scarface
10-24-2007, 05:42 PM
Irish Republican Information Service (no. 124)
In this issue:
McAllister insists Provo role in Quinn killing
A FORMER Provisional councillor has rejected claims that there was no Provo involvement in the killing of Paul Quinn on October 20. Paul Quinn, who was from Co Armagh, was beaten by a gang of up to eight men after being lured to a farm at Tullycoora near the village of Oram.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s Today with Pat Kenny, Jim McAllister said he believed the Provisionals were involved.
Some Unionist politicians suggested the killing could have repercussions for the Stormont executive.
A murder inquiry is expected to begin in Monaghan after a post mortem examination is completed on the body.
The 21-year-old's family said in a statement last night that they believed the Provisionals were responsible for his death because he refused to leave the area after a dispute with Provo members.
RUC/PSNI 'may cross border'
THE British colonial police could pursue people across the British-imposed Six-County border under plans being proposed by the DUP.
The DUP wants the 26-County police to be allowed to cross into the Six Counties and the RUC/PSNI into the 26 Counties in vehicle pursuits.
At present, both the British colonial police and the 26-County police have to stop when they reach the Border.
Nelson probe panel set date
THE inquiry into the murder of solicitor Rosemary Nelson is scheduled to set a date for full hearings this week.
The panel hearing the inquiry say they intend to begin early next year, but want to consult all parties at a preliminary hearing today before setting a firm date.
The inquiry into Rosemary Nelson’s murder was set up in 2004 after a recommendation by retired Canadian Supreme Court Justice Peter Cory, who reviewed a number of alleged collusion cases.
The solicitor was killed by a loyalist bomb in her car on March 15, 1999, as she drove from her home in Lurgan.
Resistance in Lurgan
IT was reported that members of the British colonial police came under petrol bomb attach in Lurgan, Co Armagh over the weekend of October 20/21.
There were no reports of arrests or injuries. Three men were charged yesterday following disturbances on October 20.
The RUC/PSNI came under petrol bomb attack when they moved in to the centre of Lurgan where crowds were hurling missiles and setting bins on fire and blocking the road.
Three men, aged 21, 28 and 42, were arrested during the trouble in the Edward Street area and charged with a number of offences including disorderly behaviour.
The men have been released on bail to appear at Craigavon Magistrates Court on November 8.
UDA funding storm reveals Provo-DUP alliance
AFTER sustained internal feuding and involvement in street violence, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the largest loyalist death squad in the Six Counties, had stg£1.2 million (€1.7 million) of British government funding withdrawn, sparking a political crisis in the Six Counties and revealing an unholy alliance between Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the Provos
Margaret Ritchie, the Stormont social development minister, was threatened with legal action by some of her fellow ministers for withdrawing funds from the UDA. Her decision, and the reaction to it highlighted the fact that loyalist death squads have not decommissioned their arms.
Ritchie withdrew the funding from the UDA after a sixty-day deadline she imposed in August expired. During the 60 days, the UDA was to have begun decommissioning weapons, but it failed to do so and continued an internal feud, which involved gun and bomb attacks on rival members in south-east Antrim.
Despite the public popularity of Ritchie’s move, the Provos have supported the DUP in opposing Margaret Ritchie’s decision. The DUP’s Peter Robinson, the Stormont finance minister, accused her of going against legal advice in making the decision. It now seems likely that the row will end in the courts. Ritchie insists she took legal guidance, which supported her decision.
Robinson’s intervention to stop the funding being withdrawn from the UDA came just after his Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) colleague, culture minister Edwin Poots, refused to implement the Irish Language Act, because he said it would cost too much.
Senior UDA members threatened that ‘‘the North could be taken to a very bad place’’ by Ritchie’s decision, a thinly-veiled threat of a return to violence, but the debacle indicates how big a problem loyalist death squads remain in the Six Counties, and the lack of a political consensus to face them down.
The UDA has refused to decommission any of its weapons, and the last report from the Independent Monitoring Commission said the group was still heavily involved in crime and racketeering. Its most prominent leader, Jackie McDonald, has publicly ruled out decommissioning, and the UDA’s last-minute talks with the decommissioning body earlier in October were widely regarded as a stunt to avoid the funding being withdrawn.
It emerged that the British, 26-County and US administrations had put pressure on Ritchie not to withdraw the funding, despite the UDA’s continued involvement in violence. Such discord within the political establishment has given the UDA succour.
‘‘The decision is very unpopular within political circles and we are very well aware of that,” said a senior UDA leader.
‘‘We aren’t under pressure, and we are confident the funding will be restated at a future date.”
Leading loyalist held in murder probe
A LEADING loyalist was one of those arrested by the RUC/PSNI in connection with an investigation into the murder of a nationalist schoolboy.
Billy Hutchinson, one of the key figures behind the Ulster Volunteer Force's 1994 ceasefire, was questioned by RUC/PSNI detectives inquiring into the murder of 15-year-old Thomas Devlin two years ago.
Hutchinson is now a community worker on the loyalist Mount Vernon estate in north Belfast, where the RUC/PSNI believe Thomas Devlin's murderers came from. One of their chief suspects is known to be a junior member of the UVF.
Hutchinson played a lead role last year in drafting a UVF statement saying the organisation had effectively 'stood down'.
Thomas, 15, was stabbed to death as he walked home with friends after buying sweets at a filling station.
Three men and a woman were detained in early morning swoops in the north of the city and another man and two women were being questioned about the murder after being arrested on October 20.
Before the latest operation 12 people had been held as part of the inquiry, but no one has yet been charged with the murder.
Ex-prisoner is facing deportation from US
A FORMER political prisoner and his two children are facing imminent deportation from their US home.
Malachy McAllister and his children, Nicola and Seán, fled to New Jersey in 1988 after the loyalist death squad the Red Hand Commando gang raked their Lower Ormeau home with bullets. His personal details were later found in a loyalist arms dump.
Malachy McAllister has been living openly in the US for two decades. However, he is ineligible for asylum because of time served in prison during the 1980s.
Now 50, Malachy McAllister was jailed when he signed an RUC statement after being implicated by INLA supergrass Harry Kirkpatrick.
Because of this, officials in the US Department of Homeland Security want to deport him from the US using new repressive legislation introduced after the September 11 attacks in New York.
The move comes despite top US judge Mary-Anne Barry stating during an asylum hearing that “no-one now suggests Malachy poses a threat to anyone, much less to our national security”.
Speaking from his New Jersey home, Malachy McAllister revealed he could be deported any day.
“The decision has been made to throw me and the kids out. The thing is, we haven’t been told when it will happen. It could be today, next week, next month or next year,” he said.
“What we are hoping is that the Senate can introduce legislation that will allow my family and I to remain here before the deportation takes place.”
Malachy McAllister, who runs his own construction company, spoke of the frustration of living each day with the cloud of deportation hanging over his head.
“It is very, very stressful. I just cannot plan for the future,” he added. “I employ a lot of US citizens and it’s difficult for them too – they don’t really know what their futures are.
“It’s my two children I feel sorriest for, though. They were very young when they came out here and they don’t deserve to be put through this.”
Among Malachy McAllister’s many supporters are US Senators Charles Schumer, Joe Crawley and Steve Rothman.
Charles Schumer describes the Belfast man as “a proven valuable and contributing member of his community”.
He said: “His children attend school and work here, and he is active and well regarded in the Irish American community.
“Many organisations have contacted me to express their strong support for Malachy’s case. Intervention on this family’s behalf would allow the McAllister family to continue to enjoy the security and opportunity that the United States has to offer.”
Six-Counties Human Rights Commission enters Irish language row
SIX-COUNTY Chief Commissioner Monica McWilliams has written to the British government’s ‘Northern Ireland Office’ (NIO) after Stormont Culture Minister Edwin Poots decided not to introduce a language act.
Monica McWilliams wants to know how the Six-County state will meet its obligations under international human rights standards.
There is currently no legislation on Irish in the Six-Counties.
This is a requirement expected by the European Framework Convention on National Minorities.
Irish language activists have been campaigning for a Bill in the Six-Counties mirroring similar legislation in Wales protecting the Welsh language.
The legislation would have created a commissioner to uphold the rights of Irish speakers and have established language schemes for public bodies.
However unionists have been fiercely opposed to a Bill, with the DUP warning they would veto it.
British Crown Minister Conor Murphy announces imposition of water charges
THE We Won't Pay Campaign reacted to the announcement on October 22 from Stormont Minister for Regional Development Conor Murphy, claiming that Stormont had decided to “introduce water charges through the back door” by adding a specific charge for water in the rates on top of what every household already pays for water.
Spokesperson Pat Lawlor commented “The Independent Review Panel stated that on average we already pay £160 per year for water. While we believe the real figure may actually be considerably more, it is nonetheless accepted that we do pay for water through the rates. What the Executive has decided is that each household should pay an additional payment of £145 from April 2009 on top of what we already pay. This is clearly double taxation, and no amount of spin from the Executive can hide that fact.
“The parties in the Executive have now broken their electoral promises that people should not pay twice for water. People have been stabbed in the back. In light of this we feel we have no alternative but to continue our campaign in the communities and fight this additional charge. Householders are already finding it difficult to pay increasing rates. This decision to introduce water charges through the back door will push thousands of low-income households into poverty.”
In this issue:
McAllister insists Provo role in Quinn killing
A FORMER Provisional councillor has rejected claims that there was no Provo involvement in the killing of Paul Quinn on October 20. Paul Quinn, who was from Co Armagh, was beaten by a gang of up to eight men after being lured to a farm at Tullycoora near the village of Oram.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s Today with Pat Kenny, Jim McAllister said he believed the Provisionals were involved.
Some Unionist politicians suggested the killing could have repercussions for the Stormont executive.
A murder inquiry is expected to begin in Monaghan after a post mortem examination is completed on the body.
The 21-year-old's family said in a statement last night that they believed the Provisionals were responsible for his death because he refused to leave the area after a dispute with Provo members.
RUC/PSNI 'may cross border'
THE British colonial police could pursue people across the British-imposed Six-County border under plans being proposed by the DUP.
The DUP wants the 26-County police to be allowed to cross into the Six Counties and the RUC/PSNI into the 26 Counties in vehicle pursuits.
At present, both the British colonial police and the 26-County police have to stop when they reach the Border.
Nelson probe panel set date
THE inquiry into the murder of solicitor Rosemary Nelson is scheduled to set a date for full hearings this week.
The panel hearing the inquiry say they intend to begin early next year, but want to consult all parties at a preliminary hearing today before setting a firm date.
The inquiry into Rosemary Nelson’s murder was set up in 2004 after a recommendation by retired Canadian Supreme Court Justice Peter Cory, who reviewed a number of alleged collusion cases.
The solicitor was killed by a loyalist bomb in her car on March 15, 1999, as she drove from her home in Lurgan.
Resistance in Lurgan
IT was reported that members of the British colonial police came under petrol bomb attach in Lurgan, Co Armagh over the weekend of October 20/21.
There were no reports of arrests or injuries. Three men were charged yesterday following disturbances on October 20.
The RUC/PSNI came under petrol bomb attack when they moved in to the centre of Lurgan where crowds were hurling missiles and setting bins on fire and blocking the road.
Three men, aged 21, 28 and 42, were arrested during the trouble in the Edward Street area and charged with a number of offences including disorderly behaviour.
The men have been released on bail to appear at Craigavon Magistrates Court on November 8.
UDA funding storm reveals Provo-DUP alliance
AFTER sustained internal feuding and involvement in street violence, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the largest loyalist death squad in the Six Counties, had stg£1.2 million (€1.7 million) of British government funding withdrawn, sparking a political crisis in the Six Counties and revealing an unholy alliance between Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the Provos
Margaret Ritchie, the Stormont social development minister, was threatened with legal action by some of her fellow ministers for withdrawing funds from the UDA. Her decision, and the reaction to it highlighted the fact that loyalist death squads have not decommissioned their arms.
Ritchie withdrew the funding from the UDA after a sixty-day deadline she imposed in August expired. During the 60 days, the UDA was to have begun decommissioning weapons, but it failed to do so and continued an internal feud, which involved gun and bomb attacks on rival members in south-east Antrim.
Despite the public popularity of Ritchie’s move, the Provos have supported the DUP in opposing Margaret Ritchie’s decision. The DUP’s Peter Robinson, the Stormont finance minister, accused her of going against legal advice in making the decision. It now seems likely that the row will end in the courts. Ritchie insists she took legal guidance, which supported her decision.
Robinson’s intervention to stop the funding being withdrawn from the UDA came just after his Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) colleague, culture minister Edwin Poots, refused to implement the Irish Language Act, because he said it would cost too much.
Senior UDA members threatened that ‘‘the North could be taken to a very bad place’’ by Ritchie’s decision, a thinly-veiled threat of a return to violence, but the debacle indicates how big a problem loyalist death squads remain in the Six Counties, and the lack of a political consensus to face them down.
The UDA has refused to decommission any of its weapons, and the last report from the Independent Monitoring Commission said the group was still heavily involved in crime and racketeering. Its most prominent leader, Jackie McDonald, has publicly ruled out decommissioning, and the UDA’s last-minute talks with the decommissioning body earlier in October were widely regarded as a stunt to avoid the funding being withdrawn.
It emerged that the British, 26-County and US administrations had put pressure on Ritchie not to withdraw the funding, despite the UDA’s continued involvement in violence. Such discord within the political establishment has given the UDA succour.
‘‘The decision is very unpopular within political circles and we are very well aware of that,” said a senior UDA leader.
‘‘We aren’t under pressure, and we are confident the funding will be restated at a future date.”
Leading loyalist held in murder probe
A LEADING loyalist was one of those arrested by the RUC/PSNI in connection with an investigation into the murder of a nationalist schoolboy.
Billy Hutchinson, one of the key figures behind the Ulster Volunteer Force's 1994 ceasefire, was questioned by RUC/PSNI detectives inquiring into the murder of 15-year-old Thomas Devlin two years ago.
Hutchinson is now a community worker on the loyalist Mount Vernon estate in north Belfast, where the RUC/PSNI believe Thomas Devlin's murderers came from. One of their chief suspects is known to be a junior member of the UVF.
Hutchinson played a lead role last year in drafting a UVF statement saying the organisation had effectively 'stood down'.
Thomas, 15, was stabbed to death as he walked home with friends after buying sweets at a filling station.
Three men and a woman were detained in early morning swoops in the north of the city and another man and two women were being questioned about the murder after being arrested on October 20.
Before the latest operation 12 people had been held as part of the inquiry, but no one has yet been charged with the murder.
Ex-prisoner is facing deportation from US
A FORMER political prisoner and his two children are facing imminent deportation from their US home.
Malachy McAllister and his children, Nicola and Seán, fled to New Jersey in 1988 after the loyalist death squad the Red Hand Commando gang raked their Lower Ormeau home with bullets. His personal details were later found in a loyalist arms dump.
Malachy McAllister has been living openly in the US for two decades. However, he is ineligible for asylum because of time served in prison during the 1980s.
Now 50, Malachy McAllister was jailed when he signed an RUC statement after being implicated by INLA supergrass Harry Kirkpatrick.
Because of this, officials in the US Department of Homeland Security want to deport him from the US using new repressive legislation introduced after the September 11 attacks in New York.
The move comes despite top US judge Mary-Anne Barry stating during an asylum hearing that “no-one now suggests Malachy poses a threat to anyone, much less to our national security”.
Speaking from his New Jersey home, Malachy McAllister revealed he could be deported any day.
“The decision has been made to throw me and the kids out. The thing is, we haven’t been told when it will happen. It could be today, next week, next month or next year,” he said.
“What we are hoping is that the Senate can introduce legislation that will allow my family and I to remain here before the deportation takes place.”
Malachy McAllister, who runs his own construction company, spoke of the frustration of living each day with the cloud of deportation hanging over his head.
“It is very, very stressful. I just cannot plan for the future,” he added. “I employ a lot of US citizens and it’s difficult for them too – they don’t really know what their futures are.
“It’s my two children I feel sorriest for, though. They were very young when they came out here and they don’t deserve to be put through this.”
Among Malachy McAllister’s many supporters are US Senators Charles Schumer, Joe Crawley and Steve Rothman.
Charles Schumer describes the Belfast man as “a proven valuable and contributing member of his community”.
He said: “His children attend school and work here, and he is active and well regarded in the Irish American community.
“Many organisations have contacted me to express their strong support for Malachy’s case. Intervention on this family’s behalf would allow the McAllister family to continue to enjoy the security and opportunity that the United States has to offer.”
Six-Counties Human Rights Commission enters Irish language row
SIX-COUNTY Chief Commissioner Monica McWilliams has written to the British government’s ‘Northern Ireland Office’ (NIO) after Stormont Culture Minister Edwin Poots decided not to introduce a language act.
Monica McWilliams wants to know how the Six-County state will meet its obligations under international human rights standards.
There is currently no legislation on Irish in the Six-Counties.
This is a requirement expected by the European Framework Convention on National Minorities.
Irish language activists have been campaigning for a Bill in the Six-Counties mirroring similar legislation in Wales protecting the Welsh language.
The legislation would have created a commissioner to uphold the rights of Irish speakers and have established language schemes for public bodies.
However unionists have been fiercely opposed to a Bill, with the DUP warning they would veto it.
British Crown Minister Conor Murphy announces imposition of water charges
THE We Won't Pay Campaign reacted to the announcement on October 22 from Stormont Minister for Regional Development Conor Murphy, claiming that Stormont had decided to “introduce water charges through the back door” by adding a specific charge for water in the rates on top of what every household already pays for water.
Spokesperson Pat Lawlor commented “The Independent Review Panel stated that on average we already pay £160 per year for water. While we believe the real figure may actually be considerably more, it is nonetheless accepted that we do pay for water through the rates. What the Executive has decided is that each household should pay an additional payment of £145 from April 2009 on top of what we already pay. This is clearly double taxation, and no amount of spin from the Executive can hide that fact.
“The parties in the Executive have now broken their electoral promises that people should not pay twice for water. People have been stabbed in the back. In light of this we feel we have no alternative but to continue our campaign in the communities and fight this additional charge. Householders are already finding it difficult to pay increasing rates. This decision to introduce water charges through the back door will push thousands of low-income households into poverty.”