Slugger O&#039;Toole

Mon 13 June 2011, 11:35am

When I went trekking in Africa one summer with my sister I remember meeting a game warden with a Kalashnikov assault rifle in the Masai Mara. I enquired whether it was to stop poachers. He said no it was really for crocodiles and explained that if one tries to attack you the only solution is [...] more »

MI5 make conditional offer on Finucane – WikiLeaks

Mon 13 December 2010, 10:08am

Unless Iran is your patch, this is probably the most interesting Wikileaks outing to date. The Security Service’s offer is revealed in a cable from June 2005, written by the US ambassador to Dublin, James C Kenny, which reported on a meeting between the head of MI5 and Mitchell Reiss, the US special envoy to [...] more »

Spain is the current model for dealing with the past

Thu 25 November 2010, 9:46pm

Liam Clarke has been made aware that post Franco Spain rather than South Africa is the current model for dealing with the past. He seems to be the only MSM journalist to pick up Owen Paterson’s interesting Steinberg lecture which I drew attention to last week. Spain passed an Act of Oblivion for all the [...] more »

Woodward bombshell on Troubles legacy

Wed 3 November 2010, 4:07pm

The unlikely figure of Shaun Woodward has blown apart the smooth surface of Westminster consensus by launching an attack on his successor for dilatoriness in tackling the legacy of the Troubles. In a long and impassioned speech in a debate on the Saville report, Woodward accused Secretary of State Owen Paterson of stalling a decision [...] more »

Delay no longer: face up to the Past

Fri 2 July 2010, 11:51am

While unsurprisingly more tentative, it is some kind of vindication that the Victims Commissioners’ report isn’t so very different from the rejected efforts of Eames- Bradley. True, it drops the wretched recognition payments in favour of victims’ needs assessments and suggests a timetable for what it quaintly calls a ” design process” to be completed by autumn [...] more »

Guantanamo torture inquiry may have implications for Northern Ireland

Tue 29 June 2010, 11:52pm

The imminent announcement of a judge led inquiry into allegations of torture involving MI5 complicity is being welcomed by civil liberties groups in Britain. The inquiry is expected to offer compensation in cases, where necessary, and is likely to be held in private. A judge-led inquiry or commission may have the advantage of bringing together [...] more »

Where’s the government’s response to Eames/Bradley?

Sun 20 June 2010, 9:57pm

Brian’s suggestion to “Look again now at the legacy commission” pre-empted Mark Devenport’s discussion of that topic on Inside Politics with, among others, the former Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Peter Hain. From Mark Devenport’s blog On cost, Mr Hain argued that now justice has been devolved the expense of whatever truth recovery process is embarked [...] more »

Look again now at the legacy commission

Sat 19 June 2010, 7:54pm

While the past should not nor cannot be forgotten as Eamonn rightly says, the question is how best to deal with it. Reconciliation or justice? appears to be the choice before us if moves towards winding down legal process gain traction. It’s no easy decision and advocates of further legal action have by no means [...] more »

CoI prelate snubs church magazine on Eames Bradley

Sun 24 January 2010, 8:50pm

Sunday Sequence carried an article this morning about the disagreement between the Church of Ireland Gazette and the Bishop of Clogher, Michael Jackson (also covered on William Crawley’s blog). Bishop Jackson was chairman of the CoI’s working group on the Eames Bradley proposals (though we learned in the process of the Sunday Sequence report that [...] more »

The ongoing downfall of Eames Bradley

Sat 19 December 2009, 8:31pm

Pete Baker has blogged on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee’s view on Eames Bradley below. The saga of the decline and fall of the Eames Bradley report is something of a morality tale in itself. It began with the hubris of Dennis Bradley and the noble Lord who suggested at its outset it was “hugely [...] more »

“while we do not recommend that the Legacy Commission go ahead as proposed..”

Wed 16 December 2009, 6:42pm

The House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee has published its report on the Consultative Group on the Past in NI’s report. There’s a BBC report and an Irish Times report on it. Brief report highlights here and the full report is available here. From the report’s conclusions and recommendations 19. We believe that the [...] more »

The Strategy for Victims and Survivors..

Thu 10 December 2009, 5:57pm

The low-key launch of the NI Office the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers’ proposals to, amongst other things, reform funding of what NI Finance Minister Sammy Wilson has referred to as “a victims industry”, has been followed by a low-key written statement to the NI Assembly on the publication of the Strategy for [...] more »

Tories to dump Eames Bradley?

Sat 10 October 2009, 9:33pm

The BBC are reporting that Dennis Bradley has suggested that if they win the next General Election, the Conservatives will bin the Eames Bradley report. Bradley was speaking at the Progressive Unionist party Conference and said: “If what I am hearing is correct, the Conservatives will bin this report. “In its place they will suggest [...] more »

Eames Bradley next phase

Sun 23 August 2009, 5:14pm

A couple of weeks ago Denis Bradley tried to defend and maybe even re introduce the £12,000 payment for the relatives of victims which had provoked so much anger when the Eames Bradley report was launched. Mick has already noted Malachi O’Doherty’s blog where Malachi explains that Bradley claimed at the John Hewitt summer school [...] more »

“The talks are likely to stretch into September..”

Wed 29 July 2009, 3:43pm

In the Belfast Telegraph, Noel McAdam reports that Secretary of State Shaun Woodward has invited the political parties to talks next month on how to advance the controversial Eames/ Bradley proposals on dealing with the legacy of the Troubles. The talks are likely to stretch into September as part of wider public consultations on the [...] more »

Eames begins to admit report’s errors?

Mon 13 July 2009, 12:08am

Below I have posted a few thoughts on collective guilt following Rev Harold Miller’s comments. Miller himself of course made mention of what is fast becoming the central religious text of the collective guilt brigade: the Eames Bradley report. The high priest of collective guilt (the noble lord himself) once proudly pronounced at the start [...] more »

Hippies but not Eames Bradley mark midsummer’s day

Wed 24 June 2009, 12:00pm

Sunday was of course Mid summer’s day: hardly a shattering revelation. The hippies, druids, Morris Dancers and assorted New Age types seem to have had a good time at Stonehenge. Midsummers day had also been proposed by the Eames Bradley Consultative Group on the Past Report as a “Day of Reflection and Reconciliation.” Interestingly I [...] more »

Lord Eames and moving on

Sun 12 April 2009, 4:45am

The Noble Lord Eames has kept a fairly low profile since the glitteringly successful launch of his personal credibility self destruction campaign (also known as the Consultative Group on the Past Report). One of the problems for Eames is that now that his brief period in the limelight (rather uncomfortable as it turned out) is [...] more »

Eames Bradley and last week