Reports obtained from:
(1) Sunday Business Post, Dublin, (2) Irish News, Belfast
(3) Republican News, Ireland, (4) Irish World, London
(5) Irish Echo, USA
Sunday, 14 March, 2004
Wednesday, 17 March, 2004
Wednesday-Friday, 17-19 March, 2004
Saturday-Monday, 20-22 March, 2004
Thursday-Friday, 25-26 March, 2004
Saturday-Monday, 27-29 March, 2004
Wednesday, 31 March, 2004
British to face US pressure on Cory
By Paul T Colgan, Sunday Business Post, Dublin
The British government will come under intense pressure at St Patrick's Day gatherings in Washington this week to publish the Cory reports in full.
Prominent US senators, including Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, have written to British prime minister Tony Blair in recent days. They have called for the speedy and complete publication of Canadian judge Peter Cory's reports into four killings where security force collusion is suspected.
Nationalists and republicans do not believe that Blair will publish the entire reports, despite his assurances last week that the reports would be made public before Easter.
Blair's government has had the reports since last October, but they remain unpublished. The Irish government published its two reports in December.
Cory has recommended public inquiries into the deaths of Catholic solicitors Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson, Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill and Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright.
US senators Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Charles Schumer, Chris Dodd and Patrick Leahy wrote to Blair expressing their concern at his failure to publish.
``Despite the fact that Judge Cory submitted his report nearly six months ago, the Cory report has not yet been published, no target date for publication has been given and there has been no clear confirmation that public inquiries will be held into all cases where Judge Cory has recommended them,'' said the letters.
An SDLP source said the letters set down a strong marker for Blair about where Irish America stood on the issue. ``An added edge is brought to events because it's a presidential election year, and because of Kerry's recent criticisms of Bush over the Northern peace process.''
Bush and Blair are expected to press Sinn Fein to endorse the North's policing arrangements.The White House plans to highlight the policing issue at this week's functions, which are traditionally attended by scores of Irish political figures from North and south. Sinn Fein remains opposed to the North's current policing arrangements as it says the recommendations of the Patten report have yet to be implemented.
The US state department is believed to regard policing as one of the success stories of the peace process.
The White House is likely to focus on the role played by former policing oversight commissioner Tom Constantine, a former director of US drug enforcement and ex-chief of police for New York State.
Joining the political parties and the two governments will be PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde, and policing board chairman Desmond Rea and vice-chairman Denis Bradley. The visits follow a series of attacks and death threats on independent members of the North's district policing partnerships.
Copyright © 2004 Sunday Business Post
Policing 'under British control'
By William Graham, Irish News, Belfast
An advertisement from Sinn Féin in the New York Times – costing $25,000 (£13,749) – has said policing in Northern Ireland remains under "British political control".
The advertisement placed in one of America's most influential newspapers was headlined "The truth about policing" and was paid for by the Friends of Sinn Féin in New York.
The party said it had refused to endorse the Police Service of Northern Ireland because it was not representative of the community and there were no goals and timetables to achieve this.
Sinn Féin also claimed that:
human rights abusers remained in the police collusion with loyalists continued officers with a political agenda had fabricated evidence to pervert the course of justice the force was not subject to democratic accountability.
In addition the advertisement claimed that Chief Constable Hugh Orde was opposed to inquiries which would expose human rights abusers in his ranks and was refusing to cooperate with inquests into killings by state forces.
"Sinn Féin wants policing in the north of Ireland – but we demand the policing service people are entitled to and will not settle for the one the British are prepared to give," it read.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin vice-president Pat Doherty has said it is time for the British and Irish governments to live up to their commitments.
He said he noted the stated intention of Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to step up the pace of talks to restore the political institutions.
But Mr Doherty claimed that the problems in the peace process were greater than the governments admitted.
"The difficulties in the process go beyond the problems of the armed groups and the refusal of unionists to commit to inclusive government, as claimed by the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister," he said.
"While these are important matters and Sinn Féin will continue to work to see them resolved, the refusal of the governments to deliver on their obligations has a more serious negative effect on the overall process.
"This result is the ongoing denial to citizens of fundamental rights including equality, human rights and justice. We will not get the progress or the stability required unless this is rectified."
Copyright © 2004 Irish News
Wednesday-Friday, 17-19 March, 2004
Policing tops agenda
By Republican News
In a week in which key Irish politicians visited the United States to continue talks in Washington on St Patrick's Day, a prominent newspaper advertisement placed by Sinn Fein sought to draw attention to the continuing failure to enact policing reform in the North of Ireland.
The party said it had refused to endorse the PSNI (formerly the RUC) because it was not representative of the community and there were no goals and timetables to achieve this.
The advertisemnt also pointed out that human rights abusers remained; collusion with loyalists continued; fabrication of evidence continued; there was still no democratic accountability; and inquiries into the force's human rights abuses were still being denied.
"Sinn Fein wants policing in the north of Ireland - but we demand the policing service people are entitled to and will not settle for the one the British are prepared to give," it read.
The PSNI Chief, Hugh Orde, who is also in Washington, said he believed the Bush administration had noted "the substantial changes" that have taken place in policing in the North.
The crime rate has fallen: "It is a litmus test. You don't achieve those sorts of crime reductions without community support.
"This is a recognition of our determination to deliver first-class policing," said Mr Orde.
US President George W Bush's special adviser on the Six Counties, Mitchell Reiss, urged the Sinn Fein leadership to begin a "constructive dialogue" woth Hugh Orde.
Dr Reiss suggested that this dialogue should be a first step with a view to having Sinn Fein join the Policing Board.
Dr Reiss was addressing a hearing in Washington on human rights and police reform on Tuesday.
Sinn Fein policing spokes-man Gerry Kelly said that "meeting Hugh Orde is not the issue".
He again called for the transfer of power on policing and justice to Stormont. He also said plastic bullets, repressive legislation, militarisation of police barracks and vehicles, and the PSNI Special Branch were among the issues of continuing concern.
"We took our position on policing to the electorate less than six months ago, which included our decision not to participate in a Policing Board that does not have the power to hold the PSNI to account, and it was endorsed by the majority of nationalists."
Mr Kelly said Sinn Fein viewed the failure of the British government to deliver on its commitments to implement the Patten report as being the biggest obstacle to delivering the new beginning to policing.
On Tuesday, US Congressman Chris Smith chaired a hearing on Capitol Hill focused specifically on policing reform in Northern Ireland.
Others who addressed the hearings included Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan and representatives of human rights organisations.
The hearings were chaired by US Congressman Chris Smith, who said that the lack of significant progress on some of the important recommendations of the Patten Report, four years after the release of the Patten report, was of "serious concern".
Rep. Smith said "unchecked Special Branch powers and unpunished collusion -- hover like a storm cloud threatening a bright future".
"These problems must be forcefully addressed so that real policing reform can take hold - and maybe even lead the way - regardless of the delays or setbacks in the political developments in the north of Ireland," said Smith.
Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness denied it was under pressure from the White House to sign up to policing.
Mr McGuinness was speaking after meeting the US special envoy Mitchell Reiss in Washington.
"I think we are speaking to an administration that understands the vital importance of getting the Good Friday Agreement implemented," he said.
Saturday-Monday, 20-22 March, 2004
John Kerry blasts British failure on Cory reports
By Republican News
United States presidential candidate John Kerry and six other leading U.S. senators have demanded Tony Blair immediately disclose the long-awaited Cory reports on allegations of collusion by the British government in four notorious murders in the North of Ireland.
The group accused the British government of threatening police reforms in the North over delays in publishing the dossier, prepared by retired Canadian Judge Peter Cory.
In a letter to Downing Street they hit out at the continued secrecy over the findings, which may yet be censored or further delayed by unnecessary legal proceedings.
The senators, who also include Ted Kennedy, expressed concern at the six month delay since the findings were handed to the British Government. Judge Cory, also angered at the British behaviour, has already revealed to the families fo the victims that he has recommended public inquiries into each of the killings.
Senators Kerry, Kennedy, Christopher Dodd, Patrick Leahy, Charles Schumer, Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg, warned that efforts to improve boost nationalist confidence in the renamed PSNI police will be wasted.
Mr Blair was told: "It is of grave concern that your Government's handling of this matter is jeopardising much of the progress made to date in achieving a new beginning for policing in Northern Ireland."
The senators added: "There has been no clear confirmation that public inquiries will be held into all cases where Judge Cory as recommended them.
"Further, your Government has refused to confirm that Judge Cory has recommended public inquiries into these cases - even though he himself has gone on record to do so."
After a meeting today with British Minister John Spellar, Sinn Fein's Bairbre de Brun said she was alarmed he was unable to give guarantees Judge Cory's report would be released in full.
"Sinn Fein is especially concerned that when we raised the need for the Cory Report to be published in full and uncensored we could not get a commitment from him that that would be the case," the West Belfast Assembly member said.
"Clearly there is a strict refusal by the British Government to release the Cory Report in full yet the Irish Government, when it was also handed its report by Judge Cory, was able to do so last December full and uncensored.
"You have to ask why is the British government reluctant to release the Cory Report in full."
Saturday-Monday, 20-22 March, 2004
Sinn Fein must reconsider PSNI - Reiss
By Republican News
George Bush's new envoy to Ireland has clashed with Sinn Fein over the party's refusal to support the PSNI policing in the province.
Mitchell Reiss accused Sinn Fein of 'massive untruthfulness' over its portrayal of the PSNI, formerly known as the RUC.
Sinn Fein's refusal to sign up to policing - articulated in the advertisement and by party president Gerry Adams in Washington DC last week - centres on three areas: the continued existence of Special Branch, the failure to devolve justice and policing powers to an assembly, and the use of plastic bullets.
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams predicted earlier this week that the US government would strongly row in behind the British and Irish governments on the issue of policing.
Mr Adams said: "It has to be remembered that during the worst years of collusion, torture and human rights abuses these governments actively defended and praised the RUC, authorised co-operation with it and urged nationalists to join it".
There had been a failure on the part of the British government to implement what has been agreed. He said that, to achieve the new beginning to policing promised by the Good Friday Agreement six years ago, resistance to change", particularly by the PSNI Special Branch, had to be overcome.
Reiss said he would be happy to go down "point by point with a rebuttal to each of the allegations and justifications that Sinn Fein have for not joining the Policing Board. There are massive untruths there, and they need to reconsider their position as soon as possible", Reiss said.
Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness described Mr Reiss's criticism as "strange". He said he had spoken to Ambassador Reiss in Washington earlier in the week and he did not raise his criticisms at that time.
Republicans have argued that British securocrats -- those that colluded with the unionist death squads throughpout the conflict -- are now in the most senior positions in the PSNI.
They have pointed out that those calling on Sinn Fein to endorse the PSNI also supported the discredited RUC, and that their position has been endorsed by a clear majority of northern nationalists in the November Assembly elections.
The party has listed what it sees as being the main obstacles to a new beginning in policing:
Thursday-Friday, 25-26 March, 2004
Irish-America blasts 'undiplomatic' Reiss
By Republican News
Irish-American groups in the US have attacked US envoy to Ireland Mitchell Reiss over his accusation that Sinn Fein told "massive untruths" in a New York Times advertisement about policing.
The groups called Mr Reiss' comments an "over-the-top and extraordinarily undiplomatic outburst" and claimed the way the American government has supported policing here could be seen as anti-Catholic.
The advert - which appeared just before President George W Bush was about to meet PSNI Chief Hugh Orde and civilian policing represenatives - spelled out Sinn Fein's continued opposition to policing.
The Irish-American Unity Conference, Lawyers Alliance for Justice In Northern Ireland and the Irish National Caucus called on Mr Reiss, the head of policy planning in the US State Department, to apologise.
In a letter to Mr Reiss, the groups said: "We fear your undiplomatic outburst may wrongly give Americans the impression that President Bush harbours anti-Catholic sentiment, something he fought so hard to deny during the last presidential election after his unfortunate visit to Bob Jones University (which gave the Rev Ian Paisley his doctorate and is his main American sponsor).
"Your outburst, therefore, has hurt both President Bush and the Irish peace process, something you surely did not want to do.
"We, therefore, urge you to apologise for your uncharacteristic and unworthy outburst."
ATTACK ON SF FIGURE
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein has claimed the PSNI could be linked to an attack on the home of one of its west Belfast representatives.
Sue Ramsey said her home was attacked with ball-bearings on Tuesday night, smashing a number of windows at the property. It was the latest in approximately a dozen similar incidents at the homes of Sinn Fein representatives in the west of the city.
Council and assembly representatives Paul Butler, Fra McCann, Gerry Kelly and Bairbre de Brun have all had their homes attacked.
Ms Ramsey said that she was suspicious at the precise information which appeared to lead to the targeting of her home.
“This attack is the latest in a series of such attacks on the homes of republicans living in west Belfast,” she said.
“Given the fact that those carrying out these attacks have accurate information regarding the addresses of republicans there is a real suspicion that this information is being supplied by one of the British state agencies or the PSNI."
Thursday-Friday, 25-26 March, 2004
Why Bush is the wrong man for Irish-America
By Tom Griffin, Irish World, London
The gap between US presidential candidate John Kerry and incumbent George Bush is growing clearer on the issue of Northern Ireland.
Kerry this week laid into the British government over its delay in publishing the Cory report on collusion between the British security forces and paramilitaries.
At the same time, George Bush’s envoy to Northern Ireland was accusing Sinn Fein of ‘massive untruthfulness’ over its refusal to support the new policing service.
The distinction between the candidates has emerged at an interesting time in the presidential race.
Kerry nudged into the lead for the first time in one opinion poll earlier this month. In response the Bush campaign has rounded on his foreign policy record, basing the President’s re-election bid on his conduct of the war on terror.
However, it is increasingly clear that the President is vulnerable on this very point. Indeed, he was attacked this week by the man who was the US government’s top terrorism expert until February 2003.
Richard Clarke accused the Bush Administration of ignoring the Al-Qaeda threat before 9/11 because of its obsession with Iraq. He also claimed that the President himself pressured him to connect the World Trade Center attacks with Saddam Hussein.
Iraq was always regarded by Bush as unfinished business left over from his father’s 1991 Gulf War.
Al Qaeda, by contrast was something of an embarrassment to the Bushes, because of their own close links to Osama Bin Laden’s homeland of Saudi Arabia. Indeed, the Bush and Bin Laden families shared a common interest in the private defence company, the Carlyle Group.
It looks increasingly as if the Bush administration’s fixed ideas have handed a strategic advantage to Al Qaeda, by eliminating one of its Arab enemies, splitting its opponents in the West and preparing the way for a new Jihad in Iraq.
That fact should concern everyone, but there is a particular reason why it should concern Irish-Americans.
For six years, the FBI’s leading expert on Al-Qaeda was Irish-American agent John O’Neill. He co-ordinated the successful capture of Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind behind the first attempt to blow up the World Trade Center.
O’Neill was one of the first people to understand the nature of the Al-Qaeda threat, but his investigations were often dogged by interference from politicians anxious to maintain alliances with Arab regimes.
Thanks to Richard Clarke, we now have a clear picture of the official mindset that O’Neill was up against.
Those obstacles eventually led him to leave the FBI and take up a new job, as head of security at the World Trade Center. He died in the South Tower on 9/11.
If the Bush administration had been serious about tackling Al-Qaeda, John O’Neill would probably have stayed in the FBI. He might still be alive today, and he might, just might have helped to stop the 9/11 attacks.
That should be borne in mind when Bush asks for Irish-American support on the basis of his response to the World Trade Center attacks.
Copyright © 2004 Irish World
Saturday-Monday, 27-29 March, 2004
Analysis: Sinn Fein response to US envoy
Sinn Fein has revealed its response to criticism by US envoy Mitchell Reiss of its New York Times advertisment on policing in the North of Ireland.
By Republican News
The following, taken from an IAIS report, contains the points made in the NY Times advertisement in quotes, followed by Sinn Fein's defense of their claim.
"-Sinn Fein wants policing in the north of Ireland-"
We trust that you accept this point. Sinn Fein wants a proper policing service.
"-we demand the policing service people are entitled to and will not settle simply for the one the British are prepared to give-"
I believe the truth of this statement is self-evident. We will not simply settle for the police service the British are prepared to give. Sectarian policing imposed on us by the British has been at the core of the abuse we have suffered since partition. We are extremely serious about getting policing right.
"-When the British partitioned Ireland in 1921, they created a sectarian police force to secure a sectarian state. For more than 75 years they operated as a political police force.-"
It is simply beyond any reasonable dispute that the RUC was implemented as a sectarian force to defend a iProtestant State for a Protestant peoplei and operated in that fashion for over 75 years.
"-In 1998 the Good Friday Agreement promised a new beginning to policing. The Patten commission was established to recommend the change necessary to create that new beginning.-"
The Agreement speaks for itself when it states "he agreement provides the opportunity for a new beginning to policing in Northern Ireland with a police service capable of attracting and sustaining support from the community as a whole.i And there is no dispute about the role of the Patten Commission.
"-The commission made 175 recommendations.-"
The Patten Report is of record and speaks for itself.
"-These changes contained the potential for a new beginning to policing.-"
We have repeatedly stated our belief that Patten contains such potential. Certainly, you do not maintain otherwise.
"-The British Government, however, reneged on its obligations and gutted key elements of Patten's report-"
Despite the rhetoric of the establishment that Patten has been implemented, Patten is a written document that can be compared against the changes legislated. They do not match up. Key provisions have been gutted, and no amount of repeated statements to the contrary can change this reality.
"-the report was gutted to prevent or delay change.-"
As noted by Irish News columnist and former SDLP Councilor Brian Feeney (March 4, 2004), the "damage Mandelson did by modifying the Patten proposals and enshrining that modification in law will be with us for a long time." Only an uninformed or ill-intentioned person would deny that the changes to Patten are designed to prevent or delay change.
"-British political control of policing remains.-"
This is irrefutable. The British Secretary of State and British securocrats still retain control of policing and justice through the NIO in Belfast and London. Instead of the required civic policing the intelligence agencies such as MI5, Special Branch and civil servants who have handled policing and justice for generations are still in charge. The only way to resolve that situation is to transfer powers on policing and justice to the locally elected democratic Assembly in the north. Democratic accountability is critical.
"-The force is not representative of the community and there are no goals and timetables to achieve this.-"
Again the statistics are of record. There is no dispute that the force is not representative of the community. There are presently over 9,000 members of the PSNI, (including the Full-time reserve and Part-time reserve). The Northern Ireland Office and Chief Constable Hugh Orde have claimed that 13.6% of all PSNI members are Catholic. In fact, these statistics are a distortion because they reflect only Catholic membership of the PSNI regulars. The composition of Catholics within the PSNI as a whole is 11.6% (at October 2003). This is five years after Patten and after a full cycle (3 years) of 50:50 quota was introduced for new PSNI recruits. The British government has yet to produce any coherent strategy for ensuring representation of nationalists and republicans.
"-Key positions are held by human rights abusers.-"
This was illustrated once again in the January 2004 Police Ombudsman's report on the failure to investigate the loyalist killing of Sean Brown in South Derry in 1997. The killing was not investigated by the RUC and the Police Ombudsman's inquiries were obstructed by the PSNI. The Ombudsman found "no earnest effort was made to identify the persons who murdered Sean Brown."
In fact the Special Branch, which controls loyalist death squads, described by Patten as a `force within a force' - moved en masse into the PSNI without any mechanism to weed out human rights abusers. London Metropolitan Chief Constable John Stevens, after 14 years and three investigations into collusion, reported in April 2003 that he had uncovered, "collusion, the willful failure to keep records, the absence of accountability, the withholding of evidence, and the extreme of agents being involved in murder". He added, "nationalists were known to be targeted but were not properly warned or protected" and that "unlawful involvement of agents in murder implies that the security forces sanction killing".
"-Collusion with loyalist death squads continues.-"
As noted above, this was illustrated once again in the recent Police Ombudsman's report on the failure to investigate the loyalist killing of Sean Brown in South Derry. The killing was not investigated by the RUC and the Police Ombudsman's inquiries were obstructed by the PSNI.
Over the recent period of 4 years loyalist gangs, most notably the UDA, carried out over four hundred (400) gun and bomb attacks against Catholics in the small North Belfast constituency alone. A number of Catholics were actually murdered yet no one was prosecuted. Special Branch still controls dozens of agents in the Loyalist paramilitary groups who act with impunity from the legal process.
"-Police officers with a political agenda continue to fabricate evidence to pervert the course of justice.-"
In the trial of Noel Abernathy, Autumn 2003, Mrs. Ann Irwin, a forensic scientist gave evidence under oath that interference in the gathering and processing of forensic evidence has carried on throughout Mrs. Irwin's employment in the Forensic Science Agency, involving both the RUC and the PSNI. In the case of Mark Carroll and Martin Brogan, evidence vital to the defense, including information about a Special Branch agent provocateur was concealed by the DPP & PSNI Special Branch in a vain attempt to convict the men. Forensic evidence in many other prosecutions is now being questioned, as a result.
"-The chief of police is opposed to inquiries which would expose human rights abusers in his ranks.-"
Chief Constable Hugh Orde opposes public inquiries into the involvement of police officers and others in the killings of Pat Finucane, Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill, and many, many others. In fact the Police Ombudsman's office is worried that Hugh Ordeis public emphasis on a itruth processi as opposed to investigations may make her job very difficult in retrospective inquiries already taken up by the Ombudsman.
"-The chief of police is refusing to co-operate with inquests into killings by state forces.-"
PSNI interference in inquests continues despite being legally required to produce the evidence. In a recent case, the inquest of Roseanne Mallon and nine other people from Tyrone, Hugh Orde has again refused to hand over evidence crucial to the inquests.
"-The police force is not subject to democratic accountability.-"
As stated above no provisions have been enacted to provide democratic accountability for policing in the north. To have an all-Ireland approach to justice power must be transferred to the Assembly. This has still not been achieved; six years after the setting up of the first Assembly. Policing remains directly under the political control of the British government and its agencies. There is no timetable for the ending of British government control.
"-Sinn Fein took our position on policing to the electorate in November and won a resounding endorsement.-"
Prior to the election in November 2003 Sinn Fein made public, and indeed was publicly criticized for, our position with regard to policing. The people voted and the nationalist community gave Sinn Fein 60% of their vote.
"-We are determined to get the policing service people deserve;-"
We do not believe anybody doubts our determination. Let us be clear. Those who vote for Sinn Fein want a police service which is truly representative and politically accountable. These are the people arguably who have suffered most from partisan political policing in the past.
"-the policing service the peace process requires-"
Nobody should question the need for proper policing in order for the peace process to fulfill its potential.
Bush opts for British party on St. Pat's
By Susan Falvella-Garraty, Irish Echo, USA
Partygoers had a hard time getting to the Irish Embassy's St. Patrick's Day soiree in Washington. It wasn't just the cold rain that snarled traffic around Ambassador Noel Fahey's residence. It was not even the taoiseach's motorcade, replete with Secret Service guards.
It was, rather, the much longer motorcade a few blocks away in front of the British Embassy compound that left those wishing to join Bertie Ahern for a pint stalled in their cars.
It turns out that President Bush went to the British Embassy to finish off his St. Patrick's Day celebrations. He took his wife, Laura, and his father, former President George Bush, and his mother, Barbara Bush.
The president and first lady arrived at the British Embassy at the same time things were supposed to get under way down the road for the more traditional St. Pat's venue.
"If you ever wanted confirmation of what this president thinks about Ireland, where he spent the evening of St. Patrick's Day certainly speaks louder than words," said one member of Congress who did not want to be identified.
The Irish Embassy, however, noted that it had not invited President Bush to its party, but he would have been certainly welcome if he'd wanted to stop in.
The two first couples arrived at 6:30 p.m. and left three hours later. President Bush and his wife are known in Washington social circles for rarely venturing out in the evening.
All were received upon arrival by British Ambassador Sir David Manning and his wife, Lady Catherine Manning.
They watched a play by an amateur troop, the British Embassy Players. Bush's sister-in-law, Margaret, who's married to his brother Marvin, played the role of "Clarissa" in Agatha Christie's "The Spider's Web."
Those who opted for the Irish celebration down the street included peace broker and now chairman of the Disney Corporation, former Sen. George Mitchell, and Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy.
Copyright © 2004 Irish Echo Newspaper Corp.