It’s a brave new world
Posted by Jim on February 16, 2022
NI Troubles: US politicians criticise legacy proposals
Posted by Jim on February 15, 2022
A number of US politicians have criticised the UK government at a congressional hearing on controversial proposals to deal with the legacy of the Troubles.
They claimed the plans – which include an amnesty – raised questions about the Government’s credibility.
They were speaking at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission which heard evidence from several people.
Committee co-chair Christopher Smith talked about a “massive cover-up”.
“There is nothing benign about an amnesty when it is all about concealing facts that would hold people to account,” he said.
“This is a massive cover-up by the British government.
“This is an embarrassment and I hope some MPs will push back against this in the House of Commons,” the Republican congressman said.
Addressing the committee on Tuesday, another congressman, Democrat Brendan Boyle, said the proposals would take Northern Ireland backwards.
The committee heard testimony from, among others, Geraldine Finucane, who is fighting for a public inquiry into the UDA murder of her husband, solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989.
She said the legacy proposals were an attempt by the UK “to sweep its actions and responsibilities under the carpet forever, with no risk of any exposure.”
Referring to opposition to the proposals, Mrs Finucane added: “I think we have all woken up.
“Everyone, no matter what side you are on, is really against this and is seeking help from you and others who have some influence.”
Jon Boutcher, head of Operation Kenova – an independent investigations unit looking at more than 200 Troubles-era murders – also gave evidence.
He told the committee he was “extremely nervous around stepping away from a criminal justice process.”
Mr Boutcher added: “I do think there is an opportunity to get this right.
“A lot of it, I do feel, falls on the shoulders of the British government to take a different direction to that they are currently taking.”
Mark Thompson from Relatives for Justice asked the committee to encourage the US administration to convene a legacy summit, involving governments, political parties and victims’ groups.
He said the UK must be made to honour previous commitments on dealing with the past under the Stormont House Agreement
“Dream come true” – US Ambassador to Ireland officially begins role in Dublin
Posted by Jim on February 11, 2022
Irish American Claire D. Cronin has officially assumed her role as US Ambassador to Ireland during a ceremony with President Michael D. Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin.
IrishCentral Staff@IrishCentralFeb 11, 2022
February 10, 2022: Claire D. Cronin, Ambassador of the United States of America, presents her credentials to President of Ireland Michael D Higgins. ROLLINGNEWS.IE
Claire D. Cronin presented her credentials to President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins at a ceremony in Dublin’s Áras an Uachtaráin on February 10, officially assuming the office of United States Ambassador to Ireland.
“I am deeply honored to serve as US Ambassador to Ireland,” Cronin said after presenting her credentials on Thursday.
“My grandfather hailed from County Donegal, and I feel a great sense of connection to Ireland and its people.
“As Ambassador, I plan to build on our important relationship by advancing mutual interests, as well as cooperating with my Irish partners in addressing global challenges facing our two countries.
Ambassador Cronin, who arrived in Ireland on Wednesday, February 9, was joined at Áras an Uachtaráin on Thursday by her husband, Ray, and their two daughters, Kara and Kerry.
The US Embassy in Dublin also shared a welcome video featuring Cronin on Thursday as she officially begins her role. In the video, Cronin said she is “honored” to be US President Joe Biden’s choice to serve as the US Ambassador to Ireland. Cronin was a key campaigner for Biden in her home state of Massachusetts, where she was serving as the Majority Leader of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the first female to hold the position.ADVERTISING
“As a proud American with family ties to Ireland, I am excited to return to the land of my ancestors at a time of so many opportunities for both countries,” Cronin said in the video.
“My grandfather left Ireland for a future in America full of hope and promise. He would be thrilled to see his granddaughter return to these shores as the US Ambassador. It is a dream come true.”
She continued: “President Biden entrusted me as the US Ambassador to Ireland at a very important moment. As his eyes and ears here in Ireland, I plan to engage with politicians and other stakeholders. President Biden is unequivocal in his support for the Good Friday Agreement, a historic achievement that must be protected to ensure peace and stability in Northern Ireland.”
Cronin also pledged to grow the “mutually beneficial economic relationship” between the US and Ireland.
Cronin said it was a “thrill” to move into Deerfield House in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, the home of the US Ambassador to Ireland. “I look forward to opening these historic doors in welcoming Irish friends and colleagues, whether for business, diplomatic meetings, or cultural events like the Embassy’s Creative Minds series.”
She added: “President Biden once recalled his grandmother’s words that the best drop of blood in you is Irish. I have to agree with him. I will cherish every moment here as US Ambassador to Ireland and I will always work to raise prosperity in both of our countries.”ADVERTISINGhttps://www.irishcentral.com/news/claire-cronin-us-ambassador-ireland-dublin?fbclid=IwAR1RPhnnpivjkoYie2vQghTBHn8f4pIOqb3FR-Os5E2bVlZia-irEmECuu8
Cronin, who was first reported as being considered for the ambassadorial role here on IrishCentral, was nominated in June by President Joe Biden and she was later confirmed by the US Senate in December. She formally resigned from the Massachusetts House of Representatives in January to be sworn in as Ambassador.
Cronin is the 25th US Ambassador to Ireland and is the first female to hold the position since Jean Kennedy Smith, who served from 1993 – 1998. The last US Ambassador to Ireland, Edward Crawford, served from 2019 – 2021.
John Major: NI Protocol was ‘one of the worst’ negotiations in recent history
Posted by Jim on
Former Prime Minister Sir John Major during his keynote speech at the Institute for Government, central London. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
February 10 2022 01:12 PM
The Conservative former Prime Minister Sir John Major has described the Northern Ireland Protocol as “arguably one of the worst” negotiations in recent history.
In a stinging attack on the current Prime Minister, Sir John also said Boris Johnson should resign from office if he has broken lockdown laws over parties held in Downing Street.
Sir John delivered a speech to the Institute for Government think tank on Thursday, and accused the government of feeling it “need not obey the rules”.
His comments came as the Metropolitan Police investigate 12 gatherings that took place at Downing Street.
When asked by the media if he thought Boris Johnson lied about the implications of Brexit, Sir John mentioned the protocol and described it as “arguably one of the worst pieces of negotiation we have seen in recent history”.ADVERTISING
He added: “It is causing an enormous amount of trouble.
“Whether anyone deliberately misled about that I can’t say – certainly they were mistaken.
“But it does help if you sign treaties if you understand them before you sign them.”
It comes just a week after Paul Givan resigned as First Minister as part of the DUP’s protest against the protocol, which sees Northern Ireland remain in the EU Single Market resulting in checks on goods coming here from Great Britain.
During his speech, Sir John warned that attempts to excuse the breaking of lockdown laws by No 10 is undermining trust in government and politics.
He said the “foolish behaviour” and “evasive” tactics of ministers are having a “corrosive” effect on the UK’s democracy.
“At No 10, the Prime Minister and officials broke lockdown laws,” stated Sir John.
“Brazen excuses were dreamed up. Day after day the public was asked to believe the unbelievable. Ministers were sent out to defend the indefensible – making themselves look gullible or foolish.
“Collectively, this has made the Government look distinctly shifty, which has consequences that go far beyond political unpopularity. No Government can function properly if its every word is treated with suspicion.”
Sir John, a longstanding critic of Boris Johnson, said such conduct reflects a wider decline in standards in recent years.
“Trust in politics is at a low ebb, eroded by foolish behaviour, leaving a sense of unease about how our politics is being conducted. Too often, ministers have been evasive, and the truth has been optional.
“When ministers respond to legitimate questions with pre-prepared soundbites, or half-truths, or misdirection, or wild exaggeration, then respect for government and politics dies a little more.
“Misleading replies to questions invite disillusion. Outright lies breed contempt.
“In our democracy, we are able to speak truth to power. But if democracy is to be respected, power must also speak truth to the people. And yet, in recent years, they have not been doing so.”
Gerard Hampson inquest: After over 14 years, we’ve been told what we knew from day one, say devastated family
Posted by Jim on February 10, 2022
Relatives of Gerard Hampson outside court on Wednesday
Allison Morris, Crime Correspondent
February 09 2022 06:59 PM
When Gerard Hampson stopped calling his children in the November of 2007, they knew almost immediately that something was wrong.
While known to friends as Shorty, his family called him “Buzby” a character from the BT advertisements of the 1980s, whose slogan was ‘make someone happy with a phone call’.
He would have called his children every day and would have regularly dropped into relatives’ homes unannounced for a cup of tea and a chat.
A former republican prisoner, friends described him a ‘creature of habit’ with a routine that once broken immediately aroused suspicions.
More than that the last relative to have spoken to Mr Hampson was unsettled by his behaviour.
Mary Hampson told an inquest into the Derry man’s death, that before the end of November 2007 her uncle called to her home in an agitated state. She asked him was he okay, but he said he wasn’t and there were “boys from Derry” looking for him and he did not know where to go.
Mary said her uncle seemed to be “in real fear” and talked about going “over the hill”, a phrase she took to mean going over the Glenshane Pass.
Mary was close to her uncle, and begged him to stay in her house, but he left in a car with a man, who was later to become a key suspect in his disappearance.
After a week of no contact and being unable to reach their father by phone, the family made their first police complaint.
But it didn’t go as planned and police dismissed their concerns. Mr Hampson’s daughter Bridgeen Carlin said: “When we reported this to the police and asked for help, we were ignored. When we needed compassion and support, we were met with contempt”.
For the families it has been a 14-year wait for answers.
Clarity was finally given by Coroner Joe McCrisken on Wednesday when he said the death was “a result of the action of a third party” and not suicide as the family was originally told.
It’s been a lengthy battle for truth. Having been first told that their father was ‘on the run’ and then later that he had taken his own life, they were determined to get to the truth.
The inquest heard that in 2007 a forensic report had linked Mr Hampson to a kidnapping earlier that year in Mullingar in Co Westmeath.
The PSNI originally took the view that Mr Hampson went to ground as he was wanted for questioning.
Mr Hampson was aware that police wanted to speak to him, and met his solicitor to discuss the options available to him, but before a date for interview could be arranged, he had disappeared.
The day before his disappearance, he called one of his children and asked would they drop him off a phone charger and some clothes. They dropped the items off to a local bar and that was the last time he was seen alive by his children.
The family later found he’d spent that night with two men – who would become suspects in his murder – in Magherafelt, before travelling to Swatragh.
His mobile phone was used at 9.58pm on November 30, and never used again.
One of the men in his company later claimed to have dropped the deceased off at a bus stop.
Records show that by late December 2007 police changed the status of the investigation into Mr Hampson’s disappearance from a missing person to a wanted person.
One family member said they were told by a PSNI officer that their father was “probably in France or Spain being looked after by his friends”.
On December 18, Garda officers’ detained the two men last seen in Mr Hampson’s company at Connolly Station in Dublin.
One of them was found to be in the possession of a false passport and two mobile phones. When asked about Mr Hampson his first comments to Garda officers were that if PSNI did not have him, then “someone has done him in”.
The family’s frustrations meanwhile were growing; they knew the character of the man and said he would never have left them worrying over the Christmas holiday period.
On January 9, a man out walking his dog found Mr Hampson’s naked body washed up on the shores of Lough Neigh, near Toomebridge.
The witness who lived and worked in the area said when he found the body he sent for a priest and also sprinkled Holy Water on the corpse.
The man said that if a body had been placed in the Moyola River it could wash down into Lough Neagh
The inquest later heard that statements were given by two men in 2015.
Witness Y claimed that Witness X told him that he and two others had killed Mr Hampson saying it was “the hardest thing he ever had to do holding that man under the water”.
Witness X and Witness Y refused to give evidence to the coroner in person. Mr McCrisken said the only statutory powers he had was to fine them £1,000 each, which he did.
The other two suspects in the case are now dead – both took their own lives.
Witness X told Witness Y that the one of the men had taken a secret to his grave. The witness also said if it came out that he had spoken he would not be able to stay in Northern Ireland as “someone is going to shoot me”.
Mr McCrisken commended the Hampson family for their “patience and fortitude” over the last number of years.
He added that it was unfortunate that no one had been made amenable for Mr Hampson’s death.
Mrs Carlin said she was overwhelmed, saying it had taken 14 years to be “told what we knew from day one”.
Following a Police Ombudsman’s report released in 2016, eight PSNI officers were disciplined in relation to the case.
There were two arrests in 2016 and 2019 but no charges due to lack of evidence.
Throughout the 14 year battle for truth the family were supported by Sara Duddy of the Pat Finucane Centre, who has lived and breathed every step of the family’s campaign for truth.
She said it was “emotional” to be in the inquest court when the verdict was delivered.
She added that the family were “exhausted, but delighted to have answers”.
“It’s been challenging. They’ve had to listen to some very difficult evidence, they will now be taking time to consider the coroner’s written verdict and take stock and consider what their next step is,” Ms Duddy said.