| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1566.1 | What party? | NETRIX::"Bill Burke @MRO.com" | Bill Burke | Tue Apr 09 1996 10:50 | 7 |
| Re: "But Sinn Fein.......will not get a seat until the IRA ends violence."
What party represents the pro-British Protestant demonstrators?
Should it not get a seat, as with Sinn Fein, until the pro-British Protestant
demonstrators ends violence?
[Posted by WWW Notes gateway]
|
| 1566.2 | | MOVIES::POTTER | http://www.vmse.edo.dec.com/~potter/ | Tue Apr 09 1996 10:04 | 11 |
| >What party represents the pro-British Protestant demonstrators?
I believe that the Ulster Democratic Party is the political wing of one of
the "loyalist" terror groups. However, as the "loyalist" terror groups are
remaining cease-fired, I expect it might well be invited to the table.
If the IRA were to announce a cease fire and a few yobs on the street rioted,
I would expect that Sinn Feinn would still be allowed to participate in the
peace process.
//alan
|
| 1566.3 | 18-April-1996 | BIS1::MENZIES | Resume the Ceasefire!!! | Thu Apr 18 1996 04:21 | 66 |
| AP 17-Apr-1996 21:59 EDT REF5615
Copyright 1996. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
LONDON (AP) -- An explosion rocked an expensive residential district of
west London Wednesday night, following a warning call attributed to the
Irish Republican Army, police and fire officials said.
The blast tore through an uninhabited house undergoing renovation on
The Boltons, a street of elegant Victorian terraces. There were no
injuries and "minimal damage" to property, said police spokeman Steve
Park.
An anonymous telephone call received by The Associated Press, and using
a recognized code word, warned a bomb was planted. The blast went off
12 minutes later.
"The officers had just started to search the area when at 2154 (9:54
p.m. local time, 4:54 p.m. EDT), the explosion took place," Park said.
"Luckily there were no injuries, as police officers were already
searching the area. There were no evacuations."
He said the explosion "was probably the work of the IRA."
The IRA ended its 17-month cease-fire on Feb. 9, citing what it said
was British intransigence in attempts to bring peace to the
British-ruled province.
There have been four bomb explosions -- in which three people died and
dozens were injured -- and one discovery of bombs since then.
All the attacks have been in London, apparently because the IRA does
not want to provoke pro-British Protestant militias in Northern Ireland
into retaliating, which would could lead to wholesale bloodshed.
It was not clear why the IRA would have chosen a privately owned house
on a residential side street as a target; previous bombs have seem
aimed toward causing maximum economic damage or maximum inconvenience.
"This is not a legitimate target," said one indignant man climbing into
his Jaguar. He said the windows in his house, adjacent to the one where
the explosion took place, had been shattered.
Formally dressed residents, walking home from dinner parties in the
mild, jasmine-scented evening, were unable to get past police cordons
to their houses in an area that is home to millionaires and diplomats.
Winnie Gordon-Strauss, who lives in a house adjacent to the blast, was
stepping out with her dog, when the blast blew apart a lamp in her
vestibule. "I've still got glass in my hair," she said.
The first IRA bomb after the cease-fire was broken was a truck bomb in
east London's Docklands business district. It killed two newspaper
vendors, wounding scores and wrecking several office buildings.
Six days later, police experts defused a small bomb contained in gym
bag left in phone booth in the West End theater district.
Phoned warnings were given for both of those bombs.
On Feb. 18, IRA man Edward O'Brien, 21, blew himself up and wounded
nine civilians when the briefcase bomb he was carrying detonated
accidentally on a double-decker bus in the West End.
A small IRA bomb left behind rubbish bins in west London on March 9
shattered windows but caused no serious injuries
|
| 1566.4 | | CHEFS::COOPERT1 | Rorkes Drift on the Pool Table | Tue Apr 30 1996 06:51 | 86 |
| Sinn Fein and IRA under pressure to renew truce
Copyright 1996 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.
By Andrew Hill
ADARE, Ireland, April 30 (Reuter) - IRA guerrillas were under renewed
pressure from the Irish government on Tuesday to renew the truce that
would allow their political wing, Sinn Fein, a seat at all-party
Northern Ireland peace talks in June.
Irish foreign minister Dick Spring suggested on Monday that the issue
of disarming the IRA, a major obstacle in the Northern Ireland peace
process, be sifted out of the all-party talks and dealt with by "an
independent outside aegis."
He said that getting the IRA to hand over its weapons, including stocks
of the Czech-made semtex plastic explosive, was so crucial that "this
approach should be explored with all the relevant parties as of now"
But Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble, a leading spokesman
for the Protestant majority in British-ruled Northern Ireland, dismissed
Spring's proposal, telling BBC Radio: "I don't see any merit in it at
all ... I think it is very foolish of Mr Spring to raise the hare at
this issue."
Spring's comments to an Anglo-Irish parliamentary meeting in southern
Ireland were the latest plea by Dublin to get the Irish Republican Army
to restore a 17-month ceasefire and ensure Sinn Fein's voice is heard
at the talks.
They followed similar appeals by U.S. President Bill Clinton and
British prime minister John Major not to miss out on what the three
governments say is the best chance of a peace agreement in more than
two decades.
Spring said the talks offered the first real opportunity for all sides
to sit and work out a new start between Irish nationalists such as Sinn
Fein, which wants an end to British rule, and Protestant Unionists who
want to maintain it.
"It would be tragic, for that reason, and for political confidence
generally, if the credibility of the negotiating process were to be
in any way undermined," he said.
Government sources said Dublin was also seeking to get ex-senator
George Mitchell, who is seen by Irish nationalists as an honest broker,
appointed as a chairman of the talks.
Spring said the proposal was only at a very early stage but it was said
by aides to be an attempt to persuade the IRA and Sinn Fein that its
interests would not be steamrollered by Unionists at the negotiating
table.
If there were inclusive talks, "no-one need rise from the table having
to look over their shoulders at those certain to reject the outcome
because they were not there," he said.
The IRA began bombing London in February to undermine a peace process
it says is being masterminded by Unionists to force an IRA surrender
and banish talk of Irish unification.
Spring addressed Sinn Fein and IRA leaders in a speech because both
Dublin and London are refusing ministerial level contact with Sinn Fein
until the truce is restored.
Former British Northern Ireland secretary Michael Mates, attending the
Adare conference, declined to comment to reporters after admitting at
the weekend that he had held secret but inconclusive talks with Sinn
Fein.
The IRA leaders in a series of brief statements have accused London
of bad faith and blocking tactics after its first extended ceasefire
failed to win a firm date for the all-party peace talks.
Spring said that now a date for the negotiations had been agreed, there
was no reason for the IRA to pursue its campaign of bombing British
targets to signal its frustration.
REUTER
|
| 1566.5 | The News | BIS1::MENZIES | Resume the Ceasefire!!! | Fri May 10 1996 06:45 | 47 |
| Britain transfers ailing IRA prisoner to Ireland
Copyright 1996 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.
LONDON, May 9 (Reuter) - Britain announced on Thursday that an IRA
prisoner said to be dying of cancer would be transferred to a jail in
his native Ireland after a long campaign by the Dublin government and
the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein.
Britain's Home Office (interior ministry) said in a statement that
43-year-old Pat Kelly, who was jailed for 25 years for conspiracy,
would be allowed to serve out his term in Port Laoise prison, outside
Dublin.
Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to
which Kelly belonged, says Kelly is dying of skin cancer and should be
allowed to serve out his sentence in his native Ireland to be close to
relatives. His transfer was welcomed by Sinn Fein and the Irish
government in the run-up to all-party Northern Ireland peace talks on
June 10. Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams made clear the campaign to win
transfers for other republican prisoners in British jails would be
stepped up.
Adams said: "There are a number of other Irish political prisoners held
in British prisons who have been consistently denied transfer to
Ireland to be close to their families."
Irish Prime Minister John Bruton declared: "This is a very welcome
decision and one which I and other members of the government here have
been seeking for some time.
"It will also help create the sort of atmosphere that can bring success
from the all-party talks."
Sinn Fein will be excluded from the negotiations until the IRA renews a
ceasefire it broke in February with a wave of London bombs aimed at
what it called British prevarication over the Northern Ireland peace
process.
Kelly was jailed in London in 1992 for conspiracy to cause explosions
as an IRA guerrilla fighting to end British rule of Northern Ireland.
There are hundreds of IRA prisoners in British and Northern Ireland
jails. Britain refuses Sinn Fein demands to treat them as political
prisoners and release them in a goodwill gesture to underpin the peace
process.
|
| 1566.7 | | ESSC::KMANNERINGS | | Fri May 10 1996 18:37 | 24 |
| Adams was in favour of Clegg being released, indeed in favour of the
release of all 'political prisoners' of whatever colour.
Given that the peace is so fragile it is the height of stupidity that
the tory government did not proceed with the most elementary humane
measures with some prisoners.
The sentiments of revenge expressed in .6 are not very pleasant, and
the implied intransigence is water on the mills of those who want to
see the war begin again.
From the republican point of view the British Army have supported the
torture and murder of civilians. The Barmy certainly has a terrible
record in NI.
Why cannot all prisoners who report weekly on parole and who sign a
renouncement of involvement in violence have their sentences suspended
as long as they abide by the parole conditions?
The dreadful apparatus of violence which is the prison system in the
UKOGBANI and Eire has made a major contribution to the troubles. It
should be broken up and the jails burnt to the ground, all of them.
Kevin
|
| 1566.8 | | CBHVAX::CBH | Mr. Creosote | Sat May 11 1996 04:05 | 4 |
| I've reviewed my note (.6) and removed it, sorry if it offended anyone; it was
created while I was in a bad mood about other things!
Chris.
|
| 1566.9 | THE NEWS | BIS1::MENZIES | Resume the Ceasefire!!! | Mon May 13 1996 10:11 | 66 |
| AP 12-May-1996 20:28 EDT REF5263
Copyright 1996. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Diplomats Probed IRA Reports
LONDON (AP) -- The British diplomats threatened with expulsion from
Russia were investigating reports the IRA tried to obtain radioactive
material from organized crime groups, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The Russian government official who told Britain's MI6
counterintelligence agency about the IRA activities has been arrested,
The Mail on Sunday quoted an unidentified colonel in the Russian
intelligence agency FSB as saying.
Russia's Federal Security Bureau announced last week it had arrested
and charged a government employee who confessed to passing secret
information to British agents.
Russia threatened to expel nine British diplomats, but appeared to back
off after Britain said it would retaliate. The Russian news agency
ITAR-Tass on Sunday quoted an FSB official as saying "this subject has
been closed," suggesting that Britain and Russia had settled
differences on the spy scandal.
The Mail on Sunday quoted the Russian intelligence colonel as saying
the arrested Russian official "confirmed that the IRA had been supplied
with arms and been offered stolen radioactive material."
According to the colonel, three or four IRA members went to Russia
early this year -- before the Irish Republican Army ended its
cease-fire -- and met members of the Russian mafia who offered to
supply them with arms.
The IRA team discovered during the discussions that they could also
obtain radioactive material taken from nuclear plants in St.
Petersburg and Siberia that were under the control of Russian organized
crime, the paper quoted the colonel as saying.
"The IRA team paid a huge deposit for the arms and the nuclear material
with the arrangement that the mafia took the responsibility of getting
it out of Russia," The Mail on Sunday quoted the colonel as saying.
"We don't know where the radioactive material is. We are not sure if
the mafia still has it or if it has been smuggled out."
The bureau -- the main successor to the Soviet KGB -- refused to
comment on the newspaper report.
The Mail on Sunday quoted the Russian colonel as saying British
intelligence agents offered large amounts of money to Kremlin officials
to try to find out whether the IRA was involved with the Russian mafia
because they were not able to confirm or deny the reports themselves.
The IRA ended its 17-month cease-fire on Feb. 9 with a truck bomb in a
London business district that killed two men. The IRA wants to end
British rule in Northern Ireland.
The Federal Security Bureau said last week that an Estonian
paramilitary organization had supplied weapons to the IRA. Estonia's
ambassador to Russia denied the report.
On Sunday, ITAR-Tass quoted a FSB spokesman as saying the agency "is
ready to exchange with its colleagues in Britain and Ireland the
available information about contacts of IRA representatives with arms
traders in Estonia."
|
| 1566.10 | | CHEFS::COOPERT1 | So many students..so few bullets | Fri May 17 1996 10:48 | 83 |
| Home News Electronic Telegraph Friday May 17 1996
Major offers IRA a compromise over weapons
By Robert Shrimsley and Toby Harnden
A COMPROMISE plan on how to tackle the decommissioning of terrorist
weapons aimed at coaxing the IRA into calling a new ceasefire was
backed by ministers yesterday, as John Major promised that he would
no let the issue "block" progress on negotiations on Ulster's future.
Writing in the Irish Times and later in the Belfast Telegraph, the
Prime Minister held out an olive branch to the IRA to persuade them
to restore the ceasefire and join the all-party negotiations that
begin on June 10.
Nationalists have urged Mr Major to demonstrate to Sinn Fein that 62
decommissioning will not take precedence over all other items in the
all-party talks, saying that Republicans will not end the violence if
they believe the talks will founder on this first item.
Yesterday the Prime Minister met those concerns, writing that while
it would have to be "addressed" at the beginning of the talks, agreement
would be needed on how it could be taken forward "without blocking the
negotiations". His move was well received by Dublin and received a
cautious welcome from Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein President.
In London, ministers began the process of reassuring Tory Unionists
that neither the article nor the formula agreed for handling
decommissioning in the talks represented a cave-in or sell-out.
However, as the Government played down the implications of the article
in London, Dublin politicians hailed it as a highly significant event.
Dick Spring, the Irish deputy prime minister, said: "Mr Major is
effectively giving signals, particularly to Sinn Fein, that he wants
them at the talks and that there will be no preconditions."
The plan approved by British ministers yesterday meets Dublin's demand
that the issue not be allowed to obstruct the main negotiations while
falling short of its own plan for decommissioning to be hived off to a
body independent from the three strands of the main all-party talks.
Instead it envisages a fourth committee to tackle the issue in parallel
with the three-stranded negotiations and reporting back to the main
talks on the progress made. The existing three strands cover relations
between the parties in Ulster, relations between Ulster and the
Republic of Ireland, and relations between London and Dublin.
Northern Ireland Office sources are adamant that this fourth committee
is not a "decoupling" of the issue from the main talks, or an
acceptance of the Dublin plan first articulated by Mr Spring.
One Cabinet minister said yesterday that there was a clear decision
"not to break with the Ulster Unionists" and that it was this guarantee
that eased the fears of some Tory Unionists.
However, Tory backbenchers remained very concerned. Andrew Hunter,
chairman of the backbench Northern Ireland Committee, has written to Mr
Major expressing "grave alarm" at the idea of separate talks on
decommissioning.
Mr Major's article received mixed reactions in Ulster. Gerry Adams said
it did not contain enough to recommend a fresh IRA ceasefire.
David Trimble, the Ulster Unionist leader, said the article was
"somewhat ambiguous" and hinted that his party might walk out of the
talks if agreement on parallel decommissioning was not reached.
A woman who was shot and left handicapped by the IRA two years ago
resigned as a member of the Tory Party yesterday in protest at the
Prime Minister's article. Pauline McCance, 59, said: "The IRA is
holding people to ransom by talking and having guns as well."
Mrs McCance and her husband, Finlay, 71, were caught up in an IRA
ambush as they travelled from their home in Belfast to Omagh in 1994.
Mr McCance has also resigned.
Electronic Telegraph is a Registered Service Mark of The Telegraph plc
|
| 1566.11 | Sad People | BIS1::MENZIES | Resume the Ceasefire!!! | Mon May 20 1996 11:00 | 50 |
| UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday May 20 1996
Fresh IRA ceasefire 'highly unlikely'
By George Jones, Political Editor
A LEADING Irish republican yesterday played down expectations of an
early restoration of the IRA ceasefire.
Gerard Kelly, who has been involved in negotiations between Sinn Fein
and the Government, said that a new ceasefire was "highly unlikely".
His comments followed reports over the weekend that a ceasefire could
be declared this week.
Government sources said that they had no knowledge of any early
announcement. But they emphasised again that Sinn Fein would not be
admitted to the all-party negotiations on June 10 unless the IRA
reinstated the ceasefire.
Mr Kelly said that he wanted to see "a peaceful resolution" to the
Northern Ireland problem. He was jailed for the 1973 Old Bailey
bombings and is viewed as a leading republican strategist.
His comments will dismay the British and Irish governments who have
been pinning hopes on a new IRA ceasefire in advance of the May 30
elections which are to be followed by all-party talks.
Mr Kelly told the Dublin-based Sunday Business Post newspaper: "A
decision whether to call a new ceasefire will be one for the IRA.
"What I can say, though, is that people do not expect Sinn Fein to be
naive, because the republican people themselves are not naive. A
ceasefire is highly unlikely, but you can never say never. Sinn Fein
cannot go to the IRA with a package which has no substance.
"The British showed massive bad faith when they had a unique
opportunity. Now we have to go back at least to the basis of the 1994
ceasefire which was immediate entry to meaningful negotiations and no
mention of decommissioning."
He said that the only way to achieve a peaceful resolution to the
problem was through negotiations without preconditions.
"We are republicans and we want to go into negotiations from the point
of view of our people who want to end partition and achieve an Ireland
based on equality and justice," he said.
Mr Kelly, one of 38 IRA prisoners who escaped from the Maze prison in
1983, took part in negotiations with British officials as part of the
Sinn Fein team during last year's ceasefire.
|
| 1566.12 | | CHEFS::COOPERT1 | Captain Planet | Tue May 28 1996 10:41 | 44 |
| UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday May 28 1996
Nationalist calls Sinn Fein 'fascists'
By Toby Harnden, Ireland Correspondent
SINN FEIN has been branded a "sectarian, fascist organisation" that
is no different from the IRA by a nationalist Social and Democratic
Labour Party MP whose leader, John Hume, is closely associated with
Gerry Adams.
Joe Hendron, who is standing against Mr Adams in west Belfast in
Thursday's Northern Ireland forum elections, said some Sinn Fein
leaders were influential IRA figures. "I have no doubt that some of
the senior people wear two hats." He told Irish Television's Prime Time:
"They may make the odd comment about fellow Protestant Irishmen but
basically they (Sinn Fein) are a sectarian, fascist organisation."
The interview, to be broadcast tomorrow, is the first sign during the
campaign of bitterness between the SDLP and Sinn Fein and will anger
many nationalists who believe that Sinn Fein should be treated as a
political party independent of the IRA.
Dr Hendron won his west Belfast seat in Westminster in 1992 from Mr
Adams, who had been the area's MP for nine years. He said he felt
"uncomfortable" about Mr Hume's regular meetings with Mr Adams. "I see
the families, I see the tears, I see the youngsters growing up without
their father and I deeply resent the people, the organisation that left
that family without a father."
Squabbling between Unionist parties intensified with claims about
responsibility for splitting the pro-Union vote among 11 parties.
Having called a press conference to unveil plans to counter the
"vote-shredding effect", David Trimble, Ulster Unionist Party leader,
went out canvassing instead, and left John Taylor, his deputy, to face
the media.
The plans amounted to nothing more than two new posters urging everyone
to vote UUP. Mr Taylor took the opportunity to blame Ian Paisley and
his Democratic Unionist Party for proposing an electoral system that
favoured nationalists. "Mr Paisley has foolishly agreed to a system
that could damage the pro-Union voice in Northern Ireland. The Unionist
people will not forgive him for doing this deal with John Hume because
it is only to the advantage of the pan-nationalist front."
|
| 1566.13 | | CHEFS::COOPERT1 | tell mum before you go somewhere | Thu May 30 1996 07:08 | 77 |
| AP 29-May-1996 20:38 EDT REF5919
Copyright 1996. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Key Voting Due In N. Ireland
By SHAWN POGATCHNIK
Associated Press Writer
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) -- Pro-British Protestants and Irish
Catholics decide Thursday who should sit at Northern Ireland's
long-vacant negotiating table.
The verdict could set the tone for compromise, or for renewed conflict.
Politicians went door to door Wednesday, seeking votes one last time in
a city so divided that a neighborhood's religion can be told from the
curbs -- painted red, white and blue in Protestant areas, the Irish
flag's green, white and orange in Catholic ones.
Twenty-four parties are seeking places in negotiations scheduled to
start June 10. Only the top 10 parties overall -- or parties that are
within the top five in a particular parliamentary district -- will
be admitted to those talks.
The candidates include representatives of both sides' paramilitary
gangs and new peace-oriented parties including the Women's Coalition.
Looming over the whole enterprise, however, is the breakdown of the
Irish Republican Army cease-fire.
The British and Irish governments announced the election-talks package
after the IRA ended its 17-month cease-fire and resumed bombing on
Feb.9. The vote will select 110 members for a Northern Ireland debating
forum, from which smaller negotiating teams will be drawn.
"This is the most important vote we've ever had. The people are
electing negotiators to determine the very future of Northern Ireland
-- the first time for 75 years that the province's future is up for
grabs," said John Taylor, deputy leader of the largest party, the
Ulster Unionists.
Protestants want their British ties and majority position within the
75-year-old province secured in any settlement, while Catholic leaders
are as determined that any new Northern Ireland should be linked or
united with the Irish Republic, where Catholics are the overwhelming
majority.
Taylor's pro-British party, which demanded the election before any
negotiations could take place, is battling for Protestant votes against
the Rev. Ian Paisley, whose Democratic Unionist Party takes an even
harder line on negotiations.
On the Catholic side, the main contest is between John Hume's moderate
Social Democratic and Labor Party and the IRA-supporting Sinn Fein
party led by Gerry Adams.
Joe Hendron of the SDLP, who narrowly defeated Adams for the west
Belfast seat in the British Parliament in 1992, said his party was
committed to bringing Sinn Fein into democratic debate -- but
personally he considers them "fascists." He cited the rise in IRA
beatings of Catholics accused of criminal activities.
"The IRA have been conducting these kangaroo courts even this week,
dragging people out of their homes and breaking their limbs," Hendron
said.
Sinn Fein seems determined to see how far it can get without a new IRA
cease-fire. The British and Irish governments say Sinn Fein can't take
part in negotiations unless the IRA formally lowers its guns again,but
Adams said Wednesday his party would show up at the talks regardless.
Paisley, long a dominant figure in Northern Ireland politics, has
aggressively campaigned on a platform that negotiations mean surrender.
He vows not to talk to Sinn Fein unless the IRA hands over all its
weaponry first.
|
| 1566.14 | | BIS1::MENZIES | Resume the Ceasefire!!! | Fri Jun 14 1996 04:08 | 34 |
| RTw 06/13 1724 IRA is regrouping for possible new war - Britain
LONDON, June 13 (Reuter) - The Irish Republican Army may be preparing
for fresh guerrilla conflict with Britain in Northern Ireland, a
British minister said on Thursday.
Britain hopes that the IRA will declare a new ceasefire which would
enable its political wing, Sinn Fein, to enter into Northern Ireland
peace talks which got under way this week.
William McCrea, a Unionist member who opposes the IRA's campaign for
the British province to become part of a united Ireland, told
parliament: "At this present moment,...they are actually regrouping,
restocking and retraining in the weaponry of war."
Responding to McCrea, junior Northern Ireland minister John Wheeler
said: "You are quite right in your belief that the...IRA have proved to
be a formidably organised terrorist structure and they are doing the
things which you describe."
If Sinn Fein are to be admitted to the talks, they must make a start to
handing over their stockpiles of weapons within weeks of declaring a
new ceasefire, Wheeler added.
Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Patrick Mayhew said he was encouraged by
the progress made at the talks despite initial squabbling over a
proposal that they should be chaired by former U.S. senator George
Mitchell.
"Leadership and courage has been shown and an outcome has been reached
which resulted yesterday in this process beginning with Senator
Mitchell in the chair," he told members of parliament.
REUTER
|
| 1566.15 | | MOVIES::POTTER | http://www.vmse.edo.dec.com/~potter/ | Sun Jun 16 1996 06:59 | 7 |
| Okay, I'm obviously too stupid to understand how these things work...
Would someone who does understand please explain to me exactly how the IRA
helps the peace process by injuring 200 shoppers in Manchester?
regards,
//alan
|
| 1566.16 | Patience is a virtue | CHEFS::PANES | sealions on my shirt | Sun Jun 16 1996 10:28 | 3 |
| I'm sure An Phlobacht has the answer.
Stuart
|
| 1566.17 | | TERRI::SIMON | Semper in Excernere | Mon Jun 17 1996 04:38 | 22 |
| The IRA are so ignorant that they can't read or write.
The bomb was the only way they could let the Government
know that they wanted a place at the peace table. This
must be true as that political terrorist Adams demanded,
yesterday, a place at the peace table.
Also a document has been found. Apparently it is part of
the training package given to IRA recruits. It describes
the cease fire as a tactical move to enable recruiting,
training and building up of weapon stocks in the mainland.
This was reported on Radio 4 Sunday morning.
This latest action PROVES BEYOND ALL DOUBT that the IRA,
its political puppet masters Sinn Fein and their supporters,
�Quite frankly, I believe it would be a mistake for the IRA
�to call a ceasefire
do not want peace.
Simon
|
| 1566.18 | | CHEFS::COOPERT1 | tell mum before you go somewhere | Mon Jun 17 1996 05:53 | 7 |
| They've just shot themselves in the foot, bigtime.
Proof that Sinn Fein should not have been allowed at the peace table as
they are not a peaceful party.
CHARLEY
|
| 1566.19 | Trying to stir up trouble? | MOVIES::POTTER | http://www.vmse.edo.dec.com/~potter/ | Fri Aug 09 1996 05:58 | 51 |
| Without Permission from http://www.times.co.uk/
Nationalists say march will go on
BY NICHOLAS WATT, CHIEF IRELAND CORRESPONDENT
SECTARIAN tension mounted in Londonderry last night after
republicans confirmed that they would demonstrate in the Roman
Catholic Bogside area during a loyalist parade tomorrow afternoon.
In defiance of the city's Roman Catholic bishop, the Most Rev
Seamus Hegarty, who had urged nationalists not to march, the
Bogside Residents' Group called on supporters to congregate at the
Free Derry Corner.
Donncha Mac Niallais, the group's spokesman, said that
nationalists would also hold a rally tonight in the city centre about
100 yards from the Apprentice Boys' Memorial Hall, where
hundreds of loyalists will gather for an annual dinner.
Armed police and soldiers will mount a big security operation
outside the hall, where the Apprentice Boys will hear angry
speeches about the Government's decision to ban them from
marching along a section of the city walls overlooking Bogside.
Leaders of the Apprentice Boys yesterday told Sir Patrick Mayhew,
the Northern Ireland Secretary, that he had acted unreasonably.
During a tense meeting at Stormont, the loyalists said that they
had gone to great lengths to reach agreement with nationalists.
Gregory Campbell, a Democratic Unionist councillor in
Londonderry and an Apprentice Boy, claimed that Sir Patrick had
conceded that the ban was unjust. "He tried to justify it by saying
that it was taken on purely pragmatic grounds. In other words,
there was a great threat of public disorder and he had to act."
Mr Campbell accused Sinn Fein of trying to provoke trouble in
Londonderry. A senior RUC source said that Sinn Fein and the
IRA were exerting "significant influence" over the residents' group.
"There is little doubt that there is paramilitary influence over the
residents' group. They are trying to milk the situation for all it is
worth because they are still in the position where they have the
high ground after Drumcree."
The claim about the IRA's tactics in Londonderry came as Sir
Hugh Annesley, Chief Constable of the RUC, said that further IRA
attacks on the mainland were a "distinct possibility". Sir Hugh
added that intelligence reports indicated that the IRA had no plans
to resume its campaign in Northern Ireland in the immediate
future.
|
| 1566.20 | | BIS1::MENZIES | All wiyht. Rho sritched mg kegtops awound !!?! | Wed Sep 04 1996 10:18 | 27 |
| AP 3-Sep-1996 23:49 EDT REF5248
Copyright 1996. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Belfast Gun Attack Kills 2
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) -- One man was killed and another man
injured Tuesday in a gun attack that police believe could be a
factional feud among anti-British militants.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the town
of Lurgan, 20 miles southwest of Belfast.
The British news agency Press Association, however, quoted unidentified
security sources as saying it is believed to related to an internal
feud in the Irish National Liberation Army.
The INLA is a breakaway faction of the Irish Republican Army, which
has been fighting to drive the British out of Northern Ireland for
decades. Police say the INLA is heavily involved in running criminal
rackets, including drug dealing.
This feud pits the INLA against a small group of dissidents who broke
away from it.
Police said the two men were standing outside a house when gunmen
opened fire from a passing car.
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| 1566.21 | Bloody Sunday in the news | METSYS::THOMPSON | | Thu Jan 30 1997 12:48 | 27 |
|
Bloody Sunday seems to be making the news a lot lately. Apart from the expected
anniversary marches, 25 years represents the time when the first batch of
British Govt. papers are released.
The London based Broadcast News network ITN (supplied UK terrestial TV and
NBC's Euro affiliate 'NBC Superchannel') seems to have been first to analyze
them. A new book has recently been published: 'Eye-witness Bloody Sunday', by
Don Mullan. Together they present a very different version of the events on
that day than the 'official version' as in the 'Widgery Report'.
Their main point seems to be that the Para's were not the only regiment
involved that day. It seems the 'truth commission' in South Africa has
inspired people to present their side of the story. Someone actually
recorded radio traffic that day that certainly support the theory of
soldiers from another location being involved. I believe one the Para's
present has come forward with a new version of events.
In parallel with this a relatives support group has engaged an attorney who
has filed papers for Judicial Review of Widgery Report. Dick Spring has
called upon the British Govt. to review the case.
One way or another there will be a lot of media attention this year.
Mark
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| 1566.22 | Irish Economy in the News | METSYS::THOMPSON | | Thu Jan 30 1997 13:00 | 16 |
|
There seems to be even more good news for the Irish economy.
Apparently the GDP/head-of-population in Eire is now higher than the
'All of Britain' average and certainly higher than in Ulster. This is
attributed to an influx of High Technology Companies and EU development
funds.
If economic trends hold Eire will be more 'prosperous' than Britain within 5
years [I think Prosperity has a very technical definition here].
I gather Eire will easily meet the EMU Convergence criteria, though they
may have to follow whatever path the next British Govt.take.
Mark
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| 1566.23 | | IRNBRU::HOWARD | Shower me with sugar lumps | Fri Jan 31 1997 04:11 | 11 |
| >>I gather Eire will easily meet the EMU Convergence criteria, though they
>>may have to follow whatever path the next British Govt.take.
>>Mark
Mark,with regard to EMU, my understanding is that it doesn't matter a jot
whatever the next HMG does. Ireland, (and just about the rest of the
EC), will carry on regardless of what the UK does or doesn't do....
Ray....
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| 1566.24 | HMG clings to power by backsliding on North report | TAGART::EDDIE | Easy doesn't do it | Fri Jan 31 1997 11:44 | 175 |
| The following three articles appeared in today's edition of "The Electronic
Telegraph". They are reproduced here without permission.
--------------------
Article 1
---------
THE Government was accused last night of putting its
survival ahead of the quest for peace in Northern
Ireland by stalling proposals to tackle the kind of violence
that erupted during last year's marching season in Ulster.
Opposition parties turned on Sir Patrick Mayhew, the Northern
Ireland Secretary, after he told MPs that he would not
implement immediately the main recommendation of a report into
preventing violence at sectarian parades.
Sir Patrick said that although he accepted some of the
proposals of the North report he was seeking a further eight
weeks of consultation over the recommendation to give a new
independent Parades Commission power over marches.
Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Dublin had called for the
immediate implementation of the proposal that the commission
be allowed to decide on how and whether a march could take
place, subject only to an appeal to the Secretary of State.
This would meet the demands of the Royal Ulster Constabulary
which, after last year's Drumcree stand-off, said that
decisions on whether to ban marches should be taken out of its
hands.
Sir Patrick accepted immediately other recommendations,
including the setting up of the commission as an arbitrator in
disputes, a code of conduct for parades and alcohol controls
on people travelling to open-air meetings and processions.
Article 2
---------
Marching controls delayed
THE establishment of an independent Parades Commission with
legal powers to re-route and impose conditions on contentious
marches is the key recommendation of the North report.
It also proposes a new criminal offence of "deliberately through
force of numbers or threat of disorder" acting against the
Parades Commission's decision. It recommends extending the
required notice period for holding a parade from seven to 21
days and the introduction of a code of conduct for march
organisers and protesters.
In essence, the Parades Commission would undertake the
consultation and mediation functions currently carried out by
the RUC. However, the Chief Constable would retain the right of
appeal to the Northern Ireland Secretary and the power to
intervene on law and order grounds.
Peter North, vice-chancellor of Oxford University; the Rev John
Dunlop, former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland;
and Father Oliver Crilly, a Roman Catholic priest, spent five
months studying the parades issue. They received over 300
submissions and held 93 meetings with some 270 people.
They found that fewer than 10 of the 3,160 parades in Northern
Ireland last year had been contentious. However, those had the
potential to bring the province to a standstill. The report
estimates that disputed parades cost the taxpayer �30 million in
1996 with a further �28 million lost in tourist income.
It calls for the mainland's control of alcohol laws for sporting
events to be extended to Northern Ireland, covering parades and
outdoor public rallies. All marching bands would be registered.
The report resisted proposals for parade organisers and
protesters to be penalised financially. They also decided
against recommending that fines should be imposed by the Parades
Commission for breaches of the code of conduct.
The report envisages the Parades Commission being made up of a
chairman, possibly with a legal background, and four other
members. They would be appointed by the Northern Ireland
Secretary for renewable terms of three years. Dr North said:
"The misunderstandings, mistrust and fear of 1996 will, we hope,
make way for a consensus society - one in which the rights of
marchers bring with them responsibilities."
Article 3
---------
SIR Patrick Mayhew, the Northern Ireland Secretary, last
night rejected criticism over his handling of the North
Report on sectarian parades in Ulster.
While welcoming some of its proposals to prevent violence
on future marches, Sir Patrick said he was seeking a
"tightly-focused", two-month period of consultation on
the key recommendation that a new Parades Commission be
given power to decide whether parades can take place. Sir
Patrick said it was essential that any decision reached
now carried "the best prospect" of being accepted.
"If I wanted to make this a means by which this could run
away into the sand, I would recommend an open-ended
consultation period," he said. "I am not doing so."
Mo Mowlam, shadow Northern Ireland secretary, hinted
during Commons exchanges that the Government's position
was threatening the bipartisanship between the two main
parties over Ulster. She called for immediate discussions
to ensure that by the end of February "there is continued
bipartisanship" about legislation which could be sped
through the House before this year's marching season.
She said Labour supported the report's central
recommendation. She said: "We would like the Secretary of
State to explain why he feels that further consultations
are necessary on this point? What views will he seek that
have not already been sought by the reviewers? And why
does he think that in just eight weeks he will be able to
improve on the conclusions that those conducting this
review reached over five months?"
Seamus Mallon, of the nationalist SDLP, criticised the
postponement of the decision. He said it would be
perceived in the north of Ireland that the Government was
distancing itself from the issue to get it over "the
problem" in the Commons. "And the well-being of the
people of the north of Ireland during the summer months
is secondary to that consideration," he said.
The Irish government welcomed the report. Dick Spring,
the deputy Irish premier, said it was vital that the new
arrangements be in place before this year's marching
season. "I would hope the British government and the
parties at Westminster would now give this issue the
priority it deserves," he said. "We have got to move on
very quickly and get into a climate of mediation, which I
believe this report offers."
The North report recommends a new Parades Commission of
five people to arbitrate between parade organisers and
protesters. However, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and
the Northern Ireland Secretary would still have the final
say.
Dr North indicated that he had hoped the report's
recommendations would be taken forward. However, the
scale of the problems he and his colleagues had faced was
illustrated by the criticism of their conclusions
received from Unionists and nationalists.
A statement issued by the Ulster Unionist Party rejected
the creation of a Parades Commission. "This proposal
forgets that the responsibility for the maintenance of
the Queen's peace rests with the police and the
Government," it said.
Mitchel McLaughlin, the Sinn Fein chairman, said: "The
report's weakness lies in the fact that the proposed
Parades Commission is effectively toothless."
Peter Robinson, the deputy leader of the Democratic
Unionist Party, said the report provided "a panacea for
lawyers, encouragement for whingers and an increased role
for Dublin".
* John Major ruled out calls yesterday for a new inquiry
into the Bloody Sunday shootings. On the 25th anniversary
of the incident in which soldiers opened fire on an
illegal civil rights demonstration in Londonderry,
killing 14 protesters, John Major told the Commons:
"Without fresh evidence I see no advantage in raking over
these old problems. With fresh evidence we would of
course examine it."
|