ORANGEMEN PROTEST OVER RE-ROUTING
06/25/05 13:02 EST

By the Irish-American Information Service

Hundreds of Orangemen have taken part in a protest march in Belfast over the re-routing of a controversial parade. 

The Order wanted to go through Workman Avenue, off the Springfield Road, but was ordered by the Parades Commission to go through a former factory site. 

However, the Order said it was still determined to hold its traditional Whiterock parade by fall. Nationalist Springfield Road residents welcomed the postponement. Sinn Fein said dialogue was needed on both sides. 

South Belfast MLA Alex Maskey of Sinn Fein said: "The Orange Order have not made a commitment to the people of this area that they are going to treat them with respect, that they want to reach accommodation with them. That's what the Orange Order need to do - stop the play acting, using other people as a smokescreen, go and talk to people, it's growing up time." 

Earlier, DUP councillor Nelson McCausland said the Order was determined to have its parade without being re-routed. 

"The protest parade today is only the start," he said. "Then, over the coming weeks and months, that campaign strategy will unfold. It undoubtedly will include such things as an exploration of a legal challenge to what the parade's commission has done. But, in the end, we are determined to secure our basic right to parade there to the Whiterock hall as brethern have done for the past 48 years." 

North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds said: "The disgraceful Parades Commission ruling to insult the Orange brethren, by forcing them through an industrial site, has been rightly rejected. By their actions in postponing, not cancelling, the Whiterock parade, the Orange Order, the North and West Forum and the entire community are committed to an ongoing campaign for the human and civil rights of Orange brethren and Protestants throughout north and west Belfast. " 

In a statement, nationalist residents said the only way to resolve the matter was for the parade organisers to resume negotiations with the residents. 

The decision to suspend the parade was announced by the North and West Belfast Parades Forum following a meeting on Friday. 

Earlier this week, the Parades Commission rejected two applications for it to reverse its decision to impose restrictions on the parade. The Parades Commission was set up in 1997 to make decisions on whether controversial parades should be restricted. 

ORANGE ORDER TO MARCH PAST ARDOYNE ON JULY 12
07/04/05 13:34 EST

An Orange Order March is to be allowed to pass the flashpoint nationalist Ardoyne shops area of north Belfast on 12 July. 

However, the Parades Commission has imposed restrictions on band music being played and the conduct of supporters. 

There was violence in the area during an Orange parade last month. 

In a separate ruling, Orangemen have once again been banned from marching along Garvaghy Road in Portadown after this Sunday's Drumcree service. 

In another ruling on a contentious route, Orangemen and two bands will be allowed through Workman Avenue in west Belfast on the morning of the 12th, but not on the return journey in the evening. 

The Drumcree parade has passed off peacefully in recent years but was at the center of violence over the years. 

Orangemen last walked down the Garvaghy Road in 1997. 

The Parades Commission was set up in 1997 to make decisions on whether controversial parades should be restricted. 

Of the more than 3000 Loyal Order marches every summer, less that 5% of them are contentious. 

Parade Season Takes Violent Twist

Transcripts courtesy of Northern Ireland Information Service
 

July 5, 2005

Parades

As the Parades Commission prepares to rule on some of the summer's most controversial marches, tensions over the marching season continue to rise. Restrictions have already been placed on a parade in Castlederg but a parade in Newtownstewart will not be rerouted. Irish News P1, 4

Chief Constable Hugh Order denied DUP claims that police had exacerbated tensions in the build-up to the marching season. News Letter P4

In Derry, Grand Master, Robert Saulters said he was unable to comment on the agreement brokered in the city. Irish News P4

Belfast priest, Fr Aidan Troy, has called on the British and Irish government to intervene in the parades issue claiming that there was a lack of proper political leadership at the highest level. His remarks come despite claims that Ardoyne residents said they will consider accepting an Orange Order procession but only if the Order agreed to talk to residents. Irish News P4

The Orange Order insisted that an Orange arch in Glenavy would be erected despite opposition from republicans. News Letter P4,

Security

Police refused to explain why IRA Shankhill bomber Sean Kelly was returned to prison. Daily Ireland claimed that the Prison Service was involved in initiating the events that led to Kelly's arrest. A Sinn Fein protest against Kelly's detention was held in Dunloy during a DPP meeting. Irish News P7, 21, Daily Ireland P1, 6, 16.

There was uproar in a Belfast court yesterday when an associate of loyalist Johnny Adair was cleared of murder. Wayne Dowie walked free after the prosecution evidence was described as 'weak' and having 'no reliable foundation'. Irish News P6, Daily Mirror P17, News Letter P13, Belfast Telegraph P19, The Sun P27

The High Court heard that moments before his death, Robert McCartney was followed up an alleyway be a gang of men carrying weapons. Irish News P6, Daily Mirror P17, News Letter P6, Daily Ireland P4

An electronic listening device was allegedly found hidden in the home of the wife of Derry republican, Andrew McCartney. It was claimed it was placed there during the first IRA ceasefire. Irish News P21, Daily Ireland P9

Two escaped prisoners were jailed for four years each. Ian Carlin and Colin O'Brien had been awaiting trial in Downpatrick Courthouse in 2003 when they escaped with self-confessed killer David Taggart who is still at large. Irish News P23, News Letter P21 

Protesters picketed at the presence of a Royal Marine band at the Botanic Gardens 'Opera in the Gardens' event. Daily Ireland P6.

Program: GMU
Date & Time: 05.07.05 (07.10)
Subject: Ardoyne parade

WENDY AUSTIN

Now the Commission has imposed restrictions on the band music and on the conduct of supporters at the parade, surely that will help?

GERRY KELLY

Well these restrictions have been on year in, year out, and frankly are completely ignored. The difficulty, the real difficulty, I mean this is two parades through, and if I could correct this, Ardoyne shops, I know it’s a short hand but it’s actually through Catholic areas, it’s Ardoyne, Mountainview and the Dales. And they come back after a days drinking, especially in the evening, whatever about the morning, and the type of sectarian abuse and all the rest of the paramilitary trappings, and you know, we saw last year well known UDA men coming out of Twaddell, who weren’t in the parade, actually going down to lead the parade up. You see you’ve all of that and as you point out, in the context of last year and indeed a couple of weeks ago in the same area, so I think it is a very wrong decision in the present circumstances and certainly it should be reversed.

WENDY AUSTIN

But of course, it is a main road and those taking part in the parade say that they have a right to walk along it and I’m sure that in other circumstances you’d be the first to be defending people’s right to walk along the highway?

GERRY KELLY

Fair enough Wendy but let me ask you this, if I came onto your program and said that I’d organized a republican parade down through Woodvale through the Shankill onto the Falls Road or across Twaddell which is the shortest route over to the Springfield Road, would you be saying the same thing to me? I don’t think so. The fact is that there are 3,000 of these parades and more, and that when they take place within unionist and loyalist areas they are very welcome of course by the people in that part of the culture and that’s fine. 

But to force these parades and indeed to show the type of leadership of the DUP, they actually don collarettes, I mean the MP in the area and the other MLA in the DUP, actually put on Orange collarettes to walk through some of these areas, then I have to say it’s that type of leadership that leads to a very precarious situation.

WENDY AUSTIN

(Unclear) that’s their right …

GERRY KELLY

I’ll be there and my commitment has been to try and have a peaceful marching season and have, as you pointed out, worked at, and with many others I hasten to add, and I will be there again, but I mean it is a very precarious situation.

WENDY AUSTN

Have discussions been taking place around these marches?

GERRY KELLY

Well that’s another I think ironic situation. What you have is a high media profile at the moment on the fact that there were talks in Derry to try and sort out the situation around Orange parades. There have been talks indeed in West Belfast with Orange Order members involved, according to the media, and yet two or three hundred or four hundred yards across I can tell you definitively there have been no Orangemen talking to the residents there because they have refused point blank. 

So even at the base line of let’s have some talk about this, and remember talks were promised after last years debacle in September, indeed it was put to the Parades Commission by the North and West Parades Forum that talks would start in September and that did not happen. So you do have a sort of a situation where you have talks a few hundred yards away where the Orange Order seem to be involved but not with the people in Ardoyne.

Program: GMU
Date & Time: 5.7.05 (8.13 a.m.)
Subject: Ardoyne Parade, Fred Cobain

SEAMUS MCKEE

The Commission has put restrictions on Orangemen and their supporters. The Ulster Unionist MLA in North Belfast, Fred Cobain, is about to go into a meeting with the Security Minister Shaun Woodward. What will you say to him?

FRED COBAIN

I think from our point of view I don’t think that the Parades Commission could have come to any other decision. Any other decision would have been a surrender to mob rule in Ardoyne. Clearly the Loyal Orders and the unionist communities have met all the conditions that the Parades Commission have laid down and we are in direct and meaningful dialogue with residents. I don’t see what more we can actually do.

SEAMUS MCKEE

So what will you say to Mr. Woodward?

FRED COBAIN

Well I think our position is clear, we think that people have a right to march. There is obviously a role to play with residents and I mean we are up for that. We are not saying we should march without talking to residents, we are adhering to everything that the Parades Commission want and I don’t see what more residents could be asking of us.

SEAMUS MCKEE

What contact, what dialogue has there been involving the Loyal Orders and the residents in that area in advance of this Twelfth parade?

FRED COBAIN

The talks are well documented. I mean the North and West Parades Forum have been working almost a year now in getting direct and meaningful dialogue with not only residents in Ardoyne but residents in the Springfield Road.

SEAMUS MCKEE

Did they pull out of that following the trouble a fortnight ago?

FRED COBAIN

Well I mean I think that we felt that we were badly let down by nationalist residents in Ardoyne after promises were made to the police about the parade and the peaceful protest. It turned out, as I am saying, to be mob rule.

SEAMUS MCKEE

But did the dialogue continue?

FRED COBAIN

Well it hasn’t. There is no point in getting into direct dialogue with individuals unless they can deliver what they promised. We have delivered every single promise that we have made, it has been very difficult for us, it is very difficult for the unionist community, but we have done that. I mean this is a partnership. People have to deliver what they promise.

SEAMUS MCKEE

But there is no dialogue at the present time going on which many would see as being the key to a peaceful Twelfth.

FRED COBAIN

Of course it is. We have been working on this for a year.

SEAMUS MCKEE

But would you want to see that dialogue resumed?

FRED COBAIN

Of course. We have been trying to engage in dialogue with residents for over a year. We have been successful to some extent in the Springfield Road, less so in Ardoyne, because Ardoyne isn’t as together as the Springfield, it is far more diverse in Ardoyne than it is on the Springfield Road. And it is very difficult to get someone in Ardoyne who is actually speaking on behalf of residents.

SEAMUS MCKEE

Just to be clear about this. The dialogue stopped following the trouble a fortnight ago, you are saying you would like that dialogue resumed in the interests of a peaceful parade?

FRED COBAIN

We are not going to get through the marching season without dialogue. I think even people in the unionist community recognize that. We are trying to bring these parades to a successful conclusion if we possibly can. But it takes two to tango. And we are not getting any response from the nationalist community. These people have asked for dialogue for a number of years, they are getting it, now they are getting it, they don’t want it.

SEAMUS MCKEE

They say that conditions that have been attached to Parades Commission decisions in past years have been ignored, now there are conditions attached this time on the playing of music, on the display of flags and emblems, consumption of alcohol and so on. Are you saying to the Orange Order now that those conditions should be obeyed?

FRED COBAIN

They are always obeyed. Read Keir Starmer’s report, last year’s report about Ardoyne. There were no paramilitary flags flown. The organizers, the families and friends who followed the parade were lawful, quiet, they were attacked by nationalists. We know what the standard procedures are, we have adhered to every single condition laid down by the Parades Commission and we will continue to do that.

SEAMUS MCKEE

That is not the view of residents representatives in the area?

FRED COBAIN

I was there the last march, the Tour of the North, and I was attacked by nationalist residents who attacked women and children. I was in the middle of it, Gerry Kelly wasn’t, I was. I was injured in it. I seen it at first hand. These were women and children going home.

SEAMUS MCKEE

This was last year?

FRED COBAIN

This was this year, a fortnight ago, when nationalist residents attacked the parade.

SEAMUS MCKEE

I think it is fair to say that there were Sinn Fein representatives, including Mr. Kelly, who were there trying to calm things down. They were at the scene.

FRED COBAIN

What I am saying to you is that nationalist residents attacked the parade, they attacked it last year. They attacked women and children a fortnight ago after telling police that it would be a peaceful parade. They let everyone down, including their own community.

SEAMUS MCKEE

But your hope is for a peaceful parade?

FRED COBAIN

Of course, I am. We are always working towards peaceful parades, we know that dialogue is the only way forward, the North and West Parades Forum have worked as I am saying for over a year at this.

Protests at Ardoyne Shake NI Scene

Monday, July 11, 2005

Parades

The North is braced for a day of tension as controversial Twelfth of July parades get underway, Daily Ireland (p1,6).

Glorious day for the parades reports News Letter (p1,2,3,14,15), and a silent tribute to those killed and injured in the London terrorist attacks. 

In its editorial the News Letter (p8) comments that Orangeism is a legitimate culture in Irish society and today's Twelfth demonstrations will be a public manifestation of how a very large section of our community believe their historical inheritance relates to a modern day defence of faith, constitutional and political imperatives. 

Chief Constable Hugh Orde last night appealed for peace on the streets of Belfast ahead of a tense Orange Order parade through the city, News Letter (p2), Belfast Telegraph (p6), Mirror (p1,2).

The PSNI and British Army are expected to mount a heavy security force operation to allow two controversial Orange parades to pass the North Belfast flashpoint of Ardoyne today, Irish News (p13), Irish Times (p6). 

Hopes for peaceful Derry parade, Irish News (p13), Daily Ireland (p6). 

Writing in the Daily Ireland (p5) former IRA member Tom McKearney comments that marching 'rights must be applicable across the board'. 

A minute's silence in memory of the London bomb victims will mark the beginning of the Orange Order's Twelfth demonstrations today, News Letter (p3).

Program: GMU
Date & Time: 12.7.05
Subject: Protest at Ardoyne 

SEAMUS MCKEE

What is happening just now?

BRIAN ROWAN

I hope you can hear me okay. It is a bit noisy here, but within the last few minutes groups of police officers have started to move in and remove the protesters from the road, removing them one at a time. A number of those protesters had been chained to a set of traffic lights. 

The police moved in, they cut that chain and as I say in the past few minutes groups of police officers have begun to move in and to remove the protesters from the road one by one. There had been just before that a couple of police warnings, advising the protesters to leave the road, to disperse, also appeals from senior Sinn Fein figures here that the protest should be peaceful. 

They are appealing to people who are behind the police landrovers, closer to the Ardoyne shops not to get involved in the protest and as I say the situation developing here in the past few minutes. The Orange march is due here probably in about 30 minutes, 40 minutes or so. Two bands, three Lodges will pass down through I suppose what is a security corridor, lines of police and Army landrovers. 

But so far that is the situation, a few dozen protesters sitting on the road, a number of police warning for those protesters to disperse and just in the last few minutes the police moving in and starting to remove the protesters one at a time from the road.

SEAMUS MCKEE

Are those appeals to onlookers not to get involved being listened to?

BRIAN ROWAN

There has been no trouble at this stage. We have standing on the road here beside the protesters a number of senior Sinn Fein members, including Gerry Adams and Gerry Kelly and a number of SDLP politicians, Alex Attwood, Tim Attwood and one or two others. So far the protest has been peaceful and the protesters now being removed from the road.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Baton Rounds Fired at Ardoyne Protestors
07/13/05 06:40 EST

By the Irish-American Information Service

Police officers in Northern Ireland fired a number of baton rounds during last night's rioting in Belfast that left some 80 police officers and seven civilians injured in the nationalist Ardoyne area of the city. 

A police spokesperson confirmed that a number of 'attenuated energy projectiles' (AEPs) were fired during fighting last night. It is the first time baton rounds have been fired in a riot situation in over three years. 

Clashes broke out last night after police used water cannon to disperse the crowds who had gathered to vent their anger against a contentious Orange march passed through the nationalist area earlier in the evening. 

Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams said he thought the police had been too quick to react against protesters and it was difficult to calm the situation down. 

He insisted that in spite of the attacks and blast bombs the situation could have been much worse. 

Mr Adams said: "The fact is that the vast majority of people have demonstrated peacefully and in a calm manner." 

The West Belfast MP also blamed the strategy adopted by police for what followed. 

"When the police moved in what I think was quite a reckless manner, they took management completely away from the stewards," he said. 

"They brought the water cannon in too quickly, we should have been allowed to keep order. In a situation where people on the front line like myself, Gerry Kelly, different MLAs and Father (Aidan) Troy were completely soaked on six or seven different occasions." 

But Superintendant Gary White, who was in charge of policing the Ardoyne area, said the response had been appropriate. 

"I do not think anyone could throw the allegation at us tonight that we were heavy handed." 

Some 60 Ardoyne residents had held a sit-down protest following a decision by the Parades Commission ruled to allow the march through the area. 

They linked arms and chanted "we shall not be moved" as police in riot gear moved in to take them away them one by one. 

Armoured police and British army vans lined the streets and shields were erected to allow the outward parade through. 

SDLP West Belfast MLA Alex Attwood praised the police and condemned those responsible for the rioting. 

He said: "The scenes are an utter disgrace. It is in complete contrast of the conduct of so many during the day including the police, the protesters and so many others. The rioters represent no one but a minority. Those responsible have a great deal to account for." 

Tensions are running high this year after an attack on a Catholic home in Belfast at the weekend and as feuding grows between rival Protestant factions. 

Police this morning warned motorists to avoid the Ardoyne area until debris is cleared from the area. 

Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said the parades' issue needed to be addressed as a matter of urgency. 

"I am calling on the Secretary of State to take a grip on this and put it on the table for discussion in the autumn, because we need a solution. We can't allow what is an issue of cultural rights to be turned into a political football, and there has to be a consensus on how this is dealt with." 

The Irish News and the News Letter both lead with the violence at Ardoyne following the return leg of an Orange Order parade. The national press is dominated by reports that suicide bombers carried out the London attacks. 

Parades

Around 40 police officers were injured last night after serious rioting saw blast and petrol bombs being thrown during the return leg of a contentious Orange Order parade in Ardoyne. Police used water canon to try and disperse the crowd. Gerry Adams said police had made a very "bad decision" in bringing out the water canon. "It took away control from the few stewards that were trying to sort out the problem", he added. Irish News Ps 1, 5 & 7, News Letter Ps 1 & 2, Daily Ireland P7, Daily Mirror Ps 16 & 17, Irish Daily Star Ps 1 & 10, Irish Independent P10, Sun P24, Guardian P11, Times P20.

In a report on its front page Daily Ireland P1 claims that two Catholic teenagers were struck by plastic bullets believed to have been fired by the PSNI. 

The Bogside Residents Group in Derry last night blamed PSNI mishandling for minor trouble as Orangemen made a return parade through the city center. Daily Ireland P7. 

Nationalist rioters threw petrol bombs at police in the center of Derry yesterday evening. Irish Times P7, Irish Daily Star P11, Irish Independent P10, Daily Telegraph P10.

The Co. Antrim village of Dunloy was the scene of a long, drawn-out standoff between loyalists and republicans yesterday. News Letter P4, Irish Independent P11, Irish Daily Star Ps 10 & 11.

Dunloy Orange Lodge has called on MP Ian Paisley to raise the issue of anti-Protestant discrimination in Dunloy with both Prime Minister Tony Blair and the NIO in the wake of yesterday's standoff. News Letter P4.

The PSNI was criticized yesterday for helping loyalist bands exploit a Parades Commission loophole during a march in Dunloy. The protest arose after a local loyalist band struck up a series of Orange tunes from a standing position in the main street. A ruling by the Parades Commission had prohibited the band from playing music in the area, but their remit includes only moving processions. Daily Ireland P6.

Republican dissidents are believed to be behind a bid to derail a train carrying Orangemen and their supporters following the find of a "genuine device" on the line outside Moira yesterday. News Letter P4, Daily Mirror P15.

President Mary McAleese held a Twelfth of July garden party for hundreds of unionists at her official residence yesterday. News Letter P5, Irish Times P7, Sun P25.

Calls went out from Londonderry yesterday for the Loyal Orders and local residents' groups throughout Northern Ireland to sit down together and discuss contentious marches in their own areas. News Letter P6.

In its Morning View, News Letter P8, the paper reports that the bomb left on the railway line near Moira yesterday was a clear attempt to murder people traveling to Orange celebrations. 

Orange Order the losers yet again, Daily Ireland Editorial P20. Today, membership of the Orange Order is a badge of shame - and that's not the view of the Daily Ireland but the position of every unionist of note, outside the world of politics. The sight of PSNI men manhandling Gerry Adams on the Crumlin Road yesterday does more to vindicate the Sinn Fein position on policing than a hundred press statements from Parnell Square. 

Title Ardoyne violence (Peter Robinson, Secretary of State) - Parliament Channel NIQs - 11.37
Interviewee Peter Robinson, Secretary of State
Transcript Date 13/07/2005
Origin Parliament Channel
Created on 13/07/2005

Transcript Text
Media Monitoring Unit

PETER ROBINSON
Given the appalling, exclusively republican violence last night, and the failure of the republican leadership of Sinn Fein to condemn it, what confidence can the community in Northern Ireland have that Sinn Fein is seeking to make any transition towards democracy and peaceful politics, and does the Secretary of State not recognize that by requiring inclusive devolution at an Executive level, he puts a veto into the hands of those very people and a massive bargaining chip into their hands as well?

SECRETARY OF STATE

Well Mr. Speaker, first of all I share with him and I imagine all his colleagues condemnation and regrets at the violent disorder that there was in Ardoyne last night, there’s no question about that, that shouldn’t have happened and it cannot be tolerated. As for the future of inclusive Government, he will know that it is our objective to banish, as I said before, all forms of violence from Northern Ireland’s politics, and it is in the interests of everybody, including his party which is now in a very important leading position in Northern Ireland, it is in the interest of everybody that we get all the parties around the Executive table sharing Government. 

He’ll also I’m sure understand that despite that activity in Ardoyne last night which contrasted I might add with the activity in the morning which was almost entirely peaceful, as I discussed with the Honorable member for Belfast North over the phone as did the Security Minister, my Honorable Friend, the truth is that that regrettable and unacceptable violence was an isolated incident compared with a marching season of around 3,000 parades which went off overwhelmingly peacefully, there have been only a handful of serious incidents.

I look to the model of Londonderry where the people of Derry got together and found a way through to have a protest in which the Orangemen were able to parade in accordance with their historic traditions, and at the same time the community felt comfortable with that. Dialogue is the way forward in all these things.

Title Northern Ireland Questions (Eddie McGrady, Secretary of State) - Parliament Channel 11.40
Interviewee Eddie McGrady, Secretary of State
Transcript Date 13/07/2005
Origin Parliament Channel
Created on 13/07/2005

Transcript Text
Media Monitoring Unit
EDDIE McGRADY
Mr. Speaker, in the last number of months, the Government’s talks with the various parties towards devolution, could the Secretary of State indicate what assurances he has given to the Democratic Unionist Party regarding the composition of the membership of the Police Board of Northern Ireland which is due for revision in the autumn, secondly what assurances he has given to Sinn Fein regarding future changes on the structure of PSNI, in view of the fact that the Patten Report Commission on policing in Northern Ireland has been well now fully implemented?

SECRETARY OF STATE

Well I don’t think it’s a question of giving any particular assurances to individual parties, it’s a question of finding the best way forward in respect of the future of the PSNI carrying into effect the recommendations of the Patten Commission which I think in respect of the Oversight Commissioner’s recent report show that some two thirds of those recommendations have been successfully carried out and implemented and that shows that the PSNI is not only making tremendous progress in normalizing the policing in Northern Ireland, and I pay tribute to the Chief Constable, but also in some respects it’s becoming a bit of an example for other parts of the world that have had conflicts. 

But I think as we move forward on the Policing Board we need to do so in a way that is sensible and I am certainly consulting with all parties including his own party which has played such an important role and continues to do so.

Title Northern Ireland Questions (Mark Durkan, Secretary of State) - Parliament Channel 11.42
Interviewee Mark Durkan, Secretary of State
Transcript Date 13/07/2005
Origin Parliament Channel
Created on 13/07/2005
Media Monitoring Unit
MARK DURKAN
Speaker, will the Secretary of State acknowledge that the model he referred to in Derry is an important and a valuable one first initiated in dialogue that was convened many years ago by John Hume as MP, brought forward by mayors of the city, but most importantly in recent years taken forward by a credible nonpartisan community interest such as the Chamber of Commerce and that’s the lesson for us all. Will the Secretary of State also demonstrate his confidence in the prospects for restoring the institutions not just the devolved institutions but all the institutions of the Agreement by indicating that temporary Direct Rule will not take long term structural and strategic decisions such as water charges, rating policy, and outcomes to the Review of Public Administration?

SECRETARY OF STATE

Well I can’t promise the latter because we need to govern, we want to see the Honorable Member and indeed Honorable Members opposite me from the Democratic Unionist Party and all those who have been elected to the Assembly actually producing circumstances in which an Executive is up and running hopefully with him as a Minister, an able Minister as he was before, and the Honorable Member for Belfast East, an able Minister as well running Northern Ireland. 

That’s what we want to see, but we’re not going to postpone decisions that are in the interests of Northern Ireland. On the situation in Londonderry, can I very much applaud his own role and that of John Hume before him, and say that I think there is a model here. The people of Derry have shown they could come together despite their historic differences through dialogue with a Parades Commission as well, now I think that should be a model for how everybody should resolve these tensions and problems and let’s hope that lesson is learned for next year too.

Title Northern Ireland Questions (David Lidington) - Parliament Channel 11.44
Interviewee David Lidington
Transcript Date 13/07/2005
Origin Parliament Channel
Created on 13/07/2005

Transcript Text
Media Monitoring Unit

DAVID LIDINGTON

Could I first ask the Secretary of State to pass on to the Chief Constable what I believe will be the sympathy and support of the entire House to those police officers who were injured in Belfast while carrying out their duties on behalf of everybody in Northern Ireland yesterday evening.

Can I ask the Secretary of State whether he believes that it would be unacceptable to have Ministers serving in a devolved Executive in Northern Ireland who refuse to recognize the authority and legitimacy of the courts and the police?

SECRETARY OF STATE

Well, in the context of the devolution of policing and criminal justice that which is something we’d like to see in future years if it’s possible, that is absolutely imperative, otherwise what is the, how credible would that devolution be and how could it possibly operate, but that is in the future. Can I very much welcome what he said about the police officers injured at Ardoyne, I think over 60 were injured a few of them seriously, and of course our sympathies go to them, I think they did a very good job in very provocative and difficult circumstances.

DAVID LIDINGTON

The Secretary of State will know that the constitution of the Provisional IRA asserts that it is the IRA Army Council that is the lawful Government of the entire island of Ireland, and does he therefore agree that part of any IRA response which we are awaiting should include a commitment to change that constitution, that statement of objectives so that we are clear that the republican movement will accept the legitimacy of the institutions that exist on both sides of the border, and if such a statement such a change is not forthcoming then we are at risk of landing up with what the leader of the Irish Labour Party has recently described as a possible weasel worded fudge?

SECRETARY OF STATE

Well, Mr. Speaker words do matter a great deal, and a weasel worded fudge if that is the description that he’s suggesting will not be acceptable. Words do matter, but actions matter even more. Now I think the people of Northern Ireland on all sides of the spectrum having experienced Castlereagh and Stormontgate and the Northern Bank robbery and the grizzly murder of Robert McCartney and all the catalogue of events that have been well documented by the Independent Monitoring Commission, punishment beatings and the rest of it, will want to know that all that activity has been shut down, that is the important thing, and if we can get into that position as I very much hope we can, then I think Northern Ireland could move forward in the way that we all want it to.

Title Northern Ireland Questions (Lady Sylvia Hermon) Parliament Channel 11.50
Interviewee Lady Sylvia Hermon
Transcript Date 13/07/2005
Origin Parliament Channel
Created on 13/07/2005
Media Monitoring Unit
LADY SYLVIA HERMON

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the Minister would just clarify what additional support the Government is prepared to give to Community Restorative Justice schemes such as the Impact Scheme in the North Down Constituency in an effort to reduce indeed eliminate, paramilitary style beatings?

SHAUN WOODWARD

I’m assured by my Honorable Friend who has responsibility for Criminal Justice that we are looking specifically at those proposals including the Honorable Lady’s own constituency and we’re taking on board very strongly her advice and we will hopefully be able to report to her very shortly.

WILLIAM McCREA

I trust that the House will not be taken in by weasel words from IRA leadership over the recent bombings in London, bearing in mind the last bomb was an IRA bomb which the IRA have never and the leadership has never condemned, but in its talks with the leadership of IRA/Sinn Fein has the Secretary of State asked them what they did with the proceeds of the Northern Bank robbery because the Justice Minister in the Irish Republic, his colleague said, that Adams and McGuinness were instrumental in organizing the robbery?

SECRETARY OF STATE

Well I note in response to the Honorable Member, I note that all parties, all parties, Sinn Fein included, have condemned outright their horror at the London atrocities. In respect to the Northern Bank robbery the investigations conducted by the PSNI and the security services are still continuing and some progress is being made in those investigations and we hope it will be successful.

Program: GMU
Date & Time: 13 July 2005 – 8.08 a.m.
Subject: Ardoyne riots

CONOR BRADFORD

Well the best hopes for a peaceful climax to the marching season were dashed last night when nationalist youths in Ardoyne turned on the police after an Orange parade had passed by. Blast bombs were thrown by republican dissidents linked to the Continuity IRA. 80 police officers were injured, one seriously. Our reporter Eta Dungan spent the evening in Ardoyne.

ETA DUNGAN

The people of the Ardoyne didn’t want this parade to pass through their area, they certainly didn’t want the serious rioting that took place there last night. As the evening sun shone it looked and felt like a peaceful protest they had held as the Orange Order passed down the Crumlin Road yesterday morning would be replicated. The parade was due to return by the Ardoyne shops at around 8 o’clock last night, by 4.30 yesterday afternoon around 20 residents from the area blocked the Crumlin Road and unveiled a banner, it read "make sectarianism history". As the protesters stood across the road, the police and Army started to take their positions.

Dozens of police landrovers parked nose to tail lined the streets, then the Army moved in and erected screens to create a secure corridor for the parade to pass through. Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly explained to the hundreds of supporters behind police lines that the protesters on the street would walk away as soon as the members of the Orange Order came into view.

Three lodges and two bands took just five minutes to pass, a few bottles were thrown over the screens, but as the Army moved out a few moments later the missiles being thrown by nationalist youths were raining down, it was soon clear that the calm of the early evening was not to be.

Water canons moved into place as a barrage of bricks, bottles and golf balls hailed down on police lines. Petrol bombs and three blast bombs soon followed and a car was set alight, stewards appeared to have lost control. Residents criticized the police reaction as heavy-handed saying the water canons had been moved in too quickly and had added fuel to an already smoldering fire. There was however immense disappointment that the situation had descended into such violence.

VOX POP 1

(Unclear) has been on this road from this morning to try as I say and maintain a peaceful vigil. We’ve done everything in our power to keep it, but …

ETA DUNGAN

Does it make you disappointed to see (unclear)?

VOX POP 1

Yes, this has become now a Drumcree, (unclear) to Drumcree all of this.

VOX POP 2

If they had have pulled out completely the way they were supposed to none of this would have happened. Now there is a feeling of disappointment that it has happened, but that disappointment has to be looked at with the anger as well, and that anger unfortunately spilled out.

ETA DUNGAN

The community had tried desperately to keep youngsters off the streets, boxing and football tournaments had been running all-day, and a disco was supposed to have kept kids occupied for the duration of the parade. Father Aidan Troy believes a small element was responsible for most of the rioting.

FATHER AIDAN TROY

A community like this is made up of different parts, and there are different parts and you can’t guarantee that every part is with the main. I would say that the vast majority of people here were working so hard to make sure this didn’t happen, and obviously there were some people that once the trigger was given they were ready for this breaking out, and that breaks my heart.

ETA DUNGAN

By half past 10 the trouble had subsided, but the remnants of three hours of rioting littered the streets. More than 60 police officers were injured as well as several members of the public.

Superintendent Gary White who was in charge of the police operation believes violence was premeditated.

GARY WHITE, SUPERINTENDENT

I think that there was an element within that community that decided they were going to attack this parade no matter what, and I’m absolutely certain that there were many, many other people within that community that has no idea that that was the intention. Many other people who worked with us throughout the day to ensure that where we could, we facilitated that peaceful protest. But clearly when you see the scale of violence here, you know that doesn’t happen by accident.

ETA DUNGAN

Despite political, religious and community calls for calm last night the residents of the Ardoyne are once again waking up to find their community hitting the headlines, and once again for all the wrong reasons.

Program: GMU
Date & Time: July 13, 2005 – 8:42 a.m.
Subject: Ardoyne riots

SEAMUS McKEE

Do you accept that however damaging the violence which broke out, in terms of injuries to so many police officers and there were civilians hurt too, that there were events earlier in the day to which a positive contribution was made, not just by the Orange Order but also by Sinn Fein and the managed protests there were?

NIGEL DODDS

Well I can’t comment in detail about what Sinn Fein were doing, all I can comment on is what was happening in terms of what our own actions were in terms of community people that I was in contact with, and police as well. 

I mean what I will say is that in the midst of all the talk about Sinn Fein, tribute must be paid to the Orange Institution, their supporters, the residents of Twaddell Avenue, the community people and everybody involved in stewarding and marshaling, because there wasn’t any violence, stones, bricks, bottles or anything thrown from that side at any point during the events of Ardoyne even when the Orange parade was subject to attack, and even when there was severe provocation, and I think that needs to be put on record. 

What I will say about Sinn Fein is this, I’ve heard Alex Maskey this morning saying that only a dozen missiles and so on were thrown, then water canon was used, there were scores and scores and scores of missiles thrown towards the Orange parade, I watched it. I was trying to get people up the road along with others, and it is deplorable in my view, whatever Sinn Fein say they were doing, whatever others may say they were doing, that this morning Sinn Fein are not prepared to come out and condemn the vicious violence towards the police and towards innocent people and the use of blast bombs which clearly were aimed at killing people.

SEAMUS McKEE

Well he made the point were it not for the managed protests that they helped organized earlier, the violence would have been much, much worse?

NIGEL DODDS

Can I make this point Seamus about the earlier protest in the morning, because again I was there on the ground along with others watching what was happening, because an enormous amount of work had gone in on the unionist and loyalist side to make sure there wasn’t any violence, and again that morning there wasn’t anything at all of any difficulty as far as the Orange, unionist or loyalist side was concerned. But I have to say that what happened on the morning of the Twelfth in Ardoyne was an illegal act. 

People came out in breach of the Parades Commission determination for illegal protest on the side of the road, they occupied the road, it may have remained peaceful but it was illegal, and I was worried then that the stage had been set for a scaling up of things so that as the day wore on there could be real violence at night, and unfortunately that happened. 

Now it is deeply regrettable and disappointing that it should have happened, but I think that what we have to do in this is to (unclear) that this is just the same old story, that somehow everyone has lost in this. Clearly the community has lost in North Belfast, but it needs to be put on record that on the 12th of July parade last night, as in the Tour of the North parade, that this violence was pre-organized and pre-planned by republicans, there was no involvement on the unionist or loyalist side, therefore it is not the same old story.

SEAMUS McKEE

You criticize them and yet in East Belfast we have a UVF group which fires a volley of shots, that reads out a statement of lethal intent, and residents in Ardoyne and people elsewhere might ask where was the instant unionist condemnation of that?

NIGEL DODDS

Well let me make it absolutely clear, because I for one representing North Belfast, have been very clear in my condemnation of violence and attacks, on whomsoever they are perpetrated and where illegality comes from, there is absolutely no question of that.

SEAMUS McKEE

You condemn what happened with that UVF group?

NIGEL DODDS

… what we’re finding though Seamus, what we’re finding continually is this, that what we hear from Sinn Fein spokesmen are selective condemnations not prepared this morning to condemn the use of blast bombs against police and innocent people including journalists. 

Now what does that say to the unionist community? Well we talk about the wider political process, we talk about a forthcoming IRA statement, if people like Sinn Fein are not even prepared to come out and condemn these vicious attacks, not just on Orange brethren, but on police and others, in the most callous and calculated way, what faith can anyone put in statements from the IRA or being asked to trust the good intentions or credibility of Sinn Fein/IRA spokesmen, I just don’t think that these people are living in the real world …

SEAMUS McKEE

What are you saying specifically about what the UVF did in East Belfast …?

NIGEL DODDS

Well I think that whatever the UVF did in East Belfast or anywhere else for that matter …

SEAMUS McKEE

… are you condemning it?

NIGEL DODDS

… illegality needs to be condemned, forthright, absolutely yes, and the difference between me and Alex Maskey is this, that I am prepared to make that very clear whether or not it’s UVF, UDA, IRA or whatever, but he is not prepared to do that as far as the IRA, he’s prepared to condemn everybody else, but he is not prepared to lay the blame where it needs to be laid. 

But I want to pay tribute to all those involved in North Belfast on the unionist and loyalist side, over recent events, who have used their considerable influence to ensure that there wasn’t violence on the loyalist side and we’ve heard this talk this morning about hotheads and things getting out of hand, we have that problem on the loyalist and unionist side as well, and yet it was well managed and any violence was prevented (unclear) republican side.

Program: GMU
Date & Time: July 13, 2005 – 8.19 a.m.
Subject: Ardoyne riots/parades

CONOR BRADFORD

The unionist leader Sir Reg Empey says the Ardoyne riot shows the parades issue must be settled now. He’s calling on the Secretary of State to intervene, so as he puts it the issue of cultural rights can be resolved once and for all before further damage or loss of life occurs.

Sir Reg, is now the time for the Orangemen to take the moral high ground and start dialogue?

SIR REG EMPEY

Well in some cases they do, but the problem that I’m trying to raise up the agenda is the fact that in a range of these local disputes they are handled differently, there are some that are resolved through dialogue and there are others that aren’t. Without getting into the minutiae of what happened last night in Ardoyne, the point I am trying to make is that for summer after summer we have these disputes, we have some of them that are settled and others that aren’t. 

And we end up with 60 or 80 police officers injured, images of Northern Ireland going right across the world that show that this community is not settled. And my point is, since I became leader of this party, was to raise this issue up the agenda, because people are asleep at the wheel on this issue. The Government set up the Parades Commission in the hope that that would resolve, but the Parades Commission hasn’t resolved it, the Parades Commission does not enjoy the confidence, certainly of the unionist community. 

And I think that there has to be an overall settlement at the highest possible level as to how we are going to manage the issue of cultural rights and that in my opinion is the only way we can avoid having these conversations year after year.

CONOR BRADFORD

Well it’s easy to say that, but if Orangemen demand to march where they marched down yesterday for instance, and the Ardoyne residents make the reaction they obviously make, one wonders where the resolution can possibly be?

SIR REG EMPEY

Well, you see the reason why we have this problem is without, I say I don’t want to get into the minutiae of Ardoyne, but we’re talking about a main thoroughfare here, we’re not talking about winding through streets of hostile residents, we’re talking about a main road that where people pass, a relatively small number of people pass, not through a republican area but pass by an area which is republican. 

Now, in any civilized society we ought to be able to manage that. If we talk about people being able to exercise their rights, a lot of loyalists feel that what they are being asked to do in effect, it seeks Sinn Fein’s permission to exercise their cultural rights in certain areas, because they regard many of the residents groups that there were set up as Sinn Fein fronts, from which they were, and I mean, I heard Alex Maskey’s hand wringing there on your program, it’s only last week that Gerry Adams said that he wasn’t going to ask stewards and former prisoners or anything to do anything in Ardoyne because he didn’t want them to get into trouble and so on.

CONOR BRADFORD

Well we are getting into the minutiae of Ardoyne here, I mean just as a courtesy face-to-face dialogue is that too much to ask?

SIR REG EMPEY

There was face-to-face dialog over Whiterock, there was face-to-face dialogue over the Londonderry parade, but that didn’t stop problems at either of them. so the point I am making to you is, that these local issues, there are so many pressures and people are using it as a political football locally, but we don’t have an overarching mechanism for dealing with it. 

For instance, when we had negotiations over North/South issues, we arrived at an overall, an accommodation as to how that was to be managed, and I am simply saying, let’s try and apply the same principle to this issue of cultural rights.

CONOR BRADFORD

Just a final point, it’s always billed as an honest expression of Protestant culture, and yet here you get a situation in another part of the city, (unclear) Park, bonfires there, £2500 worth of council funding, out march five hooded UVF men and fire off volleys?

SIR REG EMPEY

Well that’s outrageous as well, and I mean the point is there are wrongs on both sides in these contentious issues and I’m not denying that, and people shouldn’t do that, exploitation of the situation for political purposes and it’s wrong and I condemn it. I’m simply saying that while these things are happening, they’re happening because the issue isn’t settled, people are using these disputes for their own local issue, local purposes to try and gain control locally, it’s about control in many cases, and I’m simply saying to you Conor, that this issue needs to be raised up the agenda, the Secretary of State cannot simply sit back and do nothing about it.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Daily Ireland leads with the claim by the Continuity IRA that its members were behind the blast bomb attack on PSNI during rioting in Ardoyne on the Twelfth night. Irish News and News Letter both lead with the tragic deaths of a mother and child in Carryduff. The nationals continue to be dominated with last week's bombings in London. 

Parades

Dissident republicans have been blamed by the PSNI and mainstream republicans for orchestrating blast and petrol bomb attacks in Derry and Ardoyne during the Twelfth. Irish News Ps 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & Editorial P10, News Letter Ps 4 & 5, Irish Times Ps 1 & 8, Times Ps 1 & 26, Irish Star Ps 1 & 15, Daily Mail P45, Sun P19, Mirror P15, Daily Ireland Ps 4 & 5.

The Continuity IRA has admitted its members were behind the blast bomb attack on the PSNI in Ardoyne. Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Daily Ireland a senior representative of dissident republicans in Belfast also claimed that its members were armed. Daily Ireland Ps 1 & 3. In its Editorial P14 Daily Ireland says that CIRA's actions did nothing to protect or defend the people of Ardoyne. 

Secretary of State Peter Hain has condemned the Ardoyne violence as unacceptable and said that dialogue is the only way forward. Speaking during Question Time in the Commons yesterday he said that the marching season had passed off "overwhelmingly peacefully". Irish News P11, News Letter P8.

The firing of impact rounds - the replacement for baton rounds - by police prevented dissident republicans from turning the Twelfth night into a bloodbath. News Letter Ps 1, 4 & 5. In its Editorial P8 the News Letter says that police responded to extremely testing circumstances in the best traditions of policing and did a sterling job. 

The Police Ombudsman's Office has launched an investigation after the PSNI confirmed that 22 plastic bullets were fired at civilians during disturbances in North Belfast on Tuesday. Daily Ireland P3.

Sinn Fein yesterday angrily rejected unionist claims that serious rioting in North Belfast was pre-planned with the party insisting it had tried to calm tensions. Irish News P6.

Unionists have condemned the latest violence in North Belfast with the Orange Order demanding a ban on all future nationalist protests. Irish News P6, News Letter P5. 

As communities reflect on the aftermath of events in Ardoyne, Tommy Cheevers, North and West Belfast Parades and Cultural Forum, and Holy Cross Priest, Father Aidan Troy give their views on Tuesday's events to the Irish News. Irish News P7.

Police said that 52 petrol bombs were thrown and 19 people arrested during 10 hours of sporadic trouble in Londonderry on July 12th. Irish News Ps 8 & 9, News Letter P6, Irish Star P15.

15 bomb warnings threatened Loyal Order celebrations across Northern Ireland yesterday, one targeting the 60,000 people at the Sham Fight in Scarva. News Letter P7.
 

July 15, 2005

Dialog Needed Over Orange Marches, Says Adams
07/15/05 13:57 EST

By the Irish-American Information Service

Dialogue is needed to ensure the violence surrounding an Orange Order parade in north Belfast is not repeated, Gerry Adams has said. 

The Sinn Fein leader held talks with Irish premier Bertie Ahern in Dublin to discuss the NI political situation. 

There was the need to ensure the marching season continued "as peaceful as possible", said Mr Adams. 

He said he remained hopeful the IRA would respond positively to his call to embrace a strictly political path. 

Adams said he and Ahern had spoken about the situation following the rioting in Ardoyne on Tuesday. 

"There was a very dangerous situation there, and in Dunloy and in Derry and it was managed not least because we did a lot of advance work, certainly in north Belfast and in Derry," he said. 

"Relatively speaking, we got off very lightly despite the fact that the Orangemen won't talk... and because of the decision the Parades Commission took." 

He added: "No-one was killed in Ardoyne - even though there was obviously the potential for a terrible disaster in that area - so I consider that to be a big plus." 

There was a need for the Orange Order and North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds to engage in talks with residents' groups, said Mr Adams. 

Last month, Ahern said the British and Irish governments were hoping for a statement from the IRA before August. 

However, at that time he told the Irish parliament he had no definitive date. 

The IRA is expected to respond positively to Mr Adams' call for it to pursue its aims through purely political and democratic activity. 

In relation to his appeal to the IRA, he said: "I only made my appeal in April. Let's give time to these people to sort out this matter. I have stayed away from speculating about what time it will take, obviously the focus has to be on the type of positive outcome I have appealed for." 

Secretary of State Peter Hain had "made a mistake" over the re-arrest of Shankill bomber Sean Kelly who should be released from prison, said the Sinn Fein leader. 

July 17, 2005

Program: Politics Show
Date & Time: July 17, 2005 – 12.35 p.m.
Subject Parade violence and political progress

JIM FITZPATRICK

Peter Hain, let’s just talk about events this week, in Ardoyne for instance there were 50 petrol bombs thrown, nine blast bombs by people the police said were intending to kill, more than 100 people injured, both police and civilians, yet your Security Minister said that you had a very successful parading day, how does he reach that conclusion?

PETER HAIN

I noticed the Belfast Telegraph said much the same yesterday, the point is that that kind of Ardoyne violence at night, in the night, was totally unacceptable, cannot be tolerated, I know that responsibility has been claimed by one of the dissident groups, Continuity IRA, whatever the truth of that is, we’ve got to stamp it out, and we will do so. But when you look at the overall day including the morning in Ardoyne, I remember talking to Nigel Dodds from the DUP afterwards and he was very satisfied by the way that things had gone, or you look at what happened in Londonderry, where the people of Derry found a way of bridging the divide and having a parade that satisfied everybody, where there was a problem later on the day, if you look at what happened in Drumcree, you look right across the picture, the parading day and the highlights of the parading season on the 12th of July is unrecognizable compared with 5, 10 years ago, let alone 20 or 30 years ago, I think that’s the point we’re making.

JIM FITZPATRICK

What about the role of politicians, perhaps say Gerry Adams or Martin McGuinness?

PETER HAIN

Well they were concerned about it beforehand and they discussed it with me, and I think it’s very important that we move beyond, as it were, a detailed assessment of every incident on every occasion, and the role of individuals in it and say, what is the future? The future must be where that sort of thing doesn’t happen in Ardoyne and in which the 3,000 parades that go across Northern Ireland over the season, overwhelmingly peaceful and not really giving offense to either side or in any circumstances (unclear) that’s got to be the norm.

JIM FITZPATRICK

Is the Orange Order doing enough on this issue?

PETER HAIN

Everybody is not doing enough. If you look at what happened in Londonderry there you found, as I say, people of Derry, their representatives on both communities coming together. We’ve got to make sure how we actually transpose that model throughout Northern Ireland so that dialogue becomes the basis for settling disputes and for agreeing a consensus in which the Orange Order can parade in their traditional cultural way, but at the same time local communities can be sure that they’re not threatened, that they’re not intimidated and that they are able to give respect rather than to feel that something is being pulled on them. So let’s try and learn from the experience in Derry and see whether we can apply it elsewhere, including situations like Ardoyne.

JIM FITZPATRICK

Well just talking about Ardoyne, I know you don’t want to get bogged down on specifics, but if you consider that Gerry Adams’ intervention didn’t seem to stop the trouble, we’ve had as you’ve mentioned the Continuity IRA admitting some involvement there, how worrying is that development, that dissident republicans are taking hold of what was once a Provisional IRA stronghold?

PETER HAIN

Well I’m still waiting a detailed report of what happened in the evening and I’ll no doubt get that. I was able to observe what happened in the morning and there I saw Gerry Adams and Gerry Kelly playing a very responsible role and in which the police were satisfied, the Orange parade organizers were satisfied, and the republicans who were protesting peacefully were satisfied, and the evening was a different matter.

JIM FITZPATRICK

Are you satisfied that the Provisional IRA ceasefire is intact?

PETER HAIN

Well the IMC, the Independent Monitoring Commission has deliberated on that and told us the answer. No it’s not intact, that there is still paramilitary activity and criminality being committed by the Provisional IRA and that is why we want to see a momentous and definitive statement by the IRA in due course and as important, not just the words, but the actions which must follow. 

There’s a consensus right across Northern Ireland politics, talking to the DUP, the Ulster Unionist leader, the SDLP, the Alliance Party, Sinn Fein itself, that we’ve got to get a democratic peaceful route forward for Northern Ireland politics and everybody understands that actions are now as important as words although the words themselves will be closely scrutinized to see whether they are indeed the momentous shift that has been promised or whether they fall short of that.

JIM FITZPATRICK

Now you said you wanted to get a statement in due course, one or two months ago when you were last on the Politics Show, you said you believed an IRA statement was imminent, so how worrying is it that the timeframe seems to have shifted?

PETER HAIN

I think that statement imminent was a little out of context, either on my part or your part, I’m not sure Jim, but I do think that it’s important that when it happens it should happen sooner rather than later because we’ve waiting for it for quite a while, but I would rather see a statement that was a definitive, momentous statement, rather than one which fell short of that. 

And let me just say this, we have come scores of miles over the last seven years since the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. We need now to go the extra mile and when we look at terrorist atrocities across the world, whether it’s in Turkey or Baghdad or whether it’s in London, we in Northern Ireland now look at those awful atrocities and think, well they’re nothing to do with us anymore, so we’ve come a massive, we’ve come scores of miles, now we need to go the extra mile, and we need to do so sooner rather than later.

But we need to do so in a credible way so that everybody, particularly the unionists who’ve got good cause for skepticism after what happened in the lead up to Christmas when negotiations reached a promising point and then we had the Northern Bank robbery, particularly unionists, and I agree with them, will want to know, with the IMC verifying this, that the action has been closed down.

JIM FITZPATRICK

Well indeed and one reason for skepticism might also be the fact that you suspended the license of Sean Kelly, what does that say about the intentions of the IRA as a whole?

PETER HAIN

Well, obviously that was a tough decision, it was a decision that I had to take, there was no alternative, but I hope it will be a one-off. I hope that that situation can be resolved and it will be a one-off, so that we can now be confident that the Provisional IRA and the whole of republicanism has decided, as Gerry Adams back in April called for, that there’s now a democratic, an exclusively peaceful path for republican politics in which it can take its place with honor alongside all the other political strands in Northern Ireland and pursue its objectives honorably and not dishonorably through paramilitary activity and through criminality.

JIM FITZPATRICK

How confident are you that a statement will be delivered and that actions will follow that will satisfy all concerned?

PETER HAIN

Well a statement has been promised, so I’m pretty certain it will be delivered, we’ll have to wait and see what it says. An important point thereafter is that we actually get a closing down of activity on the ground, right across the communities, that is what people are expecting from the IRA. 

They are expecting that sort of activity which the IMC report showed, the punishment beatings, the targeting, the intelligence gathering, let alone the capacity or intent to let off bombs or shoot bullets, that all of that activity is in the past and that we can see republicanism and in particular Sinn Fein providing leadership, as I think its leaders are ready to do. 

I think this is a time for leadership from everybody, it’s a time for leadership from republicans and Sinn Fein in particular, it’s a time for leadership from the DUP, the Ulster Unionists, the Alliance Party, the SDLP, because really we’ve had enough prevarication, we’ve had enough posturing and posing, we need leadership to get this extra mile of peace entrenched so that we can move on to power-sharing and shared governance and Northern Ireland can have a bright new future. That’s what I’m aiming for, and really the clock is ticking on this, we’ve had a period of prosperity and stability and democracy ...

JIM FITZPATRICK

If the clock is ticking, how long are you giving it?

PETER HAIN

Well, as long as it’s needed to get what we need. What we need is a credible statement followed by verifiable closing down of activity, that’s what we need. I am hopeful that we can achieve that, but there’s a lot of work to do, a lot of courage and determination and leadership to be shown on all sides, if we can get that then I think we will see a closing of this chapter and the extra mile successfully traveled.