There has been a shocked reaction to evidence that the 1993 Shankill
Road bomb, in which nine civilians and one IRA Volunteer died in a
premature explosion, was planned by a double-agent working in concert
with the British Crown forces.
PSNI Chief George Hamilton has warned that most conflict-related cases
will be shelved as pressure is heaped on the force to cooperate with
inquest investigations.
The main suspect in the murder of republican Gareth O’Connor has still
not been questioned almost thirteen years after his death it has
emerged. The man in question has also received an ‘OTR letter’ from the
PSNI which could allow him to permanently evade prosecution for the
murder.
There was a riot in Lurgan, County Armagh on Sunday night when more than
100 petrol bombs were thrown by nationalist youths after police cordons
were set up in the Lake Street area.
The 26 County Minister for Finance Michael Noonan blew over nine billion
euro of government funds when he failed to stand up to EU bank chiefs
over the state’s bank debts, the banking inquiry has revealed.
Tens of thousands of protestors turned out to oppose water charges at
Right2Water demonstrations across the country last Saturday. In Dublin
City Centre, at the largest rally, community and political groups were
joined by representatives from six trade unions.
In the aftermath of the 1916
Rising and the releases from Frongoch internment camp that autumn, the Sinn Féin
movement was re-organised in Belfast in early 1917, and the first Easter Commemoration Parade in the city was part of that process.
Former H Block blanketman Gerard Hodgins spoke this week at the
Foresters Club in West Belfast in honour of the late IRA volunteer,
Paddy Joe Rice. The event was hosted by the Anne Devlin Society,
Belfast.
Decrypted classified documents obtained by the Provisional IRA have
shown that a state agent was behind one of the most notorious tragedies
of the conflict, the Shankill Road bomb attack in 1993.
The staggering amount of surveillance being undertaken by the
authorities in the 26 Counties has been revealed with more than one
thousand new spy requests on citizens initiated every month.
The anti-Catholic Orange Order has said it has no intention of inviting
Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness to its July Twelfth marches and rallies
after the Deputy First Minister in the Six Counties said he would be
willing to attend.
A major court examination of delays in coroners’ investigations of 95
legacy killings in the North, many of which date back more than 40
years, in currently underway.
As the homelessness crisis worsens, a number of Traveller families
evicted from their homes in County Louth have been told to put their
children into care in order to secure accommodation.
A decision not to prosecute a British soldier for killing a civilian
near the Irish border during the conflict is to be reviewed, according
to Crown Prosecutor Barra McGrory.
Foyle is set to be the ‘constituency of death’ for nationalists in the
2016 Six-County Assembly election after Sinn Fein’s Deputy First
Minister Martin McGuinness announced he would run in the Foyle
constituency, taking on the SDLP leader Colum Eastwood and a prominent
independent candidate, Dr Anne McCloskey.
The commemorative programme for 2016 reflects the diversity of those
whose experiences are shared by the people of Derry, across the North, as well as across Ireland and Britain.
Who is more reprehensible on the scales of historical judgement?
The progressive militant, who sought a modern democratic
republic or the conservative militant, who was ready to accept a devolved, partitioned
Ireland?
In an unusual development in the peace process, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has
criticised the new DUP leader Arlene Foster after she denounced
commemorations of the 1916 Easter Rising.
The British government continues to use national security to prevent
potentially embarrassing details of its ‘black operations’ in the North
emerging into the public domain.
The occupation of buildings at the heart of the 1916 Rising in Dublin
was suspended this week after a High Court decision to halt demolition
works on the site for two weeks pending a hearing on February 2nd.
There is increasing speculation that the general election will take
place in the last days of February or the start of March after Taoiseach
Enda Kenny claimed to have finally picked a date.
Nearly 300 British Army personnel who served in Iraq are suspected of
committing war crimes, according to a new report by a team set up to
look into evidence of murder, abuse and torture during the Iraq war.
The two governments, but particularly the Irish government, hoped that
by developing a load of claptrap about a ‘shared history’ they could
somehow exorcise the years 1912-22.
New Year’s Day brought the first official efforts of the year to revise
and sanitise the centenary of the 1916 Rising, with the rebels’ goal of
an Ireland free from British rule getting airbrushed from the official
narrative.
Hundreds have rallied in support of a group of protesters who have
occupied buildings on Moore Street in Dublin as a simmering row over
plans for the development of the site, a key site in the history of the
1916 Rising, has now become a stand-off.
Some of those tortured by the British military in the early days of the
recent conflict walked out of court on Wednesday morning after a judge
adjourned their case for almost three months.
Gas flares and noxious discharges have been emitted from the Corrib gas
plant in north Mayo on New Year’s Eve, just weeks after the plant
received a final permit to begin operation by Energy Minister Alex
White.
There could be disturbances across the North if soccer squads from both
parts of Ireland are given a joint reception at Belfast city hall, a
leading loyalist has warned.
In 1985, the Dublin government’s Minister of Defence and military chiefs
believed it was illegal for the 26 County Army to operate north of the
border even for humanitarian reasons, historical papers have revealed.