Adams’ brother hands himself in

Liam Adams went into a police station in Sligo on Monday afternoon.

It is understood detectives there could not detain him because they did not have the necessary European arrest warrant.

Mr Adams left the station after giving police his name and address and saying that he was willing to be questioned.

full story here

The mood is vengeful, with demands for episcopal heads to roll coming from all sections of society. Three weeks ago, in the Irish parliament, Sinn Fein’s Human Rights spokesman denounced those who ‘colluded in crime, in depraved sexual attacks, in an abuse of  power and influence, they perverted the course of justice, they protected the guilty.”

Does that apply to Gerry Adams too?

Gerry Adams :
“When I discovered in the Belfast situation that he was working in a youth facility I went to those who had responsibility for that facility and told them of the allegation.”

Clonard Youth Centre has issued a statement, making clear it was unaware of any allegations against Liam Adams when he worked there.

Spokesperson Brendan Dineen said the centre had reviewed all its documentation “and there is no record whatsoever regarding concerns about Mr Liam Adams during his time of employment at Clonard Youth Centre.”

more lies from Mr Adams?

full story here

The news is being updated every minute on this case with Republicans calling for Adams to resign, some Sinn Fein diehards defending their leader’s behaviour  (with people questioning their defence of this undefendable behaviour).

People are digging up past stories and the most important one to come out so far is Adams’ memorable speech in 1997 where he said:

“The RUC are not acceptable and, indeed, are using these issues for their own militaristic ends,”

when talking about counsellors, in North Belfast who could deal with issues of child and drug abuse, to supporters. I remember that speech. He got a lot of stick for it at the time from the SDLP and the Alliance party.

Is Adams trying to revise history, something he is very adept at, when he tells us that he told his niece he would take her to the RUC in the 1980’s and the allegations first surfaced?

I remember when all republicans avoided the RUC and wouldn’t go near them for any reason so you went to your local Sinn Fein rep. Now we know that Aine and her mother went to the head honcho. He has admitted it. So why was nothing done about it? In republican areas in the 80’s and 90’s there was community policing in place and accusations like this are the worst kind you can face. So why did no one know? Did republicans not have the right to know they had a child abuser in their midst? And to tell you the truth, in the 80’s and 90’s people were kneecapped or found face down in the road for less serious crimes within the community. Child abuse has always been one of the worst crimes, not only in Republican circles but in any decent society, and has always be dealt with. No where has a child abuser been allowed to roam free and work with children. Was he allowed because of his surname?

Serious questions have been asked and Adams is not available for comment. He claimed he informed Clonard Youth Centre about his brother when he found out he worked there (ok he worked there for 5 years before Gerry found out and let’s just believe that lie for a while) but now Clonard Youth Centre are saying that they were unaware of any allegations, no one told them of the serious allegations against Liam Adams. Who should we believe? Adams or Clonard Youth Centre?

I know who I believe, not because I respect them more but because they are not complusive liars.

www.irishfreedomnews.com

News has been coming out all weekend about the allegations made against Liam Adams, Gerry’s brother, and the abuse he subjected his daughter to when she was a child. On Friday night UTV aired an interview with Adams, his niece and her mother about the allegations and to tell the truth Gerry and Fr Aiden Troy didn’t come out smelling like roses.

Gerry then gave an interview on RTE yesterday (Sunday) and claimed that his own father was also a child abuser. Where Gerry claimed that he didn’t know if he was abused or not. How can you not know if you were abused or not? Is this another ploy (a disgusting one at that) to try and save that sinking ship that is known as Sinn Fein?

There are many twists in this story. Adams knew about the abuse 20 years ago. He allowed his brother to work with children, he allowed (and supported) his brother to continue his Provo Sinn Fein career in Dundalk. Fr Troy used his position within the Catholic Church to try and force the victim to drop the charges and to protect the abuser. It is also very strange that Gerry doesn’t know where his brother is seeing as he has kept in contact with him since the allegations first surfaced. Should they not have let at least the community know there was a pedophile living in their midst?

Serious questions need to be raised by the RUC behaviour at the time who were more interested in getting information on the Adams family and not interested enough is getting justice for the victim when this crime was first reported to them in the late 80’s. Why did they not arrest Liam Adams? Why did they not question him? Why was he allowed to continue working with children? Were they more interested in getting the dirt on the Adams family? Something to hold over Gerry’s head and force his hand? Did they turn Liam Adams? Did they use this information to recruit a new informer namely Liam Adams?

Follow the debate and views on this story on irishfreedomnews.com

Il gruppo paramilitare repubblicano di Ardoyne è sospettato di essere stato alla regia dell’autobomba semi-esplosa lo scorso sabato

L’Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) è sospettato di essere l’autore dell’attentato ai danni del Policing Board, attuato tramite un’autobomba imbottita di 400 libre di esplosivo.
L’auto utilizzata per trasportare la bomba a Clarendon Dock, sarebbe stata avvisata nell’area, qualche ora precedente l’attentato.
La PSNI è inoltre convinta del coinvolgimento di 2 Provos, che hanno preso le distanze dal Sinn Fein dal momento in cui ha dato appoggio alla polizia.
Gerry Kelly, esponente del maggior partito repubblicano, ha affermato che si sia trattata di pura fortuna se il dispositivo non è totalmente esploso. “E’ ironico che scelgano di attaccare il Policing Board, che è il meccanismo stesso di responsabilità, negoziato e istituito per mantenere il ruolo della polizia, il che significa che in realtà è un attacco contro la comunità”.

Traduci l’articolo…

Oglaigh na hEireann ‘Planted Bomb’ (4 NI)
Ardoyne-based republicans are being balmed for the failed weekend bomb attack on the NI Policing Board.
It has emerged that the republican dissident group Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) was suspected of the 400lb car bomb attack.
It is belived the car used to ferry the bomb to Clarendon Dock had been spotted in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast hours before the attack.
Police believe that two former Provisional IRA members, who split from the organisation because of Sinn Féin’s support for policing, were behind the attack.
North Belfast DUP MP Nigel Dodds described the bombers as “reckless” and “having nothing to offer but murder and mayhem”.
His comments came as the SDLP leader Mark Durkan described the attack as an attempt to “strike at the democratic structures of the north” and Policing Board member and Ulster Unionist MLA Basil McCrea described the attacks as “calculated and callous”.
Underlining the dissidents’ exclusion from mainstream republicanism, Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly said that it was fortunate that the device had only partially exploded.
“It’s ironic that they should choose to attack the Policing Board, which is the very accountability mechanism which was negotiated and set up to keep the police to account – which means that it really is an attack on the community.”

Parla un riservista che sta per vedere stravolta la sua vita dalla decisione di Matt Baggott di sciogliere la Full Time Reserve

Un riservista in forza da 40 anni nella Full Time Reserve, è convinto così come i suoi colleghi, che la richiesta dei loro ’scalpi’ sia direttamente correlato ad un guadagno politico.
L’uomo, che ha espresso la volontà di rimanere anonimo, ha parlato ieri sera anche a nome di 300 suoi colleghi che vorrebbero continuare a ricoprire il loro ruolo, a fronte invece della decisione del Chief Constable del PSNI Matt Baggott, che seguendo le raccomandazione del Patten Report, abolirà la Full Time Reserve nell’arco di 16 mesi.
Incomprensibile la decisione di Baggott soprattutto alla luce degli attentati di quest’anno, in cui hanno perso la vita tre membri delle forze armate e di sicurezza. Al culmine dei Troubles i riservisti erano 3000, oggi sono circa 440.
L’uomo sostiene che riguardando i libri di storia si evince che quando nacque il Provisional IRA, “i messaggi trasmessi dai politici, erano molto simili a quelli di oggi”.
“Allora il PIRA si era trasformato in una delle organizzazioni più pericolose al mondo”. “Penso che i dissidenti abbiano la capacità di crescere in una organizzazione più pericolosa del PIRA, dato che hanno le persone lì a guidarli e formarli in fretta”.
“Ora non vi è alcun supporto dell’esercito alla polizia e, se questa organizzazione prende ad agire in modo unito – ed è solo per fortuna che non lo abbia già fatto – ci sono solo dei giovani nella PSNI che non sanno come affrontare la violenza”.
Il DUP ha imposto il mantenimento della Full Time Reserve, come misura di rafforzamento della fiducia necessaria per il decentramento delle attività di polizia e di giustizia.

Traduci l’articolo…

Dissidents could become bigger than PIRA – claim (NewsLetter)
An angry full time reserve officer last night questioned the decision of Chief Constable Matt Baggott to dispense with their services when he believes dissidents “have the capability to become a bigger and more determined force than the PIRA”.
The serving full time reservist, who is in his 40s, said he and his peers now believe their “scalps are being claimed for political gain” against the backdrop of the worsening security situation.
Speaking last night, the officer, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he knew that at least 300 FTR officers want to remain in their jobs rather than being made redundant.
He said they were aghast that they were being cast adrift in spite of the security situation where he and his peers get “threats on a daily basis, messages to leave their homes and massive threats in the areas in which they are patrolling”.
He said: “On top of that we have seen three people killed in the last year, the partner of an officer who escaped a car bomb and much much more.
“How much more do they have to do and still the Chief Constable comes up with the idea he can do without us.”
Earlier this month the Chief Constable confirmed that he will press on with plans to phase out the PSNI’s full time reserve within 16 months.
At the height of the Troubles there were more than 3,000 members of the reserve, now there are about 440.
The DUP had listed retaining the reserve as a confidence building measure necessary for the devolution of policing and justice.
However, Mr Baggott has said there was no operational need to keep it.
The FTR officer said that, looking back at the history books, when the PIRA started up, “the messages given out by politicians then are much the same as the ones being given out today”.
“Then the PIRA turned into one of the most dangerous organisations in the world,” he said. “I think the dissidents have the capability of growing into an organisation more dangerous than the PIRA given they have people there to guide them and train them quickly.
“There is no Army support now for the police and if this organisation gets its act together – and it is only by good luck they haven’t – there are only youngsters in the PSNI with no understanding of how to deal with violence.”
The police officer said he and his peers always knew the full time reserve had a shelf life.
“I mean you have to understand this has been ongoing for a long time since the fundamental review which was the precursor to the Patten report. We were told that in peacetime there would no longer be any need for the FTR.
“Then we had the Patten report which came up with the recommendation that when politics had stabilised and we moved into a peaceful environment we would be phased out, and we accepted that it was going to happen.
“However, over the last year we have seen the security situation plummet through the floor and still the Chief Constable advises it is possible to do away with 440 officers with vast experience and knowledge – all of this at a time when the Prime Minister holds out an olive branch that he could make the finance available to retain the full time reserve on a year on year basis.”
After spending 26 years in the FTR, the police officer says he is now for the first time in his life going to be unemployed.
“I am going to be broke. I will get my severance and that will go into my mortgage and I will not be entitled to a pension. I will be out looking for a job.
“The youngest in the FTR, in their 30s, will have spent at least 14 years in the service. We are going to be up against youngsters in the job market just coming out of school.
“On top of that any future employer has to look at us with the police baggage and whether they want to run the risk of employing us.”

 

“Mr Wilson (21) was described as a vulnerable person with learning difficulties.”

It’s not hard to see why the Provisionals may have had problems owning up to this one.

It’s a funny thing, but defectors have been much in the news the past week. Not one defector, but three. And not one of them without some kind of twist in the tale. And, wait, till I tell you, defections may be common in the south – one thinks of the late Nollaig de Brún and his multiple party allegiances – but much less so in the north. That’s why Billy Leonard is such an unusual figure.

First up is the news that Fianna Fáil, its support crumbling south of the border, has optimistically been attempting to establish a base in South Down. This has involved a high-powered delegation from HQ, including justice minister Dermot Ahern and former Ceann Comhairle Rory O’Hanlon, as well as uncrowned king of Connacht Éamon Ó Cuív, who talked about how his grandfather, President de Valera, had a long-standing connection to the constituency, having been elected there in the 1920s. One may wish to take this sentimentality at face value, and one may note that Ahern (from Dundalk) and Dr Death O’Hanlon (from Carrickmacross) are border deputies with a natural interest in what happens next door. But it’s hard not to see this stellar line-up as representing a big vote of no confidence in the long-term future of the South Down and Londonderry Party. Consider also that the Soldiers of Fortune already have a cumann in Derry, and add a little piquancy in terms of the near forty-year animus between the SDLP and the Blaneyites. Maybe Durko and Attwood should pause awhile in thought.

Anyway, lending some tone to proceedings was FF’s most prominent local figure, ex-councillor Colonel Harvey Bicker OBE, formerly of the Ulster Unionist Party and the British army. Now, Harvey defected to FF some time ago, and is currently an appointee to President McAleese’s Council of State, but he retains an interest in South Down politics and is now rather ostentatiously in favour of the all-Ireland context. Whether such an eccentric figure is symptomatic of anything is another matter. My view is that there must be something in the water around that neck of the woods, which is also the stomping ground of ex-UUP man Henry Reilly, who currently sits as a UKIP representative on Newry and Mourne council.

Another councillor to make the news has been Belcoo man Domhnall Ó Cobhthaigh, who has left PSF to join the Socialist Party. (More here.) At least we can say that Domhnall hasn’t acted for purposes of electoral advancement, and he has resigned his seat on Fermanagh council, rather honourably reckoning that, as a co-opted rather than elected councillor, he couldn’t possibly claim the seat as his. I wish Domhnall well in his new environment, and obviously this is a feather in the cap for the SP, but it does puzzle me a little.

Yes, on one level, I can see it. Domhnall is a socialist, and wants to be in a party with its socialist identity front and centre, and the SP is certainly that. He feels that Gerry has moved to the right, and I can’t disagree with him there. He admires Joe Higgins, which is certainly understandable. And I can see the mechanics – he’s grown disillusioned, and will have been talking to the SP’s Paul Dale, who’s been a council candidate himself in Enniskillen. And yet… you know, when a councillor goes independent, as some PSF councillors have done recently, it’s one thing, but going over to another party is a definite statement of intent. And what has me scratching my head is that there are more obvious places for a disillusioned socialist republican to go. Of late, éirígí have been pleased with picking up councillors Louise Minihan of Dublin and Barry Monteith of Dungannon; below the elected reps level, I know of some activists over the last wheen of years who have gone to Sinn Féin Eile or to the Communist Party, either of which makes sense.

Having read what Domhnall said in the Impartial Reporter, I’m not much wiser. He is convincing when talking about his disillusionment; his statements on the neoliberal politics of the Assembly are the standard SP boilerplate. What I’m wondering is whether he’s still a republican. The point about the SP is that it’s the most determinedly anti-republican formation on the Irish left, and has spent decades defining itself against “left republicanism”. If Domhnall thinks you can be a republican in the SP, he’s in for a quare gunk. On the other hand, if he’s been convinced by the SP’s hallmark policy of the “socialist federation of Britain and Ireland”, that’s well and good for him, but I don’t see it having much purchase in rural Fermanagh. Well, we shall see, and I look forward to hearing more from Domhnall.

Finally, we have to take a look at Ian Parsley (not Paisley), the fresh-faced young Alliance councillor in North Down who was Alliance’s candidate in the recent Euro-election, but has now defected to the Ulster Conservative and Unionist New Force, via its Tory component. His rationale is that this allows him to plug into UK-wide politics, which is a bit cheeky, since he surely knows that many Alliance people are card-carrying members of the Liberal Democrats. The word is that this fits in nicely with UCUNF’s small headache of finding a candidate in North Down, since the sitting Unionist MP, Lady Sylvia Hermon, is a stalwart Labour supporter and has been notably sceptical of the whole UCUNF boondoggle. Counting against Ian, however, is his rash declaration that he isn’t actually a unionist. This may be a slight disability if you want to win the endorsement of the Unionist Party.

All I can say about that is that I’m glad I’m not a North Down voter. The prospect of a battle of the young fogies between Ian Parsley and Peter Weir is almost too grim to contemplate.

Scarcerati Pearse McAuley e Kevin Walsh condannati per l’omicidio McCabe

Due noti dissidenti repubblicani, Pearse McAuley (evaso il 7 luglio di 18 anni fa con Nessan Quinlivan dal carcere inglese di Brixton, ndr) e Kevin Walsh, condannati entrambi a 14 anni di carcere, sono stati rilasciati questa mattina.
Detenuti nel carcere irlandese di Castlerea, sono tornati in libertà dopo aver scontato  3/4 della loro condanna per l’assassinio di Jerry McCabe, detective del Garda.
Reclusi nel 1996, hanno poi ottenuto nel 1999 una riduzione della pena dopo che un testimone si è rifiutato di deporre dinnanzi alla Special Criminal Court di Dublino.
Gerry Adams, leader del Sinn Fein, ha ricordato che entrambi i prigionieri erano in possesso dei requisisti per beneficiare del rilascio anticipato nei termi del Good Friday Agreement, ma hanno scontato quanto dovuto.
“In una dichiarazione pubblica di qualche anno fa, i membri dell’IRA condannati per la morte di Jerry McCabe e il ferimento dell’ufficiale del  Garda Ben O’Sullivan, hanno espresso il loro profondo rammarico e si sono scusati per il ‘male e il dolore causato alle loro famiglie’.”
“Credo che queste scuse siano state reali ed incarnano i sentimenti dei repubblicani in tutto il mondo. Mi rammarico profondamente  perla grande perdita e il male subito dalle famiglie McCabe e O’Sullivan.”
Pearse McAuley avrebbe dovuto essere estradato in Inghilterra per fronteggiare un’accusa di possesso d’armi ed esplosivi, ma il Crown Prosecution Service ha deciso per il non luogo a procedere per la mancanza di una ‘prospettiva realistica’ di condanna, così come nei confronti di Nessan Quinlivan,  Andrew Martin Anthony e Duncan.

Traduci l’articolo…

McCabe killers freed from prison (U TV)
Two notorious IRA killers have been released from jail after serving ten years for shooting dead a Garda Detective in a hold-up.
Pearse McAuley and Kevin Walsh were part of a Provisional gang which pleaded guilty to killing Jerry McCabe in a high-profile trial hit by witness intimidation.
The pair were freed from prison in the Irish Republic after serving three quarters of their sentences.
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said McAuley and Walsh had apologised for Det Gda McCabe’s killing and should have been granted early release under the Good Friday Agreement.
“In a public statement some years ago the IRA members convicted in relation to Jerry McCabe’s death and the wounding of Garda Ben O’Sullivan, expressed their deep regret and apologised for the ‘hurt and grief we have caused to their families’,” the West Belfast MP said.
“I believe that this apology was genuine and it echoes the sentiments of republicans everywhere.
I deeply regret the great loss and hurt suffered by the McCabe and O’Sullivan families.
“The release of Kevin Walsh and Pearse McCauley comes at the end of their sentences, despite them being qualifying IRA prisoners under the Good Friday Agreement.”
Jail-breaker McAuley had been on-the-run at the time of the 1996 shooting after escaping from Brixton Prison in London five years earlier while awaiting trial for murder and explosive offences.
He was jailed for 14 years for the detective’s manslaughter in 1996.
Walsh, believed to have fired the fatal shots which killed Det McCabe and a senior IRA figure from Patrickswell, Co Limerick, was also given 14 years.
The gang members had been charged with murder but all pleaded guilty to the lesser charge in 1999 after witnesses refused to give evidence in Dublin’s Special Criminal Court.
Both men was freed from Castlerea prison, Co Roscommon, with time off for remission.
McAuley, from Strabane, is facing extradition back to Britain for trial on the arms and explosives charges. It is not clear if the warrant will be served.
Gerry McCabe
Det Gda McCabe was gunned down in a hail of bullets as the IRA gang held-up an An Post van in the Co Limerick village of Adare, in June 1996. He was shot 15 times from a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
They rammed the unmarked garda patrol car that was escorting a post office van delivering £80,000 to local offices.
His colleague, Det Gda O’Sullivan, was seriously injured in the shooting.
The McCabe family issued a statement in the last fortnight insisting that they did not want to discuss the killers’ release but added that it offered them some closure after the rule of law has been served.
Two other men jailed over the killing – Jeremiah Sheehy who had been sentenced to 12 years’ and Michael O’Neill who served more than eight years – have already been released.
A fifth man, John Quinn, was jailed for six years for conspiracy to commit a robbery of a post office van at Adare.
The gang had attempted to secure early release under the Good Friday Agreement but the Irish Government rejected their bid.

Tony ‘TC’ Catney, cognato di Gerry Kelly ed ex prigioniero dopo aver scontato 16 anni di carcere per omicidio settario, ha respinto le accuse secondo le quali lui sarebbe la mente dietro al Real IRA ad aver organizzato i riots che hanno sconvolto la comunità di Ardoyne dello scorso inizio settimana.
Il repubblicano ha affermato di essere oggetto di una campagna denigratorio orchestrata dal Sinn Fein.
Catney ha dichiarato che non è tempo per una campagna militare perchè ne mancano i presupposti e accusa gli ex provos di aver iniziato una caccia alle streghe.
“Perchè allora dovrei essere coinvolto con il Real IRA? Non ha senso”
“Dato che sono un ex prigioniero condannato a vita, incombe sempre su di me la minaccia di essere ri-arrestato”.
“Vorrei dire al PSNI che se nei termini di legge realmente pensano che io sia coinvolto con il Real IRA, allora che mi arrestino e perseguino”.
Catney ha ammesso la sua presenza nell’area di Ardoyne alle 20 circa di lunedì, ma semplicemente per arristere ai disordini.”
“I poliziotti hanno avuto le telecamere a circuito chiuso puntate su di me per tutta la notte. Mi trovavo in Crumlin Road con alcuni compagni repubblicani.”
“Non riesco a capire su quale base il Sinn Fein possa dire che questo o quel gruppo paramilitare è stato coinvolto. Quello che so per certo è che i disordini non sono stati organizzati e che hanno visto la partecipazione di gente di Ardoyne. Perciò quanto dice Gerry Kelly è sbagliato”.

Chi è Tony ‘TC’ Catney?
Tony Catney venne arrestato all’età di soli 16 anni per l’assassinio di Maurice Knowles sulle rive del Belfast Lough.
Rilasciato nel 1990, entrò nelle file del Sinn Fein diventando “Direttore delle Elezioni”. Dal 1998, quando mostrò le sue perplessità sull’Accordo del Venerdì Santo (Good Friday Agreement), venne lentamente emarginato dal partito da cui rassegnò le dimissioni nel 2006.
Da allora sarebbe partita una caccia alle streghe nei suoi confronti da parte dei membri del principale partito repubblicano, soprattutto dopo l’avvicinamento di Catney al Republican Network for Unity che raggruppa ex provos, ex membri dell’INLA e repubblicani indipendenti”.
Sempre nel 2006 si era sparsa la voce che Catney fosse alla testa di un’organizzazione pesantemente armata che avesse come obiettivo l’uccisione di Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness e Gerry kelly.

Traduci l’articolo…

Killer: I’m no terror boss (Belfast Telegraph)
Catney rubbishes claims that he is the man behind street carnage
A former killer last night denied claims he was the Real IRA mastermind behind the riot mayhem in north Belfast. Tony ‘TC’ Catney — who served a 16-year sentence for a sectarian murder — dismissed claims he leads the Real IRA terror gang in Belfast or that he orchestrated the destruction in Ardoyne on Monday in which a shot was fired at police.
The republican, who is a brother-in-law of Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly, claims he is the victim of a smear campaign by the party.
On Monday the Real IRA opened fire on police during serious rioting in Ardoyne after an Orange Order parade.
Twenty-one police officers were injured and 18 plastic bullets were fired in violence that was reminiscent of the darkest days of the Troubles.
The rioting continued into Tuesday and Wednesday night with petrol bombs and paint hurled at the PSNI.
Further trouble broke out in the lower Newtownards Road area near the Short Strand.
Sinn Fein accused dissidents of organising the rioting and blamed the Real IRA for the gun attack in Ardoyne.
Republican and security sources said they believed Catney was the Real IRA’s Belfast boss.
However, the veteran republican rubbished the claims.
Catney, who was pictured at the protest at Ardoyne on Monday, told Sunday Life that the “time is not right for a military campaign” and accused former Provo pals of waging a witch-hunt against him.
“This is all rubbish. I have my ear to the ground and as far as I am aware the Real IRA doesn’t even exist in Belfast apart from one person,” said Catney.
“The time is not right for a military campaign, the conditions don’t exist.
“Why then would I involve myself with the Real IRA? It is nonsensical.
“Because I was a life sentence prisoner I always have the threat of being returned to jail hanging over me.
“I would say this to the PSNI — if you believe in law and order and you think that I am involved in the Real IRA, then arrest me and prosecute me.”
Catney admits to being in Ardoyne at the height of Monday’s rioting.
But he insists he did nothing more than observe the violence.
“The cops had CCTV cameras pointed at me all night,” he explained.
“I was on the Crumlin Road watching what was going on along with fellow republicans.
“I can’t work out how Sinn
Fein is able to say this group was involved and that group was involved.
“What I do know for sure is that the rioting wasn’t organised but that it did involve people from Ardoyne.
“For Gerry Kelly to say otherwise is wrong.”
In 1974, aged just 16, Catney murdered Protestant Maurice Knowles on the shores of Belfast Lough.
Knowles (17) was duck hunting when he was approached by Catney who shot him when he refused to hand over his shotgun.
After his release from prison in 1990 Catney started work for Sinn Fein. As Director of
Elections he oversaw the party’s huge vote increase from 70,000 votes in 1993 to 163,000 votes in 2003.
But his questioning of Sinn Fein’s support for the Good Friday Agreement led to him being increasingly sidelined.
Despite being the party’s Director of Elections he was barred from involvement in the 2005 Westminster and local council polls.
Catney says that when he resigned the following year the whispering campaign against him started.
“Once I left Sinn Fein I became the victim of a witch-hunt, sniping and Chinese whispers,” he added. “In the autumn of 2006 a senior Sinn Fein member was briefing IRA members that I was the head of a heavily armed military organisation that wanted to kill Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness or Gerry Kelly.
“That was total rubbish then and it’s total rubbish now.
“Because I have been the victim of a whispering campaign before it isn’t surprising to hear this stuff linking me to the Real IRA now.”
Catney believes IRA bosses have it in for him because of his involvement in the Republican Network for Unity (RNU) group, which has a large ex-Provo membership. “The RNU includes former members of the IRA, INLA and independent republicans,” he said.
“It’s about sitting down with each other and working out a common way forward.
“The Good Friday Agreement hasn’t achieved anything, it’s a sectarian document. When people voted for it they were voting for peace, not the contents of a deeply flawed document.
“Sinn Fein see our group as a threat and they see us offering an alternative, that’s why I believe they have singled me out and are trying to depict that I am bathed in blood.”

What is the difference between the backwash of the Ryan report and the conviction of Frank Dunlop? I think here that there’s a rather obvious disconnect between individual responsibility and corporate responsibility. The multiple tribunals on corruption have tended to look for high-profile scalps. Charlie Haughey, of course, is dead, but they did manage to get a damning report out on his finances. Bertie Ahern, sleekit weasel though he is, may yet be done – in fact he’ll have to be, if the astronomical cost of the Mahon tribunal is to be justified.

And so it is with Frank the Canary. Not that Frank can complain about his conviction, but self-evidently he didn’t operate in a vacuum. He bribed politicians to advance the business interests of his clients. His activities can’t be separated from the politicians who willingly accepted his bribes, or from the business clients who profited from those politicians being encouraged by Frank to take the right decisions about planning applications. Furthermore, while the Irish lobbying industry has been straining mightily to insist that Frank is such a singularly bad apple that no conclusions about their industry can be drawn from his transgressions… well, you can believe that if you want.

The Ryan report is something else. Let’s leave aside Biffo Cowen rumbling about prosecutions of the miscreants. That’s not very likely, since all of the institutions investigated have long since been shut down, most of the perpetrators are long since dead and, following previous sex abuse scandals, the Catholic hierarchy has put serious effort into getting an effective vetting procedure in place. So we have the spotlight being turned on the religious orders and whether they’re willing to shoulder responsibility for the sins of their predecessors – which is the point that Archbishop Nichols was discussing. That’s fair enough, but it’s far from being the whole story.

Another point is that much of this is really about catharsis. The 2000 or so victims are a constituency who feel, rightly, that they have been ignored in the past and want to be heard now. Basic human sympathy, and public acknowledgement of their pain and anger, is the most important thing that can be done.

There are other points about Ryan – which is a hefty and complicated document – which shine a light on aspects of Irish society, some of which haven’t really been touched on. It will be argued that the failure of the Irish state to become properly independent, which meant that the historical outsourcing of important social services to the churches was never rolled back, forms a crucial part of the backdrop. (I realise that a lot of the media coverage in Britain and its D4 colony has depended on the frisson of Catholicism. It may be worth asking whether a study of care homes in Britain over the same period would show a difference in the fundamentals, as opposed to the details.) There’s also an aspect of the industrial schools being used as a source of what really amounts to slave labour, and what that says about class structures in Ireland.

While we’re on the class aspect, there was another thing that struck me, which was the broad definition of what constituted abuse. Had Ryan had a narrower focus on serious cases of assault or rape, the report would have been much thinner, but there would certainly have been enough there, and in a focussed way, to make a big impact. The introduction of categories like “emotional abuse” had me scratching my head a little. Perhaps this is a generational thing, as I can remember an educational system where a rap across the knuckles with a ruler, or occasionally a chalk duster thrown at your head, were accepted disciplinary tools, and if you got a clip round the ear at school, you would get another one at home. The revelation that the regime in these institutions decades ago was not in accordance with present-day thinking on the rights of the child is not very startling.

On the other hand, you have to bear in mind that the kids who were sentenced to these institutions were drawn from the poorest of the poor. The religious who administered the institutions were, as a general rule, drawn from more respectable layers of society. There is something to be said for a rounded description of the routine brutality in the institutions, not least for what it says about the extreme class hatred that existed – and still does – in Irish society.

Well, there is a lot of backwash still to come from this. And, if experience is any guide, it won’t be long before the substance of the story is drowned out by the sound of grinding axes.

Anyway, on the same general theme, this provides me with an opportunity to look at a contribution on the issue from someone who’s relatively new to blogging, but whose presence does lend a bit of tone to the Irish blogosphere. Yes, it’s Gerry Adams.

I have to say, I’m finding the Grizzly blog compulsive reading these days, as much for linguistic as political reasons. Gerry can do the folksy thing when he’s down with his constituents addressing local politics, but when he puts on his high politics hat, he sounds like nobody on earth. Or at least nobody in West Belfast. More precisely, he sounds like a Trotskyist sociology lecturer circa 1978, overlaid with a heavy veneer of Humespeak. And I’ve noticed that he has a liking for the impersonal locution “this blog believes…” when he’s dealing with serious issues, as opposed to the “me and my muckers” style he uses for local stuff, or quoting Meat Loaf lyrics.

Anyway, Gerry has been dealing with the Ryan report. And, by and large, he writes well on the subject and I agree with most of what he says. But what struck me was a little bit in the middle where he gets all theological. You see, Gerry agrees with Mr Tony Blair that the Catholic Church needs to be reformed:

This blog has long held the view that the institutionalised Catholic church is undemocratic in many ways. For example women are denied the right to become priests. Church lay members have no say in who their pastors are. Bishops and cardinals are elevated to positions of power and authority for life. Compulsory celibacy is a nonsense and the theology on which it, and other teachings, are based is entirely flawed.

Yes, well, we will skip over the incongruity of the leader of Sinn Féin complaining about the top-down style of the Catholic bishops. But this isn’t totally new. Gerry, when not hugging trees, has publicly bigged up the Protestant churches in the past, having particularly kind words for the democratic regime in the Irish Presbyterian Church. (Your actual Presbyterians are wont to say that it’s a self-serving oligarchy, but at least they have the appearance of a democratic say.) And the other stuff he’s saying, about ending celibacy and ordaining women, looks very much like a programme of radical reform to me. I certainly can’t see Pope Benny going for it.

This poses an interesting question, because Gerry is, as we know, a regular Mass-goer and certainly is at ease with what we might term cultural Catholicism. And, bearing in mind where his support comes from, you can understand why he doesn’t just up sticks and join a Protestant church. But there is a certain fascination in his occasional revelations of Prod tendencies. After all, as I remarked about Mr Tony, I couldn’t figure out why the arch-moderniser had chosen to belong to a reactionary church. As for Gerry? Next thing you know, he’ll be parading on the Twelfth.

Wait till I tell you, the Easter commemorations were pretty desperate this year. But weren’t there an awful lot of them? Actually, there seem to be commemorations going on all the time. And this is something that strikes me, that the more the Provisionals turn into a constitutional party, the keener they are to celebrate the republican past. It’s easy to be cynical on this point, but I don’t think it can be explained purely by cynicism. I think there are other things going on here in terms of republican identity.

This was something that occurred to me apropos of the tributes to the late Marie Moore. I don’t want to seem disrespectful to the memory of Marie, one of the grand old women of Belfast republicanism and someone who was very well liked. But I was a little taken aback by the Andytown News running a double-page spread explaining to the broad masses what they owed to Marie Moore. If you took the paper at face value, if it wasn’t for Marie we would all be sitting in a hovel in Short Strand with no trousers or shoes. And this is something that, for instance, Jim Gibney has developed into a fine art over recent years, simultaneously backslapping the republican base and impressing on the base the need for gratitude to the leadership.

Departing from this for a second but sticking with the Andytown News, the other noteworthy thing has been the ongoing propaganda campaign against dissident republicans. This has actually got to the point of being scurrilous bordering on the downright hysterical – if you believe the Andytown News, every single dissident, not only members of the armed groups but even extending to éirígí activists, is a criminal of some description – glue sniffers, burglars, paedophiles, you name it. In fact it is quite possible, even likely, that there are criminal elements among the dissident ranks, although they are probably small fry compared to the Provo and Stickie entrepreneurs. But Máirtín Ó Muilleoir is not a man to be too fastidious about his propaganda.

None too fastidious, either, is Bobby Storey, who’s recently been holding forth on this point. Some folks will fall over laughing at the idea of Bobby of all people taking a high moral tone against the men of violence. But that is to miss the point. When Bobby Storey goes around saying “I know where these guys live,” there’s really only one way to take it. The question is whether the threat carries any credibility without the military wing to back it up, and with no prospect of the Provisional IRA being resurrected for the purpose of wiping out the dissidents. (The Brits might be tempted to stave off the emergence of a local Hamas by bringing a local Fatah into play, but I can’t see the DUP standing for it. During the peace process, they went buck mad whenever the Provos did in a dissident.)

But anyway, back to the criminality thing. Once we get past the black propaganda, this often morphs into the Gibneyesque line that, while the Provisional leadership have put in decades of sacrifice for the cause, the dissidents are nothing but young thugs. The fact that some of the people most strident on this issue were young thugs themselves once kind of gives the game away. Because, of course, the dissidents in themselves are not all that different from the Provos of years past. It’s the Provos who have changed – the context obviously has changed massively, but rock-bottom republican theology has never required, for instance, mass popular support, and would regard power-sharing at Stormont as an irrelevance at best.

This poses a bit of a problem for supporters of the GFA process. A few weeks back I saw a letter in the Irish News from Danny Morrison lambasting the dissidents and all their works. At least, that’s what it looked like at first glance; at second glance, I was left wondering whether Danny was completely out of touch or whether he just liked nursing his grudges. The reason for this is that Danny spent most of his time getting stuck into the Irish Republican Writers Group, a body that’s been defunct for a decade or more. Frankly, for Danny to be harping on what Tommy McKearney and Tony McIntyre were saying twelve years ago is a bit odd, at a time when Fourthwrite has at least one foot in the Big Tent, and the Blanket has folded. But this also points up a little conundrum, in that the peace process got by for a long time by simply co-opting the opposition. If you were a republican or loyalist critic of the process and you were able to string a sentence together, there was a good chance you’d be put on the payroll. In the end, virtually the only republicans left outside the Big Tent were RSF, who really are died-in-the-wool ideologues, and who, having correctly surmised that there would always be a market for traditional republicanism, were mostly content to keep their elderly cadre together until a new generation of disaffected youth came along. But that was then and this is now. The spotty youths causing most of the trouble at the moment are outwith the peace industry, are likely to laugh in your face if you tell them Martin McGuinness is a great republican, and nobody seems to have a clear idea what to do about them.

It’s true, of course, that the dissidents don’t have much popular support. When a raft of dissident candidates stood in the last Stormont election, between them they got something under 10,000 votes – not entirely insignificant, but not much in the grand scheme of things. There are, mark you, some caveats that need to be entered. The vote for anti-Agreement republican candidates doesn’t necessarily equate to support for a renewed armed campaign. On the other hand, those candidates were a motley bunch hampered by poor organisation and a lack of a coherent alternative. The majority of them were from Republican Sinn Féin, who are not universally popular even with other hardline republicans; most of the others were in or around the IRSP; and there was Gerry McGeough, the nearest thing to a green fascist we’ve seen in sixty years. It did show that there might be some limited potential for a well-organised political alternative with a knack for populism and a track record of grassroots activity, but the likelihood of a follow-up along those lines isn’t great.

The other thing said about the dissidents is that, as well as having no support, they have no strategy. It’s tempting to believe that if you’ve ever been to one of the periodic meetings that happen in places like Derry to discuss alternatives to the peace process. The usual format is that a bunch of people will talk about the need for an alternative, although they may not have any idea what that should be, and then someone from the Real Republicans will get up and insist on their inalienable right to take potshots at the Brits, regardless of whether taking potshots at the Brits is a good idea. But there is a hazy strategic conception at work. Partly it’s the strategy of tension, which I don’t think the Brits are going to fall for any time soon, but on a more prosaic – and effective – level, it consists of asking the question, “Which side are you on?”

Here’s the thing. It’s often said in dissident circles that the Provisionals have given up on the goal of the 32-county socialist republic. But, while you can make some rhetorical hay around them sitting in the Stormont executive, it’s not true to say they’ve ditched the goal. It’s on the first page of their programme, after all. You can talk about people being corrupted, or institutionalised by a process they thought was going in another direction, or simply worn down by war-weariness, but you’re still, in the main, talking about people who want to be republicans on some level. That’s why the parades, and the tributes to past heroes; that’s why Martin McGuinness was talking just there about winning the republic by 2014.

What anti-Agreement republican activity does, whether it’s low-level disruption by the armed groups, or whether it’s éirígí’s brand of agitprop politics (parenthetically, while I have my doubts about éirígí, the ferocity of the attacks on an unarmed political group suggest that they’re annoying the right people) is to ask the question “Which side are you on?” Do you, in essence, support the state against republicans, no matter how deluded you think those republicans may be? Imagine this being asked to a panel at a debate. It wouldn’t be a difficult question for an RSF member, who would simply answer No. It wouldn’t be a difficult question for a member of the SDLP, which has been collaborating with the state for decades, and who would simply answer Yes. The leftist on our imaginary panel would huff and puff and say that this was the wrong question, and we should really be talking about water rates. But for a PSF politician? Totally committed to the peace process, yet subjectively unwilling to openly pledge loyalty to a partitionist settlement, or even to recognise that that’s what the settlement is. For that reason, it’s still problematic to support the state against republicans – that’s why they don’t say they’re defending the state, they say they’re defending the Good Friday Agreement.

Ah, the vagaries of being slightly constitutional. You can ride two horses for a while, but it doesn’t really add up to a long-term perspective. Eventually the dissonance has to be worked out one way or another.

More thoughts on this point from WorldbyStorm.

Tidak sulit, tapi juga tidak mudah, Perlu bekerja keras dan waktu.

Gunakan Taktik “mempertajam senjata lawan untuk menyerang lawan“

Vi riporto la lettera aperta di un “repubblicano” pubblicata da Belfast Media, converrete con me che non e’ necessario aggiungere altro.

“Scrivo questa lettera non come membro di un gruppo politico o militare, ma come un impenitente repubblicano irlandese.
Gli eventi degli ultimi giorni hanno scosso tutti noi, chi in un modo, chi nell’altro, ma penso che ci abbia anche portato al punto in cui alcune importanti questioni devono essere risolte.
Non posso inserire tutte le domande in questa lettera, ma a mio parere la nostra gente è saggia e ha il coraggio di esprimere le proprie opinioni. Qui ci sono le mie.
Proprio come nel 1916 e in tutti gli altri decenni fino ad oggi, i soldati britannici sono ancora sul suolo irlandese e non siamo ancora eguali cittadini nella nostra isola.
Ci venne detto che, ai sensi del GFA (Good Friday Agreement, n.d.r.) le cose sarebbero cambiate, ma cosa e’ cambiato? Ci sono ancora un gran numero di soldati britannici e  l’ultima volta che ho guardato Stormont, c’erano ancora due bandiere unioniste sul tetto. Ci era stato detto che avremmo avuto il controllo del nostro destino. Le dichiarazioni del Sinn Féin vengono ancora scritte dai britannici.
Negli anni ‘70 i britannici hanno cercato di introdurre l’Ulsterizzazione e la normalizzazione politica. marchiandoci come teppisti e criminali, senza sostegno, e la nostra risposta e’ arrivata attraverso il carcere e le proteste in strada, attraverso lo sciopero della fame e la perdita di molte persone coraggiose. Quindi, cosa c’è oggi di diverso?
L’unica differenza che vedo è che gli ex repubblicani  ora fanno lo sporco lavoro dei britannici. Non abbiamo imparato le lezioni dal passato? Non etichetteranno mai la nostra lotta di liberazione, come criminale. Queste non sono le mie parole, ma quelle di Bobby Sands.
I leaders del Sinn Féin ci hanno raccontato che ci sono state due comunità in guerra.
La guerra, per quanto mi riguarda, è stata contro l’occupazione britannica e non settaria come ora si tenta di dipingerla. Dobbiamo guardare indietro per guardare avanti.
Dobbiamo imparare dai nostri errori del passato, non dobbiamo permettere loro di usarci per fare il loro sporco lavoro.
Potrete anche non essere d’accordo con la lotta armata, ma potete condannare o appellare come criminali e traditori coloro che scelgono questa strada?

Chi ha detto che i Provos hanno il diritto di esclusiva sulla lotta armata? Ricordate ciò che dichiaro’ Padraig Pearse: “gli stupidi, gli stupidi, hanno abbandonato i nostri feniani morti, e mentre l’Irlanda ne detiene le tombe, l’Irlanda occupata non sara’ mai in pace”.
Così, mentre ci avviciniamo alla Pasqua, non sentite di stare ancora seguendo le orme della nostra caduta?
Ricordate, anche loro sono stati chiamati criminali e traditori da alcune persone; ci sono stati, e sempre ci sara’, irlandesi coraggiosi che hanno lottato contro l’ingiustizia e hanno dato la vita per noi.
Ricordiamo con orgoglio i loro nomi.
Infine, per la leadership del Sinn Féin – quando i britannici premieranno la vostra fedeltà alla corona concedendovi il potere di polizia, vi sentirete dei traditori? E chi sono i traditori? Io, forse, per aver osato parlare?

(lettera cosi’ firmata) Repubblicano

Segue testo in versione originale.

Will Sinn Féin move to put the ‘traitors’ behind bars? (Belfast Media)
I write this letter not as a member of any political or military grouping but as an unrepentant Irish republican.
The events of recent days have shaken and moved us all in one way or another but I think it has also brought us to the point where some important questions need to be answered.
I may not put all the questions in this letter but I do think our people are wise and courageous enough to put their own points. Here are mine.
Just as in 1916 and every other decade until this one, British soldiers are still on Irish soil and we are still not equal citizens on our own island.
We are told that under the GFA things would change, but what? There are still large numbers of British soldiers here and the last time I looked Stormont still has two union flags on the roof. We were told that we would now control our own destiny. The Brits are even writing the statements for Sinn Féin.
In the 70s the Brits tried to introduce the Ulsterisation and Normalisation policy branding us as thugs and criminals with no support, our reply through prison and street protest, through hunger strike and the loss of many brave people, exposed this lie. So what is different today?
The only difference that I can see is that former republicans are now doing the Brits’ dirty work. Have we not learned any lessons from the past? Never will they label our liberation struggle as criminal. These are not my words, but those of Bobby Sands.
Sinn Féin leaders have been telling people lately that we were two communities at war.
The war, as far as I was concerned, was against British occupation and not sectarian as they now try to portray it. We must look back to look forward.
We must learn from our past mistakes, we must never let them use us to do their dirty work.
If you don’t agree with armed struggle you should say so, but can you condemn or even call those who choose that path criminals or traitors?
Who said that the Provos held the franchise on armed struggle? Remember what Padraig Pearse said: “The fools, the fools, they have left our Fenian dead and while Ireland holds these graves Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.”
So as we approach Easter do you feel you are still following in the footsteps of our fallen?
Remember, they too were called criminals and traitors by some people; to us they were, and always will be, brave Irish people who fought against injustice and gave their lives for us.
Let us remember with pride their names.
Finally to the Sinn Féin leadership – when the Brits reward your loyalty to the crown by giving you policing will you be interning traitors? And who are now the traitors? Me, maybe, for daring to speak up?
Republican

In our current economic climate it has taken a fairly massive development to knock the woes of the global downturn away from the headlines. Unfortunately, it happens to be this latest miserable twist in the on going saga of the North. It is very difficult at this stage after all the progress that has been made over the last few years to make any reasonable argument for the latest actions taken by the alleged ‘Provo’s’. My heart goes out to the families of those soldiers and that policeman. For a dissident group to try and justify it with some dated rhetoric must be like an added kick when your down. It cannot be stated how far we have come since those days when the bad news from the North was constant. I’m a Catholic from the South and gave me great hope to hear the political group attached to the UDA announce that the likelyhood of reprisals from Unionists is very slim. To hear both Sinn Féin leaders condemn the actions of their former comrades as unnacceptable and evil was also a huge sign as to how far we have come. The ironic thing is that the dissidents that carried out the latest atrocities probably have no concept as to how much the mindset of regular people has changed from violent action to passive political opposition. In reality the world now works on the basis of economics and not some great ideology (which may in itself be a problem), so for both parts of the Ireland to join, probably the best thing for them to do is to support the economic and developmental ties with the South with the long term aim of a very close co-existence. This has already begun, and so guerilla type action is not going to achieve their goals instead it will galvanise support against their cause. Maybe they lack intelligent, educated and experienced leaders and thats why they have decided upon this new campaign. Little do they know the damage they are doing to their own cause. Again deepest sympathies to those effected by recent events. I sincerely hope we will not see the likes of this again.

In occasione della commemorazione repubblicana in  onore del veterano Sean Keenan, sono state sollevate accuse contro lo Sinn Fein che starebbe “preparando il terreno per una serie di coercizioni dirette a coloro che rifiutano di accettare e collaborare con l’occupazione britannica”.
“I Provos stanno invitando le persone a diventare informatori passando informazioni al RUC / PSNI. Essi cercano di fingere che sia in qualche modo diverso dal passato. Informare resta quello che è sempre stato, un tradiment, un vergognoso tradimento della nazione irlandese”.
“Il nostro messaggio al Provisionals e ai loro padroni a Westminster, Stormont o Leinster House, è il seguente: come Sean Keenan non potremo mai accettare dominio britannico in Irlanda e l’unico impegno a cui manterremo fede nei confronti del dominio britannico in Irlanda, è la nostra eterna ostilità ad esso”.

‘Touts betray the Irish nation’ (Derry Journal)
A republican commemoration in Derry has heard that people passing information to the PSNI are traitors.
At the annual commemoration of veteran Derry republican, Sean Keenan, Kildare-based Republican Sinn Féin Vice President Des Dalton accused mainstream Sinn Fein leaders of “drip feeding innuendo and lies in an attempt to criminalise Irish republicans”.
“The Provos are preparing the ground for a wave of coercion directed at those who refuse to collaborate with or accept British occupation,” he said.
“The Provos are calling on people to become informers by passing information to the British colonial police of the RUC/PSNI. They try to pretend to do so now is somehow different from the past. Informing or touting remains what it has always been, treachery and a shameful betrayal of the Irish nation.
“Our message to the Provisionals and their masters in Westminster, Stormont or Leinster House, is: just like Sean Keenan we will never accept British rule in Ireland and the only pledge we make to British rule in Ireland is our eternal hostility to it.”
Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Leadership of the Republican Movement by RSF Director of Publicity, Richard Walsh from Derry, and on behalf of Comhairle Uladh (Ulster RSF Executive) by An Rúnaí (Secretary) Nuala Moore. Seán Keenan’s daughter, Róisín Barton, also laid a wreath on behalf of the Keenan family.
A decade of the Rosary was then recited as Gaeilge by Seánín Brady from Dungiven. Derry-based RSF PRO Richard Walsh read the 1916 Proclamation.

Il DUP e l’unionista Jim Allister sono insorti contro la decisione dello stanziamento di finanziamenti, a favore di ex- prigionieri appartenenti ai gruppi paramilitari.
Sulla base infatti del “Programma Europeo per la Pace e la Riconciliazione” (denominato anche “Programma Peace” n.d.r.), verranno stanziati circa 55 milioni di euro a sostegno delle vittime e alcuni milioni (circa 1/5 di quello a tutela delle vittime n.d.r.) a sostegno di ex-detenuti.
Simon Hamilton, membro del DUP, ha dichiarato: “.. è scandaloso che diversi milioni andranno agli ex detenuti”.”Questo denaro sarebbe stato meglio impiegato per lo sviluppo economico e altri progetti”.”Per troppo tempo le vittime sono state ignorate, mentre gli autori sono stati sostenuti da Europa”.
Jim Allister ha così commentato: “Questa è una decisione mostruosa”, aggiungendo che la maggior parte del denaro stava andando a “gruppi che rappresentano terroristi dell’IRA”.
Il deputato del DUP ha sollevato un’ulteriore questione: “”Qual è il ruolo del DUP al governo, se non è disposto a esercitare un diritto di veto sui finanziamenti ai Provos?”

Interventi strutturali in favore della pace e della riconciliazione
Dalla fine degli anni ‘80, l’Irlanda del Nord beneficia d’aiuti finanziari speciali in favore della pace e della riconciliazione. Questa è la più concreta espressione della solidarietà europea verso il processo di pace messo in moto dall’Accordo di Belfast nel 1998.
Nel 1989, la Comunità europea è diventata uno dei maggiori contributori del Fondo internazionale per l’Irlanda (IFI), un’organizzazione internazionale costituita attraverso un trattato stipulato dal governo del Regno Unito e da quello dell’Irlanda “per promuovere lo sviluppo economico e sociale e incoraggiare il contatto, il dialogo e la riconciliazione tra nazionalisti e unionisti irlandesi”. La Comunità europea contribuisce all’IFI con EUR 15 milioni l’anno.
Inoltre, nel 1995, la Comunità europea ha creato uno speciale Programma per la pace e la riconciliazione (più conosciuto sotto il nome di “Programma PEACE”) che opera nell’Irlanda del Nord e nelle regioni di frontiera irlandesi. Questo Programma di Fondi strutturali, unico ed estremamente innovativo, punta a “promuovere il processo verso una società pacifica e stabile e a promuovere la riconciliazione nella regione”.
Il Programma PEACE II (2000-2004), dotato di un budget di EUR 708 milioni – di cui il 75% proveniente da finanziamenti europei – va a beneficio di coloro che sono stati particolarmente colpiti dal conflitto e incoraggia progetti tra la comunità protestante e quella cattolica. Il Programma si estrinseca attraverso meccanismi di solidarietà, di collaborazione (Irlanda del Nord/Sud) e di partecipazione “ascendente”: ad esempio, la maggior parte dei fondi è gestita da strutture associative locali e da organizzazioni non governative. Come non mai, queste strutture hanno consentito a tutti i gruppi della comunità di mettersi assieme e di operare il più possibile a contatto con i problemi concreti. Questo modo di operare è riuscito ad aprire la strada alla riconciliazione tra i soggetti locali e a rendere accessibili i fondi UE a gruppi che altrimenti non ne avrebbero beneficiato.

(testo tratto da ‘Commissione Europea – Politica Regionale‘, dove potrete trovare una serie di links a programmi e rapporti esplicativi.)

DUP and Allister criticise funding for ex-prisoners
Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister and the DUP have both hit out at European funding for former paramilitary prisoner groups while welcoming the announcement of cash for victims.
DUP MLA Simon Hamilton said: “The announcement regarding the third stage of the European Programme for Peace and Reconciliation raises serious questions for the Special EU Prog-rammes Body responsible for administering the funding.
“While it is welcome that e55 million is going to victims it is outrageous that several million will be going to former prisoners.
“This money would have been much better served going to economic development and other projects.
“The fact that the victims sector budget at this stage is more than five times greater than that allocated to ex-prisoners is a positive situation but far from ideal.
“For too long the victims have been ignored whilst the perpetrators have been supported by Europe.”
Mr Allister said: “This is a monstrous decision.”
He said that most of the money was going to “groups representing IRA terrorists”.
The MEP attacked the DUP over the funding: “What is the point of the DUP being in government if it is not prepared to exercise a veto over Provo funding?”

“Il consiglio dell’IRA è sparito” DUP

I repubblicani hanno dato le assicurazioni riservate al Primo Ministro del DUP Peter Robinson che il consiglio dell’esercito dell’IRA è permanentemente sparito.

Il membro del Parlamento Europeo Traditional Unionist Jim Allister ha accusato il suo precedente partito di aver abbandonato l’impegno preso che la giustizia non sarebbero devolute mentre esista.

Il sig. Robinson ha detto alla BBC che ha voluto che i repubblicani ripetersi in pubblico che cosa gli avevano già detto in riservato.

La DUP e il Sinn Féin hanno raggiunto un accordol martedì per rompere il punto morto di Stormont.

continua

Yet again, here

Writing in the Guardian Peter Hain draws a false analogy between present conflicts in the Middle East and the one in Northern Ireland. He says,

When the IRA’s bloody armed campaign was raging more than 30 years ago, nobody in the British government could stomach talking with republican leaders except in surrender terms, since they were regarded as beyond the pale. Yet, in the middle of all this bloodshed and mayhem, contact was initiated which much later came to fruition.

He doesn’t mention that the reason that attempts to negotiate with the Provos in the 1970s got nowhere was that all they were interested in talking about was setting a date for British withdrawal and they were confident that the if the Brits couldn’t be persuaded to graciously cede at the negotiating table they could be forced to leave Northern Ireland anyway because the British public wouldn’t be able to stomach the cost in blood and money of maintaining the union. They were dead wrong about this. Negotiations between the Brits and the Provos only got serious when the latter realised that they had reached the end of the road militarily and that if the war continued the Brits held all the aces.

He also says,

However, despite the intensity of bitterness and hatred between Hamas and Israel, neither can militarily defeat the other – they will each have to be a party to a negotiated solution that satisfies Palestinian aspirations for a viable state and Israel’s need for security.

This analysis leaves out the rather important fact Hamas isn’t fighting for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, it’s fighting to replace Israel with such a state. So, for the comparison with the Provos to be valid they would have had to have been seeking to conquer the entire UK and make London the capital of Ireland.

Furthermore, Hamas isn’t fighting alone, it’s fighting with the explicit and acknowledged aid of a regional power, Iran, whose leaders never tire of repeating that they want to see Israel destroyed.

Negotiations on susbstantive issues with Hamas will be a waste of time as long as they continue to believe that they have viable military options.

The Bradley-Eames group has concluded that the defeat of the Provos was achieved by methods that did not always remain within the law, even the specially slackened law of Northern Ireland. No surprise there. What is worthy of note is that elements of the British state have cooperated with the enquiry while the Provos haven’t.

Their work is being frustrated by the refusal so far of the IRA to deal with Eames-Bradley, notwithstanding that the British intelligence service and members of the Stevens teams, examining allegations of British state collusion with loyalist paramilitaries, have spoken to the group.

Had the Provos won there would have been no enquiries, no dealing with the legacy of the past and no question of anyone having to own up for past sins. Anybody who didn’t like that would have ended their life with a bag over their head by the side of the road in south Armagh