in 1998, during which case Eamon Collins testified against him. At the beginning of 1999 Eamon Collins was murdered in South Armagh. Alongside, apparently, ongoing investigations, Murphy was arrested in November this year on …

Never mind that Commissioner.. here’s another one..

Pete Baker on December 18, 2007, 5:41 pm

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Without a hint of irony, Northern Ireland’s First and deputy First Ministers, accompanied by their juniors, have announced their intention to create the post of a new Northern Ireland Commissioner.. for “Older People”. The official statement notes that the roles and responsibilities of the Commissioner have yet to be decided. Lovely.. Now, any chance that the Victims’ Commissioner will actually be appointed before this one? According to one report on that delayed appointment, “An OFMDFM spokesman said: “We are in …

“People who were associated with the IRA at some stage were certainly involved in that crime.”

Pete Baker on December 17, 2007, 7:13 pm

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As noted previously, the parents of Paul Quinn have met the Republic of Ireland’s Foriegn Affairs Minister, Dermot Ahern, to discuss the ongoing investigation and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s earlier comments. RTÉ radio talked to Paul’s father, Stephen Quinn [RealPlayer file], on what was said at the meeting, his wish for a further meeting with the Taoiseach, and what the Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, and the NI Regional Development minister, Conor Murphy, have said. And, as he belatedly noted, Mark …

“There is too much hypocrisy..”

Pete Baker on December 15, 2007, 4:30 am

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A common thread in the coverage of the meeting last night in Crossmaglen of the Quinn Support Group, attended by MLAs, TDs and local councillors, is the focus on those querying a political motivation behind the campaign.. rather than focussing on the campaign’s stated aims of bringing the killers of Paul Quinn to justice – notably in the RTÉ report [RealPlayer audio file] and this BBC report [video(ish) file] in which the brother of Conor Murphy, the Northern Ireland Executive’s …

“IRA members involved”

Pete Baker on December 11, 2007, 7:00 pm

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As chairman of the NI Executive sub-committee Assembly Committee inquiring into the devolution of policing and justice matters the DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson’s restatement of the party’s call for the removal of the Provisional IRA’s Army Council, and linking it to the devolving of policing and justice, is worth noting. But equally, if not more, significant is what he has said the Chief Constable Hugh Orde had to say about the killing of Paul Quinn. Mr Donaldson said Chief Constable Sir …

“Justice is the glue that holds society together.”

Pete Baker on December 8, 2007, 4:43 pm

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If Seamus Heaney’s The Cure at Troy doesn’t get quoted as often as it used to it may be because “the longed for tidal wave of justice” is noticeable mostly by its absence. And, via Newshound, Michael Goldfarb in the International Herald Tribune argues that one lesson the Middle East could learn from here is that “The price of conjuring peace out of conflict is that justice is not done; most crimes go unpunished.” He might be right. After all, …