#Dublin :Irish social workers are horrified by their ruthless English counterparts

Families fleeing the interventions of social workers have been finding a far more humane approach across the water.

The number of children taken into care every month in the UK has reached a record level Photo: ALAMY

Such is the reign of terror now being imposed on innocent English families by social workers that scores of parents have been fleeing with their children to Ireland to escape their clutches. I have followed a dozen such stories over the past two years, and in all of them two things stand out. One is that the English social workers seem prepared to stop at nothing to get the children back. The other is the extraordinary contrast between them and the Irish social workers, who again and again have satisfied themselves that the children are at no risk from their loving parents and are astonished by the ruthless behaviour of their English counterparts.

 

Several of these stories I have reported more than once and they do not have happy endings. A mother and baby were pursued to Ireland by six social workers and police, who sat in Dublin for 10 days of court hearings, until a judge ruled in their favour (with the social workers seen giving “high fives” on emerging from the court). When the mother again escaped to a remote cottage, she was violently knocked down by a policeman, so that her baby could be taken back to England.

Vicky Haigh, a former racehorse trainer, managed to escape to Ireland before her daughter was born. But then she was brought to England to be quite bizarrely punished, in a case relating to her beloved older daughter, with a three-year prison sentence – leaving her baby to be looked after in Ireland.

A 14-year-old boy lived happily with his mother in Ireland for six months until, after an equally bizarre judgment based on evidence neither he nor his mother were allowed to see, he was deported miserably back to care in England.

Last week, another such story came my way. It concerns a respectable family which was hit with disaster last summer, after the semi-autistic 8-year-old son –who tends to make things up – had lashed out at his 13-year-old sister, leaving bruises. When these were investigated, the boy told the police that his father had done it. The girl denied this – and the boy admitted in video evidence what had really happened – but the police stuck with his earlier story and arrested the father. Although he was never charged, the interventions of social workers became so menacing that, last October, the family escaped to Ireland, where the father has his roots. ....read more

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/9090328/Irish-social-workers-are-horrified-by-their-ruthless-English-counterparts.html

Pat Finucane :SAS Pat Finucane Solicitor or IRA 1off 2

Uploaded by oorubberoochickenoo on 11 Apr 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v4v43-lZEw Ex Parachute Regimant soldier now legal student investigates Collusion in Northern Ireland ( Tony Gosling Radio Drive time FM93.2 interview)
SAS UDA UVF RUC MI5 collusion in the Murder of IRA solicitor PAt Finucane evidence and the Stevens Inquiry

Pat Finucane : Thatchers Day To Take The Stand - Is It Now All Too Late As Those From The Hillsborough Disaster Also Wait For The Truth From This Evil Woman.

The wife of murdered North Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane has said the day that former Tory PM Maggie Thatcher takes the witness stand at a full public inquiry into his killing is drawing nearer.

And she says the international judge appointed by Tony Blair to look into the controversial murder has told her the British government must publish a true reflection of his findings.

As pressure mounts for the truth into the notorious and brutal murder of Pat Finucane, Geraldine Finucane told the North Belfast News that nothing less than an “expansive” inquiry was needed to unveil the murky and deadly involvement of the RUC Special Branch and the British Army’s Force Research Unit (FRU) in murder. And she said the political establishment as well as the British military must take the stand at an inquiry and be called to account for their actions.

“It has always been regarded that Margaret Thatcher was the top of the chain of command. An inquiry would establish that. All the people on that chain are accountable and it has always been our aim to get to the truth,” she said.

“She was a hands-on prime minister and liked to know everything first hand,” said Geraldine Finucane.

“She was involved in everything and where Northern Ireland was concerned – particularly with the death of her close friend Airey Neave and Lord Mountbatten – she liked to be briefed directly. She like this so she could be sure of things.”

Next Thursday marks the 15th anniversary of the February 1989 death of the 39-year-old solicitor. He was gunned down by the UFF in his home in Fortwilliam as he sat with his family eating dinner. A UDA gunman pumped 14 shots into Pat Finucane in a British army-led loyalist murder campaign which peaked in the late ‘80s and 1990s.

Just weeks prior to the murder Douglas Hogg, a junior minister in the Thatcher government, used parliamentary privilege to name solicitors whom he claimed were “sympathetic” to the IRA.

To this day Douglas Hogg still stands by his comments.

A huge number of nationalists – most of them civilians – on whom the FRU had prepared files and handed over to the death squads, were from North Belfast.

Relatives of those targeted were often the innocent victims of the loyalist gunmen when they came to call.

An army checkpoint set up on the Antrim Road on the night of the murder was withdrawn to let Pat Finucane’s killers through the security force cordon.

Geraldine Finucane said she wanted to know “exactly what policy was carried out” at every level.

That policy led to the British state murder of hundreds of its own citizens and allowed loyalist killers like South African gunrunner Brian Nelson to kill with impunity.

Geraldine Finucane said any inquiry would also expose the policy of the British government at that time. ...read more

http://www.troopsoutmovement.com/patfinucane.htm

Pat Finucane : Thatcher And The British Goverment's Dirty Double Dealings.

SNIP

The Omagh BombingThe Bombing
On August 15, 1998, a car bombing took place in Omagh, Northern Ireland, killing 29 people and injuring roughly 220 others.  It was described as “Northern Ireland's worst single terrorist atrocity.”[7] The attack was instantly blamed by the RUC on a group called the Real IRA (RIRA). Police had been clearing the area around the courthouse prior to the bombing, having received a “telephone tip off”, however “police were pushing everyone towards the bottom end of the town not knowing the bomb was there.”[8]

Double Agent
It was revealed in 2001 that David Rupert, an American double agent working for both the FBI and MI5 had “infiltrated the core of the organisation which planted the Omagh bomb.”[9]

Whistleblower
Over the course of several years, a series of articles in the British and Irish press reported on stories told by Kevin Fulton, the pseudonym of a British double agent in the IRA. Fulton became a highly controversial whistleblower regarding collusion between the British Army and the IRA. In 2001, he spoke out about the Omagh bombing, saying that “security forces didn't intercept the Real IRA's Omagh bombing team because one of the terrorists was a British double-agent whose cover would have been blown as an informer if the operation was uncovered.”  Also, he “phoned a warning to his RUC handlers 48 hours before the Omagh bombing that the Real IRA was planning an attack and gave details of one of the bombing team and his car registration.”[10] In 2006 it was reported that “the British security service, MI5, withheld vital anti-terrorism intelligence just months before the Omagh bombing in 1998.”[11]

Collusion and Investigation
In 2003, senior officials in the Irish Police were “accused of ignoring a clear warning about the Omagh bomb atrocity to protect a Real IRA informer,” and “the bomb was allowed to 'go through' to preserve [the informer’s] role in the terrorist organization.”[12] A year prior, family members of the victims of the Omagh bombing attempted to set a meeting with Prime Minister Tony Bair regarding their concerns over the police investigations into the bombing, however, Blair "angered families of the Omagh bomb victims by refusing to meet them at 10 Downing Street.”[13]

7. Fulton and Thatcher
In 2002, Fulton spoke out regarding how “he was told by his military handlers that his collusion with paramilitaries was sanctioned by Margaret Thatcher herself.” Fulton had worked for the FRU while being a mole in the IRA. From 1981 until 1995, “Fulton remained on full army pay as he worked his way through the ranks of the IRA.” Fulton said that he helped mix explosives and “develop new types of bombs,” and “that some of the things [he] helped develop did kill.” He also stated that, “my handlers knew everything I did.” Fulton went on to become a member of the IRA’s torture unit, "which interrogated and executed suspected informers.”

In 1992, Fulton warned his handlers in both the FRU and MI5 that “his IRA mentor Blair was planning to use a horizontally- fired mortar for an attack on the police. His handlers did nothing. Within days, Blair fired the device at an armoured RUC Land Rover in Newry, in the process, killing policewoman Colleen McMurray. Another RUC officer lost both his legs.” Fulton split with the IRA and the FRU in the mid-90s and claimed to have been set up by the FRU to be discovered as a mole since he had “outlived his usefulness.” The idea was to have him discovered so that the IRA would “believe they were free of informers.” Meanwhile, “the army had secured a far more highly-placed mole within the IRA,” codenamed Stakeknife. ..read more


http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/british-intelligence-and-the-ira-1205/

Pat Finucane : Video - Justice For The Murder Of Pat Finucane .

Uploaded by Swiftyireland on 14 Oct 2011

PAT FINUCANE MURDER

Patrick Finucane (1949 - 12 February 1989) was a Catholic Belfast solicitor killed by loyalist paramilitaries on 12 February 1989. His killing was one of the most controversial during the Troubles in Ireland.Pat Finucane came to prominince due to successfully challenging the British Government over several important human rights cases in the 1980s. He was shot fourteen times as he sat eating a meal at his Belfast home with his three children and wife, who was wounded in the attack. In September 2004 an UDA informer, Ken Barrett, pleaded guilty to his murder.

Two public investigations concluded that elements of the British state apparatus colluded in Finucane's murder and there have been high-profile calls for a public inquiry. However, in October 2011 it was announced that a planned public inquiry would be replaced by a less wide-ranging review.

Pat Finucane : Tony Blair's Failed Promise - Read what the murdered solicitor's son had to say in 2007

My dad's murder is part of the last conflict demon

The decision by the director of public prosecutions not to prosecute any army or Royal Ulster Constabulary officers over the role in the murder of my dad, Pat Finucane, is disappointing but not surprising. Perhaps the most curious thing about the decision is that it makes a perverse kind of sense. After all, why prosecute people for doing the job you asked them to do in the first place?

This is what is at stake in the issue of collusion, and prosecuting people would have opened a murky world the government wanted kept hidden. In fact, the word "collusion" has become the adjective of choice for what was, in reality, British government policy in Northern Ireland since the 1970s.
The official version was that state agents were infiltrating Loyalist paramilitary organisations in order to prevent what they were planning to do. There are problems with this explanation. Firstly, the activities continued despite the existence of agents, and many people were still being murdered. Secondly, this explanation conflicts with the internal reports of one of the main agencies responsible for running the agents.
State collusion with paramilitaries remains a festering sore in the way of rehabilitation from conflict-riven wasteland to modern, autonomously governed democracy. The responsibility here lies firmly with the government, which has never accepted that the state was a participant in the conflict.
This is the last conflict demon to be exorcised in Northern Ireland and if the society we hope to create is to have the best chance of overcoming the past then the truth must out. The answer is to expose and confront the facts. An independent public judicial inquiry, invested with all necessary powers and autonomy to do the job required, is the only vessel capable of bringing Northern Ireland across its last Rubicon.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/jun/28/comment.northernireland

Pat Finucane : Cameron - Why Did He Renege On Pat Finucane Deal - WHAT Have They Got To Hide ?

 

Owen Paterson and David Cameron

 

By Barry McCaffrey

IT WAS on the verge of resolving one of the most controversial murders of the Troubles and securing the backing of Pat Finucane’s family for an agreed inquiry into the solicitor’s murder – so why did the British government instead send them packing?

Geraldine Finucane travelled to Downing Street yesterday believing Prime Minister David Cameron was about to offer a compromise inquiry which would have been acceptable to both her family and the British government but in the event they were offered a behind-the-scenes review of the paperwork by a lawyer – a move the government is bound to have known would only inflame speculation that it has much more to hide in this case.
Mrs Finucane, who has campaigned for more than 20 years for an independent inquiry into allegations that elements of the British government ordered her husband’s murder in 1989, is understood to have been optimistic that an agreement was in sight.

The Detail understands that the government had put forward proposals to the Finucane family during discussions earlier this year in which it promised to establish a public inquiry which would be free from any government attempts to withhold key evidence.

Crucially, it was government lawyers and not the Finucane family, who suggested the compromise, which looked set to resolve the 22-year dispute.

John Finucane / Belfast Media Group archive

 

But what unfolded shocked even a family which thought itself well-used to disappointment and cover-up.

The Finucane party: Pat’s widow Geraldine, their children, Michael, Katherine and John; Pat’s brothers Martin and Seamus; his business partner, Peter Madden and campaigner, Jane Winter, arrived at Downing Street on Tuesday afternoon.

Cameron entered the room, accompanied by the Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson and Cameron’s private secretary. Cameron got straight down to business and, initially, things looked promising, according to John Finucane:

“He came into the room and apologised to us on behalf of the British government for the collusion in my father’s murder.
“He also apologised for all the delays and broken promises which successive British governments have made to us for the last 10 years.

“We fully expected at that point that he was going to announce to us that he was going to allow an inquiry into my father’s murder.

“We had been led to believe for more than a year that this was what was going to happen.

“Instead he proceeded to inform us that he had asked a barrister to review papers in the case and report back to the Secretary of State. It was a total insult.”

Geraldine Finucane / Irish News archive

A public slapping-down

The meeting was abruptly ended by Geraldine Finucane when it became clear the Prime Minister was determined to rule out any inquiry.

Said John Finucane: “I think Mummy had had enough, she just said she didn’t want to hear anymore.

“She said she wanted the meeting to end.”

Outside 10 Downing Street, Mrs Finucane said her rage was such that she could barely speak.

So where does this surprise development leave the Finucanes?

There has been a predictably angry response from nationalist and human rights quarters, but it’s not clear what, if any momentum the Finucanes can hope to garner to get the inquiry they insist is needed into the murder of Pat Finucane.

Cameron’s handling of this case has surprised those who heaped praise on him for his handling of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry and its findings last year – he unequivocally apologised to the victims and gave his full backing to the work of the inquiry.

His treatment of the Finucanes, in contrast, appears to renege on the international agreement his government made with its Irish counterparts at Weston Park in 2001 to hold an inquiry into the Finucane murder and the murders of Billy Wright, Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill and Harry Breen and Bob Buchanan; all the others have taken place, bar the Breen/Buchanan inquiry which is currently running in Dublin.

What have they got to hide?

British/Irish Rights Watch spokeswoman Jane Winter, who took part in the Downing Street meeting, said she was convinced that there are some individuals in the highest echleons of the British establishment who do not want their role in the events surrounding Pat Finucane’s murder to become public.

“I have come to the conclusion that there is something about Patrick Finucane’s death that successive governments have tried to hide and still want to hide,” she said.

“There’s something so utterly damning that they don’t want the public to know.”

Referring to the detailed discussions which had taken place between Downing Street officials and the Finucane’s lawyers, Ms Winter said:

“There have been extensive talks for over a year between the two legal teams.

“All the talk was about what sort of public inquiry could be agreed.

“It certainly was more than what was offered by David Cameron.”

The Government appears to have set its face against any further discussion on the parameters of the Finucane probe. In spite of the family’s clear unwillingness to support the paperwork review, it is pressing ahead regardless as a Downing Street spokesman subsequently made clear:

“The prime minister expressed his profound sympathy for the family and said it was clear from (the) Stevens and Cory (inquiries) that state collusion had taken place in Mr Finucane’s murder and he accepted these conclusions.

“On behalf of the government he apologised to the family.

“He confirmed that the government’s priority was to get to the truth in the best and most effective way and the secretary of state will set out the details for this process shortly.”

http://www.thedetail.tv/issues/30/finucanes-meet-cameron/why-did-cameron-renege-on-pat-finucane-deal

The Ghost Of Pat Finucane Still Stalks The British.

Geraldine Finucane / Irish News archive

 

By Chris Moore

IN THE Northern Ireland lexicon the word collusion is synonymous with the name of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

His killing in front of his wife and children in February 1989 has led his family on a long 22-year journey seeking the truth of British State collusion in his death.

Bookmakers would have stopped taking bets on whether there would be a public inquiry into Pat Finucane’s death. But the bookmakers sometimes get it wrong.

At virtually every step along the route followed by the Finucane family since 1989, the indications were pointing strongly to a public inquiry – the only uncertainty appeared to be what form the public inquiry would take.

The Finucane family held strong together – suspicious of the British Government and seeking an independent inquiry. They got international support from lawyers and governments.

The demand for an independent public inquiry has never waned.
The first official vindication for the family’s firmly held belief that there was security force collusion in Pat Finucane’s murder came from an English police officer appointed to examine allegations of collusion in the murder by the loyalist killer gang the UFF of Loughlin Maginn – a 28-year-old Catholic shot dead in August 1989.

Sir John Stevens arrived in Northern Ireland a month after the Maginn killing and seven months after Pat Finucane’s murder to investigate security force collusion with Loyalist paramilitaries. It was the first of three inquiries Stevens conducted here spanning 15 years.

Stevens quickly switched his focus on to UDA intelligence officer Brian Nelson who was a British Army agent. Nelson, it transpired, had given a warning about the pending attack on Pat Finucane. Nelson was jailed for 10 years on charges of conspiracy to murder.

By the time John Stevens returned for his third and final inquiry concluded in 2003 that there was no doubt that members of the security forces colluded with the loyalist killers of Pat Finucane. It had taken Stevens 14 years to be able to come to this conclusion.

By then, of course, an RUC Special Branch loyalist informant and quartermaster William Stobie had emerged with information about how he supplied the guns used to kill Pat Finucane. Stobie was charged with murder in 1999 but by November 2001 the case against Stobie collapsed. Stobie had little time to enjoy his freedom. He was shot dead within a month.

But there’s little doubt that Stobie’s contribution to the issue of State collusion in the murder of Pat Finucane was an important factor in helping Sir John arrive at the conclusion that there was collusion involving members of the security forces.

The Finucane family called for a full and independent public inquiry.

A year later there was even more evidence of collusion in the Finucane murder. This time it came from retired Canadian Judge Peter Cory who stated in his damning report that there was enough evidence of collusion to warrant a public inquiry.
Cory’s finding should have triggered a full independent public inquiry.

After all, that’s what the British Government agreed to when it signed an internationally binding agreement with the Irish government at Weston Park in Staffordshire in 2001. The agreement on the Finucane murder was that if Judge Cory found evidence of collusion the British would would hold a public inquiry.

But it didn’t. In fact, what happened was that the British moved quickly to get a new law passed in Westminster giving ministers the power to block evidence. So by the time Secretary of State Paul Murphy got around to offering to hold an inquiry under the new Inquiries Act 2005, the Finucane family could see the shortcomings and were in no mood to accept this offer.

However, the Cory report instigated five other inquiries – including investigations into the murders of solicitor Rosemary Nelson, Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright and Robert Hamill.

Judge Cory accused the British government of `moving the goalposts’ following its decision to introduce new legislation which would allow it to withhold evidence from an inquiry into Pat Finucane’s murder.

Judge Cory said he did not know what the national security interest was in limiting an inquiry into the solicitor’s murder.
“It’s like playing hockey and instead of six to each team you have one team with eight and one with four, “ he said.

“See how you do for 10 minutes and then we’re going to change.
“In the middle of everything you move the goalposts and you change the rules of the game.”

Blood Sunday Inquiry chairman Lord Saville was also highly critical of the legislation to block a full inquiry into the solicitor’s murder.

Warning that the decision to give government minister the power to withhold evidence would make “a very serious inroad into the independence of any inquiry; and is likely to damage or destroy public confidence in the inquiry and its findings”, he said:
“As a Judge, I must tell you that I would not be prepared to be appointed as a member of an inquiry that was subject to a provision of this kind."

During 13 years of Labour rule there was little to encourage the Finucane family. Prime Minister Tony Blair supported the changes in the Inquiries Act 2005 although he took time out to reassure the family. “Trust me,” he told them – promising that everything would be all right.

But it wasn’t all right. And it wasn’t all right with the changing of the guard when David Cameron and Nick Clegg decided to share power although to hear the shadow Northern Ireland secretary Shaun Woodward at his party’s conference a few weeks ago the Finucane family could see once again the role of party politics.

Mr Woodward told the conference that Tony Blair had promised the Finucanes a public inquiry and he went further when he claimed that a year ago he asked Owen Paterson, current secretary of state for Northern Ireland, to honour Mr Blair’s commitment.

But Mr Paterson is not popular with Pat Finucane’s widow Geraldine. He has been threatening to make a decision about what type of public inquiry the government is prepared to support since November last year. That was when he met the Finucane family.

In January this year Mr Paterson said he needed a few months to consult on the issue of a public inquiry and then in July – after yet another announced delay from Mr Paterson – Mrs Finucane had this to say: “It is an untenable and insensitive situation and confirms my belief that the policy of delay continues.”

It was made clear by the Northern Ireland secretary that he had to consider a number of issues – including potential costs.
It’s clear the British have no heart or budget to meet the kind of costs they paid for the Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday – a 12-year inquiry that costs nearly £200m.

Add that to the estimated cost of the 15-years of John Stevens inquiries – not far off another £100m and it may well have been a factor.

Another issue, according to the secretary of state, is whether or not a public inquiry was in the public interest.

It’s clear from the decision passed on to the Finucane family yesterday in London that Mr Paterson and the British government clearly think it is not in the public interest.

However, the Finucane’s and lawyers all across the world will take a different spin on the decision to only conduct a review…that a full judicial public inquiry is not in the British government’s interests.

The outcome of yesterday’s discomfort at Number 10 Downing Street is that the murder of Pat Finucane remains an unwelcome ghost in the corridors of British power.


http://www.thedetail.tv/issues/30/finucanes-meet-cameron/the-ghost-of-pat-finucane-still-stalks-the-british

#Leveson Inquiry :#Frontline Video - Murdoch's Scandal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILRr_v_C38U&feature=relmfu

#Finucane : Video - Cameron Stands By Finucane Stance.

The Prime Minister held a meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny in London on Monday, during which there was agreement on improving links between Britain and Ireland.

However the leaders continue to remain at odds over how the 1989 death of Mr Finucane, who was gunned down by loyalist paramilitaries, should be investigated.

The Finucane family want a Bloody Sunday-style independent inquiry into allegations of collusion between the killers and security forces - and are supported by Mr Kenny.

However David Cameron has ruled that out and instead offered an 18-month long QC-led review into the circumstances of the murder, with no participation from the family.

 David Cameron refuses to change his position on Pat Finucane review. Enda Kenny says he supports family call for judge led Inquiry

12 Mar 12

Speaking after Monday's talks at Number 10 Downing Street, Mr Cameron defended his stance.

He said: "It's not the nature of the review that matters - what matters is getting to the truth.
"I don't think it's necessary for us to have a lengthy, judge-led, judicial review, with all the problems and costs and expense and time that that takes."

Mr Kenny also vowed to stand by his position and pledged to continue making the case for a full review, adding: "I have a difference of opinion here with the Prime Minister".

The pair did agree that relations between the two nations have improved significantly in recent years, following on from the Queen's historic visit to the Republic in 2011.

A wide-ranging, ten-year co-operation deal was signed and Mr Cameron expressed "continuing and unqualified support" for the Good Friday Agreement.

He said: "We are determined not to roll back on our heels in this moment but actually roll up our sleeves and make the relationship mean even more."

Mr Kenny said: "It covers a very broad spectrum of reality here ... recognising that the relationship between Ireland and Britain is now at an unprecedentedly high level of co-operation and interaction in trade and business which is to the benefit of both."

http://www.u.tv/News/Cameron-stands-by-Finucane-stance/151f88ff-d797-44ad-9792-48b75a651eed

#RUC #IRA #SecretCourts : Video - Northern Ireland Police Torture !

An RUC interrogator speaks: Northern Ireland's forced confessions revealed

Hundreds of men and women found guilty of terrorism during the Troubles in Northern Ireland are planning to appeal. Most of them were convicted on the basis of confessions they say were beaten out of them by police. A Guardian investigation has uncovered evidence from former police interrogators that the brutality was routine and sanctioned at a very high level

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2010/oct/11/northern-ireland-police-torture?CMP=twt_gu