Petrol bombs fly again in Northern Ireland

BELFAST, Ireland, March 15th 2009(AFP) — Gangs of youths threw petrol bombs at police in Northern Ireland on Saturday after a prominent republican was among three people arrested over the murder of two British soldiers.
The troubled province's police chief, meanwhile, warned that hundreds of dissidents, whom he described as "very dangerous", were aiming to derail its fledgling peace process.
The three men, aged 21, 32 and 41, were being questioned by police over the shooting of the soldiers at Massereene Barracks in Antrim, on March 7.
According to a police source, the 41-year-old was Colin Duffy, who has distanced himself from Republican party Sinn Fein since it agreed to share power with pro-London unionists.
In the aftermath of his arrest, gangs of masked youths threw stones at police near Duffy's home in Lurgan, and petrol bombs were later thrown at vehicles belonging to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), a police spokesman said.
"Missiles including petrol bombs and stones have been thrown at police at a number of locations in Lurgan," a PSNI spokesman said, adding that no one had been injured and no petrol bombs had been thrown since around 7:00 pm (1900 GMT).
The spokesman estimated that the youths had numbered around 20, and said that a male in his late teens was arrested but later released, while a male in his early teens had also been arrested.

Colin Duffy arrested

Belfast Ireland, March 14th 2009, Eirigi spokesman Colin Duffy has been arrested by the PSNI police following a series of early morning raids across the North of Ireland.

PSNI teams in forensic suits have been searching Mr Duffy's house in a private estate in Lurgan, County Armagh.

Two other men have also been arrested in Lurgan and Bellaghy, County Derry, in connection with the 'Real IRA' attack on Massereene Army base last Saturday.

Local republican youths clashed with PSNI personnel deployed to the area.

Mr Duffy is a prominent republican in the area and has endured a lifetime of RUC/PSNI arrests and harassment.

Mr Duffy was released from prison in 1996 when a conviction for murder was quashed by the Appeal Court following three years of false imprisonment,

The prosecution case collapsed when it was revealled that their key witness, screened from view during the trial, was a loyalist gunrunner.

He was the most prominent client of human rights lawyer, Rosemary
Nelson, who was assassinated in 1999 by a unionist death squad. The
RUC/PSNI is widely believed to have colluded in the killing, currently the subject of a public inquiry.

The arrest of Mr Duffy is being viewed as part of a potential 'securocrat' backlash against republican hardliners in the wake of last week's attacks, in which two British soldiers and a PSNI man was killed.

A massive operation is currently underway by British forces in the north Armagh area. A total of six men have so far been arrested in the raids. and further disturbances are expected.

Meanwhile, the political group connected to the 'Real IRA' has warned that "if the conflict in Ireland is to end once and for all, so too must the illegal British claim to sovereignty over the Six Counties.

source: Irish Republican News

Sinn Fein runs risks in handling Northern Ireland violence

By Carmel Crimmins - Analysis
BELFAST (Reuters) -March 12th 2009, Republicans in Northern Ireland's power-sharing administration have reassured their Protestant partners by denouncing guerrilla killings this week, but they risk losing support from hard-line nationalist backers.
Sinn Fein, political ally of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), won plaudits from Protestants who want the province to stay part of the United Kingdom by branding pro-Irish splinter groups as "traitors" for their attacks on security forces.
Two British soldiers were shot dead last weekend and a policeman was killed on Monday in attacks by dissident minority republican guerrillas who seek to reunite Ireland by military means.
The comments by Martin McGuinness, once a senior IRA commander fighting British soldiers in the 1970s and now Deputy First Minister of the province, have angered some nationalist hardliners.
"Sinn Fein and the British forces would want to be careful that they don't inflame the situation by their response," said Jim McAllister, who was a Sinn Fein councilor during the 1980s and 1990s but is no longer a member of the party.
"I think Martin McGuinness has gone some way toward inflaming it."
The attacks by the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA, the deadliest in Northern Ireland in over a decade, come after a number of botched attempts to kill members of the security forces.
McGuinness's comments were designed to reassure Sinn Fein's sometimes reluctant Protestant partners in a power-sharing assembly that they are serious about a 1998 peace deal, which ended the IRA's decades long campaign against British rule.
But in his use of language - the word "traitor" is one of the worst insults in the pro-Irish nationalist camp - McGuinness was also sending a signal to hardliners that he will freeze them out to protect the path Sinn Fein has taken.
Former foes have applauded him and his words have helped cool temperatures in Protestant areas, reducing the threat of tit-for-tat violence which once gripped Belfast.
"When we heard Martin McGuinness speak the other day he spoke from the heart," said Frankie Gallagher, of the Ulster Political Research Group, an organization close to the Ulster Defense Association (UDA), a pro-British paramilitary group.
"Once that leadership was shown, I think it dissipated a lot of anger within our communities."
TESTING TIMES
The Continuity IRA and the Real IRA have warned their operations will continue until Northern Ireland is no longer part of the United Kingdom.
More violence could yet trigger retaliation from Protestant groups, potentially putting Sinn Fein under pressure from Catholic communities who traditionally look to it for protection rather than the police.
For now, that is a remote possibility.
The Continuity IRA and the Real IRA have a tiny support base and most nationalists support Sinn Fein's stance.
But beyond the television cameras, the party will have to put its tough words into action by encouraging supporters to give information to the police -- a practice still considered taboo in some areas.
During three decades of bloodshed between minority Irish Republicans and pro-British Protestants, the police were viewed by many Catholics as a partisan extension of British rule.
Passing tips to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), as the police was then known, was a dangerous business and so-called "informers" or "traitors" risked execution by the IRA.
The RUC was disbanded and relaunched as the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2001 in a bid to provide a more impartial force.
Sinn Fein's nationalist credentials mean that it is the only party that can encourage Catholics to talk and isolate the extremists.
"If in a year's time, the threat of dissidents has been contained then people will say that Sinn Fein faced a test and they came through," said Richard English, a professor of politics at Queens University in Belfast.
"The new Northern Ireland might turn out to be something which is more secure than people had feared."
(Additional reporting by Jonathan Saul)
(Editing by Richard Balmforth)

Cork and overseas drivers battle for success in West Cork Rally

By Martin Walsh Saturday March 14th, 2009

CLONAKILTY becomes the centre of attention for motorsport this weekend with the Quality Hotels West Cork Rally that, essentially, is a battle between Cork and overseas drivers. Double winner, Donie O'Sullivan heads the entry for the sixteen-stage event.

The Cullen-born driver will pilot a Proton Satria S2000 car that gave a great performance on the opening stages of Rally Ireland where it was driven by former Production World champion, Niall McShea. O’Sullivan, who won the Clonakilty-based event last year onboard a McKinstry Subaru WRC, also won the 2006 rally in a Ford Focus WRC.

He will be co-driven by Killarney’s Paul Nagle, who partnered Kris Meeke to victory in the Rally Internacional de Curitiba in Brazil, the second round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Welshman, John Dalton in the nimble Darrian, is seeded at number two and should conditions remain dry over the two days, he will pose a real threat and victory for the Lampeter man would not be surprising.

Liam McCarthy spearheads the West Cork challenge in his Toyota Corolla WRC. The Dunmanway driver has led the Clonakilty based event on numerous occasions; however, so far, victory has eluded him. There is little doubt that 2005 was the closest he came to a maiden victory. He led another West Cork driver, Denis Cronin, but lost out on the closing stages. McCarthy won the Fastnet Rally last October and that should act as a confidence booster. British driver, Jim Harrison, who made a return to the sport on the recent Nenagh Rally, will drive a McKinstry prepared Subaru WRC.

Londoner, Harvey Bell will call the notes for the Macclesfield driver. Like McCarthy, Harrison is also a Fastnet winner and there’s no doubt he has the potential to win the Clonakilty event. Former West Cork winner, Denis Cronin, is another possible winner.

His recent third place in the Mitchelstown based Tipperary Forest Rally will stand him in good stead. Whilst it’s the same car that he drove to victory in 2005, the car has the benefit of newer specifications in the engine compartment. West Cork regular, Phil Collins in his Mk. 2 Ford Escort should provide the usual spectacle for the fans and is well capable of keeping his seeded position.

Much will be expected from Ballylickey’s Keith Cronin in his Mitsubishi Evo9. A winner of the opening round of the Irish Forest Championship in Mitchelstown, Cronin can be expected to match the more powerful cars on the 16-stage encounter. Last season, Group N cars performed admirably in some rounds of the Irish Tarmac series and Cronin’s talent should ensure something similar in Clonakilty. Indeed, it would not be that surprising if both Denis and Keith Cronin finished on the podium. Alan Ring (Subaru) has withdrawn his entry.

The original top ten also features Wexford’s James Stafford (Darrian) and Carrigaline’s Brian O’Mahony (Renault Clio S1600). Stafford should be very prominent, much like Dalton, while O’Mahony, who was the top two-wheel drive competitor in Mayo last week, should also figure well. LOCALS Meanwhile, Ashley Field (Darrian) is seeded at eleven ahead of a plethora of Ford Escorts driven by Kevin O’Donoghue, Adrian Hetherington, Manus Kelly, John O’Donnell, Fergus O’Meara, local Ballineen driver, Fintan Canty, Ed O’Callaghan and Leonard Downey.

Those drivers should provide plenty of entertainment. Other Cork drivers in the top thirty are Lissarda’s Philip Cross (Escort Cosworth), who is seeded at 24 and Niall Guinevan (Ovens) in a Subaru, who will occupy the number 27 berth. One of the most popular features of the event is the class battles involving local West Cork drivers. In Class 11, three locals, Damien McCarthy (Barryroe), David Guest (Clonakilty) and Jason McSweeney (Dunmanway) will also battle for honours in the Honda series where Youghal’s Jason Ryan is also competing.

The Toyota Corolla trio of Lyre’s Michael McKennedy, Rossmore’s Vinny Bennett and Dunderrow’s Shaun Quin are also amongst the Class 11 entries and competition is likely to be intense. Class 13 features Ardfield’s Eoghan Calnan and Diarmuid Keohane (The Pike) both in Ford Escorts while Drimoleague’s Martin Lordan (Ford Escort), the Vauxhall Nova trio of Leap’s James Collins, Bandon’s Peter Desmond and Ray O’Sullivan from Durrus will battle in Class 9.

Elsewhere, another class with a strong local content is Class 10 with Stephen Sheehan (Coachford), Victor Beamish (Bandon), David Jennings (Clonakilty) and Jerry O’Mahony (Rosscarbery) flying the local flag. Other local entries are Bandon’s Sean O'Donovan (Subaru); Rossmore’s John Buttimer (Subaru); Dunmanway’s Ger O'Connell (Escort), Clonakilty’s Steve Roberts (Escort), Skibbereen’s Bernard O’Brien (Escort) and Innishannon’s John O’Shea (Honda). The cars leave Parc Ferme (Model Village) on Saturday morning at 9.45am.

The first stage, Ballinascarthy, is scheduled to begin at 10.23am. Servicing at the Darrara Agricultural College complex follows throughout the day at 11.43am; 1.43pm; 3.28pm and 5.30pm. A stage at Clogagh completes the opening pair of stages that are repeated after service.

The afternoon stages are at Ring and Dunworley. On Sunday, the opening stage Sam’s Cross (S.S. 9) is at 10.54am. This is followed by a stage at Rossmore, both are repeated after service. Ardfield and Hayes’ Cross are the afternoon stage locations. Servicing after S.S. 10 takes place shortly after noon, the other service times are at 2.06pm and 3.45pm. The finish ramp celebrations in Clonakilty are scheduled for 5.45pm, prizegiving takes place at the Quality Hotel later in the evening.

source: The Southern Star