Gerry Adams and 'the past'

Sinn Fein want to rewrite history and to eradicate the IRA's responsibility for so many murders and so much destruction.  They also seek to operate a 'factory of grievances', generating more and more investigations into the actions of others, while refusing to acknowledge the wrong-doing of leaders such as Gerry Adams.

 

Unfortunately for Sinn Fein, the truth keeps coming back to haunt them.  This morning Newton Emerson wrote in his 'look back at this week' in the Irish News:

Sinn Fein has pompously demanded that CNN refer to Gerry Adams by 'his proper title' after the American news network called him 'a former IRA paramilitary commander'.  Cue guffaws of laughter all round.  So what might have caused this unusual lapse in Sinn Fein's media judgment?  Last May, CNN screened a documentary on the Boston College tapes dispute by its international correspondent Nic Robertson, which repeated IRA commander Brendan Hughes's allegation that Mr Adams 'had control' over the murder of disappeared mother-of-10 Jean McConville.  Mr Adams refused to be interviewed for the programme.

Meanwhile Gregory Campbell, the DUP MP for East Londonderry has tabled a motion in the house of commons calling for Chief constable Matt Baggott to ensure that if soldiers are to be questioned regarding Bloody Sunday then republicans should be too.  'If there is to be an investigation now  by the police then it must also look at the role played by senior Provisional IRA personnel including Martin McGuinness in the weeks and moths prior to January 30, 1972,' he said.

Sinn Fein must not be allowed to forget the bloody history which they used to report and eulogise in their 'War News' column in Republican News.  'War News' has gone but Sinn Fein still eulogise those who perpetrated murder and mayhem during the republican terrorist campaign.

I welcome the fact that they now condemn the same actions when they are carried out by dissident republican terrorists but they are inconsistent when they continue to eulogise Provisional IRA terrorists.  The murder of a policeman is wrong today, just as the murder of a policeman or the murder of Jean McConville was wrong in the past.  Murder is always wrong.

 

Moreover, the eulogising of Provisonal IRA terrorists is an encouragement to dissident republican terrorist, who rightly point out that they are only doing what the Provos used to do.

 

It is therefore imperative that Sinn Fein are not allowed to rewrite history and that will require determination, perseverance and above all, a coherent strategy.

'On the ground'

One of the phrases that I have heard used in some circles in recent days is 'on the ground'.  And the context of its use is important.  Listening to the media and looking at FaceBook posts some people say that they are 'on the ground' and then go on to say that politicians are not 'on the ground'.

 

But what does that mean and is it true?  Well I can only speak for myself but here is how I see it.

 

I don't live and work on another planet and I am not detached from the community in North Belfast. In the course of my work I meet constituents and talk to them every day.  In the past week, along with party colleagues such as Nigel Dodds, I have met community activists, including a group of protest organisers, and tonight we attended a pan-unionist meeting involving the North & West Belfast Parades Forum and the Loyal Orders.  There are more meetings with constituents, community groups and sports organisations planned for next week.

 

We have four DUP offices in North Belfast and they are open five days a week, with people calling in and phoning in about all sorts of issues.

 

Outside of work I meet people in the constituency every day of the week, whether it be walking round Tesco doing the shopping, or having a cup of coffee in the Abbeycentre, or whatever, including the church hall and the Orange hall.  People do stop to talk and politics is often on the agenda.  I also engage with people by e-mail, my blog and FaceBook and all engagement, whether it be in the course of work or in the course of everyday life is extremely valuable.  I wish I could do more but there are only 24 hours in the day.

 

If that isn't being 'on the ground' I don't know what is and that is how I have always lived.  But just as important as being 'on the ground' is working 'on the ground'. 

 

Moreover it is not simply a matter of hearing the views of others and talking to them.  Time and time again the things that I hear, the concerns, the frustrations, the hopes, the aspirations etc are the same concerns, frustrations, hopes and aspirations that I hold myself.

 

We are all human and we all have our shortcomings but those three things really matter - being 'on the ground', working 'on the ground' and having a passion for Ulster in my heart.

I speak for myself and my party colleagues in the constituency I represent but the same is true for many other politicians.  Last month I was up in Lisburn to see community projects in the Old Warren estate and to provide support for them and it was very clear that the DUP MLAs and councillors have a high level of engagement with the loyalist community in that estate - a good example of good practice.

 

 

 

 

The rather unequal Equality Commission

Last month the Equality Commission published A Profile of the Monitored Northern Ireland Workforce (Monitoring Report No 22), which covers the year 2011. 

 

I have only just read the report but once again the most interesting figures are those for the Equality Commission itself.  This is the body that was set up many years ago to promote equality in the workplace.  So how is it faring in regard to its own workforce?

In 2011 there were 147 staff in the Equality Commission and of these 50 were Protestant, 93 were Roman Catholic and 4 were non-determined.  Setting aside the 4 non-determined, the report gives a breakdown of 65% Roman Catholic and 35% Protestant, which is certainly at odds with a representative workforce.

Back in 2006 the figure was 38% Protestant and 62% Roman Catholic, so instead of improving the balance in its workforce between 2006 and 2011, the Equality Commission has ended up with a more imbalanced workforce.  Once again the Equality Commission has fallen short of the standard it sets or others.

 

It seems that the Equality Commission's approach is 'do as I say, not do as I do'.  Perhaps it is time to rename the organisation the Inequality Commission!

More on the Donegal Daily and Belfast Daily

This series of posts started yesterday morning with the Belfast Daily 'story' that the PSNI had hired in riot squad officers from the Irish Republic.  It then moved on to the Donegal Daily Ltd, which appears to be the parent company of both the Belfast Daily and the Donegal Daily.

I have mentioned already two of the directors but a trawl on the internet reveleaded a third name, Gregory Patrick Harkin, who was secretary for one year from January to December 2011.  Obviously he was long gone before this recent 'story'.

The Donegal Daily is based at the Co-lab building of the Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT).  I came across this institution towards the end of last year as they are one of the partners in a new cross-border North-West Regional Science Park and it seems that the Donegal Daily operates from space rented from them.

 

It would be helpful if the Donegal Daily would acknowledge that they got it wrong and dangerously wrong.

In the Irish News this morning, Justice Minister David Ford confirmed that the Belfast Daily report was 'completely false'.  He then added, 'Simply because somebody posts something on the internet does not make it true.'  David Ford is right that just because something appears on the internet does not make it true.  The same is also true of the printed page.  However we do have a right to expect printed newspapers and online news sites to check their sources.  Even the BBC has learned that lesson.

Belfast Daily and their 'senior security source'

I am grateful to those who contacted me with the answer to the question, who runs the Belfast Daily website?

I have been informed that it is run by the company Donegal Daily Ltd, which also operates the Donegal Daily website.  The company is based at Tullygay, outside Letterkenny, and is run by Stephen William Maguire and Brenda O'Neill.   According to a directors website 'Stephen William Maguire is Irish and was born in 1970.'  The company was established in January 2011 and this was his first directorship.  Brenda O'Neill was born in 1967 and joined the company at the end of December 2011.

That leaves us with a second question.  Who was the 'senior security source' who provided them with the erroneous story and did they attempt to check out the information he gave them before publishing it?  Even the BBC has been reminded in recent days abotu the importance of checking cources.

I am also grateful to those who have suggested who the 'source' may have been and indeed it is quite possible that it is someone with a grievance against the PSNI.

Finally. now that their story has been refuted and is clearly untrue, what do the owners of the Donegal Daily and the Belfast Daily intend to do?  Will they publish a retraction and will they avoid in future someone who was clearly an unreliable source?

So who runs Belfast Daily?

Yesterday a news website, Belfast Daily, carried a headline report that 'The PSNI has drafted in 200 Garda oficers to bolster riot squad numbers in Northern Ireland.'  The report went on to claim that 'the deployment of Irish police specially trained in public order duties followed telephone discussions between PSNIChief Constable Matt Baggott and Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan in recent weeks.'  According to the article the information came from a 'senior security source'.

The report described the Garda officers as 'highly trained' and claimed they had been hired in because the PSNI was stretched to the limit.

 

The internet news report was then picked up and circulated widely through social media, drawing a wide range of comments.  All sorts of accusations and blame followed and fingers were pointed at various politicians as having approved the involvement of Garda officers.

 

Then later in the day the PSNI denied it and while the story is still on the Belfast Daily website it has not been reported by any of our mainstream media. 

 

Clearly it is untrue but in an already volatile situation it was utterly irresponsible for the Belfast Daily website to publish such a headline story, which is untrue.  And that raises a number of questions about the Belfast Daily.

 

They operate from an e-mail address and that is how they can be contacted but there is no office address and no name of an editor or reporter.  So who runs the Belfast Daily website?

 

Some of the reports they carry are factual and that makes their website appear credible but there can be little credibility with a website that publishes articles that are clearly untrue.  So did the Belfast Daily attempt to check out or corroborate their 'senior security source' by asking the PSNI before publishing?

 

Perhaps the person or persons behind Belfast Daily will provide some answers ... or maybe not.

Robert Burns exhibition

For those with an interest in Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet, there will be a Burns and Burnsiana Exhbition in the Linen Hall Library from 7 January to 1 February. 

 

The Linen Hall Library's Burns Collection is the largest in the world outside of his homeland of Scotland.  It was collected by Andrew Gibson, a Scot who settled in Belfast, and it was purchased for the library by public subscription in 1901 for £1,000, which was then a considerable sum of money.  Additional items were then presented to the library by Burns' great-granddaughter, Mrs Eliza Everitt.  This should be well worth seeing.

 

There will also be a talk about The Ayrshire Ploughman in the library on Friday 25 January at 1.00 by John Erskine.  He will trace the first decade of Belfast's reaction to the works of Burns and how he became part of the cultural fabric of Ulster.  The talk is free and if you are free on the day I would certainly recommend it.