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Dunloy Parade

Residents of the small nationalist village of Dunloy in Co Antrim have reacted angrily to news that the Parades Commission has granted permission to one of the Loyal Orders, the Apprentice Boys of Derry, for a parade there this coming Sunday, May 17. Dunloy has been the scene of confrontations over the years between residents, the RUC and members of the Loyal Orders. In August 1996 the village was besieged by some 2000, mostly drunken, Apprentice Boys who attempted to invade the village following the main parade earlier that day in Derry. Local residents have made ongoing efforts to resolve the issue while the Apprentice Boys have refused to meet with either the Commission or local people. Although this has been acknowledged by the Commission a decision was made to allow a rerouted parade into the village. While the Apprentice Boys will no doubt stress that this is a church parade the political nature of the organisation was again demonstrated last night (11.5.1998) in Derry when the headquarters of the Apprentice Boys was used for a rally by unionists opposed to the Good Friday Agreement including the Rev. Ian Paisley. Dunloy residents contacted the Pat Finucane Centre last night and appealed for observers to be present in the village on Sunday.

Finucane Meeting with Foreign Minister

Members of the Finucane family met with Irish Foreign Minister David Andrews last week to highlight their demand for an independent judicial inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane. The delegation included Martin from the Centre. The following press release was released by the family. Members of the Finucane family traveled to Dublin on May 6th to raise the high profile case of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane with the Irish Foreign Affairs Minister David Andrews. Geraldine Finucane, the murdered lawyer's widow was accompanied by her two sons John and Michael. The three family members who witnessed the murder by UDA gunmen at their Belfast home over nine years ago were joined by Peter Madden and brother of the dead solicitor, Martin Finucane.

On behalf of the family Geraldine Finucane stated "The murder of my husband Pat came 3 weeks after a statement by Douglas Hogg in parliament. Comments that he has yet to explain in detail, in or outside of parliament. Pat's murder has been surrounded by allegations of collusion between loyalists and members of the security forces, especially when the role of British Army agent Brian Nelson emerged. The serious nature of these concerns have been considerably documented by five of the world's largest and most prestigious NGO's - Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. These organisations, with other respected NGO's, especially the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) in Belfast and British Irish Rights Watch (BIRW) in London, agree with us that there is compelling reasons for an independent judicial inquiry into my husband's murder."

"Prompted by their reports and the work of investigative journalists the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Dato' Param Cumaraswamy made the first ever official UN mission to the Northern Ireland. His extensive fact-finding mission was extremely critical of RUC practices He called for an independent judicial inquiry into the murder of Patrick Finucane, saying, "So long as this murder is unresolved, many of the community will continue to lack confidence in the ability of the Government to dispense justice in a fair and equitable manner".

Commenting after he delivered his findings in Geneva, Mr. Andrews said "that the Irish Government would be raising all the issues in question with the British Government, and in particular the case for a full re-examination of the circumstances of the killing of lawyer, Pat Finucane". It is understood that the case of Pat Finucane will be raised at a forthcoming meeting of the Anglo-Irish Governmental Conference.

Scots Guards Update

Members of the Centre last week accompanied the family of murdered Belfast teenager Peter Mc Bride to a meeting at Belfast City Airport with two Scottish MPs. George Foulkes MP, who is a Junior Minister in the Labour Government, and Andrew Welsh MP (Scottish Nationalist Party) were visiting the two guardsmen jailed for the 1992 murder. A high profile campaign led by British Establishment figures has been calling for the early release of the soldiers. Upon arrival at the airport we were made aware of the fact that the meeting had been arranged by reporters from the tabloid press in Scotland who had accompanied the two MPs to the jail. The reporters and photographers were quickly shown the door and denied interview and photo opportunities.

At the subsequent meeting members of the Mc Bride family spoke of their anger at the campaign of smears, lies and innuendoes propagated by supporters of the Scots Guards. The MPs for their part stressed that they did not contest the actual conviction but did argue for early release of the two Guardsmen. We pointed out that the underlying premise of the release campaign is deeply racist in nature. Murder of an Irish civilian is not as serious as murder of a civilian in Liverpool or Glasgow. The discussion then focused on the fact that both men remain members of the British Army despite their murder convictions. Neither MP was able to explain why this should be the case. A meeting was requested with the Armed Forces Minister John Reid who recently agreed to meet campaigners for the Scots Guards. George Foulkes stated his intention to pass this request on directly to the minister. Both the Mc Bride family and the representative of the Centre agreed that the meeting had served a useful purpose. British parliamentarians are rarely exposed to the victims of state violence. For a fact file on Peter Mc Bride see our homepage.

Killing Controversy

Controversy surrounds an incident where Gardai (Police in the Irish Republic) shot dead a member of a dissident republican group during an attempted armed robbery on a road outside Dublin on May 1st. The family of Ronan Mc Laughlin have demanded a public inquiry after it emerged that the Gardai issued several conflicting statements following the incident.

Initial reports by the Gardai that one of the raiders had opened fire were later corrected. It turned out that the men had been under surveillance for some time and that two officers of the Emergency Response Unit had opened fire before any attempt had been made to arrest the men. The case raises serious issues regarding the use of lethal force by the Gardai and we would support the calls for an inquiry into the incident.

Derry Trouble

Following the historic victory of Scottish football club Celtic on Saturday May 9 clashes were reported in Derry city centre between fans of the club and the RUC. A van was set on fire in the city centre and a crowd of some 200 youths pelted the RUC with stones early on Sunday morning. It is not known if plastic bullets were fired. Trouble also flared in Lurgan.