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Sinn Fein has accused its Democratic Unionist partners in government of corrupting negotiations to devolve policing powers to Stormont by introducing another pre-condition to the move - this time on the issue of Orange Order marches.
Republicans reacted angrily to DUP Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson's assertion his party would only agree to transfer law and order responsibilities from Westminster if changes were made to the current process of managing contentious events in the summer marching season.
Sinn Fein's John O'Dowd said Mr Robinson's demand was an attempt to erect another obstacle in the way of a deal after outstanding financial issues were resolved last week, when Prime Minister Gordon Brown unveiled a £1b (USD$1.64 billion) package to support the region's new justice department.
"What the DUP are doing is corrupting the political process by bringing in yet another pre-condition," said the Upper Bann representative.
He said the issue of parades was not directly linked to policing and justice devolution.
"Policing and justice is a stand alone issue," he added. "The budget has been sorted out - Peter Robinson told us in New York (earlier this month) that once the budget was sorted he would come back and he would fulfil has part of the agreement and here we have another what appears to be a pre-condition placed on the table."
During lengthy talks with No 10, the DUP repeatedly stressed the need to secure a good financial package to accompany the transfer.
However, the party denies it is now introducing new pre-conditions, claiming that the parading issue is one of a number of so-called confidence building measures it has called for from the outset of negotiations.
A review of parading in Northern Ireland is currently being carried out by former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown. He has made interim recommendations that would see local councils take over the responsibility for managing parades from the existing Parades Commission.
Mr Robinson, who wants to see the commission scrapped altogether, told the House of Commons last night that it was essential to find an agreed way forward on parading before devolution could take place.
He also accused Sinn Fein of blocking the publication of Lord Ashdown's final report.
In a DUP-led debate in Westminster, the First Minister said: "To leave these issues (parading) unresolved and to devolve powers of policing and justice would plant a seed at the heart of government in Northern Ireland which I believe would be corrosive and divisive and which ultimately could in fact be the straw that breaks the camel's back."
He claimed the commission was "not a solution to problems but part of the problem itself."
But Mr O'Dowd said the DUP leader was stalling on devolution in a bid to placate hard line members of his party who, he said, were inherently opposed to working with Sinn Fein.
"I don't think it's only Sinn Fein that have concerns about the DUP's commitment to this process," he said.
"It is my view that there are individuals within the DUP who are stalling the process, who are re-writing the script at each occasion - as we cross each hurdle presented to us, there's a new one presented and I think there are individuals within the DUP who are opposed to powersharing and therefore are opposed to the transfer of policing and justice."
While the vast majority of parades in Northern Ireland pass off without controversy, a small number of high profile marches through nationalist areas continue to be a source of disagreement.
In such instances the Parades Commission rules on whether the event can proceed and, if so, what restrictions should be placed on it.
Orangemen and unionists have been critical of the body in the past, accusing it of denying them their rights to walk routes they have followed for hundreds of years.
One of the most contentious parades is in Portadown, Co Armagh, where the local Orange lodge has been prevented from marching down the nationalist Garvaghy Road for more than a decade.
Breandan MacCionnaith from the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition has accused the DUP of playing the 'Orange card' to achieve political concessions.
"The timing of DUP's present political offensive suggest that the DUP see the parades issue as some form of bargaining tool in the wider political arena," he said.
He said the review of parading was unnecessary and unhelpful. In regard to Portadown, he said nationalists residents had moved on and would not accept any renewed bid to force a parade through their neighborhoods.
"The parades issue is one which belongs in the past and should remain there, and must not be allowed to be resurrected by anyone in order to suit party political agendas or narrow sectarian interests," he said.
A spokesman for the Orange Order said the organisation did not wish to comment on the latest political row.
However, he pointed out that the order had cooperated fully with Lord Ashdown's review.
"We fully engaged with the Ashdown review and it's now up to the politicians to take the matter forward," he added.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan accused both the DUP and Sinn Fein of politicising the issues of parades and policing.
The Foyle MP, who took part in the DUP's Westminster debate, said this was a dangerous route to take. He said parading and devolution had to be kept separate.
"The Parades Commission or its various agents may not have got all its decisions or processes right," he said.
"But they have broadly succeeded in making sure that politics and policing have been earthed from the convulsions that surround parades."
Commenting on a DUP motion in Westminster today on the parading issue, Upper Bann MLA John O’Dowd said that ‘no amount of motions from unionist politicians will resolve the issue of contentious parades’. Mr O’Dowd went on to say that what was required was the Loyal Orders stepping forward for the first time and making a contribution to the peace process.
Mr O’Dowd said:
“For years unionist politicians and the Loyal Orders have ran away from resolving the issue of contentious parades. They have time and again refused to talk to nationalist communities on the basis of equality and respect. The days of the Orange Order marching where and when they want are over and will not be coming back. That is the reality.
“Motions by the DUP at Westminster won’t resolve the question of contentious marches. What needs to happen is for the all the Loyal Orders and the Orange Order in particular to make their contribution to the peace process. The Orange Order could in the stroke of a pen resolve the parading issue. To date they have stubbornly refused to do so.
“Martin McGuinness made it clear at Bodenstown this year that the days of republicans stretching ourselves and our communities to maintain calm in the face of sectarian provocation cannot last forever. It is now time for the issue of contested parades to be dealt with once and for all. It is time for the Orange Order to declare that in future they will no longer seek to force parades through catholic areas and risk bringing violence onto our streets.”
Washington, DC—The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), Irish Northern Aid (INA) and the Irish American Unity Conference (IAUC) have joined together in a renewed effort to support an independent truth recovery process to deal with the legacy of the past following Thursday’s Congressional hearing into collusion in the North of Ireland.
The hearing featured testimony from Raymond McCord, John Finucane, former Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan, and Jane Winter, director of British Irish Rights Watch. Overwhelming Congressional support for further investigations into collusion and the full disclosure of truth on the part of the British government was evident throughout.
Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-MA), chair of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight, told the audience that the information surrounding collusion between British security forces and paramilitaries must be made public if people are to maintain faith in the integrity of the justice system. Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) agreed, stating that there is bipartisan support for truth recovery in Congress. “These issues are not going to go away,” Smith said.
“We would like to see Congress become actively involved in the establishment and oversight of an independent truth commission in the North of Ireland,” said IAUC President Kate McCabe. “Such a process, where victims’ rights are at the forefront, is essential to a lasting peace. American political support is necessary to ensure the true independence of any truth recovery process in the North.”
AOH National President Seamus Boyle said, “It is very important to remember that with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 ending the conflict in the North the Ancient Order of Hibernians refocused on the human rights and collusion issues which were highlighted in this Congressional hearing. We need to have resolution to these collusion issues which devastated both communities. We can then move on to the much more difficult task of a political dialogue and reconciliation between the communities.”
The AOH, INA and the IAUC are requesting that a Congressional fact-finding delegation be organized to travel to the North to specifically investigate the collusion issue. In addition, members of Congress are being asked to write to the Northern Ireland Office and Prime Minister Gordon Brown to express support for the “Legacy Commission” as proposed by the Consultative Group on the Past, provided that the British government allow for its operational independence and full access to State archives.
All Irish Americans and concerned citizens are being asked to join the AOH and IAUC in promoting these goals.
http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=19794
McCord, Finucane, others, testify in Congress collusion hearing
By Susan Falvella-Garraty
October 28, 2009 Washington, D.C. --- A father, a son, a baroness and a human rights advocate appealed to the U.S. Congress last week to help expose collusion between Northern Ireland police investigators and Protestant paramilitary organizations.
Raymond McCord testified before the House Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight about the killing of his son, Raymond, Jr., near Belfast in 1997.
McCord has long alleged that his son's killers were associated with the Ulster Volunteer Force, that one was a paid informant of the police and that police (the RUC at the time) colluded in the killing of his son.
"The continuing campaign of intimidation and death threats against my family and me is not random," McCord told the subcommittee, chaired by Congressman William Delahunt (D-MA.)
He testified that those responsible for his son's death are aided and shielded even today by law enforcement authorities in Northern Ireland.
John Finucane, the son of murdered Belfast lawyer Patrick Finucane, also asked at the hearing for Congress to intervene and persuade British officials to conduct a complete and thorough investigation into the 1989 shooting of his father, and the links the murders under scrutiny at the hearing had to the Northern Ireland police force.
Finucane testified, with his brother Michael seated behind him, that he and his family now have a remaining single desire twenty years after the death of their father.
"If the British government is serious about resolving the situation in Northern Ireland for good and building a lasting peace, then all we ask is this one simple thing: they cannot give me back my father; the least they can do is tell me the truth."
The Northern Ireland police ombudsman from 1999 to 2007, Baroness Nuala O'Loan, testified via video uplink.
She detailed much of her exhaustive investigation into collusion amongst some members of the Northern Ireland police force and deadly Protestant paramilitary gangs, but she appeared to shock many of the members of the subcommittee when she explained that to this day there is no law expressly against collusion on the books in the United Kingdom.
O'Loan reiterated that she had no doubt that collusion played a role in many high profile murders in Northern Ireland over a number of years. She said that much of her recommendations, however, on cleaning up personnel and procedures for the police in the North, has been implemented.
The director of the human rights group, British Irish Rights Watch, Jane Winter, asked in her testimony that the British government not impede any investigation into past or present collusion and not to offer "amnesty" to those who may have been involved in collusion by hiding past offenses in the name of "national security."
The Police Service of Northern Ireland was not represented at the hearing and there were no representatives from the British government giving testimony. Committee staff members said that there had been no other witnesses asked to appear at the hearing other than those that testified.
Ten years ago, in the same hearing room, Chris Patten testified before the same subcommittee about policing in Northern Ireland.
Congressional Friends of Ireland chairman, Rep. Richard Neal said after the hearing that he would be circulating a letter urging British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other British officials to meet with Raymond McCord.
"We are not here today to reopen old wounds, but rather to support Raymond McCord in his search for justice. No one should feel threatened by the pursuit of the truth and for justice as without justice there is no peace," said Rep. Donald Payne.
http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=19791
October 28, 2009
Filming for a new drama about the Easter Rising will finally get under way in Ireland next April.
The movie, "Easter Sixteen," will star Gary Oldman as James Connolly and Guy Pearce as Padraig Pearse and will cost £15 million to make.
The drama has been delayed on a number of occasions in recent years but will get under way next year and is expected to take 10 weeks to shoot at a location in Ireland not yet revealed.
The film marks the directorial debut of Irish actor Jason Barry, best known for his role in the movie Titanic.
Based on the pivotal events in Irish history, the film tells the story of an unlikely group of would-be revolutionaries with little in common beyond their determination to fight for a united Ireland.
English actor Ian Hart has been lined up to play Thomas Clarke while Jason Barry will also appear in the film as Roger Casement.
The film, which has been written by Irish author Brendan Foley, has already caused controversy with producer Nicola Charles rejecting criticism that the script will romanticize violence.
"It's a film that has to be made and Foley has spent 14 years working on the script", she said.
"The film is really the prequel to Michael Collins. Our final scene is their opening scene.
"It's a human interest story and in no way does it glorify violence. It's not about violence and revolution, it's about hope and heroism."
"Easter Sixteen" is understood to be one of six film scripts about the Easter Rising set to hit the big screen in the run up to centenary celebrations in 2016.
A musical based on the Easter Rising is also in production in London.
The producers have scheduled the musical's world premiere to take place in Dublin in 2011 but are also involved in a fly-on-the-wall TV documentary that follows their work in getting it to the stage.
Earlier this year a musical about the life of Michael Collins opened to critical acclaim in Cork.
Meanwhile, a new book on Eamon de Valera, who commanded the Boland's Mills garrison during the Rising, claims that the American-born future taoiseach and president of Ireland was in fact a British spy.
According to the Irish Independent, the book, "England's Greatest Spy: Eamon de Valera," claims that de Valera was terrified of being executed after the Rising and was "turned" in exchange for his life. For some years afterwards, the book claims, Dev was under British control.
The paper reported that the 470-page hardback is published by Stacey International, a London publisher specializing in politics and history, and that the author is a retired U.S. naval officer and historian, John Turi, from Princeton, New Jersey.
Updated: 11/5/2009
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