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http://www.derryjournal.com/journal/Family-demand-full-truth-of.5769461.jp
Published Date: 27 October 2009
The family of a Derry teenager shot dead by British soldiers in July 1972 have urged the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to co-operate fully with a new inquest into the killing.
Daniel Hegarty was shot dead by a soldier in Creggan during Operation Motorman.
After today's preliminary hearing at Derry Courthouse, a statement on behalf of the Hegarty family was read out to the media.
Karen Brady - a niece of the deceased - said: "We welcome the opening of Daniel's inquest today. We hope that all participants will co-operate fully in the proceedings. This includes the British Army who have already stated publicly that they would co-operate fully with any properly constituted enquiry into Daniel's death."
The statement - on behalf of Daniel Hegarty's sisters Margaret Brady, Ann (Philomena) Conaghan and Catherine Devenney - added: "We now have a responsibility to have placed on public record the full and truthful circumstances of what happened to Daniel."
The preliminary hearing was told that seven British soldiers may be called to give evidence in the inquest.
Northern Ireland's Senior Coroner John Lecky - who will sit with a jury at the inquest - says he expects it to get underway early in June of next year.
He added that he would "feel obliged" to ensure the attendance of the soldiers involved and that risk assessments be carried out on any military personnel who seeks anonymity in giving evidence.
Mr Lecky requested maps, photographs and documents related to the case to be submitted by the MoD, the PSNI and the Historical Enquires Team.
He said enquires would also be made to the Director of Public Prosecutions on whether an "agreement" was made in 1972 between the then RUC Chief Constable and the Royal Military Police that the shooting should not be investigated by police.
"It strikes me that, if the agreement existed, then the DPP must have known about it," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/8327162.stm
A new inquest into the death of a 15-year-old boy shot by the Army in Londonderry in July 1972 has begun.
Daniel Hegarty was shot dead in Creggan by a soldier during Operation Motorman.
At a preliminary enquiry on Tuesday the coroner, John Leckey, visited the scene of the shooting and decided he would sit with a jury in the city.
In a statement read outside the court, Daniel's niece Karen Barr said she hoped everyone involved will co-operate fully with the inquest.
"This includes the British Army, who have already stated publicly that they will co-operate fully with any properly constituted inquiry into Daniel's death.
"Daniel's parents, my grandparents, are now sadly deceased, but we now have a responsibility to place publicly on record the full and truthful circumstances of what happened to Daniel," she said.
It is the first time has a fresh inquest has been ordered as a result of an investigation by the Historical Enquiries Team.
The HET found that the RUC investigation at the time was "hopelessly inadequate and dreadful".
The HET report concluded that Daniel and his two cousins "posed no threat whatsoever" when the soldiers opened fire on them.
It also concluded that the boys were not armed, that Daniel was shot at close range, and that the soldiers did not give a warning as they had claimed.
The HET also found that the RUC's map of the scene incorrectly placed Daniel 70 feet away from the soldiers when he was shot at a range of less than ten feet.
The HET has submitted a new file to the PPS, and has called on the British government to apologise for Daniel Hegarty's death.
In 2007, the Ministry of Defence apologised to Daniel's family for a document which incorrectly described him as a terrorist and claimed he had been armed.
The MoD said it accepted Daniel was innocent and that the reference to him as a terrorist was inaccurate.
http://www.derryjournal.com/journal/SF-defend-Guildhall-dinner-dance.5767143.jp
Published Date: 27 October 2009
By Staff reporter
Sinn Fein in Derry have defended the staging of a dinner dance in the city's Guildhall commemorating IRA members who died during the Troubles.
Around a dozen campaigners from the FAIR victims group staged a protest outside the event, organised by the Derry Volunteers Commemorative Committee on Saturday night, claiming the event glorified the actions of the IRA.
Spokesman Willie Frazer said the protest took place as part of a campaign to demand justice for victims of terrorism.
"We will not allow them to present this as some sort of dinner dance to commemorate soldiers in a conflict.
"Because people are going to ask – who are these victims outside the dance? And the answer is that we are the victims whose loved ones were murdered and had bits blown off them by the IRA," he said.
A spokesman for Sinn Fein said around 300 people attended the dinner dance.
"The event has been held for 20 years in local hotels so I don't understand why all the fuss this year," he said.
He rejected any significance in the fact that this was the first time the event had been held in the Guildhall, a “public facility.”
"The people attending are ratepayers and are as entitled to use it as anyone else," he said.
The Sinn Fein spokesman dismissed Mr Frazer's claims that people attending the event had become involved in verbal exchanges with the protestors
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/8328966.stm
One of the men convicted of murdering eight people in the Greysteel massacre has been sent back to prison after his early release licence was suspended.
Torrens Knight was released early under the Good Friday Agreement
Torrens Knight was given 12 life sentences for his part in the 1993 bar murders and for killing four workmen in Castlerock earlier the same year.
He was released under the Good Friday Agreement after serving seven years.
However, last week he was found guilty of attacking two sisters in a bar in Coleraine on 30 May 2008.
His licence was suspended by the Secretary of State Shaun Woodward who said Knight's convictions for assault and disorderly behaviour demonstrated that he had "breached the terms of his life licence" and presented "a risk to the safety of others".
"I cannot permit freedom to any individual intent on abusing the opportunity they have been given to benefit from the early release scheme," Mr Woodward said.
The Sentence Review Commissioners will now determine if the early release licence granted to Knight in July 2000 should be revoked.
Eight people were shot dead when the UFF opened fire inside the Rising Sun bar in the County Londonderry village of Greysteel at Halloween 1993.
One of the gunmen shouted "trick or treat" before opening fire on customers.
In 2005, another of the Greysteel killers, Stephen Irwin, who had also been released early under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, was convicted of slashing a football supporter with a knife during an Irish Cup Final football match.
He was returned to prison and his licence was revoked.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8328719.stm
The DUP is to raise the issue of loyal order parades during a debate in the House of Commons later.
The motion asks for recognition of free assembly and peaceful procession as "an intrinsic human right and an important part of the British heritage".
DUP MPs will call for acknowledgement of "the cultural significance of parading and its tourist potential".
The motion regrets "attempts by a minority to interfere with the right to parade peacefully".
Three hours have been set aside for the debate.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/bbc-northern-ireland-favours-republicans-claims-dup-mp-14544102.html
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Some unionists believe BBC Northern Ireland has a republican bias, a DUP MP has claimed at a Northern Ireland Affairs Committee meeting at Stormont.
David Simpson said a “unionist journalist” told him he found Broadcasting House to be “a cold house” for those with his politics.
He would say there was a bigger chill factor than you would find at a Sinn Fein Press conference,” the Upper Bann representative said.
“There is a perception that the BBC in some ways is very biased when it comes to the nationalist or republican side of broadcasting.”
But BBC NI controller Peter Johnston, part of a panel giving evidence to the committee in a session in Stormont on public service broadcasting, denied any bias.
“Our audience do not say there is any bias though every now and then there are allegations like this made by politicians or interested groups.”
Mr Simpson asked Mr Johnston and panel members Stuart Cosgrove, Channel 4’s head of programmes in nations and regions, and Michael Wilson, head of television at UTV, about their spend on Irish language and Ulster-Scots programming.
Mr Johnston said BBC NI spent £1m a year on Irish language compared to £400,000 on Ulster-Scots. It had settled on the respective spend on the languages after an assessment of likely users.
The committee, chaired by Conservative MP Sir Patrick Cormack, also heard there was a dearth of programmes made in Northern Ireland for a UK audience.
Sir Patrick said: “It strikes me that there isn’t sufficient emphasis on the unique beauties and qualities of this part of the UK.”
But Jeanine Waddell of Waddell Media, representing independent producers, said there was a reluctance among London commissioning editors to go for ideas conceived by Northern Ireland programme-makers.
Peter Johnston said the BBC network had set targets of 3% of networking programming to be made in Northern Ireland by 2016.
Despite recent cuts, Mr Wilson defended his channel’s record on news current affairs, citing its new 10.30pm programme as evidence of a commitment to it.
Ulster Unionist MP Lady Sylvia Hermon — in her first public appearance since shunning her party's conference at the weekend — asked about the technicalities of the digital switchover.
“I am concerned that people will get to benefit from broadcasts in the Republic.”
Denis Wolinski, director of Ofcom Northern Ireland, and Stewart Purvis, partner at content and standards, Ofcom, said Northern Ireland would be the last UK region to turn off its analogue signal in 2012. They said Ofcom was liaising with its counterpart in the Republic to ensure listeners and viewers of RTE programmes did not lose out during the digital switchover
http://www.derryjournal.com/inishowen/Nightmare-as-250000-shoppers-head.5767423.jp
Published Date: 27 October 2009
By Staff reporter
With the confirmation that the number of housholds regularly doing their grocery shopping across the Border is up 25 per cent on the end of last year - and the number of southern registered cars in some northern shopping centre cars parks running at 70 per cent - Buncrana councillor Padraig MacLochlainn said he was still 'totally shocked' at the lack of action on the issue from the Tanaiste, Mary Coughlan.
And with queues clearly visible at lunchtime yesterday outside the Journal offices in Derry as thousands of Bank Holiday shoppers from Donegal made their way into Derry, Colr McLochlainn said it was 'a nightmare' for Inishowen traders.
He said: "In a recent article in the 'Derry Journal' Cathy O'Neill, a local accountant, absolutely nailed it. The collapse of sterling by up to a third in value and the collapse of the Irish economy because of construction bubble bursting has created a perfect storm.
"Families are getting hit every which way and I can't condemn anyone from going where they get the most value for their money.
"The British have deliberately let sterling crash to kick start their economy by making exports cheaper. But we, unfortunately, do not have our hands on the levers of power when it comes to currencies; we have a high euro, and Donegal interfaces with Derry, Tyrone and Fermanagh, all of which can provide goods at much lower prices than we can. It really is the worst of all possible worlds."
He went on: "Having said that, I am still totally shocked at the lack of action from the Tanaiste, Mary Coughlan. If ever a minister was perfectly placed to do something she is.
"When Offaly was struggling for tourists Brian Cowen arranged for a few tax incentives to be given to projects to boost the economy in his home place. What has Mary Coughlan done? Nothing."
Colr McLaughlin's comments come after the latest figures from market research firm Nielsen show some 250,000 households in the Republic are now regularly doing their grocery shopping in the North, and there has also been a major increase in cross-Border alcohol shopping, . Off-licence sales in the North have risen by 30 per cent in the year to August, while off-sales in the South are down by 7 per cent.
The proportion of Southern-registered cars in shopping centre car parks in Derry, Enniskillen and Newry, has increased from 40-50 per cent over the summer to 70 per cent now, figures from North-South business development body Intertrade Ireland show.
Cross-Border shopping will cost the Republic's economy over €810 million this year, it is estimated, compared to €640 million last year and e393 million in 2007.
"Cross-Border shopping has picked up significantly again," commented Eoin Magennis, policy research manager of Intertrade Ireland, "and is probably as high as it ever was". While people were shopping less often than before, they tended to buy more when they make the trip, he said.
The cross-Border shopping phenomenon has benefited the retail multiples far more than smaller shops, he said. In contrast, local shoppers in the North have moved their custom elsewhere because of the delays and traffic congestion caused by Southern daytrippers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/27/ulster-loyalist-child-sex-charges
A leading Ulster loyalist opponent of power sharing and the peace process will appear in a Northern Ireland court later today, charged with grooming a child for sex.
Mark Harbinson will also face charges of possessing indecent images of children. He was arrested in County Antrim yesterday morning and taken to Lisburn police station.
Harbinson, who is an Orangeman, has been a high-profile hardline loyalist who came to prominence during the Drumcree marching dispute in Portadown.
He once described the Orange Order's stance at Drumcree when they were faced down by the security forces as "Ulster's Alamo".
In 1999, Harbinson was arrested and questioned over the theft of top-secret intelligence files from the British army's headquarters in Northern Ireland. He has also been questioned in the past over assaults on a Catholic teenager in the village of Stoneyford, as well as an attack on a Sinn Féin councillor.
Updated: 11/5/2009
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