Parties

Ivor Bell charged in connection with Jean McConville abduction and murder

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The BBC are reporting that Ivor Bell, who was arrested earlier this week, has been charged in connection with the abduction and murder of Jean McConville in December 1972.  From the BBC report Ivor Bell, 77, who was a senior leader in the Provisional IRA in the 1970s, was arrested at his home in Andersonstown on Tuesday. He has been charged with aiding and abetting murder and membership of the IRA. He is expected to appear in court on Saturday. …

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OTR scheme review judge named, and NI Affairs Committee launches inquiry

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Sinn Fein’s Alex Maskey might well think “it would’ve been better to have left the issue alone”  [I couldn’t possibly comment… -Ed].  But that’s not happening.  Today the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers, informed the House of Commons that “the Rt Hon Lady Justice Hallett DBE has been appointed to conduct an independent review of the administrative scheme to deal with so-called ‘on-the-runs’”. The terms of reference of the review are: to produce a full public account of the operation and …

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“Sit down and stop acting like a petulant child.”

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According to the BBC’s Mark Simpson, former Provisional IRA OC in the Maze Prison, now Sinn Féin leader in Belfast City Council, Cllr Jim McVeigh, objected tonight when DUP Cllr Ruth Patterson put on a Linfield football scarf while speaking on a motion calling on the council to honour out-going Linfield manager David Jeffrey.  From the BBC report The monthly meeting of the council on Monday was held up for more than 10 minutes as a result of complaints from Mr McVeigh. …

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“Just to confuse matters, some elements of the tale of the On The Runs appear to have been hidden in plain sight.”

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BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport with, perhaps, the best description of the mechanism used to address the issue of on-the-runs.  From Mark Devenport’s BBC blog While republicans insist unionists knew all about what was happening to the On The Runs, that is not strictly true. Senior PSNI officers answered some questions posed by Northern Ireland Policing Board members and the scheme got a glancing reference in the voluminous Eames-Bradley report on dealing with the legacy of the Troubles. But when former …

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David Cameron: “We will appoint an independent judge to produce a full public account of the operation of this administrative scheme…”

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The BBC reports that the Prime Minister David Cameron has announced a judicial review of the operation of the controversial administrative scheme to deal with so-called “on the runs” which was highlighted in the recent collapse of the John Downey case.  From the BBC report Mr Cameron told a Downing Street press conference: “I agree with the first minister of Northern Ireland that after the terrible error of the Downey case it is right to get to the bottom of what happened. …

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More than ever, the “crisis” shows the need to face up honestly to the end of Troubles prosecutions

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Fair enough. There are genuine grounds for shock and anger but there is a good deal of grandstanding too. The pity of it is, the growing recognition among unionists of the case for limited immunity tied to truth recovery will be set back. Taking the optimistic view (somebody has to), the full extent of de facto amnesty will emerge a lot more clearly and can no longer be denied. The pretence should end, that “ justice”  is attainable were it …

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“The Government communicated back the response to Sinn Fein via a letter from the Northern Ireland Office…”

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Via the Guardian politics live-blog.  Worth noting the written ministerial statement from the NI Secretary of State, dated yesterday, which details the mechanism of the on-the-runs administrative scheme [added emphasis throughout] The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mrs Theresa Villiers): On 21 February, Mr Justice Sweeney ruled that an abuse of process had taken place in the prosecution of John Downey for offences relating to the Hyde Park bombing which took place on 20 July 1982. Mr Downey was part …

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Fianna Fail in Northern Ireland: “We have to be very incremental: it isn’t going to be a big bang.”

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Alex Kane has done a fascinating interview with Micheal Martin for the News Letter. He covers a lot more Northern Irish bases than he has before and makes it clear that his past interventions on policy are part of long slow iterative engagement with Northern Irish politics, which he hopes will grow into a separate challenge to the business as usual of the current status quo. Here’s some of the highlights: MM: What I would like to have seen is …

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NI Justice Minister: “I trust that the executive will recognise that it is the right decision, and that I was right to make it”

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In the aftermath of the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers/Executive/Assembly/Policing Board members semi-detached polit-bureau’s kerfuffle over the NI Justice Minister’s proposed changes to the criteria for the next Chief Constable, Liam Clarke reveals some significant correspondence on the matter.  Firstly, the Chief Executive of the NI Policing Board, Sam Pollock, tries his hand at herding cats to put some manners on members of the Board. In his letter to Policing Board members, Mr Pollock wrote: “I am disappointed in the …

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NI Justice Minister: “It is important to note that, in setting some minimum standards, I am not prohibiting the Board from adding to these minimum criteria…”

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Whilst Brian may regard them as “surely sensible” changes to the criteria for the next Chief Constable, and they may well be, as I mentioned in updates to a previous post, no sooner had the Northern Ireland Justice Minister, the Alliance Party’s David Ford, announced those changes than the NI First and deputy First Ministers promptly agreed to exercise their prerogative to call his decision into the dysfunctional NI Executive semi-detached polit-bureau  [Where it will be put to the sword… – …

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“Residents also protested outside the local Sinn Féin offices…”

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As the BBC reports, local residents have continued their protest against the planned £70million redevelopment of Casement Park in west Belfast.  From the UTV report Around 100 residents took part in a demonstration on Saturday afternoon. They say they are now considering taking legal action. One woman said: “The main thing is the height of it, it’s going to be about 129ft and right around the whole outskirts of the houses.” A man said: “It’s an absolute monstrosity. The residents …

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UK Prime Minister: “Let me reassure the right hon. Gentleman that there is absolutely no question of an imposed solution.”

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As the Belfast Telegraph reports, and followed up by the BBC.  For the benefit of the more excitable commenters [and politicians! – Ed] among us, the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, spelt out the political realité on the Haass proposals during PMQs in the Commons today [Added Permanent link]. Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP): Does the Prime Minister accept that the remarks of the Irish Foreign Minister about the Haass talks and the possibility of some kind of intervention by …

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Matt Baggott to step down as PSNI Chief Constable

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Having been appointed, unanimously, by the Northern Ireland Policing Board in August 2009, PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott is to step down from the post.  And, apparently, he is to retire from policing after a 37-year-long career.  His contract was due to end in September 2014.  Presumably he will remain in position here until then… From the BBC report He took up the job as head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland in August 2009 and his contract ends in September 2014. …

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Organ Donation: Should we be ‘Opting in’ or ‘Opting out’?

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Okay, a short enough question to chew on for a bit. The core of this argument between JoAnne Dobson (UUP) and Alastair Ross (DUP) is that the former wants to change the law to make organ donation a default position which you and your relatives can opt out of, whilst Mr Ross’s proposed amendment would set it back to opt in system. So, for the moment leaving aside all the politicking and looking at the core question, what is wrong …

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Meghan O’Sullivan: “how do we make it possible for the others to deliver on the agreement? . . . I don’t know if there was enough of that in the room this time.”

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Whilst the Northern Ireland media continue to obsess over digest the parting shot from Richard Haass on the political parties’ failure to agree to his proposals (version 7), the co-chair of those talks, Meghan O’Sullivan, appears to have been delegated the task of addressing the media south of the border.  [Partitionists! – Ed]  ANYhoo.. In the Irish Times, Dan Keenan’s report includes what is, perhaps, the most revealing comment on the failure to agree. The final draft was written by herself and …

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“So in a sense, these resignations were expected.”

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In the absence of agreement between the political parties on what happens next, the continuing uncertainty about what new arrangements will be put in place to deal with the past is having, what should have been, an anticipated effect.  As the BBC report, “HET: Four officers leave specialist police team“. BBC Northern Ireland Home Affairs Correspondent Vincent Kearney said a question mark hangs over the future of the HET following the inspection report. He said the four officers who left had been …

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After Haass, the numbers game threatens. How can we avoid it?

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 Ed Curran was right to tweak his old bête noire  BBC N Ireland for allowing Nolan the day off on Boxing Day instead of going live on Haass. Or was he?  Were you all better off without Nolan’s bear baiting over the cold turkey even if you were home alone on the day?  Even though desperate for content over the silly holiday season, the national UK media virtually ignored the Haass talks breakdown. What coverage there was – and still is – …

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Arkiv: “in the real world pre-existing themes will skew the integrity of investigation, putting ideology before history”

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In an early critique of the Haass proposals (version 7), Brian identified, as a potential problem, the “role [] envisaged for academics and experts especially historians”. A great role is envisaged for academics and experts especially historians, reporting to an Implementation and Reconciliation Group of political nominees .  However the academics are  naively treated as an on tap resource to be tasked like school pupils for a project . These proposals would need to be redrawn for any hope of implementation. [added emphasis] The Arkiv …

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Haass – Larkin unrepentant, Allister is on the attack, but where oh where is the DUP critique?

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Now hold on, the fat lady hasn’t sung yet.  Inevitably most early reaction to Haaas is about the overall political verdict without going  much into detail. And you know how we can’t be bothered  to go into detail if we can stick  it into them instead. But hush!  Jim Allister QC has spoken. People tend to overawed by Jim’s legal expertise. But lawyers are advocates – even when they’re not self -interested  politicians –  and so should be taken with …

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There are grounds for hope in the Haass document, even the outline of modest solutions

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Here’s an early critique without benefit of interpretation. From the language of the paper it’s more difficult than I thought to spot the precise causes of breakdown. That awaits the parties’ own accounts which hopefully will be better than spin. It’s quite true that there’s a great deal in it that can usefully be worked on.  It creates its own pressure. The parties and the governments ought not to be able to let it gather dust. Early indications are mildly encouraging. …

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