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Newslist Messages for
August 2000
CELTIC LEAGUE - AGM UPDATE The following resolution adopted at the AGM and proposed by the Bretonbranch was omitted in error from the list published previously. "This AGM of the Celtic League calls upon the Town and District Councilof Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier and upon the Department Council of Ille-et-Vilaineto respect the historical site of the last battlefield for Bretonindependence which is shamefully planned for a waste area" This resolution closely parallels the Scottish branch motion relatingto Bannockburn and the two branches could usefully cooperate overimplementation. Bernard Moffatt Secreatary General 2/8/00 Subject: PRISON TRANSFER OVERTURNED CELTIC LEAGUE - PRESS INFORMATION APPEAL COURT OVERTURNS PRISONER TRANSFER The Isle of Man Court of Appeal has nullified an attempt to transfera prisoner from the Isle of Man to the United Kingdom to relieve overcrowdingat the Island Prison. The issue had been the subject of a resolution, opposing the transfers,to the recent AGM of the Celtic League and has been greeted by theLeague as a vindication of human rights concerns. The issue may however still warrant a challenge under the EuropeanConvention of Human rights as the Appeal Court ruling does not clarifythe validity or otherwise of the transfers. The League argued that the transfers breached two articles of theEuropean Convention of Human rights and also that the principle offorced transfers between jurisdictions also breaches the EuropeanConvention on the Transfer of Offenders. The Isle of Man is a distinct legal jurisdiction a fact that seemsto have been overlooked by officials, UK prisons should not be usedas a dumping ground for inmates of the Manx prison system. J B Moffatt Secretary General 8/8/00 ============================= Date: Tue Aug 8, 2000 11:04am Subject: UN URGED TO AID BASQUE PEACE PROCESS CELTIC LEAGUE - PRESS INFORMATION BASQUE PEACE CALL Just days after the Celtic league wrote to UN Secretary General, KofiAnnan, and EU leader, Javier Solana, calling for International movesto end the violence in Spain and the Basque country more incidentshave occurred. The Celtic League at its AGM last month, in the Isle of Man, adopteda resolution calling for International moves to end the crisis. Itwas suggested the Northern Ireland peace process should be used asa 'template' to end the war between Spanish security forces and thearmed separatist movement ETA. Developments in the past 24 hours, with a series of bomb attacks anddeaths, make it vital that a new peace initiative is launched. TheLeague, in follow-up correspondence to all EU governments have urgedcollective action to end what is fast turning into Europe's most viciousguerilla war. The Celtic League have a direct concern about the conflict becauseof strong links between the Basque and, Celtic, Breton people. SeveralBretons have been harassed or jailed in recent years for providinghumanitarian support to Basques who fled political repression. In correspondence to the United Nations the League say any settlementmust recognise the right of the Basque people to self determination. J B Moffatt Secretary General 8/8/00 ============================== Date: Tue Aug 8, 2000 11:05am Subject: BRETONS PROMINENT AT MANX CONFERENCE CELTIC LEAGUE - PRESS INFORMATION BRETON FOLLOW UP TO MANX MEETING A major feature of this years Celtic League, held in the Isle of Manlast month, was the volume of business and proposals moved by theBreton delegation. Brittany, the most southerly Celtic country, has tended in the pastto lack prominence in League campaigns but increased activity in recentyears has seen the branch become more pro-active in Celtic Leagueinitiatives. A dozen Breton branch resolutions were considered at the AGM mostof which were adopted. Subjects covered included cultural matters and the Breton language,environmental issues including concern about the Erika oil-spill anda proposed nuclear waste site and also political issues. It was also agreed that in honour of the Breton founder member ofthe Celtic League Alan Heusaff, who died last year in Ireland, thenext General meeting of the League, the fortieth, would be held inBrittany in 2001. The Celtic League Convenor, Cathal O'Luain, will visit Brittany overthe next ten days to discuss both implementation of the programmeof business agreed at the Isle of Man conference and also preliminaryplanning for next years AGM. J B Moffatt Secretary General 8/8/00 =============================== Date: Sun Aug 13, 2000 10:50am Subject: BRITAIN'S WORST KEPT SECRET CELTIC LEAGUE - PRESS INFORMATION HEALTH QUERIES ABOUT RADIO SITE - BRITAIN'S WORST KEPT SECRET Mystery surrounds damage caused at a top-secret nuclear communicationssite on the Welsh/English border at Criggion last May. An enquiry was apparently held after part of the aerial complex atthe site, which is used for communications with the British Tridentnuclear submarine force, came down on land near Criggion Quarry. Thelocal media reported that police sealed off all the roads around thearea after the incident on Sunday May 14. However, since then police,the MOD and the site operator BT have been tight lipped about theincident. Criggion is a Very Low Frequency (VLF) transmitter and the facilitywas originally set up during World War 2 to facilitate direct radiocommunications between the UK and United States. British Telecom,the site operators, describe the site as an installation "which ispart of the BT. network which sends out information to a dedicatedcustomer". It's Britain's worst kept secret that the "customer" isthe MOD. Criggion VLF site, and the other radio communications sites whichcomplement it, are used to sustain the British military's potentialfor response using weapons of mass destruction. As such they are anaffront to the International community and if the damage was causedby direct action by peace campaigners it is morally justified! However, more pertinently such installations can pose a potentialhealth threat because of the unknown implications of electromagneticfields associated with their operation. The Celtic League have written to Defence Secretary Goeff Hoon askinghim to come clean about any environmental implications implicit inits operation. J B Moffatt Secretary General 13/8/2000 ======================================= "AIRWORTHINESS NOT ISSUE" IN CRASH SAYS TRANSPORT MINISTER The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport has toldthe Celtic League that there was no evidence of any airworthinessissues affecting the air ambulance crash on Merseyside on June 14. The Celtic League had queried the decision of the DETR to allow thePiper aircraft to continue the air ambulance role despite a numberof serious crashes, worldwide, in the fourteen day period up to thecrash. However, the Transport Minister has not answered specific queriesput by the League about the types operational record. In follow upcorrespondence the League question the wisdom of using a light aircraftof this type, with limited egress, in emergency situations such asthe air ambulance role. Five people died when the Piper PA31 crashed carrying a patient fromthe Isle of Man for specialist treatment at a hospital on Merseyside.It crashed just yards from the shore of the Mersey Estuary, near LiverpoolAirport. J B Moffatt Secretary General 12/8/00 ======================================= Date: Sun Aug 13, 2000 10:50am Subject: SEA SAFETY THREAT CELTIC LEAGUE - PRESS INFORMATION SAFETY THREAT TO MIZEN HEAD SAFETY BEACON The Celtic League has again written to the Irish government aboutthe safety implications surrounding plans to construct a powerfulradio station on the north west coast of the Isle of Man. The plan is opposed by local authorities and by environmental groupson the island for environmental and aesthetic reasons. The stationis to be sited adjacent to a designated area of Special scientificInterest (SSI) and there are also fears about the untried nature ofits technology. However, the Celtic League pointed out, in correspondence in June,to Minister of State Hugh Byrne at the Department of the Marine, thatthere are also real fears that the stations frequency and power willaffect radio navigation systems for mariners. The League have now supplied the Minister with a copy of a letterfrom Northern Lighthouse Board Radio Engineer, Peter Douglas, whichoutlines specific interference concerns and cites possible problemsfor a new radio transmitter planned for Mizen Head in the Irish Republicand due to come on stream in March 2001. J B Moffatt Secretary General 13/8/00 Hugh Byrne TD Minister of State Department of the Marine Leeson Lane Dublin 2 Ireland Dear Mr. Byrne, I faxed information to you on 28 June 2000 relating to the constructionof a new long wave radio station in the Isle of Man and concerns expressedby the Northern Lighthouse Authority about possible interference withmarine frequencies. I also supplied detail of questions subsequentlyraised in the Manx parliament about the issue. I have now been passed more detail of the concerns expressed by Northernlighthouse Board Radio Engineer, Mr. Peter Douglas, in correspondenceto the local authority in the area which opposes this development.I enclose a copy of this and apologise for the quality of same althoughI think the points made are decipherable. You will see, from the quote from his letter set out below, that heis quite specific about the potential for interference with transmittersoutside the UK: " My concern is related to the bandwidth of the proposed broadcast,which at 279 kHz is adjacent to the International Maritime Radiobeaconband of 283.5-315 kHz. this band is used for aeronautical and marineradiobeacons and different GPS correction transmissions. As a resultof congestion in this band in Europe some of these sites suffer fromconsiderable interference, and therefore the band has recently beenre-planned, with an implementation date for the new frequencies of29 March 2001. Whilst none of the transmitters in the U.K. is at thebottom of this band, there are transmitters in Portugal, Spain andBelgium at these frequencies, and Mizen Head in the republic of Irelandis scheduled to transmit on 284 kHz. Any spurious out-of-band transmissionsfrom such a powerful LW transmitter could easily interfere with thesesignals." I passed this to your Department because of the obvious safety implicationsfor mariners in Irish coastal waters. However, it is clear that thismay also be a concern in relation to aeronautical safety and thereforeI trust you will pass this information to the Department which hasthe remit for aeronautcial safety. Yours sincerely, J B Moffatt 13/8/00 ============================= Date: Sun Aug 13, 2000 10:50am Subject: JAPAN RESPONDS TO LEAGUE CELTIC LEAGUE - PRESS INFORMATION JAPAN RESPONDS TO SELLAFIELD DEAL CRITICISM The Japanese government has responded to criticism from the CelticLeague about its decision to resume nuclear reprocessing agreementswith British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. The League considered the issue at its recent AGM with delegates fromthe Irish and Manx branch of the League moving a joint resolutionwhich criticised both the Japanese government and BNFLs main customerKansai Electric. A letter from the Japanese Embassy in London explains that the Japaneseunderstand the concern about the Sellafield nuclear plant and stressthat the Japanese are continually requesting that BNFL restore publicconfidence by improving safety. The letter also outlines the difficultysurrounding Japanese energy requirements and its lack of energy resources. The Celtic League whilst appreciating the energy resource difficultiesfaced by the Japanese people cannot accept that as an excuse to tradewith BNFL which has a proven and continuing record of environmentalsafety violations. J B Moffatt Secretary General 13/8/00 Text of the Celtic League resolution This AGM: Views with concern the resumption of the trade in reprocessednuclear fuel between the United Kingdom (BNFL) and Japan (Kansai Electric). Supports the calls by Ireland, Mannin and the governments of Scandinaviafor an end to reprocessing at the Sellafield nuclear plant Condemns the disregard shown by the Japanese government and peopleto the threat which their nuclear trade with the United Kingdom posesto the environment and peoples of the Celtic countries. ============================== Date: Thu Aug 17, 2000 2:20am Subject: ANOTHER CELTIC LEAGUE CELTIC LEAGUE - PRESS INFORMATION ANOTHER CELTIC LEAGUE? The Welsh initiative will provide an important sporting bond betweenthe Celtic countries Another CELTIC LEAGUE will be up and running next year after the WelshRugby Union gave it the go-ahead. The WRU, the general committee hasvoted unanimously this week in favour of the league. The structure will consist of eight Welsh clubs, four Irish provincesand two Scottish Super District sides and the new Celtic league willbecome operational from the 2001-2002 season. First fixtures are scheduledfor August 25, 2001 and the 14 Celtic teams will be divided into twoconferences of seven teams each. The WRU secretary, Dennis Gethin, said, “The proposed structure shouldoffer the required level of competition in the early part of the season. “The Celtic League sits nicely with the build-up to the European Cupand the autumn international programme. The competition has tremendouscommercial potential and I am sure it will be of huge interest tobroadcasters.” Ironically, just three weeks ago (at its annual conference) the other"Celtic League" i.e. the political, cultural and social pressure groupwith branches in the six Celtic countries focused on sport with callsfor increased participation by all the Celtic countries in the EuroSoccer Championships. Other resolutions approved at the organisations conference, held onthe Isle of Man, supported increased links in the area of Gaelic Sports. Obviously the WRU initiative will provide an important sporting bondbetween the Celtic countries and is wholeheartedly endorsed by "The Celtic League" - even if they have pinched our name! J B Moffatt Secretary General 13/8/00 ============================ Text of the resolutions of the Celtic League covering Sport adoptedat the AGM held on the Isle of Man in July. This AGM of the Celtic League; calls for recognition of Kernow and Breizh in the Euro Soccer Championshipsand calls on the Soccer authorities in all the Celtic countries tosupport the bid to have the Euro Soccer Championships in 2008 hostedin the Celtic countries. This AGM; welcomes the continuing international meetings between hurling andshinty. We encourage the Gaelic Athletic Association and Comann naCamanachd to maintain and expand , where possible on the internationalfixtures and links. We also call on the associations to ensure widespread media coverage.The example set by the GAA and Comann na Camanachd should be followedin the other Celtic countries. ============================ Date: Fri Aug 18, 2000 1:22am Subject: IRISH WONT NAME 'DIRTY' BANKS CELTIC LEAGUE - PRESS INFORMATION O'DONOGHUE WON'T NAME BANKS GUERIN KILLERS RELATIVES USED The Irish government has said it will not name banks involved in moneylaundering allegations against underworld figures related to the killerof Irish journalist Veronica Guerin. A letter from the Department of Justice to the Celtic League saysthat after receiving reports, on concerns expressed by the CelticLeague earlier this year, from An Garda Siochana (the Irish Police),the Central Bank of Ireland and the Minister for Finance the JusticeMinister, Mr. John O'Donoghue, T.D., "does not consider it appropriatefor the naming in public of any such institution in a context whichwould infer involvement in money laundering". It goes that no financialinstitution was convicted of an offence in this instance. The League had cited the case of the father and uncle of a man servinga life sentence for the Guerin slaying who were convicted, by a DublinCourt on money laundering charges. The court was also told that oneof the men, Thomas Meehan, had opened a bank account in the Isle ofMan which was used as a "stepping stone" to accounts in Vienna whichwere controlled by Brian Meehan, the murderer of Veronica Guerin. The Celtic League has consistently called for a "Name and Shame" policyin relation to Banks via which underworld figures or cartels are foundto have conducted laundering transactions. Whilst the Celtic League are disappointed at the Minister conclusionsin this case we welcome the thorough nature of the Justice Departmentsinvestigation of the issue. However, if the tough talking by politicians following the Guerinkilling is sincere then at some stage Banks that carry on these shadytransactions will have to be "outed". J B Moffatt Secretary General 17/8/2000 ========================= Date: Fri Aug 18, 2000 1:28am Subject: 'KURSK' ECHOES OF IRISH SEA INCIDENT CELTIC LEAGUE - PRESS INFORMATION RUSSIAN SUB CALAMITY ECHOES IRISH SEA MISHAP The fate of the trapped Russian submariners echoes a similar incidentin the Irish sea fourteen years ago. On the weekend of March 13 1986the USS Ballistic Missile Submarine Nathaniel Greene (SSBN-636) struckthe sea-bed about forty miles south of the Isle of Man, in the deepwater channel off Dublin bay. No stranger to controversy only twoyears earlier the vessel slipped its prop in the same area, off Anglesey,wallowing out of control until tugs arrived (July 30 1984). Immediately, a major sea rescue operation was launched to save thevessel and its crew of 140 men. Great secrecy surrounded the salvageof the vessel which had sustained major hull damage. The situationwas complicated by the fact that the vessel, unlike its modern dayRussian contemporary, was carrying a full cargo of Poisedon nuclearmissiles with multiple warheads. Despite the security blanket maintained to this day its clear thatthis was perhaps the most serious nuclear incident in these coastalwaters and posed a major environmental risk to the whole ecosystemof the Irish sea. Fortunately, after approx. 48 hours the vessel was salvaged and limpedback to the base at Holy Loch which it entered under tow. After temporaryrepairs it was escorted back to its home base. Damage to the NathanielGreene was so serious that the vessel was de-commissioned six monthsafter the incident in December 1986. It was struck of the US Navylist the following month. Despite repeated efforts by the Celtic League to obtain informationon the incident and the extent of pollution to the sea floor the USNavy and MOD remain tight-lipped. Despite initial acknowledgementthat an incident had occurred it was two years later that it wasadmitted that the N. Greene had sustained "damage to her externalhull plating and rudder". It is only now with the advent of the Internetthat sketchy details of the accident are emerging. Submariners swopyarns about "the day they met the mountain" in the depths of the Irishsea. J B Moffatt Secretary General 13/8/00 =========================== Date: Fri Aug 18, 2000 1:54am Subject: MINISTERS APPROACH OVER MANX LANGUAGE CELTIC LEAGUE - PRESS INFORMATION MINISTERS APPROACH OVER MANX LANGUAGE The Celtic League Assistant General Secretary (AGS), Mark Kermode,has written to Education Minister Steve Rodan, MHK, advising him ofthe Celtic League AGM resolution adopted this year which called forthe provision of Manx language medium education facilities to be established.There is growing pressure amongst nationalist and Manx language organisationsto boost infrastructure provision for the Manx language. The AGS also stressed the Leagues concerns that teachers recruitedfrom outside Mannin should receive an induction course which stressesthe Islands distinct linguistic, cultural and political heritage. In a separate approach to Local Government Minister, Walter Gilbey,MHK, the AGS has reminded the Minister that a Tynwald (Manx Parliament)resolution of 1985 in support of the Manx language is being ignoredby some local authorities. The Tynwald resolution said that all governmentbodies should use the Manx language where practical to do so on signs,stationary etc. It led to a visible presence of the Manx languagearound the Island previously not seen and transformed the public perceptionof the language. J B Moffatt Secretary General 18/8/00 =============================== Date: Mon Aug 21, 2000 4:54am Subject: ISLANDERS MAY REGAIN HOMELAND CELTIC LEAGUE - PRESS INFORMATION ISLANDERS MAY REGAIN HOMELAND The Foreign Office has indicated, in correspondence to the CelticLeague, that it has commissioned a report into the feasibility ofthe Islanders of Diego Garcia being able to return to their homeland. The plight of the Islanders and their campaign to return home wasfocused on at the AGM of the Celtic League, held in July on the Isleof Man. A resolution was adopted at the meeting which criticised the UnitedKingdom and US governments expulsion of the Islanders over thirtyyears ago, to make way for a military base complex, as "one of themost shameful examples of colonial exploitation". The United States military still use the Diego Garcia complex in theBritish Indian Ocean Territory and the Foreign Office say that theresettlement of the Islanders after thirty years "would present seriousdifficulties". However, it is clear that the growing International pressure on theBritish government to right the wrong that they perpetrated towardsthe people of Diego Garcia is causing a rethink in Whitehall. J B Moffatt Secretary General 21/8/00 ------------------ Text of the resolutions of the Celtic League on Diego Garcia adoptedat the AGM held on the Isle of Man in July. This AGM: Condemns and the forced removal, between 1966 and 1969 of the populationof the island of Diego Garcia from their home by the British and Americangovernments, as one of the most shameful examples of colonial exploitation. Supports the campaign of the Islanders to both return to their islandhome and receive compensation from the British government for theirforced removal and exploitation.  Back to Celtic League News |