Irish Northern Aid
News
 |
||||
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0416/ordeh.html
Thursday, 16 April 2009 12:08
PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde has been elected as the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales & Northern Ireland.
He had been on a shortlist of three candidates, along with the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police Ian Johnston and Cambridgeshire police chief Julie Spence.
His appointment means that he will leave his position as PSNI Chief Constable after seven years in charge.
Under an arrangement agreed with the Northern Ireland Policing Board he will not leave until at least September, allowing time to find a replacement.
The 50-year-old from Haslemere in Surrey has been credited with steering the organisation through a turbulent phase after it was established in 2001 to replace the old Royal Ulster Constabulary.
Outgoing ACPO president Ken Jones said: 'Sir Hugh brings a wealth of experience and leadership to ACPO at what is likely to be a very difficult and challenging time for the service.'
Mr Orde said: 'I believe that UK policing is strongest when it is professional, operationally independent, and based on trust and accountability.
'Above all, our decisions should be tested against the reason for which we all joined policing: the protection of the public.'
Democratic Unionist Policing Board member Ian Paisley Jnr paid tribute to Mr Orde's contribution to policing in Northern Ireland.
Mr Paisley said: 'I think he led from the front and he confounded the sceptics and the critics because he has been a very highly regarded police officer locally.'
Voting among ACPO's 342 members ended yesterday and the result of the secret ballot was announced this morning.
Earlier this year, Mr Orde lost out to Paul Stephenson in the race to succeed Ian Blair as Metropolitan Police Commissioner, having made it down to the final two candidates.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8001730.stm
By Mark Simpson
BBC Ireland correspondent
Whoever replaces Sir Hugh Orde as head of the police in Northern Ireland will have to be a quick learner.
The security threat is at its highest level for a decade, and it is likely that the next chief constable will be a senior officer parachuted in from England.
Mind you, behind the scenes, in policing and political circles, some tentative preparations may already been made.
It has been known for some time in Belfast that Surrey-born Sir Hugh was looking to get back to London.
Only this week, he spoke in a BBC Radio Ulster interview about his hopes of becoming president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo).
In the same interview, he was asked to choose his favourite music. The first song he chose was Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run.
Given what has now happened, it could be argued it was an appropriate title.
So is Sir Hugh running away as the job suddenly gets really tough?
“ Sir Hugh's successor will have to come from another force in the UK, or the Republic of Ireland police service, the Gardaí ”
Quite the opposite. He had decided long before the recent killings in Northern Ireland that it was time to move on.
Police officer Stephen Carroll, 48, and soldiers Mark Quinsey, 23, and Patrick Azimkar, 21, were killed in March. Sir Hugh decided last year to look for another job.
He applied for the job of Metropolitan Police Commissioner, got down to the last two, but was pipped by Acting Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, who was appointed in February.
He then went for the Acpo presidency and got it.
Given the three recent murders, a number of politicians may have tried to persuade Sir Hugh to withdraw his application.
The threat of more attacks is high, and some believe that when it comes to the top job in policing in Northern Ireland, it is no time for a rookie.
Minefield
Sir Hugh, 50, has 30 years of policing experience, including seven in Belfast.
He is generally popular inside and outside the force, and has managed to steer his way through the minefield of Northern Ireland politics without too many gaffes.
Suddenly, the security situation in Belfast is back in the national - and international - spotlight and the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is seen as the key figure when it comes to keeping the peace.
But Sir Hugh has faith in his policing colleagues, and it would be a surprise if he doesn't have a successor in mind, or at least know a few strong candidates.
One well-placed political source said: "Come September, when he goes, it'll be a case of 'as we were'.
"We'll still have an experienced officer in charge of the PSNI, it'll just be a different face. It will probably be someone who is a chief constable or deputy in a reasonably large force in England."
The reason no-one is talking about successor coming from the ranks of the PSNI is that under the existing rules, none of the current assistant chief constables meets the experience criteria, and the current deputy chief constable, Paul Leighton, is due to retire this year.
That means Sir Hugh's successor will have to come from another force in the UK, or the Republic of Ireland police service, the Gardaí.
Given the large pool of senior officers in England, the most likely scenario is that someone from there will get the job.
It will be interesting to see what level of interest the post will generate.
Dealing with the dissident threat will obviously be a priority for the new chief constable, but there are many other issues to be tackled in terms of internal reform of the police service, concerns over the police budget and investigating hundreds of unsolved murders from the Troubles.
Then there is the political tightrope to be walked with Northern Ireland's rival politicians.
How can you keep unionists and nationalists happy at the same time?
How do you handle contentious marches? What about the move towards policing and justice powers being devolved from Westminster to Stormont?
On top of all that, there's the media scrutiny, and the constant public attention.
Sir Hugh Orde said this week: "You are absolutely in the public eye 24 hours a day.
"There is no such thing as a day off, even when you are 'off'."
Given the difficulties of keeping the peace, it is perhaps little wonder that another of Sir Hugh's favourite songs is Bridge over Troubled Water.
Oddly, he preferred it sung by Johnny Cash rather than Simon and Garfunkel.
Not everyone will approve of his choice of music, but most would agree that as chief constable, and as a bridge between Northern Ireland's divided communities, he is a hard act to follow.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8001730.stm
Published: 2009/04/16 09:13:48 GMT
© BBC MMIX
http://www.ardfheis.com/?p=1324
April 16, 2009 by sinnfein
Sinn Féin MLA and Policing Board member Alex Maskey has today commented on the news that PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde is to take up post as President of the association of Chief Police Officers.
Speaking from Belfast this afternoon Mr Maskey said, “Transforming policing has never been about individuals. However Hugh Orde without doubt has made a significant contribution to many of the policing changes we have been part of in recent years.
However his time has not been without problems. Under his leadership the PSNI have consistently withheld information from inquests and blocked families in their pursuit of the truth and responses to ordinary criminal matters particularly in working class areas has been disappointing. We have also recently put on the record our dissatisfaction at the use of extended periods of detention.
Hugh Orde’s departure along with other senior officers who have indicated they are intending to move on, provides an opportunity for the Policing Board, under its new leadership, to put in place a new and dynamic group of officers at the top of the PSNI to manage the next stages of policing transformation which will occur with the transfer of powers. That work needs now to be our priority.” CRÍOCH
http://www.ardfheis.com/?p=1321
April 16, 2009 by sinnfein
Sinn Fein Assembly member Raymond McCartney has appealed to the US Director of Homeland Security to overturn the decision of a US Court to deport former Long Kesh escapee Pól Brennan back to Ireland.
Mr McCartney said: “Pól Brennan has made a new life for himself in the USA. He is married to an American citizen for over 20 years and that is where Pól’s life now is.
“The decision of a federal appeal court to deport Pól back to Ireland is hugely disappointing and in reality means Pol’s last chance of staying in the USA lies with the Director of Homeland Security.
“Sinn Féin will continue to make representations on Pol’s behalf in the hope that this decision can be overturned.” CRÍOCH
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8002372.stm
A Maze escaper facing deportation from the United States has said he will appeal to the head of the Department of Homeland Security.
Pól (Paul) Brennan was arrested at a border checkpoint in Texas in 2008 because his US work permit had expired.
A judge ruled he should be deported and an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals was rejected. He said he will now appeal to Janet Napolitano.
He escaped from the Maze in 1983 along with 37 other republican prisoners.
The 55-year-old told the Irish Echo newspaper an appeal to the head of Homeland Security would be his "last chance" to remain in the US.
He said that he and his support and legal team would organise a campaign to have people write to Napolitano and US politicians on his behalf.
An online petition calling for a halt to the deportation - active from last April - currently has more than 1,400 signatures.
Last November, a federal immigration judge ruled he should be deported from the US.
Sinn Fein Assembly member Raymond McCartney said Brennan should not be sent back to Ireland.
"Pól Brennan has made a new life for himself in the USA," he said.
"He is married to an American citizen for over 20 years and that is where Pól's life now is."
The biggest jail break in the UK history took place from the high security Maze prison on 25 September 1983 when 38 republican prisoners escaped.
Prison officer James Ferris died of a heart attack after being stabbed while attempting to stop the escape.
Ten of the prisoners were recaptured in the first few hours, but the remainder went on the run with some emerging in north America.
Pól Brennan, Kevin Artt, James Smyth and Terrence Kirby were arrested in the United States between 1992 and 1994 and fought lengthy legal battles against extradition.
Smyth was extradited back to Northern Ireland in 1996 and returned to prison, before being released in 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement.
In 2000, the British government announced that the extradition requests for Brennan, Artt and Kirby were being withdrawn as part of the Good Friday Agreement.
The men officially remain fugitives, but in 2003 the Prison Service said they were not being "actively pursued".
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8002372.stm
Published: 2009/04/16 12:34:31 GMT
© BBC MMIX
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/8001616.stm
An SDLP councillor has been the target of a hoax bomb attack at his home in Londonderry.
Jim Clifford discovered the device on the doorstep of his home in Creggan on Monday.
"I stepped on it when I answered the door so I knew it wasn't real, I just put it in the skip," he said.
"The people behind this obviously have nothing better to do than to try and make the lives of people living in Creggan miserable."
The incident was condemned by SDLP leader and Foyle MP Mark Durkan.
"This was a despicable attack on an excellent public representative who has given a lifetime of service to the people of Creggan and Derry city," he said.
"It is immoral that faceless people would cause such anguish to a decent and dignified family which has given so much to our community.
"Those responsible must realise that their actions are rejected by the people of Ireland."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/8001616.stm
Published: 2009/04/16 12:15:20 GMT
© BBC MMIX
http://www.derryjournal.com/journal/MP-condemns-hoax-bomb-alert.5175956.jp
Published Date: 16 April 2009
Foyle MP Mark Durkan has condemned a hoax bomb alert at the home of a Derry City Councillor.
SDLP councillor Jim Clifford discovered the hoax at this Creggan home on Monday.
I stepped on it when I answered the door so I knew it wasn't real, I just put it in the skip," he said.
Mr Durkan described the incident as a " despicable attack."
"It is immoral that faceless people would cause such anguish to a decent and dignified family which has given so much to our community.
"Those responsible must realise that their actions are rejected by the people of Ireland.
"Their cowardly deeds stand in stark contrast to the quiet and proud patriotism of Jim Clifford who works hard every day fulfilling his public duties.
"The people of Creggan, like people across Ireland reject this activity and all attempts by anyone to threaten our new Irish democracy. These destructive elements must know they will not succeed."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8002239.stm
Workers at Visteon have been offered cash payments by the firm's US owners.
Visteon Corporation has said the majority of the employees would receive an immediate cash payment equivalent to 16 weeks of their previous pay.
Workers in Belfast, Basildon and Enfield have been protesting after being laid off by the firm, which has gone into administration in the UK.
On Wednesday, officials from the Unite union rejected "a very poor offer" from Visteon during talks in London.
Commenting on the new offer, Visteon Corporation said as well as the immediate cash payment: "Over time additional payments would be made increasing their total severance package to the approximate amounts they would have received under their most recent contract."
Protesting workers in Belfast and Enfield have staged factory sit-ins to highlight their plight.
Earlier, Roger Madison from Unite said the sit-ins had forced the company to the negotiating table as it wanted to sell what was in the factories.
"It may well be that our fight has to move on to Ford, but the sit-in is important at the moment," Mr Madison said.
However a spokesman for Ford reiterated that the company is not responsible for the former Visteon workers.
He said: "Since 2000, Visteon has been an independent company supplying parts to Ford. Ford has no contractual or other responsibility towards the Visteon UK workforce.
"The decision made regarding the plants in Belfast, Basildon and Enfield was made by Visteon's management and not by Ford Motor Company.
"Ford has acted responsibly and met, or exceeded, its commitments under the Visteon agreement of 2000."
Home protests
Meanwhile, some workers have staged protests outside the homes of Visteon managers in Lisburn and Downpatrick.
Pickets were held on Monday and again on Wednesday.
Stressing the protests were peaceful, one worker who took part in one of them, denied the action had become too personal.
"It's personal for me that after 30 years I've walked out of the plant with no pension," he said.
"All I want's a job back in Belfast."
Nearly 600 jobs were lost at the three plants - 210 in Belfast - with staff being given less than an hour's notice.
The workers said they were given guarantees on pay and conditions when the company was split off from Ford nine years ago and will only leave when they are offered an adequate deal.
Protesters in Northern Ireland picketed Ford showrooms over the Easter weekend as well as staging a sit-in at the Visteon plant in Finaghy.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8002239.stm
Published: 2009/04/16 11:50:40 GMT
© BBC MMIX
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0416/breaking39.htm
ÉANNA Ó CAOLLAÍ
Thu, Apr 16, 2009
A website which allows local and European election candidates to post information online and interact with the public was launched today. http://www.micandidate.eu/
MiCandidate.eu hosts biographical and policy information on candidates and enables the public to lobby politicians on electoral issues or to donate funds.
The company, which was founded in 2007, has published profiles of almost 1,500 local election candidates in Ireland alone and has listed over 90 per cent of European election candidates in the UK.
A further roll-out to the remaining 25 EU member-states is planned by the time the European elections take place in June.
Chief executive and founder of miCandidate.eu Paddy Cosgrave said the idea was to build “a global interface between people and their politicians”.
Mr Cosgrave said he hopes the company will expand into other territories following the June elections.
The company currently employs 10 full-time staff and carries out its own research on each candidate, allowing them to add further content for a fee.
It is envisaged that single-issue groups will be able to publish information on the website in the coming months. Candidates would have the facility to associate with single-issue groups.
Candidates who wish to build their online profile to include additional biographical information and election material are charged an initial €249 set-up fee and a further €35 per month for local election candidates and €99 for European candidates.
Under the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009 the amounts spent by candidates are limited to between €15,000 and €9,750.
The limits imposed begin within 60 days of an election and are based on the population within each electoral area.
© 2009 irishtimes.com
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/irsquod-have-joined-the-ira-in-a-heartbeat-says-principal-of-venerable-university-14269868.html?r=RSS
Thursday, 16 April 2009
The first Irish-born principal of St Andrews University in Scotland is ruffling feathers at the famous institution.
Louise Richardson, who was born in Ireland but is a US citizen by adoption, is thought to be the only academic at her level to have admitted that she was once tempted to join the IRA.
However, instead she became one of the world’s foremost authorities on terrorism.
Dr Richardson took office as the first female principal of St Andrews last March — the third-oldest university in the English-speaking world.
Her arrival in the principal's office is a remarkable journey. In January 1972, she was a 14-year-old Catholic girl, one of seven children, living in the small seaside town of Tramore in Co Waterford when she heard news that 27 civil rights marchers had been shot, and 13 of them killed, by the British Parachute Regiment.
She was already a republican, and Bloody Sunday fired up her sense of injustice so much that her anxious parents locked her in her bedroom to prevent her setting off to take part in a protest in Newry, 300 miles from home.
“I'd have joined the IRA in a heartbeat,” she wrote in the introduction to her book, published in 2006, What Terrorists Want.
Instead, she became the first in her family to go through university. She enrolled in the Protestant-dominated Trinity College, Dublin, working as a cocktail waitress at night to fund her studies.
At university, she and her closest friend were invited to join the student branch of the IRA. Her friend joined but Louise Richardson had decided by then that killing was wrong, no matter for what cause it was done.
She preferred to express her republicanism by using Gaelic as her preferred language.
She applied for a year's fellowship at the University of California. She went, and resolved to return to the US as soon as she had completed her studies at Trinity. She left Ireland on the same day in 1979 that Pope John Paul II arrived in Dublin.
She earned a doctorate at Harvard University, where she took up teaching international relations, and was appointed executive dean of the former women's college, Radcliffe, which she helped transform into a respected institute for advanced study. She set up a course on terrorism, at her students' request, in 1996.
She married a US doctor, with whom she has three children. When the youngest was 14, she |decided to look for other opportunities. Of all the offers St Andrews was the most attractive, though it involved leaving America.
The 9/11 terrorist attacks had pitched her into the public arena as one of the few academics able to talk knowledgeably about terrorism. She gave lectures, and testified before a Senate committee.
In her book, directly contradicting what Americans had been told by George Bush, Dr Richardson asserted that the world had not changed on September 11, but American foreign policy had. She also said that to contain terrorists it was necessary to understand what motivated them.
She also pointed out that the 3,000 casualties inflicted on 11 September by al-Qa'ida were dwarfed by the number of Americans who are murdered by fellow citizens, or who commit suicide, die in car crashes, or drink themselves to death each year.
When Dr Richardson's publishers read her completed manuscript, they pleaded with her to remove the chapter that discussed September 11. She said she would rather return her advance and cancel publication. They gave way ... as others may have to.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/we-owe-pound1bn-on-our-credit-card-bills-14269906.html?r=RSS
By Claire McNeilly
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Northern Ireland’s credit card debt level has tipped over the £1bn mark, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.
The alarming statistic — which has been derived from an overall UK figure revealed by the Credit Action charity — equates to around £1,600 for every household here.
Experts predict the deepening recession coupled with its threat of higher unemployment, further pay cuts and diminishing family incomes will only add to this massive mountain of debt.
And, tellingly, Citizens Advice has revealed a year-on-year £2m increase in ‘plastic debt’ owed just by clients here — a surge of 50% on the previous 12 months.
Richard Ramsey, Ulster Bank senior economist, said the colossal credit card debt figure was a sign of the times.
“The debt level in Northern Ireland isn’t really a surprise given the speed at which the economy turned around,” he said.
“During the credit boom people were probably overly-optimistic about the future as they had no reason to think the good times would come to an end so soon.
“Credit cards became a vehicle for financing people’s lifestyles and standard of living — and that has come to a premature and abrupt end.”
Money advice specialist at |Citizens Advice, Scott Kennerley, added: “The level of credit card debt in Northern Ireland has |always been of great concern to us.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8000591.stm
By Ross McKee
BBC News
The designer of the first national memorial to the hundreds killed in the Belfast blitz has recalled how her own family narrowly escaped injury in the bombing raids.
About 1,000 people perished in the city as a result of the attacks by German planes during April and May 1941.
On Thursday, a 5ft high bronze structure by Carolyn Mulholland symbolising the devastation will be officially dedicated at the Northern Ireland War Memorial Hall.
Carolyn said her own family had witnessed the impact of the blitz at first hand.
“ My older sister was in a cot upstairs when an incendiary bomb went through the house ”
Artist Carolyn Mulholland
"I wasn't born, but at the time of the blitz, my parents lived on the Limestone Road in Belfast," she said.
"My older sister was in a cot upstairs when an incendiary bomb went through the house and missed my sister's cot by about a foot.
"My mother cut out the lino with the burnt hole and I remember being shown it as a child. My parents were of a generation that didn't talk a great deal. They would roll their eyes and say it was terrible but no further."
The sculpture will be dedicated by the Dean of Belfast, Houston McKelvey, and features "positive and negative shapes" against a backdrop of fallen planks.
Carolyn, who is originally from Lurgan but now lives in Dublin, said she had been inspired to create the piece after seeing a photo of people affected by the bombings.
"When the commission was set up, I went looking for an idea and they showed me a lot of photos taken at the time," she said.
“ The destruction wrought in the city was immense. It needed to be recognised ”
John Hughes, NI War Memorial
"There was one photo taken of a mass of planks and rubble with a group of people standing nearby in shock.
"That gave me the idea. The criss-cross planks symbolise chaos, destruction and the violence of war really. The negative shapes represent those who died, the positive those left behind."
Northern Ireland War Memorial spokesman John Hughes said it was significant the structure was being dedicated on 16 April, 68 years to the day "900 people lost their lives" in one single raid.
"The reason why we got it was there was no nationally recognised memorial to the Belfast blitz," he said.
"The destruction wrought in the city was immense. It needed to be recognised.
"We are putting right what has been a great omission for the city of Belfast."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8000591.stm
Published: 2009/04/16 06:15:39 GMT
© BBC MMIX
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
