Posted by Jim on August 28, 2016
A dispute over a sectarian loyalist parade through the mainly
nationalist town of Rasharkin last week is being linked to the “leak” of
private messages targeting Sinn Fein Assembly member Daithi McKay.
Loyalist blogger Jamie Bryson is being accused of taking revenge against
Mr McKay, who was forced to resign his post earlier this month, after he
helped lobby the Parades Commission to prevent a notorious loyalist band
from taking part in the County Antrim parade.
According to the Sunday Life newspaper, Bryson reportedly told his
cronies that by leaking private messages from Mr McKay about his
appearance before a Stormont committee, he could end his political
career and also bring pressure for a full public inquiry into the
scandal over the sale of properties in the north of Ireland.
The controversy over the Rasharkin parade began when independent
councillor Padraig McShane was spat at and taunted by masked loyalists
during a parade in nearby Ballycastle on July 12. Mr McShane suffered a
serious head injury when he was violently arrested in the subsequent
scuffle.
Last week, after coming under nationalist pressure, the Parades
Comission refused permission for the band involved, the ‘Dervock Young
Defenders’, to march in last week’s Rasharkin parade. That march passed
off relatively peacefully on Friday, August 19th.
Bryson is a prominent loyalist marcher and ‘flags’ protestor who has a
reputation as a publicity-seeker. His insistence that he was not
responsible for the transcript ‘leak’ won few believers, and he lost
further credibility when he claimed some messages he received from McKay
had been removed from the transcript, a claim he then failed to
substantiate.
Refusing to comment further, he says: “My focus is on the legal
preparation for the pending application to the Secretary of State asking
for a full public inquiry into NAMA (the Dublin government’s National
Asset Management Agency).”
Mr McKay was forced to resign last week because the messages showed that
he communicated inappropriately with Bryson on how to present his
testimony to the Stormont Finance Committee investigating NAMA’s
dealings in the North. Through the account of another Sinn Fein member,
Bryson was advised how to present his evidence of corruption against the
DUP leader Peter Robison without being interrupted or blocked by DUP
committee members.
The loyalist was called to the committee after making a number of online
allegations relating to 7 million pounds in an offshore bank account
linked to the deal which had allegedly been earmarked for a politician
in the Six Counties.
Bryson told the committee that former DUP leader Peter Robinson was to
receive a payment upon its completion. Robinson, who has since quit
politics, continues to deny that he was to profit from the sale of the
portfolio to the American company Cerberus.
Sinn Fein has made clear that Mr McKay had been acting on his own
initiative and had “paid the price”. Speaking in Derry’s Bogside, Mr
McGuinness blasted McKay’s actions as “profoundly disturbing” and also
derided allegations that he was part of a conspiracy to damage the
former DUP leader.
“Does anybody think for one minute that I would even contemplate being
involved in anything that would involve someone like young Bryson, who
has effectively got his own agenda which is about ill will towards Peter
Robinson,” he said.
Sinn Fein’s current Finance Minister in the Six Counties, Mairtin O
Muilleoir, also issued a statement making clear he had “absolutely no
knowledge” of the communications, and rejected calls to step aside while
Stormont’s Finance Committee holds an investigation into the ‘back
channel’ communications.
Although the current DUP leader Arleen Foster said the messages were a
“disgraceful attempt to impugn and discredit” her former colleague, her
party has indicated it is ready to move past the controversy.
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein has selected Daithi McKay’s predecessor at Stormont
to replace him. Philip McGuigan returns to the assembly, having
previously served as a Sinn Fein Assembly a decade ago, representing
North Antrim at Stormont from 2003-2007. The father-of-four is currently
a Sinn Fein representative on Causeway Coast and Glens Council.
Posted by Jim on
Columbus Council 126
Address: 3051 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11229
Greetings LAOH & AOH. On Saturday September 03, 2016 @ 7:00 PM, Columbus Council #126 will be having an “Impromptu BBQ & Get Together” in the council yard & hall. The cost will be $10.00 PP for the food & soft drinks. The Tap Room will also be open and has 2 new air conditioner units for your comfort & they work very well, so you may need a light jacket or sweater.
If you are interested in attending, please contact me by 11:00 PM Thursday September 01, 2016 as I will be picking up the food on Friday. Please include number of guest attending with you. I am only picking up enough food for those folks who have responded as attending.
Please contact me via this email, phone text or call.
Thank you,
Eddie Velinskie
347-210-1249
Posted by Jim on August 27, 2016
‘DON’T TAKE THEM DOWN’
The chairman of a County Antrim Gaelic sports club has resigned after it
voted to remove entrance gates dedicated to the memory of two Irish War
of Independence martyrs in order to secure a grant from a
unionist-controlled council.
Eddie Haughey quit after members of Oisin Glenariffe hurling club took
the decision in a secret ballot at a special meeting last week. It is
understood the managers of two of the club’s teams have also resigned.
The club’s grounds are named after two IRA men, Charlie McAllister and
Pat McVeigh, who were killed during a gun battle with B-Specials near in
Glenariffe in May 1922 – months after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed.
The Glens of Antrim club had sought 180,000 pounds from Causeway Coast
and Glens Borough Council to help build a new community centre on its
land. Unionist councillors moved to block the funds as part of an effort
to remove the erase the memory of the two local heroes. The DUP claimed
that the gates leading onto the site would “re-traumatise” people.
On Tuesday night, following the club’s decision to submit to the DUP
demands to remove the gates, the council narrowly approved the funding
when it met in Coleraine.
Sinn Fein councillor Cara McShane noted the council approval placed no
conditions, such as the gates having to be moved. She accused the DUP of
“political posturing” and seeking to use “any means possible to treat
people in this part of the borough as second class citizens.”
She said there is no political agenda in the building of the centre.
“The last thing anyone wants is for this facility, which is a
much-needed in a rural community, to be used for political
point-scoring. People are very emotional,” she said.
There have already been calls for the club’s decision to be reversed.
Ballycastle based councillor Padraig McShane accused the council of
“intransigence”
“The club members should not have been put in that position,” he said.
“They were put in this position because of the unrelenting anti-Irish
sentiment of Causeway Coast and Glens council.”
Mr McShane urged the GAA community in the Glens to stay unified.
“I wish Glenarriffe and all the fellow Gaels the very best,” he said. “A
unity of purpose will see us rise a monument fitting to the two
volunteers
Posted by Jim on August 26, 2016
Éamon Phoenix. Irish News (Belfast). Thursday, August 25, 2016
Seán MacBride
THE success of the campaign for the MacBride Principles in the US encouraged the British government to introduce a new Fair Employment Act in 1989.
Named after Nobel Peace Prize recipient Seán MacBride, the fair employment principles act as a corporate code of conduct for US companies doing business in Northern Ireland.
State papers show how Sir Antony Acland, the British Ambassador to the US, wrote to Northern Ireland secretary Tom King in 1987 about continuing controversy in the US around fair employment in Northern Ireland.
Acland said US interest in Northern Ireland had declined following the signing of the Anglo- Irish Agreement and was “no longer anywhere near the top of most American politicians’ agenda”.
But he said among several areas for concern fair employment was “the most difficult” and “finally, and most important, MacBride”.
Acland welcomed King’s decision to “shift the emphasis of British efforts [in the US] away from the Principles” and to the MacBride campaign’s impact on investment in Northern Ireland.
On the MacBride campaign, the ambassador’s view was that “even with increased resources, we would have little or no chance of halting the campaign altogether. We shall still be dealing with legislators who see no reason to change their embedded view of NI”.
David Fell, head of the Stormont Department of Economic Development, circulated a confidential memo on MacBride commenting on the British ambassador’s remarks.
He acknowledged that in face of the mounting campaign, “the credibility of HMG’s commitment to fair employment is now a major objective”.
“An important consequence”, he wrote, “has been the need to secure real progress on fair employment on the ground”.
But he added: “It must be pointed out that, for whatever reasons, there has been no new US investment in NI since 1984.”
In his view, a political decision was required whether to adopt a laissez-faire approach to MacBride or continue resistance which would be very costly.
In reply to Acland in November
Posted by Jim on August 25, 2016
RADIO FREE EIREANN will broadcast this Saturday August 27 – Noon-1-pm New York time or 5pm-6pm Irish time on WBAI 99.5 FM or WBAI.ORG or anytime after the program concludes on WBAI.ORG/ARCHIVES
Kate Nash, whose brother was one of the Bloody Sunday murder victims in Derry,will discuss the announcement that a four year constabulary investigation has ended and what it means to the families in their decades long fight to bring British troopers to justice.
Independent Councillor Padraig McShane will give us the latest developments on the funding controversy surrounding the Gaelic Athletic field at McAllister-McVeigh Memorial Park where Unionists witheld funding because the park is named for Irish patriots killed almost a century ago.He will also discuss the recent Orange parade in Ballycastle.
We will also feature a discussion of a new documentary film on the groundbreaking Irish band “BLACK 47”
Go to RADIO FREE EIREANN’S new web site, RFE123.ORG where you can read written transcripts of last weeks headline making interviews with Belfast Republican Dee Fennell on a public debate challenge with Gerry Adams TD and author and political commentator Anthony McIntyre’s discussion of the continuing fallout from the “Brysongate” scandal.
Follow us on Twitter.
John McDonagh and Martin Galvin co- host.
Radio Free Eireann is heard Saturdays at 12 Noon New York time on WBAI 99,5 FM and
wbai.org
It can be heard at wbai.org in Ireland from 5pm to 6 pm or anytime after the program concludes on WBAI.ORG/ARCHIVES listed in date and time order.