Posted by Jim on November 18, 2017
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Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney exposes the collusion which
shielded the perpetrators of the 1994 Loughinisland massacre from
justice. The shocking No Stone Unturned finally names the chief suspects
while revealing the RUC’s deliberate mishandling of the multiple murder
inquiry. Review by David Roy (for Irish News)
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The Alex Gibney written and directed No Stone Unturned is a powerful,
profoundly disturbing documentary exposing the collusion which fatally
tainted the RUC investigation into one of the most notorious incidents
of the Troubles.
On June 18 1994, six men were gunned down at The Heights Bar in
Loughinisland as they watched the Republic of Ireland play Italy in the
World Cup.
Although police quickly recovered the getaway car, along with weapons
and items of clothing used in the attack, no-one was ever charged in
connection with the atrocity.
Featuring interviews with former police officers, veteran journalists,
Police Ombudsman investigators and the legal team representing the
victims and their families, the film places the killings in the
tit-for-tat context of the times.
Oscar-winner Gibney painstakingly reveals how RUC Special Branch
officers apparently knew of the attack 24 hours beforehand, then
interfered with the investigation by obstructing inquiries, destroying
evidence (the getaway car was actually crushed), withholding crucial
information and even warning suspects in advance that they were about to
be arrested.
While collusion between paramilitary killers and some members of the
security forces during the Troubles is hardly news at this point, it’s
still deeply shocking to have the often comically brazen mechanics of
such perversions of justice repeatedly laid bare here.
For years, south Down locals have suspected that the Loughinisland
killers were prominent members of a notorious UVF cell operating in the
area.
No Stone Unturned presents compelling evidence that this is correct –
and furthermore that one or more of those involved in the Loughinisland
attack were actually Special Branch informers who were also involved in
other sectarian murders of the era.
Even the VZ58 assault rifle used in the Heights Bar attack is traced
back to a shipment of arms believed to have been smuggled into the north
with the aid of notorious British Army ‘supergrass’ and UDA man Brian
Nelson.
This gripping documentary begins with a reconstruction of the attack,
interwoven with grisly crime scene photographs of the blood-saturated
aftermath and the harrowing recollections of Aidan O’Toole, who survived
being shot while working behind the bar, and relatives of the six
patrons who perished.
We learn that No Stone Unturned is named for words spoken to Clare Rogan
by an RUC officer attending the wake for her husband, Adrian, who was
murdered in the attack.
“We will leave no stone unturned until we get the perpetrators,” she was
told.
Ironically, it has taken an outsider to fully excavate the facts of the
Loughinisland murders.
Gibney’s film names the four people police identified as the chief
suspects at the time of the Loughinisland attack: the gang leader still
lives in south Down and is eventually captured on camera.
Their names were included in a leaked Police Ombudsman-produced draft
document dating back to 2008, but redacted for Al Hutchinson’s Police
Ombudsman’s Report published in 2011 – which also ruled out collusion in
the Loughinisland case.
However, the 2011 report was quashed last year by Dr Michael Maguire’s
new Police Ombudsman report, which confirmed that RUC/UVF collusion had
indeed been a key factor in the failure to apprehend the killers.
We see the emotional moment when Dr Maguire first presents his verdict
to the families of the Loughinisland victims.
“That’s all we ever wanted to know,” responds Adrian Rogan’s tearful
daughter, Emma, now Sinn Fein MLA for south Down.
The 2008 draft document also named the RUC’s senior investigating
officer. Gibney reveals that he took several weeks’ holiday leave
immediately after taking charge of the murders and later retired abroad,
refusing to co-operate with the Ombudsman’s investigation.
It’s almost worth seeing this film just to hear ex-Irish News journalist
Barry McCaffery’s story of tracking the ex-cop down to a small village
in France and presenting him with the leaked Loughinisland info.
Beyond the multitude of damning evidence implicating members of the
security forces presented by No Stone Unturned, one of its most
incredible revelations is that the wife of the notorious alleged UVF
killer who led the Loughinisland attack repeatedly attempted to turn him
in after discovering that he was having an affair.
On one occasion, she phoned the RUC to ‘anonymously’ report her husband
and his accomplices. Unfortunately, having previously been employed in
the canteen of an RUC station, officers recognised her voice and
promptly had her arrested.
However, despite also writing a letter naming the killers and admitting
her own role in the planning of the killings, the woman was then
released without charge.
It’s all pretty damning, depressing stuff, especially as Gibney suggests
that justice for the Loughinisland victims and their families may have
been deliberately sacrificed by the British government in order to
safeguard the 1994 IRA and UVF ceasefires which paved the way for the
Good Friday Agreement.
He also reminds us that even if the suspected multiple murderers are now
successfully re-investigated and prosecuted, they will only serve a
maximum of two years in prison under the terms of the 1998 accord.
Made for an international audience, some minor stylistic choices are
likely to grate on local eyes and ears (especially those sensitive to
the sound of mournful flutes), but these in no way undermine one of the
most powerful documentaries you will see this year.
* No Stone Unturned is currently showing at QFT Belfast and cinemas
across Ireland and in London. See http://wildcarddistribution.com for
more details.
Posted by Jim on
The prospect of a Sinn Fein Tanaiste serving under a Fine Gael or Fianna
Fail Taoiseach is closer today after a controversial vote at Sinn Fein’s
annual conference in Dublin this weekend.
The decision to allow it to enter negotiations on forming a government
as a a junior coalition party is seen as a potential landmark in Sinn
Fein’s journey to the corridors of power in Dublin.
In recent years, Sinn Fein has been incrementally opening its policy on
coalition with the two main right-wing parties, moving from outright
opposition to one embracing the possibility of propping up a left-right
government.
Despite a number of reservations expressed by delegates, the party
confirmed on Friday evening it was willing to consider entering
coalition as a minority party when some 75% or 80% of hands were raised
in support of motion eleven.
This came despite the knowledge that no junior party has survived
propping up a Fine Gael or Fianna Fail government unscathed, and two of
them — the Progressive Democrats and Democratic Left — have
disappeared entirely from the political stage. Two others, the Labour
party and the Green Party, have been decimated to a tiny fraction of
their previous support.
However, Sinn Fein’s finance spokesman Pearse Doherty argued the case in
a forceful speech. He insisted Sinn Fein must look at any proposal for
government and judge each one on its merits. This is not about power but
change, he said, adding a final decision would be made by the members of
the party at a further special convention.
Sligo/Leitrim TD Martin Kenny said Sinn Fein was right to be cautious
about entering a coalition but it must make itself “uncomfortable” and
“take risks” to ensure the party had a voice in government.
“We must ensure we do nothing to give our opponents an excuse to beat
us,” referring to previous criticism by the other parties of Sinn Fein’s
failure to enter negotiations on forming a government after the last
election.
The party’s deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald confirmed the vote meant
Sinn Fein was willing to go into coalition with either Fianna Fail or
Fine Gael after the next election.
“This is not about signing up to say we want to be a junior party, this
is us saying we believe that we are ready,” she said.
“We have made it clear we will talk to anybody after the election. I do
not think it is fundamentally democratic to think they have a divine
right to discount others.”
A final decision on entering a coalition will still have to be taken by
a special Ard Fheis, convened for that purpose, although it would be
expected to certainly endorse the leadership position.
Despite the collapse of power-sharing in the North and upheaval in Sinn
Fein over allegations of bullying and ‘whisper campaigns’ by party
management, this year’s annual conference has again seen no protest by
party grassroots against the leadership.
However, control of the party is now in a degree of flux, with an old
guard bring edged out to make way for a new, more career-minded
leadership.
Martin McGuinness, whose death this year which accelerated this process,
was remembered fondly in tributes over the weekend. Party leader Gerry
Adams is this evening expected to signal that his 34 years as Sinn Fein
President will come to an end. One of his own advisers was quoted in the
media urging him to go as his leadership “caps our potential growth”.
Mr Adams’s full presidential address will be carried here later today.
Continue reading »
Posted by Jim on
Rulings that the murder of 11-year-old British Army victim Francis
Rowntree was ‘not justified’ and that the rubber bullets fired at him
were lethal have been widely welcomed, although 45 years late and
following the recent death of his mother.
Theresa Rowntree, who had long campaigned for the truth to be revealed
about her young son’s death in 1972, died in a Belfast nursing home in
March – just months before this week’s verdict.
Francis, a pupil at St Finian’s Primary School, was shot in the head by
a rubber bullet on 20 April 1972 while walking through the Divis Flats
complex close to the Falls Road in west Belfast, and died two days
later.
His wounds included skull fractures and lacerations of the brain, in
preliminary inquest findings revealed this week.
The soldier who fired the rubber bullet used “excessive force”, coroner
Brian Sherrard said.
Eye witnesses, including a British Army officer instructing the
soldiers, told the court that a crowd gathered around a vehicle carrying
a number of soldiers which stopped in the area. A number of children had
come to watch the disturbance out of curiosity.
The court also heard that two rounds of rubber bullets were fired by a
soldier to “disperse” the crowd, and that one of the bullets hit the
boy’s head. No warning was given before the shots were fired.
The Coroner noted the soldier was not given any training in the use of
the bullets or made aware they were potentially lethal.
However, Francis’s death did not alter or diminish British strategy in
their efforts to control nationalist areas using rubber and plastic
bullets.
Over the next 17 years, the weapons were responsible for another 16
deaths. Eight of the fatalities, including Francis – a primary school
pupil in west Belfast – were children, ranging in age from 15 to ten.
This week’s ruling could have implications for the families of the other
victims.
His older brother Jim said his family had finally got “a bit of closure”
after 45 years.
“This is the first time that they have decided this gun was lethal. The
government had denied it but now it’s down in black and white,” he said.
“It’s an awful thing that my mother couldn’t have seen it. She died in
March. She knew she was right. She’s looking down on us now – her and
Frank.”
Mr Rowntree said he now wanted an official apology from the British
Ministry of Defence.
The family later issued a statement through their lawyer, Padraig O
Muirigh.
“Many young children were killed and maimed by the rubber bullet and its
successor, the plastic bullet,” the statement said. “Their use, free
from regulation and training, amounted to a systemic abuse of human
rights.
“These findings are not only a legal victory for the Rowntree family but
for all those who campaigned for many years for these lethal weapons to
be banned.”
Posted by Jim on November 13, 2017
Sinn Fein has said talks with unionists to restore the Six County
Executive are over after it was confirmed today that the British
government is pushing a ‘Northern Ireland’ budget bill through all
stages of the Westminster parliament, a key step towards the return of
full Direct Rule of the north of Ireland from London.
Sinn Fein said it had ended talks with the DUP and have called for
“joint British-Irish partnership arrangements” for the north of Ireland.
Sinn Fein’s Northern leader Michelle O’Neill said that by moving to
bring in a budget for the north of Ireland from Westminster, the British
government was acknowledging that “an agreement hasn’t been possible”.
She said Sinn Fein met the DUP this morning and told them of its
decision to end the negotiations, without setting a date for their
resumption. “This phase of the talks are over,” said Ms O’Neill.
She accused British prime minister Theresa May of prioritising “her own
electoral survival by the Tory-DUP pact over the interests of all the
people here in the North”.
Ms O’Neill said in the absence of an Executive and Assembly,
responsibility to move on issues such as an Irish language act and other
equality issues lies with the British and Irish governments.
She called for Dublin and London to convene a meeting of the
British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference to address issues which were
blocking the return of devolved power-sharing.
Ms O’Neill said that full Direct Rule from Westminster was “not an
option”. She also referred to a period in 2006 where there were
discussions on joint British-Irish government structures.
“Clearly there is a mechanism within the Good Friday agreement in the
intergovernmental conference that would allow work to be done across the
British-Irish governments. That is what we are asking for,” she said.
“We have sought urgent meetings with the Taoiseach and the two
governments,” added Ms O’Neill.
“The way forward now is for the two governments to fulfil their
responsibilities as co-guarantors of the Good Friday agreement and the
St Andrews Agreement to honour outstanding commitments and to deliver
rights for everyone that are enjoyed by everyone else elsewhere on these
islands.
“This in itself would pave the way for the Executive to be restored.”
Ms O’Neill said difficulties were compounded by Brexit and the DUP’s
“refusal to accept the vote in the North to reject Brexit”.
There has been no effective devolved government since the late Martin
McGuinness stood down as Deputy First Minister in January in a row with
DUP leader Arlene Foster amid concerns about corruption and the
integrity of the northern institutions.
Ms O’Neill did not say when or if talks with the DUP might resume. “The
issues aren’t going to go away,” she said at a Sinn Fein press
conference attended by senior party figures including party president
Gerry Adams.
“So, whether we deal with them now, or deal with them in one month, two
months, three months they have to be resolved in order to restore these
institutions and to allow people to have confidence in these
institutions,” she added
Posted by Jim on November 11, 2017
Hundreds of people are being forced from their homes every year by
loyalist paramilitaries, according to figures released this week.
They show that a total of 477 people presented as homeless to the
Housing Executive because of paramilitary intimidation, and increase of
ten per cent over last year.
The most high profile of these cases took place recently when the east
Belfast UVF forced out Catholic families living in the ‘shared space’ of
Cantrell Close, and the separate burning out of Catholics living in
Derry’s Waterside.
Racist attacks have been reported by loyalists against Bangladeshi,
Syrian and Belgian families, with bricks thrown at their homes in north
and east Belfast, as well as arson attacks against their cars.
Examples of hate crimes and the day-to-day level of harassment and
intimidation of Catholics were again visible this week, with a new
`Taigs Out’ sign in the County Down village of Clough.
Clough is just a few miles from Loughinisland which has been in the
headlines due to the release of a documentary about state collusion in a
loyalist atrocity in 1994.
The PSNI said they were treating the graffiti as a hate crime. However,
locals noted there had been no action to remove it for almost a week.
“It’s disappointing that five days after the sign was notified to the
police, it is still there intact, continuing to intimidate a section of
the community as it was designed to do,” said Amnesty International’s
Patrick Corrigan. “If the authorities can’t take action to remove a
sign, then how are people meant to feel safe?”
Sinn Fein assembly member Sinead Ennis also said she had contacted
police about the sign.
“The erection of this sign was a clear attempt of sectarian
intimidation,” she said. “I reported it as a hate crime to the PSNI on
Friday night and asked for it to be removed. The sign caused great upset
to people in the area and those passing by it.”
Separately, a sectarian sticker which included the slogan ‘Kick a fenian
in the head’, was discovered at a recycling centre in Banbridge, County
Down.
Sinn Fein councillor Kevin Savage reported it to the PSNI He said the
sticker was a “veiled reference to the brutal sectarian murder of Robert
Hamill in Portadown in 1997”.
Mr Hamill, a Catholic, was beaten to death by loyalists as PSNI members
watched in April 1997.
‘Fenians Out’ messages have also appeared in Derry’s Waterside recently.
Sinn Fein Councillor Christopher Jackson, believes the graffiti was
designed to intimidate Catholic users of the council-run sports complex
and nearby St Columb’s Park.
He said: “It is disappointing to see this but it is not surprising. The
message we need to get out is that all council facilities are open to
everybody and there is no place for sectarianism anywhere.
“We must ensure people feel safe and comfortable using Foyle Arena and
St Columbs Park, and that there are no ‘no go’ areas in the city,
despite what some people might want to create.”