Irish Republican Information Service (no. 84)
Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: +353-1-872 9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie
Date: 25 Deireadh Fómhair / October 2006
 
Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom
 
 
In this issue:
1. Ó Brádaigh refused Visa for launch of biography in New York
2. RUC careers stall decision a political act
3. Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee visits Ireland
4. Corrib protesters want ‘all options’ discussed
5. Special Branch members found not guilty of perjury
6. Anti-social elements ordered to leave Ardoyne
 
1. Ó BRÁDAIGH REFUSED VISA FOR LAUNCH OF BIOGRAPHY IN NEW YORK
 
ON October 20 the US Department of State in Washington was refused a Visa to the President of Republican Sinn Féin, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, to visit New York this weekend for the launch there of a biography of which he is the subject on October 21.
 
A letter from the US Embassy in Dublin stated that this action was taken under Section 212 (a) (3) (B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This section is described in a similar letter dated June 9, 1994 as prohibiting "the issuance of a visa to any person who has engaged, or who is likely to engage, after entry into the United States, in terrorist activity".
 
The biography is a 350-page hard-back book by Dr Robert W White, Professor of Sociology at Indiana University and is the result of 22 years research. It has already been launched this year in Dublin, Belfast and several other centres in Ireland and is available in bookshops.
 
The proposed weekend visit to New York was intended solely for the book launch, surely a political act which has now been suppressed by the US State Department. The book launch which took place in New York was very successful.
 
2. RUC CAREERS STALL DECISION A POLITICAL ACT
 
IN A statement on October 19 Richard Walsh, Derry, Assistant PRO Republican Sinn Féin said that the contemptible decision to invite the British Colonial Police to attend a careers fair at St. Columb’s College in Derry City was clearly a political act. Despite claims by the RUC that the stall "was not for the purposes of recruiting," the intention was clear.
The statement went on: "Indeed the RUC statement acknowledged that their presence was for the purpose of ‘providing information to those who wanted it about careers in the [force]’.
 
"The primary role of any police force is to provide the first line of defence for the state - which in this case amounts to the subversion of the democratically expressed wishes of the Irish people, acting as a unit. Recruits will be expected to take up arms in support of English rule in Ireland.
 
"Regardless of the outcome of any Extraordinary Provo Ard-Fheis on the matter, there are those who will continue to resist the foreign military occupation of our country. Anyone considering joining the British Colonial Police under whatever guise should realise that they are declaring themselves an enemy of the Irish people."
 
3. COUNCIL OF EUROPE ANTI-TORTURE COMMITTEE VISITS IRELAND
 
IT was reported on October 18 that a delegation of the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) recently carried out a twelve-day visit to the 26 Counties. It was the CPT’s fourth periodic visit.
 
During the visit, which began on October 2, the delegation reviewed the measures taken by the 26-County authorities following the recommendations made by the Committee after its previous visits.
 
Particular attention was paid to the treatment of persons detained by the 26-County police and the operation of the various safeguards in place. The delegation also examined in detail a number of issues relating to prisons, including the conditions of detention of inmates in segregation or subject to measures of protection, the phenomenon of inter-prisoner violence, the provision of health care and issues pertaining to complaints and discipline. Another area of examination related to mental health care of prisoners and the care provided to forensic psychiatric patients.
 
In the course of the visit, the CPT’s delegation held consultations with the Minister of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell, Minister of Health, Mary Harney as well as other senior 26-County government officials, Gardaí and prison officials as well as representatives of the Irish Human Rights Commission.
 
Discussions were held with members of non-governmental organisations active in areas of concern to the CPT and with members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its preliminary observations to the 26-County authorities.
 
The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT:
    -     Mario FELICE, Head of delegation (Maltese)
    -     Ale� BUTALA (Slovenian)
    -     Latif HUSEYNOV (Azerbaijani)
    -     Ann-Marie ORLER (Swedish).
They were supported by Hugh CHETWYND, Head of Division, and Marco LEIDEKKER of the CPT’s Secretariat, and assisted by three experts: Tatjana SIMMINS, psychiatrist, Geneva (Switzerland), Eric DURAND, former Head of the Medical Services at Fleury-M�rogis Prison (France) and Alan MITCHELL, former Head of Health Care, Scottish Prison Service (United Kingdom).
 
The delegation visited the following places:
 
Establishments under the Ministry of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
An Garda Síochána:
    -     Detention facilities at Athlone Garda station
    -     Detention facilities at Castlerea Garda station
    -     Detention facilities at Galway Garda station
    -     Detention facilities at Henry Street Garda station, Limerick
    -     Detention facilities at Kevin Street Garda station,Dublin
    -     Detention facilities at Mountjoy Garda station, Dublin
    -     Detention facilities at Mullingar Garda station
    -     Detention facilities at Roxborough Road Garda station, Limerick
    -     Detention facilities at Sligo Garda station
    -     Detention facilities at Store Street Garda station, Dublin
Prison Service:
    -     Castlerea Prison
    -     Cloverhill Prison
    -     Limerick Prison
    -     Mountjoy Prison
    -     Saint Patrick’s Institution for Youth Offenders
Targetted visits were also paid to Cork and Wheatfield Prisons to examine persons held in the segregation areas and those subject to measures of protection.
Establishments under the Ministry of Health and Children - Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum
 
4. CORRIB PROTESTERS WANT ‘ALL OPTIONS’ DISCUSSED
 
The Shell to Sea campaign has said it has always been willing to enter into discussions with Shell E&P Ireland on the Corrib gas project if such discussions include all options for the project.
 
Campaign spokesman Dr Mark Garavan was responding to the appeal early in October by Shell E&P Ireland’s deputy managing director Terry Nolan for dialogue, after three weeks of protests near the Corrib gas terminal site in Bellanaboy, Co Mayo.
 
Up to 100 people continued early morning demonstrations at Bellanaboy bridge on October 23 as Shell staff arrived for work at the terminal site. Some of the protesters sat on the road and were forcibly removed by the gardaí.
 
Dr Mark Garavan said Shell had so far been willing to engage in "explanation", rather than "meaningful discussion", and there was "no real evidence" that it wanted any change to its plan for the Corrib terminal.
 
On May 4 last, Shell E&P Ireland managing director Andy Pyle had apologised for the jailing last year of five Rossport men and said the company was looking at alternative routes for the onshore pipeline.
 
"Mr Pyle also said that everything was on the table for discussion, speaking to the media in Dublin," Mark Garavan said. "At the time we said that there was a possibility of a real breakthrough, but said it would be unforgivable if Shell was playing with people’s emotions and engaging in a PR exercise.
 
Dr Mark Garavan said: "Within 48 hours, Mr Pyle effectively binned his offer, when he ruled out the off shore option for the terminal in comments to journalists in Castlebar."
 
Also, the company had offered to modify the pipeline route after Peter Cassells’ report, but recently informed the Dublin High Court that it did not wish to vacate compulsory acquisition orders for the existing route, Mark Garavan said.
 
"Ultimately, dialogue has to resolve this, but the conditions of trust are not there, as there is no real evidence that Shell wants change," he said. "We want the government (sic) to take responsibility, and to direct Shell to reconfigure the project," Mark Garavan said.
 
5. SPECIAL BRANCH MEMBERS FOUND NOT GUILTY OF PERJURY
 
ON October 23 two 26-County Special Branch members accused of forging notes of an interview and of committing perjury during the trial of Colm Murphy were found not guilty by direction of the trial judge.
 
Judge Desmond Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court directed the jury to acquit the Special Branch members following his ruling that the allegedly forged interview notes and technical analysis of them were inadmissible.
 
Detective Gardaí John Fahy (aged 53), of Glaslough, Co Monaghan and Liam Donnelly (aged 50), of Cavan Town gave evidence in the 2001 trial of Colm Murphy and had pleaded not guilty to charges of perjury, forgery and using a forged document.
 
The Special Branch members were found not guilty of two counts of perjury in that they knowingly and falsely swore under oath that the purported notes of their interview with Colm Murphy on February 22, 1999 had not been rewritten and were an accurate account, on dates between October 18 and November 15, 2001 at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.
 
They were also been acquitted of two counts of forging notes of interview with Colm Murphy on a date between February 21 and 22, 1999 and using a forged document at the 2001 trial with the intention to deceive.
 
Judge Hogan’s ruling came on day six of the trial following three days of legal argument in the jury’s absence. He found that the prosecution were unable to establish a chain of custody in relation to the original notes of interview or of the later "electrostatic document analysis".
 
 Paul O’Higgins SC, prosecuting, told the jury in opening the case on day two of the trial that Colm Murphy was arrested in February 1999 in connection with the Omagh bombing and was systematically interviewed by teams of gardaí.
 
Paul O’Higgins said Colm Murphy was interviewed by the two accused men between 3.45 pm and 5.45 pm. Donnelly made notes and Fahy primarily asked questions. He said Colm Murphy was meant to have given answers which were compromising to him and that evidence of where his mobile phone was at any given time was of significance to the charge of conspiracy to cause an explosion.
 
The prosecution’s case was to have been that "electrostatic document analysis" would show that the third page of interview was not the only third page of notes made.
 
Paul O’Higgins told Judge Hogan that in light of the court’s ruling no further evidence could go before the jury which could have led to a conviction and asked that a direction be given to the jury to return not guilty verdicts on all charges.
 
6. ANTI-SOCIAL ELEMENTS ORDERED TO LEAVE ARDOYNE
 
IT was reported on October 19 that more than a dozen men had been ordered out of Belfast by the Continuity IRA.
 
Warnings were stated to have been sent to men from the Ardoyne, Cliftonville, Markets, Poleglass and Twinbrook areas of the city that if they didn’t leave they will be shot.
 
On October 17 the Irish News (Belfast) carried a statement (received by phone using a recognised codeword) from the Continuity IRA in which it claimed responsibility for the shooting of three men in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast in the past month (on two men in north Belfast and on Conor Weldon in September who lost his leg as a result of the shooting), warning that further attacks would follow.
 
The statement continued: "We are reacting to demands from the nationalist people. The death threats to the people on the list that was shown to Fr Troy still stands. These people have been warned and they now know what the consequences will be if they do not either leave the country or come forward and present themselves for mediation to our organisation. We are not putting ourselves forward to police nationalist districts but if contacted by the people we will take action against known drug dealers, burglars and rapists. These people have been warned. We have made our position clear. The onus is now on them."
 
ENDS