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Criminal cases in
danger of dismissal

by Mary Dundon
HUNDREDS of serious crime cases are in danger of being dismissed due to under-resourcing of the State prosecution service.
In Limerick alone, several of the 30 serious crime cases on the books of State Solicitor Michael Murray are under threat because he does not have sufficient resources to prepare the files for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
A Government spokesperson acknowledged there was a problem in Limerick and other major cities, but denied the situation was nationwide.
Last night, Mr Murray said the State prosecution service outside Dublin is at breaking point, with hundreds of cases in danger of being dismissed because of major lack of resources.
His warning comes in the wake of the dismissal of a very high-profile case of alleged forgery and fraudulent conversion in Limerick this summer.
Judge Michael O'Reilly dismissed the case against Limerick financial services operator Pat Foote, because of the delay of over six months in serving the book of evidence.
While Judge O'Reilly was satisfied this was not the fault of Mr Murray, because he was extremely overworked, the Judge insisted he could not accept this shortcoming in the system as an excuse for not proceeding.
The delay in serving the book of evidence in the Foote case within the statutory period was due to the avalanche of work Mr Murray had to process between November 1997 and July 1998 — 50 garda files, including murders and drug trafficking.
"I advised the DPP last February that my workload was intolerable and that a crisis would happen within 12 months," Mr Murray said.
Similar problems are being experienced by his colleagues, particularly in the major cities outside Dublin, he said.
The latest changes in the criminal justice legislation have led to the 32 State Solicitors being snowed under with paper work, according to Mr Murray.
"The volume of work we have to process is a major concern to me because I fear the other serious crimes that I am currently processing may meet the same fate as the Pat Foote case," he said.
The cost of running the 32 State solicitors offices outside Dublin in 1996 was £1.2 million.
This compared to the £5.5 million needed to run the Free Legal Aid board offices nationwide.
A Government spokeswoman said that while they acknowledged the city of Limerick had a problem, they did not accept it was a nationwide problem outside the major cities.
A review group set up by the Attorney General to examine the State Solicitors' service nationwide will report to the Government in October and this will be forwarded to Finance Minister Charlie McGreevy.
But the Government has no plans to give emergency resources to State Solicitors to counter the risk of further serious crimes being dismissed, the spokeswoman said.

Fears grow of Provo backlash
as Real IRA refuse to disband

by Greg Harkin and Ray Ryan
FEARS are growing of a bloody Provisional IRA backlash against members of the Real IRA splinter group who refuse to disband as a deadline for the Omagh bombers to stand down passed last night.
Contrary to some reports giving the smaller organisation more time to make up their minds on a Provo ultimatum, RIRA members were ordered to contact their leaders by midnight last night.
Those failing to do so face "execution" under the Provos 'Green Book' rules. Republican sources said the Provos were determined to wipe out the hardliners despite the 14-month-old ceasefire. They pointed to the way the Provisional IRA forced the disbandment of the Irish Peoples Liberation Organisation in just three hours in 1992. Twenty suspected IPLO members were kneecapped or beaten and a leader shot dead.
There could be serious implications for the peace process if such an operation were mounted again.
There are fresh hopes the Real IRA will announce a permanent ceasefire over the next week after it emerged the Government has engaged in secret contacts with them.
The move comes as Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is warning of a major crackdown on the breakaway group unless the Real IRA declares a complete cessation of its paramilitary activities. Sources have indicated that the terrorists are being allowed "a window of opportunity" before the security forces utilise strict new anti-terrorist legislation passed by the Oireachtas last week.
It is understood Fianna Fáil's special adviser on Northern Ireland, Martin Mansergh, and Belfast priest Fr Alex Reid have made contact with leaders of the Real IRA to persuade them to declare a ceasefire.
The group has already announced a temporary halt to military operations following the Omagh bombing last month in which 29 civilians were killed.
With Unionist leader David Trimble finally agreeing to a meeting with Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, perhaps as early as tomorrow, Provo attacks will only strengthen the hand of hardline unionists.

Killarney mourns as sporting teenagers die in crash on return from holiday in Spain

by Tony Purcell and Donal Hickey
THE town of Killarney was last night trying to come to terms with the loss of two of its brightest teenage sportstars in a fatal road accident on their way back from their holidays in Spain.
Another man from Kilkenny was also fatally injured in the accident and a fourth teenager and friend of the two deceased boys from Killarney is seriously injured in hospital.
The three young lads were returning from their holidays in Spain when tragedy struck yesterday morning near Toomevara, Co Tipperary, on the main Limerick-Dublin road.
The dead were named last night as Martin Beckett (18) and Sean O'Connor (18), both of Woodlawn Road, Killarney, Co. Kerry, and Gerard Phelan (38), of Eirke, Crosspatrick, Co Kilkenny.
Tadgh Kelly (19), Augheracureen, Killarney, was seriously injured, but was said to be in a stable condition at Nenagh General Hospital.
Both Martin Beckett and Sean O'Connor were members of Killarney Athletic soccer club, and Martin was also a talented gaelic footballer, having been a member of this year's Kerry Under-21 All-Ireland winning side.
Vincent Casey, treasurer with Killarney Athletic, said the deceased were cornerstones of the club and would be a tremendous loss.
Sean had just completed his Leaving Cert and accepted a degree course in UCC and was looking forward to moving to Cork. One of a family of four, he was the son of building contractor Pat O'Connor and Mary O'Connor.
Martin Beckett, was the eldest of a family of four. A member of the Dr Crokes' club, Killarney, he played with the Kerry minors in 1996 and 97.
Dr Crokes' chairman Donie O'Leary described Martin, who worked with the Bank of Ireland in Killorglin, as a nice, unassuming young lad.
Tadhg Kelly is an employee at the Liebherr crane factory, Killarney. There was no further details of Mr Phelan last night.
The three Kerry teenagers were travelling home from Dublin Airport in a white Dahaitsu car which was involved in a head-on collision with a blue Toyota Carina car. Mr Phelan was the sole occupant of the other car.
The accident occurred on a straight stretch of road at Clonalee, about a mile on the Nenagh side of Toomevara at 11am. It was raining at the time.
Nenagh gardaí have appealed for witnesses.

Adams and Trimble meet for
historic talks twice this week

THE Northern Assembly's First Minister Ulster Unionist David Trimble and Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams will come face-to-face for talks twice this week.
They meet today for discussions called by Mr Trimble when all-party leaders will debate the political way ahead.
But a follow-up, one-on-one meeting between the men later in the week is far more important.
It will be the first time Ulster Unionist leader Mr Trimble has sat down with the republican leader for direct individual discussions.
The meeting, expected on Thursday, will take place away from the media spotlight and there will be no public handshake. Indeed, Mr Trimble said, yesterday, there would be no handshake at all.
''There is a point about hands being held out open to show they are not containing any weapons, but Mr Adams cannot do that,'' he said.
Mr Adams's hand was ''not a friendly hand,'' he added.
Mr Trimble, on BBC1's Breakfast With Frost, said there was ''no question'' of trust being placed in Sinn Féin unless it demonstrated a commitment to peace with a handover of republican guns and bombs. Mr Trimble is not relishing dealing with Mr Adams, but accepts ''some degree of contact'' in his position of First Minister is ''inevitable.''
Decommissioning IRA weapons is likely to be central to the discussions and to any speedy political progress.
Mr Trimble said the appointment last week of Sinn Féin's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness to liaise with the International Decommissioning Commission was ''very important.''
He told the programme: ''That appointment put the republican movement on a conveyor belt which will lead to actual decommissioning or it will be very clear, very quickly that they are refusing, in which case the other parties will draw the appropriate conclusions.''
With a policeman fighting for his life after being injured by a blast bomb during loyalist violence in Portadown, Co Armagh, Mr Trimble said terrorist weapons were still being used and must be given up. He will tell Mr Adams he could not enter into government with Sinn Féin unless decommissioning started.
And he told Mr Frost that the meeting of the UUP ruling executive — which on Saturday gave him backing for a meeting with Mr Adams — strongly endorsed the position there had to be decommissioning ''before we can see Sinn Féin in the shadow executive.'' Mr Trimble said he had now pushed his party so far that if he did so again he would ''fall off the edge.''
And Ulster Unionist hardliners, including four of Mr Trimble's fellow MPs, put their names to a statement expressing concern about the planned meeting with Mr Adams.
Executive member Arlene Foster issued the brief statement saying that no endorsement had either been sought or given for Mr Trimble's decision to have a bilateral meeting with Sinn Féin.
The statement, supported by MPs William Ross, Jeffrey Donaldson, Martin Smyth and Clifford Forsythe — who was not at the meeting — said: ''In fact, at the executive meeting there were various voices expressing concern about such a meeting.''
Mr Adams said he was looking forward to his meeting with Mr Trimble as ''a very important step in trying to implement'' the Northern Ireland Agreement.
He pledged: ''We can do business with anyone.
"How well we can do it is down to the type of partnership that can be forged,'' he added.
Dismissing Mr Trimble's ''rather negative'' remarks about the chances of a handshake with him, Mr Adams added: ''The issues we are trying to resolve are crucial to the wellbeing, and indeed the future, of all the people of this island.'' Speaking on RTE radio, the Sinn Féin chief conceded that decommissioning was ''a problem, of course, but we have to come to this positively.
''Problems have to be seen as matters which have to be resolved, as opposed to obstacles,'' he added.
He insisted that the decommissioning of IRA and other terrorist weapons was not a pre-condition or a prerequisite to advancing the peace process, but a part of the overall process of conflict resolution.
However, he said Sinn Féin would seek to ''use our influence'' to bring about disarmament.
Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam insisted she would not make decommissioning a timetabled pre-condition for all other parts of the Good Friday Agreement.
But she said: ''I think decommissioning has to happen.''
Ms Mowlam said: ''In relation to decommissioning, of course it has got to happen, but what you mustn't do is keep putting something up front and making it a hurdle to jump over.''
The Northern Ireland Secretary is in Boston for three days in an attempt to keep the momentum for peace going and American investment for the North in the wake of President Clinton's visit.

Appeal to people not to make
enemies of peace break will

by Tony Purcell
PRESIDENT Clinton made an impassioned plea to people in Limerick on Saturday not to let the enemies of peace to break their will.
The President and First Lady Hillary Clinton were recorded a rapturous reception by an ecstatic 40,000 crowd as they followed in the footsteps of the late President John Kennedy who visited Limerick in June 1963.
Bill Clinton's charisma and warmth, reminiscent of President Kennedy, won the hearts of the thousands of people waving the American stars and strips and Irish flags in O'Connell Street.
The huge turnout was a fitting tribute to a man who in the words of the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair and the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern did more than any other US President in history to bring peace to Northern Ireland.
He was conferred with the Freedom of Limerick by the mayor, Cllr Joe Harrington, to loud applause.
"You make us feel very much at home in Limerick,'' the President told the cheering crowds.
He thanked the people for the freedom of the city, and told the mayor that he was relieved to have the freedom of Limerick so that when he is no longer President and won't have to stay in Dublin alone, he can come back to Limerick.
"I believe at the end of another 1,000 years, Limerick and Western Ireland will still face out toward and reach out toward America. And I know America will never turn away. Three years ago in Dublin I promised the people of Ireland that as long as Ireland walks the road of peace, America will walk with you. You have more than kept your part of the deal and we will keep ours,'' stated the President to great applause.
Pleading that the Good Friday Peace Agreement should be used by all political leaders to write the future for the North, President Clinton declared: "As we mourn the losses of Omagh and the three little boys who were killed and taken from their parents' arms, remember there will be still efforts by the enemies of peace to break your will, to get you to turn back, to get you to lose faith. Don't do it.''
The President described Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's contribution to the peace process as "extraordinary'' and said that the leadership of Prime Minister Blair, Prime Minister Ahern, the leaders of the Northern Ireland parties, those who agreed that words — words, not weapons — should be used to write the future.
Mr Clinton also thanked George Mitchell and Ambassador Jean Kennedy-Smith and all the Americans who worked for the peace agreement
"Now, free of the demons of the past, you can look to the future. In less time than has elapsed since my last visit to Ireland in 1995, we all will be, like it or not, in a new century, in a new millennium. Nowhere on Earth does that new era hold more promise than here in Ireland. Nowhere does the change of the calendar correspond better to profound changes in the life of a people.
"We believe that 21st Century Ireland will be an inspiration to the rest of the world, and you can see it taking shape right here in Limerick. The University here, built in our lifetime has become a magnet for your brightest young men and women. Here, new jobs are being created, entire industries being built on knowledge alone,'' he said.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, accompanied by his partner, Celia Larkin, got a rousing reception.
He thanked the President for his "brilliant help'' for the peace agreement. He extended sympathy to the relatives of the 29th victim of the Omagh bombing.

Monsanto claims on genetic crops dismissed as dangerous fiction

by Linda McGrory
CLAIMS that genetically modified crops will end world hunger have been criticised as dangerous fiction by Ireland's leading famine relief agencies and research institutes.
In a joint statement, Third World groups and research bodies, Trócaire, Concern, Action Aid Ireland, UCC's International Famine Centre and the Development Studies Centre at Kimmage Manor denounce biotechnology giant Monsanto's recent Let the Harvest Begin campaign, which claims among other things that European consumers are selfishly denying the benefits of GM crops to the Third World. According to Tom Campbell, lecturer in development studies at Kimmage Manor, Monsanto is saying that in 49 countries huge productivity will follow from their modified foods, and this will end hunger.
Mr Campbell said the opposite was the case and that GM crops would actually worsen world hunger. "This is dangerous marketing hype. Modified crops will increase Third World dependency by killing-off traditional seed types, locking farmers into the annual purchase of seeds, herbicides and pesticides from those same companies," said Mr Campbell.
In an expansive media campaign, Monsanto is advertising regularly in many leading Sunday magazines and newspapers and on their website, claiming that the population of the world is growing so rapidly the equivalent of a China will be added to the globe every 10 years.
The St Louis-based company also says by 2030 there will be such a heavy dependency on land and soil, fertilisers, insecticides and herbicides will have to increase globally to counteract it, leaving GM methods the only way forward. Food security officer of Trócaire, Sinéad Tynan said Trócaire was asked by many activists in the Third World to speak out for them on the issue. "World hunger isn't about overall levels of food in the world, it's about who has a right to food that there is," said Ms Tynan. "There is already more than enough to feed the world's poor. Hunger is not caused by the lack of food but by the lack of access to food," she said.
In their joint statement, the Third World groups say multi-national interests are seizing control of local genetic resources and are reaping massive profits through patenting, and are playing on guilt about world hunger to get support. The say developing countries are angry that trade-related intellectual property rights work in favour of the industrialised countries.
"Monopoly rights erode national and community rights to biodiversity. Sustainable food and livelihood security in the Third World is weakened rather than strengthened as a result," they say.

US President is conferred
with city's highest honour

by Tony Purcell
PRESIDENT CLINTON followed in the footsteps of one of his childhood heroes, the late President John F. Kennedy, when he was made a Freeman of Limerick by the Mayor, Cllr. Joe Harrington.
Extending a warm welcome on behalf of the people of Limerick, Mayor Harrington told the President his efforts for peace in Ireland were widely appreciated adding that, unfortunately, not all the swords have as yet been turned into ploughshares.
"We still have some way to go in bringing about real justice and democracy. We must find ways of confronting sectarianism – not just appeasing it. We have a job of work yet to do,'' the Mayor said.
On the national and the international stage, the bomb and the bullet too often appear to be the instruments of first resort.
"Like you, Mr. President, I recently visited the town of Omagh to express solidarity with the relatives of the dead and the injured. "There I saw the devastation caused by one bomb and was truly shocked – as we were by the embassy bombings in Africa''.
And in an veiled reference to America's bombing of Afghanistan and Sudan, Mayor Harrington went on to say: "Mr. President, we all share in the grief of your people who lost loved ones in these terrible acts, and we extend our sympathy to the victims of the host nations also, as we do to the relatives of those who were later killed in the Middle East''.
The Mayor praised the President for his courageous decision to lift the embargo on food and medicine to Cuba and added: "I hope a complete lifting of the trade embargo is not far off''.
Cllr. Harrington said today we look to America, not just for examples of material progress, but we also draw inspiration in our search for social justice from the example of modern Americans like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X who believed racism should be confronted – not just appeased. "We welcome you to modern Limerick, a city that is a symbol of the new Ireland noted for urban renewal, tolerance and a willingness to learn from the mistakes of the past'', stated the Mayor.
When Limerick City Manager, Mr. Conn Murray said that the City Council had, at a meeting on August 27, agreed to confer the highest honour Limerick can bestow, the Freedom of the City, President Clinton then signed the distinguished honour roll.
President Clinton was also presented with a unique peace award by Dr. Daniel O'Hare, chairman CRI, president of Dublin City University and Prof. George Bain, president and vice-chancellor, Queen's University, Belfast on behalf of the Conference of University Rectors of Ireland for his role in the Northern peace process.
Presenting the signed parchment from the heads of the nine universities of Ireland, Dr. O'Hare described the Good Friday Peace Agreement as a "defining moment in Ireland's history''.

Wind of change blows
on Lynch memorial

by Ray Ryan
A SPIRIT of change marked the annual ceremonies in Fermoy, Co Cork, yesterday, to commemorate the life of General Liam Lynch, the War of Independence leader.
He was IRA chief of staff when he was fatally wounded by Free State troops on the slopes of the Knockmealedown Mountains in Co Tipperary seventy five years ago.
But the choice of speaker and weather combined to bring change to the commemoration normally held at Lynch's Republican Plot graveside in Kilcrumper Cemetery.
Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Commemoration Committee, Cork No. 2 and Dublin No. 2 Old IRA Brigades, the Lynch and Mullins families, and Fianna Fail.
But instead of going to Kilcrumper, the traditional parade, accompanied by the Liam Lynch Pipe Band and Castlelyons Pipe Band, went from Fitzgerald Park to the Grand Hotel.
Chairman Frank O'Flynn and the organising committee decided to hold the commemoration indoors because of the inclement weather, but it was not the only change.
Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein MP, who had been invited to deliver the oration, was unable to be present due to work pressure, and the address was given instead by party Ard Comhairle member, Martin Ferris.
He told the gathering that Sinn Fein are more determined than ever to ensure that a lasting and democratic peace settlement is achieved and firmly established.
Mr Ferris said that the spirit and letter of the Good Friday agreement must be implemented, the Assembly must meet, and the Executive must be established with due representation in Ministeries for all those with an electoral mandate.
He continued that the north-south ministerial council and implementation bodies need to be in place and working by this autumn, and progress should be made on issues of justice and equality, demilitarisation, prisoners and policing.
"Now is not the time for party politicking or point scoring for recriminations, or the placing of new obstacles to progress. The onus is on all those democratically mandated by the people of Ireland to join together in the creation of a new political dispensation.
"The Good Friday Agreement was endorsed by the electorate on both sides of the border because it contained the promise of change and the prospect of lasting peace.
"Change and peace are inextricably linked. If we lose sight of that then the efforts of those seeking to wreck the peace process will succeed", he said.
Mr Ferris said there is a political and democratic imperative to implement the Agreement, despite counter efforts by some elements.
The Tricolour flew at half mast at Kilcrumper as a mark of respect for victims of the Omagh bombing, and a minute's silence was also observed in their memory, and that of deceased Old IRA and Cumann na mBan members.
Mr Ferris also extended condolences to the family of Sean McGrath, who died as a result of injuries sustained in the Omagh bombing.

Cocaine haul could
be worth up to £64m

by Denis Lehane and Barry Roche
PRELIMINARY forensic tests on the cocaine found on the catamaran Gemeos in Kinsale Harbour on Friday indicate the drug is twice as pure as a haul found in Cork Harbour in 1996. This makes it the most valuable drugs' find in Ireland, with a street value of between £51m and £64m.
Yesterday, customs searchers found a further 20 kilogrammes of cocaine — 12kgs under the saloon and 8kgs behind a bulkhead hidden —six hours into their search of the 50ft by 20ft Spanish-registered boat. This brings the total to 320 kilograms.
A customs' spokesman said the boat was out of the water and the search would continue today because the cocaine found so far had been "very expertly hidden." He said parts of the boat would have to be dismantled.
The haul is just over half the record 610 kilograms of cocaine found on the converted fishing boat, Sea Mist, in Cork Harbour in September 1996. However, this cache was just 40% pure.
Garda Drugs Squad detective, Inspector Tony Quilter, said it was likely that the Gemeos haul was twice as valuable.
"We had a sample tested in the laboratory and that showed up at 80% pure, but, it won't be known until a full analysis of the entire amount seized just how pure it is," he said.
"The Sea Mist find was larger in size but if all the cocaine found in Kinsale turns out to be 80% pure than it is likely that this will be the most valuable. It certainly ranks as one of the biggest already."
The Garda formula for evaluating cocaine is to estimate the street value of a kilogram of 40% purity at £80,000. This was the level of purity of the Sea Mist haul and led to an estimate of £47m for the 610 kilograms found.
Using the Garda formula to assess the Gemeos haul, the 320 kilograms would be worth £51·2m. However, as the Garda figure is only an estimate and other estimates say a kilogram of 40% pure cocaine can sell for £100,000 on the streets, the Kinsale find could be worth as much as £64m.
Customs district manager, Brendan Mulcahy, who was in charge of the search of the boat, said that it was impossible to know the true value of the Gemeos discovery.
"We use the Garda formula of £80,000 per kilo of 40% proof, but, it is only an estimate," he said.
"You just don't know how much it would have fetched had it got to the streets. You are almost talking telephone numbers."
Mr Mulcahy said this success by the customs was due to the specialist training in England of an elite team of five officers.
"The cocaine was expertly concealed and that it was found at all is due to the five trained specialists in the rummage team," he revealed.
"These officers have undergone special training at an English customs and excise centre of excellence in Liverpool, where they learned to locate hidden drugs on vessels from the biggest oil tankers to little pleasure craft."
He said that these five specially-trained officers were amongst 18 officers of various disciplines — including intelligence — in the Cork customs drugs team, under his charge.
Meanwhile, Judge Brendan Wallace granted Garda Chief Supt Adrian Culligan a 72-hour extension order at a special sitting of Bandon District Court to allow the detention of two men arrested on Friday in connection with the drugs find. The two men — a 51-year-old Dubliner, resident in the Canaries, and a Englishman in his mid-30s, who lives in the Caribbean — are being held and questioned under the Criminal Justice Drugs Trafficking Act at Bandon Garda Station.
In addition, gardaí are thought to have notified US police about an American who jumped ship before the raid. The man left the boat on Thursday and is thought to have flown from Dublin to the US.

Minister backs down on proposal
to put refugees in barracks

by Neans McSweeney
MINISTER for Justice, John O'Donoghue last night u-turned on draconian proposals he had presented to Cabinet to cut social welfare payments to refugees and force them to live in army barracks.
In a major policy shift, the Minister said the barracks and vouchers element of the proposals had been completely ruled out. In addition, the system of welfare payments to refugees will have to be altered he admitted, particularly, in the wake of policy changes in the UK.
Any move to remove social welfare payments from asylum seekers and replace them with some unspecified voucher system was criticised by Democratic Left spokesperson on justice, Liz McManus: "It would make far more sense for the Minister to take the necessary steps to give asylum seekers work permits, even for specified limited periods. The vast majority of asylum seekers want to work and could make a valuable contribution to the economy of the country," she said.
In the report to Cabinet, it was proposed that army barracks due for closure in Kildare, Cork, Dublin and Monaghan, might house refugees awaiting a decision on their asylum application. The report also proposed that cash payments be minimised and that a voucher system could be introduced to cut the estimated £32m cost of welfare payments this year. The vouchers, as formerly proposed, could only be used to buy goods such as food, clothes and other necessities.
"The whole question of direct provision has to be examined, as has already been done in many countries in Europe. Britain has now adopted a stance. In the context of what is happening there and because of the whole issue of free travel, we must examine the situation here," said Minister O'Donoghue.
The Minister said every government had a duty to look at the range of support services available to refugees. "The question of the barracks was considered and was ruled out. The question of vouchers was also considered and was ruled out. But, we have to re-examine the direct provisions system. This could mean partial vouchers or people being given food or clothing directly. It could mean a mix of welfare payments and direct provisions," he added.
Ireland-Algeria Solidarity Group member, Conor O´ Briain, slammed the proposals as originally proposed. Ireland is moving towards a situation in which it is criminalising those applying for refugee status, he said.
Meanwhile, the Irish National Teachers' Organisation is battling for more finance to help non-EU ethnic-minority children. The union says the Refugee Support Service in primary schools is inadequate. Asylum seekers do not receive support under the programme, though, they are obliged to attend school. The fund provides support for just over 200 children of Bosnian, Vietnamese and Somalian parents.
In the latest edition of In Touch, the magazine for union members, General Secretary, Joe O'Toole, says the Government needs to set up a task force to provide better support for refugees. It says this should include representatives of government departments, the education partners and other organisations.
The task force should draw up a plan and co-ordinate the work of various agencies, it says.
"Trying to meet the needs of an already-large class of children, as well as the needs of one or more ethnic minority children creates additional difficulties for class teachers, which would be solved by reducing class sizes.
"Teachers and school authorities are doing their best to cope with this diversity but there are basic changes of approach which need to be considered. Schools need practical, professional policy supports," the union argues.

RUC man fights for life
with blast bomb injuries

by Greg Harkin
A 30-YEAR-OLD RUC officer was fighting for his life in a Belfast hospital, last night, after being hit by LVF blast bombs during an orgy of loyalist violence in Portadown.
The policeman, married with three young children, was among a team of RUC officers drafted into the Co Armagh town on Saturday to force back a Protestant mob who had gathered near a Catholic enclave ahead of a band parade. The officer was described as "critical" in the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he is being treated for serious head, face and chest wounds. A second RUC officer was also hurt. He is being treated for leg wounds. Assistant Chief Constable Tom Craig described the attacks as "vicious and mindless," and said that at this stage they were treating the incident as attempted murder. Two men were being questioned by RUC anti-terror police in Co Armagh, last night. Members of the Loyalist Volunteer Force, which claims to be observing a ceasefire, orchestrated the violence, which lasted into the early of hours of yesterday morning.
It began around 3 p.m. when a so-called Right to March parade sparked loyalist attacks on nationalists. As the violence worsened into Saturday evening two Catholic-owned businesses were also attack. One shop was completely destroyed. Sustained rioting began around 11 p.m. when loyalists lobbed blast and petrol bombs at police lines. It was 4 a.m. before order was restored to the Co Armagh town, where Catholics have been subjected to dozens of attacks since the Drumcree parade was stopped entering the nationalist Garvaghy Road area on July 5. The Northern Ireland Office Minister Lord Dubs, last night, appealed for calm in Portadown. He said that "once gain the RUC have borne the brunt of thuggish behaviour on the streets of the North."

Survey hopes to give clear
picture of extent of depression

by Caroline O'Doherty
WORKERS, students and patients are being asked to take part in the biggest ever survey carried out on depression here this week.
The survey will be completed by around 12,000 individuals and will provide for the first time a clear picture of how widespread the problem of depression really is.
According to estimates based on international statistics, as many as 200,000 people in Ireland — one in 17 of the population — suffer from depression to some extent.
Other studies suggest that just two of those who suffer will seek medical help for the symptoms and only one will be correctly diagnosed.
But while such statistics are valuable, Dr Patrick McKeon, chairman of the depression support and research organisation, Aware, said the problem had to be seen in an Irish context.
"We don't have figures of our own and until we have those figures we can not set about tackling depression." he said.
Details of the survey will be launched this morning in Dublin together with a report on suicide in Ireland compiled by a research team led by Dr McKeon over the past 18 months.
Respondents to the survey will have all this week to complete the questionnaires and the findings will be compiled into a new report before the end of the year.
The survey has several different parts to it, each relevant to a separate group of respondents. In all, 4,000 employees, 5,000 third level students and 3,000 patients attending GPs' surgeries are being asked to take part.
Questionnaires with 20 tick box questions are being distributed by prior agreement to 22 companies which represent a broad cross-section of Irish industry and employers have been asked to designate a set time for staff to fill them in.
Each sheet is identified by a coded number only and will be collected in a secure container for return to the research team. They will be sent back with remarks in separate sealed envelopes which staff can claim by using the code.
Similar questionnaires are being left in waiting rooms in 53 GPs surgeries countrywide and patients attending for any reason are asked to fill them out.
Their GP will scan the replies and, depending on the contents, will ask the patient to answer a further set of questions. Again all replies will be anonymous and a code will apply.
In addition, GPs are asked to complete a personal questionnaire giving their views on how they rate the provision and standard of psychiatric services available to patients in their practice.
Dr McKeon believes the patient survey should be in use on a continuous basis in doctors' surgeries to help medics and the public recognise the symptoms of depression.
"One in ten people in the waiting room will have depression but they won't be treated for it because it is very difficult to recognise.
"If one in ten had anaemia and the doctor didn't know who it was, everyone would be given a blood test. Depression is a lot more life-threatening so everyone should be screened."
Dr McKeon said the questionnaire for completion by doctors was aimed at identifying shortcomings in the services.
"We are very keen to support the development of psychiatric services within GPs' surgeries. We believe they are not adequate but we need to see what type of services people are getting so we can look at what way we could help to try improve on that."  

© Examiner Publications Ltd, 1998