The North of Ireland is to be used increasingly to train British
soldiers before they are sent to conflict zones such as Afghanistan
and
Iraq, it has been confirmed.

The British Army says training in the Six Counties will become a
regular sight in some places.   It was responding to complaints from
North Antrim Sinn Fein Assemblyman Daithi McKay about "stepped-up"
helicopter activity in Rasharkin which is affecting farm animals.

British troops have recently been put on standby in their bases and
effectively demobilised following a 34-year campaign to seize and
maintain military control in the face of republican resistance.

On Wednesday morning, the so-called 'Operation Banner' was replaced by
Operation Helvetic, which allows the PSNI to call in the British Army
as necessary.

Padraigin Drinan, a civil rights lawyer, has pointed out that, in such
a case, the British army will retain powers that are not available in
Britain, such as the power to stop and question at random.

Meanwhile, a slightly reduced military force will continue to remain
in
place to engage in preparation and training activity, it has been
confirmed.

Mr McKay said that the British Army had increased training operations
in north Antrim considerably in recent months.

He said: "Our office has received complaints about British army
activity from the Glens of Antrim, Loughgiel, Glenravel, Dunloy and
Rasharkin in recent weeks.

"Given the recent reduction in the number of British troops here, it
is
deeply concerning that British army activity has actually risen in
north Antrim recently rather than declined.

"The British army played a major role in this conflict and their
continuing military activity has caused much anger. People here do not
want their communities used as military training camps and it's time
the British army acknowledged that and left this area in peace," he
stated.

Extraordinary conditions have been imposed on a republican parade in
Ballymena, County Antrim. The Parades Commission has told organisers
they must not leave the Fisherwick housing estate during the
internment
anniversary march on Thursday despite the fact they had not applied to
march there.

The Friends of William Orr republican band applied to march through a
nationalist area over the course of two and a half hours.

The commission dismissed this application and instead restricted the
marchers to a 100-metre stretch, ordering that the event should last
no
longer than 30 minutes.

In its determination the parading body noted that participants had
chanted "INLA" at last year's parade and carried "the flag of Fianna
na
hEireann".

DUP North Antrim representative Mervyn Storey said that the parade
should be banned by the British governor, Shaun Woodward.

"He should intervene and ban this. It serves no purpose for the
republican community and certainly serves no purpose for the unionist
community," he said.

Sinn Fein called for the organisers to call off their parade.

Republican youths fought running battles with the PSNI police
yesterday
[Monday] following a day-long military-style police operation in the
town of Craigavon, County Armagh.

Crowds hurled petrol bombs, stones, fireworks and other missiles at
officers as they raided a site in the Montbrief Road area of the town.

Earlier, British Army bomb disposal experts examined what was
described
as a suspicious object, which they blamed on republican militants. The
PSNI also said they recovered hundreds of pounds of home-made
explosive, and called for an end to the clashes.

"Not only are they risking the lives of officers who are simply trying
to do their jobs, but they are risking the lives of their own
community," a PSNI spokeswoman said in a statement.

Calm was restored in the town following the end of the PSNI operation
last night.

Meanwhile, nine people have been arrested in Tallaght as part of an
ongoing investigation by the Garda Special Detective Unit into the
activities of the INLA.

It was reported that when members of the unit raided the house in
southwest Dublin, they found a man who was being interrogated by the
republican group.

 An independent truth commission, including international experts,
should be considered for dealing with the past conflict, Sinn Fein
President Gerry Adams said yesterday.

Mr Adams criticised present British government arrangements for
addressing the past and said any probe should deal with all sufferers
equally.

He was speaking at a meeting in west Belfast to highlight state
collusion in murder during the last 30 years.

"Some of the groups are looking at an international independent truth
commission, that is something, which as a party, we will also look at,
but it has to be victim-centred and it has to be positive," he said.
"It has to be part of a healing process."

Sinn Fein supporters will also wear black ribbons to highlight their
call for truth about British Crown force involvement in killings.

These include the 1989 UDA murder of Belfast defence lawyer Pat
Finucane and the decision by the Public Prosecution Service not to
charge anybody after Lord Stevens's inquiry into the death.

Earlier this summer former British Direct Ruler Peter Hain announced
an
independent panel, including former Church of Ireland leader Lord
Robin
Eames and former Policing Board vice-chairman Denis Bradley, to debate
ways of dealing with more than 3,000 unsolved murders.

Mr Adams questioned the group's freedom.

"As we continue to deal with matters of social and economic need, as
we
continue to roll out the equality agenda we also have to deal with
this
type of issue.

"We will not deal with it by a British Secretary of State in the last
two days of his tenure bringing in the type of study group that he has
brought in.

"I have problems in relation to its remit, my strong suspicion in all
of these issues is that it`s a matter of trying to string this out and
just a waste of time on the issue."

He added the intentions of many of its members were honourable but
that
all victims should be given equal priority.

Republicans will gather on Sunday to mark the 26th anniversary of the
introduction of the British policy of internment without trial

West Belfast MP Mr Adams said the problem of sectarianism between
Protestants and Catholics had still to be dealt with.

"It is about collusion and trying to shine a light on that dimension
of
the unfinished business of this ongoing process."

One victim, Jim Clinton, whose wife Theresa was killed by loyalists
over a decade ago in her Ormeau Road home in south Belfast, said: "We
have the entitlement to know what happens.

"We are the people who suffered, we are the people whose loved ones
were taken away, we are the people who have had to live with that over
the past number of years.

"We are entitled to know why and who ordered the killing of our loved
ones. There's no back doors in this."

Analysis: Unionists still believe they own the north

By Brian Feeney (for the Irish News)


You could be forgiven for thinking that the only issue in Irish
politics at present is whether Sinn Fein 'will sign up to policing'.

Even the phrase is biased. It accepts the unionist spin on the issue
and implies that Sinn Fein is opposed to policing, that some day the
party will experience a Damascene conversion and support policing, law
and order and the criminal justice system.

Accepting that unionist spin assumes automatically that any system of
law and order, policing and criminal justice the British
administration
in the north establishes is ideal and ought to deserve the immediate
and unquestioning support of republicans.

Of course when unionists don't like policing or the way law and order
is administered they riot, shoot at the police or try to bring the
north to a standstill, as one UUP spokesman threatened a few years ago
over Drumcree. That's okay, you see, because unionists still believe
they own the north.

That's an attitude which raises the other issues that hardly anyone
mentions.

Poor Dermot Ahern in Cork on Sunday tried to remind people that a deal
requires two moves, not one. "One, a move on power sharing by the DUP.
Two, support for policing by Sinn Fein."

We all know, and are reminded daily, that SF haven't got support for
the PSNI through an ard fheis yet. What virtually no-one points out is
that no-one in the DUP has expressed support for power sharing and
no-one says when they're going to do so.

Oh yes, there's a lot of 'If Sinn Fein do this and Sinn Fein do that
and then maybe some day in a shimmering Shangri-La we will consider
and
blah blah'.

So register that - no-one in the DUP supports sharing power as a
principle and no-one asks them when they're going to.

In fact the DUP officially opposes sharing power in principle.

The party leadership is engaged in a do-or-die struggle with political
dinosaurs in their membership who because of a toxic mixture of
religious and politico-ethnic hatreds can't contemplate sharing power
with any nationalist or Catholic, never mind Sinn Fein.

However, being the complete opposite of its name the DUP will railroad
this 180-degree turn through regardless of the dinosaurs.

What about the other items of the ministerial pledge which the DUP
remain silent about?

'To participate fully in the Executive Committee, the North-South
Ministerial Council and the British-Irish Council; to observe the
joint
nature of the offices of first and deputy first minister'.

You don't hear too much about them, do you?

This is the party which refused to sit in the executive because they
oppose the Good Friday Agreement - and still do - and would not engage
in 'north-southery' as they derisively call it.

Remember, only a fortnight ago Gregory Campbell suffered an acute
attack of foot-in-mouth disease on this very issue.

Won't it be delightful to hear that oul curmudgeon Paisley actually
saying those words about all-Ireland bodies? Won't it be amazing to
hear him accepting that Martin McGuinness is his equal in office. Oh
joy. What a turnaround.

Talk about selling the pass.

Now perhaps you know why none of this is ever mentioned. Those members
of the DUP who can read would be likely to have a collective
apoplectic
fit if they saw what their leader is pledging to do - nothing less
than
the opposite of everything he has ever proclaimed anathema.

Smash Sinn Fein. Remember the stunt with sledge-hammers? No Dublin
interference. Remember the 'Nevaar Nevaar Nevaar Nevaar' bellow at the
city hall? No sharing power.

Remember the previous pledge of only true democracy in the north, by
which he meant majority rule?

At present the DUP is relying on the fact that virtually no-one in the
party will read the bill putting the inter-governmental St Andrews
agreement into law. If they did they would see that almost the only
change is that the DUP assembly members do not have to vote for a Sinn
Fein deputy first minister.

As for all the other matters the DUP opposed in the GFA, the new
arrangements compel them to comply.

They must sit and act with SF and they must sit on the all-Ireland
bodies.

Some changes.
 

Objection to murder ended British Army officer's career


A former senior British army intelligence officer has claimed that his
British military career in the Six Counties was ended after he raised
objections about the murder of a nationalist man in County Armagh,
which he believes was carried out in collusion with a unionist death
squad.

Lieutenant-Colonel Nigel Wylde, who served with the British army in
the
Six Counties during the early to mid-1970s, has revealed the murder
was
carried out after information was passed from the British army to a
loyalist death squad who then shot dead an innocent and uninvolved
nationalist.

Wylde said that after "objecting very strongly" he was transferred
back
to England within a matter of days. He refused to identify the
nationalist man who was murdered.

"It left me very disillusioned with how things were going on," he
said.
"It was a case of an innocent man being shot dead and there was
clearly
collusion involved. I objected extremely strongly to what had happened
and I expressed those objections at an army meeting." Wylde said.

"It was clear from the meeting that my views on the matter meant
further service in Northern Ireland was incompatible. I wasn't
supported in what I said and very shortly afterwards, not even weeks
but a matter of days, I was transferred out of Northern Ireland, I
have
no doubt that my objections were a cause of that," said Wylde, who is
now retired and living in the south of England.

He said that at the time the nationalist man was killed, a number of
unionist sectarian murders were taking place along the border and in
County Armagh.

The former British army officer said he left the matter in the hands
of
the British military but never received any follow up contact. After
being transferred out of the Six Counties, Wylde became involved in
Cold War spying in the former East Germany, where he was stationed for
a time.

An international panel of legal experts, commissioned by the
Derry-based human rights group, The Pat Finucane Centre, concluded in
a
report published on November 7 that there was evidence of RUC and
British army collusion in 74 murders by loyalists that occurred
between
1972 and 1977.

Wylde, who is an explosives expert, said that after studying the
Dublin
and Monaghan bombings in 1974 he was convinced that the UVF did not
have the capability to make such devices and believes they could only
have come from one of two sources.

"It was either republicans who gave them the bomb or the British army.
I would imagine the first option is unlikely," he said.

Wylde said he would consider providing information to Patrick McEntee
SC, one of the country"s leading criminal barristers, who is carrying
out an inquiry into the Garda's handling of the Dublin and Monaghan
bombings, which killed 33 people, the biggest single loss of life in
the current conflict.

"If Paddy McEntee approached me to give evidence on the matter, I
would
give it serious consideration," Wylde stated.

Nigel Wylde has previously given evidence to the Barron Tribunal,
which
investigated the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. In December 1998 Wylde
was charged with offences under the British Government"s Official
Secrets Act.

He was accused of giving confidential intelligence documents relating
to British army conduct in Ireland. However in November 2000 the case
against him collapsed and all charges against him were withdrawn.

Families getting caught in poverty trap


Most households dependent on unemployed persons or those on minimum
wage do not have enough income to sustain a basic standard of living,
new research has shown.

A new method of measuring deprivation draws on more refined techniques
used in Britain and the US by assessing the affordability of a basic
basket of good and services.

This basket includes day-to-day costs, such as food, clothing, fuel,
childcare and phone bills, that were agreed by focus groups and
experts. It excludes items such as debt repayment, pension
contributions or bank charges.

The results show that weekly incomes for five out of six household
types surveyed fell well short of a basic standard of living. The gap
between the basic standard of living and weekly incomes was up to 150
Euros per week.

The report underlines a recent finding by the United Nations, which
places Ireland near the bottom of a human poverty index of western
countries.

The figures contained in the UN Development Programme's Human
Development Report for 2006, which put Ireland in 17th place in a
poverty index of 18 OECD countries.

Meanwhile, a further report by the Central Statistics Office claimed
that little could be done to alleviate the level of poverty in the 26
Counties.

Sinn Fein spokesperson on Social and Family Affairs Sean Crowe TD has
called on the Dublin government to give up what he said was a
"defeatist" attitude to the problem of widespread poverty.

The Dublin South-West TD said: "This Government has presided over this
state, uninterrupted, for nearly a decade now, a period in which we
have witnessed unprecedented economic growth and subsequent bulging
state coffers. However it is a stark indictment of the government with
that 7% of the population, nearly 300,000 people, are ranked as living
in consistent poverty.

"With the PDs professing that inequality is actually healthy for
society, it is no wonder that poverty levels are as high as they are.
The Government continue to neglect the provision of adequate social
protections which has lead to the increased social and economics
marginalisation of those suffering from poverty."

Questions over Stone attack


Notorious unionist paramilitary killer Michael Stone has been charged
with five counts of attempted murder over his attack on the Belfast
Assembly at Stormont buildings on Friday.

Before being led from the dock today, he shouted out: "No sell-out. No
power-sharing with the Shinners, they are war criminals. Ulster is not
for sale, no surrender."

In a solo assault on Friday, Stone barged into the Great Hall at
Stormont armed with a pistol and between six and eight pipe-bombs,
some
of which were already sparking and smoking and were later described by
police as "amateurish".

Stone was able to throw the pipe bombs, which he was carrying in a
rucksack, into the Great Hall.  He then appeared to become stuck in a
revolving door and was disarmed and detained by civilian security
staff
in full view of the waiting media.

Shouting "No surrender" and describing DUP leader Ian Paisley as a
"traitor", Stone had the gun snatched from him by the female guard
while the male guard pinned him against the wall.

Amid the pandemonium, other security guards ordered reporters away
from
the front door as an alarm wailed.

A defiant Stone, repeatedly shouting, was eventually forced outside,
where the civilian guards restrained him.

Eight police officers assigned to protect MPs were inside Stormont
Buildings but did not help the civilian guards because they had a
"specific role", according to PSNI Chief Hugh Orde.

"While he may have got himself a little short-term publicity I think
the vast majority of people will see this for what it was: a sad
publicity act by a very sad individual."

Stone remains in custody at Antrim police station.

While his intentions remain unclear, it was reported that he intended
to attack Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.

Mr Adams said the attack was a serious attempt to kill and injure
people.

Mr Adams said there were many questions to be asked about security,
the
forensic history of the gun and the nature of the devices that Stone
had.

The West Belfast MP commended staff at Parliament Buildings for their
bravery in tackling and disarming Stone and expressed solidarity and
best wishes to one staff member who was lightly injured.

The episode was "a glimpse of the old agenda of those who want to drag
the community back to the dark days", he said.

HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

Stone was unknown before he launched a similar gun and grenade attack
on the funeral of the three IRA Volunteers shot dead by the SAS in
Gibraltar, again in view of the media.

He killed three people and injured a number more. He was jailed for a
total of 700 years with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 30
years.

However he was released on licence in June 2000 under the terms of the
Good Friday Agreement. That licence has now been revoked by British
Direct Ruler Peter Hain.

With a high level of public attention focused on Stormont, the
security
breach was highly embarrassing for the British government. Peter Hain
has asked PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde to review security.

Before trying to get into Parliament Buildings, Stone had time to stop
and spray graffiti - "Sinn Fein IRA war" - in large red letters on the
facade.

His former colleagues in the unionist paramilitary UDA have disowned
the attack.

A senior member of the UDA said : "Michael Stone is publicity-hungry
and in that way I suppose he achieved what he set out to do in that
he's managed to get himself back into the headlines."

Speaking to reporters from Scotland, former ex-Shankill UDA boss
Johnny
Adair also had the same opinion.

"Michael Stone is criminally insane he thrives on media attention,"
Adair said.

However, relatives for Justice director Mark Thompson said that Stone
intended to kill and that families bereaved by Stone will ask how he
managed to gain entry to Stormont.

"How did he manage to gain access to the Main Hall on such a vital
day?
Clearly the intention was to cause huge devastation on the same scale
as in Milltown."

CONFUSION AND TERROR AT STORMONT


The peace process has survived one of its most dramatic days in recent
years despite a major political crisis and an almost simultaneous gun
and bomb attack at the Belfast Assembly.

Extraordinary scenes of unionist paramilitary Michael Stone staging a
serious assault on the Stormont parliamentary buildings outside
Belfast
came as a political drama was unfolding within.

Ian Paisley's unexpected refusal to permit his designation as the
DUP's
future candidate for First Minister in a power-sharing administration
in Belfast threw into chaos a carefully planned political fudge to
allow the continuation of the St Andrews process.

The governments had hoped the process, which grew out of negotiations
in Scotland last month, would lead to the revival of the political
institutions of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement by March next year.

Legislation implementing the proposals had called for Sinn Fein and
the
DUP to indicate their candidates for the two top posts in the restored
power-sharing Executive.

Announcing himself to the Assembly as a man of "plain speech", Dr
Paisley said he would not fudge the issues nor engage in "word games".

On the issue of supporting the PSNI police, the rule of law and the
courts, the DUP leader accused Sinn Fein of failing to do so "up to
this point".

"Rather they have equivocated, hesitated and by various means have
obstructed progress and continued to blame my party for the delay," he
said. Only when Sinn Fein backed the police and met "other
commitments"
could progress be made.

"Delivery is in the hands of Sinn Fein and there can and will be no
movement until they face up and sign up to their obligations.

"The government stressed before, during and after the St Andrews talks
that the twin pillars for agreement are DUP support for power-sharing
and Sinn Fein support for policing," he said.

"Clearly as Sinn Fein is not yet ready to take the decisive step
forward on policing, the DUP is not required to commit to any aspect
of
power-sharing in advance of such certainty.

"Circumstances have not been reached that there can be a nomination or
a designation this day," Dr Paisley said.

"I have made clear my aim, hope and desire for the future. Throughout
the DUP consultations, it was stated if and when commitments are
delivered, the DUP would enter government.

"At that time, there will fall to me a judgment consistent with the
policy that delivery on the ground is a basis for moving forward. Here
I stand."

Dr Paisley's defiant statement was followed by a statement by Sinn
Fein
president Gerry Adams, who proceeded with the nomination of his chief
negotiator, Martin McGuinness, as deputy first minister.

He told the chamber he agreed with Ian Paisley that it was "an
important day". Along with the DUP, he said republicans too faced
challenges in the months ahead. "But I believe that all the parties in
this chamber and the two governments can overcome these challenges."

Mr Adams denounced "British direct rule" as "bad rule" and said he
shared in the DUP wish to see local accountability at Stormont.

"The DUP say they have difficulty sharing power with republicans," he
told members. "Let me tell you that many, many nationalists and
republicans are concerned at the prospect of Sinn Fein sharing power
with the DUP. But that is also a challenge that we must rise to."

He said all had to accept responsibility for what had occurred.

"With goodwill we can create a space in which all the issues of
difference including policing and power-sharing, on poverty or any
other
matter can satisfactorily be dealt with.

"Today is another day in the inch-by-inch process of putting the
political institutions back in place."

Mr McGuinness then spoke briefly to accept Mr Adams's nomination.

"If it is the will of the people and Sinn Fein I will represent the
people as deputy first minister. I will carry out my responsibilities
and duties conscientiously and will respect and promote the common
good
of all our people at all times."

The political confusion deepened when Paisley's rejection was ignored
by the Speaker of the Assembly, who proceeded as if the nominations
process had been successful.

This was challenged by Ulster Unionist leader Reg Empey and
independent
unionist Bob McCartney.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan branded the proceedings a "hollow farce" and
he
accused the British Direct Ruler Peter Hain of resorting to "remote
direction" of events in the Assembly.

"Language and logic has been turned inside out and on its head," he
said.

Alliance leader David Ford branded Dr Paisley's statement as "the
longest 'maybe' in history ever".

Only the evacuation of Stormont in the aftermath of Stone's attack
then
drew a curtain on the bitterly criticised attempts to launch the
transitional Assembly.   The first meeting of the half-way-house
political body was intended to begin preparations for the return of
the
full-blown Assembly following an election in March next year.

As politicians, staff and members of the media huddled in the rain
following the general evacuation, a desperate damage-limitations
exercise was underway by the Dublin and London governments to deal
with
the turn of events.

But with Stormont occupied only by British Army bomb-disposal teams, a
group of twelve hardline DUP Assembly members issued a statement to
underline their belief that their party had refused to indicate a
nomination, effectively challenging the legality of the Assembly
proceedings.

This statement was signed by Nigel Dodds, William McCrea, Gregory
Campbell, David Simpson, Lord Morrow, Diane Dodds, Paul Girvan,
Stephen
Moutray, Nelson McCausland, Mervyn Storey, Tom Buchanan and deputy
speaker Jim Wells.

However, by last night, a statement emerged from Mr Paisley, allowing
for his future nomination in the context of Sinn Fein agreeing to
certain demands and other conditions. This was declared sufficient by
the two governments to meet the requirements of the process and allow
the transitional Assembly to convene.

  Mr Paisley himself said he had made his position clear on the
  conditions of accepting the post of First Minister.

"The prime minister has made his decision about my speech and how he
interprets it," Mr Paisley said.

"I have always said, as I said today in the assembly, what my
intention
will be if policing and all of the other outstanding issues that are
before us are settled.

"Everyone know that in those circumstances after they are delivered I
would accept the First Minister's nomination provided the election
results are favourable."

Mr Paisley's comments were welcomed by secretary of state Peter Hain,
who said he expected the DUP leader and Mr McGuinness to become First
and Deputy First Ministers if all sides endorsed the St Andrews
proposals.

"Although there was some confusion in the assembly, caused not least
by
the attack on security, the fact that the leader of the DUP has
confirmed his intention to accept the First Minister's nomination,
provided outstanding issues including support for policing are
addressed, shows that we are still on track," Mr Hain said.

"However, there is a great deal of work to do and considerable efforts
need to be made by the DUP and Sinn Fein especially to move forward."

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams called for the transitional Assembly
to
be re-convened as quickly as possible.

He said he stood by his comments in the Assembly yesterday morning,
when he nominated Martin McGuinness for the position of Deputy First
Minister, and that he had spent the afternoon talking to the British
and Irish governments.

"I believe that all of the outstanding issues can be resolved if the
political will is there.  We can't be put off by what happened [at
Stormont on Friday], our focus has to be on securing the return of
fully functioning political institutions."

Sinn Fein Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness said his party would not
be deflected from the process and denied his party was being naive in
their approach to the DUP.

"We have set out our stall clearly. We have nominated for the position
of Deputy First Minister as required and we look forward to the
Assembly reconvening again on Monday to complete this work," he said.

"However we are not naive about any of this and all eyes remain on the
DUP and the approach they will adopt to moving the process forward in
the coming weeks.

"After Monday's planned Assembly meeting the Programme for Government
Committee will come together.

"That is the forum where outstanding matters, including issues on
policing and justice, should be raised and resolved. But I have to say
the issue of policing and the resolution to it is as much an issue for
the British government and the DUP as it is for Sinn Fein.

"So we remain absolutely focused on the task of ensuring progress is
made in the coming weeks and I firmly believe that if the necessary
political will and courage is displayed then we can bring about a
situation where all of the outstanding aspects of the Agreement
including the political institutions are finally delivered."