Irish Republican News: Archives

July 31, 2006

AHERN’S MASSACRE SHAME

The Dublin government has been forced to end the transport of munitions for the Israeli Army through Shannon Airport following outrage over the massacre of scores of women and children in Lebanon.

DUP accepts Good Friday Agreement - Adams

The DUP has accepted the principle of power sharing and dialogue with Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams has said.

UDA on verge of major feud

Several hundred loyalists staged a rally in Belfast on Saturday night in a ‘show of strength’ amid trouble between rival factions in the unionist paramilitary UDA.

CRJ see crumbs from the table

Community Restorative Justice (CRJ) has branded the British government’s latest proposed guidelines overseeing the restorative justice project as “arrogant”.

Prisoners stage 24-hour hunger strike

Republican prisoners in Maghaberry in County Antrim have stepped up their protest by staging a 24-hour fast.

Independent Fianna Fail no more

A political schism of more than 35 years has ended with the return of the Blaney clan’s Independent Fianna Fail grouping into the party it split from in 1970.

Kevin Lynch

The story of INLA Volunteer Kevin Lynch, who died on hunger strike in Long Kesh prison 25 years ago on Tuesday.

Unionists still refuse to have open minds

One year on the unionists and their allies are still refusing to open their minds to the place the peace process can take us.

July 25, 2006

Sectarian attacks are now averaging at least five attacks every day despite efforts of nationalist groups to placate unionists with concessions over contentious anti-Catholic parades through interface areas.

IRA’s war is over, say govts

The London and Dublin governments now accept that the Provisional IRA’s war is over, according to statements made today by the British Direct Ruler in the 6-Counties, Peter Hain, and the 26-County Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell.

CIRA claims shooting attacks

The Continuity IRA has said it carried out two gun attacks on the PSNI in Armagh city on July 12.

US groups lobby Senators on extradition treaty

Leading figures in Irish America have testified in opposition to the ratification of a proposed extradition treaty between the United States and Britain at Senate hearings in Washington.

Peace role seen for Ireland in Middle East

The President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, has said she expects the Dublin government to give ‘profound consideration’ to any United Nations request to contribute to a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

Vindication for anti-war group

Five anti-war members of the ‘Pitstop Ploughshares’ have been found not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of damaging a US aeroplane at Shannon Airport over three years ago.

Reconciling Orange and Green

The full text of a wide-ranging address delivered by Martin McGuinness to the MacGill Summer School at the weekend.

Israel must be held accountable

Israel is clearly once again guilty of a gross crime against humanity and it must be held accountable.

July 20, 2006

PENAL POLICING

The arrest of an Irish language school teacher in Belfast for speaking Irish “brings us back to the days of the penal laws”, said Sinn Féin’s Bairbre de Brun.

UDA demand pay-off millions

The British government has been accused of allowing the UDA to “stick up” taxpayers after engaging the unionist paramilitary group in talks for funds to “retrain” its murder gangs.

Cutbacks signalled ahead of ‘Plan B’

The Dublin and London governments are being urged to spell out their plans in the apparently likely event of political parties in the North missing the November deadline for a deal.

Carthy killing was wrong - Barr

The killing by Garda police of a depressed young man outside his County Longford home six years ago was unnecessary, the judge who carried out a two-year inquiry into the incident has said.

McKevitt case for Supreme Court

Republican hardliner Michael McKevitt has been given leave to go to the Supreme Court in a fresh bid to challenge his controversial non-jury conviction for ‘directing terrorism’.

Ireland cries for Lebanon

There is anger and concern in Ireland at Israeli attacks on civilian targets in Lebanon, with little action by the international community to intervene.

The original con trick

There is a historical precedent of “sexing up” a document, one that had major implications for subsequent relations between Ireland and England.

Paisley still trading on fears

Over the decades, one thing has not changed.

July 17, 2006

NATIONALISTS UNDER ATTACK

A Derry man is fighting for his life following a spate of sectarian attacks surrounding the annual July 12th parades by the Protestant Orange Order.

SF marshal Orange parades, hold PSNI talks

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has accused DUP leader Ian Paisley and his party of having done nothing to ensure a peaceful Twelfth - in contrast to republicans.

Paisley ‘rant’ upsets policing appeal

There was concern this week after DUP leader Ian Paisley expressed his party’s potentially violent opposition to political compromise, undermining British government attempts to win over Sinn Féin support for the PSNI.

Dublin cowed by British threats on undercover operation

The British government considered banning Irish immigration and stripping the Irish community in Britain of social security and voting rights after eight plain-clothes SAS men were arrested in the 26-Counties on active service.

UDA in talks with Ahern

Republicans have expressed concern after talks between the unionist paramilitary UDA and the 26-County Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, in Dublin.

Govt blames road deaths on public

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has denied his government is to blame for the mounting death-toll on Ireland’s roads.

Founded on and fuelled by bigotry

There are at least three ways of looking at last week’s Twelfth celebrations.

SF riding the tide in political sea change

Two strangers arrived at Stormont as the shutters went up for the summer.

July 12, 2006

SECTARIAN SPECTACLE

Hundreds of ‘11th night’ bonfires were set alight by loyalists across the North last night as tensions mounted ahead of ‘the Twelfth’, a day when over 600 marches are staged by the Protestant Orange Order to mark a 17th century battle victory over Catholics.

New forensic approach urged on ‘Disappeared’

Provisional IRA Volunteers accompanied a forensics expert to the burial sites of five victims whose remains were never recovered, the Sinn Féin President revealed on Monday.

IRA statement on McConville case

The Provisional IRA has issued a statement affirming that Jean McConville had been an informer at the time she was killed in 1972 following a declaration by Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan that she had no evidence to corroborate the claims.

‘Political charade’ stumbles on

Nationalists have criticised Ian Paisley’s party for its continuing efforts to undermine a local power-sharing solution in the North of Ireland as set out in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Ireland opposes British nuke plans

Irish politicians have expressed fears about a new generation of nuclear plants like Sellafield located across the Irish Sea after the British government indicated it intends to build nuclear power stations.

Aer Lingus for sale

Bertie Ahern has given the green light for his government to sell off Ireland’s national airline, Aer Lingus.

Joe McDonnell and Martin Hurson

This week marks the 25th anniversary of the death of two IRA Volunteers on hunger strike in Long Kesh jail.

Participation in partition - a denial of sovereignty

The Annual Republican Sinn Féin Wolfe Tone Commemoration to Bodenstown took place last month. The following oration was delivered by Dr Sean Maguire son of the late Comdt- General Tom Maguire, a survivor of the Second (All-Ireland) Dail Eireann. It is reproduced here in full.

July 7, 2006

TIME TO GO

26-County Taoiseach Bertie Ahern this week faced calls for an early election amid a public outcry over mounting evidence of serious incompetence within his cabinet and senior civil service.

Ardoyne march dispute reignites

Nationalists have expressed anger that a coat-trailing Orange Order parade is to be allowed to pass Ardoyne in north Belfast on the evening of the Twelfth of July, despite calling off a protest for a morning parade on the same day.

RUC man ran collusion HQ - Barron

The farm of an RUC policeman was used as a centre of operations for unionist paramilitary activity at the height of the conflict, according to the final report of Justice Henry Barron.

Demilitarisation or not?

The British army is expected to vacate its last hill-top spy post in south Armagh next week amid a controversy over the future of British Army lands in the area.

PSNI back sectarian flag intimidation

The PSNI police has been accused of “working hand in glove” with the unionist paramilitary LVF to erect flags in the nationalist end of Lurgan town last week.

Attacks on homes, school

Catholic homes in Lurgan and a school in County Derry came under attack at the weekend.

An experiment in human despair

Jonathan Cook on the real reasons for Israel’s invasion of Gaza.

No dumbing down of the Orange Order

Why try and dress up the Twelfth as something it is not?

July 2, 2006

IRA MUST REPENT - PAISLEY

DUP leader Ian Paisley has said that there will be no power-sharing with nationalists unless the Provisional IRA “repents of its evil deeds”

Statement of the Taoiseach and British Prime Minister

A statement on the state of the peace process and a ‘work plan’ were issued in Belfast on Thursday by Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern.

Festival of sectarianism?

The British government is attempting to turn sectarian and sometimes violent celebrations of a 17th century battle victory over Irish Catholics into a “festival” for tourists -- and has provided a six-figure grant to the Protestant Orange Order to do so.