“He was subsequently executed and buried in an unmarked grave”

The Provisional IRA’s “P O’Neill” has been briefing selected members of the press again.  Or as Brian Rowan puts it in the Belfast Telegraph, “the man I met yesterday no longer functions as P O’Neill, but he still speaks with all the authority of the republican leadership”.  They’ve suddenly remembered they ‘disappeared’ somebody else.  Joe Lynskey, described as a “senior IRA intelligence officer” in the Irish News which reported “it is believed that Mr Lynskey had a relationship with a married woman, also from Beechmount, while her husband was in prison.” As Brian Rown notes.

In a detailed briefing the source revealed: In 1972 the IRA executed and buried Joe Lynskey; He was an IRA volunteer in Belfast at that time; Lynskey was summoned to a meeting outside Belfast by the then leadership; He wasn’t aware that he was under (IRA) investigation at that stage; He was arrested by the IRA; He was court-martialled for breaches of IRA standing orders; He was subsequently executed and buried in an unmarked grave.

Their memory was obviously jogged by those reports in the Irish News, making this another case of attempted damage limitation.  And it adds yet yet another name to the list of the Independent Commission on the Location of Victims Remains. From yesterday’s Irish News.

The Irish News previously revealed how a Monaghan man who was a member of a small IRA unit guarding Mr Lynskey in the days leading up to his death had given details about the murder. He claimed Mr Lynskey was held in an IRA safe-house between Castleblayney and Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, some time in August 1972. The victim was in the house for more than a week waiting for senior IRA members to arrive from north of the border to carry out an internal “court martial” which sealed his fate. Details of Mr Lynskey’s disappearance are expected to be included in a soon-to-be published book Beyond the Grave by journalist Ed Moloney. The book contains transcripts of interviews given to Boston University by IRA man Brendan ‘The Dark’ Hughes prior to his death from a lengthy illness in 2008. Mr Lynskey never married or had children and while his parents searched tirelessly for their son prior to their deaths, he was never officially reported missing.

Pete Baker @ 11:31 AM | Comments (15)

Bloggers v Journalists redux

Mick was speaking at a lively event organised by Westminster Skeptics in the Pub last night, and I tagged along. Dave Cole has given a good detailed account of it here. The question was supposed to be ‘What difference does political blogs really make?’ but because everyone was there for a boozy night rather than a seminar, and because Nick Cohen (surely the most argumentative man in London) was the ringmaster, it rapidly turned into an opposition between diligent paid-for journalism and irresponsible narcissistic blogging. Whatever else, it was an entertaining night.

For me, the bloggers v journalists question is about as relevant as the one about ‘who would win a fight between a tiger and a shark?’ But there’s a couple of assertions that I’d make that I think could cast the whole question in a different light:

Newspapers often have really good articles by knowledgeable writers who are writing for their audience and not themselves. They have to write to a readable length, check their facts, make issues understandable and keep up their reputation for fair dealing. As long as you monitor a few relevant titles, you can keep yourself informed and challenged on most of the issues you need to know about in order to be a good citizen who votes and gets involved in public life.

Some of you are more sceptical than others about how good newspaper journalism is, but I suspect most people would agree with that - up to a point?

Now here’s my second assertion:

Paul Evans @ 10:17 AM | Comments (5)

The politicians still don’t get it

70% of UK voters bemoan “ a broken society” (although 60% are optimistic about the future). The MPs expenses scandal rumbles on.  In the pre-election period politicians’ appeals for public trust will be tested as never before. They’ve got a lot to do. Mary Riddell in the Telegraph has a fine piece exposing the gap between rhetoric and record. In the Commons today, Labour is testing the waters of support for a controversial change in the voting system, too late for this Parliament to pass it. David Cameron launches a vicious personal attack on Gordon Brown because his spin doctors tell him Brown is Labour’s weakest link. In the same speech, he unveils Conservative constitutional reform plans of Gladstonian highmindedness for “fixing broken politics.”  The next corruption target says Cameron is the ӣ2 billion lobbying industry” which has a big presence at Westminster, with some MPs being approached more than 100 times a week by lobbyists.  He should know all about it. He was a lobbyist himself, for Carlton television. So how clean are the Tories themselves? Rachel Sylvester scores a bullseye in the Times. 

The Tories are currently operating a revolving-door policy in reverse, with 28 prospective parliamentary candidates in winnable seats working as lobbyists or PR consultants. And can Mr Cameron really claim to be spearheading a new era of transparency when his own election campaign is being funded by a man who refuses to say whether he pays tax in this country

Brian Walker @ 07:46 AM | Comments (5)

An Open Letter To Enda Kenny

By now, the newspapers have been put to bed. Based on the preview I caught on Vincent Browne’s TV3 show, half of them are predicting dire consequences for you as a result of George Lee’s abdication. My guess is your media advisers have spent the day going over your response with you.

So here’s what you do.

Fire them.

By all accounts, you’re a very personable chap in the flesh, and every bit as charming and effective as Bertie Ahern on a canvas. But in front of a microphone, you look like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

I don’t think that’s your fault. You’ve been listening to too many media experts telling you how to behave. Smile. Don’t smile. Show gravitas. Show a lighter side. Be presidential. Be everyman.

Too much advice. As a result, you’re never sure which piece of advice to follow, and it shows. You look wooden.

And the more your front bench protest that there’s no leadership question, the more they will be asked about your poll numbers.

So to hell with it. Fire the media gurus, and just be yourself. Maybe people will actually like you.

Let Enda be Enda. Before it’s too late.

Gerard Cunningham @ 11:43 PM | Comments (14)

“It will be made up by 3 MLAs from the DUP and 3 from Sinn Fein.”

According to BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport’s blog

Tonight we are expecting the announcement of the 6 strong parades working group. It will be made up by 3 MLAs from the DUP and 3 from Sinn Fein. I haven’t yet got all the names but I wouldn’t be surprised if Gerry Kelly and Nelson McCausland are members.

Which would make that “co-chaired working group” more obviously a continuation in negotiations after the fact… They have until the end of February to report back on their “agreed outcomes”. [Or the bunny gets it? - Ed] The 9 March vote on devolving justice powers, probably. Adds The BBC confirms, “The office of the first and deputy first minister have confirmed who will be on a working group to examine the issue of parading. Junior Ministers Gerry Kelly and Jeffrey Donaldson will be joined by Stephen Moutray, Nelson McCausland, Michelle Gildernew and John O’Dowd.” No doubt they all have the required “experience of dealing with parading issues..”?

Pete Baker @ 07:55 PM | Comments (33)

Ireland: for the UK,  the unwelcome shape of things to come?

Whatever you do, don’t bracket Ireland with Greece – but Larry Elliot Economics Editor of the Guardian just has. The argument is hardly new to Slugger, but here, it’s also invoked to say how right Britain was to stay out of the euro and contains a warning against a particular view of public spending cuts.

Ireland is Labour’s dystopia of a Tory Britain The consensus view in the markets is that Ireland will be rewarded for its prudence …. (but)  there is a considerable risk that removing spending power from the economy will lead to more companies going bust and deter the survivors from investing more..

Brian Walker @ 07:38 PM | Comments (18)

We’re back!

Our hosting company - EngineHosting had a mass outage for about an hour. Sorry about that now.

Paul Evans @ 07:09 PM | Comments (4)

No men, snowmen and clever devices

The position of the 14 DUP MLAs, who initially opposed the Hillsborough agreement before then accepting it, is interesting.  Within a few days these semi dissidents went from what was claimed to be a stormy meeting with multiple threatened resignations to unanimous support for the agreement. They may indeed have been snowmen who as Jim Allister says melted when the heat was turned on. Certainly not for them the political equivalent of a glorious death like David Crockett (a man of Ulster descent) at the Alamo (though anyone interested in glorious death should remember The old lie Dulce et Decorum est pro patri mori). Political death on the other hand can be considerably more glorious and obeys Enoch Powell’s famous maxim: “All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs.” In politics a glorious death fighting to the last man for what one believes in has considerably more credence, avoiding as it does one’s own or anyone else’s death.

Turgon @ 04:16 PM | Comments (36)

“other options are open to revolutionaries”

To paraphrase the BBC report, the INLA, the Official IRA and the South East Antrim UDA have declared themselves to have disarmed. As the report on the Official IRA announcement notes

The timing of the announcements by the INLA and the Official IRA is thought to be linked to the expiry on Tuesday of legislation which allows illegal groups to decommission weapons without fear of prosecution.

Is thought to be linked?! Update WorldbyStorm points out that the “Official IRA” in the reports should, more accurately, be referred to as the Official Republican Movement.  Identified in the Guardian report as “a faction of the Official IRA”, the Official Republican Movement “was formed in 1996”.

Pete Baker @ 03:59 PM | Comments (22)

Endeavour launches, and Bolden on “the future of human spaceflight”

Delayed by the weather on Sunday, the Space Shuttle Endeavour successfully launched this morning on the final scheduled night flight of the soon to be retired Nasa shuttles.  Mission STS-130 will deliver a third connecting module - the Tranquility node - to the International Space Station as well as “a room with a view”.  And possibly some decking… The BBC’s Spaceman blog has more on the cupola, and provides a post, with video links, of “Nasa chief Charlie Bolden holding forth on the future of human spaceflight.” Endeavour launch video from NASAtelevision.

Pete Baker @ 03:19 PM | Comments (3)

George Lee resigns from Fine Gael

RTE report that Fine Gael new-comer and rising star George Lee has resigned from the party and is to leave the Dáil. Lee, a former economics jourmalist with RTE caused a stir when he joined Fine Gael last year, romping home in the Dublin south by-election. 
Per the RTE report -

In the statement released just before lunchtime, George Lee says it has been a very difficult decision, but it is one that he has taken after a great deal of reflection.
He says that he has done his best to play a positive role in contributing to the national debate.
But Mr Lee was disappointed at his lack of input at ‘this most critical time.’
Mr Lee says the role he has been playing within the party has been very limited and he says he found this to be personally unfulfilling.

You have to wonder at the thought processes that led to Fine Gael luring an external, high profile, economics expert and then excluding him from economic policy formulation in the midst of the state’s biggest economic crisis. When the government benches are stocked with solicitors and school teachers, George Lee surely should have been an invaluable asset. All-in-all, a great day for Fianna Fáil.

Mack @ 12:34 PM | Comments (77)

A Conservative British Bill of Rights could clash with the Assembly

As I’ve argued before, Conservative plans for a new British Bill of Rights greatly complicate the arguments over a separate NI Bill, whatever some dismissive unionists may think.  There is a difference between how they see it and what the context actually is. The problems are ventilated in a report by the respected think tank Justice and reported in the Guardian. The Conservative Bill could in effect be vetoed by the devolved legislative bodies, with NI being a specially awkward case because of the GFA.   

The proposals to change the Human Rights Act could become a “legal and political nightmare,” experts have said, with England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all left with different levels of human rights protection…. It’s opening a whole can of worms reassessing what the United Kingdom is.”

Brian Walker @ 12:09 PM | Comments (15)

McGlone: “I don’t care if Robinson and McGuinness are friends…”

I’ve been on the road ever since spending the weekend with the SDLP at the Slieve Donard, so I’ll be writing up general impressions up tomorrow. For me (others may well disagree) the most interesting speech was that of the new deputy leader, not least for its direct (if rather folksy) style. Patsy McGlone certainly sounded like he was up for a fight. His speech, laced in places, with a cold Catholic morality, was an attempt to differentiate his party from Sinn Fein’s rather coercive pitch to unionists for a united Ireland. Instead he used the GAA as an exemplar of a virtuous social identity, which has a proven appeal to moderate unionists. Much in the way that Rugby has for Catholics.

Mick Fealty @ 11:57 AM | Comments (14)

Hillsborough Agreement: some TUVish thoughts; and blackadder

So the deal has finally been done: unless the UUP can be induced to throw a spanner in the works; or the DUP’s consultation with the community shows that the unionist community really will not accept the agreement; or Robinson’s cunning devices can be shown to be more effective than Baldrick’s cunning plans. A negative outcome of the DUP’s consultation seems vanishingly unlikely: when political parties consult the community they always claim to get the answer they had already decided on: anyone who doubts this should think of the effects of the DUP’s consultation of the community after their European election debacle; nothing whatsoever (incidentally the Presbyterian church are also very fond of such consultations).

Clearly the DUP have been proclaiming the deal as a major success: although surprisingly Peter Robinson is more bullish in his News Letter article than on the DUP’s own website where he admits more to compromises and indeed raises the spectre of needing to move forwards lest we slip back into violence: a favourite tactic of Trimble and Paisley in the past to explain away concessions made to republicans.

Turgon @ 11:00 PM | Comments (32)

BBC and RTE to share public service digital platform in the Republic

The agreement for full free- to- air reciprocity between the BBC and RTE after analogue switch-off in 2012 is thoroughly good news and is in the spirit of the GFA.  Will it provide blanket coverage? I assume there will be fewer black spots than with analogue - that’s part of the point of digital. The Irish Times report is too grudging about TG4. I assume this will be greeted with a sigh of relief by the BBC, although it doesn’t release them from the public service obligation to continue developing Irish language programming. What I’m not clear about though, is how the digital agreement will affect RTE reception in the North. It would be ironic if non-BBC licence fee payers in the Republic received better access to the joint package than viewers in NI.

“(The Irish and British governments) it will facilitate the broadcast of TG4 on free-to-air DTT in Northern Ireland when the analogue signal is switched off in 2012. They must have been dancing in the streets of Belfast at that news…. “The memorandum commits the two governments to facilitating the widespread availability of RTÉ services in Northern Ireland and BBC services in Ireland on a free-to-air basis.”

Not so good news for the commerical sector delivering digital terrestrial television (DTT). 

Brian Walker @ 10:37 PM | Comments (14)

“Irish society is no longer a homogenous, one-coloured, one-cultured nation.”

The Sunday Times has a report detailing the background to the abandonment of George’s Dock as the preferred site for a new Abbey Theatre.  Apparently conditions imposed by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) to the free site they offered proved too restrictive for the planned development.  The report also states that “The Office of Public Works says the Department of Communications and An Post have now become involved in the process of assessing the GPO” on O’Connell Street as a potential site.  Which would please Senator David Norris.  The attempted renaissance of “the most important theatre company in the English-speaking world” has been ongoing since 2005, when the newly appointed and still-director Fiach MacConghail had this to say

Mac Conghail says his “vision” revolves around new writing and new ways of making theatre, including physical and non-verbal work. Running Dublin’s Project Arts centre in the 1990s taught him to respect an audience, he says, that “liked the shock of the new”. He also promises to reach audiences beyond the traditional Irish middle class by investing in new writing and diverse programming in the style of the National Theatre in London, and by touring in Ireland.

He says he wants the Abbey to re-engage politically. “Irish society is no longer a homogenous, one-coloured, one-cultured nation. It is the fastest-changing society in the world. We have to look at different ways of making theatre, as a lot of theatres in Britain have done.”

Hmm…

Pete Baker @ 10:29 PM | Comments (20)

It’s the same Agreement, really

Life is binary and it can be mightily difficult to make it converge. Here I pick out comments below the fold about Sinn Fein after the Hillsborough Agreement. I could just as easily have selected DUP-centred references.  I link to the full versions.  From the horses’ mouth, the leaders speak out.  Peter Robinson first, then Gerry Adams. Next, two authoritative commentators have very different takes on the same process, not contradictory exactly but asymetrical. If Henry Patterson and Brian Feeney select such different contexts and results from the same agreement no wonder the players found it so difficult to reach and probably will find it difficult to implement.

Brian Walker @ 05:59 PM | Comments (40)

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as Police farce

I have previously noted how the PSNI seem determined to hand propaganda coups to éirígí and essentially make their points for them at every turn. We have also noted the misuse of Section 44 legislation against republicans - legislation of dubious legality. From the heavy handed response to eirigi members making their way to Belfast City Hall for a protest to PSNI harassment of members on Black Mountain.

When I commented on the launch of éirígí‘s anti-PSNI campaign I didn’t expect the police to repeat the same mistakes immediately. Yet when éirígí activists hung banners around Belfast yesterday the PSNI response was to detain them under Section 44 legislation.

Four éirígí activists were detained in the Beechmount area by the political police using the now notorious Section 44 and Justice & Security Act legislation. The car that three of the men were travelling in was boxed in by two armoured jeeps before the vehicle and its occupants were searched by the paramilitary police. Initially, the PSNI claimed they were detaining the men under road traffic legislation, yet, when the driver produced all the necessary documentation, Section 44 came into play….

The éirígí activists in question, including national vice-chairperson Rab Jackson, had just hung large anti-PSNI banners on the Falls and Springfield Roads prior to being stopped and searched. The text of the banners read RUC- PSNI: Different Name, Same Aim and British Police Out Of Ireland.
As the PSNI were leaving the scene, the officer in charge admitted that, far from investigating any ‘terrorist’ incident, the activists were actually detained for hanging banners critical of the force.

Mark McGregor @ 02:45 PM | Comments (36)

“the conditions still exist for those to resist that rule. Nothing has changed that.”

If it wasn’t clear from the éirígí video Mark noted last night, the recently elected President of Republican Sinn Féin, Des Dalton, has told the Observer’s Henry McDonald - “The Royal Irish Constabulary became the Royal Ulster Constabulary and they ultimately became the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the PSNI. But while the cap badge might change, the essential point of these forces remain the same. They are there to uphold British rule, they are integral part of the British state forces.”  And from a longer article in the printed edition of the paper [not online]

In an interview with the Observer this weekend, Dalton said the last piece of the devolution process “had only rearranged the furniture, but the house remains in Britain”.  On the creation of a locally controlled justice ministry in Northern Ireland, Dalton said: “There is very little difference between this and the bureaucracy at Dublin Castle pre-1921 that administered British rule.” During the Irish war of independence, Michael Collins’s IRA intelligence department targeted senior officials, both British and Irish, who worked at the “Castle” for the colonial power.

Dalton dismissed claims by Northern Ireland secretary Shaun Woodward that Friday’s Sinn Féin-DUP agreement - the terms of which crucially include the devolution of policing and justice powers away from Westminster to Stormont, with effect from 12 April - would undermine the republican dissidents’ armed campaigns.  “I have said before that we uphold the right of the Irish people to resist British rule in any way they can, including armed resistance,” said Dalton. “The British army is still in Northern Ireland, in fact they were actively recruiting outside Queen’s University Belfast last week. The unionist veto still exists, and the recent Tory talks with unionists show they will use their power in Westminster to continue to keep this part of Ireland under British rule. So the conditions still exist for those to resist that rule. Nothing has changed that.”

Dalton said comments by Sinn Féin leaders and Woodward that the armed republican dissidents were apolitical or simply criminals were counter-productive. “Remember the 1970s and 80s, when republicans were portrayed as criminals or thugs or Godfathers. These were men and women who went to jail for the struggle and in the hunger strike died for their beliefs. Painting genuine republicans today who resist British rule as criminals or thugs is making the same mistake the British made back then. Ordinary criminals don’t fire on heavily fortified and armed British army or police bases.”

Pete Baker @ 01:51 PM | Comments (12)

Margaret Ritchie elected as new SDLP leader

It’s just been announced that Margaret Ritchie has been elected the new SDLP leader at the party’s annual conference in Newcastle, County Down.

Pete Baker @ 11:14 AM | Comments (100)

European Soccer Draw

Pretty tough for both Irelands and Scotland. Best Welsh draw since 1958…

Group I: Spain, Czech Republic, SCOTLAND Lithuania, Liechtenstein
Group H: Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland
Group G: ENGLAND, Switzerland, Bulgaria, WALES, Montenegro
Group F: Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta
Group E: Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova, San Marino
Group D: France, Romania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg
Group C: Italy, Serbia, NORTHERN IRELAND Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands
Group B: Russia, Slovakia, REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, FYR Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra
Group A: Germany, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan

Dewi @ 10:59 AM | Comments (28)

Tory wobbles

The Sundays itch with speculation about an April election as the Tory lead dips to below 10%. The man himself,  speaking later on a frantic Friday which started at 4.30 a.m. with his redeye flight to Belfast tells the Observer: “ Labour can still win it, I’m absolutely sure of it. “ Next week , we’re told he goes personal and weeps before Piers Morgan as he recalls the terrible loss of baby Jennifer. Meanwhile David Cameron is assailed from left and right  for wobbling as he moved closer to Labour over the scale of public spending cuts. The Sunday Times takes its own line on the Constitution Unit’s briefing on discreet plans on how to form a new government under a hung parliament…  

Brian Walker @ 09:47 AM | Comments (2)

Alastair Campbell breaks down on TV

I’ve just seen the most amazing moment in a TV interview for years. On the Andrew Marr show Alastair Campbell no less, froze and then almost cracked up when pressed on whether Blair lied to Parliament on WMD in Iraq. Campbell the arch spin meister had no answer. Recalling his well publicised personal breakdown many years ago I almost felt sorry for him.  But could it have been a premeditated ” sincerity” plea in a very tight corner? Surely not - too Machiavellian even for Alastair. It’s not up yet on BBC iPlayer, but watch out for a minor moment in recent British history.  Look out too for Campbell explaining it away on his blog and how it affects Blair’s expected recall to the Chilcot inquiry.

Brian Walker @ 09:25 AM | Comments (18)

Top propaganda

I linked it earlier but this is tip-top propaganda with a soundtrack. Stand alone stuff (though they dropped any references to Dominic McGlinchey now he isn’t a member):

Mark McGregor @ 11:57 PM | Comments (26)

A Scottish Catholic education is anti-sectarian - the latest from the Pope

The Papal broadside on these islands continues, deftly pegged to successive five-yearly ad limina visits to Rome by the national bishops’ conferences. For the Irish it was child abuse scandal and an episcopal revolution. For the English it was about defeating a modest anti discrimination law. Now for the Scots, the Pope puts up a stout defence of Catholic education in “overcoming sectarianism. To which the grand old man of Scottish journalism Magnus Linklater replies: “Up to a point, Your Holiness”. Magnus expresses the problem perfectly. How can you deny choice to Catholics when you desire integration only by consent? There might yet be a way round the dilemma. In Ireland the ground continues to s shift.  Labour education spokesman Ruari Quinn put it with exquisite courtesy in a memorable article last week. 

Brian Walker @ 11:27 PM | Comments (67)