Police probe IRA robbery link – ISN
December 22nd, 2004
DERRY – Over £20 million (nearly €29 million) was stolen on Monday from a Belfast bank headquarters, in what was one of the largest robberies ever carried out in Ireland or Britain.
Sam Kincaid, Assistant Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said the robbery “was a well-organized crime”, and “could be paramilitary-related”. Former Special Branch police chief in Northern Ireland, Bill Lowry, told the pro-Unionist daily Newsletter that the Provisional IRA was the most likely suspect. (more…)
Trying to picture peace – ISN
December 8th, 2004
DERRY – The latest attempts to forge a breakthrough in Northern Ireland’s peace process appear to have failed this morning, with the verification of IRA disarmament the remaining stumbling block.
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader, Reverend Ian Paisley, said while “we’ve never been closer to a settlement”, the IRA must “surrender”. However, it appears that the IRA will not consent to giving photographic evidence that their weapons have been destroyed – a key DUP demand.
Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, whose party is regarded as the IRA’s political wing, said last night the IRA would not “submit to humiliation” by giving photographic evidence of disarmament. (more…)
Talks hit fever pitch – ISN
November 30th, 2004
DERRY – It has been two weeks since the Irish and British governments handed Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) their revised terms for the restoration of devolution to Northern Ireland. Since then, both parties have consulted their grassroots, come up with responses and requests for clarification for the governments, and engaged in a series of talks with relevant policymakers in Belfast, Dublin, and London.
However, their respective dealings have not included face-to-face meetings. The DUP refuse to meet with a party they see as indistinguishable from the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). All contacts have been mediated by the Irish and British governments. But the talks are delicately poised. (more…)
London recognises loyalist ceasefire – ISN
November 16th, 2004
DERRY – A busy week of activity in Northern Ireland culminated with the British government on Monday officially recognizing the ceasefire declared by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), Northern Ireland’s largest “loyalist” (Protestant) paramilitary group.
The recognition came despite the publication of an Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) report that said that the UDA continued to be involved in crime and internal feuding and exercised gangland-style control over loyalist urban areas in Northern Ireland. (more…)
London to launch Finucane murder inquiry – ISN
September 24th, 2004
DERRY – Last week saw the first conviction for the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane, one of Northern Ireland’s most notorious political assassinations.
Now, the British government has promised a judicial inquiry to discover the truth behind the killing, which has been one of a few such murders tainted by allegations of collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and elements of the security forces. (more…)
Kent talks fail – ISN
September 20th, 2004
DERRY – Three days of intensive talks on Northern Ireland’s political future ended on Saturday afternoon without a deal. However, the Irish and British governments remained positive in the aftermath of this latest failure to resolve the ongoing problems in fully implementing the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland’s landmark peace deal forged in 1998. (more…)
Life sentence for Finucane murder – ISN
September 17th, 2004
One of Northern Ireland’s most controversial political assassinations reached a conclusion of sorts on Thursday with the jailing of a former loyalist paramilitary.
Ken Barrett, 41, admitted to being one a group of masked gunmen from the loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), who in February 1989 shot prominent Catholic solicitor Pat Finucane 14 times as he ate a Sunday meal with his family. Finucane was a high-profile lawyer who represented republican clients – but also worked with Protestants. Barrett was given a minimum 22-year sentence. (more…)
Still talking, ten years after ceasefire – ISN
September 1st, 2004
DERRY – Tuesday marked the 10-year anniversary of the first IRA ceasefire, the culmination of years of official and behind-the-scenes negotiation and confidence building.
After yet more intricate and stop-and-start dealings, the way was paved for the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998, aimed at permanently settling the 30-year civil conflict in Northern Ireland. With the guns largely silent and the daily litany of bombings, assassinations, and sectarian murder now largely a thing of the past, the focus is on the current political impasse that has stalled the implementation of the landmark peace deal, now under review. (more…)
Northern Ireland’s marching season passes quietly – ISN
August 16th, 2004
DERRY – The third major day of Northern Ireland’s marching season passed off without major incidents, marking a relatively trouble-free summer during what is usually a confrontational and edgy time for the province. On Saturday, over 15’000 members of the radical Apprentice Boys association – part of the Protestant “Loyalist” or “Unionist” camp, as opposed to the predominantly Catholic “Nationalist” or “Republican” faction – marched through Northern Ireland’s second city of Derry. (more…)
Ireland’s alcoholic curse – OpenDemocracy
December 29th, 2003
http://www.opendemocracy.net/ecology-foodwithoutfrontiers/article_1660.jsp
The Irish people’s high alcohol consumption has been transformed in the public mind from a cultural trait into a major medical and social problem. How did the country’s drinking culture acquire its harder, violent edge?
Culture..taken in the White House, Swinford, Co Mayo (Simon Roughneen)
We Irish have a drink problem. But the nature of the problem is such that the reputation that preceded its emergence is actually clouding the very seriousness of alcohol abuse in an Ireland enriched by a decade of unprecedented economic growth. The scenes of young people massing every weekend on city and town streets across Ireland – with a concomitant upsurge in sexual assaults, drink-related road accidents and violent crime – has not generally been taken as seriously as it should.
Ireland has long been known as a drinking culture. But it was not always like this. The self-image of hard-drinking revellers and a general culture of tolerance for drunkenness as opposed to mere drinking, means that many of us are now deluding ourselves as to the scale and nature of the problem.
In short we inherited an attitude, gave it money, and created a virtual epidemic. We now top the European Union league in alcohol expenditure per person and this development has been reflected in weekend binge drinking, addicted youngsters, drunk-driving, late-night street violence and overcrowded accident and emergency hospital wards. So now, it seems the reality is overtaking the stereotype when it comes to looking at drinking culture in Ireland.
Perhaps the image of the hardcore Irish drinker was something largely created by and among expatriate Irishmen in Britain, the United States and elsewhere. As the Irishman was perceived to be, so he acted. (more…)
