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.

Politics & Politicians

• For more than a week now different sections of the media have been telling us that a report from the Moriarty Tribunal is imminent. This will focus on former Taoiseach Charles Haughey's dealings with businessmen. Some journalists suggest that the late Mr Haughey will be severely criticised, while others suggest that the report will largely absolve him of serious impropriety.
• Last Sunday Taoiseach Bertie Ahern urged Sinn Féin to call an ardfheis as soon as possible to obtain the grass roots approval necessary for the party to support the PSNI. Such support is one of the DUP's prerequisites for a power-sharing executive. Another area of contention between the DUP and Sinn Féin is the devolution of responsibility for justice and policing. A transition date is a prerequisite for Sinn Féin while the DUP wants responsibility to remain at Westminster, lest Sinn Féin ever have any direct influence over policing. A suggested compromise of reserving this portfolio for either the SDLP or the UUP has now been rejected out of hand by Sinn Féin Justice spokesman Gerry Kelly.
• MEP Marian Harkin announced on Monday that she will not seek re-election to the Dáil in next year's general election. Currently Ms Harkin represents the Sligo-Leitrim constituency as an Independent but says she believes she can be more effective by focusing on her role as MEP for the North and West constituency.
• The Labour Party has confirmed that Nicky Kelly will join outgoing TD Liz McManus as a Dáil candidate in the Wicklow constituency. Less than a month ago Mr Kelly was fined €730 for careless driving (he caused a collision by ignoring a stop sign), and for driving without insurance or motor tax. He also has a drink-driving conviction.
• As was widely predicted, Seán Haughey was appointed Minister of State for Education in succession to Síle de Valera who stood down on Friday. The son of former Taoiseach the late Charles Haughey, the 45-year-old career politician has represented Dublin North Central since 1992. Prior to that he spent five years in the Seanad.

Northern News

• It was widely reported on Monday that dissident republicans have been planning to kill Gerry Adams and that the increased security provided for the Sinn Féin leader had forced the abandonment of at least one attempt on his life. For some republicans Mr Adams is now considered a traitor for his willingness to talk to the British and participate in a power-sharing assembly at Stormont. The fact that he may soon lead a party which acknowledges the legitimacy of, and supports, the PSNI is a step too far for many.
• Two boys aged 13 have appeared in Belfast juvenile court accused of rape, attempted rape and making threats to kill. The two allegedly attacked a young woman as she walked through Woodvale Park on Monday. The boys were also charged with stealing £40 from the woman at knifepoint and with causing her grievous bodily harm.
• The North's police ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, has found no evidence to support the allegation that the British intelligence services, in their anxiety to protect an informer, could have prevented the shooting of Stephen Restorick, the last British soldier to be killed by the IRA. During her investigation Ms O'Loan established that the car used by the killers had been under surveillance although documentation relating to the surveillance operation had disappeared. Lance Bombardier Restorick (23) was shot dead by an IRA sniper, while on checkpoint duty at Bessbrook in sough Armagh.
• Robbers have been targeting pensioners in their homes with alarming regularity. Wednesday's newspapers reported on five such incidents which took place in Co. Antrim over a five-hour period on Monday. Thieves terrorised elderly people in their homes in Ballinderry, Glengormley and Crumlin. The PSNI believe the incidents may be linked to similar incidents in Belfast and Co. Down during the previous week.
• The High Court in Belfast reversed an earlier decision and ruled that a prisoner on hunger strike need not be force-fed. The change came after a psychiatrist told the court that Belfast man Oswald Brown has no identifiable psychiatric condition and is capable of making rational decisions. Brown, who been on hunger strike for 58 days, was jailed for six years in 2001 after he was convicted of rape. He has always maintained his innocence.
• David McCartan (35) and his wife Geraldine (34), of Warrenpoint, Co. Down, on Friday appeared before Newry Magistrates Court charged with the murder of Mr McCartan's mother. Both have pleaded not guilty. Annie McCartan (75) was found dead in her Warrenpoint home in June of this year. She had been beaten and stabbed.
• On Tuesday a woman was killed in a road accident on the Glenshane Pass, Co. Derry, close to the Castledawson roundabout.
• Claire Wakeland (23) and Lisa McFerran (25), near neighbours from Rasharkin, Co. Antrim, were killed in a road accident near Portrush in the early hours of Saturday. The two women had alighted from a car on Ballybogey Road and were talking to the driver when the vehicle was struck by two other cars. Ms McFerran was the mother of two daughters, aged three and seven. Her brother was the partner of Ms Wakeland, who was brought up in England but had relatives in the area.
• A fund has been set up to raise the £200k needed to erect a life-size bronze sculpture of footballer George Best in his native Belfast. The fund patron is footballer David Healy and expressions of interest from sculptors are to be sought in the New Year.
• On Wednesday Gerry Adams led a Sinn Féin delegation at a meeting with PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde and other senior officers. The two men have met before but that was in London and this was considered groundbreaking as it took place at Stormont.
• Senior UUP politician Dermot Nesbitt (59) has announced that he is bowing out of politics. The MLA for South Down will not contest the next Assembly elections.
• Abandoning politics with almost immediate effect is the SDLP's Patricia Lewsley. She is currently MLA for Lagan Valley and a member of Lisburn council but has just been appointed Commissioner for Children and Young People.
• If we do have Assembly elections in March the Alliance candidate in South Belfast will be Anna Lo, the head of the Chinese Welfare Association.
• Since 2000 some 1,300 British soldiers have been found guilty of crimes in the North. Lady Hermon, UUP member for North Down, has called for a breakdown of the figures to reveal the kinds of crimes committed.
• Well-known Redemptorist priest Fr Bob McGoran (70), who was attached to the Clonard Monastery in Belfast, has died in hospital after a short illness.

News from Ireland - Week-ending December 17, 2006

We have just been through what was one of the most dramatic and tragic weeks of recent times. Dublin's criminals were again to the fore as they killed each other but they also killed an innocent young man doing an honest day's work. In Co. Louth another innocent man was murdered, this time by drunken thugs who went on a car-hijacking spree on both sides of the border. In the fall-out from the gangland killings Minister for Justice Michael McDowell took the unusual step of urging the country's judges to apply the law in the manner prescribed by the Oireachtas.
Also during the week a Co. Mayo farmer who had been charged with the manslaughter of an intruder was found not guilty. The verdict became a major talking point and was viewed as causing further divisions between the Travelling and settled communities.
On Thursday medical insurer BUPA announced that it was pulling out of Ireland. That became another major controversy as it will leave 300 people without jobs and some 475,000 will have to make alternative arrangements when their current policies expire.
Prior to all of the above occurring I was convinced that my lead story would be the radical new arrangements Minister for Health Mary Harney is preparing for the care of the elderly.

EU News

• The country's fishermen are angry at the latest cuts in quotas proposed by the European Fisheries Commission. In what is claimed to be a conservation measure, the plan is for further reductions in the catch of herring, cod, plaice and whiting. At the same time the commission reports success in earlier conservation measures and is willing to allow increased quotas for hake, monkfish and mackerel.
  

Politics & Politicians

• Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak arrived in Ireland on Wednesday at the start of a two-day official visit. During his stay he met President Mary McAleese, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. This was the first time that a president of Egypt visited Ireland. Mr Mubarak's wife Suzanne accompanied him and visited St Michael's House in Ballymun, which caters for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
• Galway West Fine Gael TD Pádraig McCormack, who announced at the party's convention that he would not be seeking re-election, has reversed his decision following the withdrawal of local Fine Gael councillor Brian Walsh. Councillor Walsh recently announced his withdrawal from the general election contest, citing personal reasons for his decision.
• Clare TD Síle de Valera resigned her position as Minister of State at the Department of Education on Friday, just as she said she would a year ago, when she announced that she would not be contesting the next general election. Ms de Valera first entered the Dáil in 1977 at the age of 22, representing a Dublin constituency. From 1997 until 2002 she was Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht & the Islands but this role was given to her cousin Éamon Ó Cuív after the 2002 election. The granddaughter of Éamon de Valera now plans to write her memoirs and to undertake a PhD in Psychology. Her successor as Minister of State is expected to be named this week; Seán Haughey is the favourite.
• Plans by the US Congress to award the Congressional Medal of Honour to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher have been thwarted by a group of Irish-American politicians. The opposition is led by Barney Frank, a Democratic congressman representing Massachusetts, who is supported by a number of congressmen from Irish-dominated districts including Joe Crowley of New York. Mr Frank sits on the Financial Services Committee, which has the final say on recipients of the medal.
• The action of Mayor of Tralee Norma Foley, in using Oireachtas freepost envelopes to send Christmas cards, is to be investigated by Fianna Fáil headquarters. Ms Foley used envelopes still held by her father, Denis Foley, following his retirement four years ago and maintained that the cards were from her parents as well as herself and her husband.