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Welcome Back to the News Service

Welcome back to the Pat Finucane Centre's news updates. After a brief hiatus (and long overdue holidays) we are back online and will be resuming our weekly news service. The talks process which began yesterday in Belfast will not feature to any significant degree in our news updates. Both the Irish News and Irish Times are covering the talks and we would refer readers to links on this site.

Armagh Bombing

A large van bomb exploded just before noon yesterday outside the RUC barracks in Markethill, Co Armagh following an uncoded phone warning to a Belfast radio station. No organisation has as yet claimed responsibility for the attack which has seriously damaged the RUC barracks and the centre of the market town according to reports. The Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams, expressed his "regret" over the attack. From a political perspective the timing of the bombing will certainly strengthen the hand of those Unionists who are unwilling to enter into discussions with Sinn Fein giving rise to speculation as to which organisation is actually responsible. An early finger of suspicion has been pointed at the Continuity Army Council, a small republican breakaway faction.

Harryville Protest to Resume

The loyalist picket of Our Lady's Church in Harryville, Co. Antrim is set to resume this weekend. Two weeks ago the picket, which was to coincide with resumption of the church's Saturday evening mass, was called off "in honor" of the late Diana Spencer. This past Saturday the picket was put on hold pending the outcome of Sunday's Orange Order parade in Dunloy.

ryville's Saturday evening masses had been suspended during the summer months due to holidays and to ease the situation in Ballymena. Prior to this suspension, the mass had been the target of nearly nine months of anti-Catholic demonstrations. Protesters linked their protest to the blocking of Orange, Black and Apprentice Boy marches in nearby Dunloy.

issue of contentious parades in Dunloy has yet to be resolved. Sunday's (13/9) Orange parade was again blocked by the RUC.

Labour MP Critical of Duffy Case

Labour MP Chris Mullin, known to many for his campaign on behalf of the Birmingham Six, has requested a meeting with NI Secretary of State Mo Mowlam to discuss RUC handling of the Colin Duffy case. Duffy, the Lurgan man who has been charged with the murder of two RUC men in June of this year, has repeatedly been refused bail despite the growing crisis of credibility with the witness whose evidence represents the RUC's case against him. In a letter to the Secretary of State, Mr. Mullin expressed concern over RUC treatment of Colin Duffy's solicitor and witnesses. The letter went on to say : "When this case collapses - as I have no doubt it will - it will provide you with the opportunity for a root and branch shake-up of a system which, despite the scandals of the past, resolutely declines to learn any lessons, and appears to a large extent to be rotten."

Duffy's solicitor will be requesting a meeting with the Independent Commission for Police Complaints. Witnesses for Mr. Duffy have done likewise.

The RUC have declined to comment on the Labour MP's criticism.

Concern Over Remand Prisoners in Belmarsh

There are grave concerns this week about the condition of five Irish remand prisoners in the Special Secure Unit (SSU) at Belmarsh Prison in London. Contrary to reports this SSU has not been closed. Sentenced prisoners were removed from the SSU's in August but these five remand prisoners remain in the unit which has been described by Amnesty International as 'cruel, inhuman and degrading'. (see link to Amnesty report on this site) One of the men, Brian Mc Hugh of Fermanagh, is presently on 23 hour lockup following his protest at the excessive use of strip searches and families of the men have complained to the Centre of vindictive and petty harassment of the men in the lead-up to their October trial. There are reports of overnight cell searches in the past week by prison officers who were apparently drunk. Cells have been wrecked and roll calls have been initiated as a means of petty harassment. Restricted open visits are now available but physical contact is restricted to holding hands across a wide table. Such visits require the prisoner to submit to strip searches before and after each visit while incoming visitors, including children, are subjected to vigorous searches including mouth searches. We would urge readers to send urgent letters or faxes to the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Sir David Ramsbotham, 50 Queen Ann's Gate, London SWI H9AT. Tel 0171 273 2723 or Fax 0171 273 4087

UVF Out on the Streets

While various political parties and sections of the media have reacted angrily to the recent IRA statement on the Mitchell Principles, the UVF's armed display this past weekend has largely gone unnoticed. According to the Irish Times, four armed and masked UVF members " paraded before a crowd of several hundred in a side-street off the Shankill Road on Saturday, the first such open display since the loyalist ceasefires." The UVF men stood at attention beside a plaque erected in memory of a fallen comrade killed by the British Army in September of 1989. This armed display appears to go against the Mitchell Principles and raises questions about the PUP's participation in the talks process.

After the men disappeared into the crowd, the Shankill Protestant Boys marching band played Here Lies a Soldier before marching past. Around 70 bands paraded along the Shankill Road Saturday afternoon. Jim Cusack of the Irish Times stated that nearly all of the bands displayed some kind of UVF emblem.

Black Birds of Evil and Nests in Our Hair

An editorial in the September issue of the Orange Standard, the monthly newspaper of the Orange Order, pays tribute to those journalists who have "told the truth" and have "understood the problems of Northern Ireland so well that they made fair, just and unbalanced comment on what was happening here." One of the "few" singled out in the editorial is Eoghan Harris, a former member of the Worker's Party and writer for the Sunday Times. The Orange Standard comments favourably on an article by Mr. Harris arguing against any talks whatsoever, under any circumstances, with Sinn Fein. As evidence Eoghan the Fearless quoted a Chinese proverb which advises, "We cannot prevent the black birds of evil flying overhead, but we can prevent them from building nests in our hair." Heavy stuff.