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18 June 1998 Edition

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Dúirt siad...

How can David Trimble say he is observing the spirit of the agreement when he is refusing to talk to elected representatives?

Garvaghy Road Councillor Breandán Mac Cionnaith. Friday 12 June.

 
We simply don't trust the British side, especially the Ministry of Defence, to provide the inquiry with all the evidence. They will have the massive resources of the British civil service. We must have an equally strong legal team. History will not forgive us if we allowed another disaster like Widgery.

Source close to Bloody Sunday's victims' families on concerns over the independence of the public judicial inquiry. Ireland On Sunday, 14 June.


 
The memo in effect claimed that [Edward] Kennedy had approved these two American members of the new police commission. Kennedy, however, pointedly offered no opinion on Kathleen O'Toole, the Boston police official and hand-picked British choice for the commission, who has come under intense Irish American scrutiny. There is a strongly held belief in some quarters that the British were trying to pass off the Irish American they had cultivated as a sop to the nationalist side.

Niall O'Dowd on the memo leaked from the NIO last week. Ireland On Sunday, 14 June.

 
The British government response to the latest damaging leak was to send in the RUC to investigate, which, given the fact that the leaker's intent is to preserve the current power and culture of the RUC, is like sending in the clowns to investigate wrongdoing in the circus.

Niall O'Dowd again.

 
We are in business to make profit and as such we should not be afraid to ``load'' interest rates if necessary and not work strictly within the matrix if the individual proposition warrants a higher rate.

NIB chief executive Jim Lacey in a confidential guideline urging managers not to be afraid of loading interest onto loans. Sunday Tribune, 14 June.

 
Since the Scottish and Welsh referendums, one can detect a smouldering sense of resentment among right-wing English nationalists at the temerity of these peripheral creatures, particularly the Scots, in demanding their own parliament. A recent opinion poll in which 52% of the respondents said they would vote for an independent Scotland has provoked much spluttering along familiar lines. What on earth can the world be coming to? Even if God is still in his heaven, is there a danger that he may no longer be draped in the Union Jack?

Professor Joe Lee. Sunday Tridune, 14 June.

 
They know [unionists who voted Yes] there is an honourable place for unionism in the new Ireland. Tribal unionism - the No camp - are against change, but they have to face up to the fact that change is coming.

Gerry Adams. Sunday 14 June.

 
This crap about Clinton and reputed bedroom hopping - that's not the important thing. To me, his signing of a bill, a Democratic president signing a bill put out by the Troglodytes, by the Republic's right-wing - the Welfare Reform Bill it's called - in which they tear out the safety net and endanger the most vulnerable, the children of the poor - that's obscene; that is profane; that is dirty.

American interviewer Studs Terkel on Bill Clinton. The Guardian, Monday 15 June.


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