EXAMINER IRISH NEWS

Defiant Michelle to fight FINA claims

Michelle De Bruin: She is "stunned'' and called the tampering suggestion ''startling and extraordinary''.

by Evelyn Ring. - Dublin
TRIPLE OLYMPIC champion Michelle De Bruin came out fighting yesterday, response to the most serious drugs-linked threat to her glittering swimming career.

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Opposition to demand inquiry into how files went missing

Papers may include information on abuses of exchange information

by Liam O'Neill - Political Editor
TAOISEACH BERTIE AHERN, is to be urged, in the Dáil this morning, to order an inquiry into how over 100 Department of Finance files required by the Moriarty Tribunal, which is investigating the finances of Charles Haughey and Michael Lowry, have gone missing.
The missing files relate to exchange controls and some cover the period, in the 1960s, when Mr. Haughey was Minister for Finance.
Yesterday the number of files involved was put at 142, with portions of another 17 unaccounted for, but by last night these figures had been reduced.
The number of files where all parts were not located was said to be 139, with 12 others where certain parts could not be found. Five relate to when Mr. Haughey was Finance Minister
Dissatisfied with explanations from Finance Minister, Charlie McCreevy, Opposition parties are to demand the Taoiseach ensures all the available information is made public immediately.
Last night Minister McCreevy denied there was any question of obstructing the Tribunal and said the task of trying to trace the files would continue.
In January, the Moriarty Tribunal served an Order on the Department and the Central Bank requiring files on exchange controls between 1954 and 1993.
The file register identified 713 files as covered by the Order but a thorough search left 142 files missing and portions of another 17 unlocated.
The Minister said the vast bulk of the missing files were registered before 1970 and of these a majority were originally registered before 1960.
The possibility that some files might have been amalgamated, without this being recorded, is still being investigated, he said.
Mr. McCreevy emphasised there was no question of seeking, in any way, to obstruct the Tribunal or to deny them asses to the files.
Last night the Fine Gael spokesman on Finance, Mr. Michael Noonan, said it was very serious when a Department of State, particularly the Department of Finance, got an Order of discovery from a Tribunal and found so many files missing.
He told the Dáil a Sunday newspaper story, on March 1, had linked the order of discovery from the Tribunal with the intention to investigate whether Mr. Haughey, as Finance Minister, or any of his friends, could have benefited from advance knowledge of a devaluation of sterling, in November 1967, by buying foreign currency before the devaluation and selling it after the devaluation at a profit of 14%.
Any person buying foreign currency, in 1967, needed to lodge an application under the existing exchange controls, said Mr. Noonan. Copies of the application would be on file the Central Bank or the Department of Finance.
"Against this background, it is not sufficient for the Minister to dismiss today's revelations as merely covering dusty 30-year-old files of irrelevant antiquity," he added. The Minister should say how many of the missing files dated from 1967 and in particular from the last quarter of that year.
Mr. Noonan said he must point out that since publication of the story Mr. Haughey forcibly denied any impropriety on his part in respect of this matter.
Calling on the Minister to provide a full explanation, he said that it was known for three months the files were missing and Mr. McCreevy should have informed the Tribunal or the Dáil.
According to Government figures 10 premises currently or previously occupied by the Department were searched, as well as two warehouses, one at Newmarket, Co. Clare and one in Finglas.

Army on alert as Ahern urges GRA to return to talks

Gardaí told forget about39% rise, urged to consider 7%

by Liam O'Neill and Brian Carroll
TAOISEACH, Bertie Ahern, yesterday delivered the blunt warning to gardaí they had no chance of achieving a 39% pay rise.
As thousands of rank-and-file gardaí prepared to stage a mass protest in support of their demand by calling in on "sick leave" tomorrow, the Taoiseach appealed to the GRA to return to the negotiating table to discuss further the "justifiable and fair offer of 7%" which was on the table.
The Army has been put on standby as a precautionary measure.
The Taoiseach urged those who negotiated for the gardaí, through bodies he had long respected, to continue those negotiations and "not talk about figures of 39% which will not be conceded this Friday, next Friday or any other Friday".
The Taoiseach said he did not believe the way for the gardaí to pursue an industrial relations matter was to engage in what would "allegedly happen tomorrow."
The Government would do everything it could to ensure that operational difficulties did not arise tomorrow, he said.
"I remain hopeful that there will not be any difficulties and that the responsible members of the Garda will not engage in action that I do not believe is justified", Mr. Ahern said.
Meetings between the Minister for Justice and the GRA have failed to halt plans for unofficial strike action tomorrow.
Both the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, and Minister for Justice John O'Donoghue have joined the Taoiseach in dismissing as completely unrealistic the demands for an pay rise of 29%.
The Government has warned that any capitulation to the garda pay demands could spark a revolt among other public sector workers and bring down the Programme for Competitiveness at Work.
The GRA has refused to return to negotiations with the Department of Justice, dismissing their seven percent offer as derogatory. It is believed only an offer of between 10 and 12% would entice the negotiating team back into talks.
With tempers rising and gardaí being accused of facilitating a national day of crime, GRA spokesman, PJ Stone, defended his group's actions, saying they had been left with no alternative but to protest at the Government's continuing failure to meet their demands.
The Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, met with Department of Justice officials yesterday to discuss contingency arrangements if the unofficial strike goes ahead.
Details of these contingency plans were not released late last night but Department officials insisted that border security, and cash escorts would not be affected by the industrial action. All officers above the rank of Sergeant have told to report for duty, and all leave has been cancelled, as the country prepares for the first-ever strike by gardaí.

Three top residences at a snip for million-plus

Pouldrew House at Kilmeaden, Co Waterford, on 45 acres and with its own private lake, dates back to 1814 and is expected to fetch over £1·8 million

by Tommy Barker
MILLION-POUND plus houses are like that boat that never seems to come in or that bus you've waited, waited and waited some more for.
Nothing decent to see for ages, then a pick of three comes hustling along over the horizon all at the same time.
Dear and all as they are, not one of the buyers of a choice of three top homes new to the property market this week will be worrying too much about the impact of the recent Peter Bacon report on Irish house prices. They'll even have to pay the unchanged 9% stamp duty for houses valued over £500,000, and that will help swell Government coffers to the tune of £400,000 for the exceptional trio.
At price of £1·2m for a Limerick stud farm and large period home Ballyneale, through £1·5m for a large Kinsale Co. Cork home built just five years ago and on upwards to a Waterford country home with its own private lake and 45 acres of land for over £1·8m, well, let's be frank about it — even your average Lotto win won't be of much help in acquiring any one of these dream retreats.
Top of the crop is the wonderful Co. Waterford country pile Pouldrew House. One of those pads that will equally appeal to overseas buyers as to home-fed Celtic Tigers, it has 45 acres of land to roam freely about as a sort of economic reserve, as well as a 12 acre lake fed by the River Dawn with its own cascading weir.
Dating back to 1814 and with as much space inside as ten common or garden grant-sized homes, it is just eight miles out of Waterford city at Kilmeaden. Its 13,000 sq. ft. of house is being marketed on behalf of its Singaporean owner, the alternative medical practitioner Dr M Jan by auctioneer Michael Daniels & Co. in Ireland and abroad.
"With the current dearth of prime country property and Ireland's current status in international circles as one of the places to live, we are expecting a high level of interest from overseas," commented Michael Daniels.
Coming into the sales fray as country property auctioneers moan about the lack of supply for the well-heeled house hunters (see, the worry isn't all for first time buyers) is the Ballingarry Co. Limerick Georgian residence and stud farm Ballyneale House. It is being sold for its American owners, and is on 200 acres of prime land, is ten miles from Adare, 16 from Limerick city and is to sell by public auction with Hamilton Osborne King on May 26.
Set on 'just' one acre, but by the sea at Ardbrack in Kinsale Co. Cork, a five year old house of 5,500 sq. ft. with, in descending order, five reception room, a four-car garage but just three bedrooms (but also three bathrooms) is also contained in the just-published 'Irish Country Houses' Hamilton Osborne King catalogue.
Again being sold for overseas owner, 'Sea House' carries a cool £1·5m price tag which, if it achieves anything close to it will forge a new county residential record - even for pricey Kinsale.
It was built to appease plush US tastes with lots of marble, on a site of an older house bought for about £160,000, and started the Kinsale trend of buying already decent properties and blowing them away to create extravagant new mansions, prompting the jibe that Kinsale is a town of knockers.

Transfer of trial to Dublin refused by Court

AN application for the transfer to Dublin of a Circuit Criminal Court trial in Cork, on the basis the accused could not be expected to get a fair hearing, was turned down by a judge in the High Court in Dublin yesterday.
But Mr Justice Hugh Geoghegan reserved judgment on an application to have Section 32 of the Court and Court Officers Act, 1995, declared unconstitutional.
This section permits a judge of the Circuit Court to transfer a case to another court if, on application, he is satisfied it would be manifestly unjust to try the accused locally.
Mr Barry White SC said this Section of the Act also stated that the Circuit Court judge's decision to transfer or otherwise was binding and final.
But to introduce a section into an Act which was both binding and unappealable was clearly unconstitutional and flew in the face of Article 34.3.4.
The Oireachtas, he argued, may prescribe by law the procedures for an appeal, but it may not preclude an appeal under the Constitution.
Mr White was appearing for David Todd of St Michael's Road, Farranree, Cork, who, he said, was due to face trial on indictment in Cork Circuit Court on a number of offences, from manslaughter down, in connection with a road traffic incident in Cork on March 17, 1997, in which two young people, Trevor O'Connell and Stephen Kirby, died.
He was applying to the Court to have his client's case transferred to Dublin on the basis that he could not get a fair trial in Cork because of the "extraordinary and unprecedented" publicity surrounding the events which were the subject of his trial.
Mr White said this pre-trial publicity would prejudice the opportunity of his client getting a fair trial before a jury in Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
Mr Justice Geoghegan, turning down the transfer application, said there was no doubt the case had attracted enormous publicity in Cork.
In this instance, Judge Anthony G. Murphy, the Circuit Court judge, had been asked to transfer the case from Cork on account of the adverse publicity.
But the Cork judge had turned down the request and had given his reasons for so doing.
Mr Justice Geoghegan said Judge Murphy's decision was a very reasoned one in which he explained, after examining the jury panel, that the jurors likely to be called would not be from the same area of Cork as the two victims.
Mr Justice Geoghegan said he would direct that the trial judge concerned should ensure, to the best of his ability, or as far as permitted, that the jury would not consist of people from the area of Cork from which the victims had come.

An Post chief says quality must be the top priority

by Sean Steele
AN POST will be able to track every single letter posted in the State thanks to an electronic tagging system it is planning to install.
It's all part of a drive to increase efficiency within the postal system, as it prepares for competition.
"The aim of this is that we will be able to follow any letter from beginning to its destination," said An Post chairman, Stephen O'Connor. "In that way we will be able to pinpoint where there is a delay and we will be able to solve it."
This new technology, had been brought in from Germany and was part of a drive to ensure a 90% efficiency rate in services as part of its plan to improve quality, the chairman added.
The emphasis on quality and greater accountability was vital to be able to retain the market share in the face of increasing competition said Mr O'Connor.
By 2003 about a quarter of An Post's business, now worth over £65 million, will be open to outside competition.
In terms of service quality, Ireland's postal service was amongst the best in Europe, said Mr O'Connor.
"We are a very people orientated service and unlike elsewhere, we deliver to your door. In many other countries in the EU they only deliver to central post boxes, and don't go near your house."
Ireland's postal system was also cheaper than most of our EU partners said John Hynes, chief executive. Most postal companies were increasing charges, but An Post had reduced its standard postal rate from 32 pence to 30 pence. In Germany it now cost 48 pence to send a letter.
An Post hadn't increased its charges for eight years and wouldn't be seeking any more increases before 2000 he said.
Last year An Post had record profits of £14 million, although its operating margins are still low, according to the company's annual report. An Post increased its turnover to £369 million in 1997, an increase of £38 million from 1996.
However, in a cautionary note Mr. Hynes said that after-tax profits of £6·3 million represented just 1·7% of turnover: "An Post's operating margins remain far too low to withstand the extent and scale of competition beginning to sweep through European postal markets."
An Post's most serious challenge will be to cut costs explained Mr. Hynes. This would not be achieved by large-scale redundancies, but through improved efficiency, greater use of technology and where needed, voluntary redundancies.
At present the company was consulting with the unions on how to achieve this and would be outlined in Partnership 2000.
At present all divisions of An Post are profitable and as a result the company would not be increasing its prices between now and 2000 said Mr, Hynes,
However, An Post's Internet company, Ireland on Line, lost money. However it increased its advertising revenue and the number of subscribers doubled from 20,000 to 40,000.

Former Provisional IRA activist turned informer gives evidence'

A LOUTH farmer, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy, was at an IRA Revolutionary Council meeting in 1983 which was also attended by current Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, Vice-President Pat Doherty and their chief negotiator Martin McGuinness, the convicted murderer and former IRA activist turned informer, Sean O'Callaghan, told the High Court yesterday.
Also present were Danny Morrison, Joe Keohane, Martin Ferris, John Noonan, Tommy Devereaux and P McDonald, Mr O'Callaghan said.
He also said he was present at two meetings of the IRA General Headquarters staff held between late 1984 and 1985. GHQ was the section responsible for running the IRA and only very senior IRA persons would secure a position on the GHQ staff, he said.
He had attended the GHQ meetings as the Officer Commanding the IRA's Southern Command. He named a number of people who were also present and said these had particular areas of responsibility. These people were: Kevin McKenna, IRA Chief of Staff; Pat Doherty, Adjutant General; Martin McGuinness; Tom Murphy; Seamus Twomey, Director of Intelligence; John Deery, Director of Finance; Owen Coogan, England Department; Kieran Conway, Director of Research; Gabriel Cleary, Director of Engineering Department and Danny Morrison, Director of Publicity.
Tom Murphy was the Officer Commanding the IRA's Northern Command, Mr O' Callaghan said. He said there was a "funny moment" between Mr Murphy and Mr Pat Doherty at one of those meetings: Mr Doherty had asked Mr Murphy how were they going to win the war.
Mr O'Callaghan said Mr Murphy had replied: "Bomb them to the conference table and then booby trap the table." He said Mr Doherty had asked: "But what about the Sinn Féin delegation?"
He said Mr Murphy had replied: "We never tell people where we're putting our booby traps." This was in February/(
March 1985, Mr O'Callaghan said.
Asked could he identify Mr Murphy, he pointed to the plaintiff, Thomas Murphy, who was sitting in the packed public gallery of the court.
Mr O'Callaghan was giving evidence on the opening day of a libel action taken by Mr Thomas Murphy, a farmer, of Ballybinaby, Hackballscross, Co Louth against Times Newspapers Limited over an article published in the Sunday Times on June 30, 1985.
Mr Murphy claims he was libelled in the article which dealt with an IRA campaign to bomb seaside resorts in Britain. A paragraph in the article stated: "In Ireland itself the planning of mainland campaigns is surrounded now by a more tightly knit security. The IRA's army council last February appointed a farmer in the Republic, called "Slab" Murphy (which is not his real name) to be its operations commander for the whole of Northern Ireland. He has no convictions for terrorist activities and this, plus the fact that he is on the other side of the border, makes him a security headache hard to cure."
In evidence yesterday, Mr Murphy said he was known as Slab Murphy and, when he read the article on June 30, 1985, he understood it to refer to him. Mr Murphy gave only limited evidence yesterday and is to resume his evidence at a later stage of the trial.
The trial opened before Mrs Justice McGuinness and a jury yesterday and is to resume on Tuesday when Mr O'Callaghan is due to continue his evidence.
Answering Mr Paul Gallagher SC, for Times Newspapers, Mr O'Callaghan said he was born in Tralee in 1954. He joined the Provisional IRA in 1970 when he was 15 and remained in it until October 1975. He was in the IRA in April 1972 and working on explosives in a shed at the back of his parents' house when there was an accidental explosion. He was jailed for six months.
After his release, he became a full-time IRA person. Until May 1974, he was in Co Tyrone. He moved to Co Fermanagh on the instructions of the Adjutant General.
He resigned from the IRA in October 1975 and went to England until 1979 when he returned to Co Kerry. In August 1979, he rejoined the IRA and stayed in it until 1985. He then went to England and later Holland and afterwards he returned to England.
When he went back to England in 1985, he met the English police, with the consent of the Irish police. He was asked to go on a debriefing session in Europe which he did, with the express authority of the Irish police.
When he went back to England, he knew the RUC wanted to question him. In November 1988, he went into Tunbridge Wells police station and said he wanted to confess to the murder of a detective inspector in Omagh. Two RUC officers went over and he was brought to Northern Ireland where he made a detailed statement.
Mr O'Callaghan said he was prosecuted for the offences. At Belfast Crown Court in May 1990, he pleaded guilty to two murders in 1974 — those of an UDR woman member during a rocket and mortar attack at Clogher, Co Tyrone and of a detective inspector in Omagh. He also confessed to 54 other charges of attempted murder, possession of explosives and hijacking.
He was given two life sentences and a total of 549 years in prison. He spent time in prisons in the North, six months in English prisons and later time in the North again. He was released in December 1996, having been in custody for eight years. He got 50% remission and then the Queen's prerogative was invoked and his sentence was reduced to 16 years.
Mr O'Callaghan said he had spent two years in solitary confinement in different prisons. There was no window in the cell and the light was on all the time.
While in prison, the situation always was that he would have liked to do everything to damage the capability of the IRA to murder and to that end would have helped the authorities in any way he could. He did so.
While he had joined the IRA at 15, by the time he was 20 he had concluded he was wrong. It took him four years to decide if he should do anything about it. He believed being in the IRA was wrong and that awful things had happened.
Following his period in solitary confinement, he wrote a lot, including most of a novel, a couple of collections of poetry and newspaper articles. He wrote for the Sunday Times. Since leaving prison, he had written articles on the IRA and their views. He had written a book due to be published shortly. He had been involved with peace and human rights groups. He spent a lot of time trying to lay the basis for something decent and that work went on all the time.
Mr O'Callaghan said that since his release he had lived in England. He had visited the North. There was no particular reason why he had not visited the South except he had advice from people he trusted, not security people, that there might be a possibility his life might be in danger.
The day before his release from prison he was approached by the RUC who ran a protection programme. He refused to have anything to do with that programme so he was on his own. He had made his own security arrangements.
Mr O'Callaghan said he had no difficulty admitting he was an informer. Documented history proved the IRA had killed over 100 people they might have regarded as informers so there was no reason why they might not want to do the same to him. He had security concerns about giving evidence.
He had received a large advance on his book and the Sunday Times had provided him with accommodation in which he had lived on the strict understanding that the financial part was a loan that he would repay. He had no bank account and references and it was extremely difficult doing the things most people took for granted, such as renting a place to live.
Much of the money from the book would go to peace and human rights groups. He was involved in a project of producing a video for children North and South in which three ex-loyalist and three ex-republican terrorists, without lecturing, were saying what happened when they joined such organisations.
When he rejoined the IRA in 1979, he had told gardaí he wished to do so in order to work against the IRA and had done so in whatever respect he thought appropriate.
Mr O'Callaghan went into considerable detail on his activities with the IRA: he was involved in organising training camps and trained people with the new weaponry then becoming available. He was involved with the IRA on both sides of the border.
He said that from August 1975 he was working directly for the IRA's GHQ Staff and was probably beginning to play a minor role in general IRA strategy.
He knew in April 1975 he was certainly going to leave the IRA and did leave in October 1975, he said. He had had a romantic idea of it all and had no understanding of unionists as a group of people. When he was in Co Tyrone he came to understand that most local IRA people on the ground would prefer to kill a local part time soldier or policeman than an Army person. It was "a squalid war", he said.
He said he was beginning to see there was no possible way the British government could have left the North, and taken their Army with them, at any stage. He said people living next door hated each other and killing made the situation worse.
Mr O'Callaghan said he had decided he could damage the IRA most by rejoining it and working with the Irish authorities. He was on the command staff of the IRA in Kerry. He said he gave information on IRA activities over the next few years including information which led to the arrest of the gun-running ship, the Marita Ann.
He said Mr Martin Ferris had been Officer Commanding the IRA's Southern Command until he was arrested in connection with the Marita Ann seizure. Mr O'Callaghan said he succeeded Mr Ferris to that position.
He said he made it his business to travel into every single area of IRA activity. From 1978/79 the IRA leadership had begun to move in a general Marxist direction. A 12-member IRA executive, elected in 1970, had allegiance to Rory Brady and Daithí O´ Conaill and there were moves to find a new way forward.
Mr O'Callaghan said the IRA Revolutionary Council (RC) was set up to bring together republicans to formulate the direction of the movement. He was at one full meeting of the RC in June or July 1983, held near Charlestown in Co Mayo. The RC was a "think tank" with a floating membership which would be acting at all times under the orders and direction of the IRA's seven member ruling Army Council.
He named 10 people whom he said were present at that RC meeting, including Mr Thomas Murphy. There were also others present. He said Mr Murphy was from North Louth and identified him in court.
He could not say what Mr Murphy's position was regarding the RC at that time but he was there representing South Armagh and that meant he had to be a figure of some importance in that area, Mr O'Callaghan said. Mr Murphy was not at the second RC meeting he had attended.
Mr O'Callaghan said he was also present at IRA GHQ meetings. He said the IRA's Army Council appoints a Chief of Staff and that person in turn appoints the GHQ staff. Those people met fairly regularly. He had attended a number of GHQ meetings as OC of the IRA's Southern Command between October 1984 and July 1985.
He said Mr Tom Murphy was present at two of those meetings and named others whom he said were also present. The two meetings were held in Co Mayo and in a house in Co Kildare.
The Tom Murphy referred to was the same Tom Murphy who had attended the RC meeting. He said Mr Murphy was the OC of the IRA's Northern Command.
He said if there was an area of the Northern Command in danger of splitting up or where internal differences existed, then Martin McGuinness would have overseen Mr Murphy. In operational terms, Mr Murphy was the OC of the Northern Command, he said.
He said Mr Murphy made clear his area was the best area in IRA terms.
Mr O'Callaghan said he was OC of the IRA's Southern Command until July or August 1985. He was also a member of Sinn Féin's National Executive and was elected to the local council in Tralee. He stood down from both positions and left Ireland in November that year.

'Priest's abuse leads to mandatory reporting call

Fr Ivan Payne: Allegations in 1981.

by Declan Colley
THE conviction of Fr Ivan Payne on sex abuse charges on Tuesday highlights the need for mandatory reporting of child abuse, according to the ISPCC.
Their comments come as the Archbishop of Dublin admitted the priest was allowed to continue his ministry after allegations were made against him in 1981, but only after examination by a consultant psychiatrist. ISPCC Chief Executive, Cian O´ Tighearnaigh, last night said that in cases such as this, one person "cannot be allowed to act as God", deciding if a suspected offender should be allowed continue in a ministry.
"This is not the first time that the opinion of a consultant psychiatrist has been taken as the sole arbiter in cases like this; many years after Fr Brendan Smyth was first accused, it emerged he had got a clean bill of health from a consultant psychiatrist and was allowed continue in his ministry, with terrible consequences," he said.
Mr O´ Tighearnaigh added that cases of this nature simply shouted out that there needed to be proper case reporting, case investigation and case management, involving all the statutory authorities, including the appropriate health board and the Gardaí.
"It is just not good enough for the opinion of one psychiatrist to determine the future of tens of children, and, in some cases, hundreds of children. If there is a suspicion, then it has to be put an end to as soon as possible and that means all cases have to be mandatorily reported to the relevant authorities.
"A decision has to be made on the basis of the full jigsaw, rather than just a single piece of that jigsaw," the ISPCC chief executive said.
Archbishop Desmond Connell said that the first complaint of child sexual abuse against Fr Payne was made to the diocese in November 1981.
"No other such complaint was made against Fr Payne until 1995 and the diocese was not aware of any other complaint until 1995," he said.
His statement also revealed that, in December 1981, Fr Payne was referred to a consultant psychiatrist. Based on the psychiatric report at the end of the assessment, the diocese considered that Fr Payne could continue in ministry.
"The same psychiatrist saw Fr Payne in 1991 and 1994 to review the situation, on which occasions he confirmed his earlier report," Archbishop Connell said.
He added that, in 1995, as a further precaution, Fr Payne was referred to a specialist institute for a residential assessment.
"As a result of the clinical conclusions of that assessment, it was decided that Fr Payne should withdraw from ministry. Thereafter, as is now well known, additional complaints came to light and the Garda investigation commenced," the Archbishop said.
He added that his immediate concern now was for those who had suffered abuse. He said he would meet with each of the abused people and would assist the parishes in which Fr Payne served "in whatever way most meets their needs."

Paisley keeps his counsel as all about him applaud deal

Ian Paisley: broadside against the south

by Katherine Butler - Brussels
EVEN Ian Paisley could not bring himself to stage one of his notorious outbursts yesterday, as leading members of the European Parliament and Commission queued up to lavish praise on the architects of the Northern Ireland peace deal.
Anxious civil servants fretted all afternoon anticipating the worst.
Would he produce a huge banner screaming "Ulster Says No"? Would he stage a walkout, or bellow that they were all "Anti-Christs" and have to be manhandled to the door by the Italian ushers as happened when the Pope visited Strasbourg years ago.
In the end, he sat impassively in the debating chamber of the edifice which symbolises European reconciliation, as Mo Mowlam the Northern Secretary talked about nobody getting everything they wanted, but everyone being a winner, and David Andrews said age old rivalries were being transcended.
He took notes as John Hume spoke about how the EU's philosophy had been the inspiration for peace, how it was the finest example of conflict resolution in history and how the people of Northern Ireland were now about to work together in their common interest. He did not applaud Mr Hume like everyone else, nor did he budge as MEP after MEP stood up to praise the deal, some such as Nuala Ahern the Wicklow Green deputy getting so carried away that she had to have her microphone unplugged mid-flow by the Parliament President Jose Maria Gil Robles.
When he finally rose to his feet Mr Paisley was disappointingly predictable. He railed against that part of the deal which would see "unreformed terrorists" on the streets of Belfast within 24 months. He could not resist a broadside against the government of the "South of Ireland". And he bellowed that when the terrorists came out it would not be after members of the European Parliament they would come, but his own long suffering constituents, the "real voice of Ulster".
But curiously he forgot to reject the EU's peace fund money, or its structural fund millions, or top-up for the money from the International Fund for Ireland, a total of £1·3 billion over six years, or indeed its decision to exempt Northern Ireland from the British beef ban.
Mo Mowlam had earlier praised Brussels leaders for their support when it was neither popular nor fashionable. The best thing was not the money itself, she said, but the fact that it brought arch enemies together around the table at grassroots level. Even when the talks were going nowhere, Sinn Féin and DUP councillors could be found sitting around the same table.
But for some reason the Ballymena MEP made no mention of the money, or all those times when he, like the local DUP councillors forced to work with their rivals, had to stop shouting in Brussels or Strasbourg, and cooperate with John Hume to nail down this EU beef premium or that industrial investment decision for the benefit of constituents back home on both sides of the fence.

£25m fund will facilitate investment in developing companies in the west

by Ray Ryan -Agriculture Correspondent
A FUND to promote and encourage investment and enterprise in the Western Region is to be set up by the Government.
Minister of State for Rural Development Noel Davern, who announced the move, said it would be administered by the Western Development Commission.
Exchequer funding of up to £25m will be provided on the basis of £2m in the current year and £5m in each of the years 1999 and 2000. A review of the operation of the measure will commence in late 1999.
Mr Davern said the Western Investment Fund will operate as a funding mechanism to facilitate investment in developing companies in the west in support of the Commission's function of promoting and encouraging investment by public and private sectors.
It will be an additional complementary resource and will provide funding geared to the enterprise environment of the area and facilitate a co-(
ordinated approach to accessing State aids and supports.
It will also improve the equity base of developing companies and make them more attractive for investment by commercial interests and State agencies, and attract private sector investment into high risk ventures.
Minister Davern said the fund will provide funding in the form of long term loans and equity for investment in a small number of strategically important investment, in business start-up and growth orientated small and medium enterprises and in community based developments aimed at encouraging enterprise establishment.
The Government has also decided to give urgent priority to the establishment of the Western Development Commission on a statutory basis.

Motorists could need permits to enter Galway city

by Declan Varley
CARS travelling into Galway city in the next few decades may have to get a special permit to allow them to cross the city boundaries if the current road traffic logjams persist in blocking key routes.
Over 44,000 cars are owned within a 20-mile radius of Galway city, a figure expected to rise by over 16,000 in the next 15 years. The consultants charged with drawing up a master plan for Galway's roads and land requirements are concerned the city will not be able to handle the increased traffic.
Addressing a joint meeting of the two local authorities this week, London-based consultant Colin Buchanan said that the restriction of car use in Galway will have to be looked at very seriously if the problem is to be overcome. He said the use of restricted access measures had been undertaken successfully in Italy with the use of hi-tech cameras which monitor car registration numbers as they enter the city.
If a permit has not been allocated for these cars, then fines are mailed to the owners.
Major road use surveys involving thousands of Galway drivers over the past year have shown that new bus stations and light rail schemes will have to be studied because the city's roads are incapable of sustaining the massive daily influx of traffic.
Serious traffic jams in Galway have become commonplace for the first time this year. Many residents and commuters are now beginning to realise the city has grown too fast.
Mr. Buchanan also highlighted the spread of education facilities in the city, saying that they have not followed the new development and that instead they are being allowed to widen their catchment areas, thus increasing the number of cars on the road during school and college terms.
Although a multi-million pound network of roads and bridges will be recommended to Galway County Council and Corporation inside the next year, they also state that major changes in lifestyle will have to be introduced in the next 15 years if the city traffic is not to be at a permanent standstill.

City awash with song as festival shops out its talent

by Caroline O'Doherty
SUPERMARKETS never sounded so good. As the 45th Cork International Choral Festival got under way yesterday, shopping centres, libraries, market squares and public plazas were soaked in a cloudburst of singing talent from some of the finest amateur choirs in the world.
Up to 5,000 choristers from all over Ireland, the UK and the rest of Europe have landed in the city to take part in this year's festival which runs until Sunday.
The hectic programme combines music for fun, music for free and music for financial reward via various competitions to be played out in City Hall. The competitions show the serious side to the festival, which this year is sponsored for the first time by Bord Gáis.
Choral connoisseurs can also get their fill from daily seminars addressed by top composers at University College Cork.
But just as much work goes into the fun element.
Visiting choirs sing for free in the most public of public places, providing a welcome distraction for shoppers, strollers and office escapees throughout the day.
At night, they give paid performances at gala concerts and on Sunday they will make church organists' dreams come true by swelling the ranks of parish choirs all over Cork.
Children have always held a special place in the festival, with youngsters from all over the country swapping classrooms for the grand City Hall venue in junior competitions. And a Composers in the Classroom initiative enables students to present their own compositions for the first time.
The scale of the festival results in an estimated £2-million boost to the local economy but festival director, John Fitzpatrick, believes its value is more than financial.
"The policy is to have the widest range of choral music presented to the highest standards but it's also an attempt to make an impact on the city in a very positive way by simply letting people who may not know music, enjoy it all the same."