Working for justice and praying for peace in Ireland...
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We believe the U.S. has a vital role to play by applying a single -- not a double-standard in its foreign policies towards human rights in Ireland. In particular, we believe the U.S. must not subsidize anti-Catholic discrimination in Northern Ireland. That is why the Irish National Caucus in 1984 initiated the MacBride Principles.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Decommissioning Will Real Real Problem
Decommissioning Will Reveal Real Problem Refusal to Accept Equality.
Capitol Hill. Tuesday, September 27, 20005 -- The final decommissioning of the IRA arsenal will help reveal to the world what has always been at the heart of the problem in Northern Ireland.
That is how the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus has reacted to the IRA initiative. Caucus president, Father Sean Mc Manus, said: " Northern Ireland came into existence in 1920 for a twofold reason -- to ensure England would continue to have a foothold on the island of Ireland, and to ensure Unionist/Orange supremacy in the new artificial state. In this way, British interests were secured, and Catholic inequality guaranteed".
Fr. Mc Manus further explained: "The problem has always been about the British Government militarily backing up that sectarian, undemocratic entity. Now that it appears, under Tony Blair, the British government is no longer interested in being identified with a sectarian regime, there is a chance for the word to see clearly the remaining problem: Unionist reluctance to accept the concept of equality with Catholics. That is now the issue, and there's no way of denying it.
"But Tony Blair must do something else", Fr. Mc Manus, emphasized to show his Government has abandoned all sectarianism. " He must immediately remove the ' constitutional' basis for all Orange bigotry and sectarianism: the anti-Catholic section of the Act of Settlement of 1700, which is still in force today. Under this ridiculous, but malicious, Act a Catholic is forbidden by law to become the King or Queen, and that if the Monarch converts to Catholicism or marries a Catholic he/she forfeits the Throne and " the people are absolved of their allegiance". That would be similar to the U.S. Constitution having a provision that would outlaw an African-American becoming President or marrying a Black person. And if the President were to marry a Black person his election would be declared null and void by the Constitution.
It is, therefore, this wretched Act of Settlement that is ultimately behind all anti-Catholic bigotry in Northern Ireland because it provides Protestant /Orange extremists with motivation and justification: If the very top law in England, the Queen's own law, declares Catholics cannot be Monarch, therefore it follows Catholics are inferior, and, therefore, cannot be equal to Protestants".
And the sad thing is that British Prime Minister Tony Blair, until now, has blocked all efforts to change this horribly anti-Catholic law because " it would be too much paper work and too expensive"!
Father Sean Mc Manus
President Irish National Caucus P.O. Box 15128 Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. 20003-0849 202-544-0568
CAPITOL HILL. Thursday, September 22, 2005 --- Irish-Americans are alarmed that the International Fund for Ireland has given a grant of a quarter of a million pounds sterling to a group many regard as a front for the viciously sectarian and anti-Catholic Orange Order ,the Orange Community Network.
The President of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus, Fr. Sean Mc Manus, said : " Funding an anti-Catholic organization at any time is bad enough, but at this time it is particularly shocking, given that the Orange Order is presently wrecking havoc in Northern Ireland and inciting anti-Catholic bigotry to destroy the Good Friday Agreement".
Fr. Mc Manus continued : " I had thought the bad old days of American dollars subsidizing anti- Catholic bigotry were over, and that the IFI had cleaned up its act. This is a most troubling development. I have taken it up with Congressman Joe Crowley 9 D-NY), co-chairman of the Ad Hoc Congressional Committee for Irish Affairs, who has played a key role in bringing about an increase in the dollar amount that Congress gives to the IFI. It has always been a battle not to have the US funding cut... this shocking development will not help. Bad news about the IFI is not what is needed at the moment,", he concluded.
Father Sean Mc Manus President Irish National Caucus P.O. Box 15128 Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. 20003-0849 202-544-0568
Loyalist Violence Is A Backlash Against Equality, Says US Priest By Michael McHugh Belfast Telegraph. Monday, September 19, 2005 Irish America sees echoes of the anti-civil rights protests of the 1960s in the recent loyalist rioting, the head of the Washington-based lobby group has said. Fr Sean McManus from the Irish National Caucus claimed memories of the white backlash against the civil rights movement among black people in America's Deep South had been jogged by recent events in Belfast. The loyalist blocking of roads and fighting with police has been linked to deep-seated frustration about the peace process. Some unionists have portrayed the Agreement as a stream of concessions to republicanism but Fr McM! anus claimed their reaction was in response to the introduction of equality into local society. "People in Irish America are seeing this through the lens of US history and the problems with the civil rights movement," he said. "They will be conscious that once the movement started to make progress there was a white backlash. "The problem is that whenever there has been a system of discrimination, anywhere in the world, where there are attempts to change that, the people who saw themselves as being in a privileged position unfortunately tend to think that progress for disadvantaged groups means a reversal of their fortunes." Fr McManus said he was disappointed by the 'lack of leadership' from unionist leaders. "I find it remarkable that Reg Empey is now absolutely breaking his neck to repeat the same mistakes of David Trimble. Sir Reg said: "It is all very well looking through rose- tinted glasses! from 4,000 miles away," he said. "We can pontificate but we have to keep in touch with sections of the community which are suffering greatly. "There are no excuses for what has happened and I abhor that and have called for people to abide by the law but I will not abandon those people." ****************************************** -- Father Sean Mc Manus President Irish National Caucus P.O. Box 15128 Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. 20003-0849 202-544-0568
Unionists Lack Someone To Lead Them Into Peace (Susan McKay, Irish News) September 13, 2005 "You're not going to ballyrag me and say I'm responsible," Ian Paisley said. "There's no use picking on me," Sir Reg Empey said. We said there'd be trouble and we were proved right, both of these leaders of unionism said yesterday, after a weekend of unionist mayhem on the streets. "There's matters in the Protestant community must now be faced up to," Mr Paisley said. There most certainly are. Unionism has failed and failed utterly. Its leaders have once again stirred up a gullible people to a frenzy of hatred against their Catholic neighbours and then sat back, content that the Unionist family has been reunited. Love Ulster? In 1966, Mr Paisley prayed for power: "When the fuse of true prayer is set alight with the fire of the holy ghost and thus the gospel dynamite is exploded, what tremendous results occur!" He was in prison at the time, for unlawful assembly. Three years later, the Cameron Report found that this man "must bear a heavy share of responsibility for the disorders". Last week, nearly 40 years of ranting later, Mr Paisley was warning: "This could be the spark that kindles a fire there will be no putting out." And so it came to pass. What is wrong with the unionists? Are they under siege? Is the IRA attacking and killing them again? We are betrayed, conspired against, abandoned, they lament. Our guns have been taken, our watchtowers dismantled. The British have rewarded the IRA for its violence. The last straw has broken the camel's back. Here is the grievance. The Orange Order wanted to march through a Catholic area. Local Catholics objected because of past violence. The Parades Commission said the order had to reach agreement with the Catholics. The order said it couldn't, because it didn't talk to terrorists. The Parades Commission ruled that the march could go ahead but would have to divert away from a short stretch of one road. Cue dire warnings from Mr Paisley and murmurings to the same effect from Sir Reg. The UVF said it would force the parade through the disputed area. Did the Orange Order come out and denounce this offer of assistance from terrorists? Far from it. Orange leader Dawson Baillie called the people out onto the streets. If there was trouble, he said, it wouldn't be the order's fault. There are banners on the Shankill Road commemorating Worshipful Brother Brian Robinson, who killed Catholics for the UVF and marched with his Loyal Orange Lodge. In 1998, Mr Paisley warned the authorities that they had better let the Orangemen march down the Garvaghy Road from Drumcree. If they didn't, he said, "anyone with any imagination knows what is going to happen". On the day Mr Paisley had designated as 'the decider', loyalists murdered the three Quinn children by burning them to death in their home in Ballymoney. Since the LVF broke away from the UVF in 1996 to murder Michael McGoldrick to try and force the Drumcree issue, there have been more than a dozen murders which can be directly linked to the parades issue. Now Paisley and his allies are trying to turn north Belfast into the new Portadown. So out they came, the fools, with guns, blast bombs, petrol bombs, stones and bottles. People were dragged out of cars and buses and robbed before their vehicles were burned. Gunmen fired on the police. The Catholics who haven't already been terrorised out of places like Ahoghill were barricaded in while their homes were attacked. What tremendous results! This is an atavistic rage. One member of the loyal orders is reported to have shouted at a policeman during the trouble last weekend, "Are you a fenian in disguise?" On September 10 2005, pikes were pointed at Catholics in Belfast by loyalist militiamen. The Republic needs to wake up. President McAleese means well but is she sure that hugging a loyalist paramilitary leader in Belfast is the right image for the moment? And should a set-piece RTE interview with Mr Paisley focus on trying to cajole him into admitting that he's really a nice old codger underneath it all? (He didn't). The IRA is about to abandon its arms. That is what is wrong. For all the DUP's talk about the "new spirit" within unionism, Mr Paisley doesn't know how to lead his people into peace. Sir Reg doesn't either. What will they do when the foe is gone? Who will the loyal people of the Shankill and Glenbryn and Harryville and Ahoghill blame for their poverty then?
In your report on violence in Northern Ireland, "Protestants Riot for 2nd Night in Belfast, Injuring 30 Police Officers"( September, 12) you refer to the Orange Order as a "Protestant men's organization". That's a bit like saying the KKK likes to dress in white.
The Orange Order is not only Protestant but it is also a viciously anti-Catholic, supremacist organization whose job is to keep uppity Catholics in their place.
" Anti-Catholicism", is not about difference in faith and theology, which by definition exist between different religions(that's why there are different religions). Rather, Northern Ireland anti-Catholicism is a socio-economic - political system for oppressing Catholics. In the past 30 years so many things have changed for the better in Northern Ireland but , unfortunately, not that profound anti- Catholicism.
Racism and sectarianism are two sides of the same coin. They are the twin-evils of this world. And up until fairly recent the British Government promoted both racism and sectarianism in Ireland. And the Orange Order and many Protestant political leaders still promote racism and sectarianismŠAfter all, the Reverend Ian Paisley for years has been the biggest Protestant vote getter in Northern Ireland and his party, the Democratic Unionist Party, has become the largest Protestant party in Northern Ireland. Paisley came to power over the past 50 years by stoking the fires of anti- Catholicism : by preaching that the Pope is the anti-Christ and that Catholics must be kept at the back of the bus. And for 50 years every time Catholics tried to go to the front of the bus, Paisley and the Orange Order objected and took to the streets, threatening, bullying and inflaming Protestant sectarianism.
Americans should be the first to understand the situation because they saw segregationist in this country practice the same baneful tactics for many years, only then the excuse was defending " The Southern heritage". The Orangemen are out to defend the "Northern heritage"
Father Sean Mc Manus
President Irish National Caucus P.O. Box 15128 Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. 20003-0849 202-544-0568 (office); 202-488-5865(home)
Reiss Cautioned About " Double-Standard" Irish National Caucus Press Release Dr. Mitchell Reiss Special Envoy for Northern Ireland Monday, September 12, 2005 Dear Mitchell, Welcome back from Northern Ireland. I hope your visit has advanced the peace-process. Unfortunately your visit coincided with the anti-Catholic Orange Order riot. BBC quotes you as giving credit to Unionist leader Mr.Fred Cobain for helping to restrain the rioters: "The US Envoy said problems needed to be tackled by sustained hard work in communities. 'What you really need is leadership, and unfortunately in the last few days, we haven't seen very much of it," he said. However, he singled out Ulster Unionist Belfast councillor Fred Cobain for praise for the work he had done over the weekend and in the past weeks. "When people do stand up and take a courageous stand and exert leadership, they deserve to be recognised,' he said. ( Unionist leaders 'shirked blame'. BBC.NI Last Updated: Monday, 12 September 2005, 10:56 GMT 11:56 UK). Like yourself, PSNI Chief Constable, Hugh Orde, also praised Mr. Cobain for opposing the Orange violence. Yet the Belfast Telegraph(and like the BBC hardly a Fenian -front) quotes Mr. Cobain himself as follows : "Speaking after Mr Orde's comments, Mr Cobain said that there is a "long way to go" before normality can be returned to the streets of the city. "I cannot refute what was said because I did not see it happen," he said. "I listened to Mr Orde's comments but as far as I see it, Saturday was not all one-way traffic. "He has concentrated on the professionalism of his officers. Some of them that I saw were not acting very professionally. "We are all to blame for what happened - I am to blame, the police are to blame, the Orange Order, the paramilitaries, even civil society. "The violence was the result of the frustrations felt by a small working class Protestant community who feel that the police treat republican rioters a lot more leniently and see a Secretary of State who lets a mass murderer out of prison for political reasons. "The PSNI does not seem to be in tune with this community and that worries me. "We have a long road to go down before this is sorted out."( Order's Shock at Criticism. Monday, September 12, 2005). I fear many Irish-Americans, and Members of Congress, may be inclined to think that the Orange rioters will seek comfort, if not justification, in Mr. Cobain's remarks... And this brings me back to my old swan-song : THE DOUBLE STANDARD. Unionist-- and often British -- leaders have historically had one reaction to Unionist violence, and another entirely different one to Republican violence.( That ,of course ,is how the separate State of Northern Ireland came into existence in the first place). Is there really much difference between Mr. Cobain's " explanation" of Orange violence and Dr. Paisley's? Dr. Paisley said :"The Parades Commission are to blame for the mess that has been created." (Loyalist violence 'is appalling' BBC Sunday, 11 September 2005). Thank you. Sean Father Sean Mc Manus President Irish National Caucus P.O. Box 15128 Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. 20003-0849 202-544-0568
Dr. Mitchell Reiss Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Wednesday, September 7, 2005
Dear Mitchell,
On August 31, 2005 I E-mailed you an article from The Irish News by Brian Feeney ''Ever get the feeling no-one's in charge?"(Irish News, Wednesday, August 31, 2005) -- about the perceived double standards of the PSNI.
Mr. Feeney argued:"The PSNI response to UVF murders has been wholly inadequate.
Let's hope Orde doesn't trot out the couple of dozen arrests and pathetically small number of house searches. It doesn't matter because they're all released again through the revolving doors they have set into barracks for loyalist suspects.
The point is that no-one has been charged with any of the murders or any weapons recovered.
Far worse is the impression the PSNI and NIO give that they are content to let the UVF get on with it. That impression is reinforced by the public collusion between the police and UVF hoodlums during the unforgivable scenes in Garnerville when the UVF expelled six families.
How will the chief constable explain the PSNI's failure to deal with UDA gangs attacking Catholic homes in north Antrim?..."
And I asked the question :"If a moderate like Feeney thinks this about Orde, what do you suppose Sinn Fein supporters -- and especially young Catholics in deprived areas -- think?".
Well, now, I offer you an article that exactly answers that question : 'Motiveless' is no reason for no action " by Jim Gibney (Irish News, Thursday, September 1, 2005).
Mr. Gibney, reflecting the Republican view, argues that unless " the mentality " is changed the PSNI could end up being "a mirror image of the old RUC".
I feel it would be an enormous mistake to think that Mr. Feeney and Mr. Gibney are both misreading the situation.
If Catholics cannot trust the police the Good Friday Agreement cannot work... And the onus of proof is on the police, just at it was on the American police ( and especially the FBI) 40 years ago visa vi the African- American community. The African-American community did not have to prove anything to the police. The police, as public servants of the community, must earn the trust of the community.
Good , impartial , policing is the acid test of the good -faith of the British Government and Chief Constable Hugh Orde... It appears it is not too much in evidence.
The American government, and your good self, have done great work in promoting the Irish peace- process. I urge you to give proper policing in Northern Ireland the attention it deserves. Nothing is more important.
Thank you.
Sean
Father Sean Mc Manus President Irish National Caucus P.O. Box 15128 Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. 20003-0849 202-544-0568
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'Motiveless' is no reason for no action
Irish News. Thursday, September 1, 2005
THE THURSDAY COLUMN
By Jim Gibney
In late 1976, while locked up in Crumlin Road gaol, I overheard the following conversation outside my cell door: "Here Ronnie, your ma couldn't make it up today. She gave me your parcel. I left it in for you. You'll get it later. Here's the list."
"Thanks mate."
Harmless exchange, you might think, until you learn the person leaving in the parcel was a prison warder and the recipient of the generosity was a loyalist prisoner charged with trying to kill Catholics.
The warder lived in the same street as the prisoner's mother. He did not hesitate to bring the parcel into the prison, the mother did not hesitate to ask him and the prisoner matter of factly accepted this neighbourly gesture.
Although minor, this story illustrates the 'special relationship' that has always existed between this state's armed forces and loyalist killers. Members of the police, prison service, crown forces, live cheek by jowl with those in the UDA, UVF, LVF.
They share a common purpose - maintaining partition and British rule. This common purpose is intrinsic to how individuals in these organisations think and act.
This outlook determines the relationship between this state's legal and illegal forces and how state institutions deal with loyalist violence.
Loyalist violence is viewed as a reaction to republican violence.
It is not seen as a threat but as a by-product. The crown forces have a higher tolerance threshold for loyalist activity.
This ambivalence means there are no military installations in loyalist areas and few checkpoints and leniency in the courts for those charged sits alongside benign and misleading commentary about this violence.
In recent months the PSNI have been using the word 'motiveless' to explain loyalist attacks on Catholics and nationalists.
Their RUC predecessors were fond of using this word when the loyalist murder campaign was at its height.
It is a revealing word and says a lot about the mentality of those who use it. The RUC knew and the PSNI know that loyalist violence is not 'motiveless'.
Nor is it 'motiveless' on the part of the RUC or the PSNI to use the word when commenting on attacks on Catholics in Ahoghill, Short Strand or north Belfast.
'Motiveless' implies the PSNI do not know what is going on, that loyalists might or might not be involved, that the campaign has no purpose, is irrational. All of this is designed to cause confusion.
In their day this meant the RUC did little by way of investigating the attacks or prevent them taking place.
Indeed, the evidence shows there was a systematic policy of collusion organised by the RUC's Special Branch. The same Special Branch control the PSNI.
So it is not surprising that this pattern of complicity with loyalist violence should continue inside the PSNI.
A variation of the 'motiveless' theme was the explanation offered by Assistant Chief Constable Paul Leighton when he said sectarianism was "an element" in the loyalist attacks in Ahoghill but people "not getting on with each other" was also a factor.
Neighbours in dispute requires a different and lower-key response from the PSNI to a campaign by loyalists against Catholics.
It takes the sharp edge of the violence and provides cover for it to continue.
Although ACC Leighton clarified his statement, the fact that he made it indicates little change in dealing with loyalist violence at the highest levels of the PSNI.
There are other examples of this ambivalence. The response by the PSNI and indeed unionist politicians to the loyalist feud which has claimed five lives.
The cozy scenes at Garnerville a few weeks ago when hundreds of loyalists and PSNI officers chatted with each other while the UVF evicted people from their homes.
The failure of PSNI to do what is blindingly obvious to curtail loyalists' attacks on Catholics.
In the Short Strand recently they observed from distance masked loyalists preparing their attack on the area. They did not intervene.
It was this mentality which gave Johnny Adair the freedom to behave like a 'tin pot' dictator on the Shankill Road.
This mentality shaped and maintained the RUC as a partisan force.
Its continuation inside the PSNI will shape this force as a mirror image of the old RUC.
--
Father Sean Mc Manus President Irish National Caucus P.O. Box 15128 Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. 20003-0849 202-544-0568
Irish Echo. August 31 - September 6, 2005 Editorial.
The increasingly bizarre behavior of Michael McDowell, Ireland's minister for justice, is raising eyebrows on both sides of the Atlantic, and even within the Irish government.
Thus far, most of his intemperate outbursts and crackpot schemes have been attributed to an insatiable appetite for self promotion. Such an approach, after all, is virtually a requirement for the aspirant leader of his junior government coalition party, the Progressive Democrats.
But his latest suggestion, that the authorities should continue to prosecute people for IRA membership -- despite the fact that the organization has stood itself down -- borders on reckless.
"The IRA remains an illegal organization because its constitution is treasonable," McDowell said on Irish national radio. He added that he expected the IRA to decommission all its weaponry soon.
If it remains illegal to be a member of the IRA, one must presume that anyone remaining in the organization, even for the sole purpose of cooperating with the de-commissioning body headed by General John de Chastelain, risks a jail sentence.
McDowell's motivation for adopting this position is not clear. It is possible that he is locked in the past, unable to grasp that the war in the North is over and we must all move on.
Or he could be so cynical as to be willing to risk the peace process so that he can pose as a hard man to some of his old Fine Gael constituents in south Dublin.
Or perhaps he is simply a unionist -- all of his public statements would indicate so. There would be nothing wrong with that, except that one might expect an Irish minister for justice to uphold the Irish Constitution, and with it the quest for reunification.
Father Sean Mc Manus President Irish National Caucus P.O. Box 15128 Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. 20003-0849 202-544-0568
By Cormac O'Keeffe Irish Examiner September 2, 2005
A LEADING legal expert yesterday accused Justice Minister Michael McDowell of interfering in the garda investigation into the Colombia Three.
Professor Dermot Walsh of Limerick University said the minister had "crossed the line" by trying to steer an ongoing criminal probe. "I think the minister has crossed the line, insofar as he's maintaining a hands-on control of the investigation in the Colombia case and demanding regular accounts on that investigation from the Garda Commissioner. It seems to me that he's interfering in a specific criminal investigation of individuals and that crosses the mark of political interference in the administration of justice," he said.
Prof Walsh, who runs the Centre for Criminal Justice at the University of Limerick, said Mr McDowell seemed to be "on a crusade" against the Colombia Three and was determined to punish them through the criminal justice system.
"He has used his position as Minister for Justice by trying to steer the criminal justice process in a direction that will achieve that result." He said this was a matter for the Garda Commissioner and the courts. The minister seemed to be "riding roughshod" over the Constitution's separation of powers between the Government and the administration of justice. Prof Walsh said the minister's statements could scupper the prospect of any case ever being taken against James Monaghan, Niall Connolly or Martin McCauley.
"Can these guys get a fair trial given the extent of comment about their case, from of all people the Minister for Justice?"
Prof Walsh's remarks follow reports Mr McDowell had told a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday it was "probable" gardaí would be travelling to Colombia to pursue their investigations. An official garda spokesman subsequently said the trip was only "an option". However, yesterday he said it was a "strong possibility". Unofficial garda sources said the trip was more to do with "political expediency" than advancing the criminal investigation.
Prof Walsh said the impression being conveyed was gardaí were acting under pressure from the minister.
Mr McDowell's spokesman yesterday rejected claims of interference. "The minister is not steering anything, he's just been kept briefed." He said Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy told the minister on Monday it was "probable" gardaí would visit Colombia and he confirmed that yesterday. Meanwhile, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said the "huffing and puffing" by the PDs on the Colombia Three had collapsed and the sum total of the Cabinet's deliberations was that "a couple of gardaí may or may not be sent on a fool's errand to Colombia".
DUP leader Ian Paisley described the Government's response as "laughable" and threatened to break off contact over the issue.
Father Sean Mc Manus President Irish National Caucus P.O. Box 15128 Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. 20003-0849 202-544-0568
