A SERVING British soldier has been charged with rape in the occupied six Counties of the North of Ireland.
With many thanks to: The Irish News for the original story
Follow these links to find out more: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248956863_’Drunken_Tans’_Representations_of_Sex_and_Violence_in_the_Anglo-Irish_War_1919-21
ONE of the most successful Irish albums of all time is to be performed by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra next year.
Follow this link to find out more: https://youtu.be/gwuuTHPPzg0
The orchestra will present A Woman’s Heart Orchestrated in Dublin’s National Concert Hall in February. A Woman’s Heart was a collection of 12 songs performed by six female Irish artists and was released in 1992. The album,
which sold a million copies worldwide, took its name from Only a Woman’s Heart, a song composed and sung by Eleanor McEvoy, pictured, performed as a duet with Mary Black.
With many thanks to: The Irish News for the original story
A MAN charged over the discovery of a car bomb under a high ranking police officer’s car in Belfast has been released on bail by the Special Criminal Court.
IRA accused Paul Casey (49) was previously arrested by members of the Special Detective Unit (SDU) as part of a cross-border investigation. Casey, of Carton Court, Ballymun, Dublin is charged with IRA membership on August 20th, 2019. His co-accused, Robert O’Leary (41) with an address at Clancy Road, Finglas, is also charged with the same offence and was granted bail on August 26th by the three-judge non-jury court.
Casey was granted bail subject to a number of conditions including a ban on travelling to the North of Ireland. Both men were arrested in August by members of the Special Detective Unit in relation to an investigation into a bomb being placed under a serving RUC/PSNI officer’s vehicle at Shandon Park Glof Club on June 1st. The device was declared to be a “viable improvised explosive device”. The bomb was discovered a short distance from the RUC/PSNI headquarters and dissident republican group, the New IRA, claimed responsibility for the attack at the time.
With many thanks to: The Irish News for the original story
SIX DUP MPs last night voted with the British government to see off a Labour Party motion to force the publication of Universal Credit briefing papers.
Labour had been attempting to push the government into releasing its analysis of the impact of Universal Credit. The party had wanted to access to information showning the effect on claimants’ income and debt levels.
There had been speculation that the DUP resentatives in the House of Commons would vote with Labour in a bid to show the Conservative party they were serious (but got cold feet) about voting against the government over Brexit.
There had been Tory concerns that the party could begin to obstruct Theresa May in parliament because of Brexit objections.
But the motion was defeated by 299 votes to 279 after four hours of debate.
With many thanks to: The Irish News for the original story.
It is understood he was later transferred to Maghaberry Prison. Originally from Tandragee, Co Armagh, he was jailed for eight years in April 2014 after pleading guilty to two charges of possessing explosive substances and possession of ammunition with intent.
The 44-year-old took part in a Republican Sinn Féin-organised commeration at Edentubber in Co Louth last weekend, during which he delivered an oration. In March this year Mackie was placed in ‘solatairey confinement’ at Maghaberry Goal after a dispute with other republican inmates with prison staff inside Maghaberry.
His solicitor Fearhal Shiels said his client intends to fight his detention. “He is strenuously denies having breached any conditions of his license and his return to custody shall be vigorously challenged through the courts,” he said.
Republican Sinn Féin President Does Dalton (pictured above), described Mackle’s detention as “Internment”. “Gabriel Mackie is being interned for no other reason than his adherence to his republican beliefs,” he said. A spokesman for the Department of Justice (DoJ) said: “We do not comment on individual cases. “Requests to revoke a license are independently reviewed by a Parole Commissioner, who will submit a recommendation to revoke/not revoke the license to the Department of Justice.”
With many thanks to: The Irish News for the original story.
A third of DLA claimants have had their pay stopped due to a new benefits system
DLA PIP Welfare Reform
A CHARITY has raised concerns over the high number of claimants who have had their Disability Living Allowance (DLA) stopped in Northern Ireland after after being reassessed for the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
More than a third of the 21,000 DLA recipients who have made an application for the new benefit were told they were ‘disallowed’ by the end of July.
The charity Advice NI said this was considerably higher than the 27 per cent ‘disallowance’ rate in Britain.
The figures were obtained by the BBC Spotlight programme.
The PIPs payments are made to help people aged 16 to 64 to help them cope with the extra costs they face due to ill health or disability.
The Department for Communities in the north told BBC NI the process was still in “very early days” with the majority of around 125,000 claimants still to be reassessed.
But Advice NI chief Bob Stronge described the number of people stripped of their benefits as ‘significant’ and called for an urgent review of the assessments.
“Advisers are already seeing increased demands on advice services following the introduction of PIP, so much so that PIP enquiries now represent over half of all social security enquiries dealt with by the independent advice sector,” he said.
Northern Ireland has one of the highest rates of DLA claims and the criteria for PIP payments are much more stringent.
Previously, if someone was considered to be “virtually unable to walk”, and therefore eligible, they have to prove they were unable to walk more than 50 metres. Under PIP, that was dropped to 20 metres, excluding more than 420,000 people across the UK.
With many thanks to: The Irish News for the original story.
Loughinisland A legal challenge by two retired police officers to a damning Police Ombudsman’s report on the Loughinisland massacre will be heard by the end of the year.
A High Court judge yesterday insisted Raymond White and Thomas Hawthorne’s bid to judicially review the report into the 1994 atrocity will proceed in December “come what may”.
Mr Justice McCloskey also pledged to clear a backlog of litigation surrounding so-called legacy cases from the Troubles.
He said: “They have become too long in the tooth by some measure, and the court will proactively ensure that all of those proceedings are processed with expedition and efficiency.”
Mr White and Mr Hawthorne’s case involves claims there was no legal power to publish the ombudsman findings, which should instead be quashed.
UVF gunmen opened fire at the Heights Bar in Loughinisland, Co Down as their victims were watching a World Cup match.
The six men who died were Adrian Rogan (34), Malcolm Jenkinson (53), Barney Green (87), Daniel McCreanor (59), Patrick O’Hare (35) and Eamon Byrne (39).
In June last year the Police Ombudsman, Dr Michael Maguire, said collusion was a significant feature in the murders and identified “catastrophic failings” in the investigation.
But Mr White, a former senior Special Branch officer and a representative of the Northern Ireland Retired Police Officers’ Association, and Mr Hawthorne, a retired chief superintendent and former sub-divisional commander in the area, are challenging the legality of the document.
They contend that the ombudsman had no right to reach his determination.
The Loughinisland report should only have been released if it recommended prosecutions or disciplinary action, according to their case.
Ian Knox cartoon 7/11/17: The ‘No Stone Unturned’ documentary goes on general release this Friday
In court yesterday lawyers were offered a choice of dates next month for the hearing, with Mr Justice McCloskey stressing he will list it himself if they cannot reach agreement.
Solicitor Niall Murphy, representing the Loughinisland families, last night welcomed the court’s “clear expression that it will proceed with expedition and move to hear this case urgently”.
It is due to be heard in the wake of a major documentary which refers to the findings of the ombudsman’s report and makes fresh allegations around the actions of state agencies around the attack.
The film Loughinisland: No Stone Unturned also names several people suspected of involvement in the mass shooting.
Earlier this week Sinn Féin MLA Emma Rogan, whose father Adrian was killed in the attack, strongly criticised the PSNI response to the documentary.
With many thanks to: The Irish News for the original story.
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