There is no situation so bad, Brendan Behan is quoted as saying, but the arrival of a policeman does not make it worse. Since the early days of the civil rights marches in the late 1960s – and even before – the police force/service here have played a part in how our society has developed.
In the pre-Troubles days, when we’re supposed to believe everyone got along, the police were the arm of unionism. I remember a primary-school classmate telling me, circa 1952, what RUC stood for (I’ll give you a hint, Virginia: the R stood for Rough and the U for Ugly). The Pulitzer Prize-winning Paul Muldoon remembers the B Specials in his poem ‘The Sightseers’
‘Uncle Pat was telling how the B-Specials
had stopped him one night somewhere near Ballygawley
and smashed his bicycle
and made him sing the Sash and curse the Pope of Rome.
They held a pistol so hard against his forehead
there was still the mark of an O when he got home.’
Then there was October 5, 1968, when TV cameras caught the RUC in action against civil rights marchers. And the Battle of the Bogside a year later. And so it went. No one should attempt to minimise the suffering that RUC men and their families endured during the Troubles; but neither should we minimise the suffering they inflicted.
Fast forward to recents weeks. We have Chief Constable George Hamilton visiting St Mary’s University College on the Falls Road and speaking of equality, then pictured shaking Martin McGuinness’s hand. That done, for reasons unknown, he made a double announcement: the IRA existed but was committed to peaceful political activity, its active service units gone; and the IRA had been responsible for the killing of Kevin McGuigan. This double declaration was followed by the arrest of Bobby Storey and two other leading republicans. While they were being interrogated, Peter Robinson and Michael Nesbitt, between them, brought down the Stormont House of cards. Immediately after, the police released the three men, no charge having been made against them and no evidence produced.
Unionists may point to the fact that the PSNI has replaced the RUC, and it is a good point. There are many more men and women of a Catholic background in the police now than there were during the Troubles, even if it is still some way from reflecting the Catholic percentage of the population. But to many nationalists and republicans, the Stormont collapse does look like a choreographed act, mounted by the unionist parties and the police: arrest the men, cry murder and exit the Stormont institutions, release the men.
Starting with his self-contradictory statement, George Hamilton should be required to confront the media and interrogated regarding his words and the actions of the police service he leads.If that doesn’t happen, the PSNI’s reputation among nationalists and republicans will have taken a dent that may never be hammered out or painted over.
Are you saying that the Sinn Fein representatives (amongst others) on the Policing Board are not up to holding the Chief Constable to account?
It’s hard to see how he has been held to account on this one, Argenta. Would you say he has?
I don’t think there has been a Policing Board meeting in the past week .Surely the test of accountability will be at the next scheduled meeting of that Board.
Its SF`s job to keep them to account if they cant perhaps that is a reflection of their abilities?
Jude
I don’t see that contradiction at the moment. He seems to be saying there is still an organisation of some shape or form and he believes that organisation to be engaged in peaceful methods. At the same time individual members of the IRA are implicated in the recent murders. They are not contradictory statements unless the organisation is found to have directed the individuals, which has yet to be established.
That direction, or lack of same,is what the investigation will shed light on.
I think you are being a tad hasty in suggesting devious motives on the Chief Constable’s part.
I don’t think its a single dent ,more akin to a battered stock car .Yes the PSNI replaced the RUC or did they …1000 of the old vanguard immediately rehired…. that certainly inspires confidence… Chief Constable ,George Hamilton ,former RUC man ,Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris former RUC man ..the HET headed by RUC man Brian Hanna and reported to both men mentioned above…then we have other little irrelevancies like 29 Unionist murders since 2008 ,hardly worth a mention, the arrest of prominent republicans immediately prior to elections, the non-disbandment of Unionist paramilitaries and their open recruitment ,I could go on and on, ad infinitum, but what’s the point ,it’s not only Peter and Arlene that display their utter contempt for us !
I remember a quote from the past about the RUC, 70% men, 95% Protestant, 5% RC and 100% unionist. Even if they have a GAA club, I don’t think their politics have changed.
Ah that old chestnut I suspect I know what kind of policing you like lets not touch Fuel smugglers and the like because that might upset republicans who like suckling at the teat of criminality.
The PSNI are certainly not making much effort to combat Unionist/Loyalist drug dealing, that’s for sure.
Just when we thought and I quote”Martin might have put manners on them”. They revert back to RUC. What a bollox George has made!!!
As I love to repeat. The foremost obligation of the newest reincarnation of the A Specials is the security of the colony. ALL other duties take second place. They may,indeed, have GAA clubs and visit nationalist schools and social gatherings. They may have the odd creature in their midst who pretends to be interested in Irish but three types of people join the colonial police force. The greedy, the bigots and the greedy bigots. I wonder how the head honchos in Sinn Féin nua put up with the pervasive smell of Jeyes fluid and the mess that the ashes make of their Armani suits? Revolutionary party mo thóin.
In pre-trouble days, nostalgia is not what it used to be, the RUC was an armed police force. During “the troubles” the RUC evolved into a heavily armed police force, however, it could not function without military support. During those terrible days, it was possible to visit any of the other 26 counties, devoid of military trappings. The vast majority of the people trusted, The Guardians of the Peace.
PSNI assessments are no substitutes for evidence based policing. The PSNI should be part of the solution to generations of institutionalised sectarianism. It is now running a risk of becoming part of the problem, again.
A policeman was also very much on the agenda of Enda, Esteemed Blogmeister, when he chose the subtle location for the Blue Shirted Party’s Think (!)Tank during the week: Adare, County Limerick.
Though it was not overtly designated as such the covert message it was designed to convey in an easy-to-understand way for their cartoon-watching cohort was, of course: ‘The Uncle Tom and Jerry Show’.
This was underlined by this morning;s memorable memo from the party’s Director of Elections,Spin Doctor Supreme and P.M.-in-waiting to the troops for the forthcoming episode of Star Wars, aka the General El.;
-‘The Shinners come with a Whilf of Sulphur’.
Darth Vader Varadkar.(for it is he !) is nothing is not of the zeitgeist. With a selfie stick in one hand and God Alone Knows what else in the other.
Incidentally, in today’s Irish Endapendent there is a downright insightful piece by the G.O.M. of Dublin journalism one James Downey. As this PC pol cor seems to have been around since the distant days when Joseph Biggar was no bigger than the kitchen table, he has rightfully acquired the sobriquet of G.O.M. That would be, of course, Grand Old Man.
Under the arresting heading of ‘Our politicians must cease the pretense that Sinn Fein is normal party’ there is no little sympathy expressed for the much put upon and undermanned PSNI which is subject to as many cuts as the PRSI itself.
Scanning quickly down through Downey’s frowning article, the attention was apprehended by the following slice of hack-shaped acumen:
– Our own world image will be tarnished. Americans, for example, have all but forgotten that the word ‘Ireland’ was once associated with violence. If the lawlessness on the border gets any worse, this could happen again’.
Eh?
Would they be, by any chance, the same Americans from a place called America, the same country which gave us the concepts of cereal and serial, Kelloggs and killers, respectively?
If so, somehow one imagines they have a slightly more fraught frontier/ frontera to worry about: check out the text of Ry Cooder’s ‘That’s the way the girls are from Texas’ for further reading.
Btw, this is the second day in succession that the Border (Diog na Muice Duibhe/ Black Pig’s Dyke) has been namechecked in the DOBlin media monopoly. Yesterday,it was a contemporary of the G.O.M. of Dublin Journalism, the G.O.M. of Morally Superior Politics himself who was using a different personal orifice and a different media outlet to express his concerns about the diesel-laundered lawlessness.
That would have been, ar ndoigh, Lord James of Mallon Head (who hasn’t gone away you know !). who was expatiating at some length on Newstalk FM on the topic, heroically, one might add. For despite clearly suffering from Shrunken Gums Syndrome it was a near-forgotten joy to hear him put his morally superior brogue into na buachailli in the black berets agus na buachailli / and the boys in the broad black brimmers.
Listening to Sunningdale Seamas in can-do mode with his cans on (to borrow a quota of broadcasting jargon) It brought fading memories flooding back when the Free Southern Stateen was the global brand-leader in Moral Superiority during the Dirty Thirty Years War.
Morsupial, rather than Marsupial, as there were NO kangaroo courts tolerated south of the Black Pig’s Dyke.
Which is not to say that C. C. O’Brien’s love letter to the Bogoak Monolith, Section 31 did not guarantee there were lots of hopping mad media types in the studios of Dublin. Sniffing around bottom lines too, which is a shared feature of both morsupial AND marsupial courtship rituals.
In fact, there is a theory that SDLP is a clipped northern hemisphere version of SKIPPY.
Funny too, how the Harris surname made its not inconsiderable presence felt, and indeed continues to do: in the formidalble forms of both Wolf Tone Harris and Rolf ‘Toin’ Harris.
Tie me kangaroo courts down, sport.
“check out the text of Ry Cooder’s ‘That’s the way the girls are from Texas’ for further reading” and “the following slice of hack-shaped acumen:” are my joint favourites today, Perkin. Although I’m not sure I’d have put a ‘h’ (mind how you pronounce that, lad – it’s loaded) at the start of ‘hack-shaped acumen’. You are a melody for all seasons, Perkin – go raibh cead maith agat….
Muchas Buiochas, A Mhaistir Ionuin Blog.
PS Truth to tell since AF took over as AFM – or as RJC put it so eloquently – Tiocfaidh Arlene ! – only one name has been on Perkie’s love-sick tongue (be still, my beating part !) o thainig la Arlene/ since Arlene’s day came.
The A-name who has brought her A-game to the party.
Arlene.
Meaning, in the original leprechaun, ‘Pledge or Promise’.
Kelly.
Meaning in the original leprechaun: ‘A frequenter of churches’.
Arlene Kelly.
Who pledged her troth to another in a church, whose name was not (gulp) P. Warbeck, Esquire..
Arlene Foster (nee Kelly).
When first she took her place, to (yes) the right of Peter the Grate even as the solemn words of resignation mournfully tolled from the coffin contoured countenance of the then First Minister, tolling the knell of his parting from the party limelight, Perkie’s inner swain wondered just who could this Strormont Stunna be?
Could she possibly be La Belle Dame Sans Merci, along and palely loitering?
A momentary case of misidentification, as Keats gave way to Herrick, for the Stormont Stunna was seen to be (gasp) buttoning up the top of her business-person’s expensively yet stylishly cut jacket.
-A sweet disorder in the dress kindles a kind of wantoness.
Where has she been, this Stormont Stunna? What had she been up to?
These were but two of the two score and twenty questions which tobogganed through a stricken Kindle person Perkie’s noggin.
(Rumour has it that one of her pre-condtions was that she would have the right to name a Peter as her Chief of Staff / Office Manager. ‘Coincidence’ confirms that rumour in the low-key and seemingly unrelated announcement earlier in the week of the re-appointment of – gasp – Peter McGrath as Bainisteoir / Manager of Na Buachailli on Eirne / Fermanagh County Team. Repeat: Pete McGrath.
Say no more, Seymour as they say in the vicinity of the Giantesses’ Causeway).
Arlene, a name in a million for a gal who no longer rides pillion.. After whom could she possibly be named?
1. The odds favour the Acting First Minister being named after Arlene Dahl, the glamour-puss Hollywood actress of the Fabulous Fifties. Whose first movie was, erm, ‘My Wild Irish Rose’ and whose career spanned such near classics as ‘Reign of Terror’, ‘Ambush’, ‘No Questions Asked’, ‘Here come the girls’ and ‘Kisses for my President’.
The last fillum bodes well for the future: one can see her yet in Dahl Eireann.
2. Or, could it have been after, the celestial Jo Stafford’s alter ego: D’Arlene Edwards.? Jo belonged also to the Fabulous Fifties,being the divine decade;s acknowledged song-bird (‘You Belong to Me’, ‘Whispering Hope’ etc) but who also like dto relax by singing in a high-pitched, off-key way using the pseudonym ‘D’Arlene Edwards’.
Sound familiar ?
Failte Ui Cheallaigh roimh an Cailin on Eirne / Kelly’s Welcome to the Erne-side Colleen !
In the bad old days we had RUC, Special Branch ,British Army and Unionist paramilitaries to keep the Fenians under control. Nowadays we have PSNI, MI5, NCA, British Army and Unionist
paramilitaries doing the same. George Hamilton is not in charge of policing or security. He’s told what to do and say by his paymasters. They haven’t gone away ,you know.
Sure, was Stormont not a failed entity before all this, basking in the status quo of stalemate, going nowhere, doing damn all. My cynicism wonders if all is choreographed to enforce the budgetary changes cause they’re not playing ‘the game’ as they’re supposed to. I would prefer joint authority any day!
A dent? Come on Jude surely any confidence Republicans may have had in PSNI has evapourated.
Too many RUC men in the PSNI, it stands to reason they will carry their bigotry into the new job. How could it be otherwise? When the PSNI was being set up all RUC members should have been balloted to find out where they stood with regards to equality. Any RUC person who was opposed should have been chased, as it is, they have been getting blood money and some of them have been rehired, that can not be right. The RUC were never going to be part of the solution, they were always part of the problem. The most hated police farce in the world, I just do not trust any ex RUC man or woman.
This from a correspondent ‘Michael’
Crisis begins when PSNI makes completely contradictory statements on the murder of Kevin McGuigan saying, effectively, the IRA murdered Kevin McGuigan, but the IRA didn’t murder him.
Why did journalists not expose this simple contradiction properly and get to the bottom of it? – they still have the opportunity to put this issue to the police now and in the coming days.
So the crisis began on hearsay – no evidence, no facts.
The police were able to say a lot about Kevin McGuigan’s murder but don’t seem to know very much about the murder of Gerard Jock Davison.
To date nearly 20 people have been arrested in connection with Kevin McGuigan’s murder. Apart from an unrelated charge, all of them have been released unconditionally – this indicates that PSNI intelligence is very weak, non-existent or worse, some people within the PSNI have an agenda.
One of the men who was arrested on Thursday morning was questioned about the Spotlight programme on the BBC the previous night in which, once again, hearsay was used to give the programme some credibility.
Was the man arrested on the basis of this programme? Is that what the PSNI are basing their intelligence on?
This crisis is based on myth and hearsay, there have never been any facts or evidence produced.
it has done serious damage to the credibility of the PSNi.
The media, whose job is to critically analyse and expose blatant contradictions have reduced themselves to “dog in the street knows’ type journalism – maybe one of them will have the courage to put their head above the parapet in the coming days.
you know the media doesnt ask hard questions of mps mlas ect,if they did the usual line would be trotted out yer agin the peace process why would they ask the police the same,
The ambiguity appears to be with who Sinn Fein are referring to as the IRA and who the Chief constable is referring to.
They seem to be on the same page as far as his claims that the IRA have transformed into a fully peaceful political force and from what Sinn Fein are saying, the only authorised structures of the IRA are now solely within Sinn Fein and they in fact now one and the same thing and that any other activities being carried out by former IRA members have not been authorised and hence any armed actions have been branded as those of criminals to be dealt with by the PSNI for which they will have the full support of Sinn Fein but for which they will not be accepting responsibility.
Therefore the only difference I can see is that the Chief constable has completely contradicted himself by using the same term IRA for both the criminal elements who are past members and also the organisation that is now within Sinn Fein and for which he has already chosen to publically accept the bonafides of.
If that is the case, then the Chief constable really needs to provide evidence of any connection with these criminal elements and Sinn Fein or if there are none then to stand shoulder to shoulder with Sinn Fein in facing them down.
If he is unable or unwilling to do this and instead prefers to cause political upheaval by issuing vague statements based on farcical lines of investigation then we have to ask is he really fit for purpose in this role.
Is it unreasonable to ask if his job should be on the line here over this debacle?
Let’s answer your final sentence this way, jessica:NO.
This crisis is based on myth and hearsay, there have never been any facts or evidence produced.
it has done serious damage to the credibility of the PSNi.
The media, whose job is to critically analyse and expose blatant contradictions have reduced themselves to “dog in the street knows’ type journalism – maybe one of them will have the courage to put their head above the parapet in the coming days.
Ok Jude you win from now on lets not let the media investigate Republicans when they rape murder and take part in criminality because you obviously think they are innocent of everything.
If that’s the type of society you want Jude count me out.
I think you’ll find I’ve suggested no such course for the media, neill. But when a wildly ambiguous statement is made by the CC and no journalist asks questions about that ambiguity; when leading Shinners are imprisoned and then released once the DUP and UUP have reacted…It really has dented confidence in the PSNI. Which is something I definitely regret. In fact I feel betrayed, because the PSNI was seen as a new beginning; for a lot of people, this looks like the same old same old…
Neill, where has Jude ever said that republican activities shouldn’t be investigated? Point out where exactly. As for the accusation you made of republicans committing “rape”, I assume your referring to Mairia Cahill’s accusations, has anyone been convicted in a court of law? No but of course it doesn’t stop you believing the accusations, it does involve republicans, after all….
Neill go look at the figures for this year alone for British soldiers committing rape and actually being CONVICTED in a court of law. There was even a British soldier who raped a girl in Belfast city centre this year or last and he was CONVICTED in a court of law. If I applied your logic then all British soldiers must be rapists, that’s the way you judge republicans, right?
Time to take your blinkers off Neill and listen to different points of view. On this topic the CC said the PIRA exist and are peaceful but yet he then says they murdered 2 people and he has refused to show evidence of this? Then 3 leading republicans are arrested in the midst of a political crisis and absolutely no evidence, not a shred, is offered against those men arrested, leading one of the arrested men to actually sue the PSNI for unlawful arrest. While all this is happening Unionism uses the arrests to leave the executive, again arrests are not convictions. Before the arrests even happened the leaders of Unionism knew they were going to happen. How did they know? Who told them? Why did they tell them?
If you cant see something being plotted by the PSNI and Unionism Neill then you either have to go to specsavers or you support what their doing. Or maybe you just refuse to take off your blinkers.
There have been many murders which remain unsolved here and ebverywhere else.One example is a local woman who was killed in her home some five or six years ago. Nobody has a clue what happened to her .The police never found a culprit and the case appears to be cold. That basically means that there is another murderer still loose on the streets….and that’s just in an average sized town …not the city. The police are at a deadend with this case.
You have to ask why unionism seized on one specific murder …and not any other to build their very unstable case on .You have to ask why the Chief Constable decided to accuse the recent murder on the “IRA “…and not any other murder especially if it was possibly a simple dispute between two individuals .I could understand it if the man had produced some proof but it appears he has none which is why he’s arresting lots of people seemingly like a fisherman with a large net…and releasing them sometimes without even questioning them about anything .That seems a wee bit weird, frankly.It’s even weirder when two political parties crash the only chance they’ll have to try their hand at self-government.
I’m sure , I’m like most rational people who can only see political opportunism in the unionist mindset, aligned with some very telling comments from Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster about their nationalist colleagues. It’s apparent they had no real idea that they were supposeded to be operating a power-shared Executive. If someone can see another story here, i would dearly love to see it explained rationally .I would love to see it laid down in simple terms, Neill. You obviously have another slant on it but can you explain it rationally?
Its obvious more work has to be done to the PSNI, it isn’t quite as cross community as we originally thought, well I was certainly half fooled into believing they were “RUC free” but that’s definitely not the case.
50/50 recruitment must be enacted again. We cant have a Police Force where 70% are Protestants and only 30% are Catholics, where as the population is nearly 50/50. (In fact I believe Catholics are already the majority by 1% or 2% but just not reflected on the paper work yet).
Any RUC/ex RUC officers shouldn’t be in the PSNI, they were suppose to have to left. Sinn Fein and the SDLP should inquire into how many ex RUC had left then rejoined the PSNI because that certainly should not have been allowed.
The arrest of the 3 republicans (with absolutely no evidence), the Unionist leaders knowing about the arrests before they even happened and the Chief Constable coming out with contradictory claims with no evidence to back them up shows the PSNI, just like the RUC, is poking and meddling in politics, on the part of Unionism, of course…
I don’t know why there is any shock that the PSNI show their true colours now and again. As well as that nationalists parties knew full well former RUC and special branch terrorists had rejoined the PSNI. In fact some of those former RUC were heavily involved in the murders of IRA volunteers. It was patently obvious the British govt had simply changed the name of their defenders of the state to dupe nationalists. The surprise for every nationalist should be why did nationalists parties buy into this fraud?
The narrative in the sick counties is thus: the police will be nice if you bend the knee but they will never let you forget that they are there to maintain British interests.
Unionism may be smug at the moment ….but the inestimable damage that has been done may be irreparable ……every time you have been asked to meet us half way you failed abysmally …sorry ,but in the next few years ,my children and their compatriots take control ….and they will not suffer fools gladly….prepare Unionism for a rocky ride and it’s your choice whether that takes you to oblivion …or not !
Hi Jude, I think the changes to the PSNI brought about as a result of the Patton Report are one of the biggest prizes of the peace process. George Hamilton’s response to the 2 most recent murders was clumsy and confused to say the least and has certainly damaged the trust between communities here. George Hamilton is one man he is not the PSNI! We complain that unionists label Sínn Féin and Republicans of having an involvement in murder over the actions of a maverick gunman alleged to have been a former member of the IRA. By labelling the PSNI as not worthy of trust are detractors not guilty of the same thing that the Unionists have charged against Sínn Féin. I have no doubt there are still bad apples in the PSNI barrel like the ones who briefed Unionists prior to the latest arrests but I think that Sínn Féin should take the moral high ground and make a statement that they support the PSNI despite the questionable judgement of George Hamilton and those conducting the investigation into the recent murders.
Couldn’t agree more Seamus, time the gloves came off and their buddies, the Stoops never get another Nationalist vote. All this going on and their “leader” was in what he called his Mother Parliament, swearing allegiance to the English Queen. Why do “nationalists” vote for a party that isn’t in any shape or form, a Nationalist party? What they did in my home County Fermanagh in recent elections was pretty sick to say the least.