Shinn Féin Poblachtach Chathair Chorcaí agus contae
Republican Sinn Féin Cork City and County
Irish Republican Information Service (No 229) - Date: 6ú Márta/March 2010
Irish Republican Information Service (no. 229)
Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: +353-1-872 9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie
Date: 6ú Márta/March 2010
Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: +353-1-872 9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie
Date: 6ú Márta/March 2010
Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom
In this issue:
1. RUC shoot Republican in chest in Craigavon.
2. Bloody Sunday families demand equal sight of Saville Report.
3. Green Isle dispute settled.
4. John Recto deportation – please lobby your TDs and councillors.
5. MI5 'not accountable to assembly'
6. Why MI5 is free to operate here while Stormont can't do a thing.
7. Omagh man complaints about RUC/PSNI stop and search ignored.
8. New special RUC/PSNI unit deployed in Fermanagh area.
9. UVF 'grasses' get short sentences.
10. Provocative loyalist parade on St Patrick's Day.
11. US food chain's apology on Famine advert.
12. Extradition for Basque separatist.
1. RUC shoot Republican in chest in Craigavon
AT A PRESS conference held in Republican Sinn Féin’s Ulster Office on the Falls Road in Belfast on March 4 it was revealed that at least three baton rounds (plastic bullets) were fired by British Crown Forces in the Drumbeg area of Craigavon in County Armagh on Saturday night, February 27, at around 10:30p.m.
The RUC entered the area at around 10p.m. They claimed this was in connection with the discovery of a suspicious object – however this was simply a gas cylinder which had been discovered some 500 yards away at 12p.m.
The British incursion into the area was resisted by Nationalist youths, and three baton rounds were fired. Two of these were fired at the ground whilst the RUC engaged a Republican with the third causing him serious injuries to his chest.
Republican Sinn Féin condemns unreservedly the actions of the British colonial police, namely the RUC, and congratulates the people of North Armagh in once again repelling the forces of Occupation.
2. Bloody Sunday families demand equal sight of Saville Report.
2. Bloody Sunday families demand equal sight of Saville Report.
3. Green Isle dispute settled.
4. John Recto deportation – please lobby your TDs and councillors.
5. MI5 'not accountable to assembly'
6. Why MI5 is free to operate here while Stormont can't do a thing.
7. Omagh man complaints about RUC/PSNI stop and search ignored.
8. New special RUC/PSNI unit deployed in Fermanagh area.
9. UVF 'grasses' get short sentences.
10. Provocative loyalist parade on St Patrick's Day.
11. US food chain's apology on Famine advert.
12. Extradition for Basque separatist.
1. RUC shoot Republican in chest in Craigavon
AT A PRESS conference held in Republican Sinn Féin’s Ulster Office on the Falls Road in Belfast on March 4 it was revealed that at least three baton rounds (plastic bullets) were fired by British Crown Forces in the Drumbeg area of Craigavon in County Armagh on Saturday night, February 27, at around 10:30p.m.
The RUC entered the area at around 10p.m. They claimed this was in connection with the discovery of a suspicious object – however this was simply a gas cylinder which had been discovered some 500 yards away at 12p.m.
The British incursion into the area was resisted by Nationalist youths, and three baton rounds were fired. Two of these were fired at the ground whilst the RUC engaged a Republican with the third causing him serious injuries to his chest.
Republican Sinn Féin condemns unreservedly the actions of the British colonial police, namely the RUC, and congratulates the people of North Armagh in once again repelling the forces of Occupation.
2. Bloody Sunday families demand equal sight of Saville Report.
THE FAMILIES of the Bloody Sunday victims will see the Saville Report within days after the British Secretary of State, Sean Woodward so that there would be “no time for leaks or spins”. However this does not satisfy the demand of the families of the vistims who are demanding to receive the report similtanously.
ShaunWoodward met with representatives of the families of the victims, as well as Stormont Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and SDLP MLA Mark Durkan in Derry on March 4 where he explained that he was unable to let the families see the report as soon as he himself receives it, citing legal reasons as the cause.
He said: “I will get the report to the families and the other parties as soon as possible so there will be no time for leaks or spin, but for security and legal reasons I, and my team of solicitors must see it first.
“I respect the families enormously. They have been through a hell of a lot over the years.”
However, as Woodward left the hotel where the meeting was held he was met by a very vocal group of relatives all wearing T-shirts with the Bloody Sunday Campaign slogan ‘Set the Truth Free’. Linda Nash, whose brother was shot on Bloody Sunday challenged Woodward, demanding that the families see the report as soon as he had it
3. Green Isle dispute settled.
A HUNGER strike at a frozen food factory in Co Kildare has been called off after workers reached a financial settlement with their employers.
Three workers who went on hunger strike after a dispute at the Green Isle Foods factory in Naas, Co Kildare, agreed to cease their fasts after compensation was agreed for three workers who were sacked last summer.
Jim Wyse, shop steward at the plant, had been surviving on water and salt for 15 days and he was joined by former Offaly footballer John Guinan last week.
Jim Wyse, shop steward at the plant, had been surviving on water and salt for 15 days and he was joined by former Offaly footballer John Guinan last week.
On March 3, John Recto from the Philippines, who was one of the men sacked, also joined the hunger strike.
The three men voted on March 3, along with other Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) workers to accept an agreement brokered through independent mediators in the last few days.
“The agreement will be implemented and, accordingly, all forms of industrial action and other activity will cease with immediate effect,” a joint statement said.
It said both parties were bound by confidentiality under the terms of the mediation agreement. The statement acknowledged the efforts involved in reaching the agreement.
John Recto, who has been living here for eight years, has been left in an unsure position. When he tried to renew his work visa recently he was called to a Garda station. His and his wife’s immigration cards were confiscated.
4. John Recto deportation – please lobby your TDs and councilors.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the TEEU are making representations on behalf of John Recto and his family to stop their deportation. John was the third man to join the Green Isle Foods hunger strike. He has worked at the Naas plant for eight years.
4. John Recto deportation – please lobby your TDs and councilors.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the TEEU are making representations on behalf of John Recto and his family to stop their deportation. John was the third man to join the Green Isle Foods hunger strike. He has worked at the Naas plant for eight years.
His family joined him in Naas from the Philippines five years ago. His two oldest children grew up in Ireland and his youngest child was born here.
They now face deportation because his work visa has not been renewed. If the Labour Court Recommendation on the dispute had been accepted by the company he would not be in this situation.
Please lobby your local TDs and councilors on his behalf. If John Recto and his family are deported it will send out a message to all non-EU workers in Ireland not to join a union, or stand by their colleagues in a dispute.
Contact: Padraig Yeates, PYE Comm, 087 260 5297
5. MI5 'not accountable to assembly'
5. MI5 'not accountable to assembly'
THE NEW SIX-COUNTY security protocols mean MI5 will not have to account for its activities to a new devolved Six-County justice minister.
Assembly members will vote on March 9 on the Hillsborough deal on the devolution of British policing and justice.
However, any new justice minister will not be able to hold MI5 to account.
The British Government has said that it will determine what information pertaining to so-calledBritish national security can be shared and on what terms it is provided.
It added that information which, if made public, might hinder the ability of the security and intelligence agencies to perform their functions, or which might reveal the operations, investigations, sources, techniques or methodologies of the agencies will not be shared.
6. Why MI5 is free to operate here while Stormont can't do a thing.
6. Why MI5 is free to operate here while Stormont can't do a thing.
By Eamon McCann
At Stormont on Monday, Mark Durkan said that MI5 had "serious questions to answer" in relation to the killing of Kieran Doherty.
Mr Doherty's body was found dumped on the Braehead Road outside Derry on Wednesday night last week. The Real IRA says he had been one of their members and that they'd killed him for involvement in a "cannabis factory" in Donegal.
Mr Doherty's body was found dumped on the Braehead Road outside Derry on Wednesday night last week. The Real IRA says he had been one of their members and that they'd killed him for involvement in a "cannabis factory" in Donegal.
The Doherty family has denied the allegation and suggested that MI5 had a hand in the events. What gives this suggestion credibility beyond the ranks of conspiracy theorists is that in the weeks leading up to his death, Mr Doherty had repeatedly complained to local media of MI5 harassment. However, the fact that the questions are credible doesn't mean Durkan will get credible answers. Or any answers. MI5 doesn't do answers. Or credibility.
This matters greatly because MI5 is a major player in the north. The scale of its local operation is startling. Just as startling is the fact that it scarcely rated a mention in the debate over the devolution of policing and justice.
The competing rights of Orange bands and nationalist residents were regarded as far more significant. 'Parochial' would be too grand a word for the hugger-mugger negotiations and po-faced pronouncements.
Putting control in the hands of a power-sharing administration would mark the definitive end of 'political policing', we were told.
Putting control in the hands of a power-sharing administration would mark the definitive end of 'political policing', we were told.
But under the arrangements accepted at St Andrews, the lead role in political policing is to be taken not by the PSNI, but by MI5. And MI5's discharge of the role won't come under Stormont control. Not that it's presently under Westminster control, either.
Last Friday, one of the most senior judges in Britain, Lord Neuberger, Master of the Rolls, launched a scathing attack on MI5 for conniving in the torture of former Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed and lying about it afterwards to Parliament.
Neuberger suggested that Foreign Secretary David Miliband had been hoodwinked by MI5 into issuing three Public Interest Immunity Certificates falsely claiming that documents relating to the case should be withheld because national security was at stake.
Neuberger suggested that Foreign Secretary David Miliband had been hoodwinked by MI5 into issuing three Public Interest Immunity Certificates falsely claiming that documents relating to the case should be withheld because national security was at stake.
The real reason, Neuberger proposed, was that the documents supported Mr Mohamed's claim that MI5 officers had flown to Pakistan where he was being held by the CIA to put questions to him, even though the agency knew that he had been tortured by the Americans to try to force him to give information - information which he didn't have.
That is, MI5 condoned and took advantage of his torture and then suborned a government minister to issue a fraudulent document to thwart the efforts of the courts to establish whether this had in fact happened. This is the publicly-stated view, not of a bunch of Left-wing libertarians, but of one of Britain's highest judges.
As for its role in Northern Ireland, Annexe E of the St Andrews Agreement says that MI5 will "continue to run directly a small number of agents who are authorised to obtain information in the interests of national security as distinct from countering criminality".
MI5 is thus sanctioned to run informers in paramilitary groups in the North without the authorisation or knowledge of any office or institution here. Back in 2006, during the Westminster debate on the bill enshrining the St Andrews Agreement in law, Mr Durkan moved an amendment to give the Police Ombudsman powers to investigate security operations which would involve MI5 and the PSNI working together.
He was literally laughed at, accused of sulking at having been sidelined when the deal was being done.
Durkan said then: "If we don't act on this then MI5's role will undermine the whole point of Patten, which was to grant some democratic control and scrutiny over security policies . . . a future Minister of Justice would be standing up in the Assembly unable to give the full intelligence picture as he or she wouldn't have any access to that intelligence."
The Mohamed case shows that, when it comes to control and supervision of MI5, Westminster is useless. Under devolution of policing and justice, Stormont will be worse than useless. This helps explain the scale of MI5's operation here.
In the year after St Andrews - 2007 - MI5 established a massive new facility at Holywood, Co Down. At 10,000 square feet plus an underground section, it has a capacity for 400 employees. Its remit isn't confined to the north. Holywood will assume overall control of the agency in the event of the Thames House, London, headquarters being incapacitated by terrorist attack or other emergency. Many might have thought that the area of the UK most affected by political violence over the past generation would hardly be the ideal location for MI5's second biggest and potentially most important facility.
But that consideration will have been far outweighed by the fact that, once devolution is complete, the north, as far as accountability is concerned, will be a limbo-land for spooks to cavort in. Their natural habitat.
So it will be trebles all round at Holywood when the installation of David Ford as an Executive minister is hailed on the UTV News as signalling that local politicians are at last in control of policing and justice. This time, it won't just be Mark Durkan who's being laughed at, but Stormont itself.
Masocist
7. Omagh man complaints about RUC/PSNI stop and search ignored.
A YOUNG Omagh man highlighted concerns about the approach of the British Colonial police in the town after being searched during an incident on February 24. However his complaints were dismissed by the local British Policing Partnership. Stephen McGahan said he was returning home from work late in the evening when he was pulled in by the RUC/PSNI. The incident comes amid concerns about the continued use of 'Stop and Search' powers.
Masocist
7. Omagh man complaints about RUC/PSNI stop and search ignored.
A YOUNG Omagh man highlighted concerns about the approach of the British Colonial police in the town after being searched during an incident on February 24. However his complaints were dismissed by the local British Policing Partnership. Stephen McGahan said he was returning home from work late in the evening when he was pulled in by the RUC/PSNI. The incident comes amid concerns about the continued use of 'Stop and Search' powers.
It was among a wide range of issues highlighted at a meeting of the Omagh District Policing Partnership (DPP) in the Milestone Centre in Carrickmore on March 3. Only 15 members of the public turned out to the event.
Speaking at the event, Stephen McGahan recounted how he had been stopped and searched for sometime on the Gortin Road.
"I was asked to step out of the car and when I did one officer questioned me while the other one proceeded to searched the vehicle," he said.
"They asked me for my driving licence and insurance documents, checked the tyres. When I asked under what grounds I was being questioned, they told me it was on suspicion of having taken excess alcohol.
"But if that was the case, then why was I not breathalysed. Incidents like this don't instil much confidence in the community about the actions of the police.
"It was only when I threatened to phone my local DPP member that the search ended. When I said that, one of the officers told the other to stop," he added.
RUC/PSNI District Commander, Sue Steen, said that they had appealed the decision of the European Union and that the stop and search powers remained in place.
She said the incidents last week in Newry and Dungannon highlighted the need for the powers, but added that the legislation would be used in a proportionate manner.
The Chairman of the body, Charlie Chittick, also called for the correct balance to be struck, but added that they important in thwarting those who sought to disrupt democracy.
8. New special RUC/PSNI unit deployed in Fermanagh area.
THE RUC/PSNI has confirmed that specialist unit have been deployed in the Fermanagh area following a number of republican attacks there.
8. New special RUC/PSNI unit deployed in Fermanagh area.
THE RUC/PSNI has confirmed that specialist unit have been deployed in the Fermanagh area following a number of republican attacks there.
Announcing the drafting in of the unit, the RUC/PSNI referred to the recent ambush of a member of the RUC/PSNI at Garrison, as well as an upsurge in criminal activity, including ATM robberies along the border.
The presence of the specialist unit was revealed at the February meeting of the Dungannon District British Policing Partnership, although not in the role they were tasked to carry out.
The local RUC/PSNI Inspector admitted the new unit had been deployed to tackle burglary and ATM theft.
However, he insisted that their primary role, 'and whole purpose in our area', was in an anti-terrorism role, 'trying to disrupt terrorists and detect them moving munitions or whatever'.
Inspector Stephen Moneypenny, disclosed that the specialist force were Armed Response Vehicle (ARV) officers.
However, Fermanagh Independent Councillor, Bernice Swift said the primary aim of the PSNI remained the same as the RUC, RIC and the B-Specials.
"That aim', she said, " is to protect the British state and British interests in Ireland. It is not about combating a dissident threat.
"Throughout history, Britain has deployed a wide range of tactics to maintain its occupation of Ireland; however, one element of British strategy in Ireland has remained constant for centuries and it's that of the locally recruited militia.
"The British government and its allies in Ireland continuously claim that the PSNI is a normal police service for a normal state.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The PSNI is just the frontline force of Britain's 'Axis of Evil' in Ireland, along with the British army and MI5 forming the other elements".
9. UVF 'grasses' get short sentences.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The PSNI is just the frontline force of Britain's 'Axis of Evil' in Ireland, along with the British army and MI5 forming the other elements".
9. UVF 'grasses' get short sentences.
Two brothers who committed dozens of crimes will serve as little as three years in jail because they have turned "supergrass".
Newtownabbey men David Stewart, 35, of Carntall Rise, and Robert Stewart, 39, of Ballyearl Court were in the UVF.
Newtownabbey men David Stewart, 35, of Carntall Rise, and Robert Stewart, 39, of Ballyearl Court were in the UVF.
Belfast Crown Court heard in February they would give evidence against nine other men charged with murder.
With time spent in jail on remand taken into account they may be eligible for release by the end of summer 2011.
Judge Mr Justice Hart said the short sentences reflected their co-operation.
Judge Mr Justice Hart said the short sentences reflected their co-operation.
He said the information they had provided led to "a significant number of arrests for serious crimes over a substantial period".
Outlining how he set the tariff the judge said that for their "important, but subsidiary" role in the slaying of UDA leader Tommy English in 2000 the Stewarts would have received a minimum term of 22 years' imprisonment.
Outlining how he set the tariff the judge said that for their "important, but subsidiary" role in the slaying of UDA leader Tommy English in 2000 the Stewarts would have received a minimum term of 22 years' imprisonment.
Their assistance to the RUC/PSNI saw this reduced by 75% to 5½ years' imprisonment and the judge said he was also taking into consideration their guilty pleas and personal circumstances.
He said they must serve just three years of life sentences before they can be considered by the Six-County Parole Commission for release on licence.
However, with time they have spent on remand since August 2008 being taken into account in effect they will be eligible for this in 18 months.
The Stewart brothers went to the RUC/PSNI in 2008 to confess to their part in the murder of English on December 31 2000.
As a result they were charged with aiding and abetting the murder and a number of other related offences.
In December 2008 they pleaded guilty to the charges and were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Following their conviction for the first set of offences, Robert Stewart admitted his involvement in 96 further offences committed between 1990 and 2008.
Following their conviction for the first set of offences, Robert Stewart admitted his involvement in 96 further offences committed between 1990 and 2008.
David Stewart, who goes by the first name Ian, admitted his involvement in 24 further offences committed between 1994 and 2008.
Many of these offences were of a very serious nature including attempted murder, kidnapping and wounding, assault and a pipe bomb attack on the home of a witness in a forthcoming trial.
Other offences included robbery, burglary, theft, extortion, arson and affray.
10. Provocative loyalist parade on St Patrick's Day.
10. Provocative loyalist parade on St Patrick's Day.
A NOTORIOUS loyalist flute band whose leader is awaiting trial on child rape charges has been granted permission to march through a village which has seen some of the worst sectarian intimidation of recent years in the Six-Counties.
The Six-County Parades Commission, which adjudicates on the routes of sectarian parades, backed an application by the Pride of the Village flute band to walk through a mixed residential area in Stoneyford in County Antrim on St Patrick's Day.
In recent years up to a dozen nationalist families have been forced to leave Stoneyford because of loyalist intimidation.
Some nationalist families left their homes because of tensions linked to the flute band marching through the village. Six band members are understood to be facing charges of breach of the peace in connection with a parade last year.
In November the band's controversial leader Mark Harbinson was charged with sexual assaulting a 13-year-old girl. The court was told Harbinson met his alleged victim through his role as a senior member of the band when it met in Stoneyford Orange Hall to practise.
Harbinson, who was later suspended as grand master of Stoneyford Orange lodge, has also been questioned about alleged sexual assaults on a 15-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy.
The Parades Commission limited the parade to 15 minutes, but loyalists are expected to gather in the area for hours before and after the parade.
11. US food chain's apology on Famine advert.
Harbinson, who was later suspended as grand master of Stoneyford Orange lodge, has also been questioned about alleged sexual assaults on a 15-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy.
The Parades Commission limited the parade to 15 minutes, but loyalists are expected to gather in the area for hours before and after the parade.
11. US food chain's apology on Famine advert.
THE US restaurant chain Denny’s has issued an apology after an advertisement “celebrating” the 150th anniversary of the end of the Famine provoked anger in the Irish-American community.
Séamus Boyle, president of the largest Irish-American organisation, the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) – which has close to 100,000 members – said that in the ad, “A guy is sitting in Denny’s eating pancakes, and he says that to celebrate the end of the 150th anniversary of the end of the Great Famine they’re not running short of anything, including pancakes.”
Boyle called the advertisement “a slap in the face of our ancestors who died”. He said he received hundreds of telephone calls and e-mails from around the country, and AOH members inundated Denny’s with complaints. The AOH was poised to begin a boycott and demonstrations outside Denny’s restaurants when the company pulled the advertisement on Sunday. The group has 1,500 outlets around the world.
Denny’s responded to the complaints with a four-sentence e-mail apology saying it was “certainly not the intention of the company to offend anyone or any group”.
Stephanie Fink, Denny’s public relations contractor, said the advertisement was produced by Goodby Silverstein and Partners. Asked why no one realised it was in bad taste, she said she could say nothing else on the subject.
On his Irishcentral.com website, Irish-American commentator Niall O’Dowd slammed what he called Denny’s “mealy-mouthed apology”. “What they need to say is, ‘We apologise to the Irish-American community for depicting the Irish Famine as some kind of humorous event . . .’ ” O’Dowd wrote.
12. Extradition for Basque separatist.
A COURT in Belfast has ordered the extradition of a Basque separatist and former political prisoner to Spain.
The judge rejected Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos's claim he would not get a fair trial and may face harsher punishment for his political beliefs.
12. Extradition for Basque separatist.
A COURT in Belfast has ordered the extradition of a Basque separatist and former political prisoner to Spain.
The judge rejected Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos's claim he would not get a fair trial and may face harsher punishment for his political beliefs.
His lawyers argued further imprisonment would be inhumane and his life was at risk because of fragile mental health.
Judge Burgess said he had confidence in the Spanish justice system because of European Arrest Warrant procedures.
De Juana Chaos, 54, was released from prison in August 2008 after serving more than 21 years in jail for his part in the ETA campaign.
Judge Burgess said he had confidence in the Spanish justice system because of European Arrest Warrant procedures.
De Juana Chaos, 54, was released from prison in August 2008 after serving more than 21 years in jail for his part in the ETA campaign.
He is wanted in Spain over the contents of a letter read out at a rally in San Sebastian the day after his release from jail.
The message was allegedly given in his name, with the charge against him heavily dependent on the Basque phrase "aurrera bolie", which translates literally as "kick the ball forward".
The message was allegedly given in his name, with the charge against him heavily dependent on the Basque phrase "aurrera bolie", which translates literally as "kick the ball forward".
He faces the possibility of further imprisonment if convicted of the public justification of terrorist actions which caused humiliation and intensified the grief of victims and their relatives.
De Juana Chaos has been living with his wife in west Belfast on bail while fighting extradition, and has seven days to lodge an appeal to the ruling.
Recorder Tom Burgess told the court on March 1 he was satisfied De Juana Chaos's concerns were groundless that Spanish authorities "would seek to put him on trial for any offence other than that which is included in the warrant".
He said if convicted, he did not believe the court would "seek to exceed its sentencing powers of two years".
Lawyers for De Juana Chaos had told the court that during a previous imprisonment, he was beaten repeatedly and subjected to 17 years of solitary confinement.
He said if convicted, he did not believe the court would "seek to exceed its sentencing powers of two years".
Lawyers for De Juana Chaos had told the court that during a previous imprisonment, he was beaten repeatedly and subjected to 17 years of solitary confinement.
The alleged assaults and ill-treatment at prisons in mainland Spain and on the Canary Islands between 1987 and 1998 led to symptoms including anxiety and sleep deprivation, they said.
The court was told De Juana Chaos, who had endured previous lengthy hunger strikes, would suffer a serious deterioration in his health and likely death if sent back to jail there.
Judge Burgess said there was no evidence that he would not receive a fair trial, and he could seek bail from the courts in Spain.
He recognised the potential impact if he were to be sent back to jail, especially if put in solitary confinement, but added that if he engaged with the Spanish judicial system, arguments could be advanced for why he should be granted bail.
He recognised the potential impact if he were to be sent back to jail, especially if put in solitary confinement, but added that if he engaged with the Spanish judicial system, arguments could be advanced for why he should be granted bail.
He said questions about his mental state should be left to the Spanish authorities.
