Murdered Real IRA member Alan Ryan linked to crime on both sides of border

Slain Real IRA terrorist Alan Ryan was under investigation in relation to serious crime on both sides of the border, it emerged last night. Police are linking him to incidents, including a murder, that are believed to have been organised by the Real IRA faction in Londonderry. Ryan is believed to have developed strong links with several dissident activists in the north west after his release from Portlaoise jail in the middle of the last decade. And he maintained a close relationship between his Dublin-based gang and the leadership of the Derry faction, particularly after being involved in a major row with the terrorists' 'commander' in Dublin. Ryan was thought to have used his 'muscle' to help the Derry terrorists with some of their operations. Within hours of his murder on a Dublin street, the Derry branch of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, alleged to be the political wing of the dissident group, paid tribute to Ryan on a website. ...

Northern Ireland, in case you hadn't noticed, is a weird place. Most of the time, I love its colourful oddity.

For instance, I was thrilled when I heard that Edwin Poots, our arch-creationist health minister, had fired a shotgun out of his bedroom window, to warn off intruders.

I have the most exquisite image of Mr Poots in my mind, clad in a pair of paisley-print pyjamas, buttoned right up to the neck, of course, blasting two shots into the still night air. Things like that just don't happen anywhere else. Except, perhaps, in Alabama.
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Republican figurehead Danny Morrison tells of his revulsion at atrocity and admits claims that police ignored bomb warnings were unfounded. Forty years after the horror of Bloody Friday, a one-time senior republican has described his feelings of personal shame. July 21, 1972 is remembered for the carnage of an IRA bomb blitz across Belfast in which nine people were killed and more than 100 seriously injured. Those who remember it recall a day of sheer terror and fear — one of those horrific news days that in the words of veteran journalist Robin Walsh showed “the real effects of terrorism”. A number of unionists have used the anniversary to call on the Sinn Fein leadership to tell the full story about what happened on Bloody Friday and for the PSNI to launch a new investigation, as they have pledged to do for Londonderry’s Bloody Sunday. ...

Sinn Fein has played down newspaper reports that the former leadership of the IRA could be preparing to offer an unequivocal apology to the terror group’s victims.
The party’s chairman Declan Kearney said he doubted whether reports in the Sunday Business Post had been founded on any firm investigative basis. He added that the IRA had “left the stage” seven years ago. Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness also played down reports of a fresh apology while speaking to RTE’s Miriam O’Callaghan on Saturday night. He said reconciliation was vital, but required efforts by all sides in the conflict to deal with the legacy of the past. During the live show, the Sinn Fein politician also revealed details of his private meeting with the Queen on her visit to Belfast on Wednesday. That included the acknowledging of the IRA murder of the Queen’s cousin Lord Mountbatten in 1979. ...

Sinn Fein is milking Westminster to claim £460,000 a year for its constituency offices in Northern Ireland — despite none of its MPs taking their seats.

And its TDs are breaking parliamentary rules in the Republic by paying activists out of cash claimed for travel expenses.

Sinn Fein said people voted for its abstentionist MPs and that it used the money to provide “first-class constituency services”.
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The mother of an 11-year-old boy is angry that children at a Gaelic Athletic Club football blitz at the weekend were given medals bearing the picture of a dead IRA man. The medals given to the Under-12 boys at Galbally Pearses Club in Tyrone featured Martin McCaughey. He and IRA man Dessie Grew were shot dead by the SAS in October 1990. "It was outrageous. My son was asking what the hero did," said the mother who did not want to be named. "We had no warning that the medals would be dedicated to a dead IRA man." "I think we should have at least been told what the medals would have on them and given a chance to decide whether we wanted our children to take part or not." A press officer for Tyrone Gaelic Athletic Association said: "If the mother has a comment, she should make it to Tyrone County offices, they would obviously look at it." A spokesman for the GAA's Ulster Council said: "The Ulster Council has no comment to make until we receive official notification from the individual involved." ...

A Londonderry man has claimed that republican vigilantes told him to go to anger management classes or get shot. The Republican Actions Against Drugs (RAAD) has been behind paramilitary-style shootings against those guilty of so-called "anti-social behaviour". But Hugh Brady, a community volunteer, said he was surprised by the claim. He had never heard about anyone being ordered to go on an anger management course by RAAD, he said. Mr Brady is a volunteer adviser at the Rosemount Resource Centre which acts as an intermediary between RAAD and those threatened by the group. ...

Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness was involved in authorising the IRA murder of two RUC officers in 1989, according to evidence given to the Smithwick Tribunal. Former British intelligence officer Ian Hurst - also known as Martin Ingram - claimed the murders were "authorised by Northern Command" and "Mr McGuinness was OC Northern Command". Sinn Fein said Mr McGuinness totally rejected the allegations, saying they were "more lies from an individual with a highly dubious track record". The spokesman added: "Judge Smithwick has already been critical of the quality and nature of the evidence provided to his tribunal by the British state. "This individual, who uses a variety of names including Martin Ingram, has no credibility. By his own admission he is part of a British security apparatus which played a very negative and malign role in the conflict. ...

The Orange Order has received a grant of almost £900,000 from the European Union to help address the legacy of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Communities at sectarian interfaces and border areas which suffered disproportionately during the Troubles will benefit, the organisation said. The Stepping Towards Reconciliation in Positive Engagement (Stripe) project will be based in Lurgan, Co Armagh.

Drew Nelson, chairman of the Orange Community Network, said: "The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland believes there is an imbalance of weak community infrastructure, low confidence and low levels of participation within the Protestant community, particularly
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Six men who were arrested following a dissident republican rally in Londonderry on Monday remain in police custody.

Several hundred people attended the event during which a masked man read out a statement from the Real IRA, threatening to attack police.

The arrested men were taken to Antrim police station for questioning.

The police said they kept a distance from the rally, but a security force helicopter monitored the scene.

The BBC's Ireland correspondent Mark Simpson said a small group of men lined up and marched in paramilitary style uniforms during the event, which was held at Creggan Cemetery in the city.

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The PSNI spent more than £4m on the first so-called supergrass trial here for more than 25 years. Twelve men were acquitted of all charges against them after a judge said the two main prosecution witnesses were liars and "ruthless terrorists". Details of the costs have been revealed in a letter to the justice committee at Stormont. Their trial is expected to be one of the most expensive ever held in Northern Ireland. It relied on the evidence of so-called supergrasses, Robert and Ian Stewart. Nine men involved in the UVF supergrass trial were acquitted of the murder of UDA leader Tommy English. They included the alleged former UVF leader in north Belfast Mark Haddock. Thirteen men had been charged with more than 30 offences including the murder of rival loyalist Mr English, kidnapping, and UVF membership. ...

By Eamonn McCann - Belfast Telegraph
Failings in the police investigation of the murder of Jean McConville prompted the efforts currently under way in the US courts to obtain tapes of interviews with former paramilitaries.
The suggestion is made in a submission this week by the American Civil Liberties Union to the Massachusetts District Court hearing an appeal against a ruling that some of the tapes, currently held by Boston College, should be handed over to the British authorities. The Massachusetts affiliate of the civil liberties union (ACLUM) also alleges that part of the motivation for the action has been to discredit the Sinn Fein leader, Gerry Adams. It is believed that the tapes contain allegations from former members of the Provisional IRA that Adams organised the kidnap and killing of the west Belfast housewife in December 1972. "The investigation into the abduction and death of Jean Mc Conville by the PSNI and its predecessor the RUC was, simply, a non-investigation - at least until the matter became grist for political opponents of Gerry Adams," says the ACLUM. ...

By Liam Clarke - Belfast Telegraph

The story of the Troubles can be seen as a growing understanding between the Irish and British states whose latest fruit was the Queen's visit to the Republic.

In that time Britain moved, in the Irish psyche, from an ancient enemy still to be treated with suspicion to a neighbour with shared interests.

By 1989, when Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Robert Buchanan were murdered at Jonesboro, the process was fairly advanced.

The Smithwick Tribunal in Dublin has heard that the officers died returning from an intelligence exchange with gardai where a joint operation against Thomas 'Slab' Murphy, chief of staff of the IRA, was planned. That showed progress.

Yet the fact that the officers' movements were compromised led to suspicion that some in the gardai may have helped the IRA target them. At the tribunal, three retired officers all denied involvement.
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Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson has said it would be impossible to investigate all murders from the Troubles. He said an amnesty should be considered to deal with the past. Mr Hutchinson has left his office early but will not formally resign until his successor is in place. He said that any amnesties would be conditional and that victims should be the driving force in making decisions on individual cases. "I think the key here is that the victim would have a say whether or not they might consider amnesty and that would be a conditional amnesty," he said. "We've had amnesty by many other names, when you look at the two-year release in the peace agreement, you look at the inquiries that are ongoing. ...

The man convicted of murdering two soldiers outside a military barracks in Northern Ireland must serve a minimum of 25 years in prison, a judge has ruled. Republican Brian Shivers, 46, was last month found guilty of killing British sappers Patrick Azimkar, 21, and Mark Quinsey, 23, outside the Massereene army base. The victims were ambushed by gunmen from the Real IRA at the gates of the barracks in Antrim on March 7, 2009, as they went to collect delivery pizzas. Two other soldiers and two pizza delivery drivers were injured in the gun attack. DNA on matchsticks found in the partially burnt-out Vauxhall Cavalier getaway car, used in the ambush and abandoned eight miles away, linked Shivers to the murders. ...