Posted by Jim on March 1, 2016
After two years behind bars, prosecutors in Belfast today dropped all
charges against Seamus Daly, the only man still charged in connection
with the 1998 Omagh bomb,
The case against the South Armagh man, who has been in custody since
April 2014, all but ended last month when the prosecution’s star
witness, who has changed his story several times, again contradicted
himself during a pre-trial hearing.
The 45-year-old has always denied any involvement in the bombing. He was
arrested in 2014 while taking his pregnant wife to hospital to give
birth. Days later he was charged and remanded to jail where he has
remained since. Only a small group of friends and family worked for
justice for a man who they said had become a convenient scapegoat.
Since 1999, Mr Daly has been publicly named in the media in connection
with the Omagh bomb. All evidence was put before him back then and he
was found to have no case to answer. In subsequent years he has faced
two civil suits, and was found not responsible, and on appeal he was
found responsible after contradictory evidence from just one witness.
Prosecutors claimed he had been in hiding, although he had in fact been
living openly in Jonesborough, County Armagh. He was re-arrested and
jailed on remand without any new evidence beng presented.
Twenty-nine people died in the RIRA bomb attack, which is suspected to
have been allowed to proceed for Britain’s own military or propaganda
purposes. It was subsequently revealed that the RUC police “could have
prevented” the attack. Britain still refuses to reveal key details of
the case for reasons of “national security”.
An Irish republican from a well-known republican household, campaigners
believe Mr Daly was jailed to quell growing pressure for a public
inquiry. Mr Daly’s lawyer, Peter Corrigan, said the prosecution’s case
was built on a “house of straw” and said he would be taking legal action
over the two years’ incarceration.
A victims campaigner has said he agreed with the decision to drop the
trial. Michael Gallaghers son, Aiden, was one of 29 people who died in
the tragedy. He said: This was a difficult case and hinged on the
testimony of one individual and that one individual did not seem to be
up to meeting the test needed to put someone behind bars.
For that reason I agree with the decision, regrettably, that happened
today. There was no other option for the Public Prosecution Service or
the judge but to deliver the verdict that we have just heard.
Mr Gallagher has been the most prominent of those campaigning for
justice for Omagh. He said it was obvious listening to the prosecution
‘star witness’ Denis OConnor, a builder from Kilkenny who claimed he
received a call from Seamus Daly around 20 minutes after the bomb
detonated on August 15 1998, that the case was going nowhere.
I think it should have been obvious a lot earlier than that.
He said he was trying to contain his anger and channel it positively
into seeking the truth.
We need some answers, we need to know what went so drastically wrong 18
years on conviction after conviction has failed in Omagh and yet there
is so much knowledge about Omagh.
He added: If there is any decency in society, in the people that manage
our state, they need to work together to get the truth to the families
of what happened. He said most families had given up on achieving
justice.
It will be difficult for all of them but also very difficult for all
those other victims out there who are expecting answers.
Amnesty International called for a public inquiry to investigate
comprehensively the circumstances surrounding the Omagh bomb.
They said an investigation was needed to ensure lessons are learnt,
included from the failure to carry out adequate investigations into the
bombing.
In September 2013, British Direct Ruler Theresa Villiers ruled out the
possibility of holding a public inquiry. Last month she condemned what
she said was a “pernicious narrative” by those who questioned the role
of state agents in the conflict.
Director of Amnesty International in the Six Countiees, Patrick
Corrigan, said: The collapse of this case means that the families
bereaved and those injured by the bomb are left without answers about
what happened that day and whether it could have been prevented.
The failure of the State to deliver justice through the criminal courts
only reinforces the case for an inquiry to help deliver truth.
The Secretary of State must now revisit her indefensible decision to
refuse an inquiry into the Omagh bombing.
The families have been drip-fed information over the years, with new
wounds opened each time and with none of the alleged bombers ever being
held criminally responsible.
What the bereaved, and Northern Ireland more broadly, deserve is the
fullest account possible of what happened in Omagh, delivered by an
independent inquiry, with cooperation from all sides.
All that families want is the truth. Surely that is not too much to
ask?
Amnesty is also calling on the Irish and United States governments to
offer full cooperation with the work of such an inquiry.
Posted by Jim on February 29, 2016
Feb 29, 2016 — The New York City Department of Education will not reschedule St. Patrick’s Day parent teacher meetings, even though an Irish American middle school teacher working in the public school system has filed a complaint with the city’s Human Rights Commission charging that his civil and religious rights have been violated because he won’t be able to attend the St. Patrick’s Day parade and other celebrations on the day.
Frank J. Schorn, a teacher at the Eugenio Maria de Hostos Intermediate School in Brooklyn, filed the complaint last Friday via his attorney Brian O’Dwyer, senior partner at O’Dwyer and Bernstien in New York.
“This year the mayor instituted three new school holidays,” said O’Dwyer, who is also the chairman of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center. “One observing the Lunar New Year and the others recognizing Muslim religious holidays.
“We are not asking that the mayor accommodate New York’s oldest immigrant community by declaring a school holiday. We are instead asking that the Department of Education make a minor change to its schedule so that the religious observance of thousands of teachers and parents who celebrate the feast day of St. Patrick be recognized and honored. In a city which celebrates its diversity and its accommodation for people of all religious and ethnic identities, it is particularly upsetting that the Department of Education has so blithely ignored the legitimate religious and ethnic expressions of Irish- American New Yorkers.”
However, the press secretary for the Department of Education, Devora Kaye, told the New York Daily News on Monday that the March 17 conference date will stand.
“We value and respect the cultures and traditions of all our students. While schools are responsible for holding one of four parent-teacher conferences on St. Patrick’s Day, schools should work with families to provide other opportunities to have parent conferences for those unable to attend,” she said.
The complaint says Schorn, an Irish American, became aware within the past 12 months that parent teacher meetings would be scheduled starting at 4:30 p.m. on March 17. Teachers are subject to disciplinary action for non-attendance.
Schorn’s complaint charges that the respondents – the City of New York, the Department of Education and Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina – have committed an “unlawful discriminatory practice…on the basis of [Schorn’s] national origin by scheduling parent teacher conferences on St. Patrick’s Day.”
The complaint seeks a temporary and permanent injunction against the scheduling of parent teacher conferences this March 17 and those in future years.
Members of the New York City Council’s Irish Caucus wrote to Farina on January 13 asking her to reschedule the March 17 conferences, and to refrain from having them on St. Patrick’s Days in future years. Farina, according to the complaint, did not respond to the letter.
An online petition has also been started calling on the public to support Schorn’s complaint and asking the Department of Education to re-schedule parent teacher meetings.
“Schorn and other Irish-American teachers in the New York City school system are obligated by contract to participate in parent teacher conferences,” the petition reads.
“As a result of this scheduling, Irish-American teachers have been denied the opportunity to participate in the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade in particular. The parade has been found by the United States Courts to be not only a celebration of Irish heritage but a religious activity celebrating the feast day of the patron saint of the Archdiocese of New York, St. Patrick.”
Thirty-four people have signed the petition as of time of writing, with signatories agreeing that, as a religious holiday, Irish Americans should be afforded the right to celebrate their heritage.
“This is an absolute travesty to Irish American people and heritage,” wrote Gavin Enright from Albany, New York, on the petition site.
“There is never a legally binding law enacted forcing civil employees to attend an event on dates such as; The Puerto Rican day parade, Dominican Parade, various civil rights marches, or gay pride parades. It is another classless act of the Mayor towards the Irish American community.”
Posted by Jim on
McSorley‘s legendary Irish bar first opened its doors in 1854 and women were not allowed in until 1970 when the National Organization for Women attorneys took their case to District Court and won. A new age was born, albeit kicking and screaming.
Famous people have drunk at McSorley’s, including Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Boos Tweed and literary figures like Brendan Behan and Leroi Jones. Go to soak up the atmosphere, the sawdust floors, the homemade beer and centuries of Irish history.
Posted by Jim on
With the final result in the 26 County general election not expected
until Monday at the earliest, Sinn Fein leader has Gerry Adams dismissed
any idea that his party would support one of the traditionally dominant
right-wing parties in Irish politics, Fine Gael or Fianna Fail.
“We aren’t going to go in there (to government) and betray our
electorate and betray the other people who need a progressive
government,” Mr Adams said.
“We are not going to go in and prop up a regressive and negative old
conservative government, whatever the particular party political
complexion.”
The fracturing of traditional centre-right politics in the general
election has a parallel in the widespread disaffection with the once
dominant regimes in Spain, Portugal and Greece.
A total of 148 TDs have been returned to the Dublin parliament, with 10
seats remaining to be filled. Fine Gael have 47 seats, with 43 for
Fianna Fail and 22 for Sinn Fein. Labour has six seats, the
Anti-Austerity Alliance/People Before Profit group have five while the
Independent Alliance have four. Sixteen Independent deputies have been
elected, the Social Democrats have three seats, and the Green Party have
two.
Rechecks and recounts will resume tomorrow morning in Dublin South
Central and Dublin South West. Full recounts are to take place in Dublin
Bay North and in Wexford. Counting will also resume in
Longford-Westmeath.
There were further advances for for Sinn Fein in Dublin Fingal, where
trade union activist Louise O’Reilly was elected as a TD for the first
time, and in Cork South-Central, where the youthful Donnchadh O
Laoghaire took a breakthrough seat. There were also victories in
electing a second seat in Mr Adams’s constituency of Louth/East Meath,
as well as the retention of an embattled seat in Kerry for veteran
republican Martin Ferris.
However, there was disappointment for Padraig MacLochlainn in l who lost
out in the new five-seat constituency of Donegal, although party
colleague Pearse Doherty and republican independent Thomas Pringle were both
re-elected.
With support for establishment parties at a record low, prospects for a
new coalition government are in deep disarray, and weeks of protracted
negotiations are on the cards.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has so far ruled out resigning or re-running
the poll. His party suffered devastating losses of about 30 seats, while
its Labour Party partner was humiliated by the prospect of retaining no
more than 6 seats.
Labour deputy leader Alan Kelly bluntly told Fianna Fail and Fine Gael
to “cop themselves on now” and form a government.
The outgoing environment minister appeared visibly high after rescuing
his deeply troubled political career by holding onto his seat in
Tipperary, one of only six sitting Labour TDs to survive out of an
original coterie of 37.
Kelly, who is chiefly identified with the housing and homelessness
crisis in the 26 County state, said it was rubbish for the country’s two
biggest parties to suggest there are massive issues between them.
“It’s 2016 lads, it is 100 years since the Rising. Civil war politics
are over,” he said. “Fianna Fail and Fine Gael need to ‘cop themselves
on’ now and form a new government for the next five years.
“All of this pretending that there are massive issues between them is
rubbish. They need to come together, work together and put a government
in place for the good of the people.”
He was at odds with his party leader, Joan Burton who insisted the
Labour Party would vote for Enda Kenny as Taoiseach. This means he is
assured of the votes of at least 59 TDs when parliament meets for the
first time, still at least 20 seats short of a majority.
Outgoing Fine Gael health minister Leo Varadkar ruled out the ‘grand
coalition’. He said: “It is up to the Opposition to see if they can form a
government. We’ve been rebuffed.”
His cabinet colleague Richard Bruton signalled less reluctance, and
referred to the importance of the “national interest”, which often
indicates a willingness to make a compromise. “We need a stable
government,” he said. “One that can implement a coherent economic plan.”
Significantly, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin also promised to “work in the national
interest”. He said Fianna Fail had in the past taken “electorally and
politically costly” decisions in the interests of the country. “That has
happened in the past and that is what is going to happen again,” he
added. “The country comes first in all our deliberations in this
regard.”
But Fianna Fail veteran and former defence minister Willie O’Dea was
defiantly opposed to a grand coalition, as was deputy leader Eamon O
Cuiv. The Fianna Fail frontbencher said they fought the election on the
basis they would not do a deal, adding: “I believe your word is your
bond.”
Sinn Fein fought the election alongside those standing on the
Right2Change platform, which saw candidates elected right across the
state, although well short of the numbers needed to form a government.
Gerry Adams said Sinn Fein met its own expectations in the election. His
party will return to the Dail with 22 or 23 seats, more than 50% greater
than it had after the last general election. Mr Adams said the poll had
demonstrated a sea change in politics in the 26 Counties.
He said: “You can always do better, I would love that we were going into
government with a majority – that takes time. These other parties have
more depth, have more structures, have more organisation, have more
resources…
“The message out there – and this is an ongoing process, this is very
much a work in progress – is that people want change. The big
conservative parties that ran this place for a very long time can’t
summon between them any more than 50 per cent of the vote. The left
parties, the progressive parties, the independents, the Sinn Fein party,
all have garnered the rest of all of that.”
Parties will have until March 10 – when the Dail is scheduled to resume
– to forge a power-sharing deal or ask the President to hold a new
election.
Posted by Jim on
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