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9 September 1999 Edition

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Dúirt siad...

Two men went over to rescue him and they had stones thrown at them. I am very glad that they stepped in, otherwise God knows what would have happened to him. I just can't believe the attitude of that driver, leaving him in that uniform and knowing where he was leaving him.

Elizabeth Thompson, grandmother of an eleven-year-old student from St Patrick's College on the Antrim Road, after he was forced off the bus in a loyalist area and assaulted by youths, only to be saved by passers-by, who were in turn stoned

 


Suggestions have been made that a dramatic overhaul of the RUC, centering on its title, oaths, emblems and overall image, is envisaged. In fact, it would prove to be dramatic if changes of this nature were not included in the Patten proposals. The bottom line is that, for a number of reasons, the RUC is grossly imbalanced in terms of religion and indeed sex. Any review which failed to address these issues would not have been worth launching in the first place.

Irish News editorial, Friday, 3 September

 


There must be no appeasement to terrorists on the back of RUC sacrifice.

``Northern Ireland Human Rights Bureau'' spokesperson Vincent McKenna on the changes to the RUC

 


Britain's moral selectivity puts the lives of young Irish nationalists at the bottom of the barometer of human existence.

- The same Vincent McKenna, responding to a letter criticising him for moral selectivity in not expressing condolences on the deaths of three RUC men who died in an IRA landmine attack, the Irish Press, 13 September 1990


 


The Ulster Unionists, meanwhile, do not appear to have a strategy at all - just a never changing set of tactics which vary between the ``hard right'' wing of the party and the ``harder right''.

Anne Calwallader writing in Ireland On Sunday, 5 September

 


The British political and media right wing, still licking its wounds, may scent blood, and predict an embarrassing disaster for Blair's fumbling Northern Ireland policy.

Anne Cadwallader again

 


William Hague and his human surplus Andrew Hunter are like ravens circling the dying peace process. They remind me of the Cuchulainn statue in the GPO.

Tim Pat Coogan on the Tories' attitude to the peace process. Ireland On Sunday, 5 September

 


No one should underestimate the depth or seriousness of the crisis we are facing. The future of the Good Friday Agreement is at stake... The Good Friday Agreement provides the only way forward. It cannot be re-negotiated at the behest of unionism. For Sinn Féin the Agreement is the absolute bottom line.

Gerry Adams

 


This is very serious impasse and a very serious crisis. I also believe that politics never stops. We want to resolve this now. This is our chance at this point in time to resolve it. Let's not be looking at some other time down the road, let's do the business now.

Pat Doherty, Tuesday 7 September

 


It is getting to the stage where people's patience is running out. There are more loyalist parades in Newry than there ever were and their marching season gets longer each year. It is totally unacceptable.

Sinn Féin Assembly member Conor Murphy on an application by an LVF linked flute band to march in Newry on 24 September

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