26 October 2000 Edition

Apprentice Boys `hijack' Armistice Day

26 October 2000

The Lower Ormeau Concerned Community has condemned plans by the Apprentice Boys to stage a self-styled ``Remembrance parade'' along the Lower Ormeau to the Cenotaph on 11 November. The group says the parade represents a cynical attempt to hijack Armistice Day in pursuit of a sectarian agenda and has vowed to oppose it. Free article

Collusion can of worms is open

26 October 2000

The British government has opened a can of worms. Under intense international pressure, perhaps the British government had hoped that by sidestepping the call for an independent inquiry into the 1989 assassination of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane and reinstating an investigation by British police officers they could keep the lid on the truth behind British occupation of the north of Ireland. Free article

Sectarian attacks

26 October 2000

A man badly injured during a sectarian gun attack in Coleraine at 6.45am on Wednesday 25 October has been attacked by loyalists on at least two other occasions. The man, who suffered two gunshot wounds to his hip and thigh, was taken to the nearby Coleraine Hospital, where his condition was described as serious but stable. This was the third time the injured man had been targeted by loyalists. After one incident the man, in his early 30s, was intimidated out of his home. Free article

1,510 Soldiers discharged for drugs but not for murder

26 October 2000

1510 soldiers have been dismissed from the British Army for failing random drug tests since 1995, the same year as Scots Guards Wright and Fisher were convicted of the murder of Belfast teenager Peter McBride. The two guardsmen are still serving in the British Army. The figures, revealed in a reply to a parliamentary question put to Defence Secretary John Spellar by Kevin McNamara MP, have angered those campaigning for the dismissal of the two guardsmen. Free article

Then and Now: 1980 Hunger Sriker Raymond McCartney

26 October 2000

In an interview with An Phoblacht, former Republican POW and H Block hunger striker Raymond McCartney spoke of his experiences on `the Blanket' and outlined the situation in the H Blocks in the run up to the first hunger strike, which began on 27 October 1980, 20 years ago this week. Free article

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Tallaght's unexplained asthma epidemic

26 October 2000

In a small estate in Fettercairn, Tallaght, there are 42 houses. In 40 of them, there is at least one person suffering from bronchial or asthmatic trouble. The majority didn't have the trouble before they moved to the area. Free article

Clonakilty UDC protests hospital crisis

26 October 2000

At Sinn Féin's instigation, Clonakilty Urban District Council recently agreed to write a letter of protest to the Minister for Health, Mícheál Martin, the Southern Health Board and the Manager of Cork University Hospital. The local authority was expressing its concern about ``the unacceptable situation in our hospitals, in particular the Cork University Hospital, regarding bed shortages and the treatment of patients whereby they have to wait on trolleys in the casualty area sometimes for up to 18 hours before being put into wards''. Free article

Ó Caolain raises decentralisation in Dáil

26 October 2000

The issue of decentralisation was raised once again in the Dáil by Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin last week. The Cavan/Monaghan TD questioned 26-County Minister for Finance Charlie McCreevy, who revealed that a Cabinet Sub-Committee on Decentralisation has been established and is expected to make decisions by the end of 2000. Free article

Dubarry Workers blockade company

26 October 2000

Pickets were placed on the Dubarry shoe manafacturing plant in Ballinasloe, County Galway, this week, following management's continued refusal to implement a pay agreement for its lowest paid staff negotiated five years ago, a position that has now led to an all-out strike. Free article

Internment and Bloody Sunday

26 October 2000

Edward Heath, the former Conservative Prime Minister, has announced his intention to retire from political life at the next election. Free article


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