Page 1 of Northen Ireland......How are things now?

Just wondering how the situation is over there, not much in the News and the peace plan seems to be holding up ,or is there a side that mainland Britian does not hear about ?
Does the Army still patroll,and how did the marching season go,the News is use to be full of it but don`t think I heard it mentioned this year.

Anyway I hope it is better for all the people who live there.

Oscar.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 15th October 2003, 16:23

Where do I start?

Yes, the British army still patrols but these are greatly reduced in number from, say, 10 years ago.

The marching season passed off with very little trouble compared to previous years.

The peace plan has been in a state of crisis for about a year, since the collapse of the devolved assembly and executive.

Six Northern Ireland Office (ie Labour) ministers now run Northern Ireland`s 10 departments (health, education etc) under the direct rule system.

There is no sign of a new election to the assembly at present, although the parties are, as ever, in talks.

The Northern Ireland Policing Board (which relates to the running of the overall Police Service of Northern Ireland) is operational and 26 District Policing Partnerships have been set up to involve politicians and community representatives in the running of the police service`s 26 District Command Units.

Catholic and independent Policing Board and District Policing Partnership members have been subjected to attacks in the last couple of months. Death threats have been made and cars have been burned out.

Dissident republicans have been largely to blame but Chief Constable Hugh Orde has said that mainstream (Provisional IRA) members were also involved.

Several District Policing Partnership members have resigned as a result of the threats and attacks.

The reason the British media have not given much coverage to Northern Ireland recently is that few `spectaculars` (massive bombs etc) have occurred. An attempt to blow up a police station in Co Fermanagh with a car bomb was foiled last week and dissident republicans were blamed.

I would say that in general life is better for the majority of people in Northern Ireland but sectarianism still exists and as well as the dissident threat there is still sporadic trouble at interfaces (where Protestant and Catholic areas meet, often with dividing walls or fencing). As well as this, the various loyalist and republican paramilitary groups (the UDA and IRA being the largest of these organisations, respectively) are still active in organised crime. As Gerry Adams said a few years ago: `They haven`t gone away, you know."

This is just my summary of the situation and, as with everything to do with Northern Ireland, you should get others` opinions because everyone who is from here or has spent time here is, wittingly or not, a propaganda merchant. :-)

Depending where you live but a lot quieter now " the terrorists from all sides are in goverment " So if they don,t get what they want the trouble starts . Paramilitarys from both sides are still involved in beatings , protection rackets , bootlegging d.v.d.s videos c.d.s , cheap smokes, drink, A lot of turf wars over areas under control of hoods " remember jonny adair and his mob got chased out of n.ireland." A few months ago a local drug dealer was killed he has not WORKED for years but was living in a £ 180,000 house which is quite expensive for a house in n.ireland , and a recently formed police unit which has powers to confenscate dirty money property cars etc was able to recover almost three quarters of a million pounds from the late drug dealers savings . So apart from the criminals cleaning up at the moment things are a lot better.fw600vj :/

I would agree but have to correct a few factual inaccuracies. Johnny Adair is still safely tucked up in Maghaberry Prison, Co Antrim, where he is likely to remain until January 2005, and the Assets Recovery Agency is separate from the police, although the two organisations work closely together and the ARA is led by former deputy assistant chief constable Alan McQuillan.

And as far as saying "the terrorists from all sides are in goverment" goes, umm, they`re not - the assembly has been dissolved for a year now and let`s not forget that the terrorists you speak about have been elected by the people of Northern Ireland, whatever they have done. You and I may not like it but that is a fact and surely it`s better to have these people involved in politics rather than blowing up cars?

Despite all their grandstanding for the cameras, these sworn enemies at Stormont were actually working together very well behind the scenes - that part just wasn`t publicised because it wasn`t deemed as newsworthy as the celebrated `brawl in the hall` of two years ago, for example.

I agree completely about the mainstream paramilitaries still racketeering and vying for territory but did you really think they were going to cease and desist their organised crime just because the `war` was over?

Paramilitarism is a lucrative business and every city has its gangs - Northern Ireland`s ones just give themselves fancy names for that air of respectability.

If the so-called freedom fighters stopped getting their kicks through punishment beatings/shootings and llining their pockets through organised crime, they`d have to get jobs and adopt the less glamorous normal lives lived by the majority of people they claim to represent.

H i jon maybe i was being too general but not to mislead the people on the forum , the gangsters are still in power even though stormont is on hold . You know and i know that all these hoods arn,t going to give up the easy life and get a job it would not pay them enough . Thanks to the actions of these so called freedom fighters i have lost very good friends who i grew up with simply because they were in the minority in the area of belfast that i live in .None of these scumbags represent the way i want to live and the friends i choose to have .Over the last thirty odd years i have been one of the lucky ones and have not been shot or blown up unlike thousands of people in northern ireland who have been murdered and maimed by these self proclaimed saviours.fw600vj

"You know and i know that all these hoods arn`t going to give up the easy life and get a job it would not pay them enough"

Yep, that`s what I said - they don`t want to live normal lives like the people they claim to represent. I agree with you and I don`t think there was any ambiguity in my posting. Let`s just hope that their time is running out.