22 July 2004 Edition
British in stolen files cover-up
22 July 2004
The British Government is attempting to suppress information relating to the theft of secret British military files from the Castleragh PSNI Barracks in East Belfast, says Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly. A breach of security at the PSNI base, which houses operatives from Britain's Military Intelligence units, has resulted in a document thought to contain the details of up to 400 republicans going missing. It is believed that the information is now in the hands of loyalist death squads. Free article
After Ardoyne: Securocrats must be reined in
22 July 2004
On Monday 12 July, in defiance of the Parades Commission's determination, the PSNI forced a crowd of Orange Order supporters, including some known unionist paramilitaries, through nationalist areas of Ardoyne, Mountainview and the Dales in North Belfast. To facilitate this banned parade, hundreds of heavily-armed British soldiers were deployed. Local residents were corralled behind a wall of steel and faced with lines of baton and riot shield wielding members of the notorious British Parachute Regiment and the PSNI. This week, Gerry Kelly spoke to An Phoblacht's LAURA FRIEL about the events of last week. Free article
Sinn Féin settles into Strasbourg
22 July 2004
Sinn Féin made history this week when its newly-elected MEPs attended their first sessions in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. In a tightly packed schedule, Bairbre de Brún (Six Counties) and Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin), familiarised themselves with their new offices in the French city, made their maiden speeches to the European Parliament, participated in a busy day of voting which saw a new President of the Parliament elected, and attended countless receptions and press gatherings. Free article
IMC report greeted with derision
22 July 2004
Dozens of republicans, including members of the families of four Belfast republicans imprisoned over the Bobby Tohill affair, staged a picket outside the Hilton Hotel in Belfast on Tuesday 20 July, as the so-called Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) released its second report. Free article
Rotten apple theory won't wash
22 July 2004
After the report of the Morris Tribunal last week, it is clear to even the most dedicated Garda apologist in the media that the old cliché of a few bad apples no longer suffices. The whole orchard is a rotten mess of unaccountable Garda officers indulging in corruption, thuggery, lies and frame-ups. Free article
Irish people want re-unification
22 July 2004
Former Irish Taoiseach Garrett Fitzgerald's view that Irish re-unification is economically unviable is typical outdated thinking that fails to stand up to scrutiny, writes Sinn Féin national chairperson MITCHEL McLAUGHLIN. Free article
Coalition lurches leftwards as McCreevy is ditched
22 July 2004
In what Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin described as a coalition "game of musical chairs", Charlie McCreevy's 27 years as a TD, covering three Ministries, Social Welfare, Tourism and Trade and most importantly, since 1997, Finance, are to end. For more than 12 years he was the battering ram against the welfare state, public ownership of resources, the rights of workers, regulation of the economy and any other slightly progressive policies you care to mention. Free article