IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWS: Archives

October 29, 2009

‘Deal has been done ’ - Adams

The Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has branded as “totally and absolutely unacceptable” attempts by the DUP to attach the parades issue as a new condition to an agreed deal on policing.

Million dollar price-tag for trial testimony

The chief MI5 witness in a ‘Real IRA’ arms trial refused to give evidence unless he was given 650,000 pounds sterling ($1.1m) and a medal from the Queen.

Progress in Derry family’s campaign for justice

The family of a Derry teenager shot dead by British soldiers in July 1972 have urged the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) to co-operate fully with a new inquest into the killing.

PSNI pursues vindicated journalist

A journalist faces a twenty-five thousand pound legal bill despite her successful legal challenge to a Crown force demand that she hand over information pertaining to the ‘Real IRA’.

Serial killer returned to jail

An infamous loyalist killer is back behind bars after attacking two sisters in a pub in Coleraine, County Derry.

Orange Order in Scotland backs Labour Party

The Orange Order has vowed to mobilise its 50,000 members in Scotland to oppose the Scottish independence at the next general election and shore up the vote in favour of retaining Scotland’s union with England

Daniel Hegarty

Relatives for Justice has campaigned on behalf of the Hegarty family in connection with the killing of their son, Daniel. The following is their profile on the case.

The Basque fight is a European fight

The arrest in the past two weeks of Arnaldo Otegi and nine of his comrades from the ‘outlawed’ Batasuna party and the pro-independence trade union LAB is another sign of the oppressive methods being employed the Spanish government to stamp out the Basque nationalist left.

October 26, 2009

Clarification urged in hunger strike debate

The controversy over the 1981 hunger strike has continued with conflicting messages from the current and former Sinn Fein leaders, and from former prisoners who were inside Long Kesh prison at the time.

British spies lined up for trial

An extraordinary thirty-five MI5 agents are to be called to court to give evidence evidence behind screens against three men accused of dissident republican activity.

UUP ‘sells soul’ for place in Tory govt

The Ulster Unionists’ sole member of the Westminster parliament failed to turn up to her party’s conference at the weekend.

Former RUC man may take Stormont post for Sinn Fein

Sinn Fein assembly member Francie Brolly could be replaced next month by a former member of the British Crown forces.

Satisfaction at US hearings on collusion

Raymond McCord has said he could not have hoped for anything better from the Congressional hearing in the United States into his son’s killing.

Easter Rising filming gets underway

Filming for a new movie about the Easter Rising will finally get under way in Ireland in April 2010.

The Black Irish of Jamaica: ‘One Love’

The Irish are alive and well in Jamaica, writes Rob Mullally. The third and final part of a three-part series.

Was there a deal?

The hunger strikers were never dupes but could only make decisions on the basis of the information they had.

October 22, 2009

Workers plan mass protests

The 26-County state appears to be heading for strikes and industrial unrest on a scale not seen for many years after Ireland’s major trade unions announced protest actions ahead of the December budget.

Bomb attack at British Army base

A bomb exploded at a British army base in north Belfast earlier today.

McGuinness upbeat as DUP stalls

Talks over the devolution of policing and justice powers from London to Belfast have concluded with the DUP still stalling despite a pledge of significant British government funding for the move.

Confrontation over Shell drilling operation

A local resident last week blocked the entrance gate to a Shell Inc. construction site for which there is no planning permission, refusing to move until proof was provided that Shell’s works on the site are legal.

Sectarian marches ‘have their place’ - Adams

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has said sectarian parades by the Orange Order “will have their place in a new Ireland” but they should be held “on the basis of respect and cooperation”.

O’Connell’s crypt is opened

After being closed to the public for more than a decade, Daniel O’Connell’s crypt below the landmark round tower in Dublin’s Glasnevin cemetery is open for visits, more than 160 years after his death.

McCord addresses US Congressional hearing

The testimony of Raymond McCord Sr. before the US Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight, on the subject of collusion.

Protecting the fat cats

The revised programme for government in the Twenty-Six Counties offers nothing to the thousands who have lost their jobs over the last 12 months and face losing their homes.

October 19, 2009

Softening up process

The people of the 26 Counties are being prepared for an unprecedented series of wage cuts and devastating cutbacks by the corrupt coalition government in Dublin.

Dissidents claim car device

The IRA breakaway group known as Oglaigh na hEireann has claimed responsibility for an under-car bomb in east Belfast last Thursday

PSNI raids condemned

A leading Derry community worker has criticised a PSNI search at the home of his grandchildren, describing it as “disgraceful.”

US investment hailed by Stormont leaders

Plans by the New York stock exchange to set up a software facility in Belfast have been held up as a demonstration that the north of Ireland is a normal place for business investment.

Senators distressed by FG policy shift

The Seanad [Senate], the low-profile upper house of the Dublin parliament, faces abolition if a plan by the 26 County state’s main opposition party go

Spanish crackdown on Basque politicians

The Spanish government has ended a new political initiative in the Basque country with the arrest of ten prominent pro-independence left activists.

Interview with Ruairi O Bradaigh

The President of Republican Sinn Fein, who recently announced he is stepping down from the position, is interviewed.

It does matter if no-one likes you

No-one likes us - we don’t care.’ The Millwall football club’s chant which came to wider public attention when Millwall reached the 2004 FA final could equally apply to the DUP.

October 16, 2009

PSNI stretched by attack, alerts

Claims that a republican group abandoned a massive van bomb in a border village this week proved unfounded after a dramatic controlled explosion by the British Army revealed the van to be empty.

Prisoners back INLA peace move

Prisoners associated with the INLA (Irish National Liberation Army) currently being held at Portlaoise jail in the Irish midlands have endorsed a statement on Sunday in which the INLA’s armed struggle was declared to be at an end.

Two issues remain in policing and justice talks

There have been further claims of progress by Sinn Fein in its talks with British prime minister Gordon Brown over the policing and justice powers. However, the DUP has said there remain matters which require resolution.

O’Donoghue plays the victim

John O’Donoghue formally resigned as Ceann Comhairle [speaker] of the Dublin parliament yesterday, defiantly blaming others for the scandal over his expense claims.

Warning over coalition’s plans

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has accused the Green Party of having “signed up for savage cuts in public spending, NAMA and more attacks on working people and disadvantaged citizens” after it agreed a new programme for government with Fianna Fail.

International fund ‘supports’ UDA, UVF

The International Fund for Ireland (IFI) has been accused of paying a six-figure to a group linked to loyalist paramilitaries, no questions asked.

Red shanks, bogtrotters and pirates

The second part of a three-part series by Rob Mullally, from the Wild Geese, about the black Irish of Jamaica.

Death in custody

When an Irish republican dies in British police custody it is certain to give rise to an atmosphere of suspicion and recrimination.

October 13, 2009

Confusion over INLA statement

A decision by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) to formally draw its armed campaign to a close has been welcomed by the political parties in the North but has caused considerable surprise to its own supporters.

Unionist anger at Brady funeral display

Unionists have condemned the republican funeral for Volunteer John Brady as “obscene”.

‘Official IRA’ arms report denied

The organisation once known as the ‘Official IRA’ has begun decommissioning talks with the IICD arms body, it has been claimed.

Dismay as Greens vote to stay in power

Green Party members have set the scene for massive political upheaval in the 26 Counties this winter afer they voted to stay in government and support a programme of unprecedented budget cutbacks in tandem with the gigantic NAMA bailout for bank shareholders and developers.

Clinton lauds political process

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged the North’s political leaders to “complete” the process of devolution during a one-day visit to Belfast on Monday.

Sinn Fein responds to victims plan

Republicans should cooperate with a commission to establish the truth about the conflict but only if it is independent and organised by an international body, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said this week.

‘John didn’t kill himself’

Republican prisoner John Brady had a row with his brother-in-law while on weekend parole. He ended up hanging from his laces in a PSNI cell. His family don’t believe it was suicide. A report by Suzanne Breen for the Sunday Tribune.

There was no deal

The final article by Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams for the Irish News on the recent controversy over the 1981 hunger strike.

October 11, 2009

INLA armed struggle declared over

An announcement was made this afternoon that the INLA's armed struggle is over and that its future will be based around politics through exclusively peaceful means.

October 10, 2009

Greens to continue in coalition with Fianna Fail

The Green Party tonight voted to continue the Dublin coalition government with Fianna Fail and the highly controversial Nama plan to bail out Irish developers and their bankers.

October 8, 2009

Brady family appeals for justice

A volley of shots have been fired over the coffin of senior republican John Brady who died in “mysterious” circumstances while being questioned at a PSNI police station.

Dáil in disarray

Following the ouster on Tuesday of the speaker of the Dail, an Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue, increasing turmoil has beset the political institutions in Dublin and threatens to overwhelm the coalition government.

DUP demands unpick Good Friday Agreement

Talks between the first and deputy first ministers and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the devolution of policing powers have ended without agreement.

Tensions increase across North

There has been a general increase in tension across the North following the arrival of the new PSNI chief, Matt Baggott.

Coroner steps down in Jordan inquest

The North’s senior coroner is to stand aside from hearing an inquest into the killing of an IRA man shot dead by Crown forces 17 years ago.

Woman asked to become agent for MI5

A young Fermanagh woman has spoken off her fear after being stopped and questioned by MI5 agents upon landing at a Spanish airport when she went on holiday earlier this month.

Truth can’t be the final Bloody Sunday victim

One of the reasons for hostility to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry is to be found in a judgement delivered in the High Court in London last Friday in the case of Khunder al-Sweady.

Leading from the front is only way forward

Peter Robinson is facing what every single leader of unionism has faced since at least the late 1960s.

October 6, 2009

John O’Donoghue to resign

The speaker of the Dublin parliament, the Ceann Comhairle, John O’Donoghue, announced tonight that he will resign next week

October 5, 2009

John Brady dies in PSNI custody

A well-known republican died in suspicious circumstances at a PSNI base in Derry on Saturday night.

Praise for those who defied Lisbon ‘bullying’

The Lisbon Treaty was backed on its second outing on Friday by 67 per cent of those who voted in the 26 County referendum.

DUP seen digging in until election

The positions of the northern parties on policing and justice hardened last night as it appeared the DUP will attempt to negotiate separately from Sinn Fein with the British government.

Mixed reaction to ex-PoW’s book

Former IRA prisoner Gerry ‘Whitey’ Bradley has defended a book that lifts the lid on his life in the organisation, insisting he is “just telling my story”.

US hearings into RUC collusion

The father of a Belfast man who was murdered by a unionist paramilitary group in 1997 has secured his plea to have a US congressional hearing into his son’s murder next month.