So here we are – the final episode of this series of ‘Blue Lights’. And again, it only seems fair to fire another warning shot to those reading this review to expect a lot of spoilers from previous episodes. So if you’ve not yet seen all five episodes preceding this one, you should probably watch them first before reading this. With viewers still reeling from the events of last week’s episode, ‘Blue Lights’ immediately thrust its audience into the mania …
Read or watch former PSNI chief constable Sir Hugh Orde’s comments while delivering the second annual Seamus Mallon Memorial Lecture for the Hume Foundation last night at Ulster University’s Belfast campus.
Rory Winters over at The Detail has a report on the arrest profile of the PSNI. From the story: Close to double the number of Catholics than Protestants were arrested and charged over a five-year-period in Northern Ireland, according to PSNI statistics released to The Detail. From the start of 2016 until the end of 2020, over 57,000 Catholics were recorded as being arrested with almost 27,000 charged. By contrast, nearly 31,000 Protestants were recorded as being arrested with under …
As the PSNI turns 20 the issue of Catholic representation is in the news again. From the BBC: Of 193 officers recruited in 2020, 75% (144) were Protestant and 24% (46) were Catholic. It comes as the PSNI launches a new recruitment drive in the week that marks 20 years since it was established. Legislation, which ran for a decade until 2011, saw Catholic officer numbers increase fourfold – they now make up 32% of the service’s 7,000 officers. But …
You really do wonder what the police were thinking yesterday when they blundered their way into a private commemoration of the 29th anniversary of 1992 Sean Graham bookmakers atrocity. As well as disturbing the event they decided to go even further and arrest one of the victims. Such gross insensitivity you could not make up. Coming just days after the police stood idle and watched dozens of UVF men parading in East Belfast, the police have opened themselves up to …
North -south differences of approach to Covid 19 are hampering the chances of saving lives, according to an epidemiologist Prof Gabriel Scally. He brings apparent authority to differences which have been aired politically but not as far as I’ve seen among other experts. These differences should surely be resolved at a north-south ministerial meeting today. Scally writes in the Irish News.. The advice to someone in Lifford with symptoms of the disease is to self-isolate for a minimum of 14 …
This week the government intends to push its Coronavirus Bill through Parliament. In its “summary of impacts” document, the government states that the bill is “temporary, emergency legislation” which intends to “provide powers needed to respond to the current coronavirus epidemic.” MPs will be expected to grapple with the 300-page bill over the course of a few days. It will, for as long as it is in operation, fundamentally change our way of life. The legislation represents the biggest diminution …
Lord Patten of Barnes addressed an audience in Belfast City Hall last night to mark the 20th anniversary of the Equality Commission and the NI Human Rights Commission. Michael Wardlow finishes his eight years as chief commissioner at the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland today. Deputy chief commissioner Geraldine McGahey has been appointed as his successor.
Our understanding is shaped by our perception. How we perceive is how we think. A trio of burials had ‘armed struggle’ advocates honour the patriot dead in demonstrations laced with race hatred of the British. Quick on their heels, a loyalist parade full of British symbolism, including the soldier F logo. In May, gunmen in balaclavas fired shots before Peter ‘Pepe’ Rooney (63) was laid to rest. Rooney was in a PIRA unit at the final stages of mounting a …
Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan Still no word of a decision on the Legacy Bill and no surprise there either. The justice system ploughs on with handling legacy cases against a background of continuing controversy. The Daily Telegraph’s campaign against former soldiers having to face trial continues, with the “disgusted” reaction by appellant 78 year old Dennis Hutchings to the Supreme Court’s decision that he will face trial by a judge alone. The real objection, held by a strong …
A timely reminder, should one be needed, from Newton Emerson in the Irish Times this week, that when Sinn Féin talk about ‘agreement’ on the “need to remove legacy policing from contemporary policing” what they mean is “No prosecutions, please.” From Newton Emerson in the Irish Times It is all or nothing on dealing with the legacy of the Troubles. Either all sides must face the same prospect of prosecutions and convictions, or all sides must be given an amnesty …
Regular readers of Slugger will know I don’t believe in pulling punches on the fugue state that Northern Irish nationalism presently finds itself in. But there matters are not helped by a counter indulgence of the core problem. Given Cameron’s parliamentary apology to Derry, it was either naive (or just plain ignorant) for Karen Bradley to suggest that all state killings were legal. Some, perhaps many, probably were. But this clearly does not apply to the victims of Bloody Sunday. …
Full story from the Sunday Times. Would a retrospective amnesty be legal? Army veterans will be protected from prosecution for alleged historic abuses under plans to introduce a 10-year limit on new cases, The Sunday Times can reveal. Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, is expected to bring forward the proposed legislation in this year’s Queen’s speech after growing pressure on the government to address the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The disclosure comes amid claims that four army …
Suddenly, over historic cases stretching back almost half a century, legal developments are emerging that inject a new – and to me unexpected – momentum into dealing with the past. The hard pressed PSNI, so eager to hand over its role in historic cases to the proposed Historic Investigations Unit, has done its controversial job over Bloody Sunday and John Downey. Inevitably in Northern Ireland, reaction to this fresh impetus could overtake Brexit as a divisive issue – at least …
The, at best, ill-considered comments by Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald yesterday, on potential candidates from within the PSNI to succeed George Hamilton as Chief Constable, have prompted a sharp reminder from the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland to the NI Policing Board of its responsibilities under equality legislation to recruit in a non-discriminatory way. The Equality Commission has expressed its concern about the recent comments made by the Sinn Féin President about the appointment of a new Chief …
More details have been revealed by the journalist Susan McKay about the circumstances of the arrest of the two journalists who researched Alex Gibney’s exposé documentary No Stone Unturned. The film gives a compelling account of alleged police negligence and collusion between some police officers and the murderers who committed the Loughinisland massacre in 1994, killing six people and wounding five when they burst into the Heights bar and sprayed it with bullets. The Ombudsman cleared one police commander. Trevor …
The Irish Times is reporting that the number of Nationalists joining the PSNI is continuing to decline, and they may need to reinstate the 50/50 recruitment policy. Four out of five recruits to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are from the Protestant community compared to just one from the Catholic community, the PSNI has disclosed. If this trend continues then politicians will have to consider reinstituting the 50:50 Catholic:Protestant system of recruitment, the PSNI deputy chief constable Stephen Martin indicated on Monday. Under …
The arrest and interrogation of two journalists suspected of stealing documents in connection with the making the film documentary No Stone Unturned on the Loughinisland murders, is a perfect example of how the current handing of the Troubles legacy is deeply unsatisfactory. In the present vacuum, the PSNI, which still retains front-line legacy responsibilities, seems to feel bound to be seen doing something, even in cases where they look self interested, counterproductive and downright foolish. On the face of it …
In response to Fionnbhar’s post, Newton has said most of what needs to be said. Debate over tariffs and regulations has been conflated with security to a ludicrous, irresponsible degree. Whatever shape Brexit takes, it can be made clear now that terrorist threats will be dealt with as they are dealt with already – by intelligence-led policing across Ireland. The latest kerfuffle over a open or a hard border is just one example of a prevailing paradox. That in a …
To Brian’s pointed question about Leo, Mary Lou and Drew, I’d add another. What does Mary Lou’s Dail offensive tell us about SF’s attitude to the new and fairly (as far as we can tell) appointed Garda Commissioner and the mechanism of the southern state? Like their attack on the Special Criminal in the week the Hutch-Kinihan feud began (ie, in the first week of the last southern General Election) it perhaps suggests the SF leader is bound to an …
