June 30, 2005

Blair wants IRA threat removed

British prime minister Tony Blair has said the Provisional IRA must move into “a different modus operandi” in which it can no longer pose a threat.

Another spy device found

A British spying device has been discovered at the home of Derry republican Andrew McCartney.

McBride family to pursue justice in Europe

The mother of a Belfast teenager murdered by British soldiers a decade ago has said she will go to the European Court of Human Rights to have her son’s killers thrown out of the British Army.

Civil rights melt in Ballymena’s summer hate

A nationalist SDLP councillor had to be given a police escort from a meeting disrupted by a Paisleyite mob in Ballymena, County Antrim last night.

Kerry republicans savour breakthrough

Sinn Féin’s Toireasa Ferris, daughter of Kerry North TD Martin Ferris, has been elected Mayor of County Kerry.

FREE SEAN KELLY

The heavily pregnant partner of jailed Belfast republican Sean Kelly has called on the Dublin government to do more to get the father of her children released.

IRSP Address at Bodenstown

The following speech was delivered by IRSP Ard-Chomhairle member John Murtagh last week to a gathering of about 200 members of the Republican Socialist Movement at Bodenstown, the burial place of the founding father of Irish Republicanism.

Malachy McAllister resumes his family’s battle

By Ray O’Hanlon (for the Irish Echo)

A few months ago, quietly and without fanfare, Malachy McAllister reached another milestone in his battle to make a new life for himself and his family in the United States.

June 26, 2005

Order sulks over rerouted parade

Short-term relief mixed with concern for the future in Belfast this weekend as a controversial parade by the Protestant Orange Order was called off amid increasing tension over the march route.

IRA says it fired fatal shot

The Provisional IRA has said it was responsible for a gunshot that killed schoolgirl Kathleen Feeney during a battle with the British Army in Derry in 1973.

UVF KILLERS PROTECTED BY PSNI

Unionist paramilitaries worked for the police when they planned the murder in 1997 of a north Belfast Protestant, according to a disturbing new report.

Action alerts

The following is a summary of recent calls for political action by Irish Northern Aid.

Empey leads UUP to sideline

Ulster Unionist veteran Reg Empey is David Trimble’s successor as the new party leader following a surprisingly close vote by the party’s ruling council.

SF plan election campaign

Sinn Féin’s cross-border parliamentary representatives met in Dublin today to plot the party’s campaign for the forthcoming General Election.

Dublin-Monaghan move expected

The Dublin government is set to take the British government to the European Court of Human Rights if it fails to hand over files relating to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings at a meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference later today [Monday].

Kelly arrest a blatant act of provocation

By Jim Gibney (for the Irish News)

The imprisonment of Ardoyne republican Sean Kelly is a blatant act of provocation.

June 22, 2005

IRA statement must be tested - DUP, London

British Direct Ruler Peter Hain was told today to stop pretending he is an honest broker in the peace process after he echoed new demands by Ian Paisley’s hardline DUP.

Wright family warn over inquiry

A public inquiry into the murder of unionist paramilitary leader ‘King Rat’ gets underway in Belfast today.

Marching season heats up

The Orange Order has submitted three new applications to the Parades Commission seeking marches through a flashpoint area of west Belfast.

INTERNED

Republicans have reacted angrily to the arrest and summary imprisonment of prominent north Belfast republican Sean Kelly.

Address at Bodenstown

The text of a speech by Sinn Féin MP for Newry Armagh Conor Murphy, speaking at the party’s annual Wolfe Tone Commemoration in Bodenstown on Sunday.

Tributes to Bloody Sunday hero

Hundreds gathered in Derry at the weekend to pay tribute to Bloody Sunday hero Patrick Walsh.

Arson attack recalls Quinn tragedy

A weekend of serious violence in north Belfast has followed Friday’s ‘Tour of the North’ parade.

Issue of collusion raises ugly head again

By Jim Gibney (for the Irish News)

Stoneyford is neither a hamlet nor a village. It lies somewhere in between with a population of just more than 300.

June 18, 2005

Paisley defiant over possible IRA move

Hardline unionist leader Ian Paisley has declared that any new IRA peace pledges could take years to be believed, and warned the Irish Prime Minister to keep “his dirty hands” off the North.

Daylight assault by loyalists

Three Catholic men escaped serious injury this week after their car was attacked by up to a dozen loyalists wielding baseball bats and iron bars.

Sean Kelly returned to jail

A prominent IRA Volunteer was re-arrested and returned to prison today in a move that could herald a further weakening of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Call to scrap Garda-based convictions

A leading Irish lawyer has called for oppressive anti-republican legislation to be scrapped after five men were convicted of membership of the breakaway ‘Real IRA’ on the word of a senior garda policeman.

MARCH MADNESS

Ardoyne residents targeted by UDA, PSNI

Nationalist residents of north Belfast were attacked last night by both loyalists and the PSNI police following a hugely controversial march by the Protestant Orange Order.

Bodenstown address

On June 12 the annual Republican Sinn Féin commemoration to Theobald Wolfe Tone, the Father of Irish Republicanism, took place.

The following is an edited version of the main oration, which was delivered by Ruairi O Bradaigh, President of Republican Sinn Féin.

No equality in new Human Rights Commission

The North’s newly-constituted Human Rights Commission has already been criticised for lacking in community balance.

Nobody’s responsible, but everybody pays

In vivid contrast to the meritocracy and performance-driven ethos of the entrepreneurial instincts that created the Celtic Tiger economy, the vast apparatus of the state still blunders along in its wake, guarding its mediocrity and looking after its pals.

June 14, 2005

Voters turning against Fianna Fail

The Dublin government has fallen to its lowest poll rating for almost two years, according to the latest opinion poll, while the opposition parties have all scored increases.

Ombudsman asked to investigate march violence

Sinn Féin’s Philip McGuigan has called for urgent meetings with both the Police Ombudsman and the Parades Commission after six nationalists were injured in clashes with the PSNI during a unionist paramilitary parade.

Tensions in North Belfast

A North Belfast residents’ group has called on the Parades Commission to review a decision on Friday’s ‘Tour of the North’ march.

Recovery of body dismissed

The Ulster Unionist party has expressed dismay at reports that the IRA may have disclosed the location of the body of alleged IRA informer Gareth O’Connor.

EU breakthrough for Irish language

Gaelic activists are celebrating a landmark decision to make Ireland’s first language an official language of the European Union.

Lawyer ploughs a lonely furrow

Belfast solicitor extraordinaire Padraigin Drinan still can’t decide whether to go to Craigavon Civic Centre when the inquiry begins into the murder of her close friend Rosemary Nelson.

Is it safe for the IRA to go completely away

There are two crucial political questions at the moment in the North. What will be the IRA’s response to Gerry Adams’ appeal for it to stand down and for its activists to devote their energies to political struggle? And, what is the DUP’s true position on a power-sharing deal with Sinn Féin?

June 10, 2005

UUP feud ahead of leadership vote

Lord Kilclooney, the former UUP deputy leader John Taylor, has publicly attacked the candidates for the party leader’s job. He referred to them as “has-beens” associated with the demise of the party, and suggested that British Army Colonel Tim Collins would be a good choice.

Sinn Féin members targeted

Nationalists in Coleraine have been struck by a series of orchestrated petrol bomb attacks. Some of those targeted in the County Derry town were in their sixties.

Girdwood base to go

Demolition work has begun on an infamous British Army base once used as a centre for torturing irish republicans.

Call for Fullerton Inquiry

Donegal County Council has unanimously passed a motion calling for a full public independent inquiry into the assassination of Donegal Sinn Féin Councillor Eddie Fullerton by unionist paramilitaries in 1991.

AHERN IMPATIENT FOR IRA DECISION

26-County Prime Minister, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, has said he hopes that a decision by the Provisional IRA to stand down will come in the next few weeks.

Portadown and the Marching Season

The outline facts on the Protestant marching season and the annual confrontation between marchers and Catholic residents of the Garvaghy Road enclave in Portadown.

Ireland to vote on troubled EU treaty

The 26-County government is determined to hold a referendum on on the European Union’s Constitution despite Britain’s decision to postpone indefinitely its own referendum.

Gardaí have lots in common with RUC

For a man bristling out there on the right of the political spectrum, who believes there should be minimum interference by the state in peoples’ lives, Michael McDowell's record is one of petty interference anywhere he can in peoples’ lives.

June 6, 2005

Talk to us - Adams

Ian Paisley’s DUP has been challenged to formally enter dialogue with republicans for the first time.

Belfast man killed by PSNI vehicle

A 29-year-old west Belfast man was killed in controversial circumstances at the weekend when he was hit by a PSNI police Land Rover driving at high speed.

McBrearty abuse video fuels scandal

The 26-County government will consider dismissing senior members of the Garda police criticised in the second report of the Morris tribunal, according to its Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell.

Ballymena march forced through

There were minor clashes betweeen nationalist protestors and the PSNI police when a sectarian parade was forced though a Catholic area of Ballymena on Saturday.

SUICIDE EPIDEMIC

There have been renewed demands for intervention after two more young men from west Belfast took their own lives at the weekend.

Amnesty action appeal

Amnesty International has launched an online appeal asking people worldwide to write to senior UK judges, urging that neither they nor other judges sit on any public inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005 into the murder of Belfast lawyer Patrick Finucane.

Men charged in McCartney murder

There were angry scenes outside the court on Saturday where a man was charged with the highly controversial murder of Belfast man Robert McCartney. Another man, James McCormick, was charged on Saturday with the attempted murder of Mr McCartney’s friend Brendan Devine.

The weapon of change remains ourselves

By Mairtin O Muilleoir (for Daily Ireland)

I was barely out of shorts the day I saw Malachy McNally tumble from a Morris 1100 outside our house and loose off a volley of shots from his M1 Carbine at a British army pig which had been negotiating the barricade at the top of Ramoan Gardens.

June 3, 2005

Unionists wary of IRA statement

Ian Paisley’s DUP will not be deceived by “rhetoric” by the Provisional IRA, the party’s North Belfast MP has declared.

Nursing home scandal

A police investigation is underway at a nursing home in County Dublin following the broadcast of shocking scenes of neglect and mistreatment of elderly patients.

Parading illegality

International observers have highlighted systematic violations of rulings on parades by the Protestant Orange Order.

Lisburn flies the flag

Unionists on Lisburn City Council have backed sectarianism after voting to fly the Union Jack permanently on all council flag poles.

FRAME-UP, COVER-UP

Garda police in Donegal tried to frame two innocent men for murder, according to a damning tribunal report which has shaken the Dublin government.

The Morris Report

The following is an outline of the main events relevant to the second interim report of the Morris Tribunal released this week.

Derry man approached in recruitment bid

A member of Republican Sinn Féin in Derry has said that PSNI police tried to recruit him as an informer.

Dodging questions on Sellafield

By Brian Feeney (for the Irish News)

Dick Roche, the Irish environment minister said it reminded him of Homer Simpson, who, as you know, is safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Plant where he keeps just ahead of the posse of government inspectors. Roche was talking about the latest leak at the Thermal Oxide Re-processing Plant (Thorp) at Sellafield. Or, more correctly, the latest leak from Sellafield as far as we know.


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