Parades man was part of anti-republican strategy
by Laura Friel
Revelations about Parades Commission appointee Aidan
Canavan have further exposed the anti-nationalist ethos
of the Commission.
In a briefing document compiled by Fr Des Wilson and
Equality activist Oliver Kearney, Canavan is identified
as a key player in a series of economic initiatives
fronted by pro-British members of the Catholic
Hierarchy. These initiatives, it is suggested, followed
a British counter insurgency strategy designed to
stifle independent community development in West
Belfast. Friars Bush Limited, a private company
registered by the DED in December 1985, was headed by
Cathal Daly, Bishop of Down and Connor, later Primate
of All Ireland, Rev. Professor James McEvoy and Most
Rev Patrick Walsh. Aidan Canavan is listed among the
company's first shareholders. Friars Bush was the first
of a series of companies which sprang up in the late
1980s to access and control public funding in
nationalist areas. Canavan appears again, as a director
and secretary of Glenwood Enterprises Ltd, a company
registered and chaired by Fr Patrick McWilliams in
March 1985. Canavan was also amongst a group of
prominent Catholics who travelled to America to
campaign against the MacBride Principles of Fair
Employment at the height of the British government's
counter offensive.
Canavan has already been exposed as a member of a law
practice which acted as solicitors for the Police
Federation. A case of sectarian discrimination was
recently taken to a Fair Employment Tribunal by a
Catholic solicitor against Canavan and his law partner
Richard Murphy. Substantial compensation was paid
before the case went to a full hearing in January 1997.
Further controversy around the Parades Commission
surfaced last week when it was revealed that recent
appointee Glenn Barr met a close associate of LVF
founder Billy Wright less than two years ago. A
photograph published by the Irish News last week shows
Barr shaking the hand of senior loyalist Alex Kerr. The
meeting took place in the summer of 1996 at a County
Tyrone hotel where both men were attending a meeting of
the Ulster Independence Movement.
Barr was one of the speakers at the meeting which was
also addressed by DUP councillor Sammy Wilson. Last
week Kerr was released from the LVF wing of Long Kesh
only hours after being arrested and questioned about
the murder of fellow loyalist inmate David Keys.
Poyntzpass murder suspect Keys was tortured and beaten
to death by LVF prisoners in H6 two weeks ago.
A dissident UDA member, Kerr was forced to leave
Belfast in 1996. After spending a short period in
County Tyrone, he moved to Portadown where he was a
close associate of Billy Wright. Kerr was jailed after
being caught staging a LVF show of strength.
This is the second controversy to hit the Parades
Commission concerning members' links with loyalist
gunmen. A photograph of Apprentice Boy Tommy Cheevers
at the funeral of leading loyalist sectarian killer
John Bingham appeared in the media just days after his
appointment to the Parades Commission.
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