Irish Political News

They’re not likely to find a rare Viking-era hoard of silver coins of Arab origin, circa AD850, like these Swedish archaeologists. Nor any Viking-era hoards. And probably not coprolites.. But the archaeologists digging at Stonehenge are already excited.  It is the first dig there for more than four decades, and they’ve only just got through the backfill of those previous digs.  ANYhoo.. The dig is scheduled to continue until 11 April and there may be a Timewatch programme to follow in the autumn.  The companion website has daily updates, messageboard, and video clips.  Ignore the modern-day supernaturalists. And, yes, I know Newgrange is believed to be older.  But it’s all relevant..

George Bridge’s article on the regional vulnerability of the UK housing market to the vagaries of the credit crunch and how that it is likely to play into the hands of the Tories over the next few years. Ominously, in a regional of Norhtern Ireland, the risk seems to run from medium to high risk. According to a follow-up in today’s Daily Mail, Gerry Adams’ west Belfast constituency is the tenth most vulnerable in the UK (with 59.4% of households at risk). Mark Durkan’s Foyle constituency not looking good either. 

With the jockeying over, for now, Brian Cowen has formally put his name forward to be the next leader of Fianna Fáil and, with it, Taoiseach.  From the RTÉ report

Mr Cowen was nominated by Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan, and seconded by the Minister for Agriculture, Mary Coughlan.  He is expected to be the only candidate when nominations for the leadership of Fianna Fáil contest close tomorrow afternoon.  Although it is still technically possible that another TD could enter the contest before nominations close at 2pm tomorrow, it is highly unlikely.

Meanwhile, Beverley Flynn, TD, who was just readmitted to the party yesterday, has been talking to RTÉ.

Mayo TD Beverley Flynn has said it would be a great honour for her to hold a ministerial office, but she said that decision would be up to Brian Cowen as the next Taoiseach.

Adds This report has some more details

Speaking on RTE radio this afternoon Ms Flynn said she regretted the outcome of her action against the broadcaster and “a lot of what happened over the last number of years”.

“I’m very keen at this stage to focus now on the future and that future I’m glad to say now is obviously back in the Fianna Fáil party where I hope to [be] able to work both locally and nationally,” she told the News at One.

Mr Ahern said after he was re-elected last year, that he envisaged she could be given a junior ministry in the future. And in today’s interview Ms Flynn referred to what the Taoiseach had said in the past and again referred to working “nationally”.

She said it would be an honour for her and her constituents if she were given a ministerial position.

And Minister for Enterprise Micheál Martin has said - “It is a matter entirely for the incoming Taoiseach. I will be happy to serve in any capacity.”

As RTÉ reports here, this weekend sees the National Union of Journalists holding their annual conference in Belfast for the first time.  Interestingly, from the NUJ website,

Friday will also see Jeremy Dear take to the platform for the General Secretary’s address, in which he is expected to stress the role of the union in fighting for press freedom.

Have the NUJ anything to say about Squinter?

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.

The race may seem to be more about ruling themselves out of the race to replace Bertie Ahern but, as Adam says at Irish Election, with Brian Cowen all but crowned, “The real power struggle seems to be for the Deputy Leadership / Tanaiste Portfolio..” and, potentially, the next leadership race.  It’s another echo of the Blair/Brown handover..

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.

The competition to replace the reverse designs on the 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 50p coins by Christopher Ironside, introduced in 1971, and the 20p reverse design by William Gardner, introduced in 1982, was launched in August 2005 by the Royal Mint. Today, via the Guardian, and in greater detail by the Telegraph, the winning designs have been revealed - and they’ve added the £1 coin reverse to the original competition’s 6 coins.  They’re not bad either.  It’s not entirely clear whether the point noted below, from the Royal Mint website, applies in particular to the £1 coin - which has used different reverse designs for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Adds The winning designer.  And it looks like that point does apply in particular to the £1 coin.

As you can see in the image to the right [below], the Shield of the Royal Arms has been given a contemporary treatment and its whole has been cleverly split among all six denominations from the 1p to the 50p, with the £1 coin displaying the heraldic element in its entirety. This is the first time that a single design has been used across a range of United Kingdom coins.

The full set of coins showing how the separate reverse designs work together.

Also from the Royal Mint website

The new designs will enter circulation gradually throughout the year. It is normal practice for banks to order coins from the Royal Mint to satisfy public demand, which fluctuates over the course of the year. The current coin designs will remain in circulation and as legal tender for the foreseeable future.

Adds The winning designer, 26 year-old Matthew Dent

In seeking to spread a single design across six denominations, Matthew Dent conceived an idea that has never been realised before on the British coinage. To have the £1 as the unifying coin only emerged towards the end of the design process. Matthew Dent has commented that ‘the addition of the £1 coin design to the set was as a way of defining the whole series. A key coin uniting the designs’. Against all the odds, a young artist has won a public competition and devised a stunningly original series that stands as an imaginative and clever solution.

RTÉ is currently carrying coverage and speculation on an expected statement from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in light of the recent conflicting evidence to the Mahon Tribunal and his legal challenge in the courts. That speculation includes the possibility that he might announce standing down as leader of Fianna Fáil.. Update You can ignore the question mark.  Bertie Ahern to tender resignation as Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil on Tuesday 6th May.  Hmm.. That’s Blair, Paisley, Ahern.. anyone else? Adds In the afterglow of a successful election, in May 2007, Mick grabbed this quote from Bertie Ahern - “I’ll work until May or June of 2012.” And BBC report here with a short clip from the statement [RealPlayer file].  Full statement here. More Reactions. From President McAleese and his expected successor Brian Cowen, and Labour Party Leader Eamon Gilmore [et al]. And Reaction from Tony Blair. The BBC round-up reaction. Heh. Shane Hegarty has a verbatim report “for those who missed it”. Update In the comments zone Conall McDevitt notes an interesting point about Ahern’s chosen resignation date - it’s before the planned US NI investment conference [7th - 9th May] Final Update Via Maman Poulet. That moment in time..

As briefly mentioned here, the Queens University astronomers responsible for the SuperWASP Camera on La Palma were named among the top ten scientific discoverers last year. And with Queens currently hosting the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting 2008, they’ve chosen this week to reveal the discovery of ten new ex-planets, bringing their personal tally to 15. Although, those particular exo-planets seem unlikely to have liquid water.. But others might have organic compounds..

Among the planets discovered using SuperWasp are WASP-12B.  A year - its orbital period - on WASP-12B is just 1.1 days. The planet is so close to its star that its day-time temperature could reach a searing 2,300 degrees celsius.  Scientists have found more than 270 extrasolar planets since the first one was discovered in the early 1990s, but the pace of discovery has been accelerated by SuperWasp technology.

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..

A world first for Northern Ireland [Adds Apparently that depends on the definition of ‘commercial scale’].  The SeaGen tidal energy converter is the world’s first commercial scale tidal turbine and it’s being installed in Strangford Lough. Tom Rafterty has more here, although it’s worth pointing out that Marine Current Turbines have a number of corporate shareholders and strategic partners - company background here. Channel 4 report here, UTV has some video reports, and the Guardian’s coverage is here. Additionally, as the SeaGen project website notes,

The environmental impact of SeaGen will be continuously monitored by independent science team throughout the licensed 5 year installation period.  The project is being managed by Royal Haskoning with Queens University Belfast and the Sea Mammal Research Unit providing the science input.

According to the Irish Times breaking news report

The operation to fix the turbine on the seabed is expected to take up to two weeks. It was due to begin yesterday but had to be postponed due to poor weather.

Adds Wikipedia notes the fore-runners of this project.

Trials in the Strait of Messina, Italy, started in 2001 and Australian company Tidal Energy Pty Ltd undertook successful commercial trials of highly efficient shrouded turbines on the Gold Coast, Queensland in 2002. Tidal Energy Pty Ltd has commenced a rollout of shrouded turbines for remote communities in Canada, Vietnam and Torres Strait in Australia and following up with joint ventures in the EU.

During 2003 a 300 kW Periodflow marine current propeller type turbine was tested off the coast of Devon, England, and a 150 kW oscillating hydroplane device, the Stingray, was tested off the Scottish coast. Another British device, the Hydro Venturi, is to be tested in San Francisco Bay.

Although still a prototype, the world’s first grid-connected turbine, generating 300 kW, started generation on November 13, 2003, in the Kvalsund, south of Hammerfest, Norway, with plans to install a further 19 turbines.

SeaGen, a commercial prototype design will be installed by Marine Current Turbines Ltd in Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland in March 2008. The turbine could generate up to 1.2 MW and will be connected to the grid.

A reminder that BBC NI’s natural history series Blueprint starts tonight, BBC 1 9pm, and it’ll be available on iPlayer too [Has anyone told Edwin? - Ed].  And, perhaps as a result of the pressure from the young-Earthers, TalkBack today discussed their opposition to a scientific approach to natural history [the audio file is available for now, RealPlayer file].  Blueprint presenter, Will Crawley, posts a reminder too, and on his Sunday Sequence programme this week held a round-table discussion of his own which, as recommended by Mick, deals admirably with the history of the debate on the age of the Earth. [RealPlayer file] Familiar references in that discussion to re-entwining reason and faith.. and a lot of evidence of an absence of rational thinking.. Meanwhile, series producer Natalie Maynes reveals where the initial idea came from

The initial idea was sparked by an article I read which claimed that Ireland was once split in two and that both halves of the island were on separate continents.

Just in case you didn’t know, tomorrow is the first of April [it is? - Ed] aka April Fool’s Day. So, by way of a public information announcement, and in particular if you were fooled by Panorama’s Swiss spaghetti harvest [ahem - Ed] or the more recent Google Lunar Base, Slate have helpfully produced an updated “Defense Kit” with numerous links to keep you busy informed. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.. again.

The Northern Ireland Bill of Rights Forum completed its weekend deliberations and delivered its final report [pdf file] today - there’s a correction to the report too [pdf file].  The BBC report points to both the DUP and the Catholic Church’s boycott of the launch of the report [pdf file] at the Hilton Hotel, linking that boycott to an issue which the Assembly has already debated.. but the UTV report indicates that the DUP’s criticism of the report is based on much wider grounds. Adds Full DUP statement here

DUP Forum delegate Peter Weir said: “We want to see a Bill of Rights which can command that support across the population of Northern Ireland. What has been produced does not even come close to representing that.”

He continued: “The main recommendations are contained in Chapter Four of the report. That chapter contains 41 substantive proposals. None of these proposals were passed unanimously and none of them have cross community support.  “There are 216 secondary recommendations. None of them was passed unanimously and a mere seven have cross-community support,” he added.

Over to you, Monica..

Some science news [as we don’t get enough.. - Ed].  With the Space Shuttle Endeavour safely on the ground at Kennedy Space Centre - video here - the European Space Agency’s Jules Verne ATV is finally approaching the International Space Station - the dot below the edge of the Earth in the image is the Jules Verne viewed from the ISS.  And it’s not that the residents of the Space Station don’t trust HAL 9000 the automated docking system on-board Jules Verne, but they’ve made sure there’s been a live test of the Collision Avoidance Manoeuvre and there will be two days of demonstration drills before the real attempt on Thursday.  SpaceWeather has more views. Adds Where Jules Verne is now.

Endeavour’s night landing at Kennedy Space Centre.

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.

Mick has pointed to the actual debate to be had around Gordon Brown’s defence of the Union. But, rather than looking for complicated reasons and strategies behind Brown’s apparent playing down of Northern Ireland’s role in the United Kingdom, sometimes, as Henry McDonald suggests here, there’s a simpler reason for these things.

In his promotion of the union, not only in relation to Scotland but also Wales, the prime minister failed to mention Northern Ireland, which drew a wave of criticism from Ulster unionists and their supporters in the Tory press.

Yet neither unionist politicians or their allies in the London media ought to be surprised over Brown’s omission of Northern Ireland - because the delicate political settlement that has guaranteed the union between the north of Ireland and Britain requires periods of diplomatic silence.

As Fair Deal has already noted here.

Unlike the printed version, the full online text of Brown’s article did mention Northern Ireland, but only in passing.  And it’s a sufficiently fleeting a mention, compared to Wales and Scotland, to still support the argument made by Henry McDonald.

Unlike Scotland and Wales, Gordon Brown doesn’t have to compete for votes against other parties in Northern Ireland. That is because Labour doesn’t organise across the Irish Sea.

The only thing the prime minister has to concern himself with is that the political settlement at Stormont remains in place.

To trumpet the continued existence of Northern Ireland inside the UK would be to rub nationalist noses in it.

So instead the British government maintains radio silence on the north’s constitutional status.

Interesting interjection by DUP MLA Jim Wells, and one I entirely agree with, on the felling of a number of protected trees in a private estate on the outskirts of Newcastle, County Down.  One for the Northern Ireland Minister for the Environment, the DUP’s Arlene Foster, to ponder.. As the Woodland Trust spokesman says,

Patrick Craig from the Woodland Trust said: “We’re just absolutely appalled that yet again some more native trees have been destroyed.

“The legislation is very, very strong, but unfortunately when it comes to enforcement, there doesn’t seem to be the willingness or ability of anybody to actually enforce those protection orders.”

Also from the BBC report

A DOE spokesperson said: “Planning Service can confirm that investigations into a possible breach of planning control in the Bryansford area of Newcastle are ongoing, however we cannot comment on the details of the investigation at this stage.”

A possible breach?

A fascinating, if slightly eerie, sound has surfaced 148 years after it was recorded - That’s 17 years before Edison spoke “Mary had a little lamb” onto his phonograph.  The Professor pointed to this New York Times article about the recording yesterday and the BBC have followed up today with this online report and they also have an audio report [RealPlayer file] which includes a recording of Thomas Edison and an interview with the great-grandson of the inventor responsible, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville.  First Sounds uncovered the 1860 recording, and they have others - “Scott recorded someone singing an excerpt from the French folksong “Au Clair de la Lune” on April 9, 1860” [mp3 file].  From the First Sounds press release [pdf file]

Roughly ten seconds in length, the recording is of a person singing “Au clair de la lune, Pierrot répondit” – a snippet from a French folksong. It was made on April 9, 1860 by Parisian inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville on his “phonautograph” – a device that scratched sound waves onto a sheet of paper blackened by the smoke of an oil lamp.

And from the BBC report

“When I first heard the recording as you hear it ... it was magical, so ethereal,” audio historian David Giovannoni, who found the recording, told AP.

“The fact is it’s recorded in smoke. The voice is coming out from behind this screen of aural smoke.”
....

Previously, the oldest known recorded voice was thought to be Thomas Edison’s recording of Mary had a little lamb. The inventor of the light bulb recorded the stanza to test another of his inventions - the phonograph - in 1877.

“It doesn’t take anything away from Thomas Edison, in my opinion,” Mr Giovannoni told Reuters.

“But actually, the truth is he was the first person to have recorded [sound] and played it back.”

The recording had some unfortunate consequences for a Radio 4 newsreader this morning.

The ripples from the evidence to the Mahon Tribunal last week seem to be unsettling the coalition. Both John Gormley, of the Green Party, and Mary Harney, from the PDs, have called on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to clarify his account. Another Minister of State, Bertie Noel Ahern, disagrees. More from Cian at Irish Election.

Sorry, another Telegraph link. But Damian Thompson’s line on Gordon Brown’s reasons for proposing an end to the Act of Succession: he’s fearful of losing a solid base of Catholic Labour voters in central Scotland… Over to you?

Across Europe, there are nationalisms of many different types. In Britain as in Ireland finding the weight of a new citizenship is proving tough and in complicated by ‘red in tooth and claw’ politics: whether Bertie’s ill-fated attempt to get a national debate off the ground around any future implementation of Schengen and what it might ask of national consciousness in the Republic; or the political intriguing around Brown’s attempts to get a sane discussion going on the ever vexed theme of Britishness.

“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.

Notwithstanding the extraordinary apology in the Andersonstown News, David Adams picks up where Squinter laid off.. Only, unusually perhaps for a unionist commentator, (David) Adams believes that the blame for anti social behaviours in West Belfast does not lie with his namesake, the Sinn Fein MP, but with poor parenting.

Squinter’s anger is understandable, but it is hard to know what precisely he thinks Gerry Adams and his party should be doing. By the same token, it is somewhat disingenuous of Adams to blame the PSNI and “other criminal justice agencies” as though he believes they can eradicate the problem.

To varying degrees, they plague local communities right across Northern Ireland. At the top end of the scale, hardly a week goes by without reports of someone somewhere in the North being viciously assaulted, stabbed or beaten to death, for no discernible reason. Attacks on police, fire fighters and ambulance crews on emergency call-out are now so common, they barely warrant a mention.

In our usual self-absorbed Northern Irish way, we keep telling ourselves that all of this has something to do with a society emerging from conflict (as though thuggish behaviour will suddenly vanish like snow off a ditch upon the devolution of “normality"), completely ignoring the fact that problems of a similar nature, and worse, exist throughout Ireland and Britain.

There’s not much in the way of “emerging from conflict” to explain the violent and crime-ridden housing estates and the dangerous late-night city centres of Dublin, Limerick, London, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow, or any other Irish or British conurbation you care to think of. All of these places have something else in common with Northern Ireland; there too, they will lay the blame for out-of-control youngsters everywhere except where it properly belongs.

The elephant in the room is, according to Adams:

The real experts are hard-pressed, lowly paid primary-school teachers - now doubling as social workers, breakfast providers, and all-round surrogate parents. Ask them and they will readily point to where rampant anti-social behaviour has its roots, and where ultimately the solution lies: with parenting.

Almost exclusive responsibility for the bad behaviour of young people lies with parents, who neither know nor care about raising children properly. Yet if we dare mention the cost to society of large numbers of boys being raised in the complete absence of a positive male role model, and increasingly girls in the absence of a positive female one, then we are immediately accused of denigrating single mothers.

So it is better to say nothing, or simply lay the blame on the usual, largely amorphous scapegoats: the politicians, the police, and state agencies, although we never do get around to explaining how those people can possibly be held responsible for our children’s bad behaviour.

I’m not entirely sure there is no connection, as Adams argues, with a society coming out of conflict. Some of the widely accepted ‘community’ approaches to dealing with anti social crime required shortcutting legal and judicial processes, and the administration of some fairly heavy, anti social practices.

But his argument in part boils down the fact that simplying tapering off or ending those practices are not an end in themselves.

Having spent most of last year filming, I think it would be fair to say that Will Crawley is eagerly anticipating the launch of BBC NI’s natural history series “Blueprint”. - there’s a trailer here.

This major, multi-faceted season across television, radio and online features a series of exciting output which will give the people of Northern Ireland an unforgettable insight into where we live and who we are and change the way they see Northern Ireland forever.  Blueprint series editor Paul McGuigan says: “We’re rolling 600 million years of Northern Ireland’s unique past into an exciting series across television, radio and online.”

Now, if someone could remind Northern Ireland’s Culture Minister..

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.