In a short statement Martin Finucane of the Pat Finucane Centre said: " Once again we can see that the Police Authority is drawn from a very narrow band of society. It is dominated almost totally by Unionists as well as by those who already hold positions in a range of other Government quangos. Small wonder, then, that very few people have any confidence in the Police Authority or believe that it will act impartially to uphold the principles of good, accountable and democratic policing."

Republican Sinn Féin member jailed

A prominent member of Republican Sinn Féin, Michael Hegarty, has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin after he was convicted of possession of one and a half tonnes of explosives. He had been arrested in County Monaghan in November 1995. Hegarty used to a member of Republican Sinn Féin's ard chomhairle or national executive. During his trial Hegarty consistently refused to recognise the court.

Defective plastic bullets widely used

The RUC had known since 26 March that its members had fired thousands of defective plastic bullets but chose to say nothing until the fact was revealed by British Secretary of State Mo Mowlam earlier this week. A spokesperson for the Pat Finucane Centre, Paul O'Connor said: "By maintaining its silence the RUC has conspired to withhold vital evidence both from the judicial process and the general public. This is a matter of grave concern which the RUC have covered up." This statement followed an admission by the British Ministry of Defence that 9,000 rounds from the faulty batch were fired between 1994 and April this year. According to the Ministry of Defence the defect meant that the plastic bullets had been fired at velocities greater than allowed for by regulations.

Local Derry solicitor, Padraig Mac Dermott has called for anyone injured since 1994 to sue the RUC. In a statement Mr Mac Dermott said: "What is really striking is that they are not allowed to be used in Great Britain yet they are allowed in Northern Ireland. In particular in Derry last July it was clear from the injuries that these bullets were being fired indiscriminately and at the head and upper body. Even by their own regulations, the security forces are supposed to fire at the lower body and off the ground. Anyone hit in the body or head would, in our view, be entitled to compensation as would anyone injured by a round from this defective batch.."

The possibility of compensation was clearly recognised by Mo Mowlam when she said on Tuesday (10 June) that "The MoD have got some hard questions to answer historically. As to compensation that is clearly a question that will clearly arise and we look forward to dealing with it. I regret what's happened because it will cause distress and worry in the community. I also regret that the RUC have used plastic baton rounds when they didn't know they weren't fitting specifications." She said that the previous government had " seemingly failed" to put the discovery into the public domain. The Ministry of Defence has indicated that the company that manufactured the plastic bullets maybe prosecuted.

Methodist conference hears call for Bloody Sunday inquiry

The annual conference of the Methodist Church in Ireland which was held in Derry this past week (6 - 10 June) has heard a call from one of its most senior members, Rev David Cooper, for a new inquiry into the killings on Bloody Sunday. Rev David Cooper, the Secretary of the Methodist Church's Council for Social Affairs, who comes from East Belfast, speaking on Monday (9 June) said: "For many Catholics and nationalists questions remain unanswered - what lay behind the Army's decision to open fire on the marchers? Who authorised it and why? There will be no healing if open sores are left untreated."

Tony Doherty of the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign said that the Rev Cooper's comments were "brave and courageous. It is particularly pleasing that the call for a new inquiry has been made unprompted. It was not as a result of lobbying by those associated with the Bloody Sunday campaign. We hope that Rev Cooper's call, and those by others, will eventually lead to a specific resolution of the miscarriage of justice that was Bloody Sunday. This, in turn, could lead to the development of a more positive political situation within the island of Ireland and between Ireland and Britain."

David Cooper was speaking as he gave the report to Conference of the Council for Social Affairs. He reported that the Methodist Church in Ireland is in regular contact with all Northern political parties including Sinn Féin. He also called on the British Government not to allow the issue of decommissioning of weapons to become a barrier to Sinn Féin's participation in all party talks. He also said that unionists should "accept the reality of a changing society and to be generous and open with their nationalist neighbours. While unionist fears have to be understood, abstentionism and grudging attacks can only damage and limit their effectiveness. Inclusiveness is part of the Christian message we proclaim and it is offered as a meaningful path for political progress and understanding."

South Africans shocked by Unionists

A leading church leader from South Africa, Rev. Caesar Molebetsi, an independent evangelical from Johannesburg, has said during a visit to Derry that political leaders in South Africa were disappointed and shocked at unionist refusals to work with Sinn Féin. He said: "To waste such a once-in-a-life- time opportunity is a shame. We in South Africa cannot understand political leaders objecting to the presence of other political leaders simply because they don't agree with them." Ceasar Molebetsi's comments came after the visit to South Africa by political leaders from Northern Ireland at the beginning of June. The insistence by unionists of "voluntary apartheid" (Jeffrey Donaldson, Unionist MP for Lagan Valley) in which the delegates from Sinn Féin were never in the same room as Unionists are understood to have been seen as deeply insulting both to South Africa and to their President Nelson Mandela who visited the conference and who was required to meet delegates in separate rooms.

No trouble at Harryville

There have been no reports of any incidents at Our Lady's Church, Harryville, Ballymena, this weekend. Loyalists continue to mount anti-Catholic demonstrations at the church aimed at those attending Saturday evening mass. Last week Loyalists broke through RUC lines and entered the church and attempted to burn it down.