Posted by Jim on February 25, 2019
Niall O’Dowd@niallodowd. Irish Central. Thursday, Feb 21, 2019
Britain, Brexit and Donald Trump beware – an Irish American battle-hardened veteran of Washington politics suddenly finds himself a master and commander
The new power brokers in Washington, D.C. are featured in the February issue of Vanity Fair in an article and sumptuous backlit photos like they were on a Hollywood set.
On the right-hand side in one of the pics stands a man familiar to every activist Irish American, Congressman Richie Neal, an “overnight” star in Washington after 26 years on the Ways and Means Committee he now chairs.
For Irish Americans, used to seeing Neal on the Irish border or meeting with Gerry Adams, the dissonance is obvious but very welcome. There has been no one else in Congress who has paid as much attention to the Irish issue.
To his Irish supporters’ delight, Neal now has real clout. His chairmanship means he’s the man who could stop funding for President Trump’s wall, and create massive problems for Brexit treaties.
Neal is strongly aided by the presence of Congressman Brendan Boyle from Pennsylvania, the rising star in Irish American politics who also sits on the Ways and Means Committee.
Ways and Means is a permanent committee of the House of Representatives, which makes recommendations to the House on
all bills for raising revenue. The committee is the principal source of legislation concerning issues such as taxation, customs duties, and international trade agreements.
When you also consider that Neal could severely damage President Trump’s re-election bid if he gets access to his tax returns which experts say he may be entitled to, then you realize that he is playing for very big stakes indeed.
Not that that will phase Neal, a battle-hardened veteran of Washington politics who suddenly finds himself a master and commander of every buck that the government is allowed to spend—including, many argue, on walls in Mexico.
Oh, and he gets to scrutinize every international treaty which could be very important if the British Brexiteers show up looking for new trade deals if they finally disengage from the EU. How they do that will be of paramount interest. Neal will be watching especially closely.
The Boston Globe described him as a “patient man in a hurry,” having spent 26 years on the Ways and Means Committee. He is now finally in charge at age 70 and in a hurry to fulfill his priorities.
His Democratic blue-collar roots in the gritty town of Worcester, Massachusetts are clear for all to see. He is an old
fashioned Democrat, one unafraid to speak his mind. Neal’s oft-quoted remark is, “The slogan of the modern Republican party is ‘We are rich, and we’re not going to take it anymore.’”
He is unbeatable in his home district, winning his primary 70-30 and having no opponent in the general. Civil rights in Northern Ireland and in America remains his passion.
His best friend in Congress is John Lewis, the legendary survivor of Dr. Martin Luther King’s movement who was at Selma and is now a member of the House.
Neal comes from a tough background. He and his two younger sisters were raised in Springfield by their mother, a housewife,
and their father, a custodian at MassMutual, Insurance and Financial Services. His maternal grandparents were from Northern Ireland, and his paternal grandparents were from Ireland.
Neal’s mother died of a heart attack when he was 13. He was attending Springfield Technical High School when his father, an alcoholic, died.
Neal and his sisters moved in with their grandmother, and later their aunt, and were forced to rely on Social Security checks as they grew up.
Now he is also one of the most important politicians in America. To no one’s surprise, he was also recently appointed the chair of the Friends of Ireland in Congress.
Britain and Brexiteers beware. We Irish are lucky to have him there.
Posted by Jim on February 23, 2019
A row has erupted over the future leadership of the PSNI (formerly RUC)
following revelations last week that collusion-related documents in
PSNI archives continue to be withheld from investigators.
Two decades after the reforms of the Patten Commission were meant to
transform the murderous RUC into a cross-community policing service,
the problem of ongoing collusion in the force dovetailed with new
statistics which show that just 10% of senior members of the PSNI are
Catholic.
Amid calls for the PSNI to be disbanded, a suggestion by Sinn Féin
leader Mary Lou McDonald that its next chief should be an external
candidate was greeted with outrage and calls for apologies by
unionists.
Ulster Unionist Alan Chambers called on Sinn Féin representatives on
the Policing Board to “publicly disassociate themselves from their
party leader’s comments”.
The DUP’s Mervyn Storey said he was seeking legal advice over its
inclusion of Sinn Féin members in the panel to select the next PSNI
chief.
“How can any Sinn Féin member sit on that panel and candidates from the
PSNI expect to get a fair hearing,” he demanded to know.
Ms McDonald’s comments came after she met bereaved families caught up
in the controversy involving the PSNI’s secret and undisclosed archive
of collusion documents.
“I cannot describe to you the level of distress of these families
because they were expecting a report from the Ombudsman and he
discovered by accident that critical information was withheld from
him,” she said.
“People are looking on aghast with the latest episode of this.
“Any comments that I have made are reflective of exasperation and real
upset from real people who live up the road. Any comments I will ever
make will be in the interests of delivering credible policing services
that people can support.”
It is understood some of the secret files are linked to a shipment of
loyalist weapons smuggled into the north in the late 1980s. Collusion
is suspected in many of the hundreds of murders involved.
The news that these files were withheld has caused nationalist
confidence in the PSNI to sink to “rock bottom”, Sinn Féin has warned.
Ms McDonald cited a meeting with the Police Ombudsman where she heard
details of information, specifically in relation to the Ormeau Road
massacre. The gun assault carried out by the UDA in 1992 left five
people dead.
Of the call for an outsider to take over the force, Ms McDonald said
“there’s nothing to apologise for”, dismissing criticism of her remarks
as “political huffing and puffing”.
The predecessor to the current PSNI chief George Hamilton, who is due
to retire in June, was Matt Baggott, an external appointment from an
English police force — as was Hugh Orde, the first permanent PSNI
chief.
“I was asked could I identify someone from the senior team who I
thought ought to be chief (constable) and the truth is I can’t,” Ms
McDonald said.
But DUP leader Arlene Foster said she believed Ms McDonald’s comments
had jeopardised the recruitment process.
“The leader of one of the political parties involved in the panel has
made her feelings quite clear and that of course interferes with due
process and the panel has now been compromised,” she declared.
There was also a bizarre intervention by Fianna Fáil’s Housing
Spokesperson Darragh O’Brien, apparently motivated by that party’s
recent alliance with Sinn Féin’s main political rivals in the North,
the SDLP.
He branded Ms McDonald’s as “wholly irresponsible” and “very dangerous”
and accused her of “undermining” the PSNI — despite a similar decision
having been taken and supported by Fianna Fáil in regard to the reform
of the Gardai in the 26 Counties.
The current chief of the Gardai, former RUC figure Drew Harris, was
also an external appointment. Ironically, he also now stands accused of
hiding collusion files from investigations which predate his
appointment as Garda Commissioner one year ago.
Posted by Jim on
By Emma deSouza
There is a slow realisation washing over the people of Northern Ireland.
The realisation that an intrinsic part of the Good Friday Agreement – an
agreement that brought peace and stability to the island of Ireland – is
quickly disappearing. It is fast becoming a casualty of Brexit and the
UK government’s failure to fully implement the UN registered bilateral
agreement into action.
Inequality between the two main communities was a core issue in Northern
Ireland’s tumultuous past. When the parties sat down and brokered the
Agreement, that inequality was centre stage. A solution was reached;
that there can be no differential treatment between the communities, or
the ‘parity of esteem’ as it became known. As a result, the people of
Northern Ireland were given a unique right within the United Kingdom and
Ireland: the birth right to choose their nationality – whether that be
Irish or British or both. That freedom of choice is essential to the
very fabric of the Good Friday Agreement, a freedom which Brexit
threatens to eliminate.
The hardening of the Irish border has been of paramount importance
during the Brexit negotiations as both sides come to terms with the
withdrawal of the UK from the European Union. There has been a mutual
understanding that the integrity of the Good Friday Agreement is
sacrosanct and any such border would in effect breach the agreement. The
backstop – seen by many as an insurance policy and the bare minimum to
ensure no return to any such border – was thought to be resolved.
However, the passing of the Brady amendment reignites doubts over the UK
government’s sincerity to remain committed to its obligations.
However, the backstop in its enormity has overshadowed a developing
crisis around citizenship, identity and the Good Friday Agreement. The
fact that British passport holders in Northern Ireland will have
significantly different rights to their Irish neighbours or that Irish
passport holders are being advised to renounce British citizenship – to
be accepted as Irish and not British under the terms of the Good Friday
Agreement – has received little coverage.
What’s also being under-reported is the weighty personal impact of these
government-enforced choices. The trauma and stress that comes from
having your very identity questioned or undermined is understandably
trying. My own tumultuous court case over Irish identity – which has now
been on-going for four years – demonstrates both the importance of that
identity and the personal cost being felt by those in our community.
We’re already seeing a manifestation of the effect Brexit will have on
the delicate balance within our society. We’re seeing Northern
Ireland-born British citizens having to obtain Irish passports in order
to access freedom of movement across the EU. We’re seeing Northern
Ireland-born Irish citizens having to formally renounce British
citizenship in order to access the EU’s family life rights. And as for
dual nationals, they already experience a restriction to their EU rights
in that they cannot benefit from EU family life rights and will not, as
recently revealed, be able to secure their EU rights under the
Settlement Scheme. Neither will Irish citizens.
Under the current circumstances, each of the three categories of
citizenship, to which all Northern Ireland-born citizens are entitled,
come with complex restrictions which instead actively force citizens to
choose one citizenship, one identity or the other. This is a tremendous
breach of the Good Friday Agreement and the principles of its
foundation; a breach that Brexit is exacerbating.
Eminent figures from within the field of academia and human rights have
been making noise on diminution of rights in Northern Ireland. During a
recent Oireachtas (Irish parliamentary) committee hearing they painted a
bleak picture, calling on an immediate panel to review the “crisis”
developing in the North.
The Committee heard that: “People might find themselves forced to assume
an identity they would not choose for themselves.” The director of the
Committee for the administration of Justice added: “The citizenship
issue is an example of how basic assumptions of the Good Friday
Agreement have been undermined. The basic breach of this principle of
equality by Brexit amounts to a new focus of division between the two
main communities.”
At one point, my case was raised during the committee hearing in an
effort to highlight the erroneous position the UK Home Office has taken
in regards to Northern Ireland-born Irish citizens. My husband and I
have been embroiled in a lengthy legal battle against UK
government-imposed British citizenship and for the right to be accepted
as an Irish national only. The UK Home Office has persistently appealed
against us, insisting that all the people of Northern Ireland are
British irrespective of their choice under the Good Friday Agreement.
Even more concerning than the Home Office relentlessly dragging families
like mine through the courts with appeals, is the statement that it is
the UK government’s “view that an international agreement such as the
Belfast Good Friday cannot supersede domestic legislation.” Essentially,
the UK government does not consider itself legally bound to the very
treaty it currently claims to be protecting. This raises very real
concerns and fears that the government may further distance itself from
its obligations under the Agreement after Brexit.
As a consequence of the diminution of rights and disregard for Northern
Ireland’s unique position within the United Kingdom, there’s been a
seismic shift in attitudes. Open dialogues on Irish reunification are
developing across the country. Members from all sides; from political to
religious, and nationalist to unionist, are gathering to have reasonable
conversations about the framework of a border poll. I would never have
predicted these conversations two years ago. We’re seeing a kind of
awakening, stoked by the minimisation of our unique identity and
citizenship rights and the reality that we are being taken out of the
European Union against our will.
As focus falls back to Westminster and the potential fallout from the
Brady amendment, a storm is brewing in Northern Ireland. We are coming
to terms with the reality that our right to choose, our
self-determination, is deteriorating at an alarming rate. It’s clear
with Brexit that we don’t have a choice at all – and that is a clear
violation of the Good Friday Agreement.
Time and again we hear the phrase “written in sand” when discussing the
legislative underpinnings of the Good Friday Agreement, a phrase that
encompasses our reality perfectly. Calling the Sorites Paradox to mind,
how many grains of sand can be removed from a heap before it is no
longer a heap but a single grain of sand. The Brexit storm is coming and
we all know what happens to sand in the rain.
Posted by Jim on
A member of the Saoradh executive is being held indefinitely on the
back of an MI5-directed arrest operation, despite the existence of
video and social media evidence which should have meant his immediate
release.
A frequent target of Crown Force harassment, Ardoyne republican Alan
Lundy was taken from his home late on Friday night, February 15, by a
PSNI squad who raided his partner’s home and their children’s bedrooms.
He appeared before Belfast Magistrates Court on Monday accused of being
one of two masked anti-drug vigilantes who entered a house on the
Ligoniel Road in north Belfast on Friday night.
The allegations have been rubbished by his defence lawyer Darragh
Mackin, who said Mr Lundy had provided a detailed account of his
whereabouts on the night in question. This includes being in a fast
food outlet at Castledawson 40 miles away from the scene of the
incident, then travelling home.
Mr Mackin told the court that it was a “fundamental case of mistaken
identity”.
But despite CCTV evidence from Castledawson, as well as digital
evidence of his return home, District Judge Fiona Bagnall refused Mr
Lundy bail.
Alan’s brother Daniel said that he is innocent and his arrest and
remand is the latest in a long list of intimidation.
“Alan is innocent, it is just internment,” he said. “There is
sufficient evidence to prove where he was at the time of this so-called
incident. He is constantly stopped and searched and harassed. His
family know where he was and everyone knows where he was.
“Alan’s partner’s house was searched and has been on numerous occasions
with the doors put through and his kids literally dragged from their
bed at all hours of the morning. This is nothing but MI5-directed.”
North Belfast Saoradh representative Dee Fennell says Alan is “a victim
of the state”.
“Evidence has already been presented to the Magistrates Court when it
was alleged he was involved in an incident in Ligoniel that he was 40
miles away in a fast food outlet and there is CCTV to prove that,” he
said. “There is also proof via his phone that he was not there. There
were also conflicting witness reports – one said it was Alan wearing a
beige coat and the other said it was Marty wearing a black coat.
“In any other situation, Alan would be at home with his family and
children but instead he was remanded and sent to Maghaberry. This is
the second time Alan has been a victim of malicious prosecution and
internment.
“In 2012, Alan was a steward at a GARC protest and was accused by a
PSNI officer of throwing a stone. He was sent to Maghaberry and served
three months and it was only then that the PSNI officer retracted the
evidence. His family is constantly harassed on a regular basis and, in
my view, Alan is a victim of the state.
“In the last ten years, Alan has been arrested between 25 and 30 times,
had his house raided on more occasions than that, stopped and searched
hundreds of time.
“I am a youth worker. There are four definitions of abuse: physical,
psychological, sexual and neglect. No-one can tell me that Alan Lundy’s
children being dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night is
not psychological abuse of children.
“Alan Lundy personifies what is happening to republicans across the six
counties
Posted by Jim on February 22, 2019
Just 8 senior PSNI officers from Catholic background
Connla Young. Irish News. Belfast. Thursday, February 21, 2019
SDLP Policing Board member Dolores Kelly has voiced concern after it emerged just 11 percent of PSNI officer in senior roles are Catholic
Just eight of the PSNI’s most senior police officers are from a Catholic background.
Almost 20 years after the publication of the Patten Report it has emerged that 83 percent of the PSNIs most senior personnel are Protestant.
Figures published by the PSNI last year reveal that of the 68 officers above the rank of superintendent, 57 are Protestant, while eight (11 percent) are from a Catholic background.
Three officers were classified as undetermined.
Policing Board member Dolores Kelly last night voiced concern that Catholics are under-represented at senior levels in the force and called for a return of 50-50 recruitment.
While the PSNI did not reveal the ranks held by senior officers they are thought to include the chief constable and deputy chief constable.
Assistant chief constables, chief superintendents and those holding the rank of superintendent complete the category.
Together they make up the PSNI’s senior leadership team.
While the number of Catholics in the police has risen from 8 percent to more than 30 percent over the last two decades, criticisms remain.
Last week nationalists reacted angrily after it emerged the PSNI had failed to hand over “significant” information to the Police Ombudsman relating to the 1992 loyalist gun attack at Sean Graham’s bookmakers on Belfast’s Ormeau Road, which claimed five lives.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald caused controversy this week after saying she believed that no-one within the PSNI was capable of taking on the chief constable role after George Hamilton’s retirement later this year.
The figures show that the disparity in religious background continues in other senior PSNI roles.
Of the 77 officers that hold the rank of chief inspector 58 (75 percent) are Protestant while 17 (22 percent) are Catholic.
At inspector level there are 347 officers, with 248 (71 percent) Protestant and 89 (25 percent) Catholic.
The percentage breakdown for those who hold the rank of sergeant are similar with 976 appointed to the role.
Of that number 687 (70 percent) are Protestant while 275 (28 percent) are Catholic.
The statistics begin to narrow at constable level, of which there are 5,033 officers.
Of these 3,258 (64 percent) identify as Protestant while 1,720 (34 percent) are Catholic.
However, when it comes to student officers the gap begins to widen again, with the figures showing a significant drop in the number of Catholic recruits compared to qualified constables.
Of 233 student officers 180 are Protestant (77 percent) and 49 (21 percent) are Catholic.
SDLP Policing Board member Dolores Kelly last night said: “50-50 recruitment should not have been ended when it did, it’s very clear that it ought to be reinstated.
“So many years on from Patten and the transformation of the PSNI these figures are still a cause for concern in terms of people going through the rank and file and it’s a matter I hope the Policing Board will delve into an investigate more with the PSNI to see if more can be done.”
“I have said it publicly and privately we are not seeing the big role models in those senior ranks.”