Provisional IRA – Page 4 – Slugger O'Toole

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

Pete Baker on March 1, 2014, 4:26 pm

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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 …

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

Pete Baker on February 27, 2014, 3:56 pm

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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. …

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

Pete Baker on February 26, 2014, 2:23 pm

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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 …

Cunningham changes plea on Northern Bank robbery money-laundering charges

Pete Baker on February 18, 2014, 4:48 pm

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65-year-old Cork-based financier Ted Cunningham has re-joined the list of those convicted as a result of “Operation Phoenix”, a huge cross-border investigation into the December 2004 Northern Bank robbery – “involving anti-terrorist units, fraud squads and the Criminal Assets Bureau.” His original 2009 convictions, and his 10 year sentence, were overturned on appeal in 2012, after the Irish Supreme Court ruled that certain search warrants used had been unconstitutional. As an Irish Independent report noted at the time The three-judge [Court of Criminal Appeal] quashed …

Kevin Conway murder: “Local Sinn Fein Councillor John O’Dowd was under no illusions…”

Pete Baker on December 19, 2013, 5:29 pm

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Arrested in a hotel in Birmingham on Monday, following “a review of the original murder investigation by detectives attached to Serious Crime Branch”, a 45-year-old man from Lurgan, Gary Marshall, has been charged at Craigavon court, and released on bail, for the murder of Kevin Conway in 1998. The News Letter report notes Marshall, from Ennis Green in Lurgan, is accused of murdering 30-year-old Kevin Conway on a date unknown between February 16-19, 1998. Having been kidnapped from his Lurgan home, the …

Smithwick: “the evidence keeps pointing back to the desire of the IRA to acquire information as to how the British Security Services had gotten advance warning of the IRA ambush on Loughgall Police Station…”

Pete Baker on December 5, 2013, 6:34 pm

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As the findings of the Smithwick Tribunal report [RTÉ-hosted 22mb pdf] continue to be digested, it’s worth recalling the reported concerns of “members of the PIRA” in May last year. The Smithwick Tribunal is becoming a “significant issue” among republicans who are concerned it is uncovering information on past murders, the tribunal has been told. According to a précis of intelligence information gleaned by the PSNI within the last year, and aired at the tribunal this morning, “members of the PIRA are …

“The fact of the matter is that somebody ordered that Jean McConville be murdered…”

Pete Baker on November 7, 2013, 12:17 am

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The BBC reported that, following the broadcast of the recent BBC/RTÉ programme on The Disappeared, the Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness said The fact that some families still do not know where their murdered relatives were secretly buried by the IRA is a “wound that must not be left to fester” [But whose wound, Martin? – Ed] And on what body… The quote continues, “I understand that these killings happened decades ago and those involved may …

“So, what was British policy?”

Pete Baker on November 1, 2013, 5:42 pm

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John mentioned, in passing, Alex Kane’s column in today’s Irish News. But, in reaching for his hyperbolical conclusion, he missed the more interesting part of the article. From Alex Kane in the Irish News. As far back as 1972 the Heath government introduced the concept of power-sharing, the ‘Irish dimension’ and the constitutional guarantee: and from that moment it seemed inevitable that any deal they would agree to (and hope that the Irish would underwrite with them) would be a deal …

“The family are of the view it is vital that the police ombudsman receives this journal…”

Pete Baker on October 23, 2013, 12:39 am

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As I noted back in January this year, an inquest has yet to be held into the death of former senior Sinn Féin member, and informer, Denis Donaldson in 2006 – responsibility for which was claimed by the Real IRA. And, despite a previous NI Police Ombudsman‘s finding that there had been no police misconduct here, the new incumbent launched an investigation into allegations that officers may have contributed to his death. But that investigation is, reportedly, facing obstruction from the An Garda Siochana – who have refused to …

Scotland’s Commissioner to investigate Gerry Kelly’s attendance and speech at Castlederg parade

Pete Baker on September 24, 2013, 9:11 pm

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With the Northern Ireland Assembly Commissioner for Standards, Douglas Bain, having recused himself from the investigation of the complaints that Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly’s attendance and speech at the controversial Castlederg Parade in August this year was in breach of the code of conduct for MLAs “by glorifying terrorism and damaging community relations” [Is he washing his hair? – Ed] He’s a member of the Parades Commission… ANYhoo… As the BBC report, the NI Assembly today agreed to appoint Scotland’s Commissioner for Ethical Standards in …

Colin Broderick’s ‘That’s That’: Book Review

John L. Murphy on August 6, 2013, 9:22 pm

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While the phrase popularized by Seamus Heaney ‘whatever you say, say nothing’ endures as a code for Northern Irish character toughened by the Troubles, Colin Broderick’s telling of his childhood reveals the language unspoken. He gives us a glimpse at those in the IRA who were never by necessity singled out by their supporters, but who carried themselves with an air of entitlement, entrusted as they were by the Catholic community with their protection and their idealism in a time …

Harry Fitzsimons extradited from Senegal to Italy

Pete Baker on August 3, 2013, 4:51 pm

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The Belfast Telegraph has an update on the whereabouts of Harry Fitzsimons – a former member of the Provisional IRA who was jailed for bombing the Woodburn House Hotel in Belfast in 1971, he was released in 1981. Fitzsimons was one of a number of people for whom arrest warrants were issued in Italy in March this year in connection with an alleged money laundering property scheme run by the ’Ndrangheta, the Calabrian Mafia. As Mick noted at the time some interesting …

Republican Castlederg parade: the insensitivity of the impotent

Turgon on July 31, 2013, 7:26 pm

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West Tyrone Sinn Fein’s strategy over the 11th August parade in Castlederg has been progressing according to a fairly well worn formula. Initially the annual event was announced at the spot where the volunteers Seamus Harvey and Gerard McGlynn were killed 40 years ago on active service. (translation IRA terrorists blew themselves up with their own bomb). Then following the predictable outcry which Sinn Fein apparently without irony have blamed on unionist politicians the parade has been rerouted to avoid …

Harry Fitzsimons arrested in Senegal

Pete Baker on May 26, 2013, 8:28 pm

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As the BBC reports A west Belfast man has been arrested in Senegal in west Africa. It is understood Harry Fitzsimons was detained in the capital Dakar last month. Earlier this year Italian police issued an arrest warrant for Mr Fitzsimons in connection with an alleged mafia money-laundering operation in Calabria in Italy. The report also notes that the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin has confirmed his detention and is providing consular assistance to Mr Fitzsimons. When news broke, on …

Sinn Féin: Hyde Park bomb charges “vindictive, unnecessary and unhelpful”

Pete Baker on May 22, 2013, 5:02 pm

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Reports that John Anthony Downey, 61, from County Donegal, has been charged with the murder of four members of the Royal Household Cavalry in the 1982 Provisional IRA bombing in Hyde Park, London – he was arrested on Sunday at Gatwick Airport – has prompted a statement from Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly, MLA and member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board. From the Sinn Féin statement [added emphasis throughout] [Gerry Kelly] “John Downey is a member of Sinn Féin and a long time supporter of the …

Is demonising Mrs Thatcher over the hunger strike also being laid to rest?

Brian Walker on April 14, 2013, 9:35 pm

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It was said of the republican “long war “ – (was it by Danny Morrison? – if not it ought to have been) – that one death in Britain was worth about 20 – or 100? in Northern Ireland. The corollary is that one of the lessons repeated in the welter of Thatcher press coverage is how little concentrated attention has tended to be paid in Britain to even the worst horrors of our Troubles. In the list of Thatcherite landmarks …

“But we’re still part of the UK…”

Pete Baker on April 10, 2013, 10:02 pm

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The DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson, MP, and Sinn Féin’s Alex Maskey, MLA, appeared separately on UTV Live this evening to give their thoughts on the 15th anniversary of the 1998 Agreement. Apparently Alex Maskey hadn’t arrived at the studio in time for the first segment… Whether by accident, or design, it was left to presenter Seamus McKee Paul Clark to ask the obvious question to Alex Maskey’s opening assertion. Here’s what the Sinn Féin MLA claimed The fundamental difference between before the …

Margaret Thatcher is like Alex Ferguson…

Pete Baker on April 9, 2013, 5:20 pm

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I don’t intend to comment on the putative legacy of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher [Too early to say? – Ed] Perhaps. And Mick has it covered… But I will point to Tom Chivers’ observations on some of the more, erm, extreme reactions. My own hypothesis, and it’s only a hypothesis, is that she’s hated by some of the less thoughtful elements of the Left in the same way that Sir Alex Ferguson is hated by less thoughtful Liverpool fans: because she …

“Already, two Sinn Fein special advisers have been submitted to vetting procedures put in place by Sammy Wilson, the finance minister, as a condition for paying them.”

Pete Baker on March 24, 2013, 4:46 pm

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In the Belfast Telegraph, Liam Clarke adds some interesting background detail on Jim Allister’s Bill legislating for the vetting of ministerial special advisers. As he points out, vetting began following the resignation of Sinn Féin’s Mary McArdle – who had been jailed for her part in the 1984 murder of Mary Travers. From the Belfast Telegraph article When Sinn Fein eventually replaced Ms McArdle with Mr Kearney, a journalist, Mr Wilson refused to pay him until he was vetted under special …

“The department of justice said discussions about the precise source of funding for the HET are continuing…”

Pete Baker on March 21, 2013, 8:45 pm

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The issue of funding the ongoing work of the Historical Enquiries Team, as well as its perceived independence, may be about to become a matter of political disagreement… As the BBC NI home affairs correspondent, Vincent Kearney, reports Hundreds of families have co-operated with the team on the basis that it was acting independently. Many families of people killed during the Troubles, including relatives of some RUC officers, did not want former police officers from Northern Ireland involved in the review …