Both the Taoiseach John Bruton and Tánaiste Dick Spring have called for the British Government to take prompt action to resolve the growing demands for a new inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday when 13 unarmed civilians were shot dead by members of the Parachute regiment in Derry on 30 January 1972. A fourteenth person subsequently died of his injuries. Speaking in the Daíl on Tuesday (4 February) John Bruton said: "It is very clear that the people shot were entirely clear of any wrongdoing and they deserve an unambiguous apology.." He had told Mr Major, the British prime minister during a 15 minute telephone conversation on Monday (3 Feb) that there was widespread disquiet as a result of the new evidence which had called into question the official version of events. Dick Spring also raised the matter of Bloody Sunday when he met British minister Patrick Mayhew at a meeting in London on Thursday (6 February).
Mrs Mo Mowlam, the person who will succeed Patrick Mayhew as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if the British Labour party win the election this year, has clarified Labour's position on Bloody Sunday. She said on British Television: "If we get a Labour government, I have an absolute determination to look at all the evidence that is available, seriously consider whatever compelling evidence there is, and have a completely open mind about the need to look to the future on what happened in 1972. " Mowlam went on to say that at a personal level saying that she was "deeply sorry for what happened on that day. It would be daft for me, short of being secretary of state, to prejudge the situation. I need to look at the information, and if it is of a serious compelling nature, I will give it my full attention ."
In a series of potentially significant developments over the past week, a number of leading voices from within the Unionist community have called for the British to Government to take new action to resolve the issue of the Bloody Sunday massacre that took place in Derry on 30 January 1972. The developments, which have been positively welcomed by the relatives of the 14 killed, began last week with an editorial in the pro-Unionist evening newspaper, the "Belfast Telegraph".
The editorial, published on Friday, 31 January, stated that "new evidence is still coming forward which cries out for investigation. Until the findings of the Widgery inquiry - now widely accepted as unsatisfactory - are re-examined, there will be no relief for the families.
"Although the government is reluctant to open a 25-year-old can of worms, which cannot make its present task of peacekeeping any easier, it must know that this is an issue which will not go away. With hindsight, it can be seen that the Widgery Tribunal was deeply flawed, yet there has been no reappraisal of its findings."
Then on Monday (3 February) the more hard-line unionist morning newspaper the "Newsletter" said that an apology for Bloody Sunday was overdue. In its editorial the newspaper said that the Bloody Sunday massacre was "unforgivable." In the editorial the "Newsletter" said that "the reality is that for year s it has been plain that many people died in Londonderry because of an appalling over-reaction by troops of the Parachute regiment. The editorial challenged the "unionist and Protestant people...to open their minds" to what actually happened.
"The Bloody Sunday cause has become so bound up in republican propaganda that unionists find it difficult to sympathise with the plight of relatives who are seeking an official apology from the government." The editorial made a comparison with events at Drumcree over the last two years and suggests that there could have been a similarly bloody end to the Drumcree protests, "particularly during last July when British troops were dug in behind police lines with loaded guns at the ready."The editorial went onto criticise what it termed the " British establishment" saying that it was "fearful of world opinion, has had little appetite for trying to discover what really went wrong that day. And even less of an appetite for apologising to the still-grieving relatives of the dead." The editorial then went onto say that the events of Bloody Sunday were unforgivable and that the relatives deserved nothing less than a heartfelt and unambiguous apology from the highest possible source. "All the credible evidence points towards a situation where troops, who may or may not have been under fire, themselves opened fired indiscriminately, with scant regard for the lives of those who were guilty of nothing other than protesting for what they believed to be their rights."
Further support for a new inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday came from Tory MP and former Northern Ireland Minister "Sir" Nicholas Scott. In a TV interview in Britain, Nicholas Scott, who was the longest serving British minister in Ireland since the imposition of direct rule, said that "I think year by year the memories of what happened on Bloody Sunday are reawakened. People aren't satisfied with the decisions, the way the whole thing has been presented since then. Widgery I don't think was a satisfactory inquiry and I think there is scope for a new one....I really do think the time has come that we try to find out what the truth really was." Scott went on to say that he thought that any new inquiry should have both British and Irish judges with possibly a third neutral figure.
Another newspaper has also called for the British Government to "apologise" for Bloody Sunday. The right-wing pro- Conservative "Daily Express" said on Monday (3 February) that Bloody Sunday was the founding myth of the IRA which had exploited it ruthlessly ever since. The "Daily Express" editorial said that an apology would be "a historic act of generosity (sic) and reconciliation. If this is truly the United Kingdom we claim it to be, we cannot leave this unhealed wound to suppurate forever. These were British citizens shot down by British soldiers in a British city. And Her Majesty's Irish Roman Catholic subjects have every bit as much right to justice and truth as the rest of this nation's people. "
Also calling on the British Government to apologise to the relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday was the spokesperson for the Ulster Unionist party, Ken Maginnis, MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone. In a statement which surprised many people Mr Maginnis said that "Very obviously if the circumstances are as I believe them to be, it is appropriate for the government to make it clear that it does apologise for events in 1972. " Mr Maginnis added that in his view "young soldiers, untrained for public order duties, appeared to lose their head." This statement was in sharp contrast to that of Belfast DUP councillor Sammy Wilson who called on the British Government to honour the Parachute regiment.
Other Unionist spokespersons have also called for a recognition of the truth of what had happened on Bloody Sunday. David Ervine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, and former UVF prisoner, said that "I will state it very simply - why don't we know the truth and, if there are elements of the truth we don't know, we should know them and no stone should be left unturned so that the truth is borne in front of us. I hear complaints constantly about Bloody Sunday being hijacked. Had it, of course, been dealt with adequately, there would be no capacity or possibility to hijack it." In similar vein Gary McMichael, leader of the Ulster Democratic party, which is believed to be close to the largest loyalist paramilitary organisation the UDA said: "It is difficult for us, as unionists, to become embroiled in the Bloody Sunday debate. However if there is new evidence, then it should be heard. And if the British Government attempts to ignore new evidence it would give the impression that they are running away from the problem. "
However the British Government has currently ruled out any apology. Speaking in the House of Lords, Government Minister "Lady" Denton said that the "Government is not proposing to make a formal apology." However John Hume, the MP for Derry and leader of the SDLP believes that there is a possibility of a fresh inquiry sponsored by the British Government. In a statement published in the "Derry Journal" (Friday, 7 February) John Hume states that "I have been in touch with John Major's Office and have been assured that serious consideration will be given to new evidence which I have received. " This evidence has been passed onto Hume by the lawyers of the relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday, Madden & Finucane. John Hume added that "all the new evidence has been forwarded to me and I, in turn, will forward it to Mr Major. I have told him that I am available to meet and discuss the situation with him in the company of several of the relatives concerned. "
Speaking on behalf of the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign, Tony Doherty, a founding member of the Pat Finucane Centre whose father was murdered on Bloody Sunday welcomed the possibility of any new inquiry. "Certainly, if this is true, it is a departure from previous public reiterations that have been made in recent years by members of the British Government. Until there is a public declaration as such, from a British prime minister it would be too early to give it serious comment. If it is true that Mr Major is giving it serious consideration, that is a step in the right direction. However this Inquiry will have to have full powers. Its remit cannot be imposed by the British Government. That has been tried and has failed. With a view to fairness, openness and accountability, any new inquiry must be independent from the government and the parameters of it should be agreed by both British and Irish Governments and the legal representatives of the families."
Roisin McAliskey who is currently on remand in Holloway Women's Prison in London awaiting extradition to Germany, has refused to sign a medical disclaimer according to her mother former MP Bernadette McAliskey. She also said that Roisin was still being strip-searched on a daily basis.
"Last week she was asked to sign a medical disclaimer - which she sensibly declined - to waive any claim against the prison, if any harm came to her or her unborn child."
Roisin McAliskey, who is over six months pregnant, has been classified as a high risk prisoner deemed likely to attempt escape. Because of her "high risk" status, Roisin McAliskey does not have access to Holloway's pregnancy unit. She will also be denied access to the mother and baby unit in the prison when the baby is eventually born which will probably be some time before mid-May. Her mother added "we are locked in a time scale battle at this point, with no chance of extradition proceedings being resolved prior to the child's birth. If she doesn't get bail, she will be handcuffed to prison officers, and may be required to lose her child at birth. She is facing a high risk pregnancy, in isolation, with only the basic advice from relations, and going into the last term of pregnancy faced with the threat that her child could be taken from her."
The most recent edition of "Just News", the monthly bulletin
of the Belfast-based Committee on the Administration of Justice
(CAJ) has highlighted the case of Roisin. (Vol. 12 No. 1 Jan
1997). In it they say "CAJ would encourage those interested
in ensuring that Roisin McAliskey receives adequate medical
treatment and care to write or fax the German Government at the
following address:
Dr Morre
The Office of the Attorney General
Federal Republic of Germany
Bundesgeriethof
Postfach 2720
76014 Karlsruhe
Germany
Fax No: +49 0721 159 606
Readers should request the German Government to instruct
their legal representatives to withdraw their opposition to the
granting of bail to Roisin McAliskey."
Visit PFC's
Roisin Page
or
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The operational competence of the RUC during the so-called Drumcree crisis last year (July) has been criticised in a report prepared by Colin Smith, the British Inspector of Police. The report has heavily criticised the management of operations by senior RUC officers, according to the "Irish News". Accordingly the report has suggested that police officers could be drafted in to help the RUC deal with disorder during the marching season. The report says that while the RUC may have considerable public order experience "it may not have been recent".
The report also recommends that a number of senior RUC officers should attend public order training courses in Britain where they could learn different skills, tactics and assess methods outside the north. The report said that "while deployment of officers from England and Wales poses operational difficulties, the Irish sea is no barrier to mutual aid, which in England, as along ago as the 1960s, was provided by air transport between forces ." The report also pointed out that many RUC officers were on duty for four or five days without proper rest during the Drumcree stand-off. It found that many women and men deployed had been inadequately trained and wore the wrong kind of clothing for the job in hand.
In a statement by the Pat Finucane Centre, spokesperson Martin Finucane said that "the sub-text of Colin Smith's report, never ever addressed directly because of the obvious political ramifications, is that RUC discipline broke down last summer. It is now widely accepted that a major reason why the RUC reversed its initial decision to stop the Orange parade going down the Garvaghy Road, was because a near mutiny situation was developing within the RUC. Once the decision had been taken to force through the Orange parade, RUC officers engaged in an orgy of violence almost without parallel in the history of the last thirty years. Over five thousand plastic bullets were fired indiscriminately and wantonly at young nationalists, many of whom were not engaged in any form of disorder or disturbance and one young man, Dermott McShane, was killed by British soldiers in Derry."
The Department of Justice in Dublin has refused compassionate parole to a republican prisoner held in Portlaoise Prison. The prisoner, Pat McPhillips, is serving a 40 year sentence for killing a police officer. He had requested compassionate parole following the death of his mother. As a result of the Department's refusal all 38 Republican prisoners in Portlaoise are engaged in a "non cooperation" protest. It is believed that McPhillips' application for compassionate parole was supported by the prison governor and it follows several recent precedents in which long-term prisoners have been given compassionate parole in similar circumstances. There is no single incident of a Republic prisoner ever failing to return to prison in such circumstances.
There are increasing suggestions that the attempted escape by six prisoners from Whitemoor high security prison in England in September 1994, was organised by members of the British Security Services. Five of the prisoners have been convicted of IRA related offences, though one of the prisoners, Danny McNamee has consistently protested his innocence.
The claim of the involvement of the British Intelligence was made by Michael Mansfield QC, a defence barrister who in the past has acted for the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four. Mansfield said after the collapse of the trial two weeks ago that he had evidence that the jail escape had been masterminded by the British. The allegations also help explain why the judge quickly collapsed the trial following allegations of prejudicial press coverage despite the fact that the defence wanted the trial to go ahead and that there are very few precedents in English legal history of a judge collapsing a trial following publication of one article in a regional evening newspaper.
This week (Tuesday, 4 February) Eamonn ÓCuiv, the Fianna Fail TD, speaking at a public meeting in Dublin placed the escape bid in the context of British attitudes towards the IRA ceasefire of 31 August 1994. He repeated the allegations that the escape of the six prisoners had been aided and abetted by prison guards if not actually organised by them. Indeed, writing in the "Irish Times" columnist Mary Holland argues that the allegations " raises the most serious questions as to whether people within the British establishment planned to use the period of the ceasefire to break the spirit of republican prisoners, and thus undermine the whole peace process."
One of the significant aspects of the collapse of the trial was that it very conveniently meant that the defence could not present their evidence in open court. That evidence would have included the prison governor admitting on oath that he had misled the official inquiry into the IRA escape. Nor was it possible for the defence to explore the fact that one prison officer from Whitemoor had, since the attempted escape, gone missing "in fear of his life" according to his wife. Another prison officer had died in a car accident on the way to court to give evidence. Crucial video evidence and other records related to the case had also gone missing, including the video that would have shown who actually cut through the prison fence. It is believed that this video might very well substantiate Michael Mansfield's claim, that the men could not have escaped without substantial help from prison warders who had cut through the high perimeter fence around the jail.
This is not the first time that the British authorities have been involved in plans to facilitate escapes by Republicans. An inquiry into the 1991 escape by two republican prisoners from Brixton showed that the Special Branch, a section of the British police which monitors political dissidence, had recruited a guard to help the two men escape.
Eamonn Ó Cuiv argued in his address that the attempted escape was organised as an excuse by the British authorities to introduce much harsher measures against Irish prisoners and thereby undermine the peace process, given the known sensitivities of Republicans to the treatment of their prisoners.
The failure of the British Government to implement the recommendations of the North commission on contentious parades has been strongly criticised by members of the Irish Government. The Taoiseach, John Bruton, speaking in the Daíl on Tuesday (4 February), said that he had told British prime minister John Major that he was unhappy at the way the British were delaying implementing the recommendations of the North commission. This follows the decision of the British to "consult" on the key recommendations but this is widely seen as a delaying tactic chosen by the government at the behest of the Ulster Unionists who now hold the balance of power in the House of Commons. John Bruton however believes that "two to three weeks would be sufficient given the extent of consultation that has already occurred. It is important that the complete apparatus should be in place before any marches take place" The Irish Government is pressing for legislation to enact the report's recommendations to give statutory powers to the proposed parades commission and that this be introduced quickly. According to the "Irish Times" Government sources in Dublin believed that there were "ominous indications" that last years chaos precipitated by the Drumcree stand-off could be repeated again this year.
Dick Spring, the Irish Tánaiste (Deputy prime minister) has gone one step further and has voiced reservations about the recommendations of the commission itself which was chaired by the Vice Chancellor of Oxford University Dr Peter North. He said that while the Government welcomed the thrust of the report, he shared some of concerns already expressed that decisions made by the proposed parades commission could be overturned by both the British Government and the RUC. "I think this is a weakness, and it is a matter we will be discussing with the British Government. That would probably be the most substantial concern we would have relating to the report."
The so-called "Public Order Committee" of the Northern Ireland Forum, the body elected last year in May and to which both Sinn Féin and the SDLP now refuse to attend, paid a visit to Derry this week as its prepares its report into the issue of contentious parades. Whilst in the city the committee met with members of the Apprentice Boys' Association before travelling to North Antrim to meet with Ian Paisley and members of the Orange Order. The Public Order committee is chaired by Cedric Wilson, a member of the small UK Unionist group in the Forum and a man who has achieved a degree of notoriety for his one-man protests against the Anglo-Irish agreement and the presence of Irish civil servants in Belfast. He declared his willingness to meet with representatives of the Bogside Residents' Group.
Donncha Mac Niallais has told "Irish News Update" that the Bogside Residents' Group remains committed to meeting any group which is genuinely interested in resolving the issue of contentious parades. "At the moment the Residents' Group is actively seeking a range of meetings with interests in the city who want to see an acceptable accommodation. We are hoping to host a public meeting in early March which will set our agenda for the months ahead"
At least eight men are believed to have been arrested in a series of RUC raids in Nationalist West Belfast last week. Condemning the raids on at least 20 homes in New Barnsley, the Falls, Lenadoon and Ballymurphy as well as in the north of the city, republicans have complained of the wanton destruction of property and intimidation of nationalists at the hands of British State forces. The raids bore all the hallmarks of classic RUC swoops on nationalist homes; the front door smashed in by armed and sledge-hammer bearing boiler-suited officers who proceed to rip the house apart, tearing up floorboards and furniture and smashing open walls while a petrified family, often with young children, looks on. There has been a substantial number of recorded cases of rough handling and physical assault of nationalists by RUC officers during these raids. Said Sinn Fein councillor Sean McKnight " These raids are part of a growing campaign of terror being waged by crown forces on the nationalist people throughout the six counties". Said Kevin McQuillan of the Irish Republican Socialist Party "This is the everyday reality of the "peace process" for working class nationalists in the six counties... It will only stop when the RUC is disbanded and the British army leaves our country." No charges have been brought against those who have been arrested, but they are still being held.
There was no reported “incidents” after Loyalists bands and their supporters in Co Antrim marched past Our Lady's Catholic Parish Church after mass last night (8 February). This latest Loyalist bid to up the ante in the twenty second week of the sectarian picket of the church, is an attempt by Unionists to link the rights of Catholics going to Mass in Harryville with the "Right" of Orangemen, who are not residents of Dunloy, to march through Dunloy during the summer. Dunloy, which is a totally Nationalist town, is eight miles away from Harryville in Ballymena. Many Unionists and Orangemen criticised the decision to hold the procession because it took attention away from the on-going IRA campaign (e.g. David Trimble). However the decision to parade outside the Catholic church was supported by the Rev Ian Paisley and his son Ian Jr.
Following the parade it was widely reported that all the bands with the exception of the Dunloy Accordion Band, stopped outside the Church and loudly played sectarian tunes such as “The Sash”. Significantly the residents of Dunloy have long regarded the Dunloy Accordion Band as a relatively inoffensive group and have not in the past been opposed to its marching through Dunloy. However the band’s decision to go ahead and march outside a Catholic church is seen by many as a conscious decision to become more overtly anti-catholic. One of the organisers of the picket, Billy McCaughey, is a former RUC officer who was convicted for the murder of a Catholic shopkeeper in 1977. He served sixteen years before being released. When questioned about his support for Loyalist demonstrations against Catholic worshippers, he said that the organisers wanted the Bands “to continue playing as loudly as possible. They would not regard a Catholic Church as a place of worship. They would not feel they had to give it respect.“. Mr McCaughey is also a member of the DUP.