Irish Northern Aid
News
 |
||||
Updated: 10/4/2009
Use the Guest Book to Comment on the web site or individual stories.
To get Irish News updates emailed to you
http://www.derryjournal.com/journal/Museum-vandals-39disrespect-our-dead39.5146532.jp
Published Date: 07 April 2009
By Staff reporter
Staff at the Museum of Free Derry arrived at work yesterday morning to find their Glenfada Park premises vandalised and daubed in graffiti.
A newly-erected broadband antennae located on the roof had been ripped out while signs on the building were covered in paint.
The Bloody Sunday Trust had recently given permission for Derry City Council to erect the broadband antennae on the museum roof, providing free broadband access for the community.
Adrian Kerr, Curator of the Museum, said: “Those responsible for the attack have deprived people in the area of free internet access - just less than a week after it was installed. Obviously, we are very, very disappointed at this attack, which was specifically an attack on the museum itself.”
Bloody Sunday relative John Kelly, who works at the Museum, said the attack was disrespectful to the memory of all those killed on January 30, 1972.
“I’m furious about this - they have attacked, what is in my opinion, a sacred place, a building housing all the artefacts of the dead of Bloody Sunday. They have disrespected and desecrated the memories of those who died.
“How would this graffiti look to tourists visiting the area? These are the people’s artefacts inside the people’s museum.”
Mr Kelly added: “These young people haven’t a clue what the people of the Bogside have gone through in the past and they continue to terrorise their own community.”
Sinn Féin Foyle MLA Raymond McCartney, who is also a member of the Bloody Sunday Trust, condemned those involved in the vandalism attack.
“The people of the Bogside are sick, sore and tired of this carry-on. Graffiti such as this is a visual blight in our communities. A lot of people are trying very hard to enhance the area, renovating homes, keeping the green spaces clean and tidy. Sadly the people who decide to plaster the entire area in graffiti can overnight do away with all that good work,” he said.
A spokesperson for Derry City Council explained that the Wireless City Network providing free internet access is being extended out from the City Walls to include areas like the Bogside.
“This is an unfortunate incident however, Council's Economic Development department will replace any damaged equipment to ensure that the work to enchance the Wireless City Network service can continue,” the spokesperson said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7986862.stm
The Irish Republic is poised to unveil its second budget in six months as the economy contracts sharply.
Dublin faces the double challenge of dealing with a deepening recession while being forced to correct the worst deficit in Europe.
Unemployment is already at a record high and government forecasts suggest the deficit could reach four times the level allowed by the EU.
The Irish emergency budget is likely to mean higher taxes and lower spending.
This is in marked contrast to other countries that have been spending billions and cutting taxes in an attempt to stimulate their economies back to life.
The Republic's Taoiseach, or prime minister, Brian Cowen, primed his fellow citizens to expect bad news during a speech aired on YouTube: "The coming months and years we will be asking people to take the strain, to make more sacrifices," he said.
'Difficult position'
Finance Minister Brian Lenihan was also preparing the public for what is likely to be an austere and unpopular budget.
"I think everyone realises now that Ireland is in a very difficult position," he said. "There is an onus on all of us to pull together now for the sake of our country."
It is a massive turnaround from the late 1990s, when economists were praising the Irish Republic as the model to follow.
Multinational firms were attracted to a European Union country where running costs were cheap and there was a highly skilled English-speaking workforce. Demand for houses jumped, prompting a boom in construction.
Tens of thousands of Irish people invested in properties overseas. The state's newspapers were full of advertisements selling apartments in places such as Bulgaria, Portugal and Spain.
Downturn
Banks were only too willing to lend money for construction projects., which has come back to hit banks as the Irish government has been forced to bail them out.
The fall-out of the global downturn has hit the country hard as troubled construction firms now struggle to sell houses or land. The usual remedy of seizing the assets is risky, because they have dropped in value.
This has led to widespread layoffs.
"The government faces problems at home from people losing their jobs and internationally from financial markets, who are wondering if the Irish economy could eventually default," said Austin Hughes, chief economist at the Irish arm of Belgium's KBC Bank. "That isn't going to happen, but the government needs to show that it is prepared to take tough measures."
Deficit
According to Enterprise Ireland director Stephen Hughes, who works for the state body that helps companies boost overseas sales, a recession brings opportunities.
"Most of our companies are relatively small and nimble-footed and can move themselves around in their existing markets, indeed into other markets, with relative ease," he said.
The government in Dublin has reassured the power brokers in Brussels that it will not have to make an emergency dash for the IMF's cash machine, like its fellow EU members Hungary, Latvia and Romania.
The EU has given the Irish five years to get the budget deficit under control, but the decision-makers in Brussels are watching carefully.
Later this year, the Republic will hold a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, aimed at streamlining EU institutions to make the enlarged bloc of 27 states function better.
Europe's politicians are hoping Irish voters do not react to the recession and try to punish the government by killing off the a treaty that is considered key to the EU's future.
The budget is expected at 1545 (BST). Will you be watching? What would you like to see in the budget?
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/7986862.stm
Published: 2009/04/07 11:47:52 GMT
© BBC MMIX
http://saoirse32.blogsome.com/2009/04/07/hoax-bombs-condemned/
Derry Journal
06 April 2009
There’s been widespread condemnation of those responsible for planting several hoax bombs in the greater Bogside area in the past week.
The most recent alert at Pilot’s Row Community Centre on Thursday resulted in the centre being evacuated.
Politicians and community leaders have hit out at those involved in the hoaxes, accusing them of putting fear into elderly and vulnerable members of the community.
Colm Barton, Manager of the Triax Neighbourhood Management Team, said: “This is an absolute disgrace to attack community workers who are providing a valuable resource in the area and offering much-needed services to local people. This was carried out by people intent on attacking and disrupting their own communities and it is time they got off the backs of their neighbours.”
Sinn Fein Councillor for the area Peter Anderson said: “Those responsible for planting these hoax devices which cause fear and disruption to the local community should desist from this type of anti-community behaviour immediately.
“They are out of touch with the will of the vast majority of the people of the Bogside and indeed Derry who have indicated that they want to move forward without this type of disruption to their lives.”
He added: “I have just been informed this morning that a local community worker who went to the area to help was also attacked and abused by a group of local bully boys because he defused the situation by removing the suspect device to open space and allowing the area to get back to normal.”
A spokesperson for the IRSP also called on those responsible to stop disrupting community life.
The spokesperson said: “Those involved in attacking community workers should hang their heads in shame and those involved need be ostracised by the local community for their ongoing criminal behaviours.”
http://www.derryjournal.com/journal/Clash-over-Catholics-in-police.5144204.jp
Published Date: 06 April 2009
Republican and Unionist politicians in Derry have clashed over the latest PSNI recruitment figures.
NIO security minister Paul Goggins revealed earlier this week that the number of Catholics in the force now stands at 26%.
Under the terms of the Patten Report into policing reform - undertaken in 1999 when only 8% of police officers in the North were Catholic - it is hoped Catholic representation will reach 30% in 2011.
Sinn Fein MLA Martina Anderson, a member of the Policing Board, said despite the rise in Catholic officers she was concerned by under-representation of Catholics officers at senior ranks.
"Our objective must be to ensure that we have a policing service that is representative, accountable and effective. Central to this is not just bringing the composition level up of Catholics, but also representation across all of the ranks.
"I am also concerned that we now have more officers based at PSNI Headquarters than at the time the Patten report was written. This is clearly a backward step and must be addressed in the current review."
But the DUP's Gregory Campbell said the latest statistics warrant the scrapping of the PSNI's 50/50 recruitment rule - implemented to raise the level of Catholic officers.
"The so-called 50/50 recruitment - which disadvantages the Protestant applicants - is not used in any other sphere of employment activity. For example in the Housing Executive there's an under-representation of Protestants among those being recruited which is much worse than among Roman Catholic recruits to the police, but no 50/50 rule applies there."
"In recent years it is the case that Protestants are less likely to be Police Officers than Roman Catholics are to be."
Mr Campbell, the North's Culture Minister, said the DUP would press for employment policies founded on an "exclusively merit-based approach."
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/sammy-wilson-urges-rethink-over-ted-kennedy-knighthood-14260710.html?r=RSS
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
The decision to give US senator Edward Kennedy an honorary knighthood was “in bad taste”, MPs have been told.
DUP minister Sammy Wilson insisted that “clouds still hang over” the American politician who was accused in the past of being an IRA sympathiser.
Not only did he oppose the sale of US arms to the Royal Ulster Constabulary, he called on Protestants to “go back to Britain”, Mr Wilson said.
He also raised Senator Kennedy’s guilty plea for leaving the scene of a crime after he fled from a car crash on the island of Chappaquiddick in which a 29-year-old woman drowned when his car ended up in a creek.
Mr Wilson has tabled an Early Day Motion calling for the government to drop the knighthood plans.
In it he states his concern over “the decision to confer an honorary knighthood upon Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy despite the clouds that still hang over him due to his expulsion from Harvard and his role in the events at Chappaquiddick”.
“Senator Kennedy has consistently supported the political wing of the IRA which for many decades killed a great number of innocent civilians,” it adds, as well as criticising the “extremely poor taste that Senator Kennedy is being awarded a knighthood for services to the UK-US relationship and services to Northern Ireland despite the fact that he has for many years supported the break-up of the United Kingdom and has explicitly sought to deny the wishes of the majority of people in Northern Ireland by supporting calls for Northern Ireland to cease to exist and become part of the Republic of Ireland”.
It has been backed by Conservatives Ann and Nicholas Winterton as well as his DUP colleagues.
Gordon Brown formally announced the award during his address to both houses of Congress last month.
The 77-year-old, who is being treated for a brain tumour, was a key player in Northern Ireland politics because he was viewed as holding sway with the Catholic community.
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/Protest-over-IRA-film.5144276.jp
Published Date: 06 April 2009
A FILM premiere about the life of IRA secret agent Martin McGartland was picketed by victims' group FAIR in Belfast on Saturday night.
The group targeted the debut of Fifty Dead Men Walking, based on the life of the Belfast man who escaped the clutches of the IRA, because of comments by one of the movie's stars.
The title of the film is based on Mr McGartland's book of the same name and comes from his claim that his activities as a spy inside the IRA saved 50 lives.
It stars American actress Rose McGowan, who caused controversy last year when she said that she would have joined the IRA had she grown up in Belfast during the Troubles.
FAIR is also angry that republicans escorted the cast and crew around Belfast during filming.
Spokesman Willie Frazer said that despite not having seen the film yet, he and his supporters felt very strongly about remarks made by some of the people involved in the film.
He attacked commentary by "people who haven't the faintest clue about anything that has happened in Ireland since the potato famine".
He said: "Victims have suffered much over 35 years and are not about to let propaganda be passed of as a factual Hollywood blockbuster.
"The film has already been heavily criticised by the very man whom its supposed to be about, Martin McGartland, who says it is no closer to real life than Venus is to Earth."
Mr Frazer said some people attending the premiere joined the protest when it was explained to them what the objections were.
He said: "One lady in particular, who was unaware of the disgraceful comments, said 'film-makers treat us like fodder, they take a tragic story and make big bucks from it, never realising the hurt and pain they may cause'."
The victims' rights campaigner said victims wanted answers.
"We are now contacting the film-makers, management teams and just about everyone else involved with this film with a view to meeting them so we can put forward our concerns," he said.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/sinn-fein-mlas-paid-party-pound500000-in-secretarial-fees-14260687.html?r=RSS
By David Gordon
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Sinn Fein MLAs paid the party more than half a million pounds in secretarial fees from their annual expenses, official figures have shown.
The £513,682 total went to Sinn Fein in the financial year 2007/08 from the office-running allowances available to Assembly members.
Payments were largely listed as “Members Party Secretarial Expenses” within the category of “advisory and consultancy costs”.
They have been disclosed by Stormont officials under freedom of information, as part of a breakdown of sums claimed by MLAs in the 12-month |period.
Some members from other parties also made payments to their own parties for secretarial and research services during the year.
But the sums involved were not on the same scale as the Sinn Fein arrangements.
The £513,682 total worked out at an average of £18,345 per MLA.
There is no suggestion that any Assembly rules have been broken in the allocations.
The payments do provide another example of public money going to Sinn Fein.
During the financial year 2007/08, £152,546 was also paid to the party in Stormont allowances.
This included funding distributed per elected member and a party whips allowance.
Party grants at the Assembly are separate from the allowances available to individual MLAs.
The total payouts to all Stormont parties in 2007/08 came to around £730,000.
Sinn Fein also deducts money from its elected representatives’ salaries to help fund its political work.
In the calendar year 2007, these contributions brought in a total of £490,561.
That figure was disclosed in the party’s annual accounts for its Six Counties operation.
It was stated in the accounts that Sinn Fein’s Stormont Ministers donate their ministerial salaries to party funds.
Sinn Fein also receives a party grant from the House of Commons, despite the refusal of its MPs to take their seats.
Its Westminster grant for the current financial year is £93,639, according to the Commons.
The party’s five MPs do not receive salaries from Westminster, but are entitled to a range of parliamentary expenses, covering such areas as staffing, constituency office costs, London living costs and travel.
In 2007/08, Sinn Fein MPs claimed £681,235 in Commons expenses.
The five politicians are also senior MLAs and received £338,840 in Stormont expenses in the same 12-month period.
Figures obtained by this newspaper last year showed that of 18 MLAs paying office rental expenses to their parties, 10 were from Sinn Fein.
The Belfast Telegraph offered the party an opportunity to comment on the secretarial expenses payments, but received no reply.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/eyauojqlcwql/rss2/
07/04/2009 - 07:48:14
Dublin City Council is set to introduce €30m worth of spending cuts because of the economic downturn.
The savings in Ireland's largest local authority will come from a 5% cut across many services and a 50% reduction in overtime for staff.
The Fire Service and waste management facilities will be affected, spending on culture will be cut, exhibitions will be scaled back and staffing at libraries will be reduced.
Revenue and spending on services will also be kept under monthly review.
City Manager John Tierney told councillors at their monthly meeting last night that even these spending cuts might not be sufficient because of the difficult situation the country is in.