Irish Political News

No-one involved seems to have published any statements on this yet, and the UTV News report doesn’t appear to be online, so this is partly based on my viewing of that report at 6pm.  At today’s public meeting of the Policing Board, Chief Constable Hugh Orde took the opportunity to respond to the Sinn Féin party line on recent anti-social behaviour and criminality - as mentioned here - and this brief, and apparently sole, online report notes the “furious row” which developed.

Sir Hugh Orde said Sinn Fein had made unwarranted attacks on his officers after recent murders in West Belfast and after last weekend`s violence in Belfast city centre.  But Mr Maskey said Sir Hugh Orde`s comments were disgraceful, patronising and arrogant.

To which I can add that, in the report I saw, Sinn Féin’s Alex Maskey also demanded an apology.  And Hugh Orde responded by stating that he stood by his statement to the Policing Board. Update Courtesy of Typhoo, we have that report I mentioned.  Adds A Belfast Telegraph report

In case anyone’s wondering, the title of the post is taken from Fionnula O’Connor’s article in the Irish Times, as noted here

It may be that leadership status has to be won afresh in west Belfast. Ranting against inadequate policing lets off steam, but is a diversion, like attacking critics - as Adams may have found out already.

Adds From the Belfast Telegraph report

At the monthly Policing Board meeting in Belfast, Sir Hugh conceded that his force was not perfect but vehemently denied that his officers were failing to act against crime.

“Broad statements saying my force is not up to it merits a response from me as I believe my force is up to it,” he said.

He said Sinn Fein’s stance was at best manipulative and at worst anti-police and that he had requested a meeting with Gerry Adams about the matter.

His comments drew an angry response from Sinn Fein, with Alex Maskey demanding a public apology.

He said the suggestion that his party was anti-police was deeply unhelpful in building relationships between the force and republicans.

In the Irish News last week, Jim Gibney took the party line on who’s to blame for anti-social behaviour and criminality in west Belfast. Since then, and with particular reference to the Squinter episode, Tom Kelly has had his say, “Freedom of speech would be a good starting point, including the right to critique the record of the local MP”, and Susan McKay was pointed in her column, “Talk about sackcloth and ashes.” But perhaps the most effective criticism comes from Fionnula O’Connor in the Irish Times today [subs req],

Sinn Féin in Stormont has failed to shine and Martin McGuinness powersharing with Ian Paisley has its drawbacks, not least relegation for Adams. It is a long time since he last looked presidential, and now he has lost face at home. In its own defence, “the West” long ago became self-aggrandising. It is struggling to adjust to the most predictable of outcomes - that an end to war would not deliver prosperity and crime-free streets, no more than in Harriet Harman’s Peckham or Ahern’s Dublin.

Fionnula O’Connor goes on to say

Signing up to support civil policing produced no miracles beyond the spectacle of senior officers sitting down in public meetings with local people. Not at all surprisingly, the PSNI has not defeated “the hoods” any more than IRA beatings, shootings, exiling and the occasional “execution” did.

Some locals always jibbed at Sinn Féin dominance, though not necessarily because they loathed the IRA. It was the new establishment many disliked: agencies fronted by Adams’s supporters, cheerleaders at cultural events not exactly rattling jewellery in the best seats but setting a communal tone, with a backbeat of IRA enforcement.

Most acknowledged the uplift for a formerly downtrodden community, but resented the imposition nonetheless.

The violent deaths of two local men who apparently confronted young hoodlums have pointed up painful reality - perhaps most for ageing republicans aware of their own mortality.

Without the IRA at their backs, some have arrived on the doorsteps of “problem families” to be told where to go, or, worse, asked who they think they are.

It may be that leadership status has to be won afresh in west Belfast. Ranting against inadequate policing lets off steam, but is a diversion, like attacking critics - as Adams may have found out already. “Do nothing of any knee-jerk,” he once idiosyncratically appealed to republicans, at a tense moment for negotiations. But knee-jerk he did when lambasted a fortnight ago by the Squinter column in the Andersonstown News. Squinter is editor Robin Livingstone: the Andytown News has been Pravda to the Sinn Féin Kremlin. Blaming Adams - because he has been an MP for 20 years - for shirking responsibility for local ills might have been a mite skewed, but Squinter the rebel was a revelation.

The rebellion was brief. The next edition carried a stiff Adams objection on the front page and a slavish apology. Squinter’s defiance and the raft of substantially supportive responses - one comparing Sinn Féin unfavourably with Ian Paisley jnr’s lobbying at St Andrews for his “own people” - were wiped from the paper’s website.

Obviously nobody dared tell the Dear Leader what a comedown this was from windy talk about democracy and equality.

He may grudge the limelight to Deputy First Minister Martin. But if you want to stay number one in a collective leadership, self-awareness should surely be a help.

More strange goings-on in the long-running saga that is the Ihab Shoukri case - and the “serious nature” of the charges brought. Mr Justice Gillen today recused himself in the case because, as the BBC reports, “case papers given to him contained certain details ‘which may be adverse’ to some of the accused”.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Mr Justice Gillen said he was stepping down “in the interests of justice”. He ordered the retrial to begin on Monday.  He said he had not read any of the material in question, but decided “the interests of justice require me to recuse myself”, and therefore he could not hear any further evidence in the case.  Mr Justice Gillen added that justice should not only be done in a case, but also be seen to be done.

Presumably those case papers were prepared by the DPP..  Yesterday several reports picked up on the speech noted by Mick in March 2006 and which, it is alleged, Ihab Shoukri had personally written. Particularly the line on the UDA - “We will never go away, you know.” But the other intriguing line from what was portrayed - by certain interested parties - as the ‘bad’ UDA declared that they “must now take our fight into the political arena”.  Adds UTV report.

A change in the weather.. or just an historic snapshot..

From the previously noted statement.

So we must now take our fight into the political arena.  However, this does not spell the end for the UDA.  We want to reassure you all that the Ulster Defence Association is here to stay. I would also like to take this opportunity to let our prisoners and their families know that we will continue to fight for them.  And while Hugh Orde continually calls us criminals and puts only North Belfast Brigade Staff in jail on trumped up charges, we remain as strong as ever.

And a reminder of the meeting which a PSNI raid disrupted..

Interesting to note that, according to this RTÉ report, Northern Ireland First Minister, the DUP’s Ian Paisley, will be otherwise engaged when some, but not all, of those involved at the time memorialise the 1998 Agreement. The report doesn’t mention whether any other NI Executive ministers will be accompanying the “businessman of God..” From the RTÉ report

Dr Paisley is about to embark on what amounts to a lap of honour before he steps down as First Minister and DUP leader at the end of May.  He will be overseas, attending functions in New York and Washington, on the actual date of the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, 10 April.

Via Newshound. Interesting view-point from Kevin Myers on The Process™ and the ‘price of peace’. Room too for some archival links - on Gerry Adams, “armed struggle” was “necessary”, MI5 and the back-channel, and the US government’s role in the latter part of that Process™. Read the whole thing.

For the peace process was solely about ensuring the IRA never bombed London again; and as far as MI5 - the prime movers of the peace process - was concerned, the corruption of Northern Irish political life was a small price to pay.

“Whatever happened to..”, indeed..  Funding wasn’t mentioned in the reports on the unaccredited Belfast community-based Restorative Justice scheme but, via Newshound, we have a report on an attempt to secure funding for the Barcroft CRJ scheme from Newry and Mourne Council, as proposed by Sinn Féin councillor Brendan Curran - despite the scheme not signing up to the NIO protocols. The Newry Democrat report ends by noting that

It was then decided that money will be ring-fenced for Barcroft CRJ from council funds until the group signs up to the protocols.

The condition should, surely, be “until the group receives full accreditation”?  But a second SF councillor adds the quote of the day

However SDLP councillor Gary Stokes expressed his concerns that the group had not yet signed up to protocols required by the Northern Ireland Office for CRJ funding. Sinn Fein’s Pat McGinn said that knowing the members of the group personally he could vouch for them as honest and law-abiding citizens and accused the SDLP of demonising the CRJ.

It’s not the first time the issue has come up at Newry and Mourne Council, as the minutes of the Council’s monthly meeting on 5 June 2006 show [pdf file]

M/171/2006 - SPECIAL STAFF AND POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING TO CONSIDER AND ASSESS VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION APPLICATIONS UNDER THE ‘N’ CATEGORY (REF: M/4/2)

Read: Report of Special Meeting of the Staff and Policy Committee, to which all Councillors were invited, to consider and assess Voluntary Contribution Applications under the ‘N’ Category for 2006 / 2007 held on Friday 19 May 2006. (Copy circulated)

Councillor Hearty proposed and Councillor McDonald seconded that the above Report be approved and the recommendation contained therein, i.e. that:-
“Funding for applications which scored 22 points or more, and which requested £5,000 plus, would be capped at £5,000 and that applications requesting less that £5,000 and scoring over 22 points would receive 75% of the amount requested i.e. at a total of £147,175”

As an amendment to Councillor Hearty’s proposal, Councillor Carr proposed and Councillor Kennedy seconded the Report of the Special Meeting of the Staff and Policy Committee held on Friday 19 May 2006 to consider and assess Voluntary Contribution Applications under the ‘N’ Category for 2006/2007 be approved subject to the following amendment: -

“Voluntary Contribution Applications from Greater Barcroft Community Restorative Justice Group (ref 1346) and the Gap of the North Community Restorative Justice Group (ref 1345) be taken out of the Voluntary Contribution Applications for 2006/2007 and the groups be advised and encouraged to apply to the Northern Ireland Office for funding.

The Voluntary Contribution Applications from Dromintee Community Safety Group (ref 1284), Meigh Safety Awareness Association (ref 1310), Jonesborough Community Safety Group (ref 1347) and Forkhill Community Group (ref 1348) be taken out of the Voluntary Contributions Applications for 2006/2007 and the Groups be advised and encouraged to apply to the Community Safety Unit, Belfast for funding”

Councillor Carr said he was concerned that people were encouraged by Community Safety Groups to ring a mobile telephone number as opposed to contacting the PSNI.

Councillor Kennedy said he believed that the 6 groups needed to be removed from the Voluntary Contributions list, as none of those groups were actively working with the PSNI and other lawful agencies engaged in this work.

Mr McCall reminded Members of the legal advice that had been given to the Council during 2005 in relation to grant application from CRJ Groups.

He advised that any decisions taken must be in line and in accordance with these legal advices.

He advised Members that copies of the legal advices were available for them at tonight’s Meeting.

There followed a lengthy discussion on the procedures involved in compiling the Voluntary Contribution Applications list from the initial advertising stages to the scoring and assessing stages.

Councillor Reilly pointed out that when Councillor Hearty had made his proposal at the Special Staff and Policy Meeting held on Friday 19 May 2006, he had agreed in principle but would adhere to the legal advice previously given to the Council in relation to this matter.

Councillor Mussen said he believed the scoring system for Voluntary Contribution Applications should be revisited before next year. He said the Community Safety Groups may be viewed as complimentary rather than replacing policing. He said community pressure on those who did commit anti-social behaviour must be mindful of Human Rights and he did not in any way support vigilante groups.

Councillor Connolly asked that it be recorded that he had at no time attempted to block any Group in the Mournes area from receiving Council funding.

Councillor Carr said he wished it recorded that he did not discriminate against groups from the South Armagh area.

The amendment proposed by Councillor Carr and seconded by Councillor Kennedy “that the Report of the Special Meeting of the Staff and Policy Committee held on Friday 19 May 2006 to consider and assess Voluntary Contribution Applications under the ‘N’ Category for 2006/2007 be approved subject to the following amendment: -

Voluntary Contribution Applications from greater Barcroft Community Restorative Justice Group (ref 1346) and the Gap of the North Community Restorative Justice Group (ref 1345) be taken out of the Voluntary Contribution Applications for 2006/2007 and the groups be advised and encouraged to apply to the Northern Ireland Office for funding.

The Voluntary Contribution Applications from Dromintee Community Safety Group (ref 1284), Meigh Safety Awareness Association (ref 1310), Jonesborough Community Safety Group (ref 1347) and Forkhill Community Group (ref 1348) be taken out of the Voluntary Contributions Applications for 2006/2007 and the Groups be advised and encouraged to apply to the Community Safety Unit, Belfast for funding” was put to a recorded vote and the voting was as follows: (copy attached)

FOR: 14
AGAINST: 12
ABSTENTIONS: 3

The amendment was declared carried.
The amendment became the Substantive Motion and was put to a vote and voting was as follows:-

FOR: 14
AGAINST: 12
ABSTENTIONS: 1

The Motion was declared carried.

Councillor Curran said he wished it recorded that he was against the Motion, as the only groups that were ever excluded from the Voluntary Contributions List were the Restorative Justice Groups.

Councillor Reilly said he wished it recorded that his vote was based on legal advice received last year.

It was further agreed that Mr R Dowey, Director of Finance prepare a Report detailing the funding which had not now been taken up under the ‘N’ Section and that this Report be tabled for consideration at the Finance Committee Meeting to be held on Thursday 15 June 2006, to which all Members were to be invited to attend for discussion on this item and to agree allocation of this money.

On the proposal of Councillor Kennedy seconded by Councillor Oliver it was agreed to convene a Fews Area Councillors Meeting with Tullyvallen Football Club and appropriate Council Official to discuss their Voluntary Contribution Application.

And the issue reappears in the minutes of the Annual General Meeting on 19th June 2006 [pdf file]

D.D/209/2006 - TO SEEK LEGAL ADVICE RE ‘N’ SECTION VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS (REF: M/4/2)

Read: Minute of Finance Sub Committee Meeting held on Thursday 15 June 2006 in respect of ‘N’ Section Voluntary Contributions was which referred to the District Development Committee Meeting.

The recommendations were as follows: -

Councillor Kennedy proposed the existing issue regarding ‘N’ Category Voluntary Contributions 2006.2007, including correspondence from Mr E Morgan, Community Restorative Justice and correspondence from Mr Brain Finnegan, Slieve Gullion Community Safety Forum be referred to the Council’s Solicitor for up-to-date legal advices on if and how the Council may proceed.

Councillor McArdle seconded the above proposal.

Councillor McDonald proposed that no letters of offer be sent regarding Applications amounting to £126,908, until such times as the Council had received legal advice on sending letters of offer to these particular Applications.

Councillor Murphy seconded the above Proposal.

Councillor Carr proposed that the Council proceed to send out the letters of offer regarding the successful Applications amounting to £126,908.

Councillor McArdle seconded the above proposal.

A vote was taken on the first Proposal, and voting was as follows:
For: 8
Against: 6

The Proposal was declared carried, and it was therefore agreed that no letters of offer be sent regarding Applications amounting to £126,908, until such times as the Council had received legal advice on sending offer letters to these particular Applications.

It was further agreed that when seeking the above legal advices, the Council also ask for clarification as to whether or not it is legal to allocate funding to a group which meets the same criteria as the groups who were refused.

It was also agreed the above decisions be referred for consideration at the District Development Committee Meeting to be held on Monday 19 June 2006.

In reply to Councillor Stokes Mr McCall clarified that the Council had sought legal opinion over a year ago on this issue and he was not aware of any changes in the legislation at this point in time.

Councillor Reilly felt it would be prudent to seek up to date legal opinion as it seemed unfair not sent out the letters of offer to those successful applications.

Mr McCall said that as a different marking system had been used this year in respect of the ‘N’Category Voluntary Contributions it may be prudent to seek further legal opinion.

Councillor Stokes proposed and Councillor Reilly seconded that authority be granted to proceed to send letters of offer to those successful applications amounting to £126,908 at this time and that detailed legal opinion be sought in respect of the 6 No applications which are withheld detailed as follows:-

(1) 1284 Drumintee Community Safety Group
(2) 1310 Meigh Safety Awareness Association
(3) 1345 Gap Of The North CRJ
(4) 1346 Greater Barcroft CRJ
(5) 1347 Jonesborough Community Safety Group
(6) 1348 Forkhill Community Safety Group

It was agreed to seek legal opinion in this matter at the earliest opportunity with the legal opinion to be brought back to the Council at a Meeting with the Council’s
Solicitor being in attendance.

Authority be granted to the Council’s Solicitor to appoint Counsel if necessary.

Read: Letter dated the 19 June 2006 from Elliot Trainor Partnership Solicitors in respect of the applications made by the Gap Of The North CRJ, Drumintee Safety Group, Meigh Safety Awareness Association, Jonesborough Community Safety Group and Forkhill Community Safety Group inviting the Council to reconsider their decision to refuse to make a voluntary contribution to the above named groups.

It was agreed to refer correspondence dated the 19 June 2006 from Elliot Trainor Partnership Solicitors to Mr Rory McShane, Council’s Solicitor.

And, in the August 2006 Monthly Meeting minutes [pdf file]

FINANCIAL MATTERS
M/218/2006 - SPECIAL STAFF AND POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING – LEGAL ADVICE REGARDING VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS
(REF: F/3/75)_________________________________________

Read: Report of Staff and Policy Committee Meeting held on Tuesday 25 July 2006 re: legal advice from R McShane & Company Solicitors regarding voluntary contributions (copy circulated).

On the proposal of Councillor Feehan, seconded by Councillor W Burns, it was agreed to approve the above report and the recommendations contained therein.
Mr T McCall, Chief Executive, advised that he would be meeting with the Barrister on Tuesday 8 August 2006 in relation to voluntary contributions and would report back to the Council on the outcome of this meeting as soon as possible.

Following further discussion it was agreed that Mr McCall ask the Barrister if it would be in order for the Council to release all other applications on the voluntary contribution list which were not CRJ related as many groups throughout the area needed the money from the Council to cover the costs of events, many of which had already been held.

It was agreed that Mr McCall raise this matter with the Barrister and if an indication was given that all other voluntary contribution funding could be released, an urgent meeting be convened with the Group Leaders and Independent Councillors to discuss this matter.

I can’t find any reference to more recent discussion on CRJ’s in the Council until the Newry Democrat report already noted above.

A couple of reports to consider on the “refined process” that is the Historical Enquiries Team. The BBC report notes that “In the first year the team had a 40% turnover in staff, while it was about 29% last year. There are currently 180 staff, up from 80 two years ago.” and they have this quote from a HET spokeswoman

A spokeswoman for the HET told the Press Association many members only signed up to the job for a limited period because of the travel.  “Many are attracted to work for HET because of the unique nature of the challenge and a desire to help families if possible,” she said.  “However, the nature of the work is also very challenging and some people find that after an extended period, they do not want to experience any more of the trauma involved in these cases. “HET currently have a mentoring system in place whereby experienced staff help new arrivals with all aspects of HET work.”

The Belfast Telegraph report, however, includes this quote from NI Affairs Committee member, Sammy Wilson

Party colleague Sammy Wilson, a member of the NI Affairs Committee, said he found the turnover rates “quite alarming”.  He said: “I suppose some of the detectives concerned thought they were going to be reinvestigating crimes and bringing people to book, but then found out that is not quite what they were doing.”

He was concerned about the “immense” amount of resources involved and the fact that the HET has only questioned one terrorist under caution to date, despite having completed reviews of over 400 murders and having more than 1,000 under active investigation.

Some interesting detail from the Irish News front-page report in which “one of the leading lights in CRJ”, Jim McCarthy, who was sentenced to five years in 1976 for possession of firearms, “angrily” denies being an informer after he had, reportedly, “been visited at his west Belfast home by police who told him he was to be publicly exposed.” [subs req for now] The report quotes a Sinn Féin spokesman

A Sinn Fein spokesman said: “We can confirm Jim McCarthy contacted the party after the PSNI visited him.  “Sinn Fein was happy to let Jim know that there was no evidence that he was to be outed as an informer. “Jim provides a valuable community service in the area and we fully support him in taking the matter future in terms of his complaint to the ombudsman.”

And the report also notes that, as was the case with Roy McShane, McCarthy had previously been a driver for the Sinn Féin leadership.

The 51-year-old, who was once a driver for Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, has also been visited at his west Belfast home by police who told him he was to be publicly exposed.

The report doesn’t record when he was a driver nor whether he shared another of McShane’s roles.

In 1989 that internal security unit was stood down over concerns that it had been infiltrated by the British intelligence agencies. In what would prove to be a crucial mistake the IRA moved many of those involved in the ‘nutting squad’ into protection and driving roles for the Sinn Fein leadership.

I had asked previously, “Whatever happened to..” [community restorative justice].  Well, coincidentally, the first ten minutes of Radio 4’s Law in Action programme today dealt with “Justice Belfast style”.  The audio [RealPlayer file] is accompanied by an online article specifically about the Belfast report. There’s no mention of funding in either report, nor of the “volunteers patrolling” west Belfast, but the case used as an example of the work they do is worth noting.  With no statement being made to the police, about an attempted extortion of £10,000 by armed men describing themselves as being from “the republican movement”, the response of the Restorative Justice group took this form - Firstly Jim McCarthy, “one of the leading lights of CRJ”, assures the victim that “mainstream republicans” were not involved and, he tells the reporter,

“Different well-known people in the community will visit Margaret and Barry’s house today and tomorrow.  They’ll be seen going in and out of the house.  Just showing community support.”

Or, as the online report puts it

Margaret left CRJ’s Twinbrook office that morning feeling safer. Jim McCarthy had arranged for a number of well-known Republicans to drop in on her family at home. They hoped these public visits would scare away the extortionists.

The Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward, MP, may or may not actually believe that the NI Executive has become “one of the most successful governments anywhere”..  ANYhoo.. It’s part of the mood music for the 10th anniversary of the 1998 Agreement and, whilst Bill Clinton will be elsewhere, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has decided to hold a gala dinner for former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, at Dublin Castle.  Maurice Hayes is less impressed with the “rush to memorialise” - “it is still a work in progress” - and he recalls a Brendan Behan tale about Corporation workers “celebrating the seventh birthday of the hole”.  He also identifies why the Sinn Féin leadership continue to mis-represent the May ‘target date’ as an enforceable ‘deadline’ when talking up the devolution of policing and justice powers - despite it being clear for some time. From the article

Sinn Fein needs these powers to be devolved, not only because they represent the last piece of the Patten jigsaw, but because it was a main element in the bill of sale on which they persuaded republicans to buy into support for policing.

For Patten, it was a defining function of government, and a manifest of the commitment of parties to defend the institutions and the common good, that they should exercise these powers. For Sinn Fein and republicans, it is symbolically important that these powers should be exercised by local politicians responsible to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Without that, the Sinn Fein leadership would not have got agreement, and failure to deliver will seriously damage their credibility.

Which may be the reason for those predicted “major problems ahead..” Adds A further thought.  With conditions on the ground being so important to building confidence ahead of devolving those powers.. does this help or hinder?

Community Restorative Justice? The question arises, in part, from the absence of any reference to ‘restorative justice’ in Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams’ statements on the murder of Frank McGreevy and, in particular, his party’s apparent support for ‘tougher policing’ to deal with anti-social behaviour - the police investigation into the circumstances surrounding that murder continues.  No longer funded by Chuck Feeney’s Atlantic Philanthropies some of the RJ schemes, but not all of them, have so far failed to gain the necessary accreditation to receive public funds for their activities.  Meanwhile an Irish News report points to activities on the ground in west Belfast, where “Volunteers patrolling a west Belfast neighbourhood where a father-of-two was beaten to death last weekend are to be given a direct line to police.” Pictured below are SF MLA, Paul Maskey, “community workers” Stephen Corr and Sean Murray and Superintendent Nick Purce. It’s not the first photo of Sean Murray the Irish News has carried..

Here he is in May last year, at a meeting chaired by Martin McAleese, seemingly representing the Provisional IRA Army Council to Jackie McDonald’s representing the UDA inner council. Left to right, Sean Murray, Martin McAleese, Jackie McDonald.

Btw, Sean Murray is also a member of the Parades Review Team.

On Restorative Justice, the November report from the Criminal Justice Inspectorate on CRJ (Ireland) schemes noted some points on the Belfast-based organisation.

5.8 The Belfast schemes handle a wide range of business, which includes some serious crime and threats from dissident paramilitaries. They are well run, and great dedication is shown by the small team of staff members as well as by the volunteers. Inspectors were astonished at the commitment shown by many of those they interviewed, and there could be no question about their motivation being to help their communities, not in any sense to control them. [added emphasis]

And that

5.10 The Belfast schemes are not in the business of patrolling or providing a security presence. They have separated themselves from the Safer Neighbourhood projects, though there is still evidence of some members participating in both. Inspectors agree that CRJI is right to pursue a policy of separation, so that their role does not become confused.

Since November, the date of the report, there have been reports of a number of incidents, and confrontations, in which “veteran republicans” have been hospitalised or, as in the most recent case, killed - although it’s worth pointing out that none of the reports directly linked those incidents to any organisational activity.

But, as the Irish News report noted

Members of the Safer Neighbourhoods Project patrol the streets of the lower Falls in a bid to clamp down on anti-social behaviour.

They have been given a mobile phone number to call should trouble erupt.

Until last night the group contacted police through the police switchboard, which had prompted complaints alleging slow response times.

Now volunteers have been given a phone number that will connect them directly to a duty inspector, who can dispatch officers if necessary.

Meanwhile, the schemes’ public responses to criminal activity has been less than encouraging.

The organisation that deals with restorative justice in the area, Colin Community Restorative Justice, says it has contacted paramilitary groups who deny involvement and has offered to mediate with the criminal gang it says is involved.  Police have confirmed there are death threats and that the man the gang were after, who is married with two children, has now fled the area.

The police response in other areas to serious crime has been equalling less than encouraging at times.. as has the governments’.

And, while the Northern Ireland Alternatives’ schemes are now accredited, there were concerns raised in May last year by the CJI report then.

“In particular there needs to be clarity about the limits beyond which delinquent or anti-social behaviour needs to be treated as criminal and reported to the police,” it stated.

“The schemes are clear that serious offences must be notified, but there has been a grey area where some of the judgements made have not been entirely comfortable.”

Another point to note is that, although no longer funding Restorative Justice Groups, Atlantic Philanthropies continues to fund other organisations here.

Picking up on a report by Chris Thornton in the Belfast Telegraph, the BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport has blogged a suggestion for a possible solution to the still undecided structure of any devolved ministry for policing and justice..

“Is there a solution to the standoff over completing devolution here? Could we get a new department of justice, with a small j to appeal to nationalists and a gov.uk address to keep unionists happy? Perhaps it could be jointly led by a Justice minister and another justice Minister.....”

It would, of course, still leave the issue of the timing..

It’s three years since the discovery of £2.3million in sterling in a bin at his home in Cork and, as noted in this report, two years since the submission of a file to the DPP. Today Ted Cunningham has been arrested again and is reportedly due to be charged with money-laundering. A second man is also facing charges. From the BBC report

A garda spokesman said the two men would be facing separate charges, with only one charged with money laundering. He added: “These charges arise out of an investigation carried out by the Gardai in Cork following the robbery of the Northern Bank. “As part of the same investigation, a second man will also appear in court this morning charged with possession of ammunition.”

Timothy Cunningham was charged at Cork District Court with having more than £3.5 million worth of sterling and euro cash and cheques from the robbery in Belfast, in December 2004.  The 59-year-old money lender, known as Ted, from Farran in Co Cork was charged with trying to launder the money by disposing of it through friends and business associates.

Also in the BBC report

Mr Cunningham is understood to have told police the money belonged to a group of Bulgarian businessmen he had dealings with and was not connected to the Northern Bank money.

Mr Cunningham and others visited Bulgaria in January 2005

And one of those who accompanied him to Bulgaria, Phil Flynn, later told his story in an interview in the Village magazine.

Update More from the Irish Times report

The 10 charges he faces include possession of £3.01 million from the Northern Bank robbery, a cheque for €56,000 from the heist, which he gave to his son, Timothy Junior, and two cheques worth €144,000, also from the bank job, which he lodged to a bank account in Co Wicklow.

He was also charged with having a Mitsubishi Pajero car worth €10,000, bought with money from the heist.

Two other cars were said to have been bought with cash from the theft.

Another charge states that Cunningham had £175,360 from the robbery which he gave to an associate in return for €200,000 in cheques.

That’s the prediction of the deputy First minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, on what will happen if the devolution of policing and justice powers is not completed by May in his interview with UTV’s Ken Reid - Direct streaming link here [wmv file].  He also denies having that conversation with Jonathan Powell.  Of course, the deputy First Minister is still referring to May 2008 as a “deadline” rather than a ‘target date’..  And, as well as pointing to these comments, and these, he states that “It’s a big issue for Sinn Féin.” Indeed. Although he doesn’t predict what the SF leadership will say in response to that Ard Fheis motion..

The President of the Republic of Ireland, Mary McAleese, has echoed Taoiseach Bertie Ahern by linking a visit by the Queen there to the devolution of policing and justice powers here. From the BBC report

“We know that it is dependent on the completion of devolution, which hopefully will not be too far away. We had hoped that would be May.” Mrs McAleese said: “We are not entirely sure what the time scale is. We hope it will keep closely to the timetable.”

Mrs McAleese said she thought it unlikely a visit would take place this year. “I would be hopeful, though, that it would happen sooner rather than later,” she said.

Journalist Peter Taylor’s programme on one part of the back channel between the UK government and the Provisional IRA is due to be broadcast next week, ahead of his four part series on the history and development of modern terrorism, and interviews with Brendan Duddy have been appearing in a number of places.  Peter Taylor’s previewing article is here [and provides this post’s title].  But while the Guardian report refers to those who questioned Brendan Duddy in 1993 about the contested message from Martin McGuinness to the UK government, that the “conflict is over”, as four “very senior Provisionals” [quoting Duddy], the Belfast Telegraph report on their interview with Duddy has this to say

The Belfast Telegraph understands that when questioning Mr Duddy, Mr Adams was accompanied by three other senior republicans - now Deputy First Minister Mr McGuinness, his junior minister Gerry Kelly and party Vice President Pat Doherty.

There’s one other point of interest to note, although it might be entirely coincidental. 

According to this extract from Jonathan Powell’s book.

MI5 insisted that the operation had to be mounted by one of their staff and found a retired senior SIS officer who had recently been re-employed by the security service. This officer introduced himself to Duddy (who named him “Fred") and took over running the link.

The link served a useful purpose, not least in focusing the British government’s mind on what they wanted, but it really took off when, in February 1993, “Fred” brought back a message purporting to come from Martin McGuinness. The message contained the following: “The conflict is over but we need your advice on how to bring it to an end. We wish to have an unannounced ceasefire in order to hold a dialogue leading to peace. We cannot announce such a move as it will lead to confusion for the volunteers because the press will interpret it as surrender. We cannot meet the secretary of state’s public renunciation of violence, but it would be given privately as long as we were sure that we were not being tricked.”

‘Fred’, as Peter Taylor mentioned in this previous report, was actually known as ‘Robert’.

The current head of MI5, Jonathan Evans, was involved “in Irish-related counter terrorism during the late 1980s and 1990s” and according to one report preferred to be known as ‘Bob’.

Apologies for the third mention of the Powell book in three posts, but this is a bit of catch up. My piece for the Guardian’s Comment is Free site made the top column yesterday. So far the extracts have made for entertaining reading (’unbugged’ conversations with Adams in the Number Ten gents for instance). The real problems left by the St Andrews Agreement, is the not huge political step forward that it clear represents, but the way it has left some rather awkward details to fester unattended.

Of the eleven men arrested at the weekend over ongoing investigations into paramilitary activity, the four BBC journalists were released without charge, three other men have been released from custody - that report previous added that files would be sent to the DPP - and the remaining four men will appear at the Republic of Ireland’s Special Criminal Court later today.  Adds From a short Irish Times report

All four men have addresses in Derry city in Northern Ireland. They are Gary Donnelly (38), Kildrum Gardens, Michael Gallagher (28), Sackville Court, Martin Francis O’Neill (date of birth unknown), Colmcille Court, and Patrick John McDaid (39), Marlborough St.  They were charged with membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the IRA, on Sunday last, March 16th.

In the Cedar Lounge, WorldByStorm, correctly cautions “Still, let’s see what the DUP says..” in response to this story. [Adds DUP Chairman Lord Morrow responds here].  Meanwhile, with Northern Ireland Junior Minister, the DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson, trying to sell NI in Washington [“While most, if not all, of US business and industry, was focused on the credit crunch, plunging stock market and impending banking crisis.."], other reports are talking up the comments of US President George Bush on the devolution of policing and justice powers.  Here’s all he actually had to say on that

“But I came away with the impression that obviously the United States needs to help, and we will. But nothing will happen without clear conviction and determination by the folks who live in Northern Ireland. And there’s more work to be done. Taoiseach; as you said, the devolution of policing is important, and we support that.”

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on the same topic.

“We also look forward to seeing the devolution of policing and justice to the Northern Ireland Executive, as agreed at St. Andrew’s. This will be the last piece of the jigsaw that will give us a durable peace and prosperity that we’ve been working for, for all of these years.”

"As agreed at St Andrew’s” was echoed in the statement issued by Sinn Féin leader, Gerry Adams, along with another reference to fulfilling “obligations”.. Time, then, for yet another reminder of what “As agreed at St Andrew’s” actually means.

Jonathan Powell isn’t the only one with a book out to mark the 10th anniversary of the 1998 agreement.  The Irish Times today notes [subs req] the publication of a revised edition of The Far Side of Revenge by Deaglán de Bréadún, the paper’s political correspondent - the title is another quote from The Cure at Troy.  The report highlights the evolution of the back-channel of communication to “a semi-permanent team of negotiators from the different sides: London, Dublin and Sinn Féin.” And that, “This provided an underlying structure for the negotiations, although it meant that sometimes senior civil servants would be brought into meetings ahead of ministers, who would be left waiting outside.” Of course there were other interested parties. But the most interesting extract, on The Process™, is this

“These officials even became adept at making the usual gestures towards republican core values while at the same time ‘trying to get in a couple of things we wanted’. Some might see this as a corruption of the democratic process, but underlying the whole endeavour was a simple desire, simply expressed: stop the killing.”

The author quotes a senior Irish negotiator as saying that Tony Blair and his top adviser Jonathan Powell brought a new note of pragmatism to the British government’s approach: “Their attitude was, ‘Let’s stop the killing and worry about the detail later’.”

Meanwhile there’s another extract of interest from Powell’s book in the Guardian

Powell even found himself holding talks with Gerry Adams in the No 10 gents in March 2000 as they tried to break the impasse over decommissioning:

Adams first indicated to me that quiet meetings might prove productive when he came into No 10 on March 21 to talk about the IRA tradition of dumping weapons. His suggestion was that dumping could serve as a confidence-building measure. After the meeting he insisted I follow him into the ground-floor toilet, so we could speak away from his people, and possibly our bugs, to ask me to come up with some ideas on how this could be done, and then come over to see him.

The 51-year-old man left critically ill after being attacked at his home yesterday evening was later named as a former Provisional IRA prisoner who, according to one report [not online], was convicted of a bomb attack on a bar.  According to various reports, Frank McGreevey was assaulted at his home in Ross Street shortly after 1830 GMT on Saturday by at least two men. The Chairman of the Falls Road Residents’ Association, Robert McClenaghan, said “He is a former prisoner who served a life sentence. So he would be very well known.” The BBC report also notes Update It’s now a murder inquiry.

Police are treating the incident as attempted murder. A 20-year-old man is being questioned by police. Acting Detective Superintendent Jeff Smyth said they were following a definite line of inquiry.
...
“As such last evening in the middle of the night, members of the PSNI, under my direction, searched a number of houses in this community looking for a suspect,” he said.  Detectives later said the 20-year-old man had handed himself in at Grosvenor Road police station.

And the RTÉ report has this

Local Sinn Fein Councillor, Tom Hartley, says residents of the area had phoned the police about some of the parties involved in the incident and they were unhappy about the slow response.

An Irish News report today [subs req] provides an interesting update to the charges against Marvin Canning.  A brother-in-law of the deputy First Minister, Mr Canning faces seven charges in connection with an abduction and assault in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, last April - including false imprisonment, kidnapping and grevious bodily harm with intent.  According to today’s report, the Crown lawyer, Douglas Edmondson, told the court that “police described the death of 53-year-old Michael [Gerard?] Hampson, also from Derry, as suspicious.  He was naked when discovered, the court heard.” Hampson was wanted for questioning about the abduction/assault when he went missing in December last year and, when his body was found, police declined to say if foul play was suspected.

From the Irish News report. [subs req]

Mr Edmondson had also argued there was a risk of witness interference and alleged that three men claiming to be from the IRA had warned an associate of Mr Cranston that he was to drop the case.

The report also notes that, despite previously being refused bail

During the couple’s ordeal demands were made for Euro170,000 (£131,00), it was claimed.  But defence counsel Joe Brolly said the strength of evidence against Mr Canning was questionable.

The judge said that as well as the [cash] £10,000 surety requirement, Mr Canning was to stay at an address in Middlesex and have no contact with his co-accused or the victims.  He was also ordered to surrender his Irish passport and banned from applying for a British one.

Whilst the very early stages of The Process™ may still be contested, by some, the later stages seem to be attracting a degree of consensus around what should, by now, be a familiar analysis - although Hillary might disagree.. In the Irish Times [Lord] Paul Bew reviews [subs req] Ed Moloney’s biography of Ian Paisley Snr.

The author also throws new light on the relationship between the DUP and the Irish government, correctly laying particular emphasis on a meeting at the Reform Club in the last days of 2003, just after the DUP’s defeat of David Trimble in the November election. What remarkable symbolism - did the DUP delegation, Peter Robinson and Nigel Dodds, notice the great portrait of Daniel O’Connell that adorns the Reform Club walls? With Dan smiling down on them, the work to create the new power-sharing executive began there and then.

Like another recent writer, Mary Alice Clancy [added link], Ed Moloney lays considerable emphasis on the role of Mitchell Reiss, President Bush’s envoy, in pushing the process along. Reiss, like Michael McDowell, tended to be rather more unambiguous on matters of criminality than the British government. Moloney argues that the Blair-Jonathan Powell indulgence of Sinn Féin helped to destroy both the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP and raise up Paisley and Adams.  It is only fair to add at this juncture that Powell, Blair’s chief of staff in Downing Street, will be publishing his version in his own important book out next month.

That’s Tony Blair’s former chief of staff - the recently married Jonathan Powell - on Tony Blair.  Powell’s account of The Process™ will be published soon, and is to be serialised in the Guardian from Monday.  Today’s paper has a taster, and a longer interview, pointing to the importance of the “secret back channel between the British government and the IRA”.  One part of that back channel, Brendan Duddy - formerly a member of the Policing Board - has been talking to journalist Peter Taylor.. although it’s not clear from the reports whether the other parts of that back channel, Martin McGuinness and a MI5 agent known as ‘Robert’, talked too.  Here’s a short news report which may, or may not, be reliable..  Compare and contrast what’s said with previous statements by others.

From the Guardian report

Powell, the most senior member of the Blair circle to survive the prime minister’s full term in office, said that he had realised, after reviewing government papers and his diaries, that a secret back channel between the British government and the IRA, first opened in the 1970s, was one of the key factors that contributed to a peace deal three decades later.

“It’s very difficult for democratic governments to do - talk to a terrorist movement that’s killing your people,” he said. “[But] if I was in government now I would want to have been talking to Hamas, I would be wanting to communicate with the Taliban; and I would want to find a channel to al-Qaida.”

And from the full interview in the Guardian

Powell is unfailingly described by profile writers as “diplomatic”, but one of the most striking things revealed by his book is his capacity for putting his foot in his mouth. When Siobhan O’Hanlon, Gerry Adams’s late assistant, asks for a meeting with Blair during the Good Friday talks, Powell tells her his boss is in a meeting with Bertie Ahern, but “we could get rid of him”. O’Hanlon replies that there is no need and Powell, whose sense of humour frequently falls on the dusty side of dry, chips in that he did not mean “get rid of him in her usual sense”.

“He would say the most outrageous things in meetings,” recalls one former member of the Blair inner circle. Powell does not contest the charge: “Sometimes I say things which are extremely plonkerish at just the wrong moment… which is one of the reasons they kept me away from the press. It would’ve been a complete disaster if I’d have talked to the papers.”

Despite this, Powell was by common consent one of the key elements in the forging of a settlement in Northern Ireland. “Even if they didn’t trust me, they trusted him,” Blair says. “Sometimes Adams and McGuinness would take things from him that they wouldn’t take from me.”

Adams says Powell was effective because he had Blair’s authority - “They were almost Siamese twins” - but was constantly engaged with the Irish problem. “He was in and out of here secretly on numerous occasions… He was someone you could pick up the phone to and he was always available and there were times when I rang when I knew it wasn’t opportune because I could hear children in the background or whatever, but he would always take the call.”

Powell reckons that for 10 years he devoted some time to Northern Ireland “on average every other day or third day”, and flew in and out at least once a month. “Nine-tenths of the battle was paying attention to Northern Ireland. Previous British prime ministers, with the notable and honourable exception of John Major, hadn’t.”

Didn’t Powell ever lose patience with the bickering, the

pig-headedness? Didn’t he ever think, “Sod the lot of them”? “Frequently. Repeatedly.”

Reflecting on his experience of Northern Ireland, Powell says the clearest lesson is that we must always find ways to talk to our enemies. “The conclusion I came to, particularly looking back over my papers, over my diaries, was that one of the crucial things in this work was having a link to the IRA right from the 70s onwards. Although it wasn’t used much for large periods, there was always a way they could communicate.”

It’s a principle he thinks we should be adopting now in the Middle East. What about al-Qaida, I wonder, and he answers without missing a beat: “I would say the analogy with al-Qaida is there’s nothing to say to al-Qaida and they’ve got nothing to say to us at the moment, but at some stage you’re going to have to come to a political solution as well as a security solution… If I was in government now, I would want to have been talking to Hamas, I would be wanting to communicate with the Taliban and I would want to find a channel to al-Qaida. It’s not an easy step to take, and with al-Qaida there’s a practical problem of finding who you want to talk to, how you’d establish a channel. But I would be urging people to make an effort to do that.”

When I later talk to Blair, unbidden, he volunteers that Powell’s “creativity” was sometimes overlooked. “Sometimes he was almost too creative for the political realities.”

With the Republic of Ireland’s Supreme Court having thrown out his latest appeal, the Special Criminal Court has now set a June date for the trial of Brendan McFarlane.  From the Irish Times breaking news report

The Special Criminal Court has set a date for the trial of Maze Prison escaper Brendan McFarlane on charges connected with the kidnapping of supermarket executive Don Tidey.  Mr McFarlane (52), Jamaica Street, Belfast, was charged in January 1998 with falsely imprisoning Mr Tidey and having a firearm with intent to endanger life at Derrida Wood, Ballinanmore, Co Leitrim, in 1983.  Mr Tidey was kidnapped by an IRA gang in 1983 and rescued after 23 days in captivity. A trainee garda, Gary Sheehan, and a member of the Defence Forces, Pte Patrick Kelly, were killed in a shoot-out with the gang when Mr Tidey was rescued.