Posted by Jim on July 28, 2018
A suspected British state agent and hitman identified as a triple
sectarian killer was never prosecuted because of a cover-up in which the
PSNI (then RUC) police simply did not send a file to prosecutors, it has
emerged.
Portadown man Alan Oliver has previously been linked to a UVF gang that
carried out dozens of sectarian murders in the Mid-Ulster area. One of
the gang revealed Oliver as the man who shot dead three innocent
Catholics in an infamous attack on a mobile shop in Craigavon in 1991.
Loyalist James Thomas Harper was the getaway driver in the ambush of
sixteen-year-old Katrina Rennie, nineteen-year-old Eileen Duffy and
29-year-old Brian Frizzell, who operated the shop.
Harper was convicted for his part in the triple murder and given a life
sentence. But the two men he said were his fellow UVF gang-members were
never prosecuted.
During interrogation Harper said that after the attack Oliver used a
radio to say “Tatie bread” to indicate to the other two that the victims
had been killed. Oliver is understood to be still living openly in the
north Armagh area.
Harper identified the third UVF gang member as Tony McNeill, and accused
former UVF commander Billy Wright and Mark ‘Swinger’ Fulton of helping
to plan the attack. The plan for the attack is understood to have come
from members of a British Army (UDR) patrol after Mr Frizzell had
refused to serve them.
During Harper’s sentencing, the judge said it was “unfortunate” that the
other two gang members were not before the courts. Now the Public
Prosecution Service has confirmed that “no investigation file in respect
of Oliver or McNeill was ever submitted to the DPP (Department of Public
Prosecutions) for a decision as to prosecution regarding this incident”.
It added: “it would not be appropriate for the PPS to now apply the test
for prosecution to individuals not reported on the original police
file”.
Eileen Duffy’s brother Brendan spoke of his family’s disappointment.
“I’m very angry that there was never any chance of a conviction,” he
said.
“It confirms what we believed that the state had some role in the
killings at the mobile shop.”
“The truth is more important to us than justice because if there are any
convictions they will only get two years.”
The family’s lawyer Kevin Winters said “the Craigavon mobile shop
killings presents as one of the worst examples of cover up of state-run
murdering agents”.
“We have written to the police seeking an explanation – we don’t expect
to get one,” he said.
“The bereaved Frizzell, Rennie and Duffy families continue to engage
with patience and dignity in a drip-feed legal process that takes a
terribly long time to finish.”
“Getting shocking news like this only serves to retraumatise them and
that’s an experience shared by hundreds of other families.”
Mr Winters said that if similar circumstances arose in another
jurisdiction there would be an investigation.
“But not here, it will never happen because of so called ‘political
sensitivities’ and other ‘agendas’.
“That is both farcical and depressing.”
Posted by Jim on
By An Sionnach Fionn
There are few other British historical figures more controversial – and
more reviled – in the popular culture of Ireland than Winston Churchill.
Described by Eamon de Valera in a carefully worded eulogy upon his death
in 1965 as a “dangerous enemy of the Irish people”, the career
politician is best remembered in this country for his close association
with the United Kingdom’s violent rejection of pro-autonomy majorities
in four plebiscite-elections held on the island between 1918 and 1921.
As the Secretary of State for War, the Secretary of State for Air and
later as the Secretary of State for the Colonies his malevolent
influence contributed significantly to the UK’s political and military
responses to the 1916-23 Revolution. Including, most obviously, the
partition of the country in December 1920, and the deployment of three
infamous militia units in 1919-20: the Royal Irish Constabulary Special
Reserve (the RICSR or Black and Tans), the Auxiliary Division of the
Royal Irish Constabulary (the ADRIC or Auxies) and the Ulster Special
Constabulary (the USC or B-Specials).
Given that record, one would assume a fair degree of caution on behalf
of any politician visiting Ireland from Britain who might choose to
summon up his opinions on matters Irish related, however distant in
time. Especially during a period of high crisis and low relations
between Dublin and London, thanks to the ongoing Brexit debacle and the
failure of the latter capital to negotiate a feasible withdrawal plan
with the European Union. However no such thoughts seem to have entered
the head of the British prime minister Theresa May and her advisers on
Friday as she adorned her speech in the city with some remarks by
Churchill lauding the nature of the British legacy colony in the
north-east of the island.
Short of pulling out a Tricolour, the national flag of Ireland, and
setting it on fire on the dais, it is difficult to imagine how much more
undiplomatic and positively provocative the Conservative Party leader
could have been in her words and sentiments on Friday. Gone was any real
attempt at nuance or subtlety, of an authentic reaching out to that half
of the population in the UK-administered Six Counties with an Irish
nationality. Instead we were treated to an egregious display of British
revanchism, of territorial colonialism by rhetoric, with a deceitful
twisting of the principles underlying the Good Friday Agreement of 1998;
the complex, multistranded peace settlement which effectively ended
thirty years of armed conflict in the contested region.
In the full speech delivered in the Waterfront Hall there is little
evidence that the minority Conservative Party government in London,
reliant on a parliamentary alliance with the far-right hibernophobic
Democratic Unionist Party for survival, is now willing to deliver on the
commitments given to Dublin and Brussels in the “backstop” agreement of
late 2017. A Brexit-facilitating deal guaranteeing continued regulatory
alignment under EU rules on the island of Ireland in the absence of any
similar arrangements with the United Kingdom. On the contrary, ministers
and officials in the increasingly desperate UK seem determined to use
the political stability and economic prosperity of this island nation,
and the very peace process itself, as a playable card in its chaotic
negotiations with its former partners and neighbours in Europe.
The French did not coin the phrase, la perfide Albion, for no reason.
* The full text of May’s speech is available at https://bit.ly/2NU5hXp
Posted by Jim on
The Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association has relayed
serious cases of abuse of republican prisoners at Maghaberry and
Hydebank jails.
One prisoner who suffered an untreated heart attack in 2014 has been
subjected to a strip search by prison warders just after he had received
urgent hospital treatment.
Thomas ‘Ta’ McWilliams from Ardoyne was diagnosed with renewed heart
palpitations and forced to attend an outside hospital while handcuffed
to a warder.
“At hospital he was fitted with numerous heart monitoring devices which
have been kept on him to monitor his heart rate etc over the next 48
hrs,” the IRPWA said.
“On return to the jail this evening he was stripped standing up as he
was unfit to be laid on the floor. This was while continuing to wear
heart monitoring equipment.
“Although all objective bodies have called for an end to forced strip
searching, the issue of forced stripping of those in ill health was
raised by the Prisoner Ombudsman only weeks ago.
“This behavior, including the presence of screws in medical
consultations, is a flagrant violation of Human Rights. It cannot be
ignored that this is occurring as we approach eight years since the
signing of the August 2010 Agreement- 8 years after NIPS [the Northern
Ireland Prison Service] agreed to end strip searching. Such actions
speak to the depravity of the Maghaberry administration and the Six
County prison service as a whole.”
The IRPWA also highlighted recent threats and attempted assaults on
republican prisoner Christine Connor at Hydebank women’s prison in south
Belfast. As the only republican prisoner at the jail, Ms Connor is
already living in isolation and has previously been subjected to
sustained verbal abuse and other oppressive measures.
This recently escalated into two attempted physical attacks, the IRPWA
said.
“On the first occasion Christine was left trapped in an enclosed space
by a screw who had abandoned his post when a male attacker attempted to
reach her whilst shouting sectarian abuse.
“He managed to get past the useless security measures before being
restrained by his own escort.
“On the second occasion three would-be attackers overcame the measly
security measures, with one of these attackers armed with a sharp
implement. When Christine made her way to safety she was greeted with
hostility and ambivalence by the screw who was on duty.
“When Christine complained she was subsequently charged by Hydebank
jail. The jail has offered only a worthless apology, and it is clear
that Hydebank is determined to see harm come to Christine.
“The treatment of Christine Connor is ample evidence of the depths of
reactionary control and sectarian bigotry in the Six-County prison
service.”
Posted by Jim on
DUP leader Peter Robinson has said he believes reunification
could happen because of Brexit and has called for a debate on
“protections” for the unionist community.
His remarks came as an official report showed that people in the north
of Ireland would be better off in a united Ireland inside the European
Union.
Speaking at the McGill summer school on Friday, Peter Robinson, who
retired as the Six County First Minister in 2016, said he believes the
North must now prepare for the possibility of a united Ireland.
The former leader of the hardline Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said
he would accept the results of a border poll which could led to the
North joining the South, if there is a majority within the Six Counties.
“As soon as that decision is taken every democrat will have to accept
that decision,” he said in response to a question from the audience. But
he said holding a border poll without preparation for reunification
would be “madness”, and compared it to the British decision to leave the
European Union.
While he said he did not believe it would happen, he said he could not
rule it out. The unionist community should have “protections” in the
event of reunification, as the nationalist community currently enjoys in
the North, and he called for “a working north-south institution” to
smooth relationships across the two islands.
In a response to Robinson’s comments posted on Twitter, Sinn Fein’s
spokesperson on reunification Matt Carthy said: “Something big is
happening — change is coming. We all need to prepare for unity.”
Earlier this week a committee of the Dublin parliament circulated a
report internally which confirms the financial benefits of reunification
in the aftermath of Brexit. The main author is a German economist, Gunther
Thumann, who worked as a senior economist at the German desk of the
International Monetary Fund at the time of German reunification. He
brought his understanding of that process to the situation in Ireland.
The Six County budget, which currently faces an annual deficit of some
nine billion pounds, would be near balanced in a reunification scenario,
he reported. Some three billion could be saved be ending the North’s
contribution to British defence expenditure and debt interest, among
others, while almost two billion could be saved by combining public
services across the island.
It also argues that there wold also be a significant adjustment due to
pensions, as these would remain the legal responsibility of the British
government since the pension liabilities accrued under British rule.
Sinn Fein has long argued that unification would be beneficial to
Ireland and published a report two years ago to dispel what it calls the
“unaffordability myth”.
The Thumann research has inexplicably not been published, apparently at
the request of Irish diplomats, but it was passed on to members of the
Dublin parliament by the Committee on the Implementation of the Good
Friday Agreement.
Its ultimate conclusion was that everybody in the North of Ireland would
be better off in a united Ireland, and inside the EU.
“This is of course, before taking into account the likely potential for
growth in Northern Ireland following unification as happened in East
Germany following its reunification,” said Fianna Fail Senator Mark
Daly, who co-authored the report.
Reports of the research emerged as a historic meeting took place of the
British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference (BIIGC) in London, its first
meeting in eleven years.
With the collapse of the devolved institutions at Stormont, the
conference gives Dublin a consultative role on most issues affecting the
north of Ireland. Dismissed by unionists as a talking shop, many
nationalists see it as a possible first step to joint authority of the
North by the two governments, and therefore a potential stepping stone
to reunification.
An agenda for the meeting was not released to the public.
Posted by Jim on July 27, 2018
RADIO FREE EIREANN will broadcast this Saturday July 28th on WBAI Radio 99.5FM or WBAI.ORG at 12 noon-1pm New York time or 5pm-6pm in Ireland or anytime after the program on WBAI.ORG – Archives (scroll back to 12 noon Saturday)
Radio Free Eireann, will interview JOE BARR of Saoradh in Derry about Ian Paisley’s 30 day suspension and possible removal from Westminster,the recent upsurge in violence in Derry and Belfast , Saoradh’s condemnation of attacks on the homes of former Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams and party member Bobby Storey or of any Republicans, and his party’s reaction to requests for dialogue.
As a new Irish festival begins in Queens,RFE will get the latest details from organizers.
This is a special pledge program where listeners will get a chance to become WBAI Pledge Buddies.