Northern News

• Portadown District Orange Lodge has indicated that it is willing to enter talks with Garvaghy Road residents to discuss the Lodge's wish to again march down the largely nationalist road after their Drumcree church service each July. A message to this effect was sent to the Parades Commission with the proviso that the talks have an independent chairman. For the Residents Association Breandán Mac Cionnaith said some indication of a change of heart had been passed on by the commission but he had heard nothing official and there been no contact from the Orange Order.
• A Strabane family had started to wake their son last Sunday when they were told that he was still alive. Christopher McGonigle (35) was working on a supply ship to oil rigs in the North Sea when he went missing and it was presumed he had fallen overboard. In the early hours of last Saturday, while on night duty, he went for his break but failed to return. The ship was subjected to a number of searches and a full-scale air-sea rescue mission launched. This continued throughout Saturday and Sunday by which time it appeared that the missing man had drowned. That night, however, a crewmember, working out in the ship's gym, heard a noise. A further search resulted in Mr McGonigle being found in a virtually inaccessible roof space. Unconfirmed reports say that he had a broken leg, a back injury and was suffering from hypothermia. He also had a supply of food. No explanation has been put forward as to how he sustained his injuries but Scottish police say "there was no criminal aspect to the incident". Mr McGonigle was airlifted to a hospital in Aberdeen.
• David Morrison (52), from the New Lodge area of Belfast, was given a nine-year jail sentence and banned from driving for life after he pleaded guilty to a number of motoring offences, including causing death and grievous bodily injury by dangerous driving. Morrison failed to stop after he knocked down and killed Anne-Marie Dineen (38) in Andersonstown in February. The dead woman's friend, Veronica Armstrong, was badly injured in the incident and clung to the speeding car as Morrison served from side to side to shake her off.
• Michael Stone, the loyalist killer who is now accused of attempting to murder Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, has come up with a novel explanation for his armed attack on Stormont last month. In an open letter to Northern Secretary Peter Hain he apologies to all those who felt threatened by his artistic endeavours. He describes his attempt to enter the Stormont building as "performance art" inspired by the likes of Pablo Picasso and Éamonn McCann.
• Sinn Féin made news with the decision of Mitchel McLaughlin to abandon his Foyle constituency in favour of South Antrim in the Assembly elections planned for March 7. Without any representation in South Antrim currently, the Sinn Féin strategy is to target Alliance leader David Ford's seat; Martin Meehan came very close to winning this in the last Assembly elections. Other unusual activity was also taking place. Two Sinn Féin candidates were deselected although this has to be confirmed by the party leadership. Davy Hyland and Pat O'Rawe, who are currently MLAs for Newry-Armagh, were told by their local organisation that they will not be sitting this time round. The Irish Times predicts that Ms O'Rawe will be reinstated by HQ but that Mr Hyland will be left out in the cold because of his misgivings about the party's possible support for the PSNI.
• At the High Court in Belfast, bail was refused to David McCartan (35) and his wife Geraldine (34) who are accused of murdering Mr McCartan's mother. A prosecution lawyer claimed that the couple killed Annie McCartan (75) because she would not vacate her Warrenpoint house so the site could be used to develop apartments. The value of the proposed development was put at £2.4m.
• It was reported on Friday that Sinn Féin and the DUP had, over a number of days, been in intensive negotiations with the British Government, in an attempt to agree a timetable for devolving responsibility for justice and policing to the proposed new power-sharing executive. Senior Sinn Féin officials spent Friday reviewing progress and were expected to decide on whether to call a meeting of the party's Ard Comhairle over the weekend, but the review went on into Saturday. Such a meeting will decide if the time is right to convene an ardfheis to seek grass roots approval for a change in party policy, which would see it supporting the PSNI.
• Rhonda Paisley has withdrawn her application for assistance from the Equal Opportunities Commission after receiving an apology from the Democratic Unionist Party. The daughter of DUP leader Rev. Ian Paisley had alleged that she was not considered for the advertised position of policy officer as a result of sex discrimination.
• Property developer Armoy Homes has unveiled plans for a state-of-the-art greyhound track and a 31-bedroom hotel at Stranocum, near Ballymoney, Co. Antrim. The company already owns a popular bar and restaurant on the site chosen for the £12m development.
• Seán Hoey (37), who is charged with carrying out the 1998 Omagh bombing, has failed in his attempt to have the charges against him dropped. In Belfast Crown Court on Thursday Justice Weir ruled that the state of the evidence does not warrant the dropping of the charges.
• James McGuigan (30) and his daughter Lorna (8), from Belfast, were killed in a road accident in Co. Antrim on Friday. In the single vehicle accident the car left the road and crashed into a tree near Crumlin at around 9:00am. Two other daughters, aged four and five, were critically injured.
• Matthew Dagens (15), from Crossgar, Co. Down, died that night at around 9:30pm when he was struck by a car while crossing the Ballydugan Road in Downpatrick.

Ireland Today: A case study in poor customer relations

I don't think I have ever heard a commercial company come in for more criticism from its customers than cable television company NTL did on Joe Duffy's Liveline programme. The company decided to increase its prices and apply a surcharge on those customers who failed to pay by direct debit. Both decisions annoyed many but it was NTL's customer service operation, or lack of it, which really irked people. Many had spent days trying to make contact by phone but without success. Some even found a Dublin address but it was always closed. The few who eventually got through to report faults were told that a repair engineer would call in three weeks. NTL refused to talk to RTÉ, claiming that it only dealt directly with its customers, causing hoots of derision from those who had failed to make contact. The Irish Times later suggested that, as the company would soon change its name to UPC, it wasn't too concerned about the bad publicity.

Bits and Pieces

• A three-man armed gang forced their way into a house near Kinsale, Co. Cork last Sunday morning and assaulted the three residents, a couple in their 50s and their teenage son. The man, who worked in Britain, was forced to provide details of his bank accounts in the Isle of Man, and the gang also stole credit cards and a laptop computer with bank details. The family managed to raise the alarm after the gang left and the bank was contacted before any attempt was made to remove money from the accounts or use the credit cards.
• The parents of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, murdered in west Cork in December 1996, returned to the site of their daughter's death at the weekend to lay a wreath. Speaking after a commemorative Mass yesterday, Mme Bouniol expressed the fear that she would die before anyone is brought to justice for the murder. She was also critical of the lack of cooperation between the Irish and French governments on legal matters.
• In an interview with the Irish Times marking his ten years as Primate of Ireland, Archbishop of Armagh Seán Brady, spoke of the deep concern of many at the "growing coarseness and aggression" that has become a feature of modern Ireland. This, he said, was evident on the roads, in binge-drinking and the sexualisation of children. He blamed the change on the "marginalisation of religion", a development that has created "a very deep concern, particularly by parents, about where we are going morally and spiritually". Probably what captured most attention was his question, "Do we want to have a culture of Podge and Rodge, or one of decency and respect?" Not that people were falling over themselves to answer this. Instead they focused on the two puppets, late night regulars on RTÉ 2, who could be described as offering the ultimate in bad taste, a description with which even their fans could hardly disagree.
• The Irish Times reports that a Department of Foreign Affairs audit committee is concerned at the management of the Irish Aid budget. It notes that staffing in the department's evaluation and audit unit are "barely adequate", leaving it "susceptible to sickness, emergencies, staff departures, etc.". The committee is also concerned at the implications of decentralising the Irish Aid unit to Limerick; experienced staff who are not interested in relocating are being replaced with staff from other departments. The separation of the Irish Aid unit from the rest of the Department could, it is feared, lead to inconsistencies with other aspects of foreign policy. The practice of using consultants to prepare reports was questioned, as often there is insufficient staff to implement the resultant recommendations.
• The Government on Tuesday published details of a strategy aimed at making the country properly bi-lingual over the next 20 years. The plan was launched by Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív, accompanied by the entire cabinet. Among the targeted areas are education and broadcasting. Mr Ó Cuív noted that policies to date have been successful as successive censuses have shown increasing numbers of people able to speak Irish, while Minister for Justice Michael McDowell noted that 100,000 pupils attend Gaelscoileanna every day.
• Det. Sgt John White, who has been severely criticised in more than one report from the Morris Tribunal, has been dismissed from an Garda Síochána. He is, however, appealing the decision. He was told that his dismissal arose from the conclusions of the Morris Tribunal in relation to the Ardara module. This found that he had planted an explosive device at a television transmitter so that he could arrest, under the Offences Against the State Act, a number of people who had been protesting against the company which owned the transmitter. That particular Act allowed for their detention for three days rather than 12 hours.
• Two members of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, a New York-based religious order, have arrived in Limerick where they are to open a friary in the city's Moyross area. The order already has a presence in New York, London, Honduras and Albuquerque where they work with deprived communities.
• It is expected that from 2008 onwards taxis which are more than nine years old will be considered unfit for use. This is being proposed by Taxi Regulator Ger Deering but he first plans a period of public consultation on that and other issues.
• Ireland's celebrity gardener Diarmuid Gavin is currently taking action in the High Court in London against a British garden designer. Mr Gavin alleges that Andrew Sturgeon, winner of the gold medal at this year's Chelsea Flower Show, infringed his copyright with the winning design.
• On Tuesday, gardaí in Dublin arrested a 23-year-old man after 17kg of heroin, worth around €4m, was found in his car.
• A garda on foot patrol in the Blanchardstown area of Dublin received minor injuries when he was knocked down while attempting to stop a car on Tuesday evening. Garda mobile units were alerted and some time later a car was stopped on the M50. The driver was arrested and has since appeared in court, charged with a number of motoring offences.
• "Mad cow disease", or BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), is still with us although on a very much reduced scale from previous years. This year the total number of cases detected was 41, down from 69 last year and 333 in 2003.
• Those who were lucky enough to be chosen to visit Newgrange on the shortest day of the year were rewarded with a perfect sunrise illuminating the burial chamber just before nine o'clock on Thursday morning.
• Four gardaí jumped into the water at Custom House Quay in Wexford on Friday to rescue a local man who had been seen to jump from the parapet of the bridge. Gardaí James Maher, John Joe Sinnott, Eric O'Sullivan and John O'Flynn were treated at Wexford General Hospital for hypothermia, as was the man they rescued.

National Lottery Winning Numbers:

• Wed: 27, 30, 35, 39, 42, 45 (44) - the jackpot of €3.96m wasn't won.
• Sat: 13, 17, 29, 31, 34, 39 (2) – the jackpot of €5.93m wasn't won.

Government's response to organised crime

Crisis talks on organised crime took place on Monday at a meeting attended by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Justice Minister Michael McDowell, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy and Assistant Commissioner Fachtna Murphy. They were expected to discuss the speeding up of the court system, tightening bail laws and the level of garda resources.
It was later announced that the DPP will have a greater role to play in opposing bail applications; additional staff will be allocated to prepare cases for court in a more expeditious manner; more civilians will be recruited to carry out administrative work normally carried out by gardaí, 1,200 new garda patrol cars (to replace older vehicles) will be on the road within a month, and already the order has been placed for a long-awaited radio communications system.
Later in the week Mr McDowell announced that he had signed new regulations which allow gardaí to detain suspects for questioning about certain crimes for up to 24 hours, instead of 12 as at present.

Gangland shootings continue

Another innocent man was shot dead in yet another gangland shooting, this time in Limerick. Noel Crawford was hit in the abdomen as he stood at the front door of his mother's house in O'Malley Park, shortly before 3:00am on Monday. He was pronounced dead in hospital a short time later, on what was his 40th birthday. Seconds before the gunman appeared he was chatting to his brother Paul (32) who appears to have been the intended target. Their nephew, Jordan Crawford (5), was shot in the leg outside the same house in November, when again Paul Crawford was the target. According to the Irish Times, shots were also fired at the house on November 3 and, in July a 15-year-old boy was injured when shots were fired at Paul Crawford as he sat in a car with a woman and child.
Paul Crawford was arrested later on the day of his brother's death, for allegedly making threats to kill a woman. When he appeared in court he was remanded in custody after a senior garda officer described him as a leading member of the McCarthy-Dundon criminal gang who, if released, would attempt to exact revenge for his brother's murder. He was back in court again on Thursday, seeking bail to attend his brother's funeral. Also in court was Elizabeth Sparling, who had made a formal statement to gardaí about the threat. She now claimed that she was satisfied that she had nothing to fear from the accused, a man she had known all her life. A garda witness countered this by stating that Ms Sparling had only retracted her earlier statement as a result of further bullying and intimidation by members of the McCarthy-Dundon gang. Bail was again refused.
Shots were also fired in two separate incidents in the city before and after Monday morning's' murder. At about 11:30pm on Sunday a man was injured in the shoulder in Cliona Park, but this shooting is not believed to be connected to the feud. Shots were later fired at an occupied house in O'Malley Park, in all likelihood this was in response to the murder.
At lunchtime on Wednesday another well-known Limerick criminal, Brian Collopy (34), received two gunshot wounds in the leg in a drive-by shooting near the city centre. Collopy was in the news a couple of years ago when the Criminal Assets Bureau confiscated and sold his bungalow at Fedamore in Co. Limerick.
No one was injured when two shots were fired through the window of a house in Swords, Co. Dublin late on Tuesday. Two nights later a man was injured in Clondalkin when a shotgun was fired through the window of his home

Judges take umbrage

On Thursday a member of the Supreme Court commented on the barrage of criticism directed at the judiciary since the gunning down of 20-year-old plumber Anthony Campbell, because he happened to be working in the house in which drug dealer Martin Hyland was hiding when he was shot dead. Speaking in the Court of Criminal Appeal, Justice Adrian Hardiman said, "The court pays the comments in question no attention whatever". Without mentioning any names he referred to what was very reasoned argument from Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, and politicians of all shades, as "strident and repeated public comments" which were given "wide and excited coverage in the media". Justice Hardiman went on to say that it was the duty of judges to decide cases "in accordance with the Constitution and the law" but ignored the fact that they were being accused of failing to do exactly that.
That night Minister McDowell held his annual Christmas drinks reception at King's Inn but, according to the Irish Times, the event was boycotted by the majority of the judges of the High Court and Supreme Court. This is being interpreted as the judges' way of showing that they consider themselves above criticism, from a Minister for Justice or anyone else. It did, however, only generate more criticism, making Mr McDowell something of a hero in the eyes of many.
On Friday evening RTÉ asked retired judge Justice Feargus Flood his view of Mr McDowell's comments. He was strident in his condemnation of a Minister attempting to give advice to the judiciary, but that only generated phone calls and text messages to RTÉ, mostly critical of Justice Flood.

• In dealing with the case before him Justice Hardiman refused to reduce the seven-year sentence imposed on a Carlow drug dealer. Cocaine with an estimated street value of €21k had been found in the bedroom of Andrew Dermody (24).
• In the week's first significant drug case Bernard White (33), of Clonshaugh in Dublin, was given a ten-year sentence for possession of cannabis worth €17,500. Judge Thomas Teehan accepted, however, that White was "a relatively minor cog in the operation" and suspended five years of the sentence.
• On Thursday Justice Joseph Matthews imposed a 12-year sentence on Keith Mahon (30), of Tallaght, who had been found in possession of cocaine with a potential street value of €1.9m. Mahon, who regularly processed the drug for other dealers, had pleaded guilty and had three years of his sentenced suspended.
• Anthony Swift (21), of Tallaght, could have had the mandatory ten-year sentence imposed on him when he pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine worth €70k and two unlicensed shotguns. Instead the judge set him free but with an eight-year suspended sentence hanging over him.

Dublin Port Tunnel opens to traffic

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on Wednesday opened the Dublin Port Tunnel, making it available to heavy goods vehicles and buses for journeys between the N1 at Whitehall and Dublin Port. The 4.5km tunnel, which cost €752m, was completed two years behind schedule but no one seems to be able to agree just how much it was over budget. HGVs and buses will not be subject to a toll, but when cars are eventually allowed to use it, probably late next month, they will pay a toll of between €3 and €12, depending on the time of day.
Since opening, the tunnel has experienced a few teething problems. While some trucks were allowed through after the official opening, the plan was to close the tunnel until 1:00pm. This deadline wasn't met due to the number of people attending the official opening and it was 4:15pm before the tunnel was fully operational.
On Thursday morning there were reports of congestion at Dublin Port with trucks unable to leave the area. Heavy traffic was also reported from the Dublin Quays with many trucks opting not to use the tunnel. A spokesman for Dublin Port claimed that it had not been made aware that the tunnel was closing overnight, and also blamed a mistimed traffic light for contributing to the difficulty. Dublin City Council responded by sending out a spokesman who disputed the traffic light story and who claimed that the port authority was informed that it was always the plan to close the tunnel for a number of hours each night in the initial stages. What had happened was that the traffic light was changed to give more time to traffic heading for the tunnel, but the majority wanted to go through the city and the 15 seconds allowed out of each 90 caused them to back up into the dock area.
Dublin quays were again at a standstill early on Friday as truckers coming off the ferries continued to avoid the new tunnel. It appeared that many of those heading west and south preferred to take their trucks through the city centre rather than pay the toll of up to €5.60 on the West-Link Bridge. It was also suggested that many foreign truckers were confused by the changes which had taken place. By eight o'clock the traffic problems at the Point roundabout had eased.