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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8308441.stm
Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers have briefed other parties on outline proposals for the devolution of policing and justice.
Delegations from the UUP, Alliance and the SDLP met Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness at Stormont castle.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan pointed out that the big issue of when justice powers might be transferred still remains undecided
His party wants this transfer to happen by 7 December.
UUP leader Sir Reg Empey said his party could not comment on the proposals as it did not have enough information.
"It is impossible to work from bits and pieces of this and that - mere hearsay," he said.
"We have not had sight of any substantive detail - just one conversation and therefore are unable to provide comment from the snippets which we heard today."
Alliance leader David Ford, who has been tipped as a future justice minister, agreed that the Prime Minister's package was in the region of £800m.
Mr Ford called for agreement on policies like a new Football Offences Act, reform of the prison service and better treatment of victims and witnesses.
The meetings come after Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness held a series of intensive meetings with the prime minister on Wednesday.
They discussed the financial package for the devolution of justice.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Ford said the policies a Department of Justice would implement were more important than the money provided for it.
"If we can't get policies that are agreed within the assembly, then no justice department will be able to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland," he said.
Mr Durkan, the SDLP leader, said he hoped the first and deputy first ministers would indicate that they had "agreed a pathway for the completion of the transfer of policing and justice".
"Obviously, we are deeply opposed to the DUP/Sinn Fein plans to have the justice minister appointed completely outside the terms of the Good Friday Agreement," he said.
Mr Robinson, leader of the DUP, has said he would welcome the publication of plans outlining the devolution of policing and justice.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to consider showing the assembly the budget for devolution.
Mr Robinson said he would welcome the publication, but added that two issues still "require further clarification".
"I would welcome the publication of the proposals to inform the public on this important issue," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8309231.stm
Lawyers for a widower whose wife was killed by a plastic bullet have told the High Court that two RUC officers involved in the shooting should have been prosecuted.
33-year-old Nora McCabe was killed during hunger strike related disturbances in west Belfast in 1981.
Her husband Jim has taken a judicial review of a decision not to prosecute anyone in connection with her death.
The court heard there was no suggestion she was involved in any trouble.
Lawyers for Mr McCabe are seeking a court order to quash the decision not to bring a case against the two RUC men, who have both since died.
They are also challenging a decision not to prosecute any other officers for either perjury or attempting to pervert the course of justice at an inquest into Mrs McCabe's death.
Three judges are expected to view footage recorded by a Canadian television crew who were in Belfast in July 1981.
A two-day hearing was due to begin at the High Court on Thursday.
However, senior counsel for Mr McCabe was granted an adjournment to consider a further legal point about deaths occurring before the Human Rights Act came into effect in 2000.
Different view
According to a House of Lords ruling any such cases can only rely on arguments in domestic law rather than European Convention.
But Barry MacDonald QC told judges that a ruling involving a death in Slovenia could allow a different view to be taken.
Both the officer who fired the fatal plastic bullet - identified as Witness A - and the Chief Superintendent who allegedly gave the order - are now dead.
Mr MacDonald said that the purpose of the judicial review was to decide whether the decision to prosecute neither of them was right.
It was also to establish whether it was right not to prosecute any witnesses for perjury or for perverting the course of justice.
If this latter point was established, he said it would be for the Public Prosecution Service to decide whether any further action should be taken.
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/ireland/ira-aids-search-for-victims-430365.html
Regular contact between the IRA and forensic investigators is guiding searches for people abducted, murdered and secretly buried during the North’s Troubles, it emerged tonight.
Top scientific detective Geoff Knupfer, who is leading a painstaking quest to locate the remains of the so-called Disappeared, said recent and ongoing talks with the Provisionals has led to fresh digs.
Excavations and surveys are being carried out at Colgagh, Co Monaghan, for the remains of Charlie Armstrong; at Carrickrobin, Co Louth, for Gerard Evans; at Coghalstown, Co Meath, for Seamus Wright and Kevin McKee; and at Oristown, Co Meath, for Brendan Megraw.
A search for IRA victim Columba McVeigh at Bragan, Co Monaghan, is nearing an end.
Speaking after the inquest into the death of Disappeared IRA victim Danny McIlhone, whose remains were uncovered last year in the remote Wicklow Mountains in the Irish Republic, 27 years after he vanished, Mr Knupfer said there was slow progress being made on other searches.
“We are absolutely satisfied the Republican Movement is trying its utmost to assist us here,” he said.
“We have to remember the timescales involved – 25 to 30 years ago when these events took place – and the nature of the terrain, which were selected for their barrenness and anonymity, and now we are trying to locate those spots.
“So it is a very difficult job but we are getting tremendous support from the various organisations involved.”
Raising hopes for the families of eight victims whose remains have yet to be recovered, Mr Knupfer said direct contact with the IRA led to last year’s breakthrough in finding Mr McIlhone’s remains, at isolated bogland on the side of Wicklow’s second highest peak, Mullaghcleevaun.
Information to the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR), set up by the Irish and British governments to locate the remains of the Disappeared, was previously being fed through intermediaries, he said.
Direct contact was now ongoing, added Mr Knupfer, the former Greater Manchester detective who helped find the bodies of Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley’s child victims
However, security sources warned that direct talks do not automatically guarantee every remaining body will be found.
Searches near Rouen, France, for INLA victim Seamus Ruddy have so far ended without success while no site has yet been located for the remains of undercover British agent Robert Nairac.
So far, the remains of six victims have been recovered.
ICLVR commissioner Frank Murray said searches were long and painstaking and had been hampered by weather conditions.
“We have a very small dedicated team, working very actively in these areas,” he said.
“It’s a very long painstaking work, it doesn’t happen overnight and we’ve been bedevilled by bad weather this year and last year as well – which hasn’t helped things at all.”
Appealing for anyone with information to come forward, Mr Murray said there would be a “Chinese wall” around disclosures which would remain solely with the ICLVR.
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/ireland/abandoned-van-feared-to-contain-600lb-bomb-430335.html
Police now say they fear a van abandoned in the County Tyrone village of Clady may contain a 600lb bomb.
The village is completely closed off while the British Army examines the suspect van.
People in the village noticed the driverless van with its hazard lights flashing parked on a bridge last night and raised the alert.
The PSNI have closed a number of roads leading to the village.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/dissidents-had-details-of-ian-paisley-jnrrsquos-movements-14531113.html
Ian Paisley jnr has revealed dissident republicans had obtained “very detailed” intelligence about his movements as part of a plan to murder him. The north Antrim DUP MLA was speaking after it had emerged police had foiled an attempt on his life earlier this year.
It is understood the former Northern Ireland junior Minister was contacted by the PSNI in May about the threat.
He said he was satisfied with the steps the police have now taken to enhance his security.
“They made me aware of a murder bid and I am satisfied they have been able to foil that by their actions,” the married father of four said.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph about how in-depth the intelligence was he said: “It was very detailed. That is really all I can say.”
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/ireland/man-shot-in-stomach-hand-and-leg-in-belfast-430256.html
A 28-year-old man has been shot several times during the latest paramilitary-style "punishment" attack in the North.
The victim was shot in the stomach, the hand and the leg during the attack in the mainly nationalist Lenadoon estate in west Belfast last night.
He is understood to be in a stable condition in hospital this morning.
The shooting is the latest in a string of similar attacks in recent months that are being blamed on dissident republicans.
The dissidents are apparently tying to curry favour with nationalist communities by attacking drug-dealers and others involved in anti-social behaviour.
http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/17588
October 15, 2009
Sinn Féin MLA for West Belfast Paul Maskey has stated that the shooting of a 28 year old man in West Belfast will achieve nothing and has called on those responsible to deist from these actions.
Speaking today Mr Maskey said:
“The shooting of a man in Lenadoon is wrong. It was carried out by groups attempting to make themselves relevant however they must learn from the past and see that so called punishment shootings achieved very little.
“However, the danger is that, differing from other shootings, this man was shoot in the abdomen which could easily have killed him and we would be dealing with a murder in west Belfast.
“There are other ways to deal with the issues affecting us all, both with the community and with the PSNI. Those behind the shooting must desist from these actions and engage with the community in order to actively promote community safety partnerships and accountable policing so that we can bring an end to these incidents. “
http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/17593
October 15, 2009
Sinn Féin Policing Board Member, Martina Anderson MLA (Foyle) has said that the cost of contentious parades are clearly unsustainable and the organisers of such events should be required to take out public liability insurance.
Martina Anderson was speaking after it emerged that similar steps had been taken in Scotland due to the spiralling costs of policing Orange parades there.
Ms Anderson said:
“The Board’s human rights committee met with the Parades Commission yesterday (Wednesday) and were briefed on the cost implications of parades here.
“The cost of nearly 2400 parades in the North between June and August of this year is estimated to be almost £3 million.
“However, only 79 of these parades were considered contentious and the PSNI informed us that if these marches were taken out of the equation the cost of policing parades could be reduced by 75%.
“Clearly, in a time of economic restraint and limited resources, such costs cannot be sustained or justified and I be believe we should be following the Scottish example where the organisers of contentious parades are required to take out public liability insurance if they wish to march.
“This came about after it emerged that Orange parades and associated disorder cost the Strathclyde Police £1.7m last year.
“I believe the organisers of the small number of contentious parades remaining in the North should be required to pick up the tab for the policing costs they incur. Requiring them to take out insurance is one way of doing so although I suspect that many of these parades would be uninsurable given their history of disorder.”
http://www.derryjournal.com/journal/Four-held-under-terror-laws.5737538.jp
Published Date: 15 October 2009
POLICE are questioning four men in relation to dissident republican activity.
The quartet - aged in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s - were arrested on the Glenshane Road near Claudy in Co Derry on Wednesday evening, according to a police spokeswoman.
A number of items were also seized in the operation.
The men are currently being held at the serious crime suite in Antrim.
Police have stressed the arrests are not linked to the security alert in Clady, Co Tyrone.
Meanwhile the PSNI have searched a number of properties in the Creggan area of Derry this morning in connection with the arrests
http://www.derryjournal.com/journal/American-travel-agents-visit-Derry.5730967.jp
Published Date: 14 October 2009
Twenty-five top US and Canadian travel agents have visited Derry as part of a four-day fact-finding visit to Northern Ireland.
The group were carefully selected and invited by Tourism Ireland in New York, and their itinerary put together by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.
The travel agents – all members of the top-producing US agencies including names like Ensemble
ADVERTISEMENT, Virtuoso and Signature Vacations – had an opportunity to overnight at the Lough Erne Golf Resort in Enniskillen before travelling northwards to enjoy a tour of the historic Walls of Derry, the Giant's Causeway and the Old Bushmills Distillery.
Alison Metcalfe, Tourism Ireland's Vice-President of Marketing in the United States, said: "We are delighted so many travel agents took time out of their busy schedules to visit Northern Ireland. For many, it was their first time here and they were extremely impressed by our wonderful scenery, the wealth of cultural and historic attractions, as well as by the hospitality and friendliness of the people they met.
"Familiarisation visits such as these are extremely important as they help the travel agents to know exactly what we have to offer potential American holidaymakers; the aim is that when they return to the US they are better equipped to advise their clients on future travel plans and trip bookings.
"Tourism Ireland has an extensive promotional programme in place in the US this autumn, highlighting Northern Ireland as a premier holiday destination. It is absolutely essential that we convey the message that there has never been a better time for Americans to visit Northern Ireland."
Updated: 11/5/2009
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