The release of Irish prisoner of conscience Marian Price is being
celebrated as a significant victory for justice campaigners and a key
step in securing the freedom of other prisoners currently interned in
the north of Ireland.
Two sectarian thugs who admitted their part in the murder of Ballymena
Catholic schoolboy Michael McIlveen can expect to be free in two to four
years after their retrial ended in a further reduction of their
sentences.
The Orange Order has backed down from plans to stage a ‘prayer event’
and an associated march in a park adjacent to the nationalist Garvaghy
Road in Portadown.
A mock Referendum on Irish Unity was held in the South Armagh village of
Crossmaglen and the neighbouring Creggan Upper community in County Louth
this week, the culmination of a three week campaign in the area.
A look at Dáil politics in a week in which 26-County Justice Minister
Alan Shatter survived a motion of no confidence, despite a lingering
controversy over low-level Garda corruption and the news that he was
permitted to pass through a Garda checkpoint after failing to provide a
sample of his breath.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has accused the British government of
breaching commitments given during peace talks over a decade ago
following the arrest of leading Donegal Sinn Fein member John Downey.
Representatives of a number of nationalist residents groups have
criticised closed-door talks in Wales between the PSNI police and a
selection of ‘community delegates’ in advance of the main Protestant
marching season.
Catholics in the north of Ireland are in poorer health, are more likely
to be unemployed and live in more crowded households compared to
Protestants, latest census figures show.
The BBC has been forced to apologise for a sinister incident that saw a
Sinn Fein spokesperson labelled as a representative of “Sinn Fein IRA”
while Ian Paisley Jr, son of infamous unionist hardliner Ian Paisley,
labelled as ‘DUP Goodies’.
Work is underway to erect a massive security fence to keep political
activists far away from a summit of the world’s most powerful leaders in
County Fermanagh.
Senior British government officials permitted a campaign of state-backed
killings by unionist paramilitaries and the RUC (now PSNI) police to be
conducted at the height of the conflict, a senior security adviser for
the British government has finally admitted.
A loyalist mob carried out a savage sectarian attack on a Catholic
teenager, her Protestant friend and her friend’s sister in a south
Belfast ‘Rangers supporters club’, it has emerged.
A row over the cancellation of thousands of motoring offences continues
unabated in the 26 Counties, despite the report of an internal Garda
police investigation which cleared the force of corruption.
The PSNI have been accused of using excessive violence against whole
families, including young children, amid increased concerns over
heavy-handed policing in republican areas.
The Republican Network for Unity has condemned the decision of a court
in Dublin not to allow an appeal by Michael McKevitt to proceed,
describing the case as a miscarriage of justice.
The threat of serious industrial unrest in the 26 Counties has receded
following progress in public service pay talks and a separate deal to
end a two-day stoppage early last weekend at the state-funded bus
company, Bus Eireann.
The ten-year plan for tackling sectarian divisions in the North presented last week by the First and Deputy First Ministers was a 'snow job', according to Brian Feeney.
Workers at the state-owned bus company have called a nationwide
industrial action which has severely reduced public transport services
across the 26 Counties.
A decision to allow the anti-Catholic Orange Order to gather in a
public park surrounded by Catholic homes in Portadown has been
described as ‘an act of unionist political madness’ by the Garvaghy
Road Residents Coalition (GRRC).
The British government was aware before the 1981 hunger strike that some
senior Provisional IRA figures were privately opposed to the use of
physical force, according to secret documents found in the papers of
Margaret Thatcher.
The mother of a remand prisoner has said she fears for his mental
health after attempts were made to recruit him as an informer while
under 24-hour lock-up behind bars.
Brian Shivers has been fully vindicated after the terminally ill
Magherafelt man walked out of Belfast Crown Court last Friday, his
lawyer said this week.
Interned republican Martin Corey has been refused permission to appeal
to Britain’s Supreme Court the refusal to provide his lawyers with the
‘closed intelligence’ used as an excuse to keep him behind bars for the
past three years.
The following oration was delivered by former councillor Pat McNamee at
the graveside of former colleague Jim McAllister who died of cancer last month.
An appeal by two men convicted of a Continuity IRA attack in 2009 was
dramatically derailed this week after the PSNI arrested and
interrogated a key witness in an apparent attempt to pressure him into
withdrawing his evidence.
The Stormont administration in Belfast has been accused of engaging in a
‘charade’ after a sectarian Orange parade once again ignored a ruling of
the Parades Commission against playing music outside a Catholic church
in Belfast.
PSNI police chief Matt Baggott has washed his hands of the controversy
over UVF paramilitary flags and other loyalist symbols across Belfast,
insisting that the North’s politicians introduce new laws on the issue.
There has been a broad political welcome for a new bill which will
finally legislate for the 1983 ‘X case’ referendum, providing for a
possibility of abortion in the limited case of a threat to the life of
the mother.
President of Ireland Michael D Higgins has joined the growing campaign
in Ireland against the austerity agenda, with comments directly critical
of the decisions being handed down by European leaders and the European
Central Bank.
Unionists have been accused of delaying and seeking to scupper a plan
for a bridge across the neck of Carlingford Lough which would link
county Louth in the South and Down in the North.
An open letter was issued on behalf of Brendan and John Paul
by the 'Justice for the Craigavon Two' group ahead of the opening of their appeal this week
Brian Shivers has been cleared in a retrial of all charges relating to a
Real IRA attack in 2009 at Massereene British army base in which two
British soldiers died.