Issue 059, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (March, 1992)

              40p usa 24 per year y brought another huge rise in the jobless figures in the 32 counties with a total of 378,800 people now unemployed north and south if the maastricht treaty is rejected in the 26-county referendum this year the people will be saying no to a decade of deflation cutbacks and tax rises — no to maastricht campaign launch page 3 c0 udrpair jailed for maginn murder two ulster defence regiment soldiers were jailed for life at belfast crown court on march 3 for involvement in the uff murder of loughlin maginn at his home in rathfriland co down on august 25 1989 private andrew browne 27 from lisburn was also given a second life term for involvement in the murder of liam mckee in the town in june 1989 both he and private andrew smith 31 whose address was given as palace barracks holy wood had previously served with other british regiments loughlin maginn compiled a dossier of harassment from the british crown forces over 18 months including de tails of incidents when he was told by the ruc that he would be shot his murder led to the setting up of the stevens inquiry into collusion between british crown forces and loyalist death squads the inquiry found that there was collusion but said that on the evidence put before it the coll usion was not widespread or instit utional private browne was involved in gathering information on loughlin maginn which he handed over to the uda he obtained intelligence files on maginn and others from private smith who admitted working for the uff the cover-name for the uda in the cases of both soldiers no minimum period of detention was recommended leaving open the poss ibility that they could be released at an early date as was the case with private thain who served two years and two months for the murder of thomas reilly in belfast before rejoining his regiment five other men were also sentenced for involvement in the murders of loughlin maginn patrick feeney donacloney who was shot dead on february 20 1989 the killing of 79 year-old kathleen mullen and her son terence 32 at their ballinahinch home in october 1986 and conspir acy and possession of guns a 39-year-old native of keady , co armagh james gray was shot dead in the cab of his lorry on the portadown markethill road by the uvf on wed nesday march 4 he was a driver for clady quarries and was delivering to a site near markethill british army base when he was ambushed a sectarian gang burned the home of a disabled nationalist woman to the ground while she and her family were away on holidays early on the morning of march 2 betty creelman from aghadowey co derry returned home on march 4 to find her bungalow british labour treachery wvtock the sudden announcement on friday february 28 last that the unionist parties and the sdlp saw no obstacle to restarting their talks was a direct consequence of the statement made by british labour leader neil kinnock on the previous day at the dublin administration's embassy in london if the talks were reconvened under a labour government following an immin ent british general election mr kinnock made it clear they would not be designed to facilitate moves towards irish unity that isn't the objective the first object ive is to achieve the political economic and civil security ... in northern ireland and elsewhere he said an ulster unionist party spokesman quickly des cribed this as helpful with the assurance that the talks would be solely on the basis of the better governance of northern ireland within the united kingdom as british home sec retary douglas hurd put it the resumpt ion of the talks was inevitable the unionists had previously refused to continue the talks under a british labour government committed to irish unity with mr kinnock s statement of their true policy unionist objections vanished nothing new the treachery of the british labour party in regard to irish self-determination is nothing new to anyone who examines its record over the years on the same day as neil kinnock s remarks were reported his spokesperson on the six counties kevin mcnamara was telling readers of the emigrant irish newspaper the irish post in britain that labour undoubtedly wants a united ireland and by definition that means it is for a british disengage ment a declaration is implicit he also declared his ambition to be the last ever secretary of state for the six counties this blatant double-dealing is trans parent and insulting to the irish popul ation in britain whose electoral support neil kinnock so badly wants in reality the british labour party continues to guarantee the unionist veto on irish unity and will not even give a distant date for british withdrawal electioneering is clearly what the sdlp and the unionist parties are engaged in also the resumption of talks on paper at least has been accompanied from the sdlp about their anism and taking their cue from albert reynolds about everything being on the . table most of this is aimed at an inter national audience particularly in the usa but the long-suffering nationalists in the six counties are under no illusions that the talks are based on a british agenda first and last and therefore cannot produce a real settlement mainland fianna fail leader albert reynolds the man who described britain as the mainland after his first talks with brit ish premier john major on february 26 has been talking about pooling sover eignty to provide a long-term solution which suggests he is prepared to accept garret fitzgerald's third forum option of joint sovereignty in reality this probably means an enlarged maryfield secretariat which he would be willing to call a long-term solution his use of the british term gives us a definite indication of his mettle when it comes to challeng ing british rule in ireland • british labour's abysmal record on ireland page 4 gutted and sectarian abuse daubed on the walls in red paint in the clifton street-carlisle circus area of north belfast a 29-year-old man sustained head injuries when he was attacked with a hatchet by loyal ists in the early hours of february 28 he is presently in intensive care the junction has been the scene of many attacks on nationalists in recent times knife attack anne-marie smyth 26 from longstone estate armagh was the victim of a knife attack by a sectarian gang early on monday morning february 24 in east belfast a mother of two children she was last seen alive in the glentoran soccer supporters club on the castlereagh road at another nearby soccer club on january 26 scotsman john mclvor was also knifed to death raising the possibility of a shankill butcher-type gang operating in east belfast the body of anne-marie smyth is removed from the murder scene